Anthony Kascak, Statement

I am interested in dissecting the layers of identity that I have formed as a queer Asian-American, and the impact of that identification within the present societal climate. I look to the writings of José Esteban Muñoz as a reference to inform and empower my multiple strata of identity as a minority. Muñoz’s theory of disidentification builds on the idea that queer people of color “tactically and simultaneously work on, with, and against a cultural form”, as well as find ways to both rework and read themselves into the cultural codes of the mainstream, a simultaneous insertion and subversion.

Through making ceramic and plastic objects I want to provide an alternative to ways of thinking about beauty and material. I am currently using plastic as backdrops and props within installations in which the loose material of the plastic contrasts with the rigidity of the ceramic vessels, and both materials reference containment and permanence. I view the seductive and shiny surface of the plastic as a provocative contradiction to the cheapness of the material, a subversion of beauty in the sense of how we establish hierarchy and value onto material. I arrange ceramic and plastic objects together into a still life vanitas in order to better understand how the materials work together aesthetically and conceptually. The plastic imitate shadows, or ghost images of the ceramic objects, providing an alternative way of seeing and orienting oneself with the objects. Visualizing these objects in multiple layers relates to the notion of seeing and subverting ideas behind layers of personal identity, encouraging the viewer to reinterpret and reassess what they are seeing.

reference: 

Muñoz, José Esteban (1999). Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minnesota: University of 

Minnesota Press.

This is currently undergoing a lot of changes