Thesis Proposal

I have always been curious about things, usually involving issues emotional and distant. Why do people get upset? Why are people religious? Why and how do people say things? It’s true that I too get upset, have been religious and say things, but that is only one perspective in the great mass of perspectives. I realized in college that there were already people who do this for a living, wonder about things, state their opinions and doubt their surroundings— philosophers. What could I learn from them? How could my reality be changed by someone else’s? Philosophy began to sit on the same plane for me as everything else that entered my daily routine. Sizes of coffee cups, greeting cards, and bonus offers started to have the power to convey as much meaning as a philosophical text. As I’m becoming more and more interested in philosophy, my work has become quite centered around it. Making art about the various concepts I’m encountering helps me understand those things all the more. Sometimes rendering the front cover of a book I’m reading is just another way of understanding the ‘material’. My interest in my cultural identity has joined forces with my interest in philosophy and in turn has funneled my reading list down to a few thinkers (although not limited to): Baruch Spinoza, Søren Kierkegaard, and Isaac Deutscher. Excommunicated, alienated and disillusioned, these thinkers truly questioned their surroundings. The act of looking to people who have had a much greater struggle than I in sorting through a milieu of cultural information has created a dramatic gap and an exciting area to work within. I am working from a position of supposed authority, giving myself the freedom to turn accumulated assumptions into valid1 theories. Through the lens of various thinkers, I am able to view my current position as a solid area of residence, not just a place of temporary uncertainty. I have found the benefits of ‘setting up camp’ in a nonplace much more exciting than being included in some sort of group. To clarify, my interest in the hard-to-define ‘middle ground’ has surpassed my initial intention of playing with the idea, and has become a solid stance I will embody. Continuing to explore various areas of interest, I’d like to build towards a body of work that steadfastly reinforces my position (both teams), while continuing to question and work through the vast mass of cultural material I keep approaching. I have been looking at various sources for the building of my own theories within my work. I’ve recently discovered connections between the writing of David Foster Wallace and the stand-up of Jerry Seinfeld. Both of these men are investigators, pointing out things that are usually considered ‘great’ by mass culture. They expose the hideous underbelly of things like Carribean cruises, coffee, lobster and cell phones, and link them to our 1

The word valid here is relative

basic human need to survive. I admire the way they both confront and demystify common products and practices. I take cues from these cultural investigators, using an overly perceptive ‘sixth sense’, rather than pure and simple criticism. My research thus far into areas of philosophy, theory, sociology and social practices has infiltrated my thinking and created an expanded interdisciplinary practice. The work done in my first year of study will continue to grow and act as informative evidence of research and unearthing.