2009 MFA Artist: Scott Aigner
Scott Aigner's Artist Statement
At times, I feel that I am reinterpreting, reevaluating, and reinventing the very things that I hold dear to me. My current body of work develops out of an interest in Hollywood films and celebrity culture as an art process. I consider myself not only a “consumer, watcher, recipient, and victim (of mass media and pop culture). But also an agent of that culture: I am a chooser, interpreter, shaper, fellow player, participant, and storyteller. (Gerard Jones, Killing Monsters) When the work is reassembled, in whatever form it takes, it begins to transcend its origins and take on a new existence. For me, the method of this work is a digestive process. By turning these references into shards and fragments and subsequently reconstructing them, new work emerges. The finished artwork is often a byproduct of the process.
I am also interested in the role that I play in this cultural landscape and ideas of hyperreality (the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy). It is the “sequence of events and actions through spaces, that is, a nomadic narrative whose path is articulated by the passage of the artist” that fuels my means of creation. (Miwon Kwon) It is in this “space” that I began to examine media culture as a process.
In John A. Walker's book, Art and Celebrity, he states that celebrity magazines are a vision of utopia, one may conclude, that provides readers with a refuge from harsh realities and the boring routines of everyday life. As a nomadic wanderer travels through his landscape looking for the next place to break, I am a traveler perpetually moving across a different landscape and hopefully finding some resting places along the way.
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Upstairs – I believe the carpet on the stairs was red. If not, I’d like to think so.
The bed was a large one, probably not as large now. It fit at least 5 of us (3 of us I’m certain) comfortably.
The lights were turned off and the television screen went bright white.
What follows next might be frightening to young children.
Fire, Jawbones ripped at their seams, Blood that strangely resembled the texture of a strawberry milkshake.
Lets follow it up with something lighter. Something that always worked to put me to SLEEP.
I distinctly remember how loud it was. The loudest ever made at the time. Gripping the edge of my seat the whole time. Best experience ever. I saw it multiple times, and I assure you, it got better each time.
Plastic eggs with candy and plastic dinosaurs – I got a Dilophosaurus.
Already I was dreaming up scenarios. Everything at that age was a game.
Usually the kid who lived upstairs got to be Snake. Not the animal, the one eyed convict. He also had the best toy guns.
Surfing the lawn, surviving a game of deadly basketball, something about an earthquake, usually simulated by shaking around like we were having a seizure.
Hiding in the bushes was also key.
As a sidenote, the soundtrack to that childhood fantasy was equally good.
At a friends house, the subject matter turned from convicts and the government to pirates. Taking the plotline liberally since no one wanted to be an aged man in green tights, this sequence mostly involved epic swordfights (handcrafted wooden swords), treehouse forts, and armor made out of sticks and bones.
Everyone wanted to be Rufio, even though that always meant you had to die.
When we weren’t busting ghosts, we were riding our bikes on the trails and playing loosely based army games in the woods. We were even “attacked” by a coyote once. Whether it was real or not still remains in question, but I remember the glowing eyes staring back at me.
When we played rollerhockey in the streets we were usually the “Bash Brothers”.
Countless hours spent.
Perfecting the “knucklepuck”.
Found out today that it traveled in a “sine curve”. I wasn’t entirely sure what that was. I was never too good at math.
Years later, these sorts of activities stopped. But the interest became even stronger. Like a heroin addict, my money was quickly spent to fuel this addiction.
Theater on weekends.
Rentals during the week.
Buying new VHS when money allowed.
Buying used VHS from the local video store when money was tight.
In my bedroom, at night.
1. Watch, fall asleep.
2. Watch, Repeat, Watch, Repeat, Watch, Repeat, Watch, Repeat.
Some nights I barely slept.
When I did, it was nice to fall asleep to that calming blue glow that echoed throughout the room – somewhere between the harsh rain of a Twister and the melting pie from the fridge this lucid state existed.
Lucid.
I once compared our breakup to Romeo and Juliet in a letter I wrote to her. It was her favorite movie. Now it’s one of mine.
Amateur Mistake
Movies were still important now, but often used as prelude and soundtrack to a make-out session. Maybe more.
Choose wisely, or you might regret it.
Movies also became a subject to talk about. I shared some of my favorites, amazed that they had not been viewed.
In return I gained some new favorites, adding to my ever-increasing mental trophy room of First Place, Second Place, and Third Place trophies, Ribbons of equal value, and a pile of participation certificates.
The theater, a favorite “date”.
Amateur Mistake, but this time I didn’t mind.
