50 years from now (final project)

Sadly, I wouldn't have much to say to my future self 50 years from now - other than don't be a dried up old prune and to always remain a kid at heart. The song for this piece I created using GarageBand and it took me a while to make it sound half way decent.  Most of the video came from around 6-8 different public videos off Vimeo. I wanted to focus more on the video game theme seeing as how I love to play video games. I also wanted to include the whole Saturday morning cartoons and eating cereal bit in there as well. Gotta love being a kid!

Live Performance Piece

I had an awesome idea for this project initially but quickly realized it would be almost impossible to do considering the time frame, equipment needed, and amount of help needed so I had to revisit the canvas more than once. I went from the concept of people being able to paint on my body to acting as a doomsayer and prophesying the apocalypse to destroying a representation of the world in the sand by letting people walk all over it.

The symbolism is pretty obvious in this piece. Rapid technology and the progress of man shaping the face of the planet. Natural, non-renewable resources being consumed and eventually the destruction of the earth... all dried up, nothing left but sand. The video and concept are both essentially minimalistic in approach. The project had to relate to both technology and the end of the world.. the end of the world aspect is obvious, but I'll let you guess the technology aspect in this piece. Okay, I'll give you a hint: Space Odyssey 2001.

Terry and the Pirates

The originally comic strip series Terry and the Pirates first aired on the radio in November of 1937.  Similar to any show, it was developed to fill a popular need, was dramatized and possessed the familiar crackling and hissing of radio at the time. The shows popularity, at first, didn't catch on and was cancelled in 1939. However, after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Terry and the Pirates found its niche back on the radio and became quite popular as a way for people to hear about what was going on in the far east.

It's difficult to imagine the time when people would come home after a hard day's work and wait patiently for the next show to come on the radio.. although I'm sure it was just like how people are eager to watch their favorite TV shows today. There are several similarities between radio and television including broadcasting formats and schedules for shows or programs, mass production and consumption (availability), audience-specific commercials, and more.

Its not hard to agree that radio takes a great degree of imagination when listening, similar to reading a book and hearing/seeing the words turn into visually imagined scenes in your mind. Television leaves little left for the imagination, showing us someone else's view in full picture.

I find myself listening to the radio shows on NPR rather than the music and commercials on every other channel it seems. I'd rather listen to a radio show or story telling (even in a vocally dramatized way) than tune into many of the music played on the radio today. It's unfortunate the only time I really listen to radio is in the car or occasionally while cooking in the kitchen... something I doubt hardly anyone else does today.

Flip Book Animation Project

Erin - Good use of color and lots of white space.. very minimalistic approach given the amount of space on each page of the book but that could be intentional.

Christopher - The story is a bit abstract (on purpose?); very clean animation

Maria - I enjoyed the green swirl of grass, good usage of color

Brian - Halloween aspect was neat, and the Radio coming to life was creative

Juan - Coolest part for me was the football morphing into an eyeball

Sabrina - I especially enjoyed the water bucket animation near the end (or was that the beginning?)

Cody - I thought it pretty inventive/smart to place your animation sketches on the edges of the pages to make it easier for flipping, I also liked how the animation was telling the story of the book it was drawn on

Kimberly - Similar to Maria's green grass swirl; abstract storyline?

Arielle - I saw lots of heart animations for the project but yours seemed to stick out .. very minimalistic

Michelle - Love the whale, good storytelling

Megan - Enjoyed the lego block movement, animation was very clean and well timed, lines lined up well from one page to another; would recommend using a pen or something fast to draw with so you don't kill yourself :)

Nakota - Another colorful one, good storytelling

Myself - I had a difficult time focusing on a concept long enough to make it an animation that worked... mine was more like a collection of quick, morphing sketches.. although I did attempt to fill the pages, making use of the dimensions at times it proved a daunting process and one I rather did not enjoy mainly due to the level of personal stress I was experiencing simultaneously.. I suppose that isn't a valid excuse but I know I could have produced better results for this project. I also tried to break out of my designer shell so to speak and draw in a style I normally wouldn't (I'm usually much too focused on realism and achieving "perfection").

Edison's The Great Train Robbery

Thomas Edison's 1903 short silent film The Great Train Robbery was one of the earliest films to utilize several various special effects and techniques birthing at the time.. such as cameras being placed on top of trains, cross cutting and double exposures. Even though the piece wasn't original to any of its effects, its assumed to be the earliest film that combined several of these techniques into a 12 minute long film.

Although hard to imagine now, its said that viewers/audiences of the time would find themselves in fear of being ran over by the train or horses because of the camera angle or perspective, as if the objects were coming straight toward them... imagine their reaction if they had 3D glasses on and personal headphones!

Stop-Motion Interactive Graffiti

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
If you haven't already seen examples of the stop-motion graffiti trend which seems to have spread like wild fire (especially on youboob) then you're in for a treat (that is, if you enjoy graphic representations of odd figures eating heads, disfigured body parts, insects devouring a man's head and so forth).

Artist Blu's "MUTO", a stop-motion animation of graffiti coming to life includes some very interesting aspects of interactivity in that the graffiti, or rather the art, itself becomes alive and affects (or effects? always get those two confused..) the surrounding environment by eating the papers on the wall, hanging from a hook on the wall, bricks being pushed around or out of the wall, etc. Add some relatively convincing sound effects and you've got yourself a degree of realism you normally wouldn't find in your average painting.

I can't imagine the amount of time, patience and planning this project took.

The Birth of Jazz

Around the 1890s in New Orleans a diverse mixture of musical styles including ragtime, blues, gospel music, and "plantation songs", merged to form what we know as Jazz. Probably the key characteristic of Jazz is the improvisation involved when performing this style of music.

Jazz is still considered to be one of the most important (and truly indigenous to America) forms of music, or even art, which affected music globally. A piece of real American culture of which to be proud of.. and a great example/symbol of unity between various cultures and diversity.

Jazz was considered immoral by older generations yet started to spread quickly especially in the 1920's and 30's during the Prohibition Alcohol ban which ultimately encouraged the consumption of alcohol along with wild parties, dancing, illicit "speakeasies" and "improper"  music... a time when being bad was a good thing and consequently when one of the most influential styles of music had emerged.

Mozart's Lasting Impression

It's interesting how many professional musicians turn their nose up at the mention of Mozart simply because his music is so popular and overly used... considered to no longer be "tasteful" due to the "average Joe" claiming to love Mozart. To judge a life's work based off current trends and redundancy is a bit silly in my opinion. It should be perfectly fine to enjoy the music of any composer or any style of music regardless of what everyone else thinks or whatever is trending at the moment (same could be said for the arts in general).

Mozart composed over 600 works in his time. It's no wonder his music continues to be influential in current advertising and/or entertainment venues, you hear it everywhere and often unknowingly (unless of course you've more than familiarized yourself with his style).

Personally, I find Mozart's music a bit too intricate and heavily focusing on the western major scale (apparently, or so I've been told, almost everything I listen to is in they key of minor). It depends on which specific piece, but I prefer my classical music "fix" to come from emotional music... similar to the works of composers like Dvorak or Bach... (not that I haven't been moved or touched by major pieces)

Here is an interesting read about the Popularity of Mozart.

Frozen through Time

The forming of ice crystals over a lengthy period of time on artist Juan Carlos Delgado's installment of this classic style (bronze or copper?) bust proves intriguing to say the least... both visually and conceptually.

The ice formation is affected by, of course, any form of heat including the turning on and off of lights within the room, human interaction or any other changes in temperature.. providing a unique sense of interaction.. making it interactive or multimedia art.

The symbolism in this exhibit is accentuated further by the addition of Delgado's wife's hands embracing a single flame... although I'd imagine a single flame might not be enough to keep you warm in this installation, so be sure to double up and bring a scarf when viewing... (related article)

18th Century Castrati

Male castration was a common occurrence for several centuries. Even though castration was performed since before the ninth century (eunuch singers from the Byzantine Empire), it wasn't until the eighteenth century when castrati became widely popular in Italian opera. Amongst other Italian opera "superstars" there was the famous Farinelli, receiving excessive praise and admiration for his instrument and performances.

Farinelli's real name was Carlo Broschi. After the unexpected death of his father in 1717, out of fear for losing the family's wealth and good standing, it was supposedly Broschi's brother Riccardo who spear headed the decision to castrate Broschi in hopes of ensuring the family's economical and social standing. Farinelli (Broschi's stage name) quickly became recognized for his musical abilities, performing several locations in Europe including Venice, London and eventually Spain (as a court/chamber musician performing private sessions as music therapy for King Philip V's depression). (source)

The concept of performing castration for the means of musical entertainment (or reaching a sense of "perfection" musically) isn't exactly the most comfortable topic to discuss or even imagine. To get a sense of what it might have been like to actually hear a live performance of a castrato, one could turn to today's male soprano countertenors such as Philippe Jaroussky. While a developed falsetto isn't exactly the same as a real castrato its a more desirable alternative... at least for the performer I'd say!

"Art" vs. "Design"

As my first post to this blog, I thought it would be good to start off with an often controversial subject... that being the real difference between Art and Design, or rather, what it means to be an artist compared to what it means to be a designer.

photo credit: jessekunze.com

As I know it, a designer generally is someone who creates their work based from trends (marketing) or attempts to convey a clear message to its viewer. Designers are often limited, restricted to a certain look, feel, approach to what the ultimate message is. Artists, on the other hand, are able to produce art with no bounds, no restrictions, complete freedom - a real "blank canvas".. literally. Artists aren't necessarily creating a piece of work based on how the audience/viewer will respond, but rather based on self expression and unique exploration.

Personally, I find being an artist, producing pieces with absolutely no reference, nothing to compare to or pull ideas from... that is much more difficult than throwing on my designer hat and putting something together last minute for a client who by the way (most of the time) already has a basic concept of what they are expecting. And yes, there are many designers who are also artists and vise versa.. but I think its important to realize the delineation between the two.

On the AIGA website you can find a very good article by Craig Elimeliah on the subject of Art vs. Design... a recommended read. I agree with Craig when he mentions near the end of the article that designers should aspire to put themselves in situations where they have absolute freedom to create anything, as they feel inspired.. releasing themselves from the bounds of design.  Not that design doesn't have its place.. there is something comforting (and still very creative of a process), reassuring about being able to find something you like, perhaps it be complex and hard to replicate, and reproducing it in your own way.. making it your own unique experience.

I'm not saying art is more important than design, especially when it comes to how it is applied in the "real world", in our daily lives as consumers. Personally, I feel being a "true" artist is more difficult and often seemingly impossible since there really is no such thing as originality anymore.. its all been done before in some small way or another. One could even argue there is no such thing as a modern day artist, that we all are designers... save the extreme, chaotic and seemingly desperate artists who are struggling to find new forms of expressing their art.. even if its by means of drastic or intentionally bizarre methods. Of course what was once bizarre or grotesque is now trendy and the accepted norm. Perhaps in time we would learn to accept the change as we have in the past?