1). Do you agree or disagree with the authors idea that the word, "Digital" contains far too much ambiguity to properly describe technology and new media?
2) Why is the writer so angry?
3) Do you believe that film technology can lead us to," Post symbolic communication," communication without language or any other symbols? "
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Possession Exhibition
The
Last exhibition that I was able to attend was the recently opened group
exhibition, “Possession.” The exhibition held many different pieces by five
separate artists. The pieces were interesting and colorful. They really stood
out, with each artist’s unique style being able to shine through. There was so
much originality and the exhibition was a breath of fresh air for me after
seeing some much older art pieces. It was impossible for me to choose a
favorite. All of the pieces portrayed such raw emotion. It was easy for me to get
lost in them. I really enjoyed Erik Parkers pieces. His pieces used such vivid
colors. Surprisingly, he uses acrylic on canvas for many of his works. This was
a surprise for me because in my own experience with acrylic, it is a very difficult
medium to work in. His pieces reminded me of art 100, where we only drew fruit.
I don’t know why I found that so funny. My favorite artist of the night was
Claire Stigliani. Her pieces were also very interesting. She uses watercolor,
acrylic, and ink in many of her works. Because my own pieces involve the same
type of mediums I enjoyed looking at her work and seeing her technique when it
came the above mediums. Although each artist explored the themes of life and
imagination, I couldn’t really relate to most of their pieces. I enjoyed them
to say the least, with their amazing colors and details but I think their group
theme was lost on me. Maybe its just me but some of the pieces screamed
pretentious to me. But how the heck do I know, I mean, I’m just some chick at
UNR. Overall, the exhibition was very interesting and insightful. I left
wanting to try acrylic paint again, and hopefully I will get the chance to develop
my artistic style over the summer. One of the things about exhibitions is that
they really open your mind to different artistic possibilities and remind you
to break the mold. I had never seen a group exhibition like this one before, so
I hope to be able to visit more in the future. It’s a great opportunity to see
how different artistic pieces can come together to create a theme. I had a
great time wandering around the exhibit.
Stremmel Gallery Robert Brady event
First
of all, the Stremmel Gallery took me forever to find. Upon arriving (two buses
and one hour later) I was not in a happy mood. The pieces on display right now
are by Robert Brady. I did not care much for his pieces. It literally looked
like wire and rocks hanging up on walls. I don’t understand abstract art, and
this is what I would personally label it as. According to the artist, he is a
mixed media artist as well as a sculpture. Which makes sense I guess…I felt
like the colors used were mainly primary colors, which for me seemed a little
lazy (I don’t know maybe I’m just grouchy). As far as the color went, they didn’t
draw my eye…it just seemed like a last minute add on. The pieces even had weird
names, like realm this and mask that. I just did not understand what Brady was
trying to say through his work. From some of the digital artwork that we saw in
class, I would put them both in the same categories. Just like the videos we
saw in class, these pieces didn’t make sense to me. Maybe I’m just not cultured
enough. Out of all the pieces, I guess my least hated was Gabs #3. Although he
should have used real teeth. The piece consists of a ceramic medium and it
reminds me of a shark. The texture shown through to me, something that I don’t think
I’d ever be able to create using ceramics. One of the things that I personally
HATE about museums is the fact that one is not allowed to touch anything. This
is really difficult because I want to feel. It was very difficult to keep my
hands to myself to say the least. Robert Brady is a local artist. Most of the
artwork that I’ve seen from local artists involves landscapes and desert stuff,
for that I give him kudos. Brady breaks away from the norm in a way that I can’t
even begin to understand. I just did not understand. One of his pieces is
literally entitled “Pink,” and guess what? It’s completely pink! On top of
that, it looks like two four fingered hands. As far as inspiration goes, I will
keep my eye on textures in my pieces. I will try to use different medias, but I
am going to steer clear of boring colors and “abstract” art pieces because I still
don’t understand it….Maybe someday I will. That day was not today.
University of Art Museum Italian baroque event
Visiting the Nevada Museum is a must during their Italian
baroque exhibition is a MUST for any art enthusiast. The pieces on exhibition
range in color and technique. I was immediately sucked into the paintings. Now,
I don’t know much about the Baroque period, but the usage of color and shadow
really helped make the painting feel alive. There were many pieces to choose
from but one of my favorites was the piece entitled, “Harlequin and his Lady.” Although the piece consists of oil on
canvas, I couldn’t help but feel as if there was so much more medias involved.
The piece is fun and playful and I was able to really lose myself in it,
imagining a fun weekend afternoon at the circus. Although our class revolved
around digital media, we were also able to mix it up with classical pieces. As
many of our past readings have articulated, one shouldn’t forget where art
started and how it has continuously changed throughout time. I would love to
take the above piece and turn it into a GIF. With the knowledge I have gained
over the semester, I hope to do that over the summer. The exhibition of course held
many religion based paintings. The
motions captured throughout the pieces and the dramatization clearly capture
the baroque period of art. I always imagined that old timey art works would be
dark and dreary. This is another reason why I so thoroughly enjoyed “Harlequin and his Lady” it broke all of
my previous assumptions about classic art pieces. I hope that the Nevada Museum
of art continues to showcase bigger exhibitions of classic art pieces. This
Baroque collection has inspired me to work on movement and expressions in my
own work because at times I feel that my characters become flat and always seem
to remain in the same positions. Some of these baroque pieces showed such
exaggerations of human expressions that they were at times almost comical.
Besides the paintings, the museum of art also showcased some classic sculptures
from the Italian baroque period. The sculptures were so amazing and mind
boggling. As someone who has tried to create sculptures I cannot even begin to
fathom how some of the pieces were made. At the end of my day, I left the
museum with more information on the Baroque Period and a mind full of
inspiration.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Artists Essay
Takeshi Murata was born in Chicago Illinois in 1974. He
currently lives in New York. Takeshi Murata has exhibited his art all over the
world. Murata graduated from the Rhode
Island School of Design with a B.F.A in Film/Video/Animation. Murata uses a lot
of film video and animation in his work so it’s a good thing that he has a
degree in it. His usage of color and broken down media really makes his artwork
all his own. Murata’s work has been known to draw attention for its abnormality.
The strangeness of his artwork involves abstract ideas and a breaking away from
what many would consider to be digital art. His psychedelic pieces invoke
feelings of happiness and simpler times. A lot of Murata’s pieces consist of
videos that use segments from classic movies. One can easily tell that Murata
is influenced by these classic horror films. His use of technology involves
breaking down pieces while adding his own twists to it in order to produce a
completely new artwork. Murata also uses very funky music in his pieces. It
helps to create an allure that makes one feel happy and free spirited. His
artwork literally gets into one’s mind. One simply does not forget Takeshi
Murata’s artwork. In his piece, “I, Popeye” Murata uses playful music while his
piece consists of some pretty dark and violent themes. It’s this perfect usage
of contrasting ideas that really adds to Murata’s art pieces. The above piece
involves the copyright of Popeye in Europe and how this will affect the usage
of Popeye’s image. Through his piece, Murata is drawing attention to this
issue, showing the consequences of a copyright running out and what this means
for the original artwork. In his digital piece we see Popeye wearing a shirt
with his image on it. The image is surrounded by money. This represents the
usage of Popeye’s image for monetary profit. Nothing else. This is how Murata
breaks away. Instead of doing something sweat and simple he is able to give us
something dark and thought provoking.
He not only does this through his digital
art, he uses the sound to his advantage as well and breaks away from the psychedelic
art style that he is widely known for in his work. Some may feel confused by Murata’s artwork,
and may struggle to understand it. One of the points that Murata makes through
this is the fact that he modernized psychedelic art. He was one of the first to
mix and add his own view to it. In his piece “Monster movie” we see Murata bring
out his fun and playful side. The video uses broken code and the classic 1981
movie, “Caveman.” This mixture of old and new is something that Murata explores
in all his pieces. As such this can be seen as one of his recurring themes. The
above psychedelic piece involves a frame by frame design that messes with one’s
mind. This artwork combines fragments that create and destroy the images at 30
times per second. This is one of the reasons why it makes its psychedelic art.
The music adds to the upbeat tempo that Murata brings through in his piece. Takeshi Murata continues to create moving art pieces and has recently showed his art work in New York. He can he contacted on Instagram where he posts many pictures of his family and future art projects. Takeshi Murata involves many different themes in his pieces, one of them involving digital media and its effects on how art is shown and represented. One of the reasons that some of Murata’s pieces seem to have a lot going in is because they do. Murata tries to show how crowded digital space has become and can become. His innovative themes are able to stay fun and new while really drawing attention to the themes at hand. Through his work, Murata shows us how jumbled our thoughts have become because of all this new technology available to us. This is in a way a gift and a curse, something that his artwork is able to show. It is this idea and theme that concludes this paper. The continued exploration of the digital media is what makes Takeshi Murata an artist. As a modern digital artist Takeshi Murata is able to continue to create new pieces that involve digital media while exploring new ideas and ways of creating art. It is through this innovation that Murata continues to transcend Digital Media.
The music adds to the upbeat tempo that Murata brings through in his piece. Takeshi Murata continues to create moving art pieces and has recently showed his art work in New York. He can he contacted on Instagram where he posts many pictures of his family and future art projects. Takeshi Murata involves many different themes in his pieces, one of them involving digital media and its effects on how art is shown and represented. One of the reasons that some of Murata’s pieces seem to have a lot going in is because they do. Murata tries to show how crowded digital space has become and can become. His innovative themes are able to stay fun and new while really drawing attention to the themes at hand. Through his work, Murata shows us how jumbled our thoughts have become because of all this new technology available to us. This is in a way a gift and a curse, something that his artwork is able to show. It is this idea and theme that concludes this paper. The continued exploration of the digital media is what makes Takeshi Murata an artist. As a modern digital artist Takeshi Murata is able to continue to create new pieces that involve digital media while exploring new ideas and ways of creating art. It is through this innovation that Murata continues to transcend Digital Media.
Jon Rafman is a man of few words. His pieces on the other
hand speak loudly for his ability to work in different mediums. Whilst
concentrating on his digital artworks, one can also see that Jon Rafman can
work in many different mediums, some that aren’t even related to digital art. Jon
Rafman was born in Montreal Canada. He at some point moved to the United States,
although it’s hard to know when exactly. Rafman identifies as a contemporary
artist and filmmaker. Rafman graduated from The School of Art Institute of
Chicago. He has held exhibitions for his work around the world. As a digital
artist, Rafman’s work also explores Digital Media’s impact on our lives. As an
artist his themes vary from piece to piece. As such, some of his pieces
completely differ from others adding to the type of work that Jon Rafman is
able to explore and create as a modern artist. Jon Rafman is known for his images in google
street view or 9 eyes. His images are able to capture human life in motion
whilst also bringing Rafman commercial success as an artist and digital media
innovator. His photographs are able to show life around the world, from mostly
private moments to heartfelt memories. They also show fear and the progression
of society throughout time. Google nine eyes shows digital media at its most
beneficial, creating a new way for society to connect with one another
throughout the world. This photos show how connected we all truly are. Jon
Rafman’s tumblr page rightfully entitled “9 eyes” show his photographs and
other art works. In this project, Rafman tries to show his world through the “street
level” perspective.
This shows Rafmans ability to work with different media in
artwork and to see art where someone wouldn’t have thought to use it. Although
Rafman describes the excitement he had upon using this google nine eyes
technology, one might find it hard to relate. His excitement drove him to
capture as many images as he could in the hopes of capturing human life at its
rawest. In all honestly, some of his
pictures do in fact capture this, others may leave the viewer a bit confused.
In his piece entitled, “ Woods of Arcady” Jon Rafman shows his knowledge in the
digital art realm. He creates these beautiful scenic pieces using the internet
realm of second life. His piece is accompanied with the reading of “Woods of
Arcady” by Yeats, the poem entitled, “The Song of the Happy Shepherd.” Another
of Rafman’s recurring themes is the exploration of new found worlds. This is
done on his part in a way to make sense of the world and in order to explore new
ideas and worlds that others have yet the chance to do. In this piece Rafman
creates moving pieces of art that draw one in. One is literally filled with awe
at the amount of detail that his “Woods of Arcady” depict. The piece fills one
with questions and yearning for these locations. This “idle world” is what
Rafman is exploring while also bringing forth the question of “How technology”
really effects our lives and our own “Real world”.
Through his pieces we are
able to see a very capable artist in the digital realm. His creations continue
to develop the digital media realm while leaving us to ponder the effect of
technology in our lives. This ability to mix media is what separates Jon Rafman
into an artist all his own. It shows his dedication to the digital art world
and his own real world.
The artists that I chose to explore were Takeshi Murata and
Jon Rafman.
Both artists have changed my understanding of digital media and
while there are areas of digital art that I can’t even begin to comprehend I am
deeply moved by both artists and their way of creating their own style and
showcasing new ideas. It’s the fun and seriousness that both drew me to these
artists. To me, their themes were similar but were voiced in completely
different ways. Both artists, have expanded my idea of mediums that can be used
in digital art and remind me to have fun while also having a purpose in mind
for my work. I have contacted both artists and await an answer, hopefully
during the summer I will receive a response. Since Digital Art is still fairly
new I hope to someday be able to contribute to it just like these two wonderful
artists.
Bibliography
Electronic Arts
Intermix. “Monster Movie: Takeshi Murata”.
EAI. Eai.org, April 28, 2014.
Murata, Takeshi. “Takeshi Murata”.Takeshimurata.com, April
28, 2014.
Ratio 3. “Artist Takeshi Murata”. Ratio3.org,
April 28, 2014.
“TakeshiMurata”.
Salon94. Salon94.com, April 28, 2014.
<http://www.salon94.com/search/eyJyZXN1bHRfcGFnZSI6InNlYXJjaCIsImtleXdvcmRzIjoidGFrZXNoaSBtdXJhdGEifQ>
Rafman, Jon. “Woods of Arcady”, April 28, 2014.
Feuer, Jack. “Jon Rafman”. Zachfeuer.com, April 28,
2014.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Art reading #5
1.Can art overcome the digital divide that Bishop talks about in her writing?
2.Why is it that everything involving the digital age must be used to make people think?
2.Why is it that everything involving the digital age must be used to make people think?
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Reading #4 Rita Raley
1) What do you believe to be the "shared sensibility" that Raley is referring to in her piece? Do you agree with the way she defines this? why or why not?
2) Raley discusses simplifying the structures of capitalism and the 1% through politically engaged artwork. Does this simplification take away from tactical media or does it enhance it?
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