RUMRILL's response...

Robert Rumrill
Lecture response

I thought the work of Daniel Bozhkov was fairly interesting. Moreso than the actual outcome and messages of his pieces, I enjoyed the means in which his pieces became complete. It was astounding how the only way his pieces could come to fruition was through countless hours of apprenticeship. Coming in to a project completely devoid of the knowledge needed to complete it is a problem all artists encounter, but Bozhkov definitely uses that to his aesthetic advantage. He de-elevates himself from “famous artist” to “common laborer” in order to boost himself to become even more of a “famous artist.” Of everything he presented, I found the perfume piece to be the most entertaining. I think I liked it the most because he was using his common tactic of infiltrating a niche profession, but in this piece he purchased ad space on television in order to confuse an even wider audience. The other ones struck me as too pinpointed to create a real mass impact. It is apparent, though, that this is an intention of Bozhkov, and these little worlds are ones he feels are worth exploring. I really liked how he didn’t even seem to like it when his art was brought to the attention of the media, such as his “learn to fly with a very large larry” piece. However, it would bug me if some guy from “Friends” was not getting my artistic point, too. I can see where he’s coming from.