Looking through the art exhibition Too Much!, it brings in a lot of different examples of overconsumption. One artist from the Too Much! exhibition is Donna Conklin King. She is known for using the designs of our food containers and for their way it symbolically speak about the body, the environment, and its influence on our food sources. The piece Anenemy, created by Donna Conklin King, is made out of white Portland cement, however they used plastic bottles are the mold for it. She usually works on the wall but creates floor work, just like this piece Anenemy, because we are forced to look down on the piece to not only avoid on stumbling the sculpture but it makes the audience contemplate the empty space between us and the sculpture, its consumption or fulfillment and the impact in our environment. “By the end of the meeting, she asked me to think deeply about what I wanted to say, and, more importantly, how I wanted it to be interpreted”, (pg 43). The artist has an obsecenely amount of plastic bottles in her piece, different type of brands based on the sizes, showing the product of overconsumption and what’s happening to our environment. Overconsumption comes in many different forms and is a problem that we are now feeling the effects of. However, consumerism comes hand in hand with identity. Buying art supplies usually means that person is an artist of some sort, buying a bulk of books means that person is into literature, or buying makeup means that person is into beauty products. Overconsumption, however, expresses their identity even further. In doing so, we play a big negative role in the environment, producing lots of waste because of overconsumption and with no room to get rid of it.
The piece that inspired me for the selfie was The One That Got Away created by Mollie Thonneson. Mollie Thonneson has multiple works of art that also includes recycled lingerie and left over fabrics called Eye Candy. This process combines her love of fabric with interest in formal art considerations while satisfying a need for metaphors or humor within her work. “He made conceptional art about love and loss for all of us”, (pg 32). She brings in meaningful art works with just using second hand fabrics and lingerie, expressing not only sexual experiences but also overconsumption.The piece in the exhibit, The One That Got Away, includes recycled lingerie and party dresses, expressing abusive relationships, and showing us as sexual beings. She creates an imaginary world of these pieces to encourage the audience to consider the multifaceted feminine sexual experience. This piece has a color theme are different shades of red, black, and hints of white. The lack of clothes displayed and lingerie from second-hand stores expresses identity and overconsumption in our economy. I wanted to portray myself as a sexual being, seen as nothing else but that, and especially not as a person. What did you notice first? My bra, my breast, my smeared lipstick, the makeup, or the black eye. I decided to wear a black shirt, so my bra would stand out in the picture, and look as if I was taking off my shirt. For my makeup, I used mostly red and purple, for the black eye as well. I wanted the lipstick to look like someone was touching my lips in a seductive way, wanting more of me. In the other eye, I wanted there to be a black eye, to represent sexual abuse, but I didn’t want it to be the first thing you noticed. But at the end of the whole process, I wanted you to notice all of it, not just my breast, not my face, but the whole picture of what’s happening and how I felt during it. “His pieces helped me think about how I could bring tenderness to my work and that I didn’t have to divorce myself from my own identity”, (pg 32). In Mollie Thonneson pieces in the exhibition and Eye Candy makes me remember the different types of fabric and the detailed work she put in each piece. For The One That Got Away, it makes you think about the impact of it whole and how it connects with he title. I wanted my selfie to make you think about the same thing. Looking at myself in the selfie, I see someone unfazed, looking at them straight in the eye, and to be honest I’m jealous of her. A lot of emotions and thoughts went though my head, it made me realize that not only am I jealous of her, I also idolize her and other a few other things.
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