DOCSLIB.ORG

A Personal Interpretation of the Human Condition and Its Associated Memories As an Inspirational Starting Point for Art a Thesi

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Personal Interpretation of the Human Condition and Its Associated Memories As an Inspirational Starting Point for Art a Thesi A Personal Interpretation of the Human Condition and its Associated Memories as an Inspirational Starting Point for Art A thesis submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts Mark L. Combs University of Nevada Reno Spring 2019 Combs 2 A Personal Interpretation of the Human Condition and its Associated Memories as an Inspirational Starting Point for Art INTRODUCTION The human condition provides characteristics, key events, and situations, which define the essentials of human existence. Birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, injury, healing, death, and mortality are all examples. These experiences are all part of what makes humans human. All of these thoughts, feelings, and events can be reflected upon through memory. A military medical career forced me to confront virtually every human condition imaginable, something so challenging that I had to bury my own humanity in order to survive it. My art practice has been pushing and pulling through the events of my life using memories to explore the array of conditions on a basilar level; essentially breaking down my past to rediscover humanity and move forward. By creating sculptures that reflect upon the grim reality of death, I hope to remind people to live their lives now. My artworks intentionally invite viewers to confront their own humanness and consider how ideas of mortality influence how we live. Ultimately my work aspires to make positive changes in our approach to death. This thesis speaks to how I approach these ideas in theory and how I employ the use of materials, finish and presentation from concept to final artworks. It articulates why the human condition and memories are the driving force behind my art practice. BIOGRAPHY People are a product of the environments they grow up in. The American people have collectively broken up the country into regions: the East Coast, West Coast, the South and the Mid-West. Often people can be identified regionally in the United States by their accents. We know from studies that statistically people on the West Coast are more liberal and East Coast citizens are more conservative. It is also known that just because you come from a certain region does not make you a part of that statistic. Where we live, whom we associate with and often times our socioeconomic backgrounds define a portion of who we are. This is part of a personal evolutionary Combs 3 process. As people move, their environments transform and their thinking often shifts with the fluctuating circumstances of their new places in life. With this in mind, I find it fundamental to consider an artist’s history as context for considering their artistic creations. It can be significantly informative to reflect upon who an artist is, their background and where they are have come from in order to understand their perspectives. This following brief biography offers insights into me as a person and is intended to inform the reader with enough of my history to enrich the ideas presented about my practice. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, my formative years were spent on the edges of a blue-collar town, a suburb where most children’s parents worked for the Boeing Aircraft Company and commuted to work. I have always been creative and began drawing a very early age. When classes became a choice, there was always some form of art in my schedule. After high school, I enrolled in a fashion-focused program at a nearby community college, ultimately wanting to develop my knowledge and artistic skills into a career in design. It was not long before I discovered I was on the wrong track, and not at the right school. After finding and being accepted to the appropriate school, I realized that it was beyond my reach and I could not afford it. A week later I met with the United States Air Force Recruiter, three days later I took the entrance exam, and within a month I was on a plane to San Antonio, Texas for basic training. There were no plans beyond my enlistment. There was a six-year contract to fulfill before thinking about what was next. My entire adult life was dedicated to the military. From the ages of nineteen to forty-one I lived the life of a soldier, an Aerospace Medical Service Specialist, better known as a medic. I worked hard to balance my life with a wife and three children while serving in multiple war zones and eventually retiring with honors. The job was vast and required learning the hands-on skills and knowledge of various medical professionals and paraprofessionals. If you can think of a place inside of a hospital, I probably worked there: Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Emergency Room (ER), Labor and Delivery (L&D), Family Medicine, and Pediatrics to name a few. I was a trainer and certifier (one who certifies those in training), an educator, a mass casualty expert, and so on. I could start intravenous lines, perform wound care, evaluate trauma, give injections, complete Combs 4 minor medical procedures, respond to emergencies in ambulances, and provide clinical support. During those twenty-years of service, I saw birth, death, medical emergencies, psychological breaks, drug dependency, full body burns, stabbings, gunshot wounds, damage from explosives, starvation, malnutrition, physical abuse and many other deplorable things. I delivered babies and had people die under my hands during resuscitative efforts. I have zipped up more body bags than I care to count. It was one percent happiness and ninety-nine percent misery and sorrow. These incidents happened both here in America and in the war zones of the Gulf. People are a product of their environment; this was my experience, those are my memories, and that was my environment. It was my job to deal with extraordinary circumstances. How to deal with the emotions of my job was not addressed in the early part of my career; it was just a job. People did not recognize the potential issues this type of job could create. Even doctors, who had prepared with ridiculously intense internships, underestimated the effects of the job. In fact, doctors rarely reported psychiactric issues; they thought it would make them look weak and unable to perform their duties and passed this mentality to the support staff. Later, the “trauma” of working in “trauma” started to become a documented problem and programs were implemented to help. We had post-incident stress debriefings and support groups, but not in the beginning, not before it was too late. By the time I was learning to deal with things as they came up, to talk about issues, I had already stored hundreds of lost soul cases in a part of my memory that I never wanted to access again. I spent so much time learning and trying to be great at my job that understanding the impact of what I was doing never surfaced - until it did. My reality broke and re-manifested as deep-rooted depression, anxiety attacks, and sleep disturbances (a.k.a. nightmares). These conditions, in addition to some other pre-existing chronic medical conditions, made my life unlivable. I was no longer able to function at my job in a positive manner and ultimately forced into retirement. I shut down and my already limited personal communication skills became non-existent. What joy I had attained in the past was left behind. I began to flounder for the first time in my life. Combs 5 After retiring from the military, I worked as a contractor and simultaneously began a series of trials to find the right pharmaceutical combinations to help keep my medical issues at bay. After a year, my employment contract was not renewed and I found myself unemployed for the first time since I was thirteen years old. At this point, I had established that fifteen different medications were required to make my life survivable on a daily basis. For the next year, I just lived on a day-to-day basis. Eventually I felt compelled, mostly out of boredom, to do something more with my life. I enrolled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as an Art major and began what would lead me to rediscover who I am through art. After completing my Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at UNLV, I was accepted to the University of Nevada Reno’s Master of Fine Arts program. CONNECTING MEMORY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION Humans have been the subjects of studies since the beginning of documented science; this knowledge helped define what the human condition is. Theories of the human condition have been written from nearly every angle: science, politics, religion, art, medicine, philosophy, and psychology among others. The human condition is interesting because it can be used to analyze all aspects of life, from virtually every perspective, which indicates possible universal importance to all people. This “condition,” as it is called, offers a definition of what it means to be human, and it fulfills the need that almost everybody desires - answers. People want answers. We want to know why we feel the way we do, the reason behind the things we need, and literally what makes us tick. Everything we feel, everything we desire and everything we want are in one form or another linked to the human condition. It is such a vast subject that fields of study often present limited areas of focused inquiry and may never investigate beyond individual specific topics. Every area has its own set of theories, some of which are speculation while others are supported by fully documented scientific research.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Háskóli Íslands
    Final Paper for MA Degree in English “Wild Nights” Death and Humor in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson Zélia Catarina Pedro Rafael October 2020 University of Iceland School of Humanities Faculty of Languages and Cultures “Wild Nights” Death and Humor in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson M.A. Degree in English Zélia Catarina Pedro Rafael Kt.: 061184-3419 Supervisor: Guðrún Björk Guðsteinsdóttir October 2020 Abstract Emily Dickinson’s unique style of poetic composition is marked by ambiguity and open-endedness, leading to the genesis of a privileged space wherein reader and writer are able to meet as co-creators of meaning. As a poet, Dickinson addresses many themes in ways that are subject to countless layers of interpretation. This essay focuses particularly on the theme of death, a prevalent topic in nineteenth-century America, due to confluence of cultural and historical events, among them the American Civil War. As a result of her particular style of being in, and of reflecting upon the world, Dickinson addresses death in unexpected ways. Through the use of humor under a more or less obvious form of reductio ad absurdum, Dickinson successfully and articulately pokes fun at prevailing customs and ideas surrounding death and dying. Examples can be seen in poems such as “Because I could not stop for Death,” “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” or “I like a look of Agony.” In effect, Dickinson’s insight into human nature is visible in her capacity to incarnate the feelings and experiences of the speakers in her poems. Likewise, this capacity for observation is also reflected in the poet’s use of pretense, present as it is in the elaborate expressions that Dickinson employs throughout her work.
    [Show full text]
  • Portraits As Objects Within Seventeenth-Century Dutch Vanitas Still Life
    University of Amsterdam Graduate school of Humanities – Faculty of Humanities Arts and Culture – Dutch Art (Masters) Author: Rukshana Edwards Supervisor: Dr. E.E. P. Kolfin Second reader: Dr. A.A. Witte Language: English Date: December 1, 2015 Portraits as Objects within Seventeenth-Century Dutch Vanitas Still Life Abstract This paper is mainly concerned with the seventeenth-century Dutch vanitas still life with special attention given to its later years in 1650 – 1700. In the early period, there was significant innovation: It shaped the characteristic Dutch art of the Golden Age. The research focuses on the sub-genre of the vanitas still life, particularly the type which includes as part of its composition a human face, a physiognomic likeness by way of a print, painted portrait, painted tronie, or a sculpture. This thesis attempts to utilize this artistic tradition as a vehicle to delve into the aspects of realism and iconography in Dutch seventeenth-century art. To provide context the introduction deals with the Dutch Republic and the conditions that made this art feasible. A brief historiography of still life and vanitas still life follows. The research then delves into the still life paintings with a portrait, print or sculpture, with examples from twelve artists, and attempts to understand the relationships that exist between the objects rendered. The trends within this subject matter revolve around a master artist, other times around a city such as Haarlem, Leiden or country, England. The research looks closely at specific paintings of different artists, with a thematic focus of artist portraits, historical figures, painted tronies, and sculpture within the vanitas still life sub-genre.
    [Show full text]
  • CHRISTIAAN LUYCKS (1623 – Antwerp – C
    VP4864 CHRISTIAAN LUYCKS (1623 – Antwerp – c. 1677) A Vanitas Still Life with Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Books, a Skeleton, Skulls and Armour Inscribed extensively with Latin texts Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ½ ins. (73.5 x 92.5 cm) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Switzerland, for circa 35 – 40 years, until 2018. NOTES We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for confirming the attribution on the basis of a photograph. We are also grateful to Bronac Holden and Richard Ashbourne for their help in translating the Latin texts. One of the most accomplished seventeenth-century Flemish still-life painters, Christiaan Luycks remains surprisingly little known. He was born in Antwerp in 1623 and received his training there, becoming a master in the city’s Guild of St. Luke in 1645. He lived and worked in the city for a number of years, but, judging from the French inscriptions on many of his later works, he moved to France later in life. He apparently remained active for many years after leaving Antwerp, but died in obscurity. His varied oeuvre includes floral bouquets, fruit and pronk still lifes, bird and game pieces, vanitas still lifes and a variety of garlands and festoons. In the past, his works have often passed under the names of other painters. This remarkable painting, recently discovered in a Swiss private collection, is a major work by Luycks and occupies a unique position in his oeuvre. Although the artist painted a number of vanitas still lifes, none compares with this large and ambitious canvas. It surpasses all his other known vanitas paintings in size, complexity and allegorical intent, and is surely his masterpiece in this genre.
    [Show full text]
  • Emily Dickinson Poems Commentary
    Emily Dickinson was twenty on 10 December 1850. There are 5 of her poems surviving from 1850-4. Poem 1 F1 ‘Awake ye muses nine’ In Emily’s youth the feast of St Valentine was celebrated not for one day but for a whole week, during which ‘the notes flew around like snowflakes (L27),’ though one year Emily had to admit to her brother Austin that her friends and younger sister had received scores of them, but his ‘highly accomplished and gifted elderly sister (L22)’ had been entirely overlooked. She sent this Valentine in 1850 to Elbridge Bowdoin, her father’s law partner, who kept it for forty years. It describes the law of life as mating, and in lines 29-30 she suggests six possible mates for Bowdoin, modestly putting herself last as ‘she with curling hair.’ The poem shows her sense of fun and skill as a verbal entertainer. Poem 2 [not in F] ‘There is another sky’ On 7 June 1851 her brother Austin took up a teaching post in Boston. Emily writes him letter after letter, begging for replies and visits home. He has promised to come for the Autumn fair on 22 October, and on 17 October Emily writes to him (L58), saying how gloomy the weather has been in Amherst lately, with frosts on the fields and only a few lingering leaves on the trees, but adds ‘Dont think that the sky will frown so the day when you come home! She will smile and look happy, and be full of sunshine then – and even should she frown upon her child returning…’ and then she follows these words with poem 2, although in the letter they are written in prose, not verse.
    [Show full text]
  • CHRISTIAAN LUYCKS (1623 – Antwerp – C. 1677) a Vanitas Still Life with Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Books, a Skeleton
    CS0374 CHRISTIAAN LUYCKS (1623 – Antwerp – c. 1677) A Vanitas Still Life with Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Books, a Skeleton, Skulls and Armour Inscribed extensively with Latin texts Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ½ ins. (73.5 x 92.5 cm) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Switzerland, for circa 35 – 40 years, until 2018 Johnny Van Haeften Ltd., London, 2018 Private Collection, United Kingdom, 2018-2021 NOTES We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for confirming the attribution on the basis of a photograph. We are also grateful to Bronac Holden and Richard Ashbourne for their help in translating the Latin texts. One of the most accomplished seventeenth-century Flemish still-life painters, Christiaan Luycks remains surprisingly little known. He was born in Antwerp in 1623 and received his training there, becoming a master in the city’s Guild of St. Luke in 1645. He lived and worked in the city for a number of years, but, judging from the French inscriptions on many of his later works, he moved to France later in life. He apparently remained active for many years after leaving Antwerp, but died in obscurity. His varied oeuvre includes floral bouquets, fruit and pronk still lifes, bird and game pieces, vanitas still lifes and a variety of garlands and festoons. In the past, his works have often passed under the names of other painters. This remarkable painting, recently discovered in a Swiss private collection, is a major work by Luycks and occupies a unique position in his oeuvre. Although the artist painted a number of vanitas still lifes, none compares with this large and ambitious canvas.
    [Show full text]
  • Common Latin Phrases and Abbreviations
    Common Latin Phrases and Abbreviations A ars gratia artis - art for art's sake ab aeterno - from the beginning of time artium baccalaureus - Bachelor of Arts (BA) a bene placito - at one's pleasure artium magister - Master of Arts (MA) ab imo pectore - from the bottom of the heart audaces fortuna iuvat - fortune favours the bold ab incunabulis - from the cradle aude sapere - dare to know ab initio - from the beginning aurea mediocritas - the golden mean ab intestato - having made no will aurora australis - the southern lights ab ovo - from the egg aurora borealis - the northern lights absente reo - in absence of the defendant aut vincere aut mori - either conquer or die absit invidia - no offence intended ave atque vale - hello and goodbye ab urbe condita - from the foundation of the city (Rome) Ave Maria - Hail Mary a capite ad calcem - from head to heel a verbis ad verbera - from words to blows a contrario - from a contrary position B a cruce salus - from the cross comes salvation beatae memoriae - of blessed memory acte est fabula - the play is finished Beata Virgo (Maria)- the Blessed Virgin (Mary) actus reus - guilty act bella gerant alii - let others wage war AD (Anno Domini) - in the year of the Lord bibere venenum in auro - drink poison from a cup of gold ad absurdum - to the point of absurdity b.i.d. (bis in die) - twice a day addendum - a thing to be added bona fide - acting in good faith ad hoc - to this particular purpose ad hominem - according to the person C ad infinitum - to infinity c.
    [Show full text]
  • Latin in Modern Fiction Who Says It’S a Dead Language?
    Latin in Modern Fiction Who Says It’s a Dead Language? Henryk Hoffmann Series in Literary Studies Copyright © 2021 Henryk Hoffmann. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Vernon Art and Science Inc. www.vernonpress.com In the Americas: In the rest of the world: Vernon Press Vernon Press 1000 N West Street, Suite 1200 C/Sancti Espiritu 17, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801 Malaga, 29006 United States Spain Series in Literary Studies Library of Congress Control Number: 2021932158 ISBN: 978-1-62273-949-3 Cover design by Vernon Press. Background image by Akyurt from Pixabay. Product and company names mentioned in this work are the trademarks of their respective owners. While every care has been taken in preparing this work, neither the authors nor Vernon Art and Science Inc. may be held responsible for any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. To my wife Betsy and my friends Les Sekut and Patricia Wendland– three people most instrumental in and most supportive of my Latin teaching career; and to my friends Lidka and Krzysztof Samolej, the hosts of the Skrzynki Mansion, where my multi-level, thirty-year-long journey has been repeatedly enriched through their amazing cordiality and encouragement Table of contents List of Figures ix Preface xi I.
    [Show full text]
  • Latin Via Proverbs
    LATIN VIA PROVERBS 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin by Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. Published by Lulu Publishers 860 Aviation Parkway Morrisville, NC 27560 (919) 459-5858 www.lulu.com © 2006 Laura Gibbs. All rights reserved. This book is part of Bestiaria Latina, a collection of online and printed Latin language teaching materials. For more information, visit the website: www.bestlatin.net Non scholae sed vitae discimus. LATIN VIA PROVERBS This book and its companion website, latinviaproverbs.com, are designed to help you study Latin by means of proverbs. There are already many collections of Latin proverbs in print, but they are not very useful for the study of Latin. Proverb collections are usually organized alphabetically or by source or by topic, but in this book the proverbs are organized by Latin grammatical categories. This allows you to find easy-to-read proverbs exactly suited to your level of Latin, whether you are a beginning or an intermediate student. Beginning Latin students. If you are a beginning Latin student, you can work through this book based on the order that the grammar is presented in your textbook. Do not try to do this book in order; instead, follow the order in which the nouns and verbs are presented in your textbook. You can use the Table of Contents in this book (pages xv-xix) to find proverbs that match the nouns and verbs you are studying. Intermediate Latin students. If you are an intermediate Latin student who already has completed a course in Latin, you can use this book as a systematic review of Latin grammar.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ivory Mirror: the Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe. Stephen Perkinson
    REVIEWS 283 from literary scholars and cultural historians. What, for example, are the implications of natural emblems on the history of gender and sexuality? Do natural emblems become a sort of shorthand in other genres; for instance, can they explain something like the bear in The Winter’s Tale? Emblems and the Natural World, with its painstakingly researched essays and gorgeous and plentiful full-color illustrations, will surely inspire new growth in the field of emblem studies and further research into the complex literary and artistic symbolism of the natural world. Deanna Smid, Brandon University doi:10.1017/rqx.2018.40 The Ivory Mirror: The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe. Stephen Perkinson. With Naomi Speakman, Katherine Baker, Elizabeth Morrison, and Emma Maggie Solberg. Exh. Cat. Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2017. 280 pp. $50. The Ivory Mirror is an alarmingly handsome book about death. Five richly illustrated articles explore the cultural history of the memento mori in relation to premodern anx- ieties about death as well as the individual’s preparation for its inevitability. The volume was produced with great attention to both scholarship and design as a catalogue for an exhibition that took place at Bowdoin College Museum of Art (24 June 2017 to 26 November 2017). Stephen Perkinson curated the show and edited this admirable cat- alogue, which draws on nine works from the museum’s collection, supplemented by fifty-two objects borrowed from numerous collaborating institutions. Perkinson’s eponymous essay opens The Ivory Mirror with a detailed description of the embodied experience—at once sensual, aesthetic, and spiritual—of handling a sixteenth-century ivory chaplet featuring intricately carved three-sided prayer beads with the faces of young women and men interlinked with skulls.
    [Show full text]
  • Mottoes Found on Dials in the British Isles. Duplications Removed
    Mottoes found on Dials in the British Isles. Duplications removed. Note that rearranged wording in mottoes sometimes results in an effective duplicate. These are included and may, if the initial letter has changed, even be located elsewhere in this listing. - e for none doth stay (?) o our lives decay - Facile Mercy - he King – (Possibly God Save the King) - in spec --- ? eagum ? One is ? in a garden than anywhere else A clock the time may wrongly tell, I never if the sun shines well A day may --- A Life in flight's soon out of sight A life on flight's soon out of sight A shadow about my face, the sunny hours will trace A shadow round about my face the sunny hours of day will trace A time to plant and a time to pluck Ab hoc momento pendet Aeternitas (On this moment hangs eternity) Abide with us for the day is far spent Aetas Cito Pede Praeterit (A lifetime passes with swift foot) Aim higher than the mark All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today and yesterday All time is no time when time is past - Make time, save time while time lasts All time is no time when time is past, make time while time lasts All w… is human life, How like the dial's tardy moving shade, Day after day slides from us unperceiv'd, Amiddst ye ffloweres I tell ye houres Amidst ye flowers I tell ye hours An hour and portions of . And all was light . And God commanded light to shine out of the darkness And hours run mad e'en as men might Anno Salutis 1660 Any hour you like, for friends As a Shadow so is Life As a Shadow such is life As a shadowe, Such is life As it measures life .
    [Show full text]