Rhonda Tuholski MFA Visual Studies Thesis 2019
After Dante
After Dante is a series of nine paintings which aim to disrupt Dante Alighieri’s representation of hell. Considering hell as a construct within Christian tradition, I examine how its boundaries and definitions have shifted over time. Regardless of the nuance and complexity of hell as a theological subject, Dante’s Inferno has dominated the visual culture around it. My work references this visual culture while also creating and maintaining a sense of openness; validating uncertainty and operating to disrupt tradition when and where it falters. In this work, I intend for Dante’s structure to lose integrity, through scrubbing it out with solvent, concealing it beneath layers of paint, and denying it of function.