In The Making: Entry 1

The artist I chose whose work most interested me is Eve Andree Laramee, whose work begins to blur the lines between fact and fiction in real life. The chapter focuses mainly on her 1997 exhibition at the Islip Art Museum in New York, entitled Secret History: Yves Fissiault, Artist of the Cold-War Era, in which she presented, as curator, a number of plausible but artificial documents belonging to a fictional scientist from the 1950's. In doing so, Laramee did not reveal the deception to the gallery audience, and continued to build upon the story of Fissiault in other works in the following years. Part of the enjoyment for the audience was getting to be "in on" the clever joke if they were knowledgeable enough to figure out what was real and what was fabricated. I found the descriptions of Laramee's work to be incredibly interesting and entertaining, as the idea of blurring the line between fact and fantasy has always interested me. Both Laramee and her work are compared in the workbook to the works of Rene Magritte, whose artworks were often more overt challenges to what is fact and what is fiction. Now, on to the questions:

6a. Defend (Rene) Magritte and laramee against the accusation that they are merely frustrating or deceiving viewers. How can obscuring and complicating experience, as opposed to simplifying and clarifying it, benefit viewers?

Personally, I don't feel the need to defend their works per se. I see no harm in creating images or stories that aren't factual but that may closely resemble real life. If we were to hold all such works to task, we would never be done defending them. What Laramee has done (and Magritte, to a lesser extent) is to create a realistic visual novel of fiction, that ties itself directly and indirectly to the history of the Cold War. In that way, it is hardly different from other fantastic creations, a prime example being the movie Forrest Gump. I think the fact that the story could be seen as "true" only to those who don't have the knowledge or interest to dispute it merely proves its worth as an accomplished work of artistry.

6b. Both Magritte and Laramee create meticulously detailed renditions of the unreliable truths they convey. Why do you think they expend this extraordinary effort?

To begin, the chapter does a good job of dissecting Laramee's creation of Fissiault as a pseudo-stand-in for her absent father, a colorful and enigmatic character whose real existence mirrors that or the fictional scientist. Beyond that, I think it relates to some aspects that many humans share, including telling stories, telling jokes and playing harmless tricks. The best stories are those that draw the reader / viewer in and transport them to a place that they can believe in, even if only for a moment, so why not tie a story to real history, tweak some of the details and use the real world to lend plausibility to your fiction? In some ways, it could be seen as a shortcut, but it is quite the opposite, since the task of incorporating a false world into the real world requires plenty of research, knowledge and creativity. The challenge to do so alone may be enough to get most people to invest their time in such an endeavor.