Mars is for fags

Author

Justin Quaid Grubb, Rhode Island School of DesignFollow

Date of Award

Spring 6-1-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Ceramics

First Advisor

Lesley Baker

Second Advisor

Anina Major

Third Advisor

Nicole Cherubini

Abstract

The overarching theme dealt with in my work relates to the Space Age - specifically the predictive futuristic approach to product design and the pop culture that came out of the movement. During this time, technological advancements permeated American culture. Manufactures made the future accessible to everyone and futuristic living became symbolic of innovation, progress, and prosperity. A blueprint for a futurist suburban utopia was forged and the American people were ready to embody the new “American Dream.” Residential Mid-Century Modern architecture emerged as the new site for this dream and along with it came a new way of life.

By refurbishing the camp sci-fi aesthetic of the Space Age to fit the new era of human space flight, my work becomes a playful commentary on the commodification of the future and the resurgence of space exploration in contemporary pop culture. Within this commentary, I take an autobiographical approach to investigating the role of objects in the communication of identity. Further influence derived from Mid-Century Modern residential architecture, highlights an interest in aspirational living. In examining the branding of such aspirational living, I explore my own relationship to domestic life. The trajectory of my work moves from defining the Neo-Space Age object, to using said objects in a mock lifestyle brand. This lifestyle brand produces reactions to heteronormative representations of domestic bliss, which leads to markers of reclamation.

Comments

View exhibition online: Justin Quaid Grubb, Mars is for Fags

Recommended Citation

Grubb, Justin Quaid, "Mars is for fags" (2021). Masters Theses. 682.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/682

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.