The Second Investigation

I chose articles instead of postcards or photos because an article tends to have both the functions of a postcard and a photo. An article tells a story or a current event while supporting itself with pictures.

The visual of the artwork makes the viewer recreate the piece. The artwork is one piece but it is made up of several fragments. The articles direct the viewer's gaze to each picture before realizing that the articles are bits and pieces of a larger picture.

There are probably other ways to get my ideas across but I feel that The Second Investigation is the best way. If I used different techniques, they would not portray my message in the same way.

I cut the articles in squares and rectangles rather than in more unusual shapes, like circles and octagons. I cut them in more familiar shapes because any other shapes might come across as pretentious. The viewers may not be able to recognize the articles as familiar objects and my ideas would have been skewed.

There are no truly original articles because there are so many copies of the same publications. Rather, I am using articles that come from the actual publication. They were than copied and produced once more when I created the artwork.

I would not add or subtract any element of the artwork. It would not be considered finished if I felt that I had to keep taking and including more pieces. I am satisfied because the artwork gets my message across well enough for me to consider it complete. Adding or subtracting from it would only morph the message.