restored behavior — rachel telian

#136" x 24" charcoal, pen, colored pencilBecause we constructed such a site-specific and site-directed installation, these paintings were based off a photograph previously denied from exhibition in the same gallery space for nudity. My body, now clothed in abstraction, connected with Elliott’s projections to question whether our artwork (as well as the responses by the audience) were performance, authentic, or both.

#236" x 24" acrylic, colored pencilI wanted to play with Carlson's idea that pretending to be someone other than oneself is a common example of this restored behavior. This type of performance is not linked to the display of technical skills (what we would normally think of as theater, or “performing arts”) but rather with a distance between the self and the displayed behavior.

#336" x 24" acrylicThis distance between self and projected behavior creates the juxtaposition within the work to communicate the felt distance of who I am and who I display to the world.

#436" x 24" acrylicIs the/my body still recognizable without the context of other representations? If isolated, would it still be deemed inappropriate nudity? As a final commentary on the gallery which holds endless tension between the disciplines of art and psychology, I wanted to give the most minimal representation of my form as possible.