Visualizing the Intangible: An Exploration into Non-Objective Portraiture
April 27 2020 - May 11 2020
A virtual exhibition featured on our Facebook, Instagram (@ocamochaumbc), and Website. Artists include ryy casper, Alexandra Slezak, Zoe Balderson, Cameron Matthew Thorn, Katelynn Herty, Bess Lumsden, and Zach Manuel.
Objective means unbiased, impartial, or impersonal. It does not deal in the subjective truth of others, it is without ego. By contrast, non-objective denotes pure ego. It parades multiple subjective truths and champions intuition rather than dispassionate realism. With non-objectivity, the personal is irrevocably intertwined with the creator’s truth. Casting aside appearances lends itself to a spiritualization of art in which the soul may purely shine through, and all that is left is a direct experience of the artist’s reality.
Whether we are trying to capture a likeness of ourselves, others, or the world we live in, non-objective portraiture is our aim to present reality as we see it. Through creating our realities on canvases, we allow them to become our own personal version of the truth, rather than an illusory concept.
Non-objective art’s detachment from realistic representation begs the artist to chase after and pin down their own version of reality without using the crutch of realism in subject material. Only when we move away from transcribing our external world are we able to uncover the truth of how we see and interact with the world.
- Curated by Hannah Bashar, UMBC 2020
“What the artist is always looking for is the mode of existence in which soul and body are one and indivisible...truth in art is the unity of a thing with itself: the outward rendered expressive of the inward; the soul made incarnate; the body instinct with spirit”
- Oscar Wilde
"questions 4 u" by ryy casper, (2020), 750 × 421, digital photo
"stable pillar, nervous mirror" by ryy casper, (2020), 750 × 719, digital photo
"spring unearthed this hollow" by ryy casper, (2020), 750 × 1334, digital photo
ryy casper (Instagram: @___ryytm___000) is a Cinematic Arts BFA student at UMBC. They initiated the UMBC16mm film archive project and are working on it currently. They experiment with layering and distorting of images both found and taken by iPhone.
Their works include:
1. "questions 4 u", (2020), 750 × 421, digital photo
2. "stable pillar, nervous mirror", (2020), 750 × 719, digital photo
3. "spring unearthed this hollow", (2020), 750 × 1334, digital photo
Figuration can be understood as arbitrary; a portrait can experiment with many realms of vision. Poetry is latent in an image and made manifest through their absorptions and connection. these images are portraits in the sense of their creations marking the portrayal of certain kinds of Time in connection with certain presences around me; these are ephemeral and ghostly portraits...both here and there, and potentially no and everywhere; they are fluid in their (un)intelligibility toward affect and emotion.
Rye Eyes by Alexandra Slezak, (2019), 36” x 24” x 0.75”, Ink, acrylic, pencil, metal shreds on canvas
Alexandra Slezak (Instagram: @looneymoonsarts) is a mixed media artist living and working in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA creating bespoke paintings and found object/recycled art sculptures that emphasize an awareness of our connection to the environment.
Her work above is:
Rye Eyes, (2019), 36” x 24” x 0.75”, Ink, acrylic, pencil, metal shreds on canvas
The discovery and development of her voice and vision have been integral parts of Slezak's journey as an artist and human. This self-portrait was painted in an energetic blitzkrieg, that became an absolving exploration of a continuous internal effort to maintain that clarity in environments and experiences that can challenge the strength of insight, voice, and vision. See more of her work at www.looneymoons.com
“3 Sticks of Deodorant” by Zoe Balderson, (2020), 24” x 30”, oil on canvas
“Soft Moments” by Zoe Balderson, (2019), 12 5x7” arranged in a grid, watercolor
“Back Again” by Zoe Balderson, (2019), 22 x 24”, oil on canvas
Zoe Balderson's (Instagram: @zmbart) practice is focused on creating a visual narrative that explores the idea of home. Balderson explore this concept and the more abstract ideas of belonging and intimacy by documenting objects and moments from her personal domestic sphere mainly through the means of naturalistic painting.
Her works include:
1. “3 Sticks of Deodorant”, (2020), 24” x 30”, oil on canvas
2. “Soft Moments”, (2019), 12 5x7” arranged in a grid, watercolor
3. “Back Again”, (2019), 22 x 24”, oil on canvas
While still based heavily in painting, Balderson's practice is becoming more interdisciplinary, incorporating textile and installation based work. By decontextualizing and abstracting artifacts of her own personal domestic life, she reflects upon the idea of home in a more abstract capacity as something that is ever evolving. See more of her works at Zoebalderson.com
Forbidden: 6000x4000 Pixels, Photography, Created; December 6, 2019
Blue Twilight: 6000x4000 Pixels, Photography, Created; December 6,2019
Pictorial Clouds: 6000x4000 Pixels, Photography, Created; December 6, 2019
Around the time, Cameron Matthew Thorn became interested with the sort of surreal reality that photography creates, especially in the monochromatic settings.
His works include:
1. “Forbidden” by Cameron Matthew Thorn, (December 6, 2019), 6000 x 4000 Pixels, Photography
2. “Blue Twilight” by Cameron Matthew Thorn, (December 6, 2019), 6000 x 4000 Pixels, Photography
3. “Pictorial Clouds” by Cameron Matthew Thorn, (December 6, 2019), 6000 x 4000 Pixels, Photography
These separate pieces represent an alternate world, empty, yet alive at the same time, such as the shadowy figure in "Forbidden." The photos prompt Thorn to contemplate the nature of the universe, as if this is what it would look like, if it didn't exist. It would just continue to live, not needing humanity in the slightest. This is the magic he experiences when they use a photographic medium.
“Chaos Theory” by Katelynn Herty, (2020), 17” x 21”, Mixed Media
Katelynn Herty (instagram: @makestudiobmore) jumped back into her art practice fairly recently by focusing on acrylic landscape and seascape paintings (“anything without people”). She also enjoys embroidery and knitting, and wants to further explore oil pastels and watercolor.
Her work above is:
“Chaos Theory”, (2020), 17” x 21”, Mixed Media
“Grayscale Geography” by Bess Lumsden, (2020), 23” x 30”, Mixed Media
Bess Lumsden (instagram: @makestudiobmore) volunteers at The Howard P. Rawling Conservatory when not engaging in a variety of creative pursuits at her home or at Make Studio. She often says she’s been making art “all my life!” She especially enjoys costume and set design, Japanese anime, and gothic and magical themes, which predominate in her artwork.
Her work above is:
“Grayscale Geography”, (2020), 23” x 30”, Mixed Media
She values her own open-minded nature, and an ongoing concern for her is that individuals are too often prejudged by others on their appearance or other preconceived notions. “I am not sure what the future holds. You may have one idea and then it can change, but I will still be painting.
“A Vortex that Absorbs Art” by Zach Manuel, (2019), 18.5” x 18.5”, Acrylic Paint and Markers
“Candy Catacombs by Zach Manuel, (2019), 20” x 24”, Mixed Media
Zach Manuel (instagram: @makestudiobmore) draws his inspiration from animation as well as real life, and often weaves reflections about art-making, dreams, emotional states, and his personal experiences of autism into his artwork. Zach is a graduate of the Harbor School. “It’s best to keep trying new things, keep experimenting. Sometimes your experiments work, sometimes it may take a little time.
His works include:
1. “A Vortex that Absorbs Art” by Zach Manuel, (2019), 18.5” x 18.5”, Acrylic Paint and Markers
2. “Candy Catacombs by Zach Manuel, (2019), 20” x 24”, Mixed Media
The text on “Candy Catacombs” reads: “Candy Catacombs Temporary Holding Area The holding cells have walls made of cookies with rock underneath. The floors are covered in soft marshmellow mats, ideal for sleeping, a fountain of soda water pours from the ceiling for drinking. Lady Eclair of Eatiblus tries to make her guests as cozy as possible, warping items to them with her cosmonia emerald and creating holograms for their amusement. Eclair is a voice of reason to her mother, Queen Shocolat, who is paranoid of outsiders stealing the candy plants of Eatiblus island, especially Americans. Eclair kindly questions them and appeals to her mother to release them, as she has many times before.” “The candy cells are not a bad place to spend a few days. The only drawback is the latrine being a pit leading to the sewer and hay being T.P. Thankfully, there are bricks of soap gel in the walls for cleansing the hands.” “Remember to Close The Lid”