Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2015

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Author's Department/Program

Art (Printmaking)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

Abstract

Through this essay I describe the theoretical and anthropological ideas that led to the creation of the Cushing Series. An interest in the obsession with photography in popular culture leads to an understanding of the permeation of structured reasoning beyond scientific research and into everyday life. Taking evidence from photography, and philosophy of science I establish the limitations of structured reasoning, both as a way of perceiving the world and as an understanding of identity, and define surface and frame as its physical representation. Using Sartre’s existential theory and phenomenological anthropology I then describe the infinite subjective existence of the individual and establish its sculptural mode of representation. Ethnographic details, and personal experience then serve to explain a variety of aesthetic relationships between the two parts and reveal an imbalance in Western society's accepted ways of knowing and being.

Language

English (en)

Advisor/Committee Chair

Jennifer Colten Schmidt

Advisor/Committee Chair's Department

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Second Advisor

Michael Byron

Second Advisor's Department

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

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