ART-IST

Polyperspectivity: Chase Nelson

 

For this show, they wanted to focus on Mental Health. They have experienced a substantial amount of aggravative trauma and generally negative mental health conditions for a good portion of their life. With these trials in mind, they've made it their goal to improve the lives of others and themself through physical and mental health improvement. Through their studies or occupations in Art, Psychology, Education, and Business they've created a strong foundation for creating a positive impact in their future.  

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Using their knowledge in Psychology and Education they learned that reaching a flow state while making art assisted them in healing their mental health. Allowing flow to take over allows a naturalistic amalgamation of their memories, perceptions, and artistic skills. During these states, the symptoms of their mental health disorders and all stresses are close to nil. Over time, alongside the use of traditional therapy/other therapeutic practices, things have improved. They hope to create their own truly peaceable mental health one day but they know that they still have a long way to go. While on their path they want to give snippets of the developments they experienced while creating to the viewer. With this group of pieces, they wanted to invoke some discomfort in the viewer to provoke the same uncomfortable emotions and experiences they've lived through in the hope of building empathetic eyes. They do not want viewers to beseech them with sympathy, they instead want to enlighten viewers' empathy. 

 

While creating these, they used a rather convoluted but effective process they developed. Essentially they take photos on their mobile phone and run the images through a trial-and-error style of layering edits, reflections/repetitions, and final amalgamations; these steps often happen non-sequentially and are done over multiple digital media editing platforms. They chose this method because of the physicality they can show through their expressions and the distortions they can show through the blurry yet pixelated features the edits make. They've got much more control over their medium compared to the trials they've faced. Having to sift through the massive amounts of initial photographs and carving out, through their process, what worked best, also speaks to the transitional work they needed to do to make positive changes in their mental health.

 

As a person, they are a product of the environment, genetics, and time they reside in. Their interests represent their attachment to the places they've been and things they've seen within their lifetime. The process harnesses the upsides of their A.D.H.D. and transforms those experiences into tangible items. This in combination with their studies in business has given them the tools they needed to begin their life as an artist. One day, I hope to find a combination of interests and knowledge that awards me success, but until then I will continue to make the most of our lives to improve this world and our art.

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