Title
Constants
Date of Award
Spring 5-19-2022
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art
Degree Type
Thesis
Abstract
A constant is something that I consider to be present in everything I make. Each overarching constant is a clue which may help the reader come to a conclusion about why I make sculpture. I will address repetitive motion in regard to failure and how this parallels the ongoing endeavors of the alchemist. I will discuss the idea of meaning as it exists in the conflict between cleanliness and the mess. I will explain how Hollywood movie tropes can be used to create sculpture. Lastly, I will frame the theatrical vessel as a vehicle to make a story more significant than it is. The entourage of constants acts as a common thread in a body of work that is meant to be difficult to understand. This thesis is an in-depth look into the never ending mess that is contained in an art practice.
Language
English
Program Chair
Lisa Bulawsky
Thesis Text Advisor
Jack Risley
Thesis Text Advisor
Monika Weiss
Faculty Mentor
Jack Risley
Committee Member
Brandon Anschultz
Committee Member
Heather Bennett
Committee Member
Michael Byron
Committee Member
Jack Risley
Recommended Citation
Lammert, Martin, "Constants" (2022). MFA in Visual Art. 6.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/6
Artist's Statement
If I told you that I know everything about my sculptures I would be lying. I prefer to walk away from a sculpture having more questions than answers, and will go out of my way to make sure I keep myself wondering. The feelings that arise from an undefined strangeness are extremely important to me. I want to draw attention to a world outside of my control.
Above all, I hope that my work is interesting to look at, and furthermore that the work rewards looking. I believe that I am reflecting a sense of reality through my unconscious improvisation in making. I do what I say Im going to do and I can’t necessarily say why. I think this is very similar to the human condition and the need to keep moving, to keep thinking and working on the self as it exists in life. Of course not everybody is working on something, some people just sit there, but those people know more about sitting there than anybody else who has sat there less. I think my work has something to do with this. I want to expose what it means to know the most I can about something that is specifically that thing.
What can I say, the best I can do is clean up the mess I make, to contain what I’ve done in an organized system similar to storage or display. Ideas are crammed yet contained. Geometry is utilized to evoke a sense of care and attention. Semblance of functionality gives my work a reason to stay out of the trash. I use formal techniques involving size, color, material, and balance as well as conceptual techniques involving thematic associations and word play. Like a brain, it is compact and simple, yet random and complex.
Everything is entirely important to me, but what is most important can sometimes be hard to describe. I tend to push forward the idea of mass and surplus as meaning, and redact the meaning of individual components. Original ideas and intentions in my work become wallflowers. I make work that is difficult to understand because that’s how I want it to be.