Installation Project

Part 1: the subject that i would like to explore in my installation is the flight of balls in the air, specifically related to juggling. this line of thought is extremely appealing to me both because juggling is a hobby close to my heart, and because of the fascination that animals have with things that are flying through the air. not many acts are as impressive as juggling. if you place a good juggler on the street, he or she will gain attention, it is guaranteed.

Part 2: during my research at the library, i came across some of the work by John Baldessari. i was entranced by his attempts to create shapes with balls thrown in the air. the work to the right, from 1974, is entitled Throwing four balls in the air to get a square ( best of 36 tries ). during an interview, Baldessari explained a little bit about this type of artwork.

"I would play games with myself just to see what would happen. And using the 35 mm camera with a 36 exposure, the idea – I would posit for myself and see what would happen if somebody threw up 3 balls and I was able to capture, you know, an image. What I would presumably get – an equilateral triangle. And then I would just juggle the one closest to that. And I tried all kinds of – I would try to get a straight line with 4 balls." (source)

the idea of "playing games" with ones artwork, for me, really just hits the nail on the head. artwork should be fun. not a thing that you must slave over (unless you enjoy that of course). if you are not enjoying the work you are doing, then whats the point?

Baldesarri's combination of the randomness of throwing objects in the air, along with the static permanence of gravity makes for quite the dichotomy. holding four balls, and throwing them upwards in an attempt to create a square, or three and going for a triangle...the chances are on in a million (probably higher, i didnt do the math).

Part 3: as i mentioned above, i am fascinated by the movement of objects in the air, the complex patterns that juggling involves. when someone is juggling 9 balls, or clubs, or rings (which i cannot do)...take your pick it requires an intense amount of concentration and practice not to have a mass collision.

Possibility 1
to create a video installation -- two monitors mounted on the wall -- and to have footage of myself on both screens. the two different myselves would be aware of each other, as though they were separate entities. one would start juggling, and then he would pass the balls "through" the monitor to the other me, who would then start juggling. eventually they would be juggling back and forth to each other.

Possibility 2
to use time lapse photography and glow-in-the-dark juggling equipment in a dark area to record the patterns that the balls make in the air as they are juggled. one considering i had was to have a series of fiberglass sheets that could be attached in layers, and each layer could have a different part of the photograph printed onto it, and together they would make the pattern that was being juggled.

Possibility 3
my third possibility comes through as a combination of the first two. a melding of the video installation with a series of photographs that clearly show the patterns that the balls are making as they are being juggled.

there is definitely a sense of similarity between what Baldesarri did, and what i would like to do. following the patterns of the balls in the air is a connecting theme. however, at the same time Baldesarri was relying on the randomness of balls thrown upwards with no attempt at control, while i am relying on very strict control to create specific patterns.

Response to Bishop

Like a joke that fails to be funny when repeated, you had to be there.

-Bishop

For me, this is one of the truest quotes concerning installation art that I have ever read. Everyone can relate to that joke…the joke that the teller thinks is so funny, but no one else really gets it. Installation art is the joke that you had to be there to get,

Bishop talks about the word installation, let’s think about the root – install. From dictionary.com “to establish in an office, position, or place.” So does this mean that any art that is established in a particular place is installation art? A set of paintings? A display of photographs? Or perhaps we are more specific and limit it only to items that are permanently installed somewhere, and that can not be easily moved, for example Maria’s Earth Room.

But Bishop then goes on to talk about interactivity between installation pieces and their viewers. If we start to consider interactivity as a requirement then either the viewer must influence the artwork as with Chris Coleman’s Spatiodynamic, in which the viewer is the input for the landscape that is formed, or the viewer must be changed by the piece interacting with him or her.

I feel that this is simply another discussion of “what is art to you?” To some, installation art is any semi-permanent, well, installation. To others, there needs to be some sort of interaction; perhaps between the art and the space its in, or the art and its viewers, and the viewers and the space.

Maybe the key, as Bishop suggests, is simply that you have to be there.

So who knows? I sure as heck don’t.

for anyone who has not seen it already free hugs compaign.

totally awesome video!

Exhibit at American University

on Saturday, the 10th, i was lucky enough to be able to attend the current exhibit going on at the Katzen Arts Center.

This link leads to the page that lists the artists and the work that was on display.

i actually found some of the art to be rather disturbing. to such a point that i wanted to leave the exhibit. Duane Hanson has a display going on based off replications of real people. they are models cast from live people, painted with eerie accuracy, dressed in clothes, and then put in natural everyday poses. i literally spent 45 seconds watching the one at the entrance, a painter, to see if he was going to breath. i thought maybe it was performance art.

Stanley Lewis, a renowned landscape artist had a couple pencil drawings that i found to be absolutely amazing. he had layered up drawing paper, probably 6-10 sheets thick, and then carved away the images, and then drew in pencil over the carvings. almost like a relief carving. it lent an amazing level of third dimensionality to the artwork. his paintings of landscapes, mainly urban backyards, were a little less appealing to me. the color choice was riotous. they featured very neon greens and oranges, combined with the usual landscape colors, applied with a very thick stroke to create a canvas covered with up to a half inch of paint.

there were three other major artists on display, along with a few miscellaneous artists gathered in the glass work collection. Robert Brady's sculptures were fairly interesting, consisting of a very, in my opinion, africanish style of sculpture based around angels. Richard Cleaver's work was also kind of interesting. it was a lot of sculpture, box like art made with very shiny jewel/gold materials, and a lot of dot painting. finally Madeleine Keesing had a collection of her paintings on display, but i did not spend a lot of time looking at those.

overall it was nice to be able to visit a museum!

Chris Coleman

Along with being able to have breakfast with Patrick Kelly, I was able to both attend Chris Coleman's lecture, and have breakfast with him, just in reverse order.

Chris's lecture focused around a couple of his completed pieces, and also around a few pieces he is currently working on. While Patrick's word was based heavily around photography, Chris's work was based more around sculpture and video, often a combination of both. The first piece he showed us involved both a video display, and also the sculpture that created the video. As you entered the display, a video camera recorded you, and fed the image to a computer which, depending on your physique and the color of your clothing, determined a pattern that was fed to the sculpture. the sculpture was a large table set with ~144 computer fans, which were covered with a billowy cover. as the air blew up, it created landscapes with the covering, that were fed via a live feed to the TV monitor set in the outer hall where you entered. the pattern that the computer made triggered a sequence of on and off for the computer fans, so as you watched the TV monitor, the "landscape" that was being made was a direct reaction to you. viewers could then go around behind the wall that the TV was in, and witness the sculpture itself. this is a true installation piece: it reacts to the viewers and it engages the viewers.

Chris's work, for the most part, is a commentary on our current socioeconomic situation in this country. i felt that this theme became a little old after awhile. i am not sure how to explain it. Patrick's work dealt heavily with nature, but more from a "i am in nature creating media" point of view, than Chris's "this is what we are doing to ourselves" point of view. i definitely agree things need to be done, and that we arent in a good place right now...but somehow it just didnt jive with me all the time.

Deconstruction Art

Kaffe Matthew's Sonic Bed is a good example of what the introduction talks about in terms of a deconstructive installation piece. According to Bishop, it is paramount that there be higher level of interaction between the viewer and the artwork; well what is more interactive than laying down inside the piece of art, and being awash in sound and vibrations? The introduction also talks about Bürger's theories on deconstructive art. I feel that the Sonic Bed is incredibly representative of two of them. The first is thee inclusion of found objects. Now while the bed is not entirely a found object, it was built from scratch, it is modeled after something that can be found everything -- in homes, in the trash, in landfills. The second point Bürger makes is the integration of art with everyday life. What, I ask you, is more everyday than a bed? Billions of people around the world go to bed every night.

Thus, I feel that Matthew's Sonic Bed is really a great example of installation art. Plus it's pretty damn cool, and i wish they would build one over here!

Patrick Kelly talk...

I was able to both have breakfast with Patrick, and attend his talk afterwards. He is one of the professor candidates for next year to help fill the digital media section of the art department.

his talk focused around the evolution of his work, and how he developed as a digital artist. His photography started very young, and was centered around his living environment which was pretty much wilderness. Patrick loves the winter, and much of his early photo revolve around snow, and are absolutely stunning. He originally focused around undisturbed nature scenes, but gradually became encouraged to mess with the pictures he was taking.

his impact on the photos could be as simple as a stick laid at an artificial angle to the rest of the environment, so a complex pattern formed with natural ingredients. Even though Patrick was physically interfering with the environment, all of his alterations were very organic in their forms. the geometric patterns flow into the rest of the subject of the pattern, and there are times when it is difficult to tell what part of the photo Patrick has altered.

we didn't get to see a lot of Patrick's animation work. one piece he did show us was about the natural movement of a rock rolling to a standstill after being lifted up. the piece had video and sound of the rock's movement, but randomly the video clip would be an animated one, that had the shape of the rock, but the texture of the wood. the piece was very lateral, moving from left to right in terms of displays, and culminated in the actual rock sitting on a little stand, that you could lift, and watch the rolling movement in person.

overall i really enjoyed Patrick's work. his eye for natural photography is amazing, and his pictures of the rural environment really jived with my outdoor side.

Revised Hope Chest Description

Amour Platonicien

The nature of the Platonic ideal of love, which from its origin was that of a chaste but passionate love, based not on un-interest but virtuous restraint of sexual desire.

Platonic relationships – can they really exist? Can two people, whom given the opportunity to be attracted to each other, be companions without that attraction affecting their interaction? My box explores the transformations that happen to a relationship as feelings develop between two people. Starting with the most basic platonic shape, the tetrahedron with four facets, the relationship is a simple one of formal acknowledgement. As the relationship progresses through the platonic solids, it becomes more complicated; more facets are introduced, and the color changes from a neutral white, to a passionate red. As the box moves towards the icosahedron it visits increasingly complicated shapes which represent the two people as they move from a relationship of friendship to one of attraction and affection.