Taste and See (Assemblage Project)

If I were to describe this project in three words, it would be: experimental, challenging, and exhilarating. From the very beginning, our art class went to scavenge for ordinary thrift store objects that fascinated us. There, I found an ironing board and thought to myself I should buy more white materials. I went all out! Over time, I bought an iron, pots, plastic utensils, glass cups and found toilet paper, masks— all white and relatively domestic. I spray-painted the ironing board, iron, and pots to give them a more fresh and unified look with the rest of the white items I had collected.

Images of possible directions to be taken were in my head, but it was hard to fully understand or explain even to my own self the deconstruction and construction of material and the themes to be conveyed. I was both terrified and thrilled with not knowing exactly how everything will turn out and if I would be able to meet the assemblage criteria. Over time, however, all these seemingly disparate fragments of ideas came together as one. I had to simply run with what I had.

It was an adventurous unraveling of nuances and alteration methods as I used the objects to speak for themselves. The color white speaks of purity, cleanliness, perfection, goodness, and even holiness. By itself, it evokes light, tender emotions. But I wanted to disrupt that by adding another color— red. The color red on the other hand, speaks of extremity, whether it be passionate love, violence, danger, evil, provoking uneasiness and curiosity. I thought combining these dual concepts through color would speak more to the reality of good and evil, lightheartedness and heavy subjects as being fused constantly in our world. So, I also bought some red things to add to the white including red confetti, strawberries, and a red tablecloth. I also painted thrifted glasses with red acrylic paint.

The props were finally ready for the performance.

THE PERFORMANCE

The scene is simple, clean, and white.

Then out of nowhere, chaotic, zestful red intrudes and disarrays.

Throughout the photoshoot, time and time again, I realize now that the white and red items are all collaboratively disassembled or assembled by the performer and photographer. Particularly, the striking introduction of red elements and its dictated dispersion draws the audience's eyes toward the drastic change being made.

Ironically, my friend Alex who agreed to be my model had no idea what she was modeling for. I just told her it was an art project and that she needed to wear white clothes. The poses, use of props, and framing all came from my extended experience with photography and whimsical futuristic mind as well as from the large influence of mixed media and performance artists such as Anne Imhof, who directs "Faust," which aims to disturb the audience with unexpected, animal-like interactions of actors to show fascism's effect on society. I especially loved her use of the human body and its raw existence; its ability to have agency yet be governed by inner and foreign entities fascinated me. However, I hoped to give my model more life and character than Imhof did with her actors. There was also a more playful spin while still keeping the eerie, dauntless message evident. Peer and professor response during critique in class showed that I did succeed in doing that to some extent. I wonder what else I could have done to increase the tension and intermingling of seemingly pure white elements with striking red ones, or if that would be too far-flung. But is there such a thing as "too far" in art?

THE ASSEMBLAGE

The assemblage took meaningful form by drawing from the photoshoot as its platform. I first used the E6000 glue to insert small plastic pieces into the insides of the iron slots at the bottom. Then, I used the wire cutter tool to cut out sections of the ironing board to insert the iron through the board, then also the masks (with one eye cut out with an exacto knife) through which I had the iron's electrical cord running along the top of the ironing board. I was able to put the plug in the fourth mask's mouth and place those in the intersection of the board. I then glued red confetti strings onto the plastic pieces coming out of the iron and through the eyes and mouth of the masks.

Pouring milk back into the glass cups, I let the red confetti in it mix into a baby pink. Then I glued the forks diagonally on top of the ironing board, the spoons in line on the side of one leg, and the knives on the bottom ends of the toilet paper hanging from the board. I also painted the outside of the spray bottle containing red paint water with white acrylic paint and placed it facing left on top of the upside down white plant pot to use as an interactive tool for the audience (for they would spray it and be surprised by the red inside the white bottle). These all drew the eye to the bottom left where I placed the glass cup and the red eye-glasses placed inside the cup at the end.

I tried to create a lot of allusions to the images— the eyes seeing red represented by the red coming out of the masks' eye, the mouth tasting red represented by the mask spilling red out of its mouth. Moreover, the masks represent the disembodied presence or remnant of the model. The iron is also intentionally placed where the model's head was in the images and the red glasses are meant to be directed to by the other placements and directions of objects to show the shift in perspective. It was thrilling to tie in specific links to the photographs. As my peers commented, I think a more violent war-zone is depicted with my assemblage. Standing on its own, it could hold different meanings than when placed with the performance photographs.

THE PRESENTATION

Since the classroom critique was during daytime, I placed the assemblage in front of the projector screen, with the slide show of performance photographs projected on the screen behind it. Sadly, the brightness of the room made the images unclear and did not give the multi-media layering effect as I wanted it to. Later that night, I was able to set up my assemblage in front of the wall where the photoshoot happened. Projecting the images in the dark definitely created more contrast and sharpness. It gave the whole piece a more mysterious, striking ambiance. I also added some electro music which heightened the eerie, playful mood both the assemblage and the images created.

The fusion of both the assemblage and the performance photography redefines both pieces in fascinating ways: the assemblage seems less violent and more like the response to or aftermath of the performance and the photographs show distinct connections to each of the alternated assembled pieces in front of it. A progression and storyline is created by incorporating both mediums and ideas together. The assemblage makes the piece more tangible while the performance gives it more context and unity.

This piece revealed to me my ambition to take assignments beyond what is expected, the challenging yet rewarding process of experimentation, and the ability for materials and colors to speak for themselves. It also confirmed to me the power mixing mediums has to impress a variety of senses and thoughts in the audience.