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Literary excavations : the text-based art of Brigitte Radecki

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Literary excavations : the text-based art of Brigitte Radecki

Killoran-Quill, Patricia (2009) Literary excavations : the text-based art of Brigitte Radecki. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

Brigitte Radecki (1940- ) is a German-born Montréal artist whose installations explore the interface between text and visual art by juxtaposing abstract paintings with citations from classic, but largely forgotten, twentieth-century literature. As an artist and a feminist, Radecki takes an archeological approach to exploring the human condition--excavating the past and incorporating references to mythology, literature, painting and historical events that have shaped today's culture. I study Radecki's oeuvre through an analysis of two installations: Miss Lonelyhearts (1998) based on the eponymous 1933 ironic novel by American writer Nathanael West (1903-1940), and The Black Notebooks based on By Grand Central I Sat Down and Wept (1945), Canadian writer Elizabeth Smart's (1913-1986) lightly-veiled autobiographical novel. Stylistically Radecki is an abstractionist. She has a personal affinity for abstract expressionism; however she labels herself a postmodernist, and seeks to rupture the insularity of abstract expressionism and open it up to context and wider social concerns--the most important of which, to Radecki, is the status of women in contemporary society. Methodologically, Radecki's discourse combines difficult-to-interpret literary citations and iconography. Her philosophy is to create synergies redolent of myriad subtleties questioning human interconnectedness and complexity--to study the past in order to understand the present.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Fine Arts > Art History
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Killoran-Quill, Patricia
Pagination:vi, 111 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm.
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Art History
Date:2009
Thesis Supervisor(s):Langford, M
Identification Number:LE 3 C66A35M 2009 K55
ID Code:976587
Deposited By: Concordia University Library
Deposited On:22 Jan 2013 16:29
Last Modified:13 Jul 2020 20:10
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