Artist Research 1 (Heather Hart)

Artist Website

Research:

           

I researched Heather Hart and discovered that she has a very interesting and particular style within her work. All platforms for her work take on a certain level of familiarity, while sometimes spinning the conventional element’s purpose or meaning. This was actually the reason that I decided to focus on her, as I was looking through each Artist’s work, and hers grabbed my attention first. I felt something very familiar when I looked at her pieces and would assume that most people who view her work experience the same thing. After reading her Artist Statement, this idea was confirmed, and I discovered that this is her intent behind her creations.

            Within her drawings category in particular, I noticed a primary pattern that appeared in her works. She includes an image of a rooftop being suspended high above another subject of the piece. Sometimes the rooftop belongs to that of an actual house (Hermes and the Rooftop), while other times, the piece takes more of an existential approach (Oracular Rooftop: …is it something I said?). I liked this technique a lot and felt it shared quite a few meanings at once. For myself, these pieces symbolize the power of thought, and more importantly, how freeing it is. The confines, or limitations that we find ourselves suffocated by, can be dispatched when we are able to be true to ourselves and our thoughts.

           Heather also learned Carpentry from a young age, and allows architectural influences to impact her work.

Artist Statement:

My work explores nostalgic futurism, amalgams of distorted traditions and symbols, handed down and mashed-up to fit our prospective needs. My works are meant to expand with public programing and viewer activation. I am interested in not only creating site-specific liminal space for personal reclamation but also in questioning dominant narratives and creating alternatives to them.

Favorite Piece:

I really liked Hermes and the Rooftop. Similar to my analysis in my research section above, I feel like this piece conveys the importance of free thought. The mind is an escape, where anything is possible. When someone is able to use thought to its fullest capabilities, they will discover that what we would usually consider absolute, may not be so. Whether this comes from the real world attempting to suffocate you, or the opposite, and you need to gain a new perspective, it all can be accomplished by thought.