Installation Artwork

        Installation art is art in which the space is presented as a piece that may be entered, explored, experienced, and reflected upon. We are prompted by curiosity to enter these spaces, which is the artist's intention. Installation art can show the importance of exposing things and ideas that many times people overlook or take for granted. Artists make installations because they are an opportunity to allow others to explore and focus on what they normally may pass by, and take a second look at it and reflect. An installation shot gathers a space and everything in it into a single image. The specific, chosen place and everything in it is the artwork itself. The list is unlimited for materials used in installation art. Any media counts whether it is in a room, a car, and office, or includes food, paper, bones, pots and pans, rope, garbage, inflatables...literally anything that the artist feels is important to the success and reflection of their piece is applicable.
         I found Yayoi Kusama's Fireflies on the Water installation piece to be the most interesting because the artist used the element of light, and magnified it. Light was used to reflect itself by the mirrors surrounding it, like a never ending room. I like the repetition of the lights and how they seem t continue forever because of the effect of the mirrored room. I feel a connection with that specific piece because it invites you to be enclosed in solitary, and reflect on your own imaginations. The viewer is meant to enjoy, or make of the experience by themselves. I like to be alone when I am really thinking deeply about something. Even the closest person to me cannot be near me or else I can not reflect thoroughly on what I need. The artist made this installation so that the experiencer could do it alone, uninterrupted by outsiders. I'd like to explore the theme of Self, and look into human experience. There are so many experiences we have and feel all the time, but I want to seclude one, and explore it: Comfort.
        We are the only ones who allow ourselves to be comfortable, no one else can force that upon us. We can fake the fact that we are comfortable, but we are the only ones that know whether we are comfortable or not. Now what makes us comfortable? that's a whole different area to get in to, but it branches off of human experience. Comfort is something different for everyone, but when someone sees a pillow, generally "comfort" is a describing word. I decided to arrange all different colors, and sizes of pillows in the place I find most comfortable to me. This place happens to be MY bed, which is located in my room, but it could differ according to anyone. The idea behind it is something personal, and comforting. It is my idea of an area of escape and study. My idea is that once people see the pillows, they will think of comfort, and what is comfortable to them. I am creating an installation in this specific site because it is a place that most people have the experience of being in everyday, therefore it it overlooked. Because of this I want to show the importance of the place and items in the place that we normally take for granted. I think creating this will help me reflect on something I take for granted, and help others to as well.
       My installation contains different sizes of pillows, different colors, and different patterns. It contains pillows from all areas of the house, and used for different things. Some are for couches, some for heads, some as a seat cover. Each pillow has a different texture, and all are balanced on top of each other, supporting each other. There is not much negative space in between the pillows, but a little but around the entire mass. All the squares and rectangles make up a organic looking mass in their entirety. There is a rhythm created with the different patterns used in contrast with the solid colors. I like the one solid black pillow in the middle, amidst all the other vividly bright colors. This piece just draws me in, and I hope that's the case for others.