Video Art - Motion and Dance

Hessa: loved the vortex and the spinning body because it really channeled the spirit of decontextualization. I loved the use of color and saturation and the ending was very cool where it seemed like everything blended together.

Luis: The super imposing of two polar natural opposites and perspective was amazing. I liked the lack of color and the darkness and the switching capacities. The sound was a bit over powering but it was appropriate due to the lack of color.

Sebastian: I didn't get the Leigh Bowery reference but I enjoyed the higher message you had by super imposing Steve Jobs and Barack Obama. The opposition of the old and new in the beginning is amazing with the old Mac OS and the iPad. 

Stefanie: The multiple personalities in the room seem to lend itself to the nature of art where separate entities seem to explore the art piece and it overwhelms the viewer. I was a bit creeped out at the laughing but it added to the emotions that art itself can invoke. 

Emily: I like the whimsical nature of the video even though I thought it should have been better received. I do agree the colors and filter were shocking but I didnt really think it was over powering.

Francesca: I really thought that you were decontextualizing the nature of harmony and music but it was cool how you managed to melt culture and language and make it into music.

Jon: I was impressed with the camera perspective especially the one where it emulates the popcorn popping in the microwave.

Roy: Extremely visually entertaining and trippy, the mirror effect almost made it seem like you had projection art. David Hall was your main inspiration and it was seemingly clear.

Hannah: Loved the music. The concept of the Asian fear of Godzilla was pretty funny.The shadows made it extremely cool and it looked like a video game.

Sarah: the strobe light almost made me reminded of the Born this Way video with the way the strobe pulsated and made a womb with the hands like a lotus flower.

Abby: I liked the concept, it should have some cool editing in terms of slowing down and colors and stuff.

Grace: The puppy was absolutely precious. I loved that you created your own hybrid person/dog and dance. Super reminiscent of Nam June Paik.

Amanda: Loved the rubics cube effect and the different perspectives. It gave the art a story.

Beatniks

The Beatniks were the 50s/60s equivalent to what a "hipster" is in the new millennium. The Beatniks were an underground coalition of artists and non conformist young people in the New York area which is ironic to me because I am from New York and most people from my high school which I hung out with I would consider hipsters.  The above is a negatively connotated hipster. I mean hipsters do love American apparel and vans and are usually financially well off but are not all drug users and weirdos. The Beantiks had the same wrap that Hipsters have now.... they were young people in NYC who dressed differently, cared about art and did spoken words on the street corners of NY. The Beaniks were called Beatniks because they were always creating a beat of spoken word on the street. That premise makes me think about the hip hop movement and the beginnings of rap and I respect the Beatniks for paving a medium for inner city kids to be on.

Nam June Paik

So after reading the Nam June Paik obituary, I was a bit depressed. Paik is a universally accredited artist as the father of video art where he was a firm straight edge artist who did not drink, smoke or do any drugs. Paik died at age 73 and was a classical pianist. Fluxus, the loose collaboration of Paik and other artists was amazing and is considered the first time that video and tv were seen as separate entities. By using the visual aesthetic of white screens, snowed screens and video projections of different things, Paik decontextualized the use of what a monitior was for, exhibits could be now made of related video sequences and together form their own messages.

The Dream Machine

This device seemed a total derivative of acid meets Ecstasy meets LSD. Spinning lights that change colors? Yep sounds like a trippy time. Personally I didn't really believe it held artistic merit until Santiago had us in a room with a pulsating strobe light.... extremely weird but this class in general is probably going to be my most memorable one of my college career between photocopying my ass on a xerox machine in the library. I digress. Well the cool thing about the strobe light is I actually saw my own mental art thanks to the strobe light where I saw red ovals overlapping in the medium of what those static lightning orbs are. I would dare to imagine that the Dream machine is relatively the same concept but more intense due to the oscillating base and the color change. Many have said the machine was an utter failure but I think it maybe relative to the fact that there is no baseline as to the visions people see, people see what their subconscious wants to see and the Dream Machine does not dictate the dream you see but just makes you get into a hypnagogic state.     

Joseph Beuys

If you want to express yourself you must present something tangible. But after a while this has only the function of a historic document. Objects aren’t very important any more. I want to get to the origin of matter, to the thought behind it.

This quote by Joseph Beuys resonated with me a lot in terms of summing up his whole career. As a performance artist he strove to bring art to people in its primal stages and have them explore it for themselves .

 I particularly liked his decontextualization of this where we can sort of lend interpretation to a couple different things. First we can say that a bad source can contaminate an idea. Second we can say that lemon is a lemon... so if your idea is a lemon its not going to be a good idea.
 Beuys seemed to be a pretty deep guy, saying that being a teacher was one of the best things he had done as an individual. Beuys also seemed to have an Andy Warhol esque likeness but to me I think Beuys was a little deeper than Warhol. That took a lot for me to admit because I am a HUGE fan of Warhol's pop art, owning 3 bags about Warhol's art.

Touching.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011
Most powerful photos of 2011.... My favorite is 41.

Updated Statue of Liberty

I modernized the statue of liberty by introducing the new millennia on old traditions.  I replaced the torch with an iPhone and the scroll with a book of New York, The drapery normally worn my Lady Liberty was sexualized with the use of a hot pink, form fitting leotard and the skirt and drapery merged technology and fashion by using lights to make a cocktail type skirt.

http://youtu.be/zGFGlgaZBQE

Luis- hilarious that you use you actually utilized a real laptop and walked into the ocean.
Hessa- looks like you were totally wasted... love it.
Abby- sick idea.... apple's growth is symbollically represented with the growth of technology and you represented that very well
Stef- looks like you stayed outside pretty long, the piece seemed well executed and the mishap in the beginning added to it
Grace- Crazy... I love it. Loved the connection of being enslaved to our phones.
Sebastian- Your performance piece reminded me of iRobot and movies like it.... I felt like I was in the future.
Emily- looks like smashing the camera was pretty fun
Francesca- an entire song of Yes and no seemed pretty creative.... we dont realize it but yes and no are used frequently to convey our ideas.
Jon- I would have been terrified to do that in walmart with the all the hood people in there lol.
Roy- Great message... you should have went during a better time... vaughn lobby was a great location
Hannah- the trip made the piece that much better.
Sarah- Nicki Minaj is always appropriate.
Amanda-creepy

Making of "Crazy Weekend"

Crazy Weekend

Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

Steve Job's Commencement Speech was alot to take in, I loved his message of not looking for the future to connect the dots for us but only dots can be connected when looking back. His section about being fired and reinventing himself resonances with me because alot of times I feel like failure discourages me and tells me maybe something isn't for me or it wasn't meant to be. Steve Jobs fought for his belief in his visions even when a room of directors and people he gave jobs, told him he wasn't thinking correctly or innovating in the right ways.

Mark Stock

I found this on Mark Stock's page and I found it really cool that he could decontexualize what something was and make it functional for another purpose. Mark Stock called it "Brushes with no paint" which is ironic because paint often comes in drums when buying large amounts. Mark Stock mixes art with magic and creates magically pieces by doing so.

Grid Art

Fastest Computer

well shocker on shocker street...... Japan has the fastest computer. I traveled there during my freshman year of high school and I know for a fact their toilets are like fucking laptops... buttons on the side to do god knows what. Here's a little info on K 

OTR.com

To be honest I found the radio broadcast kind of interesting even with the really annoying static sound. I listened to Burns and Allen and it kind of reminded my of old tv sitcoms in a way. Three's Company is my all time favorite old sitcom and this transmission reminded me alot of the Chrissy and Jack relationship on the show. Similar to Jack and Chrissy, George and Gracie are two characters that seem to be relatively in the same position. Gracie is like Chrissy in the sense that she can be visualized as the ditzy blonde that always gets into a situation my being innocently naive to the world. George is like Jack in the sense that he doesn't believe that Gracie could be so ditzy but always helps her out of any situations she gets into.

Work from A Friend

http://vimeo.com/12450999

Stop Action!

Karma's a Bitch

Singing in The Rain, Then and Now

Aside from the happy, upbeat nature of the 1952 song, Singing in The Rain was culturally the reflection of the world of art. People were not used to sound and now sound existed in the biggest form... musical. The premise of the initial idea of musical was to make people happy because of the global fear of communism and the fear of the rekindling of the issues that had been "resolved" at the conclusion of WWII. People needed happy, positive thoughts and Singing in the Rain was a sort of propaganda for that way of thinking. The plot seemed to reflect the idea that there was no mold for what a superstar was, everyone could be a Hollywood actress if they possessed the talent as well as the idea that humility and respect should be given to all.
Fast forward, nineteen years later and we have Stanley Kulbrick's A Clockwork Orange was a complete 180 of what the original Singing in the Rain was. The character who sung it was not the good guy and was no where close to being good whilst singing it. It was pretty bold of Kulbrick to have the famous piece in his movie but even more brave for him to utilize it while raping the woman in the film. Musically the song was out of context and outdated considering the 1970s were more of a progressive rock, pop era. The song made a point to me, I think the message was that in the light of everything new we tend to forget what the old things meant.

Mind Pictures

I really think this article was amazing. I enjoy art don't get me wrong but I also enjoy the trial and error of art. I really hate the fact I can sometimes visualize things in my mind but then when I want to execute them, there is a huge void in my vision versus what I actually produce. Art is a trial and error thing and sometimes mistakes make art that much more groundbreaking, sometimes a mistake makes you fall into a new realization. Its difficult to determine if visual art created by the brain is truely art at all due to these things.
I mean its a bit scary that we possess technology to read an individual's thoughts but I doubt we will ever get definitive results from the technology so we won't have a Minority Report type situation in the near future.    

Still Frame Animation

1. Nicki Minaj drawing made into still frame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxNy9h2zI_s
2. Fight sequence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo3zHjo8T_w
3. Music Flipbook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AslYxmU8xlc

Stage Door Blog

1. So Long, Farewell @ 0:16
 The use of the lights and stage balances the scene with the stairwell. The stairs serve as a great focal point for the scene as well as practical. The actors managed to all remain on stage while singing but not take away from the solos of the other performers. The stairs also served as a visual direction for the choreography as the children slowly proceeded to the stairs from left to right.
2. Anything Goes @ 2:16
The double stairs and the inset doors made the set have visual depth and symmetric quality. The rounded windows makes the audience understand that the event is taking place on a boat. The tiled floor also adds detail to the scene to add complexity to the scene because without it the scene would be entirely too plain.
@2:30 the introduction of the shadowed balcony adds to the grandeur of  the ship and the complexity of the environment.
3. I rather be Blue @ 0:44
The use of lights to frame the windows gives the stage the look of a stage/theater. The fact that Barbara Streisand is on skates is an interesting element to the set. The fact she manages to convey her nervousness by shifting her skates to make it seem as if she is uncomfortable adds to the meaning of the song, as she becomes comfortable the skates add to the performance by making all her moves appear graceful and effortless. The way the spotlight movement and her movement are flowing give the performance a really well planned out vibe.
4. Supercalifragilisticexpiladocious
The tilted camera shooting style adds to the playfulness of the song and the performance as well as the rounded edged rectangles in the background. The whimsical curve in the center of the stage (1:52) with the hands of the performers up adds a sense of playfulness and shows the general fun nature of the song. The color choice of the set also makes the song more delightful.
5. Younger than Springtime @0:15
Leading lines of the shadows leads the audience's eyes to the female performer and add a nightfall feel to the stage. The blue lights denote night time and give the performers the appearance of starcrossed lovers almost.
6.Big Spender @ 1:17
The point of view given at the above time makes the piece seem as the audience is the big spender. The presence of the lights above the female burlesque dancers also add to the visual balance of the frame by not having a ridiculous amount of negative space in the frame.
7. La Cage Aux Folies @0:02
The use of spotlights emphasizes the dancing of the figures as well as accentuates the height variations.