I was really impressed with this artist. I had just as much fun as the last time, with the camera obscura. I was genuinely interested and had real questions and once again got inspired. I doubt I'll actually decide to engage in this art, but I think it's very cool that she can actually sell her work. That's difficult to do in art! She's lucky. It's hard to find a medium in art that will encourage people to buy. It has to be functional art. Basic drawings and paintings just don't do it anymore. Very few people will buy that kind of art. It makes me want to finally give in and adapt my art to something functional and buyable, so I won't have to live in a box when I graduate lol! Or rather, live at home until I'm fifty. That's really not cool, either. (not gonna lie)
One thing I specifically enjoyed about this art was how engaging it was. Much like watching a film in a theatre, it engaged an entire group together. We fed off each other's laughter also, which I really liked. The silly short stories seemed to encourage people to laugh, as well, and by extention caused us to engage with each other even more. At the same time, however, the experience was entirely personal, since we each had our own viewfinder. I found that this made the stories more engaging because each picture had to manipulated by you. You had to pay attention all the time to hear the noise to change the pictures. It ensured your engagement with the subject matter. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised to engage with true experimental art, and I enjoyed it and was inspired.
Another thing I liked about it was the stories themselves. They were often childlike, bringing back memories of being a kid, when we watched these viewfinders as little 7 and 8 year olds. I found that I felt younger and wonderfully immature, laughing at silly kid stories and actually enjoying being immature for once. Carefree almost. Perhaps these can be marketed as good stress relievers!
At the same time, I could see how the stories could be made more artsy instead of childlike as well. I like this versatility. "Fear and Trembling" was great! It was not childlike at all. It had true artistic aspects to it and was not so big on the laughter side. I liked it because I had no idea what was going on but the images were vibrant and interesting and the noises used were almost foreboding in manner. I liked the contrast of foreboding music vs the bright very normal images or the dinner table and girls' shoes. It was interesting to see how the sounds impacted the images and changed the story so completely. It made me realize how important the sounds were to the piece. After all, as kids we had no sound, just the pictures.
It's pretty amazing that this artist has been able to put together history, remeniscence, and usefullness into a brand new, yet old art. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Camera Obscura
This marks the first artist's work that was not only interesting to me, but also inspired me. Ethan's work was so original and appealing, experimental in a sense, but not as a genre...rather his work was true experimentation. I like how he dug into the fundamentals of film itself and was fascinated by those basics, and used them to his advantage. It reminds me of how I love 80's clothing, but I only certain kinds. Yes, nothing is as good as the original, as they say, but the original doesn't fit this new world we live in without a small twist of some sort. Just like we wear 80's clothing with a twist of new century style, Ethan used the old thought processes of ancient cameras and went back to the very basics of what film is- light sculpture- and gave it a modern twist. I loved his work, completely and totally. Shocker!
First of all I really enjoyed the installation aspect of his work. I like being immersed in the work, feeling part of it and almost as if I am partially in control of it...much like the sphere film we saw in 102 last year. We were able to manipulate the experience each time, with new groups of people. It encouraged us to be just as creative as the artist. This time, for this work, we joked around in front of the lens, so the others inside could laugh and watch our antics from inside. We were able to manipulate the art. It was also different every time we interacted with it.
Second, I really enjoyed his time lapsed photography. That work in itself was a whole new art form for itself. It was a film made of photography shots. You could almost call it film animation. Yet, it was documentary, catching the people as they reacted with the work. It was almost a study of frames, much like Robert Breer. You could better understand the whole film if you could experience the frames separately. To me this is a whole new medium, and I could see him making real use of this idea. For once, as I said before, I was inspired. I might even try to do this myself! Here are the ideas I got from the session:
1) Screensavers, to make money
2) Framed screens (I've seen them before) showing recorded video from his time lapsed photography-it's like a live photo- it will engage you over and over every time you see it
3) Installation museum works, recording the camera obscuras and projecting them into a space, so you feel surrounded by the picture and it will not get obscured with bad weather-also easier to show without all the setup work
4) Projecting into spaces with white objects in it, sculptures almost...like you could put several oddly shaped squares in the space and project the camera obscuras that were recorded from all different angles, coating the odd forms
5) Sound could be added to the framed works, to help people sleep or to set a mood for a nice dinner at good restaurants
6) Make time lapsed photography that correlates in theme... maybe even stage objects to come by the lens or people, etc, so that the space reflects and matches what the light sees in the space...them take a photo or a time lapse series and that way it works together instead of being always random
7) Make recorded time lapsed photography sessions of a space several days in a row or longer, then put it all in a gallery space as several recordings, using the dual projector idea, showing the different times side by side so you can compare the differences
8) Another gallery idea, take time lapsed photography of the camera obscuras and put them along the walls and let people walk around the space, experiencing each one separately or being able to walk tot he center and look around at all of them, completely surrounded- some could be live as well...you could have some on the ceiling and floors also, to be completely engaged
9) Make the time lapse photo series and project them one over the other with the dual projection system, with camera obscuras from the same place or closely related places, or completely random places, like a racetrack with galloping horses superimposed over an ocean scene or sky scene, so they look almost like they are galloping in the clouds or in the ocean
10) Have live performers outside as they engage with the viewers inside...make them interact in the space almost like theatre, only in a whole new way...almost like a moving photograph. Could also be done as a theme, the camera obscura happening inside the theatre as the actors act outside. The viewers could watch from the theatre inside but they are not watching the stage, instead the camera obscura outside where everything is ether scripted or improv. Would make a great theme for time lapsed photography.
Awesome stuff awesome! This is true experimental cinema- opening people's eyes to new ways of doing things by true experimentation. Good stuff.
First of all I really enjoyed the installation aspect of his work. I like being immersed in the work, feeling part of it and almost as if I am partially in control of it...much like the sphere film we saw in 102 last year. We were able to manipulate the experience each time, with new groups of people. It encouraged us to be just as creative as the artist. This time, for this work, we joked around in front of the lens, so the others inside could laugh and watch our antics from inside. We were able to manipulate the art. It was also different every time we interacted with it.
Second, I really enjoyed his time lapsed photography. That work in itself was a whole new art form for itself. It was a film made of photography shots. You could almost call it film animation. Yet, it was documentary, catching the people as they reacted with the work. It was almost a study of frames, much like Robert Breer. You could better understand the whole film if you could experience the frames separately. To me this is a whole new medium, and I could see him making real use of this idea. For once, as I said before, I was inspired. I might even try to do this myself! Here are the ideas I got from the session:
1) Screensavers, to make money
2) Framed screens (I've seen them before) showing recorded video from his time lapsed photography-it's like a live photo- it will engage you over and over every time you see it
3) Installation museum works, recording the camera obscuras and projecting them into a space, so you feel surrounded by the picture and it will not get obscured with bad weather-also easier to show without all the setup work
4) Projecting into spaces with white objects in it, sculptures almost...like you could put several oddly shaped squares in the space and project the camera obscuras that were recorded from all different angles, coating the odd forms
5) Sound could be added to the framed works, to help people sleep or to set a mood for a nice dinner at good restaurants
6) Make time lapsed photography that correlates in theme... maybe even stage objects to come by the lens or people, etc, so that the space reflects and matches what the light sees in the space...them take a photo or a time lapse series and that way it works together instead of being always random
7) Make recorded time lapsed photography sessions of a space several days in a row or longer, then put it all in a gallery space as several recordings, using the dual projector idea, showing the different times side by side so you can compare the differences
8) Another gallery idea, take time lapsed photography of the camera obscuras and put them along the walls and let people walk around the space, experiencing each one separately or being able to walk tot he center and look around at all of them, completely surrounded- some could be live as well...you could have some on the ceiling and floors also, to be completely engaged
9) Make the time lapse photo series and project them one over the other with the dual projection system, with camera obscuras from the same place or closely related places, or completely random places, like a racetrack with galloping horses superimposed over an ocean scene or sky scene, so they look almost like they are galloping in the clouds or in the ocean
10) Have live performers outside as they engage with the viewers inside...make them interact in the space almost like theatre, only in a whole new way...almost like a moving photograph. Could also be done as a theme, the camera obscura happening inside the theatre as the actors act outside. The viewers could watch from the theatre inside but they are not watching the stage, instead the camera obscura outside where everything is ether scripted or improv. Would make a great theme for time lapsed photography.
Awesome stuff awesome! This is true experimental cinema- opening people's eyes to new ways of doing things by true experimentation. Good stuff.
Monday, March 5, 2007
http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com

Well, I'd like to start off with saying that of all the works we explored today, I liked Brent's the best. I think it's rather cool to be able to say your former TA's work is your favorite out of all the works you are presented in an art class, no matter what medium. Go Brent!! I hope I have time to see his work as installation. For some reason I really like the idea of installations works. I think if I must watch experimental film, it just seems better...perhaps more suited to the genre... if it is seen on a monitor. Why? I'm not sure. I guess my generation is so used to seeing Hollywood film projected, that monitors are now out of date for us in a sense, at least when it comes to art. So to me, in my film generation, the monitor seems more interesting and untouched as art, therefore rendering it more interesting for artistic purposes. Brent's piece was certainly still good to watch in the double projection idea, but I could see it being much more effective as an installation. I could see myself standing between the two screens, having the pictures fill each and seem bigger than they did in class, pounding at me from both sides. I can see myself barraged, looking back and forth, hearing the banging and really getting into it, as if the sound were to attack me in the center. I also think it would look better in a completely dark room, with no projection light. It would seem more jarring and fast.
Then I checked out the "Learning to Love You More" website. I found it very interesting and I wish I had time to do more with it. Maybe once summer comes I can do a more involved one. For now, I settled for a rather simple one...the flash photo under your bed. I keep all of my toiletries under my bed because I have no closet, a tiny room, and among three people only one bathroom, which is also tiny. So I have to cram all my stuff under my bed in baskets. I have my hair stuff (brush, pins, clips, bands, etc) in one handheld basket, and the other two contain my other stuff like makeup, extra contacts, lotions, facewashes, creams, curling iron, blow dryer, fake hair, etc. Behind that I have my old collection of small rubber horses in a plastic bag, as well as things that ended up there randomly. For these pictures I took one of the stuff I have in the baskets, then I pulled them away and showed pictures of what was behind them.



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