David Mui
White Canvas
Prompt: Come up with your research paper topic based on the list of Dead New Yorkers. You’ll be engaging in a conversation between your Seminar essay and your Studio project, not “illustrating” your essay in Studio. Approach the deceased artist as if they were a mentor and continue that conversation in your own work. In Studio, propose a work or series of works to create over the course of the last 6 weeks of class and prepare an exhibition-style presentation with the entire class.
I had wanted to create a human for a while now so I think regardless of the prompt or having to pull from details of the assignment, I would’ve stuck to pursuing my interests. Oftentimes, I get asked, “why is your work always centered around humans?” And for a while, I didn’t know how to respond with a clear answer in mind. It was never about the human anatomy or anything around how people look. Instead, through making a man, it bridges me to my audience without any of the initial reluctance we as the viewer tend to hold. I believe that by looking into someone’s eyes long enough, your mind wanders to faces from your loved ones, maybe a moment you regret, or traces of someone who has passed. To create a blank canvas face with canvas eyes, the viewer can be in the room with their person and with their own feelings. The installation will serve as a quiet space where they can reflect, share their burdens, and sit with their emotions in a moment of stillness.