I had my first critique on Election Day. The photos above are from what I showed.
Every semester each graduate painting student shows a body of work to an audience of painting faculty members, fellow grad. students and undergrads, and interested local attendees. The critique is a big part of the program. Faculty comments on the work shown are usually very insightful and useful. The student first makes a short statement about the work; the content and length of the statement is left entirely to the student, although instructors may request more information. After the student's statement the faculty begine their discussion.
Many of the critiques feel quite negative, but the intention is constructive. Mine was no exception. I had generally considered all the paintings unfinished, in progress, but in my statement I did not mention this, to see what reaction the paintings would bring as is. I was considering a question of degree of finish that I wanted to explore; how satisfactory were the paintings as-is? The response was: not at all satisfactory. People commented on the plastic Barbie doll-like immobility of the disengendered figures, and the extreme difference in attention to the figure as compared with the setting. Almost all of the figures were female, but it is true that I did not pay much attention to gender. Why not? I was interested in the life force of the figure first. Does gender cut all the way to the core of what it is to be human? I really didn't think it was that weird to take such a dispassionate stance, but the audience seemed to. The paintings were also compared to 3D computer modeling exercises and engineering problems.
I would say now that I made a lot of relatively large paintings, but in retrospect I spread my energy too thin in doing so. I will need to put in more time on each painting. Again, I was curious about what response the paintings would get as they were; I really was not sure.
Realizing that McCain's head was on tv at around midnight to give his concession speech was a great feeling.
