Fredscape: Maximalism and Trans Identity
Date
2022-07-01
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Abstract
I am an interdisciplinary artist working with many materials ranging from handmade paper to craft gems and found objects. Through my senior thesis project I explored maximalism and excess in relation to my trans identity through repetition, pattern and bedazzling. The work aims to bring the viewer into a colorful, playful perception of my own gender. FREDSCAPE is a site-specific installation brought to life in the Blanchard Gallery. In utilizing a stencil modeled from a 1970s do-it-at-home kit marketed toward housewives, I distorted its original usage and created a rich pattern filled with colors that nod to traditional stereotypes of gender in the United States. In FREDSCAPE delicate handmade paper is transformed with additions of gems and stenciled paint. FREDSCAPE explores the visuals of grids as containment and organization, in addition to the moments where a grid cannot confine one’s self expression. I invite viewers into the space to experience my perception of my own gender identity in its multitudes, maximalism and chaos. In addition to maximalism the archive and the concept of the living archive were central focuses of my work. Artists that engage maximalism and/or archiving of themselves and their experiences were inspirations for this project such as Trenton Doyle Hancock and Tseng Kwong Chi. Additionally artist and educator Maree Clarke’s work informed my thinking surrounding the living archive.
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material culture