Mark Herrera

Positive Fragments: Final

10 seconds of 10 hours of Rain

7'x5'

tv, steal, found objects, plaster, vegetation, YouTube video (10 hours of Rain)

QCQ #3: Structural Tension

A Structure Within a Structure: Research

A Structure Within a Structure: Final

A Structure Within a Structure: Materials in the World

Negative Fragments

QCQ #4: Concrete Blonde

Negative Fragments: 25lbs

Positive Fragments: Research

Negative Fragments: Clay Impressions II #3 and Intent

Positive Fragments Preparation 1

Negative Fragments: Clay Impressions I (new angles) and Intent

Q: “These assumptions (about architectural representation) are: that space is continuous; that it can be divided into three homogeneous dimensions; that what matters is not the space itself, but its boundaries; and that it is experienced in a linear manner, with respect to time. House reveals and questions some of these assumptions, by representing space not as a conceptual abstraction, but as a synaesthetic experience.”

C: Synaesthetic: psychol the subjective sensation of a sense other than the one being stimulated. For example, a sound may evoke sensations of colour. Professor Scicluna said to me last week, “the space between art pieces is just as important as the artwork itself.” Rachel Whiteread’s House and the article Concrete Blonde: A Probe into Negative Space where Mysteries are Created by Joanna Merwood not only emphasizes the beauty that lies in the space in-between objects but also how this space can serve as a medium itself. Even more fascinating to me is the idea that this space of “nothing” is full of magic that can invigorate the imagination. The space between things are containers of untold stories, experience, the overlooked micro world and the supernatural.

3’ X 5’ X 2’

Steal, wood, concreate, TV monitor, compound, acrylic, paper

Pillar is an expression of destruction in the form of a collapsed architectural structure. A steal I beam is welded onto another to form a base and four 10’ rebar rods are welded onto that forming the concrete reinforcement. A skewed cube frame covered in plywood, compound, and paint bolted onto the steal base with the four rebar rods running through it forms the pillar, A notch or slice of the cube is cut out where a tv monitor is wedged in like a knife in a stick of butter. The pillar is covered in rock band and advertisement posters then distressed. Rebar rods are mangled. The destroyed pillar with tv represents American culture experiencing disaster.

Idea #2:

Idea #1:

QCQ3 A Structure Within a Structure 

Q: “For me the problematic is never one of representation. I mean, I want to push materials to the point where they actually fail. So what something looks like is almost beside the point, or at least beyond my control.” Tuazon’s most fundamental achievement, all the more profound for being so basic, is to build a structure that does not look like but simply is. 

C: As an artist with a background in construction, the idea of pushing materials till they fail is fascinating because I have always thought about an art piece structurally before it became expression. So, if I wanted to paint, I would build a sturdy frame and fix the canvas on so that it was nice a tight and then I could start to create knowing that no matter what the finished product would look like, it would at least be on something that was well built and would last. Tauzon challenges my understanding on the value placed of a perceived quality of structure and the potential for the natural degradation of material stability to become the creation process and medium.