Thursday, May 19, 2011
COMPLETED WORK - Animation
The completed product for the animation component of my B.O.W differed greatly to the stated intention in the original proposal. This is largely due to time constraints. My original idea would have required the manipulation of each individual image in photoshop, which unfortunately I just wouldn't have had time for. My alternate idea was inspired by the growing significance and meaning of a 'profile picture'. The animation essentially forms a parody, inspired by a couple of girls that feature in my news feed quite regularly with a new 'dolled up' picture of themselves taken on their laptops using photobooth. While I am quite happy with the overall concept, I'm not entirely satisfied as to how it works as an animation, however do not have sufficient time to rework the idea.
Monday, May 16, 2011
WEEK 10 - Innovation in Presentation
The link to 'Roaming Sweets' by Anita Bacic & Natalie Woodlock, provided as inspiration for the development of our animation, was connected to a traveling exhibition called Portable Worlds 2nd Edition 2010, presented by Country Arts SA in partnership with The Australian Network for Art and Technology.
All works within the exhibition 'utilised mobile phones for both display and creation, exploring connection and intimacy, portability and community, scale and distance' (http://portableworlds.anat.org.au/). The mobile phone enables a vast proportion of human interactions as is an integral component of everyday life. In addition to this, the mobile phone is increasingly changing the landscape of digital art and how it is viewed. A mobile phone now has the necessary functions for creating and viewing digital artworks.
The mobile phone, as a means of presentation to an audience, negotiates any issues associated with getting the general public to physically attend galleries, especially small privately own galleries. This essentially enables any digitally produced artwork to be highly accessible to an audience of considerable breadth, with no constrained time period.
The mobile phone additionally holds a connection with the user, with individuals constantly interaction with the device it's almost like a relationship forms. This is an interesting environment for artists to consider when presenting their work.
Bellow is an image off the ANAP website that reveals the sense of intimacy when viewing artwork from a mobile phone:
All works within the exhibition 'utilised mobile phones for both display and creation, exploring connection and intimacy, portability and community, scale and distance' (http://portableworlds.anat.org.au/). The mobile phone enables a vast proportion of human interactions as is an integral component of everyday life. In addition to this, the mobile phone is increasingly changing the landscape of digital art and how it is viewed. A mobile phone now has the necessary functions for creating and viewing digital artworks.
The mobile phone, as a means of presentation to an audience, negotiates any issues associated with getting the general public to physically attend galleries, especially small privately own galleries. This essentially enables any digitally produced artwork to be highly accessible to an audience of considerable breadth, with no constrained time period.
The mobile phone additionally holds a connection with the user, with individuals constantly interaction with the device it's almost like a relationship forms. This is an interesting environment for artists to consider when presenting their work.
Bellow is an image off the ANAP website that reveals the sense of intimacy when viewing artwork from a mobile phone:
Sunday, May 15, 2011
COMPLETED WORK - Digital Painting
The digital painting component of my B.O.W was created using the program 'Corel Painter'. As I had not used this program before, I was unaware of it's capabilities when writing my proposal, and as such the work I produced took on a different direction than that articulated within my original proposal. My digital self-portraiture painting was inspired by Patt Brassington's work 'The Secret', adopting a similar framing within the work to generate an intensity within the composition. I incorporated a sense of ambiguity through the placement of a plus symbol taped over my self-portraits mouth. The result is a disquitening reference to integrity, as the overall theme of my work, questioning the contrasts of editing or addition of expression between online and offline selves. The selected colour palette additionally alludes to illness, through the use of sickly green tones, an inference to the potential sickness of self when a disparity exists between expression in reality and expression online.
Brassington's 'The Secret' 2010, Pigment print, 80 x 62cm, http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/brassington/index.php?obj_id=folio&image=3&nav=1
Digital Self Portrait
Brassington's 'The Secret' 2010, Pigment print, 80 x 62cm, http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/brassington/index.php?obj_id=folio&image=3&nav=1
Digital Self Portrait
Monday, May 2, 2011
COMPLETED WORK - Video
Through the use of the program 'ScreenFlow' I was able to capture my screen interaction and myself in one shot. The result was a kind of dual self portrait, simultaneously revealing my online and offline selves. The projection of a video game style environment was enabled through the choice of music, which interacted with the video footage to create an almost carnivalesque surreal feel. The footage will have resonance with an audience who similarly engage with online sites, an almost disquietning glimp of how the online realm may well be homogenizing society at large. Through the blatant capturing of my highly personal interactions with online sites, the footage aims to awaken a realisation within the audience of just how public our personal identities have become.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
COMPLETED WORK - Collage
Keeping the fundamental genre of portraiture, in the collage component I wanted to reveal the often sleak and glossy presence associated with digitalisation and online identity. I was inspired by the luminous images associated with advertising, including the image featured bellow:
The final product is an image of self, overrun by digitalisation:
The final product is an image of self, overrun by digitalisation:
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
CATFISH
Catfish - a documentary or mocumentary?! - one cannot be sure even after watching this intriguing film, a true product of the current obsessive online social media climate. The film documents the sheer lack of integrity (the key theme for my B.O.W) in the labyrinth that is the online world. Filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost capture the relationship that forms between Nev, a 24 year old photographer in New York, and a family from rural Michigan that connect initially through Facebook. When Nev determines to meet the family in person he is confronted by the startling disparity between the online projection of the family and the offline reality. The key message from the film is not in fact whether the film is a set up or not, but rather that the scenario is unquestionably possible in an online realm where identity is invariably malleable.
The film was provoking in light of my current efforts in working towards a body of work that is concurrent with the themes and issues connected with social media and identity as expressed within the film.
The film was provoking in light of my current efforts in working towards a body of work that is concurrent with the themes and issues connected with social media and identity as expressed within the film.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
WEEK 5 - Video Artist
Spanish artist Greta Alfaro's work conveys a similar agenda to the intended theme for my B.O.W. Alfaro comments 'My work addresses the lifestyles of contemporary Western society and its relationship to the image, highlighting the difference between what we want to be, what we say we are and what we are actually among the public face of life and life in the the private domain. Similarly, it explores the reasons for the existence of this inconsistency, which is related to how we construct our identity through the production and consumption of images' (Alfaro, G http://www.videoartworld.com/beta/artist_1923.html)
Link to Alfaro's blog: http://gretalfaro.blogspot.com/
Link to video art: http://gretalfaro.blogspot.com/search/label/2009%20-%20In%20Ictu%20Oculi.%20%20Video
Link to Alfaro's blog: http://gretalfaro.blogspot.com/
Link to video art: http://gretalfaro.blogspot.com/search/label/2009%20-%20In%20Ictu%20Oculi.%20%20Video
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
WEEK 4 - Proposal
A COHESIVE THEME FOR MY BODY OF WORK (B.O.W)
A pertinent issue for my generation and the 21st century at large is the rise and popularity of digital technology and consequently the impact on a society dominated by virtual reality. My theme for the digital body of work essentially explores the modern ambiguity surrounding the notion of integrity, specifically in regards to the polarity between online and offline identity and my concerns for virtual dominance within society. There is an undeniable element of the surreal surrounding the nature of online life and the virtual world. I intend to capture this as an aesthetic within my B.O.W, largely through the use of colour correction and manipulation, providing a reference to an almost post-apocalyptic scenario.
WHY IS DIGITAL ART THE BEST WAY OF EXPLORING MY B.O.W THEME?
The rapid development and consumption of digital technology in our post-modern society has significant implications in everyday life and art. The phenomenon of digitalisation, in particular the advent of the Internet and the associated virtual world, life and identity, provides considerable scope when conceptualising ideas for a variety of art making practices. Due to the intrinsic link the theme for my B.O.W and technology it seems only natural to capture this concept through the medium of digital art.
PHOTOGRAPHY – ‘Self Reflections’
The photography component of my B.O.W will be grounded in the tradition of self-portraiture, capturing a series of reflections in public spaces, using my digital camera as the medium for creating the images. The mode of self-portraiture will enable me to make a reference to the self-centric nature synonymous with both the online and offline contemporary world. The images will have a surreal all-most ghost like quality, enhanced in postproduction through the use of a colour photo filter.
COLLAGE – ‘Self Digitalisation’
The collage component of my B.O.W will include direct reference to a virtual reality, with an aesthetic that emanates digitalisation. The central image for the collage will be a self-portrait overlaid and interspersed with stock photos that make reference to the luminosity of the digital realm. The final layering of images will be manipulated in Photoshop to allude to my person and identity being overrun by technology and a virtual reality.
VIDEO – ‘Real Time’
The video production component of my B.O.W will essentially provide a snippet of the everyday interactions between my online and offline selves. The footage will be captured using the webcam imbedded in my laptop, revealing my interactions with my online computer aided life, interspersed with real time video screen capture revealing the websites I engage with. The cohesive surreal aesthetic throughout my B.O.W will be achieved in post-production through the manipulation of the colour correction, projecting an almost video game like environment.
DIGITAL DRAWING AND PAINTING – ‘Avatar Self’
The digital painting component of my B.O.W will reference the epitome of online self-manipulation, through the creation of my own avatar self. The image will essentially represent a self-portrait, however desirable characteristics will be added or enhanced, while undesirable traits will be removed. In keeping with the video component, the digital painting will project an almost video game like environment and aesthetic.
STOP.MOTION.ANIMATION – ‘Self Digitalisation Enacted’
The animation component of my B.O.W will be a synthesis of my collage and video works. The series of images that form the animation, will comprise of a progression of self portraits that articulate the taking over of my physical body by my online digitalised self. The imagery will again make reference to a post apocalyptic scenario, a coherent aesthetic throughout my B.O.W.
PRESENTING MY B.O.W
The five mediums that comprise my B.O.W convey a variety of concerns associated with digitalisation a the virtual realm, which would be most effectively experience, read and interpreted by the audience in correlation to each other. As such I intend to present my B.O.W as a form of installation, with all components interacting. I will require two projectors and two screens to play my video art and stop motion animation, and I will print my photographs, collage and digital painting. It would be ideal to create a partitioned off triangular space that the audience would enter to experience the works. The space would consist of two full walls dedicated to the projection of the video and animation, and one half wall dedicated to the printouts. This concept for presentation, however, may need to be revised due to the limitations of university resources and available space.
ARTISTIC INFLUENCE
An artist who has significantly influenced the concepts for aesthetic within my B.O.W is photographic artist Pat Brassington. A distinctive theme within Brassington's oeuvre is her beguiling surrealistic imagery, which I intend the emulate throughout my B.O.W. The colour palette within Brassington’s series ‘A Perfect Day’ makes reference to a kind of post apocalyptic scenario, with a theatrical staging of figures which evokes both the unconscious and the absurd. Brassington’s work, ‘Radar’, contains haunting juxtapositions that elicit from the audience a desire to construct a narrative surrounding the surreal psychological encounter. In my B.O.W, much like Brassington, I wish to construct narratives and scenarios that provoke and engage the audience to consider the changing nature of integrity in a modern digitalized world.
Pat Brassington Radar, 2009, Pigment print, 80 x 55cm, edition of 8 + 2 AP http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/brassington/index.php?obj_id=folio&image=8&nav=1
Installation concept drawing for the presentation of my B.O.W
A pertinent issue for my generation and the 21st century at large is the rise and popularity of digital technology and consequently the impact on a society dominated by virtual reality. My theme for the digital body of work essentially explores the modern ambiguity surrounding the notion of integrity, specifically in regards to the polarity between online and offline identity and my concerns for virtual dominance within society. There is an undeniable element of the surreal surrounding the nature of online life and the virtual world. I intend to capture this as an aesthetic within my B.O.W, largely through the use of colour correction and manipulation, providing a reference to an almost post-apocalyptic scenario.
WHY IS DIGITAL ART THE BEST WAY OF EXPLORING MY B.O.W THEME?
The rapid development and consumption of digital technology in our post-modern society has significant implications in everyday life and art. The phenomenon of digitalisation, in particular the advent of the Internet and the associated virtual world, life and identity, provides considerable scope when conceptualising ideas for a variety of art making practices. Due to the intrinsic link the theme for my B.O.W and technology it seems only natural to capture this concept through the medium of digital art.
PHOTOGRAPHY – ‘Self Reflections’
The photography component of my B.O.W will be grounded in the tradition of self-portraiture, capturing a series of reflections in public spaces, using my digital camera as the medium for creating the images. The mode of self-portraiture will enable me to make a reference to the self-centric nature synonymous with both the online and offline contemporary world. The images will have a surreal all-most ghost like quality, enhanced in postproduction through the use of a colour photo filter.
COLLAGE – ‘Self Digitalisation’
The collage component of my B.O.W will include direct reference to a virtual reality, with an aesthetic that emanates digitalisation. The central image for the collage will be a self-portrait overlaid and interspersed with stock photos that make reference to the luminosity of the digital realm. The final layering of images will be manipulated in Photoshop to allude to my person and identity being overrun by technology and a virtual reality.
VIDEO – ‘Real Time’
The video production component of my B.O.W will essentially provide a snippet of the everyday interactions between my online and offline selves. The footage will be captured using the webcam imbedded in my laptop, revealing my interactions with my online computer aided life, interspersed with real time video screen capture revealing the websites I engage with. The cohesive surreal aesthetic throughout my B.O.W will be achieved in post-production through the manipulation of the colour correction, projecting an almost video game like environment.
DIGITAL DRAWING AND PAINTING – ‘Avatar Self’
The digital painting component of my B.O.W will reference the epitome of online self-manipulation, through the creation of my own avatar self. The image will essentially represent a self-portrait, however desirable characteristics will be added or enhanced, while undesirable traits will be removed. In keeping with the video component, the digital painting will project an almost video game like environment and aesthetic.
STOP.MOTION.ANIMATION – ‘Self Digitalisation Enacted’
The animation component of my B.O.W will be a synthesis of my collage and video works. The series of images that form the animation, will comprise of a progression of self portraits that articulate the taking over of my physical body by my online digitalised self. The imagery will again make reference to a post apocalyptic scenario, a coherent aesthetic throughout my B.O.W.
PRESENTING MY B.O.W
The five mediums that comprise my B.O.W convey a variety of concerns associated with digitalisation a the virtual realm, which would be most effectively experience, read and interpreted by the audience in correlation to each other. As such I intend to present my B.O.W as a form of installation, with all components interacting. I will require two projectors and two screens to play my video art and stop motion animation, and I will print my photographs, collage and digital painting. It would be ideal to create a partitioned off triangular space that the audience would enter to experience the works. The space would consist of two full walls dedicated to the projection of the video and animation, and one half wall dedicated to the printouts. This concept for presentation, however, may need to be revised due to the limitations of university resources and available space.
ARTISTIC INFLUENCE
An artist who has significantly influenced the concepts for aesthetic within my B.O.W is photographic artist Pat Brassington. A distinctive theme within Brassington's oeuvre is her beguiling surrealistic imagery, which I intend the emulate throughout my B.O.W. The colour palette within Brassington’s series ‘A Perfect Day’ makes reference to a kind of post apocalyptic scenario, with a theatrical staging of figures which evokes both the unconscious and the absurd. Brassington’s work, ‘Radar’, contains haunting juxtapositions that elicit from the audience a desire to construct a narrative surrounding the surreal psychological encounter. In my B.O.W, much like Brassington, I wish to construct narratives and scenarios that provoke and engage the audience to consider the changing nature of integrity in a modern digitalized world.
Pat Brassington Radar, 2009, Pigment print, 80 x 55cm, edition of 8 + 2 AP http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/brassington/index.php?obj_id=folio&image=8&nav=1
Installation concept drawing for the presentation of my B.O.W
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Week 3 - Artist
The digital mediums which will comprise my body of work and the cohesive theme of integrity, regarding online Vs offline identity and the projection of self, grounds my artistic concepts in the realm of post-modernism. An artist who is similarly influenced by the implications of the virtual world and it's integration into reality,is Diane Gromala. Her work 'Living Book of the Senses' deals similarly with digital art, focusing specifically on how artistic configurations of technologies can provoke new a new awareness and understanding of our senses.
The exert from Media Art Net's website describes well, the digital interactive nature of Gromala's work (http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/living-book-of-the-senses/) 'Users wear a headset/head-tracker/color camera system that enables them to see physical reality enhanced with a virtual reality overlay. Users can fly into the immersive world and see each other represented as avatars in the same virtual scene. As the users simultaneously interact with the book in the physical and virtual realms, the book responds to individual and multiple physical states (via biofeedback) to express resulting changes in narrative. The narrative is a cultural history of the senses.'
The image below is a product of user interaction with the 'Living Book of the Senses', an image that provides significant aesthetic inspiration for the next digital collage task:
The exert from Media Art Net's website describes well, the digital interactive nature of Gromala's work (http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/living-book-of-the-senses/) 'Users wear a headset/head-tracker/color camera system that enables them to see physical reality enhanced with a virtual reality overlay. Users can fly into the immersive world and see each other represented as avatars in the same virtual scene. As the users simultaneously interact with the book in the physical and virtual realms, the book responds to individual and multiple physical states (via biofeedback) to express resulting changes in narrative. The narrative is a cultural history of the senses.'
The image below is a product of user interaction with the 'Living Book of the Senses', an image that provides significant aesthetic inspiration for the next digital collage task:
Sunday, March 13, 2011
WEEK 2 - 50 Photos
During the course of week 2 I developed a more clarified concept for the photography component of my body of work. The images would be grounded in the tradition of self portraiture, articulating well the theme of integrity, regarding online Vs offline identity and the projection of self, which will remain cohesive throughout my body of work. I decided to particularly examine the contrast between the online self's desire to provide a glimpse of oneself to the virtual world and the offline self's desire to be constantly catching a glimpse of oneself. The means through which I represented this was by capturing myself in the reflections of glass. The result was an surreal all most ghost like quality which I enhanced in post production through a colour photo filter.
Below are some of the more successful images:
Below are some of the more successful images:
Monday, March 7, 2011
Pat Brassington - 'A Perfect Day'
Stills gallery in Sydney is committed to exhibiting Australian contemporary photographic work. I was lucky enough to attend a previous exhibition that included a selection of works from female artist Pat Brassington's series 'A Perfect Day'. Brassington pushes the limits of photography as a medium, challenging the notion that a photograph captures a snippet of reality through digital manipulation. A distinctive theme within Brassington's oeuvre is her beguiling surrealistic imagery. The colour palette within the series makes reference to a kind of post apocalyptic scenario, with a theatrical staging of figures which evokes both the unconscious and the absurd.
http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/brassington/
http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/brassington/
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Early Concepts for Week 2
The final word I came to during my stream of consciousness regarding the fourth dimension in the form of the online world and the multiplicity of implications surrounding this alternate world, was INTEGRITY. This word seems quite poignant and continues to influential with concepts I have been thinking about for our photography session in the next two weeks. It is furthermore, a theme that could resonate throughout the body of work.
In relation to integrity within photography I conveniently came across this in the week 2 outline: 'Photography changed the way we viewed art...The photograph was something to be believed, it was a moment frozen in time, an unquestionable product of authenticity. Now in the time of digital photography we are questioning our belief of mediated vision as gospel'. With the advent of digital photography and editing tools, the notion that a photograph is an exact replica of an instant in time, can no longer be held to be true. This is an interesting development in considering the integrity, value, manipulation and authenticity of digital photographic mediums.
I received a a forward email some time ago titled: 'When graphic designers get bored'. Bellow are some of the images from the email that encapsulate the possible extent of image manipulation:
In relation to integrity within photography I conveniently came across this in the week 2 outline: 'Photography changed the way we viewed art...The photograph was something to be believed, it was a moment frozen in time, an unquestionable product of authenticity. Now in the time of digital photography we are questioning our belief of mediated vision as gospel'. With the advent of digital photography and editing tools, the notion that a photograph is an exact replica of an instant in time, can no longer be held to be true. This is an interesting development in considering the integrity, value, manipulation and authenticity of digital photographic mediums.
I received a a forward email some time ago titled: 'When graphic designers get bored'. Bellow are some of the images from the email that encapsulate the possible extent of image manipulation:
Sunday, February 27, 2011
WEEK 1 - Stream of Consciousness Regarding the Fourth Dimension
What is the 'FOURTH DIMENSION'? - ...cyberspace... - virtual reality: online/offline identity, creation and projection, blatant/compulsive consumption... - ...WHAT IS REAL?... - ...both?... - ...VIRTUAL VOICE: everyone has a voice therefore no one has a voice - OVER SATURATION - degradation of individual impact as a collective digital presence, a result of minimal differentiation... - ...VIABILITY OF LEGITIMATE VIRTUAL CREATIVE PRESENCE: Flickr=everyone's a photographer, Blogs=everyone's a writer... - ...Quality V's Quantity: Mass production, degradation of art as sacred, changing notions of the age old question 'WHAT IS ART'?... - ...DIGITALISATION OF ART: manipulation of the raw form... - ...INTEGRITY?...
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