A self might not amount to very much, but still ...

1994-1995

A self might not amount to very much, but still … was my first exhibition as an MFA student at Cal Arts (1995). It consisted of 5 altered miniaturized copies of paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, painted in oil on blocks of plywood. A free standing wall was constructed near the far end of the large gallery to present the paintings. A quote from Novalis was painted on the existing wall, directly behind the temporary one. 

The work was inspired by the recent reconsideration of Romanticism in post-Modern writing. Friedrich was of particular interest as the  leading figure of German Romantic painting, and especially for his exclusion, or at least minimization, by the Modernist Canon. a Canon which dominated Modernist Art making and criticism. 

The Novalis quote: “Die Welt muß romantisiert werden. So findet man den ursprünglichen Sinn wieder,” translated as “The world must be romanticised. In this way its original meaning can be rediscovered.” The full passage reads: “Die Welt muß romantisiert werden. So findet man den ursprünglichen Sinn wieder. Romantisieren ist nichts als eine qualitative Potenzierung. Das niedre Selbst wird mit einem bessern Selbst in dieser Operation identifiziert. So wie wir selbst eine solche qualitative Potenzenreihe sind. Diese Operation ist noch ganz unbekannt. Indem ich dem Gemeinen einen hohen Sinn, dem Gewöhnlichen ein geheimnisvolles Ansehn, dem Bekannten die Würde des Unbekannten, dem Endlichen einen unendlichen Schein gebe, so romantisiere ich es.” (“The world must be romanticised. In this way its original meaning can be rediscovered. Romanticising is nothing but a qualitative intensification. Through this operation the lower self becomes identified with a better self. Just as we ourselves are a sequence of such qualitative powers. This operation is still completely unknown. By giving the everyday a higher meaning, the habitual a mysterious appearance, the known the dignity of the unknown, the finite a semblance of the infinite, I romanticise it.”)

https://sites.google.com/site/germanliterature/18th-century/novalis