Aaron Smith BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Collaborations

Collaborations is a joint effort between Aaron Smith and Colin Cathey who are organizers of participatory events. The panels and drawings that you see in front of you are artifacts from these events; we’ve been applying the term Happening to these because it helps describe the participatory, performative, and impromptu qualities of these collective actions. The work ultimately is about setting up a collaborative experience where participants can engage in a very automated state of creative energy exploring the physicality of mark making, sound and movement.

The inquiry is about exploring the language of mark making and how it correlates into understanding the dynamic of the Happenings themselves with a focus on how participants styles push and pull and influence one another. It has gradually become a process of engaging in this communal energy with friends and allowing it to teach us about the visual language of painting. Chance is a central influence and is the main guiding principle. The work operates very much on its own with us and the other participants functioning as vessels under the collective influence of the work.

Conceptually this work is trying to live outside the realms of the consumer marketplace
from a cultural and socio political perspective while also sharing a strong resemblance to the philosophy of the Fluxus and Gutai. The work is meant to be in opposition to professionalism and the pretentious, serious and inaccessible aspects of the traditional art scene while also focusing to explore the pure vitality of these mediums. The materials are just the materials and speak for themselves. The work utilizes the vocabulary of play, automatism, and action painting within the context of community involvement.

Kathryn Prater BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Sarah Birch BFA Animated Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Ashley Cozzetto BFA Photography Thesis Fall 2017

Emily Schwartz BFA Illustration Thesis Fall 2017

Matt Rodenbeck BFA Illustration Thesis Fall 2017

Kendrick Corp BFA Painting Thesis Fall 2017

Emma Parry BFA Painting Thesis Fall 2017

Madison Clark Camcam BFA Painting Thesis Fall 2017

Jessie Siegel BFA Printmaking Thesis Fall 2017

Sarah Anderson BFA Creative Writing Thesis Fall 2017

Austin Salazar BFA Painting Thesis Fall 2017

Andrew Newell BFA Sculpture Thesis Fall 2017

Aaron Smith BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Tanya Gonzalez BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Ari Gabriel BFA Animated Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Hannah Schill BFA Animated Arts Thesis Fall 2017

Casey Finn BFA Intermedia Thesis Fall 2017

Valeriya Gayevskaya BFA Intermedia Thesis Fall 2017

Zachary Pescador BFA Video & Sound Thesis Fall 2017

Ben Glas BFA Video & Sound Thesis Fall 2017

Ivy Loughborough BFA Intermedia Thesis Fall 2017

Aidan Jung Bosanko BFA Intermedia Thesis Fall 2017