UCLA Artists’ Stories: Alix Vernet
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 11, 2016 12:03 p.m.
“This is a site of dorm nonconformity,” said Alix Vernet as she scattered her photographs across a floor speckled with scraps of paper and unidentifiable materials, remnants of her creative process. As a first-year student majoring in art, Vernet operates within a world far removed from the mainstream culture of UCLA. She began to feel weird walking around campus, which led her to use her room as a site of comfort and an incubator for artistic expression. “I think its cool to make it non-functional and sort of weird.”
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
“I feel like I’m really changing,” said Vernet as she rested on top of the isolated body parts that serve as the subjects of her photographs. “I’m thinking more about how I make art. Like, is what I’m doing now what I really want to be doing? A lot of my work follows the, like, conventional notions of what a beautiful photograph is... and I want to make sure that doesn’t inhibit the meaning.”
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
“The things that I come to own after being in a space for a while: a piece of tarp plastic and broken mirrors.” Fascinated by the concept of transparency, Vernet spent most of her high school years exploring the relationship between mirrors and selfhood. She now uses these reflective objects to delve into the relationship between her interior creative space and the exterior reality.
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
The plastic tarp is integral to her creative process. “I’m taking into consideration what it means that I keep using this piece of plastic. What it means for it to be where my artistic space exists,” Vernet said.
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
“My whole relationship with skate culture is kind of this big joke,” said Vernet. I just thought it was cool to do it. It is such a 12-year-old boy culture ... but it’s not as accessible to a 12-year-old girl, I suppose. So it’s just kind of fun, like, hanging out with all the skater boys and being like ‘I’m gonna do it.’ And then I did it and I’m OK at it, I suppose. No, I’m pretty bad at it.” After falling off of her skateboard, it drifted into the middle of the street and was hit by a car. The board broke in half.
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
She welcomes the challenge of skating in heels. “I have this one specific pair of heels ... They’re just fun,” Vernet said.
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Vernet crawled into the space under her desk. She found comfort in that mini-haven.
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
Across from her desk is where she keeps her refrigerator. Vernet searches for her fragmented reflection in the broken pieces of mirror that rest on top of her neon fridge, filled only with cotton candy and a wedding dress. “That’s the most useless fridge ever,” said Vernet.
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She notices parallels between her life and that of a captive rat. Rats are often trapped inside of a small, rectangular space, and when Vernet is inside of her room, so is she.
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
“This is a mask that I made. I tried to explore some idea of human connection through consumption or the inability to consume ... and the idea of carrying weight. The mask is heavy,” Vernet said. She was also inspired by the Greek myth of King Midas. He wished that everything he touched would turn to gold, only to realize that he could no longer consume the things that he touched. The golden touch turned out to be more of a burden than an asset.
(Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
Vernet reflects on her artwork as she lies of a thick green cloth, her hair adorned with a feminist playing card, a retro postcard of a semi-nude woman and costume jewelry. “I’ve been thinking about what I want to communicate to the world,” Vernet said. She is still searching for the narrative behind her artwork.
