One more provocative  scene

http://vimeo.com/5150071 (Pagan Poetry) 

My sources of current artists exploring similar concepts:

Johan Rosenmunthe: http://www.rosenmunthe.com/work/off-ii—2010/

Through digital communication like Facebook, Twitter, online dating and personal websites, the representation of our personality becomes more and more streamlined. We have the possibility to project an idea of how we are as a person into the world around us, but with the constant option of censoring information and invent fictional characteristics. Never have we had access to so much information about each other, and never has the information been so unreliable.

In this project I have downloaded pictures of ‘friends’ that I only know through the Internet, and given them a new context. The persons are only visible through a digital representation, while the surroundings are as analog as possible. The sceneries are photographed places that invited to interaction – places that missed the company of human beings. The milieu adds a new meaning to the way the digital personas act, and gives their simplified characteristics meaning and personality again, by adding a setting to their digital components.

The project looks directly at the dichotomy of digital and analog processes, juxtaposing one against the other, and challenges viewers to make sense of what seems like a fractured image. The images themselves provide scenes of isolation and loneliness, as the characters within are so seemingly detached from their environment.

These images come to life when the viewer move in relation to them – seen up close, the people are blurred and the viewer has to step back to bring the motive into focus. At the same time, the scene in which the person is placed is blurred when viewed from a distance. So you have to move back and forth – between non-figurative colored squares and figurative representations of personality.

Chuck Close

We went to these galleries

• Ghost Gallery
• Apocalypse Tattoo
• Fred Wildlife Refuge
• Frame Central 
• Zero Zero Hair Salon 
• The Square Room Gallery

For our thursday night class, we were told to go to the Capitol Hill Blitz Art Walk…So we did. Our first stop was Fred WIldlife refuge, and it was not a good expirience in the very least. The art was bad, Series of images projected onto windows. The Images didn’t make any sense why they were together, and the contruction of the windows was shabby, the paper where the image was projected was coming off. Also the people, or I guess “hosts” at the gallery were snobby and bitchy, where they really had no reason to be. SO going from the Failure that was Fred, we walked down to Pike St. (stopping at a few more galleries on the way). At the Corner of Pike St. and Broadway next to Ballet PHO, was the Square Gallery.

Here we saw the work of Jason Hallaman, his work is the image above. I found his work the most inspiring, motivating, and captivating of anything feature on the walk. At first glance it just looks like peeling paint on wood. What we are really looking at is layers and layers of “separate” paintings that Jason then intentionally scraped portions of them off. He turned several pieces into one cohesive and mesmerizing piece. He and I got to talking and I of course asked where the inspiration came from. he said that he just couldn’t get this painting one right so he kept just painting over the previous image, after 10 or so layers he put it down. Jason then took some personal time and went traveling. When he came back he felt renewed and started to scrape off all of the layers he had put on this block of wood. Whilst scarping he started to realize he really liked the look and feel of the scraped paint, it was like he was now excavating an image out of his previous artists struggles. The body of work consisted of several large blocks of wood with this similar style of “scrappage”. The series was titled “Finding Home”.

Is it more effective if the the majority of the image is pixelated or if only the people are pixelated?

My Cinematic space project went over like a lead balloon. I hated it, my peers hated it, my teacher must have hated it! The general conclusion was to simply shoot start from scratch. I do however have all of the elements to create a cohesive piece, they just didn’t make it into the video. Thankgoodness I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. For example I did not fill my mirror with especially captivating imagery, I just reflected the world around me, I did not really think about what to “put” in the mirror. Another criticism was that the general construction of the structure was shabby, so for this I’m going to create it again. This time sans duck tape. I’m glad I did it though, now I know what bad footage looks like, what bad construction looks like, what bad video art looks like. Now having made all of the wrong decisions I know what I DON’T want with my piece. I think the major component lies in story boarding of the video itself. When I first went into it, I think i just assumed it would tie its self together, that all I had to do was set up the camera and break a mirror. NOT the case! So my critique was extremely helpful, all of the apprehensions I had brewing in the back of my mind were not ill placed.

Now to simply do it again!