this photographer, richard renaldi did this photography project where he asked strangers to pose together for a portrait on the streets. the results were some interesting and in some cases uncomfortable looking photos...check them out:

http://www.renaldi.com/photographs/tstrangers1.html

Performance Art Piece

My performance art piece... which i couldn't think anything better to call it other than "untitled". it almost seems more like a social experiment than a performance of art... but i think it qualifies because hopefully when you "experience" it, it will make you think, which is what art (should) do.

if you weren't there, what i did was show the class an image of a drawing i had done while messing around with india ink on watercolor paper... the reason i used this specific drawing was because it was done without any pre-planning or any thought. i just played the music and drew whatever i heard...every instrument represented in the finished product.

i then played specific parts of 3 different songs for the class, and told them that one song was the inspiration for the image. i asked them to look at the picture while they were listening, and try to isolate the different sounds and specific instruments, and just as they were listening try to see whatever shapes the music made. (i realize now after doing this that i'm asking people to listen really carefully on a much deeper level than they would normally, and doing it on the spot)

so basically i asked them to try to get inside my head while i was drawing and listening and using this india ink to translate what i heard into shapes on a piece of paper.

the songs were

all i need by radiohead (2:41 to about 3:10)
black white by the ravonettes (just the first 30 seconds of the song)
howl by black rebel motorcycle club (0:40 to 1:10)


the results were interesting, nobody in the class thought it was "all i need" by radiohead when that was in fact the song behind the drawing.

"black white" by the ravonettes drew 4 votes. I chose this song because it to me sounded very unlike the drawing... it sort of marches on and just sounds rigid and chanty...not swirling around with different textures like in the image.

the rest of the class (about 18 votes) favored "howl" by black rebel motorcycle club. I probably shouldn't have chosen this song for this though, because now that I realize how extra hard i'm expecting people to have to listen in order to get what I was doing, i probably shouldn't have used a song that really sounds like it could be the image. I chose it because it was kind of loud, like the part of the radiohead song i used, and i thought maybe people wouldn't see the finer details as depicted in the image.

so basically, i didn't really get any conclusive results... but i hopefully made the class think a little bit at least, and maybe see the correlation between the song and the image if they listen again, a little more closely this time.

Interesting Music Video

I recently saw this video for the first time, and after learning that it was "filmed" in the Carrollwood area of Tampa and some in Miami, i was intrigued. Instead of cameras, they used 3-D mapping technology to create the landscapes and the glitchy and hard to depict house party scene at the end.

i'm not really sure what else to say about this video, it's just really eerie and interesting. i love the dissolution of the entire landscape, paralleling the line in the song "infrastructure will collapse" .... i don't know, see for yourself.

xerox project

my xerox project was a little more of a statement of my experience learning how to ride the long board than a self portrait using xerox.

as with learning how to do anything that requires riding, i fell a lot. conveniently, the places i landed on were very often my forearms, face, hands, and when i was lucky my feet. i incorporated all of these elements with the xerox images of my hands, feet, etc...

two notable features were the foot that extends from the front of the board, with the toes hanging off. this was the first "trick" i learned, where i could push off from the back of the boards, resting on the back trucks and then "walking" forward while traveling, and letting one set of toes hang off the front, with the other foot, resting right about the front trucks... it's called toes on the nose.

anywho..here are some pictures of the thing:

Grid Art Project

I was looking at patterns in the tiles on the floor of my bathroom and I kind of just came up with my own pattern on the walls, which were just plain white tile.

I used dry erase markers on the tiles, and clear tape over the grout, so it wouldn't stain.

click on the image for the full version.

damien hirst

upon looking at damien hirst's work and also reading about his career...i'm not really that impressed with his actual work, but more of how he's changed the art world, especially in recent times.

I think what i notice most about hirst is not his actual technique, as many of his works have been accused of being plagiarized in some way or another, but more of the ideas behind his works...which can be understood further by looking at the titles of each piece. He is known for being somewhat "outrageous", but in reality, most art is trying to be outrageous just for the sake of being outrageous. Damien hirst definitely tries to be outrageous in his work (using grotesque displays of nature such as in "mother and child divided" which features a severed cow suspended in formaldehyde). But I think more of his outrageousness comes from his celebrity, the price of his works, and his choice of taking other forms that may seem like plagarism.

the fact that hirst has achieved such a high level of celebrity has much to do with the press he's received from lawsuits and accusations of plagiarism but probably more to do with the price that many of his works have sold for in the past. in june 2007 he set a new world record for the most expensive work of art by a living artist when he sold "Lullaby Spring" for 19.2mil. His most famous piece perhaps is "For the Love of God" which features a skull encrusted with diamonds... this piece had an asking price of $100 million. The piece sold, but not right away- and it was sold to a consortium that includes Hirst himself and his gallery.

Hirst's art seems to not be in the actual physical works themselves, but the implications of each. by looking at the different titles the viewer can gain more insight into what hirst intended with each piece. his ridiculous prices for his works have changed the art world with a dramatic action, which is a big part of what art is about.

importance of soundtracks to silent films

upon seeing the early motion pictures of Edison, i noticed the use of music as soundtrack...music that was clearly added post production.

It's no secret that adding a soundtrack to motion pictures enhances the viewing experience, but it's interesting to see the first examples of this practice and think...why? who thought that would be a good idea?

If you watch "Carmencita" you see a woman dancing around, and cheerful dance music is played. Though early viewers would probably have been just as mesmerised by the prospect of a moving picture...the element of sound really captured the viewer by taking over not only their sense of sight, but hearing as well.

The addition of music also gives the picture more meaning. In "Carmencita" for example, the music is neccesary to understand why the woman is dressed and dancing the way she is. The music is fun and upbeat, as are her motions. Without sound, it looks like a woman flailing around...and though we can infer that she's dancing, a person viewing this film today without sound may not understand that.

The addition of sound not only serves a pratical purpose in most motion pictures, but it also adds an artistic quality. We see this today with music videos, which are a way to emphasize certain meanings in pop songs. With movie and audio, a person can create their own work of art with sound and motion as the medium.