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
The Conservational Gaze
Abstract: My paper is multifaceted but primarily focused on issues of modern and contemporary art conservation. I start with the basics, breaking down: “what art is?” and “what is art conservation?” From there I begin to question decisions made about conservation and what some of the differences are between historical and modern art conservation. I discuss some models used for art conservation, such as Variable Media Network and The Conservation of Modern Art Project. I also considered works done by artists Jean Tinguely, Tony Cragg, Felix Gonzales-Torres, and Meg Webster. I conducted on-site research by visiting various labs; a journal of this experience is joined at the end of my paper. These two bases, a general inquisition and analytic approaches, provide a framework for my own theoretical model of art conservation. I call this the “conservational gaze.” Art conservation can afford us a different way of looking at art that not only helps to understand a different aspect of the work but also give us insight into ourselves. By asking philosophical and ethical questions and grounding them in modern and contemporary examples, I will address how art conservation can change our perception of art.
