Sulky Sentiments

Mental illness is a constant, unrelenting struggle to which my sense of reality is irrevocably tied. The pull of ceaseless darkness threatening to drag me under, alongside a perpetual cycle of irrational thoughts puts me at constant odds with my rational mind. An exploration of the duality between the bleak qualities of emotional instability, and the lightness of escapism, my work embodies the coping mechanisms necessary to manage living with an unbalanced mind.; Utilizing traditional ceramic kitsch with a personal twist, I create physical responses to these tumultuous emotional struggles. The empty sentimentalities of Hallmark figurines and other kitsch objects generate a calculated emotional response for the viewer one where the machine-manufactured object, meant only for purchase and consumption, tells you how to feel. Rather than the detached nature of commercialized knickknacks and trinkets, my work injects substance into kitsch. Employing techniques of self-portraiture through caricature, my work juxtaposes the adorable sweetness of a handmade ceramic object against the mass-produced nature of store-bought figurines. Because the realities of my experiences with anxiety and depression are often grim and uncomfortable to grapple with, I use cuteness and humor as an entry point. Dark undertones accompanied by a light-hearted atmosphere break the stigma surrounding mental illness by making it more palatable. By contrasting heavy and serious topics with cute sculptures and imagery, I translate the manifestations of my symptoms into a more digestible format.

SULKY SENTIMENTS KITSCH, EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE, & A DESPERATE SEARCH FOR STABILITY CHRISTINA RICCIO A final project paper submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts Department of Art and Art History The University of Utah June 2022 Copyright © Christina Riccio 2022 All Rights Reserved 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... 5 ARTIST STATEMENT............................................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 7 AMERICAN KITSCH AND MASS PRODUCTION ................................................................. 8 FAMILY HISTORY & KITSCH................................................................................................ 9 YOUTH, EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE, & A DESPERATE SEARCH FOR STABILITY ...... 12 EXPRESSION & EXPLORATION ........................................................................................ 13 XANAX FACE ...................................................................................................................... 14 MANIFESTATIONS.............................................................................................................. 15 99.9 wEMO .......................................................................................................................... 16 THE PATRON SAINTS OF MENTAL ILLNESS................................................................... 17 CARICATURE EVOLUTION ................................................................................................ 22 CLAY, LITTLE MISS MOODY, AND PRECIOUS MOMENTS ............................................. 25 MOODY MOMENTS: COPING IN CHAOS.......................................................................... 26 THE 8 STAGES OF DEPRESSION ..................................................................................... 29 LIFE-SIZED CERAMIC SCULPTURE & LITTLE MISS MOODY ......................................... 33 CONCLUSION: LITTLE MISS MOODY & THE CONNOTATIONS OF KITSCH ................. 37 SOURCES ........................................................................................................................... 38 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am incredibly grateful to my partner, Ian McCuen, without whose endless support I would not be here. Thank you for always being willing to lend a hand with the many ridiculous tasks relating to the creation of my artwork, including but not limited to: hosting on my fake radio station, recording sounds of smashing pots, and installing my exhibition. Thank you for your continual encouragement, constant reassurance, levelheadedness, and excellent proofreading skills. Your moral support, good humor, and perpetual defense of me and my artwork, helped me become the artist I am today. I would also like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee, Brian Snapp, Carol Sogard, and Martin Novak. The confidence I have gained as an artist throughout this program is a direct result of the unflinching confidence you all had in me from the start. Our meetings always challenged me, elevated my perspective, and gave me the fortitude I needed to continue to move forward in my journey. A special thanks to Brian, who knew what kind of artist I wanted to be before I did. Your -not-so-subtle- nudge regarding the cuteness factor of my pieces allowed me to finally give myself permission to make the kind of work I always wanted to make. Thank you for always pushing me to just go for it, and for the continual reminders that no, “it’s not dead yet.” Many thanks to all of the faculty and staff I worked with in the Art and Art History Department at the University of Utah. Your insight and knowledge has been incredibly valuable to my artistic development throughout these last two years. A special thanks to Michael Hirshon, whose eternal patience with my illustration skills directly led to the development and creation of Little Miss Moody. Thank you to the staff of the Collections department at the UMFA for your flexibility, installation and art handling knowledge, and for always cheering me on; working at the museum greatly enhanced my ability to install my thesis exhibition successfully. Another special thank you to my mom and grandma, without whom my obsession with kitsch would not have been possible, and to my dad for encouraging creativity throughout my childhood. Lastly, I would like to extend my gratitude to the students in the ceramics department at the University of Utah. Thank you all for your late night chats, idea generating sessions, and most importantly helping me move my 300 lb. sculpture around the studio and into the kilns on multiple occasions. Without you all I would have spent my late nights at the studio laying on the floor, contemplating my existence, alone. 5 SULKY SENTIMENTS Kitsch, Emotional Turbulence, and a Desperate Search for Stability By: Christina Riccio ARTIST STATEMENT Mental illness is a constant, unrelenting struggle to which my sense of reality is irrevocably tied. The pull of ceaseless darkness threatening to drag me under, alongside a perpetual cycle of irrational thoughts puts me at constant odds with my rational mind. An exploration of the duality between the bleak qualities of emotional instability, and the lightness of escapism, my work embodies the coping mechanisms necessary to manage living with an unbalanced mind. Utilizing traditional ceramic kitsch with a personal twist, I create physical responses to these tumultuous emotional struggles. The empty sentimentalities of Hallmark figurines and other kitsch objects generate a calculated emotional response for the viewer; one where the machine-manufactured object, meant only for purchase and consumption, tells you how to feel. Rather than the detached nature of commercialized knickknacks and trinkets, my work injects substance into kitsch. Employing techniques of self-portraiture through caricature, my work juxtaposes the adorable sweetness of a handmade ceramic object against the mass-produced nature of store-bought figurines. Because the realities of my experiences with anxiety and depression are often grim and uncomfortable to grapple with, I use cuteness and humor as an entry point. Dark undertones accompanied by a light-hearted atmosphere break the stigma surrounding mental illness by making it more palatable. By contrasting heavy and serious topics with cute sculptures and imagery, I translate the manifestations of my symptoms into a more digestible format. 6 INTRODUCTION Trinkets, knickknacks, tchotchkes, dust collectors. We all know them. We’ve all seen them. The mass-produced figurines sitting on glass shelves at the Hallmark store, staring with their empty eyes, longing to be purchased. Begging to be gifted. Yearning to be seen, but not touched. Looked at, but not used. Beheld, but not to be played with. Demanding to find a sentimental place in your heart. Screaming to come home with you, to adorn your mantle, to fill your empty spaces. This is kitsch. 7 AMERICAN KITSCH & MASS PRODUCTION American kitsch revolves around themes of sentimentality, mass production, and consumerism. Kitsch cannot exist without the American capitalists’ need to over produce and over sell an item, and without the consumers’ need to BUY, BUY, BUY. Without the consumers’ need to give a gift for every single occasion, regardless if the gift is appropriate for the person or not. But why as consumers are we so drawn to these items? What is it about kitsch that creates a forced projection of emotion onto a vaguely unspecific figurine? What is it that separates kitsch from art itself? The term kitsch comes from the German phrase “etwas verkitschen,” meaning to “knock off cheaply” (Crick, 48). But what is being knocked off cheaply? Is it the physical aesthetics and characteristics of the knickknack itself? Or is it our emotional experience associated with and coming from the object? According to Robert C. Solomon, kitsch creates a “cheap emotional experience instead of a cultivated aesthetic response” and therefore “the accusation that a work is kitsch is based not on the lack of form or aesthetic merit but on the presence of particularly proactive emotional content” (Solomon, 4). The “problem” with kitsch then lies in its calculated emotional response from the viewer. Kitsch creates closure; one fixed outcome; one context. There is no room for open interpretation. These objects are created to sell and be sold, and are able to do so through pulling at the heartstrings of sentimentality. Kitsch begs us to form empty rituals. Demands decoration without reflection. Mass produces “meaning” for thousands of consumers. How can a gift be individualized if it is also special to someone else? If it means the same thing to someone else? Does it then even mean anything at all? Kitsch is crafted. Calculated. Pre-determined emotion designed to sell. But it works. We as consumers buy into these notions and allow ourselves to be swayed by these figurines’ perfect faces, stories, attitudes, poses. They occupy a space that cannot be filled by “fine art.” We rely on them to articulate emotions that are unreachable and inexpressible to the average consumer who is unable or unwilling to dig beyond a surface-level reality. Merging elements of kitsch with fine art, SULKY SENTIMENTS is a commentary on what we hold near and dear to us, and why. Utilizing perceived sentimentality to inject substance into kitsch, this body of work creates discussion around family, childhood, and mental illness. 8 FAMILY HISTORY & KITSCH My family has a long history and deeply rooted obsession with knickknacks, trinkets, and tchotchkes. We fill our homes to the brim with these objects; leaving no room for empty spaces or silence; letting our areas overflow with visual noise. Jam-packing mantles, dressers, armoires, TV stands, desks, ledges, shelves, window sills, every available space with STUFF. There was never a single area ever left undecorated, unadorned, or uninhabited. Grandma’s house was a labyrinth; a treasure hunt. Each room with a vast array of figurines that rarely made sense together–or even on their own. The seven dwarfs of Snow White, a Christmas manger, an elf doll with no eyes, a Grecian figure holding plastic grapes. Every direction I turned, every room I went into, every place I occupied, was around these objects. The house was filled to the brim, spilling over with knickknacks, and I existed in the space between. Grandma's Living Room, circa 1974 I have visceral memories of walking through grandma’s house studying these objects. Stopping at each shelf, examining every figurine. Never touching, never playing, only observing. Soaking in their frozen faces and poses, their attitude. Never fully understanding what it was about them I was so drawn to. It didn’t matter; I couldn’t look away. I was unable to ignore them. These objects were never background noise to me. They were always in the forefront of my mind, and much more than just decoration; perpetually something to look at, to pay attention to, to revel in. I found comfort in their stationary existence. In their precise organization and thoughtful arrangement. While crowded and full, every object had a place. Every character had somewhere they belonged. Mom’s house was also erupting with tchotchkes, and while they also had thoughtful placement, they existed within an aura of chaos. In between the trinkets in each room, there were piles of papers, purses, lost and forgotten toys, jewelry, snacks…junk. The knickknacks competed for attention in a sea of household clutter waiting to be addressed, to be put away, to be dealt with. 9 Amidst this expanse of ordered disorder, on a ceiling level shelf Dad personally built for Mom, sat a collection of tiny shoes. Titled Just the Right Shoe, these miniature designer shoe collectables had “real” buckles, gemstones, chains, beads adorning their cast bodies. Throughout my youth, every birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, my dad, my sister, and I would make a special trip to the Hallmark store at the mall (while Mom was at work on Friday nights) to pick out literally just the right shoe to gift her for this special occasion. As with the figurines in Grandma’s house, I was obsessed with these shoes. Once the ritual of purchase was complete, and before the ritual of gift wrapping began, I would open the box and run my My favorite "Just the Right Shoe" fingers along the surface. Feeling every bump the gemstones created. Noting the different textures between the smooth surface of the shoe itself, and the rougher textures of the embellishments. Becoming intimately familiar with each part of the shoe. Investigating the colors, the heel, the straps, the fashion. I couldn’t take my eyes and hands off of them, so gift wrapping these objects was always a bittersweet experience. Knowing Mom loved them, and how thrilled she would be was exciting. However, it meant they were going up on the shelf, never to be touched by me again. I coveted these objects though they were not mine. In my own space, my room, I mimicked the habits of the matriarchs in my family. Lining my window sills were a collection of trinket boxes from the store Claire’s, each more brightly colored and glitter covered than the last. These boxes each had their own motif, usually with some kind of vapid adage and accompanying imagery. From the word happiness surrounded by flowers on a box covered in jewels with a slot for a penny, to a chest with the word dream on the outside surrounded by stars, and a moon charm on the inside, these objects were distinctly my Claire's Trinket Boxes own. Objects I could touch, arrange, rearrange. Objects that reflected my own subconscious need to fill the space. The Claire’s trinket boxes were just one set of collectable knickknacks out of many. Porcelain dolls, snow babies, blown glass hearts, ceramic frogs, these objects covered every available surface in my room. However, they all paled in comparison to the stranglehold that classic Precious Moments figurines had on me. Similar to the ritualistic nature of purchasing Just the Right Shoe for special occasions, both my grandma and mom bought me Precious Moments figurines for each birthday. 10 Beginning at birth, grandma would gift me one Precious Moments Birthday Train collectable a year. Each age was associated with a different animal (with seemingly no relation to the age), and each animal was affixed to a small train cart with a metal hook for the potential to attach to one another. Simultaneously, mom would gift me the Precious Moments: Growing in Grace figurine series. Similar to Birthday Train, each figurine was meant to celebrate a milestone of that particular year of life. Precious Moments rested on doilies atop the most coveted spot in my room, my dresser. This obsession with kitsch figurines was Precious Moments: Birthday Train branded in me from early childhood. The figurines filled my room, and the older I became, the more and more there were. Precious Moments: Growing in Grace 11 YOUTH, EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE, & A DESPERATE SEARCH FOR STABILITY My childhood room, home, and relatives’ homes were all overflowing with kitsch; it became a part of me and my identity from a very young age. I was obsessed with filling my space to the brim with these trinkets and knickknacks. However, my relationship with these knickknacks was not one of sentimentality as is usually associated with these pieces. The obsession was deeply rooted not only in family tradition, but also stemming from my experiences with mental illness. Baby Photo, circa 1993 As an undiagnosed mentally ill child, I experienced an incredible amount of emotional turbulence. I was unaware of how to regulate and control my emotions, often leading to intense meltdowns where the world felt like it was crushing me. Because I didn’t understand what was happening to me, the instability I felt inside often poured over into outbursts that neither I, nor the people around me could understand. Dubbed as “Moody Christina,” I spent a lot of time in my youth wading through the murky waters of my chaotic inner turmoil, trying to figure out what about me was different from everyone else; why I couldn’t “handle” things the way that other people seemed to be able to. Kitsch figurines and knickknacks were an anchor in my space that gave me some sense of normalcy and stability. These objects were reliable, always the same, unchanging. While I didn’t feel sentimental about their presence, I found comfort in their normalcy. I felt almost as if I filled my room up with enough of them, that I would become normal too. I could be the easy-going little girl playing marbles, the china doll having a tea party, or put a penny in a trinket box labeled “happiness” and have my emotional problems melt away. These objects were easy to look at and be around. They were artifacts of a longing for things to be Precious Moments: Growing in Grace, Age 8 simple, were the opposite of how I felt, and how I was often perceived. Surrounding myself in a plethora of light-hearted knickknacks, while drowning in a sea of heavy emotions (that I both didn’t understand and was dismissed for having), gave me a physical sense of control while my tumultuous emotional struggles raged on. 12 EXPRESSION & EXPLORATION My experiences with kitsch as a child, and my continual struggles with mental illness are the basis of my artistic explorations. Over the span of the last two years, my work has developed from abstract representations of mental illness, to a more direct portrayal of myself and how my symptoms manifest. Beginning in the fall of 2020, I began to explore how I wanted to depict my reality living with anxiety and depression. My previous ceramic works dealt with mental illness, but in an abstract way utilizing bright colors, mostly thrown shapes on the wheel, and repetitive textures. I wanted to move in a different direction, but felt paralyzed by the possibilities. A window opened up when I accepted and embraced the physical truths about many of my works; even though my pieces were about very serious topics, they had a certain cuteness about them. Similar to Takashi Murakami, I established a “culture of cuteness” and an almost “childlike energy into my work” (What Is Superflat?: A Guide to Takashi Murakami’s Art Movement). Utilizing similar aesthetic themes of bold cartoony outlines and flat planes of color founded by Murakami in the “Superflat” movement, I began to utilize themes of cuteness to contrast the gravity of my reality living with mental illness. Takashi Murakami, Flower Sparkles!, 2021 13 MANIFESTATIONS After creating Xanax Face, I wanted to continue to really lean into the themes of cuteness and pastel colors. While still utilizing some older methods, such as starting with forms from the wheel and repetitive textures, I created more precious objects that required the viewer to confront the pieces on a more intimate level. Manifestations are a series of fictionalized and fabricated creatures who are physical representations of managing symptoms of mental illness behind closed doors. Manifestations: Devour Me, January 2021, porcelain, underglaze, luster Seemingly small, cute, and manageable, upon further inspection the creatures have sharp teeth, tentacles, and a menacing atmosphere stemming from their perceived and potential movement. The small, pastel, and cute nature of Manifestations is in direct contrast with both the unsettling forms of the figures, and the topics they represent. Mental illness is an invisible struggle, and while unrecognizable to others, I can feel my symptoms crawling, slithering, and squirming throughout my mind and body. Although still more abstract and unspecific, Manifestations give visceral and tangible evidence of an internal struggle. Xanax Face and Manifestations were early ceramic explorations into a still abstract, yet more personalized visual representation of my experiences with mental illness. However, though making progress in this new direction, I still felt underwhelmed by these explorations in clay, and turned to other mediums to explore my emotional struggles. Manifestations: Hydra, January 2021, porcelain, underglaze, luster 15 99.9 wEMO https://christinariccio12.wixsite.com/999wemo Homepage of 99.9 wEMO In spring 2021, I started experimenting with the internet as art and photography. Out of these experiments came the completely fabricated radio station, 99.9 wEMO, of which I turned into an obnoxious and ill-put together website utilizing the format of an actual radio station website. 99.9 wEMO, playing all the hits from your latest mental breakdown, started from a running joke my partner and I have regarding thought spiraling and mental illness. There are certain repetitive negative thoughts that come along with having an episode, and often to lighten the mood, one of us will say “wow you’re really playing all the hits today.” My background in audio/radio production continually morphed this phrase, until it ended as “playing all the hits from your latest mental breakdown” in a radio announcer voice. Set up exactly like a radio station website, with information on the hosts, shows, contests, and complete with fake ads and news articles, each element relates to my experiences with mental illness, but in a humorous and overly dramatic way. Combining written word, photography, and sound design, 99.9 wEMO is a tongue-and-cheek portrayal of anxiety and depression. From hosts bios that are way too personal, to shows such as Panic Now, Looking Back…Depression Over the Years, Disturbing Interruptions from Your Subconscious, and Existential Ponderance, this piece was the springboard for addressing my issues utilizing humor as a way to deflect from the serious nature of the topics. 16 THE PATRON SAINTS OF MENTAL ILLNESS Around the same time I was creating 99.9 wEMO, I was also working on a photography project titled The Patron Saints of Mental Illness; a series of self-portraits developed in a lighting studio utilizing flash and colored gels. Inspired by imagery of catholic saints and saint candles from my childhood, these photographs subvert religious imagery with humor and surrealism to discuss my lived experiences as a mentally ill human being. Each photo is a representation of a particular feeling associated with anxiety or depression, or a coping mechanism I use to help manage the manifestation of my symptoms. Utilizing excess, humor, and surrealism, these photographs bridge the gap between my internal experiences dealing with anxiety and depression, and how their manifestations are portrayed outwardly. Like Yayoi Kusama, and her relationship between art and mental illness, this series utilizes repetition and obsession to cope with the intense feelings that come with anxiety and depression. As a self-described “obsessional artist” Kusama creates work that is an extension of her mental illnesses. Yayoi Kusama with pumpkin at Aichi Triennale 2010 She states: “My art originates from hallucinations only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings. All my works in pastels are the products of obsessional neurosis and are therefore inextricably connected to my disease” (Yayoi Kusama). While my experiences with mental illness do not include hallucinations, there is a through line between Kusama’s neurosis in hallucinations, and the repetitive thought spiraling that comes with anxiety and depression. This thought spiraling creates an inescapable mind prison, where each negative thought repeats and winds into the next, with no end in sight. The Patron Saints of Mental Illness takes this neurosis and makes it tangible. Utilizing physical objects such as beer cans, empty snack bags, dot stickers, ceramic pills, blankets, and handwritten words, I surround myself with the obsessions of my dark psyche. In total there are eight photographs, representing six patron saints of mental illness, each with their own backstory representing a different coping mechanism of experience based on anxiety and depression. 17 Our Lady of Depression Having a depressive episode? Can’t get out of bed for days, weeks, months? Letting it get dark around you without bothering to turn a light on? Wallowing in self-hatred and pity? Using a blanket to hide yourself from…yourself?? Then Our Lady of Depression is here to help lull you into a mindnumbing fog that you will find it nearly impossible to get out of!!! Our Lady of Depression, April 2021, inkjet print Saint Panic Saint Panic always makes an appearance just as you’re having that one small blip of an intrusive thought, just to make sure that you keep thinking about it over and over and over again until you have exhausted every possibility of the worst thing that COULD happen. Not only that, but she is also here to remind you that you should ALWAYS be worried about something AT ALL TIMES even if there is nothing to worry about! Saint Panic’s favorite activities include creating conspiracy theories about things that will literally never happen, giving you an anxious, fluttery feeling for no reason, and allowing your imagination to run wild with every bad thing that could ever happen to you!! Saint Panic, April 2021, inkjet print 18 The Angel of Sedation The Angel of Sedation floats down to envelope you in a gentle haze after Saint Panic forces your brain into overdrive. Once the medication kicks in, you wonder if this is what a normal brain feels like; just existing without a constant loop of anxious thoughts. You lay down and settle into a pleasant, floating numbness that makes everything feel vaguely silly. You now also give zero fucks about anything, and drift into a restful slumber; one where you actually manage to sleep through the entire night. The Angel of Sedation is also here to remind you that YES it is okay to take the medication LITERALLY prescribed to you for anxiety when you need it, so stop depriving yourself of it. The Angel of Sedation, April 2021, inkjet print Our Lady of Obsessive Tendencies Similar to Saint Panic, Our Lady of Obsessive Tendencies is INTO repetition, but not in the thought spiraling way. She comes around to ensure that you KEEP YOUR HANDS AND MIND BUSY AT ALL TIMES SO THERE IS NO CHANCE OF HAVING ANY KIND OF THOUGHT. Drawing circles, throwing the same piece on the wheel over and over again, watching the same TV shows all the way through for the 6th time, watching a movie you can literally recite the dialogue to because you’ve seen it so many times, and so on. Our Lady of Obsessive Tendencies is the queen of emotional comfort by distraction and brain numbing through physical motion. Be careful though, or you might end up driving yourself into an obsessive cycle you can’t get out of. Our Lady of Obsessive Tendencies, April 2021, inkjet print 19 The Holy Trinity of Binge Drinking, April 2021, inkjet print The Holy Trinity of Binge Drinking The Holy Trinity of Binge Drinking is here to convince you that going out and drinking about your problems is an excellent idea!! It all starts out in good fun…until you’re past the point of no return, spilling drinks all over yourself, crying in the bathroom, breaking things, puking on the floor, dumping drinks on people, and so on. You’re somehow still having a good time though, so The Holy Trinity of Binge Drinking sticks around to make sure you stay out until they turn the lights on at the bar, you drag yourself home, and pass out. The Holy Trinity will then leave you during the night, only for you to wake up the next morning feeing like absolute garbage, and lying to yourself that you will never drink that much again! The Blessed Binge Eater The Blessed Binge Eater only appears late at night when you aren’t even hungry. You sit down to relax after a long day, but you can’t sit still. Your hands always need to be moving, you need to be constantly occupied, no matter what. The Blessed Binge Eater suggests you eat something. Seems like a fine idea; you’re not hungry but you’re not NOT hungry either. You start with a light snack. But when you finish that, you still don’t feel satisfied, so you move on to something else, and then something else after that, and on and on and on until your stomach hurts. The Blessed Binge Eater will only disappear when you have completely filled your anxious void with snacks…good luck. The Blessed Binge Eater, April 2021, inkjet print 20 The Patron Saints of Mental Illness marked an important milestone in my journey, where my work became specific to me, as opposed to the more abstract nature of the ceramics pieces I was previously working on. It was the first time I was the subject, and utilized self-portraiture to address my experiences in a direct and real way. This series helped me realize that I wanted to speak about my distinct experiences with coping mechanisms and the manifestations of my symptoms, rather than mental illness in a more general sense. The Patron Saints of Mental Illness ended up almost being sketches for later ceramic works dealing with similar issues. Experimenting with self-portrait in photo helped me bridge the gap between my initial ceramic sculptures and creating something more personal and specific to me. When I moved back into clay in the fall of 2021, I took elements from each previous body of work, Patron Saints, wEMO, and Manifestations, to create a new body of work based in ceramic kitsch utilizing selfportrait. 21 CARICATURE EVOLUTION After creating all of these bodies of work my first year in the program, and thinking about where I wanted to take my work over summer 2021, I finally made the connection between the humor, surrealism, and cuteness of my works, with the kitsch objects from my childhood. In the same way in which low-brow, pop-surrealist artist, Mark Ryden “draw[s] artistic inspiration from the treasures I find at the flea market,” I began to again consider my obsession with Precious Moments figurines, and my desire to be that girl in the sculptures, for the first time since leaving my childhood home (Wondertoonel). In thinking about it more deeply, I realized these figurines were all vague, unspecific, and could have represented any little girl. I began to develop my own version of those figurines, merging ceramics and illustration to create a more specified self-portrait to express my experiences with mental illness. Referencing the Little Miss books of my childhood, I dubbed my character Little Miss Moody before she even existed. Little Miss Moody, sketch page 1 Heavily influenced by animation and cartoons, Little Miss Moody went through many stages of development before settling into her final form. The initial sketches (before I had any knowledge of character design), began with an attempt to create an adorably sulky character. One who was angry at the world, yet still cute and harmless. I initially took inspiration from Precious Moments, utilizing tear drop eyes, but adding in my specific style of dress. Feeling unsuccessful in my desire to create a sickeningly cute caricature of myself, I began researching character design to flesh out my ideas. In character design, shape language assigns meaning to basic shapes. Circles indicate soft, squishy, harmless, approachable, changeable, cute, and innocent. They are good for friendly faces, and create a welcoming feeling. Squares indicate solid, sturdy, strong, supportive, reliable. Triangles indicate sharpness, danger, unpredictable energy, power, conflict, chaos. Based on my turbulent emotional experiences, I wanted a character that was both cute, squishy, and harmless, but also strong, full of conflict and chaotic. I started using hard edged triangles for the hair, but kept everything else more rounded throughout the body and face, to provide the contrast between the moody nature of the character and overall cute and sweet feeling I was going for (Little Miss Moody, sketch pages 2-4). Little Miss Moody, sketch page 2 22 Little Miss Moody: sketch page 3 Little Miss Moody: sketch page 4 23 Mark Ryden, Wound, 2003 However, throughout all of these illustrations, it just wasn’t quite hitting the mark on the cuteness factor. Harkening back to Mark Ryden and his series of paintings Woondertoonel, I began to consider what it is about his works that evoked those feelings of adorability (and uncomfortability). In reexamining his paintings, it dawned on me that the visceral reaction of “cute” was in part created by the oversized head and large eyes of his figures. Now taking inspiration from the formatting of Ryden’s characters, I shrunk Little Miss Moody’s body down, and made the head and eyes much larger; finally creating the sickeningly cute sensation I was seeking (Little Miss Moody, sketch page 5). Little Miss Moody then became the basis of my use of self-portraiture in clay throughout the bodies of work in SULKY SENTIMENTS. Little Miss Moody: sketch page 5 24 MOODY MOMENTS: COPING IN CHAOS Parallel to Jeff Koons sculpture series Banality, Little Miss Moody took on a life of her own through the appropriation of Precious Moments imagery and formatting. Banality takes on the “unoriginal, obvious, and boring” aspects of kitsch figurines, and marries it with unexpected or uncomfortable characteristics to “poke fun at comfortable suburban lives and tastes, and criticize a contemporary culture driven by commerce” (Tate). However, unlike Koons, Little Miss Moody does not poke fun at the “tastelessness” of kitsch, but instead uses kitsch as a vehicle to contrast childhood memories with adult topics. While Little Miss Moody is not the exact same thread of satire as Banality, these figurines do however make a commentary on the nature of mass production in our capitalist society. While incredibly kitsch in aesthetics, instead of being factory-produced Koons’ sculpture Winter Bears 1988, (based on Hummel figurines) “were created by skilled craftsmen who employed the same techniques used to produce Rococo ceramics and Bavarian sculptural woodcarvings” (Tate). In the same vein, Moody Moments: Coping in Chaos was not made to be reproduced. Each figurine was hand crafted, hand built, by me, with no “assembly line production” involved in the process. These figurines, while referencing kitsch aesthetics, are one-of-akind, and have a deeper meaning beyond sentimentality. Jeff Koons, Winter Bears, 1988 Utilizing the same -heart-pedestal-figurine- format of Precious Moments: Growing in Grace, but with a personal twist, I created a series juxtaposing the sweet, cute, and kitsch nature of Precious Moments with my heavier and more serious experiences with mental illness. With Little Miss Moody as the focal point, I replaced the vague and unspecific “ageappropriate activity” the Precious Moments figurines were engaged in with a coping mechanism or manifestation of anxiety and depression, to create Moody Moments: Coping in Chaos. Again, thinking back to Mark Ryden, he similarly collected trinkets and is “powerfully driven toward them,” stating: “it is an obsession. I collect, arrange, and display them” (Wondertoonel). Just as I did as a child, Ryden internalized a deep infatuation for the Moody Moments: Coping in Chaos, Binge Eating May 2022, Earthenware, underglaze, luster, acrylic, collectable tchotchke. In his contemporary paintings, epoxy Ryden utilizes this obsession with collectables and the cute nature of the characters in his paintings to juxtapose the adorable and the grotesque, the sweet and the unsavory, the appealing and the repulsive. 26 Keeping the humorous, surreal, and excessive elements from the Patron Saints of Mental Illness series, Moody Moments: Coping in Chaos is a series of eight figurines: Oversharing, Impulsivity, Over Stimulation, Self Harm, Binge Eating, Binge Drinking, Sedation, and Thought Spiraling. Every figurine utilizes luster, excess, and surrealism to create a focal point. From Little Miss Moody getting lost in an over-sized, silver-luster lined Cheetos bag, to a mother-ofpearl lustered cloud she floats on, these figurines reflect back to my obsession with kitsch and filling my space, but this time instead of craving normalcy, they portray the honest realities of my turbulent emotional experiences. Additionally, similar to Manifestations, these figurines are adorable and draw the viewer in closer, only to reveal upon closer inspection more sinister undertones. This is especially present in Self Harm; a coping mechanism I used throughout my teenage years, hidden from the rest of the world. From the front, Little Miss Moody looks up at the viewer, pigeon-toed, arms behind her back, and with a slight smile. From the back, the viewer learns that Little Miss Moody has a secret. She is holding an oversized, silver luster razor blade (that cannot be seen from the front) with cuts and blood running down her arm. Creating a sense of ease with Moody Moments is a reflection back to the comfort I felt from the original series I collected as a child. However, Moody Moments is also a warning to the viewer, that oftentimes cute and sweet is a distraction from more malevolent connotations. Self Harm, May 2022, earthenware, underglaze, luster 28 At plate 5, an intense color shift takes place. The plates go from bright and pastel, to muted, dark hues. Apathetic After Dark reflects the moment where the sun has gone down, I still haven’t gotten out of bed, and I can’t even be bothered to turn a light on, thus letting it get dark around me. This is the point where I usually realize that yes, I am in fact having an episode, and no I will not be getting up, and this is my reality for the day. A heaviness comes over me that had only previously been hovering in the background, and which I had kept at bay by looking at my phone, sleeping, and eating. While the final four plates do still have cute and playful elements, the mood becomes much more serious as it continually gets darker, the garbage builds up around me, and I can’t sleep both because of how much I slept through the day, and the racing negative thoughts that have been piling up. The series then ends with the exhausted, bloodshot eyes and blanket covered face of insomnia. Though created in low relief, these plates again harken back to Murakami’s “Superflat” movement in their use of bold colors, outlines, and cuteness of the character. Referencing the kitsch plates from my childhood, but given a life of their own, The 8 Stages of Depression “blur the lines between high and low culture” and “take low culture elements and makes them high art” (What Is Superflat?: A Guide to Takashi Murakami’s Art Movement). However, in contrast to the “Superflat” movement, these plates are not meant to be consumed or consumed from. As opposed to Murakami and other Superflat artists, The 8 Stages of Depression are not merchandise, they are not meant to be bought, and were not created to be consumable. Instead, The 8 Stages of Depression utilizes elements of Superflat to almost memorialize and romanticize depression, while simultaneously bringing new life into classic kitsch themes and objects. 31 Little Miss Moody, May 2022, stoneware, underglaze, luster, acrylic 36 CONCLUSION: LITTLE MISS MOODY & THE CONNOTATIONS OF KITSCH In the continual development of Little Miss Moody, I create an outlet for both my childhood experiences with kitsch, and my adult experiences with mental illness. Employing a sense of honesty and authenticity that is often missing from the traditional American kitsch sold in stores, Little Miss Moody becomes an agent for raw story telling. A voice through which to continue to discuss the average Americans’ relationship with mass production and capitalism, and how this relationship affects their daily lives, the decisions they make, and the way they experience reality. She is a conversation starter, walking the line between the serious and the silly, communicating both joy and uncomfortability. While Little Miss Moody is a caricatured selfportrait, she is also the average American, experiencing the difficulties of existence in real time. 37 SOURCES Crick, Philip. “KITSCH.” The British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 23, no. 1, 1983, pp. 48–52, 10.1093/bjaesthetics/23.1.48. Accessed 26 Nov. 2020. SOLOMON, ROBERT C. “On Kitsch and Sentimentality.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 49, no. 1, 1 Dec. 1991, pp. 1–14, 10.1111/1540_6245.jaac49.1.0001. Accessed 1 Nov. 2021. Tate. “Jeff Koons: Banality, Decadence and Easyfun – Look Closer | Tate.” Tate, 2017, www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jeff-koons-2368/jeff-koons-banality-decadence-and-easyfun. “What Is Superflat?: A Guide to Takashi Murakami’s Art Movement.” ArtLife, 16 Apr. 2021, www.artlife.com/what-is-superflat-a-guide-to-takashi-murakamis-art-movement/. “Wondertoonel.” Mark Ryden, www.markryden.com/wondertoonel-statement. Accessed 30 May 2022. “Yayoi Kusama.” The Art Story, 2017, www.theartstory.org/artist/kusama-yayoi/. 38