The sensation of detachment and reclusion frequently gives rise to an uncanny and dreamlike space. Enveloped within this dimension, the quirks of memory become a fragile lifeline to bygone, intangible ideas of reality. Fixated on this threshold, my artistic explorations in print, collage, and assemblage navigates these elusive realms, rendering fragmented and distant shapes and figures in stark contrast to elements that evoke an eerie sense of familiarity. In this manner, my work invites viewers to embrace the disconcerting and unsettling aspects of the in-between, all the while establishing an unsettling connection to reality through the lens of nostalgic objects and imagery.

The written portion of this thesis work is meant to address and further investigate the visual work created using mediums of print and found video. This artistic research has been interested in examining varying associations with truth, recollection, and evidence. This includes the recollection of public histories and news-media narratives as well as my own history and trauma. Through this work my aim was to create a deconstruction and revolt against how associations are formed, and how to understand imagery as information. This thesis first discusses my relationship to appropriated imagery, then connects and examines it through the addition of poetic elements and events from my own lived experience.

I am a draftsman, painter and printmaker. This first person statement is a written extension of the art that constitutes my thesis. It discusses the links between my work and the Enlightenment, Humanism, Catholicism, ethics and the Western canon as well as my use of perspective and other classical techniques in relation to history, language, high art, popular culture, propaganda, contemporary upheavals, Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism, globalization and the digital revolution. Furthermore, the main arguments draw upon my Cuban origin and European ancestry, the Cuban Revolution, my Belgian early education and eventual American hybrid identity. The overriding theme, however, concerns the continuing relevance of drawing, high art and history. As such, it forms a personal art theory and critique of contemporary culture. Supporting sources include history, art history, art theory, philosophy, science, religion and politics.

No abstract provided.

Like Alike explores notions of pleasure and beauty through an examination of mundane activity. Pleasure is simple, uncomplicated niceness. Pleasure is forgettable and related to the norm. Beauty is complicated and hardly predicted. Finding beauty in the banal provides an escape from mundane life. The banal, then becomes unforgettable. The nondescript, everyday experience becomes important and gains meaning. Like Alike's electronic format is adapted from the original format of an artist book.

corpo interminável e outros corpos apresenta uma série de experimentos poéticos que buscam investigar as possibilidades gráficas da técnica japonesa de xilogravura à base d\'água como modo de expressão na produção atual de estampas. De modo a estabelecer um diálogo entre diferentes perspectivas, o estudo foi iniciado no Departamento de Artes Visuais da Escola de Comunicação e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo e continuado no Departamento de Xilogravura da Universidade de Artes de Tóquio. Resultado de uma pesquisa empírica, que se apoia em observações e experiências vividas, o trabalho resulta de inquietações acerca de um corpo ficcionado e coletivo, que cresce pelas bordas e se desdobra por propagação. Composto por linhas de intensidades variáveis, esse corpo ocupa a superfície conforme combinações harmônicas e multiplicáveis. / endless body and other bodies presents a series of poetic experiments that seek to investigate the graphic possibilities of the Japanese woodblock printing, as a means of expression within the production of printmaking nowadays. In order to establish a dialogue between two very different cultural perspectives, this study has taken place at both the Visual Arts Department of the University of São Paulo and the Printmaking Department of the Tokyo University of the Arts. This essentially empirical research explores the concept of corpus in a dual meaning. Both in a literal sense as the predominance of the human figure in the works, and in a constructed sense referring to an ever-expanding universe of sources. By combining lines of different shapes and intensities, the bodies in the works aim to fill harmoniously the surface through multipliable combinations.

ORIBOMBO: Arte da Pós-Modernidade A presente dissertação de mestrado propõe-se a apresentar o Oribombo como arte da pós-modernidade, trazendo a questão do hibridismo do Oribombo, à situação da arte atual, onde se verificam hibridismos de toda natureza, incentivados pela total liberdade. O artista não se prende mais à ideologias e limitações que ditavam as concepções artísticas do passado, inclusive do passado recente. Liberdade é a palavra de ordem da pós-modernidade. Liberdade que se manifesta em todos os segmentos da sociedade. E na arte, uma consequência do livre fazer, é que os hibridismos são constantes, acontecendo de forma natural. As modalidades artísticas são exploradas simultaneamente, abrindo um leque de possibilidades durante o processo de criação. No caso do Oribombo, as modalidades artísticas que se mostraram plasticamente mais interessantes, foram a pintura, gravura, escultura e a colagem. Outra consequência da total liberdade adquirida pelos artistas da pós-modernidade, é que em certos momentos, indaga-se se tudo que é produzido com o título de arte é arte realmente. Essa discussão é muito ampla, mas a premissa de que arte é a produção de um artista, é a que mais ecoa, não somente no meio artístico, como também, entre pensadores e escritores, que direcionaram suas atenções ao desenrolar da história da arte. Os fazeres e conhecimentos artísticos são indispensáveis ao artista plástico visual, sendo assim, as modalidades artísticas que foram fundidas no processo de criação do Oribombo são seculares, mas, a liberdade com que foram tratadas é uma questão pós-moderna. / This dissertation proposes to introduce Oribombo as art of postmodernity, bringing the question of hybridity of Oribombo, the situation of contemporary art, where there are all kinds of hybridisms, encouraged by complete freedom. The artist is not attached to the ideologies and more limitations that dictate the artistic conceptions of the past, even the recent past. Freedom is the slogan of the postmodernity. Freedom that is manifested in all segments of society. And in art, one of the consequences of free artistic making is the hybridism, and it is a constant, happening naturally. The artistic modalities are explored simultaneously, opening up a range of possibilities during the creation process. In the case of Oribombo, the artistic modalities that were artistically more interesting, were the painting, the printmaking, the sculpture and the collage. Another consequence of complete freedom gained by artists of the postmodernity, is that at certain times, inquires if everything is produced with the title art is really art. This discussion is very ample, but the premise that art is the production of an artist, is the one that resonates, not only in the artistic world but also among thinkers and writers, that directed their attention to the course of art history. The doings and artistic knowledge are indispensable to the visual artist. The artistic modalities that were merged into the creation process Oribombo are secular, but the freedom with which they were treated is a postmodern matter.

This thesis discusses the detrimental effects that industrialized farming practices have on public health, animal welfare, and ecological systems and includes factual support. It also provides practical application of this information as well as possible solutions and a detailed description of a related art exhibition.

In an effort to assist self-guided artists in constructing meaning and creativity through the technique of printmaking, the author has compiled a curriculum to engage these artist/students in thoughtful research, discussion, art-making, and critique. In this qualitative case study there are eight participants from age 14 to 79, with varying educational and art experience, who enrolled in a relief print workshop with no recompense other than participation. The particular benefits of learning relief printing are described. The author's goal is exploration of student responses to a curriculum centered around constructing meaning and engaging in introspective and informed discussion. In fostering open inquiry and analysis, the author was able to cultivate a place of personal discovery in a community class and gain insights into teaching, learning, and curriculum design.

E. Mervyn Taylor (1906-1964) was a pakeha artist whose prints drew influence from Maori culture and motif. He was one of a small number of artists who developed interest in Maori culture during the 1940s and 1950s. He expanded interest into detailed study of Maori culture, and interaction with Maori, and produced a significant body of prints on this subject during his career. Taylor's prints were acclaimed during his lifetime, but in the decades after his death, his reputation faded to the extent that he became relatively obscure. This persisted until the late 1980s, when art historical reassessment of his work began. This thesis forms a part of this continued re-evaluation. It focuses on Taylor's prints on Maori subjects, an area not sufficiently scrutinised in an academic context. It aims to reach deeper understanding of his prints through historical analysis of the factors that influenced him to choose Maori, and their culture as subjects for his artwork. The thesis also examines why Taylor's reputation was so emphatically based on his New Zealand heritage, as well as the quality of his craftsmanship, his beliefs about which formed the foundation of his philosophy. Nationalist and regionalist notions also figured in his aesthetic ideals. His prints are also placed in relation to the modern debate over cultural appropriation in art. Greater recognition and understanding of Taylor's oeuvre may be achieved by establishing why he chose Maori subjects, and what specific features they contributed to the character of his work.