Glimmer of an idea

What about creating a book that is unreadable, unusable, non-functional? Would it be made out of paper or would be it be some harmful material like rusty sheet metal? How would it be bound? What typeface would I use? What would the content be (is the content important in this case)? Format? Would there be a "cover"? Would it even be physical . . . or online? Or a projection? I like the repurposing of books into sculptures and what-not. But I want to actual create a "book" that doesn't serve a purpose.

Lights_Focus

Footage from the CoLABoration reception December 9th. :) It was packed! What a great show.

TriColour effect

I wonder if this works in video?
I love capturing time in photography. Essentially, that's what photography is but I like to exaggerate it . . . time as a medium.
Or time as a theme/vehicle. (good ol' rgb:)

Prehistoric Media

Floppius Discus

Detail

A sculptural exercise using post-consumerism as a theme. It is made out of the recordable parts of 5 1/4" floppy disks . . . a type of media that hasn't been used for about 10 years. Hard to believe that when I was in design school, you could fit a smallish sized assignment on one of these. Hehe, the image sizes of these image are greater than the combined space of all the discs used in this piece combined.
When I was thinking about this piece, I began with thoughts about dinosaurs and extinction. The idea of a proto-dinosaur (a bird-like thing) was very appealing but then I thought it might be too literal. I wanted to go further, more basic. I then thought about evoking a trylobyte (a prehistoric invertebrate found in the most ancient of sea-bed fossils). So I started working on the form and then found that the material isn't too flexible with shape etc so it morphed into a more bacterial-type tube worm thing. I thought this appropriate because of the presense of floppy disks in early personal computer set-ups: the foundation of "memory" in a sense (I remember carrying around a boot-up disk in first year university . . . 1993!) Which leads me to a danger with using this type of material: nostalgia factor. I tried to circumvent that by making the form not immediately recognizable. 

New figures

Crouching Nude, 28" by 22", oil on canvas, 2011

Dancing, 30" by  40", oil and charcoal on canvas, 2011

Man Lying Down, 20" by 16", oil and graphite on canvas, 2011

Thinking of Matisse, 16" by 20", oil and graphite on canvas, 2011

These are some new figure paintings out of my studio (er . . . apartment lol). I've been enjoying this return to a more traditional mode of representing the figure because it grounds me in proportion, mass, and form. It's good for me to revisit "reality" after working in an abstract mode for awhile so I can remember what I'm abstracting. Chicken before the egg? Maybe :)

Left Turns, Right Turns

Here's the result of my final project for my photog and video class. The project is inspired by the video work of Mark Lewis. One aspect of his work is to circumvent the narrative of the video by drawing the viewers attention to the process of video. The viewer is then thrust into a purely visual experience. I did that by taping the camera onto the back dash of my car and did a series of left turns and rights turn, creating an "actual" loop. I'd love to do more video projects but I have to get a few more figure paintings done and I have an itch to make a sculpture (or two) over the holidays!

coLABoration

On Sunday November 27 from noon until 2:00 pm, Samuel Jan and I will be finishing our piece for the CoLABoration show at the Victoria Emerging Art Gallery. Opening reception for the show is Friday December 9th. Come check it out :)

Observations of Representation

 

Observations of Representation

It isn’t so much a concept that I wish to expand on based on the readings from Video Art by Michael Rush for the research paper for Assignment Four, but instead, it is the work of the artist Mark Lewis. It was in seeing some of his video projects (particularly Rush Hour, Morning andEvening, Cheapside (2005), AlgonquinPark, September (2001), and Mid dayMid summer, Corner of Yonge and Dundas (2010)) that “switched on the light” for me in terms of video art. I’ll analyze a few key themes in Lewis’s work by making referencing some of his projects and in doing so, find a direction that I can explore for this next and final project.

One theme that is central to Lewis’s work is demystifying the act of making video. He does this by emphasizing the language of the camera ie. zoom, pan, focus etc. and this allows the video to be free of the standard narrative sequence. “Therefore, by releasing filming syntax from having to tell a story, Lewis comes into contact with “painting”: and not because his works return to pictorial composition, or explicitly refer to figurative works, but because they convert filming into a basically figurative form of expression.” (Mark Lewis: The Concept of Limit of Frame, Saretto Cincinelli, p. 149). Without a narrative to distract a viewer’s attention, they are free to experience the piece on a different level. The video piece called  Rush Hour, Morning andEvening, Cheapside (2005) is a sequence shot with the camera upside down while moving along a busy sidewalk during morning rush hour. There is no story or context of what is happening, so we are forced to engage with what is on-screen. It takes a moment or two to figure out we are watching the now upright shadows of people walking: it is only when the actual pedestrian finds their way into the shot that we fully grasp what is happening. This allows us to get grounded visually before being launched back into the sequence.

The piece called AlgonquinPark, September (2001) takes a slightly different approach in breaking free from narrative by subverting it: a second theme of his work. A slow unfolding of a misty scene on a lake makes the viewer realize that there isn’t much going to happen in this piece. When a boat comes into the shot through the mist, the viewer might think this is the action of the video, but it stops short mid frame. What really is the subject of this piece is the mist. Once again, freed from the narrative, this piece takes on a painterly quality. The camera is less present in this piece, but it is in subverting the standard narrative structure of film that enables the viewer to absorb the piece in a purely visual sense. The lack of sound in this work also helps with that focus on visual aspect. “It can be very difficult to have a conversation (with a friend) in front of a work of art with sound, and, perhaps more importantly, it’s certainly difficult to have a kind of internal speech, literally a conversation with yourself when a work is bombarding you with external sound.” (Mark Lewis: An Unexpected Subversion, Cristiana Collu, p. 167).

The last piece I will examine is called Mid dayMid summer, Corner of Yonge and Dundas (2010). This piece deals with a third theme and that is the idea of using the language of the cinematic in a video art (non-narrative) context. What appears to be a non-descript shoot of a busy intersection becomes charged in a surreal sort of way because the video is running backwards. This technique takes the subject out of its normal forward-moving context and makes the viewer experience cars, people walking, and architectural space in a fresh, new way: we are watching time unfold backwards. The slightly slower pace of the action and fantastic lighting makes this look like it could be the starting montage to a quirky music video. Once again, there isn’t anything really “happening” in the work, so we are engaged with this piece visually.

Mark Lewis’s work is fascinating and has enabled me the tools I need to explore video art. In freeing video from narrative, the act of shooting video becomes an impetus to create and explore a whole body (if not lifetime) of work. As any interesting art does, it creates more questions than it answers: In what ways can the shooting of digital video differ from the more cinematic techniques that Lewis employs? In what other ways can the standard narrative be deconstructed and reconstructed? Will digital video become a separate facet in the context of contemporary art?

The Clumsy Artist

Mishaps in the daily life of an art student.

View Street, Dusk

When thinking about landscape using video as a medium, the idea about creating time segments came up. I used loops of the jogger and car so that they would meet at a certain point and represent a fragment of "real time". The concept of "real time" is questioned using loops and a split screen to create an event that contains the same segment in time repeated, looped, sped up, cut, cropped, etc. But the shakey-cam aspect of it gives hints that the time sequence isn't in order so it's very ambiguous as to what happens first. Also, is it the same shot? Or is it different takes? I like that my assignments ask me more questions then I answer lol.
Making video art is so awesome! The only downsides are that time flys by when trying to figure how to do a certain function and that the footy from this last assignment is taking up 25% of my hard drive :D

Potential of Wonder

Landsape and New Horizons. Kind of a flowery title of our 3rd project for my Intro to Photography and Video class. The operative word here is "wonder" and yesterday afternoon was perhaps one of the most energizing lecture/studios that I've ever had. Our project in to createa 1 to 2 minute video on the subject of landscape keeping in mind the ideas about "what makes it art" that we've learned so far. It's basically an exploration into our relationship with landscape or space or frame of reference (or what have you) through the medium of video ie: moving photography.
One way to do that is to break down the language of making video: emphasizing the concepts of shooting ie, pan, zoom, pull focus etc. The idea of montage comes into play here too. A sequential series of images can only be done when you have "time" as part of your medium (i guess they can be done in other mediums . . . but like a Greek frieze, it elicits associations like "that could be a video" because video and TV are ubiquitous . . . we understand the language of  moving images very intimately).
Mark Lewis is one of the artists that we examined closely and who's work I feel has really opened up the possibilities of video to me. "Algonquin Park" can be compared to a painting by Mark Rothko. It is deliberately slow, minimal, full of ambiguity because the artist wants us to cut through the white noise of our everyday life (as evidenced by a question by the prof "How many of you stopped watching half-way through"). I think this type of approach speaks directly to me not only because I'm a painter, but I also have a bone to pick with contemporary pop-culture: its glitz, ADD, shallowness, consume, go go go etc. I believe in finding "those pockets of stillness" that makes us feel like human beings.
Okay okay, a little on the transcendental side of things, but there's nothing wrong with a little meditation ;)
Mark Lewis

Mark Rothko, No. 14, 1960

One night with video

First foray into video . . . having problems with the sound on my computer . . . but I'll make sound effects if I have too lol

I like records!

Records are fun! Perusing through the stacks of records is great cuz you see albums by bands that you may have forgotten about or ones you've always meant to check out but never have. I bought a copy of "Bug" by Dinosaur Jr. (for a reasonable price mind you) because it was one of my favourite albums! I'd listen to the album on my older brother's stereo cuz I had the fancy new compact disc player (with dual casette deck yeah!). I didn't buy much vinyl cuz I would have to beg my brother to take a break from his existential malaise (whilst listening to Morrissey . . . oh those white middle class suburban blues!) so I could borrow his stereo long enough to tape a record to casette . . . and of course it would skip so i'd have to redo it. Last year I bought a made-to-look vintage record player with casette deck, cd player, radio (!), and auxiliary line out (to say an ipod or computer) and have since started to slowly build up a collection! (much thanks to the Magoochie for the Al Green loaners <3) The thing I forgot about is that you have to change the record over every 20 minutes or so instead of having the itunes playlist go for hours . . . potentially days! But it makes me think of a time when I would actively listen to albums . . . just sitting/lying/chillin'/illin' and engaging with the music. I only do that now to a limited degree whilst painting or in transit to work or the university or whatever.

My other purchase! Can you believe it? Used! Who would resell this gem? Heathens . . . that's who!

Deciphering_Self

Interior_Motion, Multiple exposure

Exterior_Motion, Multiple exposure

Night_Motion, Single exposure

In this series of self-portraits, I wanted to capture a sense of time and space. With photography, its relatively easy to capture slivers of time (1/25 of a second etc.) but while I was exploring the idea of the multiple exposure, I stumbled onto the act of capturing motion. I looked at the work of Marey and Janieta Eyre for inspiration and was intrigued by combining multiple exposures into one frame to create something previously unseen (kind of like how I paint . . . intuitive and responding to the work as it unfolds, only more controlled because the parameters are set-up for "planned accidents"). I didn't just want a sequence of a motion (like in a skateboard magazine) but something that created an impossible time/space. The motion is a repetitive motion: the same act repeated and rephotographed (as opposed to one sequence of multiple shutter snaps like Marey).
The Interior scene was the baseline but even then there is some fudging of the motion (or emphasis if you will) because the act of juggling the brush caused my hand to blur. So I slowed it down for the sake of the shoot. The idea of performance comes into play here but it kind of hard to avoid when you set up a scene (and consider what to wear, what to include in the shot etc). I also erased some pieces of the various exposures to create and impossible (or at the very least improbable) figure. This simultaneity of space added to the ambiguousness of the scene.
The Exterior scene on the beach took the baseline idea further by adding a "second me" (with hoodie = my evil twin lol). What is created is an impossible scene of me repeatedly throwing stones into the ocean with an added dimension: the two me's begin to interact even though I wasn't physically present in two places at once (I don't have the technology yet :) made obvious by the change of clothing and the inclusion of shadows casts on the beach.
The Night scene took the baseline idea except backwards: it's one shot with an emphasized action (pause to allow more of the light to reflect into the shutter) that's repeated (taking steps). It is more akin to Marey but it differs because it is a performance . . . the false act of walking slow enough and pausing for the camera and not capturing/studying a "real" action.
I think the result of this project is a good segue to video art for next week :D

Night shooting

Some fun with a slow shutter speed, wicked boss camera, and night-timey goodness.

Self_portrait_(cont.)

After some input from my prof regarding my self-portrait project, my direction is taking me into the idea of capturing motion. I'm still going to use the multiple image but play with that idea of capturing sections of time demonstrated through my motions. So the one of three "shots" that may be successful is one of me skipping stone on the beach. I'm not super hot on the composition . . . i could probably crop out the trees on the end, maybe shoot on a brighter day, include some splashes? What does work in this image is are the moments caught during my motion (but interestingly, I like the twist that it's not a continuous sequence of one motion, it's one captured frame of a repetitive motion at roughly same point in the action). I also enjoy the play of the layering of the figure . . . creating an ambiguous space (which is something I deal with in my painting :).
I've got two more weeks to finish the 3 shots that I'll need for my project. That'll give me enough time to a) possibly find a battery charger for my gf's super awesome camera b) reshoot a night scene thinking about which repetitive motion I'd like to capture c) possibly reshooting the beach-throwing-rocks shot with the above in mind c) shoot an interior motion shot (inspiration from Janieta Eyre, see below. . . minus stripey tights!) and d) put it all together in Photoshop!

Janieta Eyre

Janieta Eyre

Self_portrait (cont.)

A few more thoughts about the self-portrait project I'm working on. Part of my attraction to the idea of multiple self-portraits (or regular portraits) is the strange tension that is created. When two or three (or nine) of the same person is looking out at you from the rectangular confines of the image, the confrontation factor is increased (it's hard enough to not feel the heebie jeebies when those eyes keep watching as you walk around the room). What adds to the tension is the bending of the rules of time (in a sense). Our brain understands the time involved in taking one shot of the sitter . . . what happens when we have multiples of the same sitter in the same shot? This is what I think I like best about the idea . . . the concept behind making the image comes through. We start to ask questions: how did he/she do that? which one was taken first? why bother?
If an art piece doesn't ask more questions than it answers, then it's not very successful (look at me. . . all confident and such lol).
So the next stage in the project is to shoot the photos and then I'll retouch and tweak them in photoshop. I think I've got a good white balance and focus going. I had some problems choosing a vantage point for my first shoot last night, but it just takes a bunch of throw away takes to get it right. I've also had problems with the framing (ie. crooked framing lol) but that's just something you learn while doing and paying attention to the crop area.



This one doesn't have much to do with photography but it does question the idea of what it means to be an individual in a mass of people. Also, I think Do-Ho Suh is great.

Multi_portrait_Test

"hey, what are you guys doing in my kitchen?"

Assignment 02: Deciphering Self

Our second project for intro to photog and video is to examine self-portraiture through the use of photograpy. The concept of self is a slippery one because it's difficult to examine the vessel your are travelling in and also because it is really easy to get shmaltzy: oh my Self, I'm Unique, I'm individual. To avoid this, we are encouraged to consider the self in term of identity and representation. To quote from the assignment sheet, "If there is no true self (as postmodernism suggests), and there is no truth with a photograph, what then remains to be explored within your ideas of identity, representation, authenticity, fabrication, etc." 
A quick google of "why does postmodernism suggest there is no true self" comes up with this: As Kevin Vanhoozer states, “Postmoderns are so preoccupied with the situated self that they cannot get beyond it.”¹ Because of this “situatedness,” no one can claim objectivity for his or her views." One can interpret this to mean that there is no "truth" but instead "your opinion". So what does that say about the self? Self-portraiture becomes your opinion of your self by your self.
Some questions: we are a product of our environment--what does this mean? what might cause your self to be? how can you represent self through portraiture? 

Jeff Wall

Do Ho Suh

I really like this piece called Double Self-portrait by Jeff Wall. It would be interesting to bring this into a digital context! Like a room full of Pete's!


I love Do Ho Suh! I think he's one of my favourite artists! Much of his work deals with identity and the collective community. Below is a pattern for wall paper using cutouts from year books. He also did a piece that was a composite image of many faces of Korean males, all of them overlayed to create a general shape. This example is probably too sculptural but it is certainly intriguing!

What is an art photograph?

Here are the results of my first foray into making art using the medium of photography. I found the text by Stephen Shore The Nature of Photographs extremely helpful. The book describes the essential elements of a photographic image: physical level (actual size and surface qualities of the print), depictive level (ie. vantage point, focus, time, and frame) and the mental level (ie. what our minds process beyond what the eye is seeing).

Bus Reflection

Vanity

Self-portrait 2011

Bright Idea

This last one is what I will be submitting. I like the idea of still time . . . meaning an image where the content is at rest and time is still. And the content depicts what I think is the foundation of photography: captured light. I might be called on my questionable cropping (or lack thereof) but I didn't want to fuss with this too much . . . I wanted to do very minimal "fixes in post." Thinking about it now, it's ironic that an image that depicts still time required a quick shutter speed (otherwise, the light would have engulfed the film.)

Intro to Photography and Video

I've started my intro studio class about photography and video, so to get my feet wet, I just had crash course of youtube snippets of a host of photographers. What stands out for me is that there are a few main streams or concerns: stripping away the artifice of picture making = raw bare portraits and scenes, recreating a scene from memory or to evoke metaphor through a controlled photo shoot with actors and costumes and sets, using light as a main concern for picture making . . . which I think is an idea I get behind.
Coming from a painting background, I think this idea is something that's not too far removed from oil paint on canvas with except of course the difference that painters create the light (by putting dobs of coloured paint on a surface) and photographers capture the light (using light sensitive chemicals or digital wizardry). So at this very early point in my foray into photography (8 hours and counting), I think that a photograph is a thought in the form of captured light.
A side point that I think is interesting is that photography differs from painting or drawing in that it is repeatable (or at least more so). Not only in the idea of taking multiple frames in rapid succession but also the fact that you can make prints, resize them, alter them in post-production etc. The preciousness of the image is questioned in photography I think.
So my first assignment for this class is to make an image using photography that represents what I think makes a photograph art (as opposed to a document, advertisement, or photo journal). Already I have Richard Serra's voice in my head saying "art is purposefully useless."
Interesting things to think about indeed.

Patrick Heron

I was looking for Patrick Heron on youtube and found this interesting clip with John Squire from the Stone Roses.

Thread as metaphor

The single thread. Like a moving dot. Moving from body to body.
A thread is a journey. A train of thought. A segment of time.
Many threads become a weave. They create surface plane and patterns: our culture?
"The rich fabric of our lives." But what about the individual thread, the tree in the forest?
Thread means connection. We all share this space . . . this is what connects us. We share this reality although we each interpret it differently. Perception. Your viewpoint from your specific thread.

Thread as metaphor for a single human being's existence.
. . . reality.
. . . life.
. . . the cosmos.
. . . time.
. . . everything.

My favourite critic

Ike the Critic

"mmeeeoooowww ooooow." That means I have to work on my line weights a little more.

Drawing with thread

Experimental drawings using thread and black oil paint on standard paper. I love the way the thread forced me to loop around the forms to create some interesting shapes. These are studies for some larger paintings that I'm working on at the moment.

I like how these drawings are an extension of the continuous contour line that I love so much! Thread and sewing haven't really played an important role in my life . . . aside from sewing buttons and pant cuffs. But the long continuous loops remind me of playing in my sandbox as a tiny boy; making roads for my die-cast cars (Hot Wheels oh yeah!). I recall how the roads would end up looking like arteries and go over top of one another. A drawing in sand? hmm . . . maybe i'll just have to go to the beach! lol

Stretchiness

I've finally taken the plunge and started to stretch my own canvas. I should have done this sooner cuz cost-wise, I can stretch my art funds by almost twice as much. Also, it's incredibly empowering to take apart old canvases that you want to reuse instead of having to paint over them. It's kind of exciting actually! I get excited about funny things, don't I? :)

Fyi: staple guns are fun!

Flower painting pains

I would really like to see painters take some creative risks when it comes to painting flowers. They are such a lovely subject in that they are delicate, wildly colourful, structural, and have all sorts of symbolic meaning and thematic potential (etc etc), but it only seems like there are two approaches. 1. Georgia O'Keefe (only more reserved so there is no icky questions as to whether or not they reference to sexual organs) and 2. Dutch still life style (only more overworked).

Georgia O'Keefe, Poppies

Rachel Ruysch, Still Life with Flowers

Here's some thoughts: what if flowers were symbols of death and not springly life-yness? (Dead flowers are 1000 times more expressive than live ones!) Flower petals as blades/knives/something harmful? What if the molecular pattern of plants was referenced? What if the roots and vine/shoot system were the main focus instead of the bloom?

I guess most genres of painting suffer from their type-casts, but that doesn't excuse anything. Look at what Chuck Close did for portraits. All art making means living with risk and uncertainty and it seems odd to me that a subject like flowers that draws so many people hasn't been more fully explored. I can understand emulating a Master's technique to learn about painting but that shouldn't be the end product . . . it would be like copying a poem verbatim. I suppose there are also commercial concerns but seriously . . . even Jeff Koons pushes himself a little (now I've done it).

I don't mean to dis flower painters cuz we're all in this together, but much like BC coast landscape painters, it isn't enough to copy modes that have been reused, reissued, and worn out to death. The key is to add some life, put your own, personal spin on things. Who knows, maybe I'll be walking down Fort Street next week and have to eat my hat!

Katharina Grosse

Painting beyond the canvas! Interesting.

A few more Container paintings

Fragile, 24" by 30", Latex paint on canvas, 2011

Looking Back, 24" by 30", Latex on canvas, 2011

A couple of new works

Container Twisting, 24" by 30", Latex paint on canvas, 2011

Contained with Hands Behind Back, 22" by 28", Latex paint on canvas, 2011

These paintings make reference to Franz Kline's work, but they represent the figure, more specifically, the boundaries of the body in space. Torso and air.

Still flat because the illusion of a body in 3-D is evoked with thick paint instead of light and shadow. Mass is presented as fluid and moving. Weight is illustrated by repeated strokes in an area. Less strokes = lighter.

Gravity is present. A reminder of the easel.

Our bodies are containers. We are vessels of blood, bones, fluids, etc., that exist in a less dense material; gas form of oxygen etc. But air contains us . . . and also permeates through our breathing . . . oxygen elements absorbed in our lungs throughout our bodies.

I am using Kline's methods superficially because I enjoy the harsh division of positive and negative (which my lead to another thought about continuity of space).

I like energetic strokes. Gesture and movement engage a viewer. The act of making marks recalls the hand of the artist.

Big brushes fill up the canvas quickly and there is no time for "precious" strokes.

Cheap house paint reflects the notion of the vernacular: the everyday. (Painting using coffee?)

Swaying Figure

Swaying Figure, 22" by 28", Oil and wax medium on canvas, 2011

Waiting

Waiting, 22" by 28", Oil and wax medium on canvas, 2011