Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MFA

College

College of Creative Arts

Department

Sculpture

Committee Chair

Dylan Collins

Committee Co-Chair

Jason Lee

Committee Member

Alison Helm

Committee Member

Joseph Galbreath

Abstract

A living tangent is how I am known by many and how I have lived my life for some time. I think in tangents and my life and art seem to evolve through them. Everything I make is connected by multiple thoughts or tangent lines that run from something as simple as the color red, to the idea that I believe communism has invaded my family’s homeland. This then leads to the recollection of childhood games, taught to me by my family in Venezuela and the importance these games played in my psychological development and in my presence as an individual in society. These tangent understandings are the first few stones thrown onto the path that has become my life as an artist and politically conscious individual. In my thesis work, I am exploring the connection of random thoughts in the construction of reality and art. As one idea flows into many different tangents, these elements are linked in the chain of events that connect them together, helping to create a more unified world. My art is an attempt to unify my world.

Living Tangent is about exploring the connections in my psyche and in the real world (that have become strained over the years) through the reimagining of childhood games, new games, and the political problems in Venezuela. Games are played in cycles, and as children, we play them over and over each time hoping to beat the person we lost to last time or hoping to stay on top. The rules to these games almost never change, and while there may be variations to the rules, they can be played over and over with one thing never changing; there will always be a winner and a loser. This cycle repeats and everyone has a chance of winning, but when the cycle is disrupted the continuity is broken, leaving the only one that can win being the one that caused the disruption in the first place. This is represented in the way the political parties in Venezuela have rigged elections, killed or captured their rivals, and basically changed the rules of the game. Consequently, I have decided to change the way the games are played and the way they are set up and able to be played.

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