Reading Blog: #1
As humans, especially in the U.S., we are constantly driven by the need to advance technologically, often at the cost of losing the beauty of imperfection. This notion of sublime imperfection is what Rosa Menkman embraces in The Glitch Studies Manifesto when she observes that “destruction can change into the creation of something original.” I work both with and against the medium of oil paint—a practice rich with tradition, which I am constantly pushing or interrupting to create new forms. Like Menkman, I “do not feel locked into one medium,” even though my natural gravitation toward painting mirrors her affinity for programmed and algorithmic technology.
Her idea of practicing “on the border” of a medium’s intended use (which is the very definition of ‘avant-garde’) is central to how I approach my art. I strive to create subtle “interruption that shifts an object away from its ordinary forms,” whether through pushing paint or fabricating digital glitches. In my painting practice, much like glitch art, the process “moves like the weather”—evolving slowly at times, while other times striking suddenly, like lightning. This cadence is often out of my control, much like the forces Menkman describes. In this way, I view myself as a sort of weatherman in the studio, reporting on conditions that are constantly shifting.
Menkman’s discussion of “domesticated glitches,” which have evolved into controlled tools or technologies, feels particularly relevant to our class. Techniques like datamoshing or file corruption have, as she notes, “lost their enchantment” and become predictable. Just as I found Kanye West’s 2009 use of datamoshing groundbreaking at the time, the technique now feels somewhat overused. However, Menkman justifies this evolution by stating that “to capture and explain a glitch is a necessary evil” for future innovation—a point I find both reassuring and motivating as I experiment with these techniques myself. Her call to “study what is outside of knowledge” aligns with my own desire to push the boundaries of the known, both in painting and digital art, to find originality within the imperfections. For me, it is through intentional error and breaking tradition that I’m able to explore something new, whether through oil paint or glitch art.
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