Stacia Yeapanis' "Willow Rosenberg," 2008. Cross-stitch.
From the Sims to TV fandom, Chicago-based artist Stacia Yeapanis narrows in on the existential nature of online and TV culture, trying to understand how meaning is made from cultural products. Some would say it's entertainment, but Yeapanis takes a postmodern approach, dissecting the ways that people create their own unique meaning from pre-constructed media. During a studio visit, we chatted about the nature of her work and how she got her start.
Tell me about your work and its focus on TV fan culture.
The underlying premise of my work is that the thing that drives people in these subcultures—whether it's sports fandom, TV fandom, the art world, academia—what's always underneath is this intense search for meaning. Though one person in one subculture may not like the search as it's seen in the other subculture, it's still about making meaning and connecting with people. All these elements show up in every one of these subcultures even though they're very different. Even though the art world has its own history and so does fandom, they're both doing the same thing for people.
How did the transition come from watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to making cross-stitches of emotionally charged screen shots?
When I was in my first year of grad school, I started researching Buffy fandom culture for a research project. For a long time we've had pop art, and people have been making art with pop imagery, but there's still a real line between low art and high art. There has always been a method of how you use pop imagery, and if you're not criticizing something it's not worthwhile. But I was like "I love Buffy and Buffy is symbolic, so why should that be off-limits for my art practice?" When I was doing the research project, I started looking through fan sites, realized how many people were watching Buffy, and what a fan site is. I was thinking about fandom as this existential gesture, how people just put out a website with their fandom, and how if you just put out something you love that's the most powerful gesture. There's the intellectual idea of being a fan and the emotional side of it; it's difficult to separate them.
What's your favorite Chicago hidden gem?
I'd have to say my favorite bar, Joe's on Broadway, which is [near] Wrigleyville where I used to live. There are usually lots of guys in there and an older gentleman behind the bar. They've got a great jukebox with lots of classic rock. I usually get a table; it's a place I go to talk. I drink wine a lot, and they have pretty cheap, not disgusting wine, and usually if you go to a dive bar you're not gonna get good wine.
What's the best Chicago advice you've ever given or received?
Don't take the Clark bus through Wrigleyville during a Cubs game. Now I have to do it a lot because I live further north and want to visit friends, and I always get stuck.
Have you ever been to a Cubs game?
I would go if someone gave me free tickets. Theoretically, sports fandom is the same as TV fandom, which all my work is about. So I'm interested in, some day, putting them next to each other, but I don't like sports so it's a lot harder to get into the fans.
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