Staging Heriones Thesis

Frames are normally intended to emphasize an object or piece of artwork. The relationship between the image and the frame is one that has been cultivated for thousands of years. Artists like Van Gogh would draw out onto the frame making it an integral part of the image. Many artists create or designed own frames that contribute to the content of their piece. Whistler’s piece “Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen” is complimented by a frame he designed with Japanese Motifs, adding to it’s Japanese inspired theme. Showing an art piece without its original frame is considered disrespectful to the intention of the artist. As the modernist movement came to fruition, extravagant gilded frames were often replaced a frame with unobtrusive borders. Minimalist artist Eva Hesse turned the concept of the frame into an art piece itself with her work “Hang Up”. Regardless of how elaborate their construction, the framing is the window in which we see artwork and is telling of their artist’s intent.
During the 19th century some artists used framing as imagery. Alphonse Mucha and other artists of the art nouveau movement are prime examples of this practice. The borders surrounding advertisements for ballets and operas appeared as narratives for the performances they publicized. Decorative edges were perfect introductions to the romantic subject matter by giving a window into the dramatic action before ever entering the theatre.
My senior work will be not paintings or drawings, but frames alone. Their subject matter is inspired by the romantic ballets and melodramas. Characters from these dances and dramas are all victims of tragic love; they are idealized on the stage as we see them struggle to achieve their desires. Figures like Odette and Odile from Swan Lake dance in an imaginary world where their circumstances are fantastic, yet their conflicts are similar to difficulties of real life. I will use my frames to give insight to the characters desires and the strife it causes them. The pieces will have a narrative that is drawn around an empty window. The imagery will consist of female figures combined with decorative elements drawn with an unsettling and surreal quality.