Drawing on an Object: 5 Challenges

 For the drawing on an object project, I went bananas. I wanted to have fun with a banana and experiment with different ways I could interact with a banana. My first thought was the classic of using a banana as a phone. When thinking about this idea more, I thought about how irrelevant that image is now. This idea of irrelevance took me on a 5-part project adventure. 

My first object was a drawing interacting with a banana as a phone. To symbolize the increasingly irrelevant nature of this drawing, I allowed the banana to mold and wither, just like the phone WITH A CORD. (cue gasp) With the drawing around the banana, I tried to capture the 50s pop art era in which the banana phone would have thrived. To the banana itself, I gripped it in the hope that it would brown and mold faster there, leaving a mark of the hand grasping the phone. Although this is not as visible as I would like it to be, the indents are still there. 

For my second object, I wanted to take the irrelevance one step further. Using the same image as before, I placed a new banana to replace the old one. Here, I etched the words "I'll just text you!" on the banana. As the banana aged, the etching got darker. Revealing the words that have led to the demise of the banana phone. 

The third project took a turn. I decided to veer away from actual bananas and turned to exploring the shift in our culture through painting bananas. I decided to take my roommate's hand and paint a banana on it. She then took a picture with her hand, now a banana, like a phone. It isn't only the banana that symbolizes the phone, but primarily the shape of her hand. Does this mean that a cultural symbol or hand gesture is also slowly disappearing? 

My fourth project flips the banana analogy on its head. I paint bananas on my iPhone. Now the banana is no longer a phone, but just a phone decoration. One that I would buy for my phone. 

Finally, my crazy banana journey has come to an end... almost. For my fifth project, I took a banana I painted and took photos of people interacting with the banana as their imagination saw fit. This was fun to see where people took this. Some thought as I did, but some also made it into a hat, a smile, a food, or even a chair! 

Overall, I am happy with where this project led me. It was fun to interact with a concept in a variety of different ways and to get out and play with something. I woke up and ate a banana the morning I needed an idea for a project, and look where it led me!

Some places I got my inspiration for this project...

Some inspiration that led me to my final projects is Carsten Holler's various works, specifically Decision Tubes. I love how his work invites play in spaces that normally are not playful. For me, this was insightful because art is usually a space I take seriously without play.

A second artist who inspired me is Andy Warhol, who took everyday items like soup or even a banana and made them into art. In his famous Campbell Soup pieces, I like how Warhol took an object, like soup, and recreated it over and over again to send a deeper message. I think it is cool that a repetitive nature can do that and make you think in a deeper way than just one piece would have done.