process.gleuch

Lessons

• Acrylic takes forever to dry when thicker than a few sheets of paper.
• Plaster of Paris does not help the drying process.
• Oil paint holds form well in a flimy structure.
• Butter sticks are packaged in 9oz sticks, but measurement marking on the wrapper usually indicate increments equal to 8oz.
• We on average consume 11 pounds of butter a year, less than in the early 1900s due to the increased use of margerine.

Thoughts

• Can this piece be incorporated into a whole ‘tea & crumpet’ session, with something as cracker wafers, another supply as cheese, another as jam spread, another as crumpets, etc.?
• This was a nice transition from the complex earlier ideas into a simplied result that includes a basis of personal prior art ("This is Not Today’s Butter" and "Will Paint for Food").
• Is it actually safe to call this a montage?

Art: Paint and Butter

Art today is seen as a form of expression and communication. Its process, whether combining different ideas or objects together leads to multiple interpretations held both by the artist and the viewer. These combinations are not just a sum of their individual parts, but instead create a new result that exceeds the value associated with any of the parts. This process has been experimented with in many media forms, including film. Lev Kuleshov’s experiments in video montage became a widely cited example of this process. The result of his works led to a basic of psychological understanding that the viewer reacted differently to each segment of parts, leading to the understanding of the value of the parts as a whole are greater than their individual value.

In combination, two uniquely common but uncommonly combined objects placed together, in whatever unique fashion implicates a viewer to express emotions reserved for abnormal situations. In the likes of this piece, butter and paint, as uniquely different as they are, each have unique purposes and history similarly to the other, yet rarely associated together.

Butter, as a condiment, spread, and cooking medium, is well established as an primary and crucial ingredient for any culinary application. Along with a long list of spices and oils, butter is one of the most commonly used kitchen ingredients used today, with historical evidence of its use as far back as 9000 BCE. In fact, the average person in the European Union consumed around 4.8 kilograms (10.6 pounds) of butter a year.

Art, as a medium of communication and expression, is created in numerous methods and mediums. The most common form of art is painting, a medium alone that has established itself through centuries of modern application, as well as a record of a millenia of historically important events.

The creation of a piece of art mixing the notions of butter and paint communicates a unique conversation of historical, stereotypical, socially, and metaphorical conversations that is based of the commodity of the two objects. Butter, a condiment and shortening of food, and paint, a medium of process provide themselves as ingredients to a larger whole.

Modern art today has a hard time of shaking the stigma of the starving artist. Time and time again, artist are portrayed as penniless, disturbed people whose crazy fits of expression and protest force them to choice passion over sustenance. At this point, an artist is expected to give up her daily meal for her supplies, even down to the last commodities, paint instead of butter.

To contrast its commonly cheap and general appeal, the classical setting of a stick of butter resting in a porcelain dish with a decorated silver butter knife was important in aristocratic culture, where elaborate decoration and food are indicators of one’s class and wealth. Its quality is important for its overall taste. Fine art, specifically paintings, are another  indication of one’s class and wealth. In which a painting may be commissioned for enjoyment of the visual by a renowned painter, butter would be crafted for its quality on the taste. For both, their appeal culturally signified social importance.

Together, butter and paint present themselves to a viewer with a slanted take on each’s history and social roles, and a unique take on their cultural significance and metaphorical interpretations on art and the stereotype of the artist. Separately, these two objects could never communicate on these levels without the aid of their montage.

• Is four sticks of butter even necessary? Why not one?
• Acrylic, dried in layers inside a butter wrapper. Some type of thickening medium to allow solidification to happen quicker. Maybe Plaster of Paris?
• Color — Titanum White or Cadmium Yellow. Must represent butter to an extent (shape, color varience). Blue or Red could implicate other messages unnecessary to this piece.
• Butter dish. Interesting parallel of fine art and aristocratic food/beverage culture (Fine art & fine snacks for the wealthy.). Porcelain, simple.
• Palette Knife synonomous with butter knife.

I have sketches from my "analog" process book that I need to scan in, as well as some "digital" examples to post, however, I’ve some quick notes to jot down.

• Idea — Not bad, but no real sense of covering. Seems as if taking a "blank canvas" approach to the effort. Effective in message, but not fufilling guidelines of project.
• Problem — Giving new sense to object with a a new surface or situation.

• Solution #1 — Create entire scene with artist utencils and supplies that mimics the results of a kitchen. Go towards a large scale of work. Judy Chicago’s dinner party as possible example. Difficulty in obtaining material in short time span and budget. Also breaks away from message of art supplies (not utencils) as culinary seasonings
• Solution #2 — Repackage paint in sticks of butter. Conveys message… but needs to be explained that the inside is paint. Builds on prior art of "This is Not Today’s Butter". Cost effective and works within the timespan of the project.

Of the two solutions, #2 is the best option. The main struggle will be indicating that the insides are packaged with paint. This can be overcome with placement of the object. Rudimentary example below:

In class brainstorming and detailed renderings.
 

• Overall, not bad idea. Very effective. However, does not seem as if it is solving the project’s request — to cover anew. Seems more like looking at the label as a blank canvas. Think beyond just the label. 

After mind mapping some thoughts, I’ve begun to push in different directions. I intially started with marketing and product placement, but I began moving away from impressions towards art. Art, as an impression, is something unique to tackle. Not just the making of an art piece, but the transformation of a current art piece to be interpreted into something anew stuck with me last night (my inability to fall asleep left me to the point of absurd thinking ad nasuem).

In another class I am taking, we began to disucss the shift of classical and modern art brought on by the camera. As we discussed editing of film, we discussed Kuleshov’s experiments in editing, taking note that combining two motion images together does not create a sum of its parts, but creates a new being altogether with different interpretations being made in his different experiments.

So can a change to a piece of art become a different piece altogether? This should be the case, for the entire project is about creating a unique and different interpretation via cosmetic alterations. 

I also explored into the mediums of art, relationships between stereotypes and materials, coming to a few interesting branches.

A makeover implies a new change. The project assignment is to cover an object to give it a new impression or interpretation.

Thoughts: marketing, branding, impressions, age, product placement, subverts

Prior Art: Anti-Advertising Agency (Shop-dropping, Subverts), Graffiti Research Lab, Aram Bartholl (Silver Cell, TV-Filter), Jason Eppink (Pixelator), Limor Fried ("Social Defense Mechanisms"), Design Noir