Nicole Ji Soo Kim

Conditioning, 2018

In taking an activity of low maintenance self care, I initiate the use of the ordinary and perform a puzzling gesture which implies the act of indulgence. Continuous application of lip balm becomes a pointless action as the lip stops absorbing the substance within a few seconds and begins accumulating on the surface. My choice to use a $30 lip balm rather than a $3 lip balm is to elevate the luxury that I associate self care with; an act of privilege. This alludes to the emotional satisfaction of self care.

A text by John Roberts from 1996: Mad for it! Philistinism, the Everyday and the New British Art which gave a semi-explanation of how using the subjective ordinary experiences is justified as art. Although the text talks about a particular group of artists, the New British Artists, there are overlapping ideas in the use of the everyday which I find intriguing. These artists consciously “play idiot” with the awareness of the postmodernist discourses (1960-80s systematic conceptualism and the art education principle). Their use of subjectivity to further emphasize their denial of high culture and institutionalized arts, making it unnecessary for viewers to have any knowledge of art and its theories when engaging with it; hence, making it accessible to everyone, everywhere. Reification is significant as they see objects as subjects and subjects as objects. The New British Artists believe everything is a subject and the everyday is a subject, not merely a site and time which we exist in. Robert states this is a culture of “the committed but occasional artist” rather than the long dated desire of becoming the Great Artist.