Danielle Van Dam 2025

Abstract

The Clown is a formal investigation of iteration, technique, and endurance in my artistic process underpinned by an exploration of interpretation and meaning in painting. I have created seven smaller-scale paintings all representing the same subject that read together as one body of work. I made a conscious choice to refrain from prescribing a narrative to the work, allowing my viewer to reach their own conclusion, rather than preemptively assign it for them and follow with a supplemental written explanation. With The Clown series, I attempted to invoke an atmosphere of irresolution through representational oil painting, in this case, using a small porcelain clown figurine as my only reference. My motivation to disrupt some logical function or compulsive intellectualization in the process of viewing paintings is a reflection of my studio practice as well as my reverence for the enigmatic. This paper will explore how I’ve chosen to approach my time in this program, as well as for my thesis project—with a self-designed curriculum centered on a technically focused material study in oil painting.