William Wegman
I was really amused that William Wegman ended up doing such “safe” art for calendars and etc, after seeing his early video work. His work is hilarious and kind of strange; very different than the work of his that we see now. My favorite clip was probably the singing stomach; I’m guessing all of the people who watch that video go home an try it. His videos also remind me a little of some of the youtube comedians that are around now. They’re also gross at times, and make you wonder what kind of thought process led to such strange videos. I think his work fit well into the short clip of dog baseball he made for sesame street.
Bill Viola
I like Viola's work much less than Wegman's; due to its experimental nature, I find it unsettling and sort of confusing. The first video; him sitting on a couch and screaming intermittently; reminds me of Silent Hill. I don't really understand what he was trying to portray.
Michael O' Reilly
I like the narration overlayed with the tones, illustrating the story. The different voices make the narrator's description of his hallucinations and difficulty understanding apparent to the viewer, and the way he speaks; first-person and robotically; enhances the feeling of empathy. It's also interesting how he connected the images with the narration even if they are not overtly related; the part about lowering the mask while the images are of a blender's lid closing. I also was interested by how most images are taken so close-up that it's at first hard to tell what's going on unless you listen to the narration at the same time.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Video Art Notes
4 Major areas of video art
Video Installations; extended sculptural formats through the use of video technology
Live and prerecorded video; video is either prerecorded and played back on a transcription device, or captured on-site and processed and projected in a live setting.
Image-processed video; utilize synthesizers like the one developed by nam jun paik to alter the video waveform electronically.
A video which usually contains a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events throughout its running time.
Charles P. Ginsberg; first to research and develop the first practical Video Tape Recorder (1951). Converted information to electrical impulses; converted onto magnetic tape.
In 1965, Sony introduced the first video player for home use. Betamax; pre- VCR
Artists started using video as a media; First exhibition exploring video’s possibility was “TV as a Creative Medium” with 12 artists including Nam June Paik.
Exhibited May 1969
Many were interactive and participatory; Wipe Cycle transposed present-time demand to disrupt video’s flow of information.
-Nam Jun Paik; father of video art
Also interested in music and performance; started to add video to this
Collaborated with Charlotte Moorman, a cellist. Added video to her body and to cellos
Brian Eno; “I see video as a picture medium rather than a narrative medium. Video for me is a way of configuring light, just as painting is a way of configuring paint.”
Thursday Afternoon- required viewer interaction; had to turn television onto its side
Mid- 80’s; PXL-2000 became popular; $100 home-video maker, geared towards children. Commercial flop, but resurfaced a decade later as the choice tool for many video artists
Sadie Benning; first artist to become known for using Pixelvision. Started at 16; father bought her a camera. Started to use camera for a video diary
Michael O’Reilly; glass jaw, used toy keyboard and pixelvision to document his experiences with healthcare
Pipilotti Rist; Swiss- based video artist; started out as punk rock musician. Incorporates teenage angst and unrequited love into her pieces, does things such as “sip my ocean”, involving her music and video.
Gillian Wearing; “Drunk”. Live performance-esque video
Paul Slocum; hacks atari cartridges, creates music
Matthew Barney
Considers himself a sculptor; scultpures incorporated into films as part of complex environments. The sculptures, banners, and drawings,
Characer; each selection from the Cremaster series focuses on one character. All protagonists undergo a rite of passage and overcome physical and emotional challenges.
Genre and Narrative;
Each film has a distinct look invoking a specific time period and style. Includes; gothic western, aryan films, road movies, romanic tragedies, musicals
Video Installations; extended sculptural formats through the use of video technology
Live and prerecorded video; video is either prerecorded and played back on a transcription device, or captured on-site and processed and projected in a live setting.
Image-processed video; utilize synthesizers like the one developed by nam jun paik to alter the video waveform electronically.
A video which usually contains a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events throughout its running time.
Charles P. Ginsberg; first to research and develop the first practical Video Tape Recorder (1951). Converted information to electrical impulses; converted onto magnetic tape.
In 1965, Sony introduced the first video player for home use. Betamax; pre- VCR
Artists started using video as a media; First exhibition exploring video’s possibility was “TV as a Creative Medium” with 12 artists including Nam June Paik.
Exhibited May 1969
Many were interactive and participatory; Wipe Cycle transposed present-time demand to disrupt video’s flow of information.
-Nam Jun Paik; father of video art
Also interested in music and performance; started to add video to this
Collaborated with Charlotte Moorman, a cellist. Added video to her body and to cellos
Brian Eno; “I see video as a picture medium rather than a narrative medium. Video for me is a way of configuring light, just as painting is a way of configuring paint.”
Thursday Afternoon- required viewer interaction; had to turn television onto its side
Mid- 80’s; PXL-2000 became popular; $100 home-video maker, geared towards children. Commercial flop, but resurfaced a decade later as the choice tool for many video artists
Sadie Benning; first artist to become known for using Pixelvision. Started at 16; father bought her a camera. Started to use camera for a video diary
Michael O’Reilly; glass jaw, used toy keyboard and pixelvision to document his experiences with healthcare
Pipilotti Rist; Swiss- based video artist; started out as punk rock musician. Incorporates teenage angst and unrequited love into her pieces, does things such as “sip my ocean”, involving her music and video.
Gillian Wearing; “Drunk”. Live performance-esque video
Paul Slocum; hacks atari cartridges, creates music
Matthew Barney
Considers himself a sculptor; scultpures incorporated into films as part of complex environments. The sculptures, banners, and drawings,
Characer; each selection from the Cremaster series focuses on one character. All protagonists undergo a rite of passage and overcome physical and emotional challenges.
Genre and Narrative;
Each film has a distinct look invoking a specific time period and style. Includes; gothic western, aryan films, road movies, romanic tragedies, musicals
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
"Overture" Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality
I never imagined that people had thought of making a Pangaea of sorts of artistic media even before the invention of technology able to do so. Before reading this article, electronic multimedia did not even strike me as a form of art; instead, I imagined multimedia and the internet a a kind of museum system that housed art. However, now I see that the very act of combining all media into a single, all-encompassing experience by definition changes that media into a whole new animal.
In addition, it's hard to remember that before the computer, before the internet, ideas that seem commonplace to us now; the ability to communicate wirelessly and speedily via e-mail and IM; the ability to download seemingly from midair music, movies, and other media; the computer as a work tool that could create animations, presentations, and sounds. Even making the jump from the earliest computer, one used only for military calculations, to the idea that a computer could be one's own personal assistant is amazing when you stop to think about it.
I also never thought of the internet as a series of hyperlinks; in fact, when I first read it, I was confused. Like a "choose your own adventure" book, from this page alone I can access at least... fifteen different pages and places on blogger's site. Hyperlinks are our method of navigation on the internet; before reading this article I took them for granted.
It's amazing how many ideas and plans and schemes for an interactive virtual reality people have made over time; even in the early day of the computer, people were planning for a fake world. After reading this article, I suddenly hope that virtual reality is not so far away with the new influx of 3-D systems.
In addition, it's hard to remember that before the computer, before the internet, ideas that seem commonplace to us now; the ability to communicate wirelessly and speedily via e-mail and IM; the ability to download seemingly from midair music, movies, and other media; the computer as a work tool that could create animations, presentations, and sounds. Even making the jump from the earliest computer, one used only for military calculations, to the idea that a computer could be one's own personal assistant is amazing when you stop to think about it.
I also never thought of the internet as a series of hyperlinks; in fact, when I first read it, I was confused. Like a "choose your own adventure" book, from this page alone I can access at least... fifteen different pages and places on blogger's site. Hyperlinks are our method of navigation on the internet; before reading this article I took them for granted.
It's amazing how many ideas and plans and schemes for an interactive virtual reality people have made over time; even in the early day of the computer, people were planning for a fake world. After reading this article, I suddenly hope that virtual reality is not so far away with the new influx of 3-D systems.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Man Ray- Reflection
Out of all his accomplishments, Man Ray's most impressive and most important was his ability to stay with a single, clear knowledge of exactly what kind of art he wanted to create. I was very impressed by his ability to bend all media he used into fitting in with his dada-esque vision. Man Ray's dedication to a single idea made me question my own dedication to what I like. Though I wish I had a single ideal to be devoted to like Man Ray, there is nothing I have ever felt so strongly for.
I was also interested by how hard Man Ray took criticism. In spite of being quite a high-achieving artist, he left New York for the rest of his life when his art was not accepted, saying "Dada cannot live in new york. New york is dada." Nowadays, it would be seen as silly to leave behind such an art "hub" and journey to a place whose language you did not even speak, just because your art was having a hard time breaking into the public.
In addition, I was amazed at what a big influence Man Ray's various liaisons and romances had on his art, and the fact that many of his partners were artists as well. I think that they had a lot to do with how Man Ray's media and symbols of choice changed over time.
Man Ray was a fearless artist, charging into every media that came his way with the bravado that comes from having something you love.
I was also interested by how hard Man Ray took criticism. In spite of being quite a high-achieving artist, he left New York for the rest of his life when his art was not accepted, saying "Dada cannot live in new york. New york is dada." Nowadays, it would be seen as silly to leave behind such an art "hub" and journey to a place whose language you did not even speak, just because your art was having a hard time breaking into the public.
In addition, I was amazed at what a big influence Man Ray's various liaisons and romances had on his art, and the fact that many of his partners were artists as well. I think that they had a lot to do with how Man Ray's media and symbols of choice changed over time.
Man Ray was a fearless artist, charging into every media that came his way with the bravado that comes from having something you love.
Man Ray- notes
variety of media, mysterious past; emmanuel redinsky, father a tailor an immigrant from russia
artist in high school, went to art college, scandalized family, moved to manhattan
Met alfred stieglitz, photographer and art dealer, who promoted new ideas in art
Moved on to other styles; cubist and expressionist, took influences from other artists after seeing Nude Decending a Staircase
joined community of artists hoping to practice art undisturbed, marries adon la croix; pubished Richfield Gadzook, visited by Marcel Duschamp
Returned to New York, divorced Adon
Dada starts in Zurich, people such as Tristan Tzara want to liberate art from all restrictions
Man Ray and others form a group promoting Dada, are met with confusion "make something useful useless", discouraged by lack of response, writes "Dada cannot live in new york. New york is dada, and will not tolerate arrival" and moves to Paris, where he meets friends of Duchamp, shoots portrait of Pruce on his deathbed. Joins group promoting all arts, not just painting
Temporarily abandons painting and turn to photography, takes portraits of very influential people, creates rayographs--> avant garde filmmaking
Meets Kiki, incarnation of Paris, together four years
Meets Lee Miller, live together, she leaves him, he makes "observatory time"
takes up fashion photography, turns it into art
interested by process of creation
begins relationship with guadelupan dancer
moves back to america, closes studio in fear of war, meets Juliette Browner
painting his first love, took up photography just to make a living?
artist in high school, went to art college, scandalized family, moved to manhattan
Met alfred stieglitz, photographer and art dealer, who promoted new ideas in art
Moved on to other styles; cubist and expressionist, took influences from other artists after seeing Nude Decending a Staircase
joined community of artists hoping to practice art undisturbed, marries adon la croix; pubished Richfield Gadzook, visited by Marcel Duschamp
Returned to New York, divorced Adon
Dada starts in Zurich, people such as Tristan Tzara want to liberate art from all restrictions
Man Ray and others form a group promoting Dada, are met with confusion "make something useful useless", discouraged by lack of response, writes "Dada cannot live in new york. New york is dada, and will not tolerate arrival" and moves to Paris, where he meets friends of Duchamp, shoots portrait of Pruce on his deathbed. Joins group promoting all arts, not just painting
Temporarily abandons painting and turn to photography, takes portraits of very influential people, creates rayographs--> avant garde filmmaking
Meets Kiki, incarnation of Paris, together four years
Meets Lee Miller, live together, she leaves him, he makes "observatory time"
takes up fashion photography, turns it into art
interested by process of creation
begins relationship with guadelupan dancer
moves back to america, closes studio in fear of war, meets Juliette Browner
painting his first love, took up photography just to make a living?
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