Artists

If you are intrigued by the work of a specific artist, it may be best for you to complete a case study on their body of work. Take a look at some suggestions on how to narrow down the topic for a dissertation:

Example artist dissertation topic 1:

The life and work of the artist, Eric Staller.

The pioneering light graffiti artist, American Eric Staller, has recently made public his personal archive, allowing an unprecedented view into his creative process. An artist who describes his work as having ‘a thread of optimism’ through it, Staller has created light installations that have amused and uplifted. Using various materials and backdrops, the artist was an early pioneer of light drawings and light sculptures, without which events such as the Luminance and iLight festivals in Singapore would not have taken place. Yet Staller has not remained bound by his early innovations; this thesis focuses primarily on his earlier work, and analyses the changes in his technique over the years.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Cutting, J.E. (2002). ‘Representing motion in a static image: Constraints and parallels in art, science, and popular culture’, Perception, Vol. 31, pp. 1165-1193.
• North, M. (2005). Camera works: Photography and the twentieth-century word. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Page, J.D. (2012). Interview with Eric Staller. Light Painting Photography. Available at: http://lightpaintingphotography.com/?s=staller.