Patrick Martin

Thesis Abstract:

Kind of Okay is a general descriptor for both this thesis paper and life in general. In this paper, I discuss my thoughts on various topics relating to my artistic practice. Using a similar framework to Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle, I explore life with anxiety and depression in the topics of fear, failure, outer space, humor, process, visibility, living, and the future. I am investigating the uneasiness I feel towards everyday life, and how that uneasiness affects the way my brain thinks. I look to artists such as Miranda July and Mary Corse to help further my creative practice, and look for the slippery spaces between words that help them fit into areas they aren’t always inclined to go. It is my intention to be committed to the non-committal attitude of my work, this writing, and most other aspects of my life, whether that is for better or for worse.

Artist Statement:

Invisibility: n. - Inability to be seen.

I am flirting with invisibility, finding my own truths within the unseeable. Yet, the invisible only remains so for as long as we do not know it is there. The rings of Jupiter were a surprised discovery only becoming known after Voyager 1 turned its camera around and observed the rings reflections in the light of the sun, making them visible. My work performs similarly, revealing what is there only after seeing it through closer inspection and reflection. The work discloses its varying degrees of visibility the longer one investigates it.

@distractulate

Gossamer.

Fishing line, speaker components, zip-top bags, silence.

13’ x 13’ x 9”.

2020

Photographs by Jason Horvath. Images courtesy of the artist.