When it came to researching my artist Christopher Meerdo, I began with the Mattress Factory website and started off with the description of his pieces there. He is a Chicago based artist with installations all around the world as well as a current photography professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design. It is here that he has developed and practiced his infamous emulsion technique.
Upon further research, I discovered Meerdo's personal website where alot of his past work can be found.
Through exploring Meerdo's website, I could learn more about his involvement with social activism and technology, more importantly how he bridges these themes with his installation pieces.
I found myself very drawn towards this VR feature(pictured below) on his website where the user can click around this swooping 3D world he had created for previous installations. I'm not sure why I was so drawn to this because, frankly, it slowed down the performance of the website. I made a note of this and would like to incorporate it into my pop up exhibition in the Miller Gallery.
Themes in Meerdo's Work:
-material: digital/analog marriage
-social change
-metallics juxtaposed with bright colors
Things that interested me:
-integration of technology through the subtle use of reflective material
-TEXTURES
-diversity of scale
Post-Crit:
After pinning up this moodboard, I stepped back and noticed that my focus had been lost amongst the loud images I had chosen to feature. One of my critiques was that I lacked a unifying color palette, which I completely agreed with. In hindsight, I reflected that I was too interested in textures I associated with his work and glossed over color palette.
It was really interesting to see all the moodboards together because of the diversity of interpretations. My classmate Helen had chosen Christopher Meerdo as her artist as well and it's notable just how different our two boards were. Her board had a strong color theme and a cooler aura about it; in contrast with my own, which was very bright and loud, with a focus on texture.