Entering Karla Hargrave’s senior thesis studio, one is greeted by five enormous, abstract and colorful structures, each with a unique style evoking a different feeling.
“Many people think they look like little monsters,” Hargrave laughed. “They each have a different story to tell and their own personality.”
Hargrave’s thesis, entitled “Bound,” was inspired by various accumulation and assemblage artists, whose works involve the manipulation of common objects into completely new creations that evoke feelings quite different from what one would normally expect from the original elements.
“The maximalist aspect of modern Accumulation and Renaissance wonder cabinets really interests me,” Hargrave said. “I like the idea of rooms cluttered with exotic objects, so cluttered that they look as if they are made up of the objects themselves. It’s an interesting idea to walk into a space cluttered with objects and feel overwhelmed.”
While her foundation of ideas remained the same throughout the year, Hargrave experimented with many forms of expressing her vision. Like most artists, there is an initial phase of tip-toeing around ideas until one decides which to pursue.
“One of the greatest fears for all artists is pushing for the wrong idea,” Hargrave said. “I knew when I figured out where I wanted to take my vision. I had to go for it and push myself to create something great. Although it’s hard to pick an idea, the most difficult part of a thesis is concentrating on this one idea for such a long amount of time. Focusing my thoughts, imagination, creativity, and giving all of my energy to one idea…this has been one of the hardest processes I’ve ever gone through.”
After experimenting with a variety of forms based around contained spaces with clutter, including a walk-in closet made out of objects, Hargrave decided upon her final idea when she returned to campus in January.
“I made the first structure in a week,” Hargrave said. “When an artist figures out what they’re going to do, it is as if they have struck gold. The frustration and fears dissipate. From there it is by no means easy, but it’s easier in a way because you’re doing what you like and you’re excited about it.”
Acquiring old, previously used objects from thrift stores, family members, tag sales, and off the street, Hargrave sought to create an organic, nostalgic piece that reminds one of a simpler past. The mostly wooden objects included bed frames, tables, saws and chairs.
“Some of the objects remind me of farm life or of old houses,” Hargrave said. “My only regret is that by wrapping of the structures you can’t get the scent of the objects. I wish I could have captured that better.”
By attaching the objects together, Hargrave created large-scale structures intended to evoke a feeling of unfamiliarity in these everyday items. She then wrapped and stretched fabric over the objects, allowing the viewer to recognize the items underneath while simultaneously veiling them with ambiguity. The warm, soft color of the fabric contrasts with the jagged objects beneath. Safety pins hold the cloth together, resembling stitches on skin.
Hargrave was inspired in large part by Lee Bontecou, an influential artist from the 1960s who stretched fabrics over solid forms, creating brutal yet organic works of art.
“I really enjoy how the cluttered structures become something entirely new when they are wrapped,” she explained. “They become strangely organic and body-like. The skeleton-like objects start to mysteriously float inside their skins at the same time that they are bursting out.”
The breaks in the fabric also appear to mimic someone breaking out of their skin to reveal a tough interior.
“I like to think of my piece as a self-portrait since I went through this phase in high school,” Hargrave said. “It was fun for me to realize I wasn’t as shy as I thought I was. However, I didn’t become aware of this aspect of my thesis until after I had made my first piece. It’s interesting when you become so consumed by an idea that you become the idea without realizing it. By the end, everyone’s project is in some way a self-portrait.”
With two weeks to go before the opening, Hargrave is finishing up her fifth piece and has a sixth one to complete. The last, however, will be smaller and easier to construct.
“It will be an outside piece that will be in the tree in front of the gallery, she said. “I’m really excited about it.”
With the theses exhibitions starting this week, Hargrave commended the impressive work of her peers.
“I’ve seen so many new things this year,” she said. “The works are ambitious and daring. Clearly people were taking chances and that is what it is all about. You can tell that everyone worked hard to get their ideas across in the most professional way possible. That’s the most important part of becoming an artist.”
Leave a Reply