AbstractPAINT MEDIATIONS Theresa Faye Pfarr, Master of Fine ArtA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Art at Virginia Commonwealth University.Virginia Commonwealth University, 2004Major Director: Ruth Bolduan Associate Professor, Painting and Printmaking DepartmentMy paintings are contentions. I work in response, answer, and reaction to the media world. I carry a collection of incongruent images in my mind, bits and parts of the images I deal with everyday. The images stuff my mailbox, clutter my space and get in my head. I am questioning, though praising, the exploits of advertising and its mode of symbolic function. Whether their exploits are ethical is really of no concern to me in comparison to our cultural belief systems, which allow them. Advertising doesn't exploit children more than they are exploited already. In my paint investigations I forge and draw parallels to relocate meaning, as does the media. Through painting figure into space and space into figure things begin to dissolve or evolve, making the paintings both figure and of figure. The children in my paintings claim their spaces and close out the adult world.

This study reappraises the role and value of statues (i.e. the figure as sculpture) in order to determine what happens when we encounter these objects. The consideration and construction of statues in my studio practice has generated specific insights into statues as person-shaped objects and into our encounter with these objects. From the perspective of a practice making statues this study addresses how, through the encounter, statues both stimulate and obscure our perceptions of them as objects. My practitioner's understanding of statues is articulated and enlarged by developing methods which allowed me to gain an expanded perspective of my practice, through data collected from conversations about statues, and via a subsequent diffractive dialogue with concepts gleaned from other disciplines. This research process has revealed specific characteristics of the encounter, and of statues themselves, that have been excluded or obscured by familiar assumptions and theories, such as a tacit consideration of statues that allows us to be unsettled by their nudity, or the role touch plays in considering statues, and ultimately the history of the object itself. These findings are considered through a sustained engagement with Object Oriented Ontology (after Harman). Through this process, my initial findings are subsequently expanded and further enhance a re-conception of the encounter and of statues as objects. Finally, I argue for the importance of considering this reappraisal of the role the encounter with statues could play in revealing and reframing our relations with objects more generally.

This dissertation explores the emergence of figuration in prehistoric China. It approaches the topic by focusing on image-makers’ engagement with the materials they used to fashion figural works. Chapter 1 presents a survey of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images created from the Epipaleolithic through the Neolithic periods. It highlights a multiplicity of forms, materials and representational approaches while uncovering recurring patterns. Chapter 2 introduces the principal theories scholars have applied to discuss this corpus, and draws out their similarity with paradigms used in Western scholarship on prehistoric art. The discussion further draws attention to a bi-directional influence exerted on the reception of prehistoric imagery in Europe and China. Chapter 3 focuses on images produced prior to or around 5,000 BCE, and repositions their emergence in the context of broader interests in materiality and representation. The analysis uncovers trends and explores circumstances that notably led image-makers separated in time and space to represent human heads as flat entities. Chapter 4 investigates the role of pareidolia in the emergence of images. It reveals that perceptive imagination informed the creation of some works, when craftspeople drew inspiration from forms in raw materials or artifacts. Chapter 5 explores the possibility that image-makers sought to achieve material-representation synergies. The discussion presents a new taxonomic model addressing materiality and the sensory channels through which figurative images are perceived, and it describes how these factors possibly constituted a core aspect of mimesis. The analysis proposes that some image-makers employed both visual and tactile qualities of substances to represent animals and human beings.

My work explores domesticity, the role reversal happening in the family dynamics, the banality of home life, and the common escapism that occurs in parents. Men play a larger role in the home and women play a larger role outside the home blurring the lines of responsibility and changing expectations. This emasculating process often creates a power struggle within the home. These common issues are the fodder for my artistic practice. Domestic pattern, utility, sexual frustration, chaos and contentment all play a part.

The main purpose of this thesis was to explore if there existed one single underlying semiotic function for representation. The problem was examined from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. In the first part of this thesis the theoretical considerations about Piaget's hypothesis of a single semiotic function are described and compared with a number of alternative approaches. The hypothesis is critically analyzed and its limitations are pointed out. In the second part of this thesis the empirical studies are reported. One of the guiding lines for the experiments performed was the distinction made by Piaget between figurative and operative aspects of representation. The main conclusions to be drawn from the four studies were that they all supported, however tentatively, Piagets hypothesis of a single underlying semiotic function. In terms of figurative and operative aspects of cognition it was concluded that the underlying form (the operative aspect) at different ages is constant across the different representation modes. The differences found in the figurative aspect of representation were bound to the representation media, and could vary as a function of media, task demands and individual differences. In the third part of this thesis problems with representation media and task demands are discussed together with research in related areas of the semiotic function. The general conclusions drawns from this thesis were that there might exist a single underlying semiotic function for representation. The issue is neither simple nor uncomplicated. The distinction made between the figurative and operative aspect of representation is considered as one attempt to narrow down the generality of the hypothesis, and to distinguish between what is expected to be a universal aspect of the semiotic function and what varies as a function of media, task demands and individual-, social- , and cultural differences. / digitalisering@umu

The use of figurative language can be found in all kinds of texts but the manner it is used differs. This piece of work deals with the frequency of the use of metaphors in general and the distribution of its three subcategories - new, conventional and dead metaphors - in articles from a broadsheet paper and a tabloid. Ten articles, five from The New York Times and five from the New York Daily News, were analyzed and scrutinized for metaphors. The analysis and the categorisation of the metaphors point towards that there should be a higher frequency of metaphors in the broadsheet paper and that the distribution of the subkinds is the same in the two papers. However, results state that there is a great range of variation in the frequency of the metaphor in the individual tabloid articles compared to the broadsheet articles. This point to the conclusion that none of the two papers can be said to generally contain a higher frequency of metaphor compared to the other, simply because with tabloids there is no norm to compare with.

Marlene Dumas is known for her portraits and figurative paintings and drawings. This study focuses on three paintings by Dumas that reference male icons of art: Stern (2004), Ryman's Brides (1997), and Reinhardt's Daughter (1994). In referencing Ad Reinhardt, Robert Ryman and in the case of Stern, Gerhard Richter, Dumas engages with each artist and the history of painting in specific ways. As this thesis title indicates, I argue that Dumas uses artistic allusion pervasively throughout her oeuvre to conduct an intervention in painting. I propose that this interposition is a way to navigate and question the canon, while strengthening her agency as an artist. Concurrently, this practice by Dumas provides insights concerning the status of painting in a contemporary art scene where new media is progressively dominant. By unpacking this artistic referencing through titling, concept, and the process of painting, I will demonstrate the significance of it to her production. This analysis also functions as a commentary on the current state of painting and key aspects of its evolution over the last fifty years. I suggest that her use of incisive artistic reference interrogates power structures of the canon by disrupting boundaries, categories, and frames of enclosure. Her dialogue with art history ranges from homage and quotation to contestation and humorous exegesis. Dumas relies on photography including personal snapshots and images from news media as source material, but her painting process is transformative rather than mimetic. Her evocative and often provocative work is frequently discussed in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. I consider how Dumas explores socio-historical issues while creating a dialogue with art history. Dumas investigates the problem of how to paint and claim new territory in our high-tech age when painting is often deemed obsolete. This thesis topic is understudied in any depth and merits further inquiry. By examining how these paintings engage with specific artists within Modern and contemporary painting, I seek to make a new contribution to the literature on Marlene Dumas.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1993. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 24).

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Depuis sa naissance, la littérature africaine s’est penchée sur les maux qui minent son continent. La situation politique instable de nombreux pays africains, le mode gestion, et le quotidien du peuple suffisent aux écrivains pour peindre des tableaux obscurs de leurs pays respectifs. C’est dans cette optique qu’Emmanuel Dongala en tant qu’écrivain de l’ « urgence » s’empresse d’écrire dès qu’il constate une anomalie autour de lui. Son écriture tournée vers la dénonciation ne manque pas d’aborder des problématiques qui sont toujours d’actualité. D’où l’intitulé de notre thèse, « La généricité du discours rebelle dans la littérature africaine. À partir de l’œuvre d’Emmanuel Dongala ». L’objet de ce travail est de montrer que l’écriture de notre auteur respecte une certaine logique. Ecrivain engagé, le discours rebelle chez Emmanuel Dongala est toujours d’actualité que ce soit dans le théâtre, le roman ou la nouvelle. De même, les thématiques qu’il aborde, le type de personnage qu’il met en scène, leurs discours, participent non seulement à mettre en évidence les maux et les dérivent de ces gouvernements au pouvoir mais, ils nous permettent de mieux comprendre sa posture. Enfin, l‘étude de son style d’écriture nous permettra de voir comment il se démarque de ses confrères écrivains africains afin de capter l’attention de son destinataire. / Since its birth, African literature has looked at the evils that undermine its continent. The unstable political situation of many African countries, the management mode, and the daily life of the people are enough for writers to paint obscure pictures of their respective countries. It is in this perspective that Emmanuel Dongala as a writer of "urgency" is quick to write as soon as he finds an anomaly around him. His writing turned to the denunciation does not fail to address issues that are still relevant. Hence the title of our thesis, "The Genericity of Rebellious Discourse in African Literature. From the work of Emmanuel Dongala ". The purpose of this work is to show that the writing of our author respects a certain logic. A committed writer, Emmanuel Dongala's rebellious discourse is still relevant whether in the theater, the novel or the short story. Similarly, the themes he addresses, the type of character he puts on the scene, their speeches, not only help to highlight the evils and derives of these governments in power but, they allow us to better understand its posture. Finally, the study of his writing style will allow us to see how he stands out from his fellow African writers in order to capture the attention of his recipient.