Tuesday, November 16, 2010

11.16.10 : Guest Lecture Response : Alexandre Singh

Bio : Alexandre Singh work explores the creation of new imaginary spheres located somewhere between reality and fiction. His work has taken the form of theatrical plays, lectures, literature, collages, and installations that draw upon academic knowledge, mythology and pop culture to create phantasmagoric universes that intertwine with our own, blurring the boundaries between truth and invention.
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Favorite Quotes :
"Memory is like a string. We cut parts [or segments] out and then knot it back together."
"Writing is a form of magic."
**"What came first, orange or orange? Why orange, of course."**
"Magic is about the utopian way of looking at the world."

**One of the things that I liked about Singh's lecture/performance was the seemingly small connections between objects. I like the questions he posed and the thought process that developed from his images and speech about the interconnection between them.
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3 Words : Magical Interconnecting Narratives
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I learned about using a strong narrative that is carried throughout one work. I really enjoyed the face that he create a narrative that speaks throughout his various installations on the same subject. The thought process and development of his work was interesting and I thought his performance was more interesting than the images of the collages in white ikea frames.
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What influenced you to create an Gothic narrative based on the founder of Adidas?
The desire to build a body of work around Adidas came out of my own intensely personal relationship to the brand. They are the only shoes that I wear - absolutely no others.

In Assembly Instructions, how did you come to this way of making the film piece, like x-rays on a light box?
The images are being projected using an overhead projector. The ‘slides’ are photocopied transparencies of the collages placed on the glass. I wanted a way to manipulate the images in an analogue and tactile way that was direct, and that like the voice, stumbles and errs.
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The project that I enjoyed the most is Free : The School for Objects Criticized.
Description : A conversation spins out on vertiginous loops and wild tangents, loosely centered on a debate of the merits of The School for Objects. The School for Objects Criticized inverts the roles of artwork and spectator by letting sculptures speculate on the world of humans. Their bombastic utterances on art cast doubt on our own discussions of art and culture, on the contradictory and ill-considered ideological criteria we often use to judge the worth of art.

The narrative of these objects was humorous and interesting toughing on subjects that a common to everyday conversations. The imaginative conversation between objects brings a new spin to conversations and current topics by people. The voices were entertaining and fitting for each object. I really enjoy the overall narratives that Singh writes for all of his installations and works.

Monday, November 15, 2010

11.15.10 : Guest Lecture Questions : Alexandre Singh

What influenced you to create an Gothic narrative based on the founder of Adidas?


In Assembly Instructions, how did you come to this way of making the film piece, like x-rays on a light box?

Friday, November 12, 2010

11.15.10 : Artist Entry : Josh Keyes

Josh Keyes was born in Tacoma, Washington. He received a BFA in 1992 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in 1998 from Yale. Eighteenth-century aesthetics and philosophies, particularly those of the Neoclassical and Romantic movements, shape his work. Keyes is drawn to the clinical and often cold vocabulary of scientific textbook illustrations, which express the empirical "truth" of the world and natural phenomena. He infuses into a rational stage set many references to contemporary events along with images and themes from his personal mythology and experience. These elements come together in an unsettling vision, one that speaks to the hope, fear, and anxiety of our time. Keyes currently lives and works in Portland Oregon with his wife, graphic designer Lisa Ericson.



Josh’s work brings to mind the detail and complexity of natural history dioramas, and the color and diagrammatic complexity one might find in cross section illustrations from a vintage science textbook. His work has developed over the past years into an iconic and complex personal vocabulary of imagery that creates a mysterious and sometimes unsettling juxtaposition between the natural world and the man made landscape. The work conveys an anxious vision of what the world might be like in the future as a result of current global warming predictions.



Keyes’ interest in creating paintings that fuse realism with the possible often evokes the imagery found in dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature, while other works express the optimism and utopian ideas found in the writings of Buckminster Fuller and Paolo Soleri. Keyes often incorporates objects and animals into his dissected environments that have personal iconographic significance. He weaves his personal mythology through fractured and isolated landscapes that are either overgrown with vegetation or underwater, and often depict historic or military monuments covered with graffiti. The imagery functions as a way for Keyes to express his personal experience and also allows him to comment and interpret events in the world.




"Keyes' artworks are neither optimistic nor nihilistic. If anything, they seem to hover between fear and fury, between sorrow and acceptance. But they do contain a level of urgency, addressing such exigent issues as the extinction of species and the emergence of a new global topography." - Excerpt from "Animal Planet", by George Melrod

"My intention is to create work that asks questions about the implications of urban sprawl and its impact on the environment. I am interested in creating psychological narratives set in closed systems that express the behavior of and the interaction between humans and animals. The dystopian model creates a dynamic playing field where I can experiment with these ideas and forms." - Josh Keyes


Keyes paintings explore the relationship between animal and humans in a way that differs from my work. He explores the more environmental interaction between humans and animals and how humans have effected wild animal habitats. I really enjoy his use of selective color between pieces and his use of everyday objects that are recognizable of human existence. I also enjoy the ambiguity in whether the animals are taking back the land or not.

Josh Keyes

Gallery
Interview

Contest Entry 3 : VMFA Fellowship

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

11.11.10 : Idea Entry : Restraint

Definition :
1. ability to control or moderate one's impulses, passions, etc.
2. a device that restricts movement

Types of Animal Restraint in Vet Labs

Restraint is the restriction of movement of any Sanctuary animal and may vary from simply confining the animal in an enclosure, small space, box, or crate, to completely restricting its muscular activity (immobilization). Where at all possible handling should be avoided by using shifts.

Studies over the last two decades have led to a greater understanding of the physiological effects of restricted movement, which can be quite deleterious to the animal, and even cause death. Psychological stress, such as may be caused when a social animal is confined alone, has also been studied and constitutes an important factor in restraint and handling techniques.

Dog Show (clipping hair)
Colleen Plumb


"Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo Sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself." - Robert Heinlein

"The use of a mechanical head restraint will improve the accuracy of captive-bolt stunning, but it can increase stress if it is improperly used (Ewbank and Parker, 1992). To minimize stress, the animal should be stunned within five seconds after its head is restrained. If more than 3% of the cattle vocalize (moo or bellow), the head restraint device will have to be modified to reduce stress. Animals should enter the head restraint easily, with a minimum of prodding."

Grandin, Temple, and Gary C. Smith. "ANIMAL WELFARE AND HUMANE SLAUGHTER." Temple Grandin's Web Page. Nov. 2004. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. .

Chaumière de Dolmancé
Walton Ford


Restraint is the newest aspect of my concept. The physical restriction of animals by people speaks to my exploration of interspecies communication and relationship. Again, like caging or confining an animal, restraining an animal can be to protect or to harm.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

11.09.10 : Guest Lecture Response : Simon Tarr

Bio : Simon Tarr’s films have been screened on every continent (yes, even Antarctica) in hundreds of film festivals. His prior eleven films are available on DVD from Netflix and Amazon, and as digital downloads from QuarkNova.com. He has performed his live VJ shows at conferences, festivals and clubs from Tokyo to New Orleans and everywhere in between. Tarr teaches new media art at the University of South Carolina. He recieved the 2010 University Film and Video Association Teaching Award for achievements in pedagogy that contribute to the field of film and video education.
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Favorite Quotes :
"You have been taught by the students I once taught. That makes you my academic grandchildren."
**"I discovered early on that I am a 'hunter gatherer' filmmaker."**
"I do not wait for inspiration... do it whether you feel like it or not. Even though most of the time its no."
"I have a pair of flip up 3D glasses. They look pretty good too."

**This statement was interesting to me because in the photography department, there is an emphasis on concept before shooting or shooting with a purpose even if we don't have a full understanding of your concept. He just shoots footage and them fit it into project later. However, most of his work did not seem to have a concept.
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3 Words : Manipulated 'Hunter-Gatherer' Videos
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I learned about the different methods of filming and editing. I was not a fan of many of his videos because much of the sound seemed like white noise to me. In addition, I did not like the strobbing of some of his videos and the 3D effect without the 3D glasses. The videos also had a very hand-held look which I did not enjoy.
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How did you develop your style of film-making and the use of people versus animation?
Tarr stated that when he became bored or unsatisfied with one style of filming and editing, he explored other methods which led him to his performance videos.

Have you every had a bad experience collaborating with other artist?
He did not talk about any of the videos that he collaborated with other artist during his lecture.
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I the only segment of the films that I really enjoyed was the 3rd part of the video Giri Chit. A cast of thousands toiling hundreds of feet above the street who are urban farming. I liked the use of black and white while the pants were in color and the slowed motion of the workers. The overall image of the city and the urban farm on the roof top was my favorite view. In addition, I liked the narrative it told of limited space for nature in the Japanese city.

Monday, November 8, 2010

11.08.10 : Guest Lecture Questions : Simon Tarr

How did you develop your style of film-making and the use of people versus animation?

Have you every had a bad experience collaborating with other artist?

Sunday, November 7, 2010

11.08.10 : Artist Entry : Richard Barnes

Throughout the 1990s Barnes worked as the photographer for the joint Yale/University of Pennsylvania excavations at Abydos, Egypt. This experience led him to consider the ways in which we think about and depict the past. Using architecture and the artifacts of excavation, he considers the interaction of past cultures and the way in which they are preserved and interpreted in the present.


The photographs from Animal Logic explore the installation and preservation of animals and fossils at natural history museums. These images examine the historical and scientific indexing of species throughout the ages, simultaneously drawing attention to the way in which they are viewed and understood.


“A curator, writing about my work, described the archaeological process as akin to the autopsy, in that it is simultaneously revealing and destructive of its object of study. I like the idea in my work of coming from a place that is both ambiguous and contradictory at the same time.” – Richard Barnes

"Referencing science, history, archaeology, and anthropology, Barnes’ work offers a reminder that there is nothing inherently “natural” about going to a museum to see animals. In his photos, a plastic-wrapped giraffe is suspended in midair against the trompe l’oeil backdrop of a savannah, a pack of stuffed wolves lunges at a museum preparer inspecting blades of grass, and other creatures (leopards, emus, and bears) hang out in packing crates." - Kelsey Keith

I enjoy Barnes work because he documents animals that are confines and restricts in a different manner then I do in my work. While these animals are not real, they are restrained in some manner and that is were my project is beginning to lean. I like his documentation styles between the actual crates the animal models are shipped in and the placement of them into the museum.

Richard Barnes
Interview 1
Interview 2

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

11.04.10 : Idea Entry : Spatial (Tention/Relation/Plane)

Definition:
Spacial - of or pertaining to space; existing or occurring in space; having extension in space.


The words “spatial tension” evoke all sorts of themes: conflict, superficiality, the depth of our relationships with others, barriers…

Determine the spatial relationships between features: Do they overlap? Is one contained by the other? Does one cross through the other?

A spatial relation specifies how some object is located in space in relation to some reference object. Since the reference object is usually much bigger than the object to locate, the latter is often represented by a point.

New Age Still Life
Heidi Norton

“This indeterminate physicality with different physical planes--it is beautiful and confusing, everything starting and reversing.”-- Robert Irwin

The subjects in a space "seem to activate the space they occupy and suggest a kind of dialogue between the objects."

"A primary function of a geographic information system is determining the spatial relationships between features. The distance separating a hazardous waste disposal site and hospital, school, or housing development is an example of a spatial relationship."

"Perspective is the spatial relationship between your position – or rather, the camera’s – and the scene being photographed. Positioning yourself in the right spot can make a significant difference in your composition."

Studio Construct 17, 2007
Barbara Kasten


My work addresses the spatial relationship between camera and object and the object in the photograph and the viewer. I've created a spatial tension represented by the cage between the viewer(human) and object(animal).There is a separation of space between the two that is intriguing and I want to explore it more.