Writing

Some research papers that illustrate my voice and thoughts about art history.

Working With Wood: A Negotiation of Power

People have tried to manifest their ideas in wood throughout history. This feat is no easy task since a wooden form may be manipulated and presented as a completed object; however, there are idiosyncratic factors and parameters when working with wood that one must contend with. Seen within Horyu-ji, Enku’s Jizo, and my own artwork, conceptual ideas were realized in tandem with the wood’s physical properties, ritualistic handling, and cultural relevance.

The Paradox of “Public” Art: A Closer Look At Its Place

How can it be that art within the public realm has come to be one of the most elated yet denigrated forms of art? On one side of the urban landscape, art represents the cultural identity of the citizens within a community, while simultaneously being unsightly vandalism on the other. In particular, graffiti, street art, and federally funded public art are three categories that have shown pressing needs to be sorted out ethically and hold particular gravity in minority communities.  

The Eternal Gaze

Contrary to typical depictions of the patriarchal structure of society, in 1878, Mary Cassatt offered a strong female subject in Le Loge since she depicted an upper-class woman actively engaged in the act of looking- rather than idly sitting by to be looked at. Using a meta-realist perspective, Cassatt exposes the illusion of projected identity and triviality of high-society by including the viewer in an infinite loop of gazing. In doing so, she raises a lone heroine up against a sexist society and subverts the popular generalizations of “progress” and modernization during the mid to late 1800’s.