Below is a summary of the studio projects I’ll be working for this first semester. As regards areas of study, I’ll be researching surrealism, post modern architecture, beat poetry and art criticism, among other topics. I’m hoping to tie surrealism and post modern architecture together in order to support some of the 3d architectural images I’ll be making and inserting into photographs of the area where I live. For animation and video work, I’ll be using beat poetry and art criticism as a means of developing an animated robot character, which I intend to use for animation, video and interactive performance work. As this is the semester in which we’re encouraged to try any and all new mediums we are interested in I’ll also be doing some sculpture and 2d image work.
PROJECT LIST
• SCULPTURE
- “The Contemplator” - robot tableau – This is in some ways my most ambitious project, as it has me fabricating a robot from lamp parts, heating ducts, garden implements and more. I’m happy with the concept for the piece, as I intend it to be a robot who is sitting and contemplating a series of objects, and I’m hoping it will take Rodin’s “thinker” and extend it in ways that will hopefully inspire the viewer to question how this robot might be perceiving some of the objects he is looking at.
- “Flying Hands” - computer fabricated sculpture – I’ll be making a 3d model of a pair of hands that has been crafted into a bird-like flying creature and then having it milled into a physical sculpture via fancy new “3d printing” technology.
- “Foot Person” - computer fabricated sculpture – Using the method described above I’ll also try to realize a character that has a head shaped like a foot. The uniquely organic shape of the foot lends itself well to the studies I’m doing in surrealism and I’m hoping it will be an interesting character study that can work into sculptural and still image pieces.
• 3D STILL IMAGES
- Surrealist architecture series – This will be a series of 3d images of buildings that I’ll design with postmodern art, architecture and surrealist influences. Each building will be integrated into a photo in order to see how these types of structures might be perceived were they to be built and fabricated in the real world.
- Surrealist imagery – I have a few ideas for what I’d consider to be contemporary surrealist images, and I will try to use a variety of surrealist and classical influences to create some images that bring a slightly new and different look and feel to surrealist imagery.
- Robot images – As I’m still sort of finishing up on my robot phase, I’ll be trying to create a few new images that incorporate robots in photos, in hopes of pushing the envelope a little further than my previous “robot photos” series.
• 2D STILL IMAGES
- Architectural composited imagery - layered paper, vellum and transparency piece - I’m experimenting with the notion of translucency and transparency as it applies to building up an image in layers. While I have the some layers of a piece printed, I don’t think it reads well when I try to layer them so I may be building a small lightbox in order to realize this piece.
- Concept sketches – I’m interested in using a pencil sketching technique with the computer, and have downloaded a number of “handwriting fonts” that will hopefully let me create some images that have both a clean, crisp nature and a casual, sketchy look at the same time.
- Photo manipulations with tattooing – I have a couple of ideas for supering tattoos onto photos, as I like the notion of taking something that is so permanent and being able to experiment with it without having to let some guy who rides a Harley drill it into my arm. (I know there is pain in art, but I draw the line at dentist drills)
• VIDEO & ANIMATION
- “How my mom got into Harvard” - Short Film - This is a short film I’ve been wanting to do that slightly embellishes my mothers’ year long (desperate) attempts to donate her brain to medical science, and in particular to the Harvard Medical School, who were not very interested. As we’re celebrating her eightieth birthday this summer with a massive family reunion, I think my family members will be interested in the retelling of this bizarre quest.
- “Paint on Paper” – Animation and Video – This is a continuation of a technical approach I’ve just started experimenting with, whereby I attempt to interact with an animated character that is being superimposed over video. A difficult thing from both a conceptual and technical point of view, the piece will endeavor to show a new robot character (who is both art critic and beat poet) critiquing a new painting I’ve done.
• INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE
- “Animated Q & A” - I will be attempting to project a realtime animated character on the screen for our time based presentations in January. The character will be able to talk and interact with the audience and will be answering questions from students and faculty.
- “Interactive Jam” - music and animation performance piece – This will entail a trumpet and saxophone musical exchange, whereby I improvise on the trumpet along with an animated character who is playing the saxophone.
** There are other images and ideas floating around in my head, and if I can realize any of these without distracting myself from finishing the primary objectives on my list I may make them as well, be they sculpture, 3d images, 2d images or video and animations.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Let's get this thing started!
The first residency was an amazing foray into all things art; artist talks, graduating student presentations, gallery visits, elective seminars and a critical theory course all combined to create an immersive experience in the theory and making of art. As the last number of months had me getting a little depressed about my industry (3d animation and graphics) I felt a distinct sense of (if you’ll forgive the bad analogy) suddenly firing on all cylinders, akin to a car that’s been chugging along on only two of it’s four cylinders. I came into the AIB program thinking that it might help me in a couple of areas related to my life and career, and I now see that it will change my life forever and I can see four or five ways in which it can have a positive impact on my both my life and career.
[ I was particularly motivated by the urgings of Stuart Steck, our Critical Theory teacher, who encouraged us to look at things anew and take the time to stop and really take things in, as I’ve found myself unavoidably entranced by all manner of visuals I encounter in my daily life. I was also motivated by some of the directives from Judith Barry, Program Director, as she not only encouraged us to try new things but to make sure that we master the new mediums that we attmpt to work with. ]
In my newfound energy about the art world I’ve been researching artists, art movements, authors, theory and all manner of related things (philosophy, quantum physics, blah, blah, blah…) and I’m happy about the reading and research I’ll be doing, especially as it relates to the things I’ll be making in this coming six months.
My next job is to synthesize all these thoughts and urges into a concrete list of projects I’ll be doing for the studio component of this coming semester.
We’re encouraged to try new media and approaches in our first semester, so I have an overly ambitious list of projects in sculpture, 3d graphics, 2d graphics, animation, video and interactive performance. One of the program requirements is that we find a mentor who is an established artist, and needless to say it’s not easy to address all of my project ideas with one artist. I’d started looking into local painters, to hopefully get input on light and shadow as relates to my 3d still image work, but that seemed like a woefully underwhelming range of feedback for the entire body of work I’ll be doing. I couldn’t help but harken back to our visit the to the Addison Gallery of Art, which featured a retrospective of forty years of work by William Wegman. I was amazed to see the range of photography, videos, stop motion animation, paintings and illustration encompassed in his work. This was the type of mentor I needed, as surely he could give me input on the entire scope of project work I’ll be doing. More importantly, the disarming and whimsical humor in his work struck a chord with me, as I saw similarities to many of the things I’ve done over the past decades. So, to make a long story a little less long, I began my endeavor to contact William Wegman, and after a brief email exchange he agreed to begin mentoring me in September. Until then, it’s mostly a matter of addressing the process of defining and realizing my project goals.
[ I was particularly motivated by the urgings of Stuart Steck, our Critical Theory teacher, who encouraged us to look at things anew and take the time to stop and really take things in, as I’ve found myself unavoidably entranced by all manner of visuals I encounter in my daily life. I was also motivated by some of the directives from Judith Barry, Program Director, as she not only encouraged us to try new things but to make sure that we master the new mediums that we attmpt to work with. ]
In my newfound energy about the art world I’ve been researching artists, art movements, authors, theory and all manner of related things (philosophy, quantum physics, blah, blah, blah…) and I’m happy about the reading and research I’ll be doing, especially as it relates to the things I’ll be making in this coming six months.
My next job is to synthesize all these thoughts and urges into a concrete list of projects I’ll be doing for the studio component of this coming semester.
We’re encouraged to try new media and approaches in our first semester, so I have an overly ambitious list of projects in sculpture, 3d graphics, 2d graphics, animation, video and interactive performance. One of the program requirements is that we find a mentor who is an established artist, and needless to say it’s not easy to address all of my project ideas with one artist. I’d started looking into local painters, to hopefully get input on light and shadow as relates to my 3d still image work, but that seemed like a woefully underwhelming range of feedback for the entire body of work I’ll be doing. I couldn’t help but harken back to our visit the to the Addison Gallery of Art, which featured a retrospective of forty years of work by William Wegman. I was amazed to see the range of photography, videos, stop motion animation, paintings and illustration encompassed in his work. This was the type of mentor I needed, as surely he could give me input on the entire scope of project work I’ll be doing. More importantly, the disarming and whimsical humor in his work struck a chord with me, as I saw similarities to many of the things I’ve done over the past decades. So, to make a long story a little less long, I began my endeavor to contact William Wegman, and after a brief email exchange he agreed to begin mentoring me in September. Until then, it’s mostly a matter of addressing the process of defining and realizing my project goals.
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