Contact Us
Carrie Patterson, Chair
Associate Professor of Art
Phone: 240-895-4252
Email: ccpatterson@smcm.edu
Office Staff: 240-895-4225
Alumni Where are they now?
Matthew Fishel (studio art, 2001) completed an MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010. Originally interested in painting, Matthew has expanded his practice to include animation, video, installation, and digital imaging. He is a frequent contributor to RedStarKGB, an ongoing collaboration of filmmakers in Baltimore. His own film, "A Short Film Regarding Possibilities", was selected by the Maryland Film Festival in 2006. See his work at http://www.matthewfishel.com
Pious Boys and Wrinkled Women Representing Age in Sixteenth Century Holy Family Images
Abstract: The science of interpretation, or hermeneutics, is thought to be a discipline furthering the production of cultural 'truths' while neglecting to examine its own limitations. There comes a pleasure out of this production of truth and meaning: a pleasure in the interpreter's contribution to discourse. Not only does the art historian perform the interpreter's role but also many artworks recognize this erotics of decoding and in turn provide more channels for pleasure to arise. These excesses of pleasure through interpretation are found in much of art's propensity towards complexity and contradiction. One facet of sixteenth century art demonstrating this complexity is the representation of age—spanning from birth to death. Age differences and ambiguities represented in Italian Holy Family images indicate other contradictions present in notions of gender, sexuality, and patriarchy. Using art historical analysis, I intend to unfold and examine these instable categories revealing not only art history's investment in an erotics of decoding but also sixteenth century culture's role in producing art specifically addressing an erotic hermeneutics.
