DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/V44B-E285
Defense Date
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
Painting and Printmaking
First Advisor
Hilary Wilder
Second Advisor
Peter Baldes
Third Advisor
Jacob Todd Broussard
Abstract
This thesis began with a question: can diagrams create understanding, or only reflect it? Through paintings that layer automotive wiring schematics with family photographs, I explore how the human attachment system resists easy mapping. Using digital tools like Photoshop and scanning, alongside analog methods such as papier-collé and photo transfer, I examine how systems built for clarity—like wiring diagrams—contrast with the layered, often messy realities of human relationships. Drawing from attachment theory’s empirical foundation, rather than the metaphorical leanings of psychoanalysis, my work investigates how emotional bonds form, falter, and repair over time. Material loss and layering are not flaws, but deliberate anchors in my practice, mirroring the imperfect, resilient processes of attachment itself. Just as a schematic cannot fully convey the experience of moving through the world in a machine, my paintings suggest that no image can fully capture the lived experience of connection. Through this body of work, I explore the spaces where structure meets feeling, proposing that uncertainty, adaptation, and emotional complexity are essential materials in my approach to making.
Rights
© Alex K. Bacon 2025 All Rights Reserved
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-2-2025
Included in
Ancient Philosophy Commons, Art Practice Commons, Child Psychology Commons, Cognitive Science Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Photography Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons
Comments
Alex K. Bacon (b. 1995) is an American visual artist currently residing in Richmond, Virginia. He received his Bachelor of Arts in the Department of Anthropology at Bard College in 2017, and is currently a candidate for a Master of Fine Arts in the Printing and Printmaking Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. Through layered paintings that merge automotive schematics with family photographs, Bacon uses attachment theory to explore how human relationships resist easy mapping, embracing material loss and uncertainty as essential parts of human connection.