No Updates is Bad Updates
Hey people,
Sorry I haven’t been updating. I just moved into my new apartment in Boulder, CO and I have yet to settle down and start making things again. I’ve spent a lot of time at Target.
I figured everybody would stop looking at my blog after I stopped updating it, but I still see four or so people looking at it every day. That gives me heart. So, for those four of you out there still looking at my blog, this is for you. I promise, I’ll start making stuff again and putting it up on the internet for all to enjoy.
Thinking about starting a web comic with my friend Alex in the near future, of course there will be a link.
Adam
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Delphine Reist’s simple piece at the Pompidou kept me oddly transfixed for such a simple and short narrative. The five-minute video piece featured a single fixed shot of a non-descript white room lit by fluorescent lights. The only action within the frame was of these long fluorescent bulbs occasionally dropping to the ground and shattering. The room gradually grew darker as more bulbs fell and broke, and eventually fell into complete darkness before looping again.
The narrative described in words is rather plain, and one argument might be that once the viewer sees several of these fluorescent bulbs fall, he or she could guess the rest automatically. Part of this is true—the conclusion of the room falling completely dark seems rather inevitable.
However, each time they did something a little different—sometimes they would fall on one end and unceremoniously fall flat on the ground, breaking. Other times they would continually bounce from end to end, and would take several long moments to finally shatter. After the first several bulbs had fallen I was a proven sucker for the cheap entertainment of the bulb crushing on the ground. The outcome is expected, and yet we are left in suspense as to exactly when and exactly which piece will fall down.
There was also an element of sophomoric fun with the breaking fluorescent bulbs; something about it was quite viscerally satisfying. You can imagine the roots of such a pleasure—sometimes kids break stuff just for the hell of it (especially fluorescent bulbs). The process is ultimately destructive, both in the factual sense of the bulbs breaking and in the fact that the space continually becomes more vague and less described by the light—and yet one (or at least I) cannot help but be entertained each time by the bulbs falling, and in turn waiting for the next one to fall.
Within that context, both the audio and the visual aspects are exiting. The sound is absolutely unique to the action of the bulb falling, and the pattern is unmistakable; first, a quick slipping sound of the tube falling out of its casing, then the relative cacophony of its inevitable bouncing and shattering.
Reist has already effectively cornered our attention on a mundane subject. These things are dropping, but Reist’s point is masked beyond this. For the first several minutes, change is imperceptible within the space in terms of general construction and light—even though lights are falling, there doesn’t seem to be any dramatic change in the lighting itself. Thus the viewer happily chugs along with the action. However, as the video draws closer to the end, real change can be noticed. For the last several lights, every bulb that drops darkens the room more, making the space less defined. In the last two or three, the remaining lights seem to be striving to light the whole space, and as each drops whole sections of the frame drop into nondescript blackness, and finally the whole frame is black. Despite the fact that conclusion could have already been drawn, it seems to sneak up on the viewer regardless.
The descent into darkness nearing the end of the piece left me feeling much different about what I saw throughout the video. Instead of feeling a certain mischievous joy of watching things break, the destructive aspect of the piece came much more into light. Instead of the shattering tubes being a source of entertainment, nearing the end I almost wanted them to stop breaking, because the room was losing definition and although the room was a sterilized white in the first place, it felt more comforting to be involved with some well-defined space as opposed to no space at all. Instead of being entertaining, the conclusion brought to bear a sense of decay and destruction into the video—something that was present throughout but not emphasized with vigor until the end.
Beyond just eliminating the light sources within the video, the conclusion also brought the entire space in which the video was installed into darkness, since the video itself was the light source for the entire space. This brings the viewer even more into the video, as the light for the space and the light within the video are intrinsically connected, something that only comes to attention as the video draws to a close.
With this we are left with a piece of art that is both extremely simple and bare and yet constructs a strangely convincing story for the viewer. The use of fluorescent bulbs in such a nondescript setting might speak to the decay of urban buildings and constructs. Yet in contrast the process of the bulbs falling recalls the natural process of rain falling. In this sense there are many different possibilities and routes of interpretation that could be taken. The most essential part of this piece I took away was that Reist subverted my sense of entertainment into something wholly different.
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Finally a Final Project
Hey Everybody,
Been working very hard churning out artwork. Here’s one of my pieces–a website for NuvoArt.
EDIT: Apparently I can’t work links. the website is www.nuvoart.com (can’t believe I got that domain!)
Pulled through a lot of technical muck to make this website. Never used Dreamweaver or HTML/CSS before, and I think I got something out of it.
I think I was pretty successful making a cheesy-looking website, which was my intention. Pulled most of the images from the web to make this fake company that you can sell your soul to. Keep snooping around the site until you at least find the disclaimer and the testimonials page.
I’m pretty happy with this permutation of NuvoArt–of course, it can always go a lot further. Considering that I learned this program and got it running, I’m pretty happy with the result.
The point of this was to get the world of NuvoArt out there. I’ve done previous works, including the video I most recently posted, that described experiences with NuvoArt that had already happened. I plan on posting another forthcoming installation of a NuvoArt-related video.
The Question is, what would happen if I actually began the world of NuvoArt–set out to create this company and see if anybody signs up?
This website then represents a sort of first step into this pool, this line of thinking. Instead of describing a narrative in the past, why not create one in the present?
I think the challenge is making it look ridiculous yet believable at the same time. I want to maintain a certain sense of humour within the pieces of NuvoArt while not losing sight of the fact that I’m interested in people’s interactions with it–therefore, I can’t make it overly ridiculous, but making it stoic and too believable would also be quite boring.
If I make people buy into something ridiculous, all the better. It proves part of my point.
The kind of thing already happens. In one word, infomercials. The unintentional humour of this strange breed of advertising has not escaped the eyes and ears of the almighty internet. Yet there is a reason these things exists; they attract customers and make money. What if I could be as ridiculous as they are and yet still attract customers?
I think I have to be better at crafting this ridiculous experience ont he internet. By all intentions I’m still quite a novice at HTML and I have a lot to learn. I think their is a direct correlation between my ability to convince people and my ability to design propaganda effectively. Whether or not that lies in good web design, I’m not sure. But I’m definitely sure that (if used correctly) the internet is a powerful publicity tool.
Next in line I think is sending out mailers about NuvoArt. It’s strange, the more I delve into this world the more I”m using design-oriented tools to my ends. It’s certainly not satisfying in the same way to make art like this versus slapping paint on a canvas, but it yields rich fruits.
Join NuvoArt! The Future of Art!
Adam
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This New Painting Thing
Thought I’d share some new stuff with everybody. Here’s two new paintings, some really quick documentation just so you can’t get an idea of what kind of things are going on.
I’m really hitting a sweet spot with my painting right now, I’m using a lot of multi-media based stuff. I just made a painting with balsa wood and tape.
In the next three weeks or so, EVERYTHING will be up, probably on a flickr account or something similar. For now though, my several devoted fans (you know who you are) will have to do with some sneak peaks.
Oh, and I thought the panther picture was just kind of cool. He’s situated in my little city.
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NuvoArt: Invest in The Future
Proposal
For my final project I will be further exploring the world of NuvoArt with a concentration on manifesting this narrative in the real world. A brief synopsis of this narrative: An artist desiring success enters a contract with a company (NuvoArt) that supplies artists with ‘means to be efficient’. The contract stipulates that the artist lives and works in a space specifically designed for him, and doesn’t leave.
Although I could certainly go on and describe the dealings between said artist and NuvoArt, the narrative is still being developed and more justice would be done to it through the artwork rather than a synopsis. Suffice it to say, the relationship between the artist and the company is far from copacetic.
I plan on essentially pulling as much of this narrative into the real world as possible as to make it seem that it actually happened. What seems to be most important:
- A draft of the original contract between the artist and NuvoArt, in proper contract language (I will have to consult somebody knowledgeable in the field, and perhaps invest considerable time into drafting something convincing
- NuvoArt paraphernalia—that is, paper with NuvoArt watermarks, pencils, memos, letters, emails, spreadsheets, etc.
- NuvoArt website—for those wanting to Invest in the Future
- Artwork created by the artist while in his efficiency space
I’ve already created solid work out of this vein and I’m excited to go further. Again, there’s virtually no limit to the amount of things I could create to bring this world to life. The challenge will be more with paring it down to create a cohesive and digestible experience from within the world of NuvoArt.
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mememememememe
Shadow Video from Jackie Du on Vimeo.
Thought this deserved more attention. This was a video I did with the PB Bears. Guess which hand I am.
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Paris/Berlin/etc.
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- The Louvre Under the Pyramid
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- The Pompidou
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- Berlin Architecture
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- Under the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin
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- View of Montmatre from the Musee D’Orsay in Paris
Some shots from my recent trip to Paris and Berlin. Quite a whirlwind tour of many different museums–something like seven museums in all. Still digesting the amount of art I saw.
I did get to see a healthy amount of Delacroix though–which I was very pleased about.
More on him later.
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Strange Maps
This is a nice blog I found: Strange Maps.
Shows a lot of interesting, oddly arranged maps you might not otherwise see. We’ve doing doing a lot of map work here in art school so I thought some people might like to see it.
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Tags: art, mapping, PASCA, Strange Maps
New video
I just finished this new video. It’s a continuation on the NuvoArt theme detailed in my previous posts.
The actual video was a fairly last-minute decision and I’m happy I came to it. It was originally just a sound piece of me issuing instructions on a drrawing exercise.
Here it is. As of this posting, the video is waiting in line to be officially uploaded by the vimeo folks, so it should be ready in about twenty or so minutes.
Adam
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PB BEARS
I’m in a collective. It’s called the PB BEARS. Here’s our artist statement.
ENGLISH ++++++ The P.B.Bears are an international band of night heros. Born out of the wound of titan, today, they continue their merciless conquest of the pajama mystique.
Check it out, we’ve been making some pretty smooth work.
Cheers,
Adam
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Tags: art, PB Bears
