Faculty Gallery Exhibit Visit 10/11/2012

I attended the exhibit and artist talk in Mount Clemens.  I was able to see many of my professors' work and was able to hear them talk about their ideas and meanings behind their work.  There were videos, sculptures (3D-collage by Cody Vanderkay), photography, drawings, and paintings.  It was somewhat disappointing to be the only student that attended.  It was nice to see our professors out of the classroom and in the art setting, expressing themselves through art as we do every class.

I had the opportunity to see Leslie in a live performance, creating video art.  There were two large TV screens, two laptops, and switches/controls.  Although it was live, it was very well done and I made sense or meaning of what the images and sound were creating.  For example, a word that kept surfacing was geometry.  Visuals were then transformed into shapes and the screens created block- like colors.  The sound was also subtle and worked well with the piece.  I connected the ideas of simple shapes and forms that make up the universe, and how they are all around us.  There were images that were manipulated and often blurry, leading to the audience's "wonders and questions of the world."  There were some technical difficulties, which made the performance real and it is something that happened out of the artist's control.  This is something that our media classes experience, often.  It makes a connection between us as practicing artists and people with many years of work and studies.

Seth Price (Multimedia artist)

Born 1973 in East Jerusalem

Price is a New York-based conceptual artist and is also a writer. He investigated the field of contemporary art distribution and media distribution.  It was web-based.  He has also worked on paintings, sculptures, video, and media work.  He focused on the commodity of culture.  Price is best known for his "plastic vacuum-formed sculptures of breasts or contributing the same press release of his 'art' to multiple shows."

Seth Price is represented by Freiedrich Petzel Gallery in New York.  He exhibited in 2008 at Whitney Biennial.

Appropriation in Art

Artist: Leah Kaganac
Medium: Video art and appropriation of videos
Appropriation based on TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras & Dance Moms
2:09 min

This video I created emphasizes parents need for fame and the way they use their children to achieve it.  The parents become the star and live their dreams through their children. Reality becomes ridiculous when your eyes are open to the truth.

https://vimeo.com/home#/home/myvideos

Game vs. Art

A game is interactive and allows for movement, players, rules, and strategy. A game may very well have a style and purpose to it. A game is relative to new media and how creativity can be taken to a different level. The games we played in class included artistic means, such as the use of photography, perspective, and color. A game can be played by one person or multiples, just like art can be created by one person or in a group. There is also a history behind, both art and games. Art and games have evolved over time, yet they are still played, viewed, and discussed.  Both games and art can also be documented and planned out.


However, a game is also very different from art that we may see or create for a gallery space. For example, an artist can create a video, drawing, or a sculpture. It already has an essential purpose and meaning created by the artist and is interpreted differently among viewers. The art piece remains the same, unless changes are made to it in the future. These forms of art are not very interactive or are influenced by viewers after they have already been created, unless it is an interactive installation. When I say influence, I mean manipulated or altered in some way. A painting is concrete and within reach. A game can be replayed and have different outcomes and possibilities. Art has an aesthetic quality to it and can often be defined by one medium or mixed media, as well.  Art and games have similar qualities, but can also be viewed in your own way.

I Spy, Picture Perfect Game

Players:

-Two people on each team

-There is one picture holder

Idea:

Teams will agree on location or boundaries at Oakland to play at (a building, outdoor court -being specific, OU Center, Recreation Center).  The picture holder will take pictures, sending them to each team.  In this case, Leah will be the first picture holder.

Objective: 

Teams want to try and figure out what the object is that is being captured and sent to each team.  When the teams figure out what the object is they will get points.  There will be at least 5 pictures taken by the picture holder, varying on difficulty. 

Rules:

Picture holder has to impose a challenge to the teams; paying attention to composition and the type of shot (close up, medium shot, etc.)

Teams will have three tries to guess the object in the picture.  If the team guesses it correctly on the first try they will get 5 pts, second try is 2 pts, and third try is 1 pt.  If they do not guess it correctly there will be no points gained.  The team with the most points after five or more pictures will be safe.  The team with the lowest point will have to switch out one of the team members and become the picture holder.  The person that was already the picture holder will then join the other team member with the lowest amount of points.

Game can keep going until time is up…

Goal:

-At least 5 pictures taken per picture holder

-Avoid being the picture holder, based on points

 

Exquisite Corpse Game

Time period: 1930's, or it was argued that it started around 1918.
One of the creators is Andre Breton.  There are pictures and example that are easily accessible on online.

"Surrealist techniques exploiting the mystique of accident was a kind of collective collage of words or image..."

It was based on an old parlor game where several people played.  A player would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, covering part of their phrase.  The next player would then finish their phrase, creating a new one.  Not knowing what it was going to say was the fun part of the game.  This game was also adapted into drawing.  A player would fold up a piece of paper into two or three sections and create a drawing.  It could be anything, or a general person/creature.  The fun is to not see the other sections until the art is complete.

This game is still played, today.  I remember playing it in elementary, myself.  This is something to keep people entertained for hours.

Show and Tell

My favorite work of art relative to New Media is a video I created called Relentless Mind, Calm Body.  The video is roughly 4 minutes and 6 seconds long.  It was completed and uploaded late 2011.  I developed my ideas for this work in my Video Art I class, taught by Vagner Whitehead.  This is a work inspired by my deepest, most personal thoughts.  I represent myself and my insecurities through voicing my conflicted memories.  "The mind is conflicted with memories and how one should perceive them. Demonstrated through painting the body with red paint (memories) and washing them away; soaking in them. Memories are seen through experiences, following me in the water."  -My Vimeo page

http://vimeo.com/33051386

I am most proud of this work because this is when I realized that I had developed a style.  I felt that this video helps people see me in a different light.  I wanted to bring emotion and visual stimulation to the viewers.