Sam Whalen - Friends Forever: The Transfer, Terry Barrett's Describing Art

 

In Sam's piece, Friends Forever: The Transfer, she enacts what seems to be some sort of ritualistic ceremony in which her and two friends transfer make up from one person to another and Sam then imprints it onto a paper on the wall.

Her and two friends began her performance piece by standing in the room before the critique, ready for the performance before the audience became present for the critique. Once the performance began they chose who would have the make-up put on them first through a series of rock-paper-scissors games, the loser of the games would then be the person who gets caked up in make-up. Afterwards her friends rubbed their faces together to transfer the make-up onto the other person, with closed lips to not include sexual activity. As they are enacting the transfer, for 21 seconds, Sam whispers memories "that come to mind of moments where she recalls adapting something from a girlfriend(Sam Whalen)." The same process was repeated for the transfer onto Sam's face though no one whispered in her ear. Once the transfer was complete Sam then proceeded to the paper on the wall and transferred the make-up onto it, rubbing her face on the paper for 21 seconds saying each second out loud. Her friends then put their clothes on and left before the critique began.

Personally I think that the purpose of this piece was to portray how close these friends were and how they inspire Sam's work, which was made evident to me when Sam included the fact that their lips would be closed as they're rubbing their faces together to not include sexual activity. The process of the transfer made it seem almost as if one person was giving off their knowledge to the other person; kind of like a telephone game within a group of people and how the message gets distorted as it goes along, though in this case it was a visual representation. In the end the piece on the wall seemed to portray how the those around you affect how you yourself make your mark in the world. The final piece itself is presented well by showing the artifacts of the performance in front of the final piece itself as if showing a visual timeline. Overall the piece really grabs the attention of the observer and makes them wonder what the hell is going on, which is what I love about the piece.