Jody's Post-midterm Critique Artist Statement

Jody Travis Thompson
Artist Statement

I come to know what my work is about through the process of making the work.  Materiality in the sense that certain qualities of the materials speak to various themes, I prefer that the main voice being seen are materials and surfaces/subsurfaces.  I am constantly thinking and writing while I am making.  I am constantly asking questions while I am making.  And while the work has various subject matters that range from societies short term memory loss, to how music visually looks to me, to truth resurfacing from underneath, to elements of time in the work, the true concept of the work is simply the work.  It is more about questioning the materials that are in my hand and seeing what answer that they come up with.  Questions such as, but not limited to the following:

What lies below the surface?
How does light move through substances or bounce off of the surface?
What are the unknowns of how materials react, interact, play off of and speak to one another?
Why do I obsessively watch outtakes and bloopers of television shows and movies on youtube?
Is it because I love watching that split second moment when the character breaks and the actor laughs?
What is it that I am bringing to the history of painting?
What does it mean for me to engage in Action Painting?
What would it look like for me to hang a bed on the wall?
Do I use certain materials because of their qualities?
How do I decide which of those qualities are relevant in the conversation that I am engaging in?
Is there a connection between Bob Ross, Jeffrey Star, and me filming myself painting?
Why projection?
Does the classical painting tradition in my work have a place on the wall next to a painting that has been digitally routed out of a sheet of purple, insulation foam board?
When does a painting cease to be a painting for me and become something else?
Does light being projected onto a canvas still constitute a painting for me?



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