Mystery

The concept is beautiful dangerous jewelry. It looks beautiful but it is actually dangerous like Famme Fatale. Be mysterious. Don’t let everybody know what you are feeling or what’s going on. Gorgeous Color(Poisonous color) and multiful layers might stimulate viewers curious about it when they appreciate.

Workshoe

This image was taken with a toy camera called the Holga. I like the playfulness the Holga allows with its intentional light leaks and vignettes. In my work I intend to blend narrative and ephemeral styles of photography with editorial or journalistic styles of documenting. I also create books and films using my photography.

Week 8

My image of choice illustrates a fictitious wolf-bear consuming a person’s head as he pokes its eye in confidently with his index finger. Not only is he poking in an eye but he also is grasping a clump of the beasts fur while giving a thumbs up. Classic, right? The piece is titled “Week 8” and was created exactly halfway through the semester. The work is a self-portrait directly related to my relationship with the UW Graduate program at that point in time. Every time I look at this print I chuckle a bit to myself while shaking my head in my mind. What a great semester!

Combatsue

One of my primary reasons for attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was, with so many diversely talented colleagues, the lush opportunity for collaboration. The Introduction to Graduate Studies seminar with Laurie Beth Clark provided an introductory opportunity for such adventures. In this class, I collaborated with no fewer than five of my classmates on separate projects, and during the course of creating each one I learned a great deal about process and compromise as well as a lot about myself as an artist. Sometimes when you become consumed and isolated in your own artwork, you can fail to see the obvious. This is a detail of a piece that I have been working on with Shawn Everette, an artist whose medium is primarily glass. We combined glass in its different forms with crocheted fabrics and fiberglass yarn and fused them in the kiln to see what effects the materials would have on each other under heat. We are continuing to experiment with three pieces even further, exposing them to different temperatures, slumping them, etc. It is my hope that what remains of my graduate school career will be peppered with such collaborations. :)

Picture of Cloud Gate

This picture is a looking forward and looking back. This is a picture of the view from on top of Mount Roberts, Alaska and Heejin’s picture of me at The Cloud Gate taken on our field trip this semester. It was in Alaska that it first became clear to me to start the pursuit of an art practice in earnest. It just seemed very clear to me. The trip to Chicago was definitely a high point in the first semester here in Madison. The cloud gate sculpture creates a beautiful reflective space. This picture brings together two important moments in my artistic career thus far. There is work ahead but there has been work accomplished as well. I look at this image of two different yet related times and feel all right. Onward!

Studio Picture

More time was spent in this room than wasn’t, and while several projects I worked on are visible in the photo it is the space itself that, for me, signifies what I’ve done creatively. It is a reminder that any relic of the effort to communicate in this way is part of a larger process beyond the relic’s own fixity, and is itself lived experience: that art is a verb.

Apple

I read an essay “art and objecthood” by Michael Fried, in my metal research class with Lisa. I was always wondering the line between 2D and 3D, but while I was reading this essay, I again thought about what makes one work a painting and what makes one work a 3D object. Seven paintings/objects put in a row ask people which one seems a painting and which is not. It consists of a traditional canvas—since everyone I asked, and myself come up with a canvas painting when asked what is a painting—a cube canvas, and a rectangle paper marché panel, a hemisphere paper marché panel, and a metal half apple, a full apple and a flat grisaille apple. 2D canvas painting of apple becomes a 3D metal apple and flatten again to speak that dimension does not matter to make a “object.” You can’t really tell from which it becomes 3D object. I chose the subject, an apple since an apple’s seed does not carry its own unique character—every seed contains different character; if you want a specific character of one apple tree, you need to take some branch of it, and implant it to soil directly, not from the seed. This diverseness of apple has a dialogue with diverseness of person’s view of 2Dness and 3Dness.

Armadillo

I made this piece during my first two months at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The hand-tinted etching was an attempt to push myself and work differently than I had before. Although I retained the style that I had developed before coming to school, this piece was useful in helping me locate new avenues for content and observe my approach and fascination with process.

Lacuna (Conduit)

The title of this multimedia piece is Lacuna (Conduit). The video: The artist, wearing a gray suit, attempts, with a jar in hand, to catch a wave. He is knocked down by it, and never understands that catching it, makes the wave, no longer a wave. The drawings are yet another feeble attempt to capture the wave. The physical representation of the clothing and the jar act as evidence of the act.

https://andrewsalyer.com/

Homesick

This sculpture is a plot of land known as, “3097 Ironbound Rd.” This location is where I used to live in Williamsburg,Virginia for the span of 12 months and sixteen days, or from dates of August 1, 2008 – August 17, 2009. At this location a set of four tires marked the boundaries creating my own state. At this location a series of changes in my life occurred for the better granting me a more positive outlook on life. It was a place where the back porch was used everyday. It was a place where friends would honk and wave as they pass by. It was a place where the yard was littered with artifacts left behind from previous tenants. It was a place that I hold very dear to my heart and cherish the memories that comfort me. Making this piece was created out of comfort in a new territory where the people around me made an environment that is positive and fully charged of creativity. Working around many other talented artists in a close community helps the mind to produce results in the studio and learn more in a gracious setting.

Alter to the Other

This semester I have started a project that is tentatively titled Alter to the Other. In this piece I am continuing an investigation of cultural signifiers and specifically religious iconography. This piece is consisting of homogenized symbolism taken from my personal history. Growing up in a culture of disconnect (disconnect from my ancestral lines of identity as well as a disinterest in the prescribed cultural identity of a capitalist society) I have decided to build a new and sincere set of identifying traditions, stories, and spiritual guides.

Rooflines

My studio practice this semester has been exploratory – encompassing a variety of media, techniques, and formats. Featured is a shot of an outdoor installation I completed early in the semester. Though my work has not been directly affected by the seminar class, the sense of community and ongoing conversations that have resulted from the class have nurtured my creativity. Additionally, maintaining a blog has become an appreciated aspect of my artistic production.

Grandma’s Lamp Ring was a piece designed to help me delve deeper into my interest of found objects and learning new techniques. The base of the lamp is made if an old glass perfume bottle that omits the smell of grandma’s perfume. Along with this miniature lamp and table, i also made the lamp able to light up. I was thinking about the lighting within the gallery and what i would be like to create a piece that lighted itself. This piece takes something and makes it as tiny as it possibly can, create a juxtaposition is something that looks like it should be in a dollhouse, on your finger.

Battlesapian

Had been studying the violence and anonymity of children’s games- specifically Parker Brothers’ Battleship. I wanted to enlarge the scale and bring humans back into the game. You can place a little red peg in a plastic game piece and it will not mean that much. I built a 34′ X 14′ game board and replaced the ships with humans wrapped in gray felt. Hits were recorded with over-sized “hit pegs” that exploded a blood pack when placed on a “game piece.”

Barrier

This piece was inspired by reading “Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. On eof the main points of the book was the fact that — the ways we struggles in life are the ways that we struggles in art making. It is important for me to continuously fight against and move through these things and make the most powerful work that I can… to move closer and closer to working at my full potential (a loaded word for sure). I have been very interested in layers in my work as well as literal and psychological barriers. This piece says “There is a barrier between me and making work at my potential” over and over again, layered up multiple times. The piece is approximately 5.5 feet x 13 feet. It was installed in one of the main entry ways to the art lofts building at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Melanoma

This picture represents my work this semester because it is the first piece I’ve made here, and I spent most of the semester working on it. This piece is still very relatable to the work I did in undergrad, but shows changes (in texture and style) that I’ve experimented with. It also shows potential for which direction my work might go. I’ve been told that my work will change a lot in grad school, and this piece is probably a good representation of the first piece a graduate student would make because there is some change but it is still very similar to my work before grad school.

Chupacabra

I feel this piece is representational of my work and my experience so far in grad school. This piece was done as a final project for my Life Drawing course this semester. I began the project after a conversation that I had with a fellow artist about how our whole idea about identity is completely circumstantial and based on our environmental influences. I created a flow chart featuring the different environments that I have lived and worked in, and attempted to figure out who I would be today had I stayed in said environment. I came up with 5 distinct alternate reality identities for myself, all with specific traits. After a few over-the-top solutions, I opted for a more subtle approach. I think the idea behind the work is particularly poignant now, as I’ve submersed myself in yet another environment in which my sense of self with be affected by.

Gear and Chain

This class was designed/ laid out as a visual map that came together as a puzzle. To me the puzzle pieces represented all the different elements that someway fit together. I think of making a puzzle where there is frustration and anticipation. It is also a time-consuming event but at the end you feel this sense of accomplishment when you place that last piece in and you can sit back and look in amazement as each individual piece fits together perfectly to make a final image. I decided to select an image of a world map and not any map as I feel this allows one to capture the big picture that you need to take you on your path to completion. I feel that this class was extremely valuable in that allowed the student to learn as we worked and struggled to complete the tasks assigned each week. All the tasks assigned were things that are important to ensure our success as a graduate student and an artist, such as collaborative work, creating websites to promote ourselves and our work, and the development of working relationships with our professors. In the end all the pieces of the puzzle came together to reveal a roadmap to achieve success as a student and an artist.

Ladder Chair

Here is a picture of my first completed piece at UW-Madison. This was based off of a series of chair forms that I’ve been researching.This may be the last of these type of chair pieces but I’m not exactly sure. The piece is made of Poplar, maple, and paint.

Worm Apartment Mini Stationary Kit

Throughout the semester, the 908 seminar class read and discussed a multitude of ideas relating to the visual processing of information. Most beneficial to me were the dialogues my classmates had relating their own perceptions of art, and their physical and emotive states while viewing it. I became fixated on the tactile and textural qualities of my work, and how I could potentially manipulate the viewer’s interaction with it. The 908 seminar provided a constant information feedback loop for processing new ideas and reiterating old ones.

Gateway

Collaboration

Through the past semester I have developed a strong level of communication with my peers within the Art 908 course. The relationships created will be used as a base for collaboration and critique for my future work.

Gleaning

This image shows me amidst an experiment in crawling. I awoke to the sound of rain. I looked out the window and watched how the birds and the squirrels reacted to the rain, how the earth was softening. I wondered what it would be like to make my spine parallel to the earth. I decided to experiment with crawling. I crawled through a corn-field, over the grass and amongst the milkweed. When I awoke that day, I felt excited. The idea came to me between sleep and wakefulness. It was one of the most fulfilling creative experiences of the semester. Mostly because I took my body down to the earth, forced a (much needed) immersion into nature. I chose this image because in the midst of my crawling experiment (out in the field at Doug Rosenberg and Li Chiao-Ping’s land), Doug snapped a picture. I am grateful that this photo documents the experiment. The image represents my work for our class (and this first semester in graduate school) in the sense that it documents me, at the beginning of a process, amidst a very lush landscape, open to the experiment. When I look at the picture: I see myself, alone in that landscape, with a teacher taking notice and snapping a picture. I see my body, cold and wet, but completely satisfied.

Head

My work deals with a constant search into memories both fabricated and original. Through drawing as my form of expression I am aloud to imagine and analyze, simultaneously. My current series of works strive to adjust to overreaching boundaries of Printed/Drawn imagery.

Luxurious Still Life

My work deals with the ideas of luxury and the aesthetics of high-end, luxury items. I try to use these aesthetics to pass off less than luxurious art supplies as something more. I am trying to get closer to these items that I can’t afford by creating a body of falsely luxurious pieces.

Collaboration

I have chosen a photograph documenting the interactions between Amelia Toelke and myself during a collaborative project as my image to sum up Graduate Seminar 908. This photograph seemed to be the most fitting as it includes the most enlightening elements I experienced in the class; working closely with others, broadening your social sphere with driven individuals and finding answers by listening to other’s perceptions. Through the many assignments of this course I have come to know people from all walks of art on a deeper level whether it be through studio visits, attending lectures, meeting up at a coffee shop or simply talking about what we really thought about the readings. It was a great introductory experience complete with homemade breakfasts and faculty panels. If you happen to be reading this out loud in front of class give Laurie Beth a grin for me, because she is really giving it her all to make sure you guys are getting a varied perspective on what this whole graduate adventure is about.