Artist Lecture: Anthony Goicolea

Just wanted to sit down and reflect the lecture given by artist, Anthony Goicolea. Initially, I wasn't too excited about sitting in for the lecture, I had a long day and really wasn't in the mood to listen to someone speak in the dark. I must say though, getting to learn more about his artwork really gave me some insight on the past work I've done, and things I had wanted to experiment with in the future. I always have ideas jam packed in my sketch book, and typically, I'm too busy to carry out some of my ideas. I'd really like that to change, especially while i'm in college, because I have access to equipment now that I won't have next year, so i'd really like to take advantage.

To start off, I was interested in Anthony's first images, such as "the last supper" and his other wear he used himself as the model. I find that interesting because to me, it deals with self identity, something I would like to address in a body of work, not sure exactly how yet, but because i'm a identical twin, there is definitely room for experimentation and finding myself through images. Maybe I could pose as me and my brother, just doing different activities, or we could both pose in an image, but have multiple instances, like Goicolea's images, so we can depict the differences me and my brother have (how we differ, our styles, interests, opinions). We may look close to the same, but our personalities are different, i'm more of a preppy jock, and Derek is a rocker, has more of that Richmond influence to him. So I find that it could be a really interesting concept. Maybe have a multiple exposures of us in our living room, but show us doing different activities, sitting in the different spots on the couch, making it look like a big crowd. I could be wearing my Pats jersey and going crazy, watching a football game, or playing a video game, while Derek could be drawing in his sketchbook or working on his computer. Just different things like that could be really cool. Or the backyard, I could be messing with the football or lacrosse stick, grilling, while we find other things for Derek.

I also really enjoyed Anthony Goicolea's later works, the ones that show multiple photographs manipulated to create one image, just digitally edited. This is a concept I have worked with in the past, and that I'd like to work with in the future. I typically just stitched different images together, mainly black and white stuff, and just make it really abstract looking. But with more thought behind the images, I could find inner meanings to the objects that I decide to use and create an underlying narrative of the finished image. I started on one thats a montage of my friends apartment in Richmond, him and my other friends have lived there for 3 years now, so its a routine hangout, i wanted to create an image that reflects on some of the memories we've had there.

To end of the recap of Anthony Goicolea's lecture, I just want to say, even if you've seen an artists work and you don't initially like it, go see the artist talk about his work, it can really change your perspective on how you feel about someones artwork. I wasn't particularly impressed with his work the first time i saw it, but being able to hear him speak personally about his work gives you an idea of his background, and why his work went in the direction it did.