Tessa Larson

 Laurie Simmons 's photography work with dolls has evolved over time to different levels of hyperreality. Starting out with a focus on doll houses and the artificiality of the suburbs, she has added layers of complexity through engaging with niche subcultures (learning of them through the internet) and how they reflect and challenge reality, simulations, and social constructs. This progresses to a point where the viewer is unsure where reality begins and ends.  Simmons, Laurie. Music of Regret I. 1994. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822003865381      

       It’s really interesting to see Alexandra Bell’s process and how she takes a newspaper page and works with what is there and not there (naming unnamed whiteness, stripping text down to the essential information, analyzing photo choice and layout, and such). One of my art classes went to see her exhibition before the talk, but something about how she described her process, verbalizing the details, shed new light on it and makes me want to go back and look at them more. I love when I can see the process of an artwork laid out, as it invites viewers to think about how the artwork got to where it is and eliminated the artificial ‘objectivity’ (instead, I feel that exposing process helps the viewer realize that the artist is not some mystical magician that conjures up the artwork all of a sudden- but rather engages in a slow process of creating and refining and thinking, etc.). I also recognize that this is a key part of the Counternarratives series, as she directly discussed workin

Thinking about my project with Baudrillard's concept of the 'resurrection of difference,' I hope to make my project fairly accessible: choosing really simple and recognizable spaces (there is always going to be some level of cultural knowledge needed, but I'm looking at ones that are widely familiar). The interesting twist is that I hope to depict these familiar spaces in an unfamiliar way. I'm trying to make environments that are so standard and 'real' that they seem false and empty.  As far as actual progress goes, I've gotten most of my basic sketches down and have some ideas for what style I'm going to aim for (along with plenty of reference photos). I have an animation software downloaded as well, which is what I'm using to draw the images.