I often ask myself what are the methods of mapping uncharted territory? Being a mixer and DJ of mediums, my thesis collection is a compilation of paintings, digital media prints, a sculptural installation, and a video around the central theme: Monster Mash. Each piece is what it is, and what that is, is something that I am now familiar with based on my research of Betty Boop and other cultural phenomena and their roots in becoming icons.
This body of work relies on the relationship between the familiar and unfamiliar. I hoped to discover something new through examination, experimentation, intuitive choices, and bold or reckless subject matter and mark making. In a sense, I dared myself into something fresh and outside of myself for my current contemplations on culture. I retraced my steps through the rabbit hole into past assumptions and challenged my beliefs to gain a greater awareness and insight into the experience of living, communicating, sharing, and better understanding what I may have misunderstood before.
I was initially excited to set up the rebirth of the cartoon icon Betty Boop as my character model for generating artwork. My first assumption was that I would use her for what she stood for and tell a new story, a contemporary tale of a taboo baby-faced temptress. First, I surfed the internet in a search for the origins of Betty Boop by way of Wikipedia and Google Images. Fast as hell, I had nearly instantaneous accessibility to the history and inventory associated with Betty Boop. Betty Boop can be traced to southern African American origins through the evolution of song and dance. Betty Boop might then be accountable for the present and future sociological climate of song, dance, identity, and behavior. Can I generate artwork that speaks to this stretched historical connectivity; and, more importantly, artwork that stands for those conscience connections also presenting multiple meanings, producing new understandings for the unknown in-between relationships that allow for such connections to exist? It makes most sense to not get too entangled in the philosophy of constructing meaning, but rather to trust in our instinct that the playing out of these associations and the process taken in mark making is meaningful itself.
Meaning may or may not be clear-cut and dry. Meaning might be layered, masked, or disguised to provoke simultaneous readings that provide complimentary and contradictory counterparts. Is this dilemma of meaning charming or irritating? This current conversation in which I have engaged in my research and practice feels new and old at the same time, while also being part alien. The alien or unknown is my monster. This monster is the entirety, by recognizing that there is not one exact reason why, how, who or what. The monster shadows the world, as I know it, and asks to be examined, re-learned, and constantly negotiated to better understand the process of living under the influence of culture.
