LIMITS (FALL 2024)

Donald Lipski. Untitled, 1978

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Self directed research/process

Lost statements research/process

Contradictory structures research/process

21. Self-Directed Manifesto: Final

Where NASA was once the federal agency solely in control of spaceflight in the United States, private companies now flourish as NASA’s efforts to get back to the moon are faltering. “NASA’s Falcon Heavy” uses a private company’s rocket, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, to make a humorous display of how the rocket would appear if it was made or owned by current-day NASA, upside down with the three main boosters still attached to either other and a second stage already deployed with fairing halves split on the ground. The Falcon Heavy rocket is carefully scaled down to be accurate to the measurements of the real full-scale rocket. Knowing that modern day spaceflight as a topic is quite niche, the intention was to use a modern rocket that was the most “rocket-like” and a somewhat explicit title to get the idea across, although the lack of any SpaceX logos on the rocket definitely hurt in making that clear.   

21. Self-Directed Manifesto: Final

21. Self-Directed Manifesto: Final

With this piece, I wanted to demonstrate this idea of pressure that comes with other people's expectations. I took two shipping pallets and had it hold up using only one piece of a metal line as I would continuously add on more fabric stuffed with concrete to it. It would get heavier the more wet concrete I would place on it. In terms of the display, I was reminded of theater sand bags that are used to help maneuver certain aspects of the behind the scenes innerworkings. These sandbags hold the strength of maintaining everything in balance, but are also at risk in collapsing. In turn, they became the main performer for this piece that could easily collapse at any moment. I used the shipping pallets in juxtaposition to sandbags because of their use to keep caution with fragile materials.

I have a stencil that I've had since I was a kid and I wanted to give it shape and mold it out of wax that i could then melt and make impressions with on fabric, kinda like fingerpainting as you would as a kid.

I wanted to make my own hooks using a cast of a readymade hook and changing its appearance. make hooks with rebar, perhaps mold with concrete.

I wanted to make my own keychain out of rebar perhaps and make a silicone mold of that. I was thinking of when I was a child and I would have so many keychains, mostly ones that people would give me, but i would take such care of them. I wanted to give these plaster keychains to people in my life and have them put it with their keys and then ask for them back within 2 weeks or ideally a month. I wanted to present the keychains which I image would be mostly damaged, or maybe taken care of , to show the process of care in terms of sentimental.

For this piece, I initially wanted to stage a scene of when I was a child during a time that was difficult to adjust to that occurred from my parent's divorce. In the first set of pictures, I wanted to talk about growing up as an only child and staying over my grandparent's apartment, since my dad was living with them after the divorce, but being kind of put in a space that was not necessarily uncomfortable, but rather particular. I did not feel comfortable to run around and play like a kid would, but felt like I had to remain in one area and be more careful with how I would interact with the space. From that setting a scene display, came about this idea of how many things as a child are very fake in a sense, there was always some sort of veil that grown ups would attempt to put on what was really going on. Then came about putting fake buttons on a child's shirt, which I used to have many shirts like that. But I molded the screw heads and sewed them onto this shirt in order to mix my child self to my current self as I continue to understand the type of work I want to create. I also made molds of this rectangle object that funny enough, looked like dominos to me, so then again, I wanted to relate it to my child self of being at my grandparents house and finding whatever objects around to use as my toys. I spray painted the markings of a domino's to be one versus one, but placed at the corner in due to that divide among my parents, where they never saw eye to eye in any regard. Whichever way the domino's are set up, would lead to a cornered stance.