.neonnessie.

This week I kept more of a “creative” and “constructive” approach to my project this week.  Instead of rushing into every detail, I take my time into getting there through the production of the main character. 

So far I think I established her look, of course if she was animated this would be her intended form.  I scoped out some names that I was thinking for her and I think I’m gonna go with Eve.  Though I think it can be a little cliche to name a girl Eve, I believe my story can’t really justify not naming her Eve.

Of course getting used to drawing again has been a challenge mostly when creating figures.  Since my artist hand is currently weak I decided to keep pressing on with her sketches. 

As for other characters in the story: There will be some but I don’t want them to be main characters, more like minor characters.  I want to stress the type of pressure my character goes through with her gift.  She must be a loner. 

Here is a second scan this time with some pen marking (Pigma, Micron 008) on the right image.  The pre-production of “The Overview Effect”(title pending)

http://ingeschoutsen.nl/series#a-bit-of-paradise-but-mostly-utopia

http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/

I found this artist whose work intrigued me.  Her name is Inge Schoutsen and she is based out of Amsterdam.  This is her series called “a bit of paradise, but mostly utopia.”  In this series she took pictures of towns (and the people) named Paradise or Utopia. 

What I love is that the artist used text to really convey a deeper meaning of the work.  The deeper meaning is our definition or association of words like paradise or utopia.  From what I could gather from statements within the piece, that even the towns-people don’t quite understand it’s own meaning, or maybe even is the opposite of what we think of that word.   

Social culture of these places are reflected in the snap-shots of their ordinary lives glamorized by a word.  Some seem content with their lives, others seem to be going through the motions of life.  What ever the case may be, we press on in discovering the mundane is more relevant them we think.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2013/05/inside-out.html#slide_ss_0=12 

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/11/28/111128fa_fact_khatchadourian

Sorry if the link doesn’t work properly.  My tumblr seems to be acting up.

May 10th 2013 Inside Out

May 10th 2013 Inside Out

In this photo project called Inside Out, artist JR challenges viewers to take photos of themselves, send it to the artist with a statement of purpose.  In return JR sends the viewer their picture in a larger size and has them paste it where ever they like. JR was approached by a person questioning the purpose of this project:

“Real reaction.  How many times a day or a year do you interact with people you don’t know, participating in something with no direct goal, and using the walls of your own city? People interact on social media everyday, but one of the main goals of ‘Inside Out’ was also to create exchange in real life.”

His project has spanned beyond the United States and has continued still to this day.  The project has generated some interesting activity in Tunisia in which several projects went up shortly after dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali stepped down. 

I find this project very interesting because in class we have had lots of discussions on the concept of sharing or creating our own personal narratives.  I believe this article is an example of how art is taking more of a social networking approach, we all want to know everyone’s personal stories. 

http://beautifuldecay.com/2013/05/07/performance-artist-shana-robbins-fearless-feminine-rituals/

Sept. 2010

Sept. 2010

“altars, horror films, dream catchers, ghost in the machine, dirt and crystals, lasers, rainbows or spectrums, mirrors, parlor tricks or magic aesthetics, the failure of flesh, dancing, rolling, spinning, and the desecrated realm of beauty.” 

              -Shana Robbins

In her series, Supernatural Conductor, Robbins creates these mystical realities.  Each one put together and worn by Robbins herself.  He dollies which are often used in the digital photographs represent the Victorian period were sewn together to create an ornamental pathway through the space.  Robbins has had an experience in the modeling industry and the Butoh movement. 

The Butoh Movement involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion, with or without an audience.  Many have related this movement to the German Expressionism movement, a request for change in our society. 

This link is to supplement material I looked for outside of this article:

http://www.sfweekly.com/2002-07-17/news/dancing-with-the-butoh-masters/

http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/04/todd-hido-fragmented-narratives-2011.html

#2479-a, 1999 

#1687, 1996 

Hido captures these images in such a wonderful lightening that I can’t seem describe.  As looking through his collection of “Fragmented Narratives” I found this sentence in Ian Epstein’s piece  to reflect his work:

“As a gesture perhaps this effort to hide emptiness with orderliness and to use exaggerated components of the beautiful and the pure belies the ugliness that we associate homogeneity.” 

Hido captures the dark, suburban moments that go undocumented but are quietly accepted under the radar.  Before reading Epstein’s article about Hido, I had a feeling of being caught in a David Lynch film.  Later to see that the writer has also made that same comparison.  

The natural lightening in these numerous shots of women and houses give you the “realness” that isn’t always captured in art photography.  There is pressure to get perfect lightening for a picture in order to show skill level or authenticity that this is an art photo.  But within this series there is that ambiguity of what the narratives of these women and places could be.  Since it has such a document style, viewers might want to venture into who these mostly bare to naked women are,  

This is a continuing series.  

http://blog.art21.org/2012/12/25/the-aesthetics-of-my-instagram/#more-73426

jeffysf: “mele kalikimaka #comfy.” 

Damien Hirst. “Methoxyverapamil,” 1991 (detail). Image from guardian.co.uk.

I found this blog on the Art21 website that I thought was interesting and relevant to my project.  Jeffrey Augustine Songco wrote this blog about much what I am doing as an artist’s experimentation with a new medium (in this case Instagram).  Songco discusses his first intial process with his first instagram image:

jeffysf: “And so my new life of documenting my daily existence begins, one hip pic at a time.”

Just like painters from a by gone era, the first thing I snapped on Instagram was a beautiful still life on my office desk.  The long and slender coke bottle coupled with a radial blur was the perfect test subject for my novice experience.  It’s no wonder why the first thing I learned in elementary school was how to draw what was right in front of me. 

Being from an academia background, Songco jumped on the idea of reinventing Instagram as art and shows some pretty convincing examples through out the entry.   He also notes that captions create more deeper meanings which can either be relevant to the viewer or even just the photographer themselves. 

http://www.tinyvices.com/gallery/neil-atherton  

http://www.neilatherton.com/index.html
 

Neil Atherton’s Speckled_9 

Atherton is a English photographer who lives in Paris France, who is also and active curator of photography festivals.   Atherton’s work is conformed to a certain type of equipment for his shots.  For instance in this image, he used a very low quality, old film along with a very old camera.  His camera of choice is the Zorki 10.  In an interview with Kitsune, he describes his work:

My Expired photographs are all about – the effect of time and how the traces left behind by the past shape and influence the modern world around us today. Many of my pictures that I’ve taken over the last few years could have been taken at anytime over the last few decades and it is this timelessness that I am looking to express in my work. Both the subject matter and the aged aesthetic of the film contribute to this sentiment we get when looking at the “Speckled” series for example. When I showed the pictures at an exhibition in Berlin last year, lots of former East Germans were convinced that the scenes were from Soviet-era Germany, when in reality they were taken in 2008 in Paris and London.” 

I love that the sense of a vague location can make viewers interpret the pictures differently or even just make it more relevant to themselves.  This series has inspired me to consider shopping around for old cameras and film.  

Neil also had a corresponding series using his same film and camera to shoot The French Open.  What is usually a glamorous, classy sports event is now deconstructed and dubbed only as a fragmented memory.   

A little late in the week for my post this week but I have developed some ideas and some rough sketches put together. 

I tried experimenting on how I want the main character to look.  I also want to depict her in different stages of her life (developing memories for said character).  The two figures I have drawn are different from each other but to me that was ok. 

I want to try to develop a solid female character who isn’t too feminine.  Which the picture on the left I feel is too feminine but I was also just getting comfortable with drawing a female form. 

As with the developing story I have developed some story elements I want within my story.  Much like Firefly or Serenity I like the idea of someone being controlled or to be used as a tool.  Eventually in my story I would love for my character to be used by the government for her ability to see the planet (Overview effect). 

That is when title comes into play: I haven’t thought of one that doesn’t involve the term “Overview Effect”  I fear using this title if this becomes a bigger production then to be expected but for now it can be the working/pre-production title. 

I’m still researching Deviant art and looking at forms and characteristics I would like my character to have.  More sketches and bits of story to come in the future!.

I think that this is a valuable resource if you are curious about upcoming artists or just want to get more familiar with the artists you know: 

http://www.aperture.org/

I know that not all of the texts are available via web, but I’ve found that in our online Art Full Text (Hannon Library) has a lot of these articles available with permission from Aperture.  

I’m currently using an article that discusses the use of text and image for my senior paper.  I find that their articles are helpful and not too complex.  I’m learning more and more I would just like a subscription to this lovely magazine! 

So after our disscussion of Ms. Vanessa Beecroft, I decided to look up this lady.  What I found amazed me and yet didn’t surprise me after our discussion today! 

When typing in her name in the search engine, I found in the pull down menu, “Kanye West and Vanessa Beecroft.”  Side note: I have an ultimate secret guilty pleasure for listening to Kanye’s music and of course listening/watching to his antics.  So when seeing this information I was in disbelief but intrigued.  

I know that in our class discussion earlier, we all had varying opinions on Ms. Vanessa, especially this Vanessa right here.  Some of my complaints of Beecroft is her generalization of her own artistic expression for lack of having an actual opinion and is trapped in the fashion ideals of today.  

Back to the point:  I found a 34 minute video called “Runaway” Directed by Kanye West AND Art Directed by Vanessa Beecroft.  Being secretly obsessed with West and having an already negative opinion of Beecroft I decided to watch this video of “art and genius.”   

WARNING ABOUT VIDEO: just to let you art folks know, this video is containing some naughty (severe) language and some female body forms.  Also no obligation to watch, just for those who secretly want to watch it. ;)  

http://vevo.ly/gC7iq9 <———here is the video.

Here is another link to the LA Times article discussing this interesting mash-up.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2008/10/kanye-west-and.html

The article discusses that the video Runaway was made partially to promote Kanye’s album in 2010.  Video stars his then fiancee (before the miracle baby of Kim Kardashian and West, but that guilty pleasure is for another day) as a Phoenix bird.  The video has Beecroft’s obvious theme of masses of women standing around being “models.”  

To quote the article:

“When Kanye contacted me a week ago, I was caught off guard,” said Beecroft, who has staged similar live-naked-ladies performances in front of art cognoscenti in Vienna, New York, Sydney and London (although none boasting the evening’s blaring pop-rap soundtrack that literally shook the building’s rafters). “But there were a few things about his album that touched my personal life. And we made it.” 

 West, whose default persona in his songs is nothing if not sexually liberated, chimed in: “As you can see, there’s a few things about Vanessa’s work that touched my personal life too.” He laughed and so did the crowd.

I was curious to know if this video or article changed anyone’s overall opinion of Beecroft? Does this validate her art form or does this just make her more commercial to you? 

In my opinion, I think it’s interesting for an artist like Beecroft, influenced in fashion, would work with Kanye West, known as a fashion mogul and referred to as “genius.”  Do you view this as art? or a different gussied up version of capitalism (knowing what sells)?