Surveys

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] My paintings are an exploration of notions of originality and sincerity, the picturesque, and process through the lens of the gridded western landscape. The perceived lawlessness and expansiveness of the American west is at odds with the desire to frame and compress. By superimposing a grid onto the images I choose, I act to literally "lay down the law," and confine and delineate the sense of expansiveness. The works in my thesis act as an attempt to balance the formal qualities of Modernist painting with the conceptual features of Post-Modernism that I find particularly important, such as the Modernist notion of medium specificity and the Pictures Generation's skepticism toward originality. Combining these elements, I create work that transgresses the boundaries of these critical frameworks. By exploring and researching the elements of Modernist painting and Post-Modernist modes of making, I aim to create a visually and textually rich body of work that embraces the key elements of these eras.