Critique #1: Sarah W.

Sara Bloem, Teaching Assistant

This is a strong piece, and I’m really enjoying it. I think right off the bat there’s a lot working for you technically speaking.  The collage is very nicely done, I think the use of transparent paper was also a good choice, and I’m really liking the writing as well. It’s very precise, and controlled, yet at the same time, it’s written in paint, or lipstick which gives it a very nice texture.

I think even more, I love the fact that content wise it’s very strong. So you’re talking about an experience that’s obviously very close to you.  But at the same time, it’s referring to this universal idea, this tension between the need to control how you are perceived by others and how you really feel on the inside.

I’m wondering how in the future, just because I really like this piece, and I feel like you could keep working with the themes.  Maybe you can use your materials in order to show that tension more clearly. For example, maybe you could make a piece where most of the collage is as neat and organized as you have it here, but then at strategic points you rip the paper, or maybe you let the lipstick smear across the surface.  Something to kind of, just let your materials tell the story as well.

I would recommend that you look at the artist Cindy Sherman, she’s a photographer who uses costumes and make up to create a series of self-portraits that challenges how women are portrayed in the media.

I would also recommend that you look at the work of Louise Bourgeois, she uses traditionally female domestic arts, such as sewing, to examine traditional roles about the role of women in the home.

So overall, I really love this piece, all I can say is that you can take it in a lot of different directions in the future.  I think that’s kind of the highest compliment that you can give a piece, the idea that it’s so rich and so deep that you should just keep going with it. Definitely keep going!