Alexandre Singh Questions/Response

There are multiple artists making work about consumerist culture. What makes your work different? Do you think you are above consuming?


What sparked your interest in mythical tales, and why are they useful in your art?

Proof of Submission to Competitions

VCU Women's Studies Show

VMFA Fellowship

Idea: Longing

Longing- A yearning desire

When I originally started exploring the idea of isolation and separation I tried to convey a positive idea. I wanted to show that being alone could be a great thing, and encourage others to spend more time with themselves. Recently I've been trying to show the other side. Being alone isn't as appealing to me now because my boyfriend recently moved eight hours away. I discovered that I need to clarify my concept of isolation by adding another word, longing, to the idea. In my work I'm trying to convey not only separation, but a longing to not be separated. To be a part of, close to, or share an experience with someone else.

Quotes:
“What is a thousand years? Time is short for one who thinks, endless for one who yearns.”

"Weeks went by, then months. I am speaking of a far-away time - a vanished happiness. It fell to me to befriend, to console with whatever words I could find, one who had been the fairy, the princess, the mysterious love-dream of our adolescence - and it fell to me because my companion had fled. Of that period ... what can I say? I've kept a single image of that time, and it is already fading: the image of a lovely face grown thin and of two eyes whose lids slowly droop as they glance at me, as if her gaze was unable to dwell on anything but an inner world. " 

Both quotes from Le Grand Meaulnes by Henri Alan-Fournier

Annotated Bib:
Le grand Meaulnes by Henri Alan-Fournier
Alan-Fournier is considered a classic French Novelist even though he only produced this one novel before being killed in War. The novel is about his longing for a lost world of delight, with the love of his life. There are many descriptions of the character's longing for his love.

Film still from production of Le Grand Meaulnes

Graduate School Applications

Pratt Institute- Brooklyn, NY

Master of Fine Art with concentration in Photography

U.S News and World Report rating of 3.7, number 15

Why I am interested in the school, and what looks unique about the program:
(From Pratt's website) "Pratt is not a school of a specific type of work. Although the students apply in an area of emphasis, the program is designed to encourage a wide variety of interdisciplinary and cross- disciplinary study. It is our goal to encourage students to develop their vision in ways they could not have anticipated before arriving at Pratt. The Faculty, all of whom are practicing artists, are incredibly generous in their interactions with students, bringing with them an interest in conceptual ideas along with a respect for the achievement of craft.

Degree requirements include nine credits in art criticism/history and six credits in the liberal arts. Twenty-seven elective credits may be used for a wide variety of interdisciplinary, studio, or technical courses in any graduate level studio class in the Institute.

All full time students pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree and are taking 12 credits are guaranteed a studio for four consecutive semesters.
Full time photography majors pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree may utilize semi-private darkrooms."

I don't want to stay specifically concentrated in photography in grad school, so the way Pratt's program is run is appealing to me. I like that they encourage learning from other disciplines, and require a good amount of elective credits.

Pratt Faculty: Mickalene Thomas

bio

Pratt Graduate: Elizabeth Stehling
bio

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CUNY- Hunter College
Art Studio MFA

U.S. News and World Report rating of 3.6, number 21

Why I am interested in the school, and what looks unique about the program:
(From Hunter's website): "Graduateprograms are wide-ranging, affordable, acclaimed and student-centered. They combine extraordinary faculty; real-world training in the heart of Manhattan; an exceptionally diverse, stimulating student population; uncommon respect for your abilities and your time; and unparalleled support for your goals. All at an exceptional value."

I like that this school offers an art studio degree, instead of a degree concentrated in photography. This school is extremely competitive, but I like that it is prestigious because I know I will be getting a great education. I love that it is "affordable" and in New York, which I thought were mutually exclusive attributes until I did this research.

Hunter Graduate: Julia Jacquette
bio

Hunter Faculty: Paul Ramirez Jonas

bio

Zoe Beloff Questions/Response

1. Do you associate yourself with other art movements in history that explored the unconscious processes of the mind?

2. Why is film the best medium to communicate your ideas?

- - -

- What was the most interesting quote of the lecture and why?

"Albert Grass and I are one in the same."

Throughout the entire lecture I thought I was in history class! I was wondering where the art was... then at the very end I realized the entire presentation was her art, her creations. The end was definitely my favorite part of the lecture. 

- Using three words, define the core of the artist's practice and artwork.

artifice

narrative

historical

- What is the most interesting thing you learned about the artist that you did not know before?
The artist entirely fabricates the information she bases her "studies" on. The historical information is loosely based on true history, but the narratives are false.

- Do you know the answer to your two original questions? If so, what are the answers?
I don't really have an answer to the first question, although she did mention something about surrealists.

She did answer my second question which was: Why is film the best medium to communicate your ideas? She said the creates the story first, and the narrative then determines the medium. She does not choose film and then the project, it's always the other way around. Each project she described has a slightly different reason as to why it was filmed. The first project about the disturbed mental patients were based on (fabricated) series of photos and manuscripts documenting their states that she felt were just shy of sound movies.

- What image or artwork do you find the most compelling and powerful after hearing the artist describe it?
The Coney Island Dreamland and Amateur Psychoanalytical Society is the most fascinating now that I know all of it is fiction. All of the plans and comics she presented as being done by other characters in history all seemed so real, and extremely elaborate.

- Do you have any new questions in regards to the artist?

Are you truly schizophrenic, like the mental patients you've dreamed up?

Artist: Melanie Bonajo

Melanie Bonajo's photographs function almost as a catalog of things she sees in her head, or things she thinks about throughout the day. They are not serious, they are not formal, they don't stick to a particular style. In an interview she states that some she doesn't even consider photographs, in a traditional sense, because the lighting and composition don't matter. I wish I had the courage to make work like this. This is my dream. I don't like to make formal photographs, and I despise technicalities. Melanie Bonajo's work is refreshing.

bio

Quotes:

"My ideas are jingles in my head, they come to me. To be able to make a song i have to give stucture to the melodies, like i have to put the thoughts and idea's into matter to be able to impart the information and touch someone like it touched me first. My work is an irregular impulse of experiences and aesthetic enjoyments stemming from the questions I have and the things that I know. I am not interested in a particular truth or a common reality, but I do have to understand and embody my truth, which I find from looking within. Although these things might be universal, consequently, questioning myself leads to the act of questioning you. Nothing should control the spirit."

-from artist statement on fette gallery website

"I create wonder with vengeance about the true nature of things, from my point of view. This outcome – art - must hit someone with its mental and emotional power so you can feel what you see. You can not turn your head away. I believe our language has to be physical in order to touch someone. After any word or image which is a collection of many words hids energy.Holding your gaze upon my photographs is an invitation to play. Confrontation can be liberating but it can also be bizarre. Melancholy and humor are important aspects for me. It might hurt a little, too."

-from artist statement on fette gallery website

interview

gallery 1

gallery 2

artist's website