New Year's Eve: Reflecting and Revisiting

The new year approaches quickly and with it comes sentimental and philosophical reflections about the past, hopes for the future, lamentations, goals, wishes. It the time when everyone looks back on what they have or have not done and thinks.

To pseudo follow the trend, I wanted to revisit a theme that I had posted about earlier this year: graffiti vs. aerosol art. While traveling recently with my partner Danny, we happened to stumble upon two spectacular works of what would technically be called aerosol art.

The two works we found were on perpendicular walls. The content of the two works were different (faces vs. cars), but the colors and forms seemed to borrow from each other.

The works weren't found in an arts district or any specified place. We just happened to stumble upon them.

We also created a video in front of the car mural: 

I suppose things that have caught our eyes or attentions before always have the ability to catch them again. Right now, I'm in the process of sorting through photographs from our XC road trip this summer in preparation for our next project. It's interesting how things that surprised and delighted us during that voyage continue to do so now. As artists, we're reflecting on 2012 in our own way, visually. 

Happy New Year! See you in 2013! 

Funk Lessons

GET DOWN AND PARTY. TOGETHER.

That was the mission statement of artist Adrian Piper's collaborative performances that were entitled Funk Lessons. While the piece itself is older in terms of contemporary art (the performances took place in 1982-1984), it addresses ideas and notions that are quite relevant to society and culture today.

In Funk Lessons, Piper stages and leads a series of performances in which she taught white people how to listen and dance to Funk music. As a woman who had grown up in in both white and black culture, Piper created the piece to unite both communities and both parts of her identity.

Piper writes in her Notes on Funk I-II, that the piece gave her a chance to "explore and affirm the cultural dimensions of my identity as black...at the same time...to affirm and utilize the conventions and idioms of communications...in white culture...These modes of fluency reinforce my sense of identification with my audience and ultimately empower all of us to move with greater ease and fluidity from one such mode to another."

Though I'm someone who doesn't completely fit into either black or white culture, I find this piece thought-provoking and inclusive. What Piper strives to do is to break down feelings of shame or awkwardness that are the result of not belonging to a particular culture or community. The piece enables the "other" to be able to navigate and jump into another culture in an accepting and culturally-enhancing way.

The above video quality is not pristine, but it should give you a sense of how the piece worked and how it was received. You can also check out the page on her website, which has a cleaner video (but can only be viewed on her site).

Graffiti vs. Aerosol Art

I was watching television the other day when I heard the term "aerosol art" used. Is what was formerly called graffiti now known as aerosol art?

Graffiti in Brazil

It turns out that there is a difference between graffiti and aerosol art, and I suppose that the show I was watching was trying to highlight the legality of aerosol art (versus the illegality of graffiti).

Perrier aerosol art by Steffi Bow and Sya One

The Minnesota Daily makes a concise distinction between the two. Graffiti is the tagging or illegal marking on private or public property. It's word origins are from the Greek graphein, which means "to write." Aerosol Art, however, is legal spray painting that is done in public spaces, canvases or other surfaces.

The first graffiti shop in Russia. 

So, it seems the distinction is a matter of semantics. One is legal, the other is not. One has been accepted in the realms of the museum and the gallery. The other is still seem as a demarcator of crime that brings down property values. And so this brings us back to the old debate: what is art? As seen here, it is a matter of words that can distinguish between what can be regaled as art and what can be dismissed as trash. Isn't that quite a thin line?

Stencil graffiti by Banksy in Bristol. 

MPC Distribution Seminar: Good Men Project

This past Saturday, I went to the Massachusetts Production Coalition's seminar on film distribution. Despite the snow, the turnout was impressive. All the conversations and contributions by the panelists were interesting and I was sure to feverishly take notes on all the information disseminated.

Social media expert Lisa Hickey's talk about the Good Men Project especially caught my attention. Hickey told the story of how her media company, Good Men Media, Inc., the for-profit section of the Good Men Project (originally founded by Tom Matlack and James Houghton in 2009) was conceived.

After an unsuccessful merge between her advertising company and another a few years ago, Hickey found herself "out on the street" with nothing but a good idea, relentless enthusiasm and faith in the power of social media. The circumstances afforded her the opportunity to create the hugely successful Good Men Media, Inc., an online and print publication which "is a glimpse of what enlightened masculinity might look like in the 21st century" (Source). The tagline of the refreshing publication is, "What does it mean to be a good man?"

I was encouraged by Lisa's positive attitude and honesty about her journey. She explicitly stated during the two-hour seminar that filmmakers "should not go out an hire a social media person," adding humorously, "unless you're way over budget!" She encouraged a DIY attitude for filmmakers and inspired a sense of self-reliance that merges her two loves of "art and math."

I encourage you to check out the website for the Good Men Project. The publication is creating and encouraging intellectual, topical and relevant conversations about contemporary notions of masculinity. The project and its publications are a rare and necessary addition to the modern collection of male-focused print media. 

Madama Butterfly

A few weeks ago, I completed a new painting, which I titled Xtra (above). The piece focused on using paint as a means of illustration. It was an exploration in uniting two different disciplines, painting and illustration, which I often practice separately. Each of these artmaking modes has its own materials and mindsets, and I worked in this piece to marry the two.

Days later, I was on the T (the MBTA's red line, if you're wondering). I was outbound, and already tired. I looked up and was confronted with the image that's on the right: the promotional poster for Puccini's Madama Butterfly, the new production by the Boston Lyric Opera.

I have juxtaposed the two images of my painting and this promotional poster above. I was so surprised to encounter this image of Madame Butterfly. My painting, done days before I had even seen this image, was a shocking echo of the poster. And they had never even met. I, the medium, had not been overtly inspired by an image, and yet, here it was. The works may have well been sisters, birthed from the same mind.

This encounter makes me think about the flexibility of creativity and inspiration. How intricately are ideas, experiences and the environment connected? We are constantly influenced by subconscious sensory experiences and desires, and I suppose it is in art that they manifest themselves. I'm still curious as to how I got the inspiration for Xtra...the painting was, after all, more of an exercise in form rather than content. Of course, the whole situation may be happenstance...Or, perhaps the image of a woman with thick black tears dripping down her face is actually quite common.

Artist Humor - thanks, Stephen Colbert!

Stephen Colbert ponders the all so important question that artists and art historians have debated for years.

Read Colbert's lengthy discussion that aired on The Colbert Report (November 8, 2012) below and/or watch here.

"Tonight. What is art? 

It's a 3-letter word for disappointing your parents."

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

Last week, I went to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA. It was a freezing and wet day, and so I wasn't able to explore the outdoor pieces comprehensively. However, the weather did allow me to engage more fully in the indoor pieces.

I was only able to see this briefly as I drove by, but the sculptures that were outdoors really engaged and interacted with the space they were in. Living in a city, space is limited and sculpture is displayed only occasionally and singularly. So, seeing a whole "sculpture park" dedicated to displaying these modern works was exhilarating. I thought the pieces they had on display really spoke to one another as well.

Inside, artist Julianne Swartz's work was curated in an exhibit called Julianne Swartz: How Deep Is Your, which is on display until December 30, 2012. The exhibit is a survey of the artist's work, with pieces that were created or modified exclusively for the space itself. 

One piece I was drawn to is Line Drawing (2012), which uses "plastic tape, lenses, Plexiglas, mirrors, lights, fans, materials found on site." The piece is a site-specific work that was originally made in New York, but then re-evaluated and re-created for the deCordova. The piece consists of a blue line, made of tape, that wanders across the gallery walls and leads to holes in the wall. As you can see in the photo above, the blue line actually runs across the wall text of the whole exhibition (which was on a different floor). 

My eye followed the tape from the wall and into a hole. I looked into it for several minutes, walked away, and walked back to look in again. The blue line seems to go into the hole and through the wall into another dimension. Looking into it, you seems to be staring into another world, the "behind the scenes" of the museum. Swartz uses mirrors, lights and lenses to distort the perceived space. She uses real space and alters it to create a fantastical location. 

The piece utilizes space in a remarkably non-obtrusive manner. Line Drawing is a simple, and airy exploration of space and depth perception. The piece was compelling, puzzling and inspiring. I cannot wait to return to the deCordova when it becomes warmer (or perhaps just another day of the week since the climate fluctuations are maddeningly unpredictable). 

Shelley Jackson's "Skin"

Shelley Jackson is a pioneering writer and artist who fearlessly engages in genre-bending experimentation. She has worked in the realm of hypertext works and electronic literature. 

I was especially taken by Jackson's project, Skin, which was started in 2003. The work is a story that is published on the bodies of 2095 volunteers. I love how the project is grounded in participation. The work completely depends on the participants. Skin has been called a "mortal work of art." 

Jackson put out a call for participants in 2003, which read: "Writer Shelley Jackson invites participants in a new work entitled "Skin." Each participant must agree to have one word of the story tattooed upon his or her body...From this time on, participants will be known as "words". They are not understood as carriers or agents of the texts they bear, but as its embodiments. Only the death of words effaces them from the text. As words die the story will change; when the last word dies the story will also have died. The author will make every effort to attend the funerals of her words." 

For the video portion of the project, Jackson asked a subset of the participants to record a video of their tattoo and also say the word. Jackson then cut together the footage and created a shorter version of the original story. Here is that video: 

Deconstruction, Squirrels, and the Pixel

I'm interested in the tradition of Glitch Art and also aesthetics in which the artworks are aware of how they are constructed. In painting, awareness of the medium derives from the presence of the brush stroke. However, in digital media, that comes from an awareness and perhaps even a foregrounding of the pixel. 

I was reviewing some photographs of Danny's and my XC road trip this summer and came upon a photograph in which the subject we were capturing was out of focus (in this case, it was a squirrel that made the most wretched of noises). The fact that the subject was out of focus inspired me to investigate the photo further, which resulted in me examining the photo closer and closer and closer, until all that was visible was pixels. Perhaps this could be seen as a metaphor for how scrutiny results in abstraction.

Here is the progression of my scrutiny, but backwards.

The Unexpected in Spaces&Places

I try to pay attention to the environment and activity around me. It helps me stay engaged and oriented to my task, or my role in my task. Recently, I've found some unexpected things in common places. By common places, I mean locations that I am simply using to get from point A to point B, or a place that is known to be a common gathering location. These places aren't art galleries or museums. And yet, I find (or I suppose it could be that I am projecting) an artistic sensibility and theory to them. I've given titles and dates to the "works" I have found (perhaps legitimatizing them as art - which brings us back to the ol' debate about 'What is art?')

Here are two examples:

Barcode Light, in the stairway of a temple, 2012

Mother's Room, in the basement of an university, 2012

Bright City Lights

I've been working on a proposal for a light installation recently and have thus become interested in the way lights are used around city. Who uses lights? What types of lights? When are they on? Where are the lights located? Why are they being used?

Here is a short, impressionistic video that I took while waiting outside the Boston Opera House. They are the lights for the Paramount theater.

I've also been thinking about how artists digest the world and use it as inspiration. While this light installation is a new project for me, I realize that it isn't the first time I've used lights in my work simultaneously as a subject/medium (thought I'm using those terms loosely). As part of my 7 d.a.y.s. experimental film project, Danny and I made a short video about city lights. 

Mouchette

I'm interested in exploring the possibilities that the internet has built for interactive and accessible art - essentially, seeing the concept of the "global village" applied to art, rather than commercialism or information. Here is an example:

Mouchette.org is an art website that is an example of how identity can be constructed in the realm of the online. It was created in 1996 by a 13 year-old character who calls herself "Mouchette," which is French for "little fly." The character is based on the protagonist of the dark and tragic 1967 French film of the same name, directed by Robert Bresson. The website has been the subject of controversy, especially because its association to the Bresson film, and because of the taboo subjects that it addresses. The identity of the "true artist" has never been revealed. 

While the website seems to be the innocent expressions of a 13 year-old girl, it is an entirely fictitious and sophisticated construct. The website is purposefully difficult to navigate and rejects the concept of the "easy and pleasant viewer experience." The website calls attention to itself as a website. This could also be due to the fact that it was initially created in 1996, when web interfaces were less sophisticated than they are today. However, the fact that the artist decided to keep the website in its original form and not "upgrade" is a statement in and of itself. 

The website visitor will be surprised by the animations and sound bytes (such as crying and wailing) that sometimes seem to appear out of nowhere. The viewer will also discover that the website has darker and more mature themes that can be unearthed as  she goes deeper into the website. Ideas such as suicide, death and violation, which are explicitly addressed in the Bresson film, reveal themselves in the website. 

Mouchette.org is a fascinating project. It makes viewers think about ideas of authenticity, veracity and identity in internet art. It complex and effortful, and most of all, universally accessible. 

Ze Frank's Web Playroom

I happened to be looking for some stand-up comedy and stumbled upon a series of TED talks that were curated under the "humor" genre. It's funny that I end up watching a TED talk, when I set out to watch some stand-up comedy...I suppose that's a commentary on personal penchants.

Regardless, I stumbled upon the work Ze Frank, an "online performance artist, composer, humorist and public speaker." Frank's subject for the TED talk was his "web playroom." In his talk, he showcased some of his online/collaborative work.

 One of his works, Pain Pack, is a participatory work. Frank posted a phone number on his website and "asked anyone experiencing emotional pain to leave a message." He received 53 messages in two days. Frank then sent these voicemails to musicians and DJs, and asked them to manipulate the sounds in a way that they were no longer recognizable in their original forms. He received 138 samples, which can be downloaded on the website. I found the project to be very creative in using the material of emotional pain to create a work of art, and a collective work of art at that. People often say that they "use art to express pain," but this project does this in an innovative and modern way.

What I found very interesting about Ze Frank's work as a whole was the amount of collaboration and public participation that is required. Essentially, without the public, and without people watching and engaging, some of Frank's projects wouldn't exist. I think it is important to privilege feedback, participation, and ideas of cybernetics in art. So, I'm delighted to see that Frank has incorporated these ideas and artistic values into his work. 

"Faces": Painting Collection

I've been re-displaying, modifying and grouping many of my works lately (inspired in part by the art collective Art & Language's Index 01 piece), and will be posting photos as I work through my pieces.

Here is a collection of three paintings, (two of which I've posted about before), called "Faces."

Titles are as follows:

Top Left: "Hot Mess"
Top Right: "Ophelia"
Bottom: "Jazz"

Zoe Beloff: Memory and Past Ghosts

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Zoe Beloff a few years ago and seeing her 3-D projection of Charming Augustine. I am continually inspired by her incredibly intriguing work. Beloff works with many media, including "film, projection performance, installation and drawing. She considers herself a medium, an interface between the living and the dead, the real and the imaginary." Beloff explores the space between the living and the dead with fervor and without fear. She truly delves into that which fascinates her and dedicates herself to exploration through her art. She has a distinct style and subject matter, which are unique to her point of view in the world. 

Beloff's Charming Augustine is a 3-D projection on B&W film. The use of stereoscopic projection made the work seem haunted, fragile and phantasmagoric. "The film is inspired by series of photographs and texts on hysteria published by the great insane asylum in Paris in the 1880's under the title of the Iconographie photographique de la Salpetriere. It is an experimental narrative... [that] explores connections between attempts to document [Augustine's] mental states and the prehistory of narrative film." Though I saw the work years ago, I clearly remember the sense of wonder and amazement I felt upon viewing. 

Beloff, Charming Augustine

It reminded me of the first time I saw a 3-D film in Korea, which is a long and reflective story that requires another post or outlet. What remains with me if Beloff's ability to evoke the past and memories with her work. She does this through the form and content of her work, but also through her careful examination of the medium, and the experience that the chosen medium will grant to the viewer. I'm currently in the process of carefully poring through Beloff's interactive video installation, titled The Influencing Machine of Miss Natalija A. It's captivating. Experience it yourself. 

Seeing and Interpreting: Casey Reas and Material

It amazes me how everyone has a different way of seeing the same thing. We are so immersed in our own worlds that at times it is difficult to comprehend that someone else may interpret the same thing in a completely different manner. This brings us back to the old childhood argument that I'm sure many have discussed, what me and my friends (incorrectly) coined "color theory": what if the blue that I see is actually your green? I remember sitting, dazed  and frightened almost for hours. What if the world as I see it is not the same as you see it? But it is this diversity of vision and interpretation, the various unique "lenses" that we each wear, that brings a colorful diversity and variability to the world. 

Reas, Material, Structure #003A

A beautiful way of conceptualizing the different "lenses" that individuals see through is by using different media to demonstrate a single concept. New media artist, Casey Reas does this in his own way through software art. His piece, Material, uses "the same structure in different languages." He articulates: 

Reas, Material, Structure #003B

"Artists use a wide range of materials to great effect: leather, honey, blood, oil, steel, felt, latex, paper, rubber, plastic, bones, cotton, concrete, glass, ceramics, copper, etc. The choice of material affects the perception of the work and therefore a careful choice is critical to success. Artists working with the software medium also use a wide range of materials: Java, C++, Perl, PHP, BASIC, LISP, PostScript, Python, etc. These software materials are not as familiar to most people as the physical materials mentioned above, but regardless, the choice of programming language greatly affects the perception of a piece of software...For this project, one structure was implemented in three different software materials to isolate the similarities and differences between each."

Watching these videos, side-by-side illuminates the fact that different languages, different programs, different lenses, different people, all interpret and therefore, see and produce things differently. I don't sense a hierarchy of which language or POV is better when I watch this. I find myself, rather, appreciating the subtle differences that are the result of "translation" between different softwares in this work. 

Watch & Compare: (Sorry, I can't embed the moving images here)

Structure #003A

Structure #003B

The other two works are written in C++, which requires you to download a program. Do that here.

Caught Red-Handed!

My newest painting ("Red-Handed") and sketches. Which hand came first? It is always so interesting to see the effects of a medium (essentially a "language") on a singular concept. I'll be elaborating on the concept of "translation" of a single concept in a future post, as I discuss the work of new media artist, Casey Reas. For now, compare and contrast. Feel free to send me an e-mail with comments, critiques, etc.

Scene Sketch

A preliminary sketch. Interesting characters who cavort with and provoke one another.

Drawing by Minhae Shim

Ophelia: Painting and Sketch

My new painting, Ophelia, and a sketch.

               

Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision

Last week, I watched the Academy Award-winning documentary (Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision) on Maya Lin, the Chinese-American artist who designed the Vietnam War Memorial. I was impressed by Lin's faith in the sheer simplicity of design and geometry in all of her work. Her aesthetic embraces the elements of the earth and it also reflects her grasp of the philosophy of her work.

One thing that I noticed and found fascinating in the film was Lin's transformation and maturation that took place on screen. When Lin was contacted that she won the Vietnam Memorial competition, she gave a speech in which she was confused ("I don't really know what's going on"), awkward and giggling. She was in her early twenties, a student at Yale who didn't quite understand the battle that was going to ensue.

What I found fascinating was the complete change in her speaking and self-presentation at the 10-year anniversary of the building of the memorial. Lin was a completely different speaker: mature, somber, humble, calm. Speaking is the precursor to writing, and I believe writing is of the utmost important to an artist. To be able to express your vision, and thoughts in a coherent way is vital to presenting your work. People's can't engage or be interested in your work if you can't explain it (or at least articulate that you can't explain it either). The film made visible Lin's transformation and maturation as an artist through the way she spoke and presented herself throughout the years.

Getting Lost: A Day Without Time

Time, that man-made element upon which we rely so faithfully, helps ground us. It is a dimension upon which we judge people (you're late. you're early!), determine eligibility (deadlines) and suppose worth (we've been friends for over five years...).

And that is why, when I wanted to "get lost" in the Rebecca Solnit way, I decided to shut off, or at least avoid, anything that could determine time. That meant I avoided my phone, covered the red analog clock in my kitchen, didn't look at my e-mail or the news, and didn't ask Danny "what time is it?"

In this limbo period, I found myself yearning to do activities that involved immersion: the type of activities in which you need all day to do anyways. I took out a sculpture I've been developing for months now: a sculpture made of discarded cigarette boxes. I played with the boxes, formulating a new structure. I took up the entire living room floor and was completely taken. When I hit a stopping point, I watched a film, blinds drawn. I was in that dark, womb-like state of immersion, where time and location, and self and other, float in a strange suspension.

I suppose that without the numerical system of hours, minutes and seconds, we still find ways to locate our sense of time and place. I could still see the change of light in the sky (though it was raining, so it was difficult to determine what a change of light actually meant). I knew that the end of a movie meant that a few hours had passed by. But while the passing of time usually yields some sort of emotion, whether it anxiety or joy, on this day, it did not. I accepted that I was in a different time. I found myself saying, "Okay" and nodding my head.

Getting lost by losing time was a valuable experiment. I imposed less structure on myself without time to validate my urgency. I moved more slowly than usual. I got less done. But the lack of urgency allowed me to spend time with a project I had retired for a while. Getting lost lets me float. I can focus on the current, not on the past or the future. To get lost is to immerse myself: in a project, in a person, a an image. And that sense of loss is actually what will lead to an organic focus. 

Sans Soleil, and the Act of Remembering

"Lost at the end of the world, on my island Sal, in the company of my dogs strutting around, I remember January in Tokyo, or rather I remember the images that I filmed in January in Tokyo. They have put themselves in the place of my memory, they are my memory. I ask myself how people remember if they do not make movies, or photographs, or tapes, how mankind used to go about remembering."
- Chris Marker, an excerpt taken from an essay about his film Sans Soleil

Continuing on the theme of experimental film that I've been delving into, Marker's San Soleil is a film that explores the construction of memory. The fickle act of remembering, combined with the limitations of the mind and its vulnerability to even the most subtle of influences, results in a history and narrative that is fluid and susceptible. The film meditates on the meaning of time, memory and existence.

The structure of the film itself has cause debate about its genre: travelogue, essay-film, documentary. The work incorporates fictional elements. It is a compilation of thoughts, reflections and images from Japan and Guinea-Bissau, among other locations. The used some found footage, but most of it was shot on location. The film is narrated by a women, who reads letter sent to her from the supposed cinematographer. I've only seen clips of this film, but have discovered that Criterion has released and reviewed the film. Here is a clip below: