No description available.

<p> More so than any other time in history, humans are being exposed to an enormity of digital images every day. The internet, combined with accompanying technological advancements in cellular communication has created an exceptionally chaotic visual experience within the daily lives of millions of people. Through the use of digital photomontage, my artwork attempts to quantify and evaluate the impact that thousands of digital images may have on the emotional and psychological state of human beings. Concurrently, I am in interested exploring the mental repercussions of visual overload, specifically, how chaotic digital experiences may impact the quality of the human condition as a whole. I use the internet to recontextualize found images through a variety of digital manipulation methods to create a system of aesthetic and conceptual relationships. Each collage is comprised equally from images I have produced myself, and appropriated images found on the internet to indicate the increasingly ambiguous boundary between our physical and virtual realities. I often use images that imply a war-like opposition between our natural and technological environments. I believe such images are indicative of the conflicts that take place on a psychological plane of consciousness within our minds every day as we strive to cope with our new digital reality brought forth by rapid technological advancement.</p>

<p> This thesis analyzes the reception of the work of contemporary artist Kara Walker and the critical debates it has engendered. Walker's work has received a mixed reception over the past twenty years: while she has won prestigious awards and received international acclaim, her work also enrages many African American artists and scholars who accuse her of perpetuating racist ideologies and insensitively mocking the history of suffering endured by slaves. I trace three major points within the critical reception of the artist's work: a letter writing campaign in 1997 initiated by the artist Betye Saar; the 2009 publication of the book, <i>Kara Walker&mdash;No/Kara Walker&mdash;Yes/Kara Walker&mdash;?</i>; and the veiling of Walker's work in 2012 in a New Jersey public library. I argue how Walker's strategy of employing "negative imagery" challenges the viewer to critically engage racist stereotypes on complex multifaceted levels.</p>

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<p> The introduction of Japanese art and culture to the Western world prompted a powerful response from an entire generation of artists, writers, and musicians, including a gifted American artist named Bertha Lum. Lum travelled to Japan in the early 1900s to train with Japanese masters in the design, cutting, and printing of woodblock prints. Lum was a passionate exponent of <i> Japonisme,</i> and a study of her work illuminates how this phenomenon manifested itself in American art and culture.</p><p> In cultural and artistic terms, <i>Japonisme</i> emerged as a selective interpretation of Asian culture, a conveniently constructed image that reinforced the ideals of many at the turn of the last century. For graphic artists like Lum, the example of Japanese art provided leverage against the weight of European classicism, championed the role of the decorative arts, exemplified exquisite handcraft, and epitomized an art of natural beauty and grace.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1980. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 246-266).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 19893. / Title from title page screen, viewed Oct. 13, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Jack A. Hobbs (chair), Marilyn P. Newby, Robert M. Steinman, Patricia H. Klass. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-73) and abstract. Also available in print.

Diss.--Göttingen. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 311-324.

No description available.