An extract taken from my dissertation proposal:
"The artists who I anticipate to explore in relation to the uncanny are: Gregory Crewdson, David Lynch and Ron Mueck. Crewdson is a contemporary photographer who creates mesmerising scenes of the everyday life. Yet in each photo, something is not quite right, there is the feeling of unease. An important text to use here will be Gregory Crewdson 1985 – 2005 (Berg: 2005). Crewdson expresses that he wants to create the mysterious, paranormal and deceit within his work, “We could call that an interest in the uncanny: the terrifying and the familiar”(Morrow 1997). I intend to discuss his work around the ideas of dreams and darkness (Royle: 2003), as these are strong noticeable themes within his work. Royle compares the darkness to the uncanny; they are both places in which you can become lost (Royle: 2003: 108). Lynch is predominantly a film director, and it shall be his films that I pay close attention to in relation to the idea of the double and déjà vu through Royle (2003: 2003) and Springer (2007). In particular, Springer discusses how the word Heimlich represents home, normality, but it is obvious in Lynch’s suburban American films, that nothing is right (Spring: 2007: 9-13), especially through his constant use of doppelgangers. His surrealist films send their audience into a questioning state of reality. Much of his work includes actors who double up as different characters, adding to the confusion and sense of repetition. Key films here will be Twin Peaks (Lynch: 1990) and Mulholland Drive (Lynch: 2001). I will explore through Mueck the ‘Uncanny Valley’ and its associated graph (see figure 1) (Pollick: 2015). This is when aesthetics get so close to moving and looking similar to human beings that it causes almost a reaction of revulsion. As of yet, I am not sure where, on the graph, Mueck’s sculptures lie, but I endeavour to find this out, in particular how Mueck has evolved as an artist and how he has found himself producing the uncanny. For this I will be looking to Ron Mueck (Hurlston: 2011) and Sculpture as deconstruction: the aesthetic practice of Ron Mueck (Cranny-Francis: 2013). This text illustrates that through Mueck’s careful skill of making these sculptures, they are extremely convincing, and they unease their audience whilst sending them into an unsettling confrontation. (Huerta: 2010: 2).
It is therefore starting to be understandable as to why The Uncanny proves to hold such an interest amongst artists and its audience, when it appears to be a natural occurrence, yet one that is sought after and repulses at the same time. "
The mark i got for this was a 2:1 so gain, i was really pleased. The feedback from Neil, roughly summarised were:
Compare theoretical definitions of the uncanny with the dictionary definitions
Go through my proposal again and try to create more coherent ideas
Just have one line of thought on the uncanny and bear it to my chosen artists
Write a more concise proposal
The Double is interesting and the Uncanny Valley graph
I will return and write a more concise proposal, one which is stripped bare of unnecessary information. And one that underpins the main thing i want to find out/ discover.
"The artists who I anticipate to explore in relation to the uncanny are: Gregory Crewdson, David Lynch and Ron Mueck. Crewdson is a contemporary photographer who creates mesmerising scenes of the everyday life. Yet in each photo, something is not quite right, there is the feeling of unease. An important text to use here will be Gregory Crewdson 1985 – 2005 (Berg: 2005). Crewdson expresses that he wants to create the mysterious, paranormal and deceit within his work, “We could call that an interest in the uncanny: the terrifying and the familiar”(Morrow 1997). I intend to discuss his work around the ideas of dreams and darkness (Royle: 2003), as these are strong noticeable themes within his work. Royle compares the darkness to the uncanny; they are both places in which you can become lost (Royle: 2003: 108). Lynch is predominantly a film director, and it shall be his films that I pay close attention to in relation to the idea of the double and déjà vu through Royle (2003: 2003) and Springer (2007). In particular, Springer discusses how the word Heimlich represents home, normality, but it is obvious in Lynch’s suburban American films, that nothing is right (Spring: 2007: 9-13), especially through his constant use of doppelgangers. His surrealist films send their audience into a questioning state of reality. Much of his work includes actors who double up as different characters, adding to the confusion and sense of repetition. Key films here will be Twin Peaks (Lynch: 1990) and Mulholland Drive (Lynch: 2001). I will explore through Mueck the ‘Uncanny Valley’ and its associated graph (see figure 1) (Pollick: 2015). This is when aesthetics get so close to moving and looking similar to human beings that it causes almost a reaction of revulsion. As of yet, I am not sure where, on the graph, Mueck’s sculptures lie, but I endeavour to find this out, in particular how Mueck has evolved as an artist and how he has found himself producing the uncanny. For this I will be looking to Ron Mueck (Hurlston: 2011) and Sculpture as deconstruction: the aesthetic practice of Ron Mueck (Cranny-Francis: 2013). This text illustrates that through Mueck’s careful skill of making these sculptures, they are extremely convincing, and they unease their audience whilst sending them into an unsettling confrontation. (Huerta: 2010: 2).
It is therefore starting to be understandable as to why The Uncanny proves to hold such an interest amongst artists and its audience, when it appears to be a natural occurrence, yet one that is sought after and repulses at the same time. "
The mark i got for this was a 2:1 so gain, i was really pleased. The feedback from Neil, roughly summarised were:
Compare theoretical definitions of the uncanny with the dictionary definitions
Go through my proposal again and try to create more coherent ideas
Just have one line of thought on the uncanny and bear it to my chosen artists
Write a more concise proposal
The Double is interesting and the Uncanny Valley graph
I will return and write a more concise proposal, one which is stripped bare of unnecessary information. And one that underpins the main thing i want to find out/ discover.