Welcome Back Galley Response

The two pieces that worked well together were Chris Camperchishi’s “The third is still the first and always the only one” and Michael Shoudt’s “Untilled”.  Both these pieces were abstract expressionism, and both of them had structural elements: thought, Chris Camperchishi’s  piece has gestural markings as well. Bothe pieces were also about the same size and did not interfere with each other’s color pallet. The major different between the two was the shape and frame. Camperchishi’s painting was a standard rectangle in shape while Shoudt’s work was shaped like a triangle with a fauls shadow on the floor. These pieces complemented each other because they look as if they were made with the other in mind. Whether intentional or not, their similarities alow the two paintings to coexist and not compete with each other.

The two piece that did not work together were Ardele Lister’s “Flower/Power”, and one of the work’s from the set titled, “Five Famous Fat Men” which was created by several artists including: Jason Carey, Maxwell Cernell, and several others. These two works were so close together, they appeared to be part of the same piece. There needed to be more distance between these to works. “Flower/Power” was about gardening, and the one excerpt from “Five Famous Fat Men” included a cement mixer. Because a both gardens and cement mixer has an outdoor connotation, people could be lead to believe that an outdoors theme connected the two works.

The piece I enjoyed was Raphael Ortiz’s “Let Them Drink Tea.” This piece appeared to be a commentary on the Tea Party and the possibility of their political agenda resulting in a new great depression. The piece consisted of two elements, a video below and poster above. These two parts could probably been incorporated more intimately. In their stacked composition, they look as if they could have been two different pieces that addressed the same themes.

The piece I disliked was Julie Langsam’s “Collages” These were a collection of structural abstract expressionism that seemed to exist simply to exist. Each frame contained a set of brightly colored squares that were all centered in their frames. The squares did not appear to reference an object, but neither did they seem to address a concept or visual issue.

Visiting Artists

Hasly Rodmon visited the Mason Gross program to talk about his work to the school on September twenty first. His work possessed several interesting ideas that repeated in many of his sculptures, painting, and videos. Though his work was not particularly interesting, he did have several concepts that One of the more interesting things he said about sculpture is that sculpture in the round has no pattern. Plants grow in a predictable way, animals are normally symmetrical, but a sculpture dose not need to fallow any such pattern.

One of his most interesting pieces started as a video and then  became a sculpture. This work started with twelve people standing around a sculpture table attempting to sculpt different parts of the same person. Rodmon recorded the process on a video camera and invited the same sculptures to return one year later to perform the same action again. Rodmon videotaped the action again, and in post production composited the two images. This was an interesting commentary on the difference between the relation of one time complementing another.

Another interesting piece attempted to address the relationship between a human body and a soul. Several pillars with light bulbs on top stood outside. The light bulbs were always on regardless of the time of day and the pillars had the lines, “I am turning into mist” written on the sides. The pillars represented the body and the lights represented the soul. During the day the lights were relatively dim and could not be seen, thought the pillar was visible and dominant. At night, the light bulb dominated the space and the pillar was obscured by the lack of proper illumination. The body and soul were easier or harder to see under the right conditions. This piece was successful and conceptually interesting.

Art Journal Entry

I try to stay away from realistic narrative when working in an art context. Basically that means when I make art, I do not use characters, story arches, or other reference to Hollywood style cinema. I am considering a piece for a class that breaks this rule. In this piece, which runs under the working title “Sensation,” I plan to start the single channel video in a realistic setting. The story will continue naturally for several minutes before changing into an art piece. I want to experiment with the fine line between film and video, conceptually instead of format wise, by showing both of them in contrast.

The story aspect of the work will start with a person who is hypersensitive. After four years of using unsuccessful conventional medicine, he seeks the aid of a therapist who specializes in alternative treatment. The therapist attempts urging the patient to embrace his over stimulated state, before calming down his senses and living normally. During his first session, the patient completely loses himself in the sensation.

The experimental art aspect of this work  enters during the patient’s sessions. The over stimulation he experiences will be expressed through exaggerated camera angles and extreme tight shots of whatever the patient is focusing on.

Art Journal Entry

I find that when I work on a piece that is not time based, I like to listen to audio stimuli. I do not like listening to music most of the time. I usually enjoy listening to books on tape or CD, while working on drawing or sculptural pieces. I used to try listening to movies in the background; however, I found that the visuals distracted me. I can still use movies after I’ve seen the film and listen to the commentary instead. Books on tape are still my preferred background audio. 

 

Several months ago, I worked on two pieces that were at least 4 feet by 6. Both pieces shared a concept of hyper detail, and required that I spend hours working on small drawing details for hours at a time. The subject of these images consisted of anything I could imagine, and often took the forms of creatures, landscapes, abstract forms, icons, symbols, and several nonsensical forms. As I worked on this project, I listened to several books on CD including Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and assorted collections of short stories. One night I realized that when I looked on a portion I had finished a few nights before, the story portion I was listening to at the time started playing in my head. It was not my intention to link the outside stimuli to the piece, but it happened regardless. I may try to use this in the future. What if I made a piece that was intended to let the external influence penetrate the concept of the work? If I attempt another high detail drawing like the two listed above, What if one patch was influenced by a love story, another patch by an action adventure story, an another patch by a history? This is just a thought now but I may readdress it.