tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20058944747242966282024-03-12T22:34:38.469-05:00crosshatchedplanWe will arrive at our destination from two different directions when we overlap according to our design. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-58990619684163585672011-03-09T19:12:00.010-06:002011-03-12T01:29:21.819-06:00Mission Complete: Digital Processes PresentationSo here is the culmination of class efforts. Today, I gave the presentation on my collaborative and experimental works entitled: An Exquisite Cycle. I was described on the program with this Haiku: Video and Sound<br /> conceptions of life and death<br /> collaboration<br />I think that was a pretty fair assessment to give the audience an idea of what to expect. I have to say that I am rather pleased with the way everything turned out. I ended up producing <a href="http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=an+exquisite+cycle">my first book</a>, an accompanying DVD featuring four music videos and an extra song with outtakes and deleted scenes besides. Most of this content can be seen or purchased online from <a href="http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=an+exquisite+cycle">various websites</a> and are also linked to <a href="http://www.wix.com/jsever6/crosshatchedplan">my website</a>. In the end I think this is a very good product for sale and enough content to make me satisfied that I accomplished a lot this term even though it seems to have gone by too fast. I have uploaded some things to Youtube also. Here you can see one of the music motion pictures I showed at the event and another that did not appear. The totality is on the DVD that I am selling to those interested with or without a copy of the book. For an even more modest sum, I will send mp3's or a cd of all 5 songs that came out of this project. Those interested need only contact me for details. I haven't sold much yet, but a lot of people have expressed interest and I got more compliments on my work than I expected. Hopefully, I continue making videos and music in the future as part of my art.<br /><br />Until Later,<br /><br />JorSev<br /><br />"Because it's two in the morning...and my eyes are spread wide open" -Atomship<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HlVnaI3G54o" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="425"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bn9Vv4Aj37k" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="425"></iframe>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-49687717049469863092011-03-03T10:14:00.008-06:002011-03-03T11:57:19.913-06:00Visit, Research and Artistic Identity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCHbb0-A0jxEsPtw9r8PSxgY6Ucr_DX25RvHEwq8Oy58s_zm7PTLhNIt1NoKPudcy0KlVZDcMXW3PUekPRn4Up04ZvpyxdwdPogblN9N97ndgNWxujK0wajpLLGam4CgGulLCXLoJMcGl/s1600/buddha_jc.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCHbb0-A0jxEsPtw9r8PSxgY6Ucr_DX25RvHEwq8Oy58s_zm7PTLhNIt1NoKPudcy0KlVZDcMXW3PUekPRn4Up04ZvpyxdwdPogblN9N97ndgNWxujK0wajpLLGam4CgGulLCXLoJMcGl/s200/buddha_jc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579912900341682146" border="0" /></a><br />So, this week Kristin Boehm, Lawrence Alumnus '09, visited to talk about<span style="font-style: italic;"> Art and the Day Job</span> and life after studio art undergrad in general. After seeing her in two of my classes, listening to her lecture, and speaking to her in person it has made me consider a lot of the topics in her discussion and how they might apply to me.<br /><br />Kristin spent some time being sort of jobless and confused like so many of us studio art students are fearing. But things turned around a bit as she started finding outlets for her art to continue, while she worked other jobs at summer camps, volunteer organizations and did freelance work, sometimes even for free. All the while she kept blogging, maintaining her internet presence and searching for opportunities. Eventually she got some recognition with <a href="http://www.spinhandspun.com/">her fiber art</a>, entered some contests, and found herself a part of a small movement that might get her published in a book on the subject. But then none of those things really did anything that she expected and she heard nothing more about the attention she got from a blog post that generated quite a deal of interest. This was part of the story that struck me. It was echoed by the advice she gave us. I realized that this was the reality part that was so hard for people to grasp. Making herself more available and easily found through <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/spinhandspun">internet resource</a>s made it just as easy to go unnoticed and to disappear just as quickly as she had found some recognition. That is pretty sobering to think about. Even if you catch some break or get noticed like it seems everyone thinks is the key to becoming successful, it may not really last or accomplish much at all to that end in the day and age of the internet. So, maybe aiming for fame and recognition is just as unrealistic as it sounds even if you do become known for something.<br /><br />Kristin also made me think by suggesting that looking for a job is a constant kind of search. She eventually found something that fit herself after accepting a temporary internship that got turned into a permanent position after she did a great deal of hard, but quality work for the company that hired her. I guess that is something I took from her story: you might not achieve success by <a href="http://artyarn.blogspot.com/2010/01/spinhandspun.html">catching</a><a href="http://artyarn.blogspot.com/2010/01/spinhandspun.html"> attention</a> through the internet, but by doing consistent, hard work, you may be noticed somewhere that you already are and make that into something better for yourself. I think that is a reasonable lesson and it is supported by her assertion that you shouldn't be able to take time to develop your art slowly, but you should look for work and other opportunities <a href="http://twitter.com/spinhandspun">everywhere</a> since you don't know what possibilities will provide you with a stable and rewarding position.<br /><br />A few other things she spoke of reinforced things I have heard before. She spoke about setting reasonable goals and keeping track of blogs and internet sites (many of which she provided examples of) to keep up to date and motivate yourself. This is part of the reality of her concept that it is wrong to treat the rest of life after being <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/95187570.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3DB53F616F4B95E553EF92C1DDC2E83F3127B8BE5F2C3BC5E5FB9E086F75471ED56F12EEA9B6A8E6AF&imgrefurl=http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/95187570&usg=__vDisaaMz5AnoeupKeheiB7Vry7U=&h=355&w=479&sz=25&hl=en&start=121&zoom=1&tbnid=XE_1miJ0jwwFrM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=174&ei=m8JvTeHCJoHGlQfO5_xP&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DexW%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C2761&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=721&vpy=285&dur=279&hovh=193&hovw=261&tx=141&ty=90&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=7&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:121&biw=1264&bih=617">coddled</a> at a <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/95437392.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3DEF02D7492C29D69372082C60F484C1C64A56A59D18B889C475C4532221D0E4ABE30A760B0D811297&imgrefurl=http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/95437392&usg=__iXDbMbVuu4sdQbXfSUl0X1steGI=&h=506&w=338&sz=32&hl=en&start=143&zoom=1&tbnid=lakI1evvUu4lfM:&tbnh=146&tbnw=103&ei=8sxvTYj9E4GclgeepKFU&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C3636&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=623&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=8&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:143&tx=44&ty=96&biw=1264&bih=617">University </a>with an overabundance of guidance, as a list to cross off or checks to put in boxes. It turns out, real life is not really like that even though it is often how academia trains us to behave. She also spoke about taking initiative and networking to know more contacts, which always seems to be relevant.<br /><br />Consistency of artistic image--this is something I have thought about, but not very directly. I like to experiment and change my work a lot, but from a marketing standpoint and as someone who offers art as a service and hopefully will make some kind of money that way, I can see how I need to put more thought into making the manner in which I present myself reliable to viewers. I think all consumers want to feel a certain amount of trust in whatever they purchase so they know that they can get what they expect and will be satisfied buying a <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/95437392.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3DEF02D7492C29D69372082C60F484C1C64A56A59D18B889C475C4532221D0E4ABE30A760B0D811297&imgrefurl=http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/95437392&usg=__iXDbMbVuu4sdQbXfSUl0X1steGI=&h=506&w=338&sz=32&hl=en&start=143&zoom=1&tbnid=lakI1evvUu4lfM:&tbnh=146&tbnw=103&ei=8sxvTYj9E4GclgeepKFU&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C3636&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=623&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=8&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:143&tx=44&ty=96&biw=1264&bih=617">product</a> without getting <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1647/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1647R-93436.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/1647R-93436&usg=__JOQE-mCnFyHpxEOH4FYboJVM3uU=&h=350&w=276&sz=145&hl=en&start=98&zoom=1&tbnid=7uV9siFkWmHpUM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=112&ei=lMJvTZCqH4OdlgfizLlC&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Dxcr%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C2761&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=761&vpy=70&dur=68&hovh=253&hovw=199&tx=132&ty=119&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=6&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:98&biw=1264&bih=617">buyer's remorse</a>. This is related to branding I guess, but you don't always think about that so much in art because so many people have a perception of artists being eccentric and <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/95562842.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3DEF02D7492C29D6935CC0F2360AB0C34F2B5C0EF8AB18DD72CC47E65E6F108114E30A760B0D811297&imgrefurl=http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/95562842&usg=__0Qk_doc93K6oKRn_oLt2tFkHpWc=&h=506&w=338&sz=34&hl=en&start=163&zoom=1&tbnid=OULg5xssIr7hNM:&tbnh=161&tbnw=108&ei=9cxvTZCIAYH7lweqw8iQAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C3942&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=960&vpy=52&dur=700&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=73&ty=192&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=9&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:163&biw=1264&bih=617">unreliable</a> or inconsistent, but I guess even if you are targeting <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgn05dJoRp1qgy0fio1_400.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fyeahpdd.tumblr.com/post/3302451817/i-got-so-sick-of-seeing-this-terrible-writing-is&usg=__JPK7MreP3x-vZQbC3jB4TyTD6Ug=&h=360&w=360&sz=84&hl=en&start=229&zoom=1&tbnid=hNeH9awllsc4wM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=141&ei=ic1vTb-OKYOdlgfdj91u&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C5185&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=513&vpy=285&dur=9055&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=176&ty=119&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=12&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:229&biw=1264&bih=617">a small number of people </a>who desire that, you have to do even those things with consistency.<br /><br />So that has made me think along with my presentation this week. I chose to present on a number of topics (I can't help that I want context for artistic references) including my research into video artist Jim Campbell. I found that even though he has some famous pieces, has had a lot of exhibitions/installations, it is rather difficult to find some background info on him. There isn't really a detailed bio even on his <a href="http://www.jimcampbell.tv/portfolio/installations/">website</a>. But then I realized that I didn't want to find that and I was more interested in the messages of his art and what they meant to me. After researching that, I think that is exactly what he means to accomplish. I can relate to that and I think I will consider limiting some of my personal information to make others consider the meaning of my artwork and their implications more based on what they think, rather than solely on something I might say about them. I also found I had a lot of <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geekologie.com/2008/08/12/facial-expressions.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geekologie.com/2008/08/10-week/&usg=__3Mdal8iQM_MkVrwN4V2AtMkvKN8=&h=451&w=450&sz=31&hl=en&start=229&zoom=1&tbnid=dc7-r-PP4-GKTM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=140&ei=ic1vTb-OKYOdlgfdj91u&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C5185&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=288&vpy=301&dur=1673&hovh=225&hovw=224&tx=88&ty=189&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=12&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:229&biw=1264&bih=617">interesting connections</a> in common with Campbell who relates to ideas of Buddhism (and other philosophical/religious thoughts) and examines <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.coloradohomesmag.com/wp-content/uploads/image/Greenberg_Sick-tlc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.coloradohomesmag.com/chl/jill-greenberg-monkeys-and-bears-art-exhibit-comes-to-denver/&usg=__qdzc95fxMtVrUfrVcZ9Iv6rLDxA=&h=450&w=400&sz=18&hl=en&start=229&zoom=1&tbnid=roqwmgIuChUXKM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=144&ei=ic1vTb-OKYOdlgfdj91u&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfacial%2Bexpression%2Bsick%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D617%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C5185&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=879&oei=ZsJvTbe1MY_0tgPp6dXHCw&page=12&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:229&tx=79&ty=52&biw=1264&bih=617">viewer</a> interaction/interpretation, memory and time as recurring themes in his work.<br /><br />On my project, I am working feverishly to complete everything. I am taking in criticism to try to improve what I have thus far, I am adding my songs together with the videos I have been constructing with narratives that I am rearranging at the moment, and my book will be here soon. I hope by the end of this week to have my videos nearly completed, so that I can make some important decisions on what I want to present at the public presentation of my art on the 11th and how I will present there. I may only show two videos if they stand out or if they are equally strong, tighten them up to three minutes each and show three. Then on Monday I will be able to burn dvds and get all those materials ready to be aesthetically (dis)pleasing and whatnot.<br /><br /><br /><br />"Your story only tells one side, it's based on fact, but filled with lies"<br />-Taproot<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br />JORSEV<span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Shoot and Burn</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9gr62LcvS9ZSKKamacGYuTYQS1fN_v7qB8gW8DFQKQT6xCtnRtLn2qJtZ2IIItUF_65tW2zJlYg8jOokcn1Vm0cpKTGp7ZDy0o7bRYBXdKuN4OEkvNSIw63T9SC9YimBAGWZJWSzXXfa/s1600/campbell-library1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9gr62LcvS9ZSKKamacGYuTYQS1fN_v7qB8gW8DFQKQT6xCtnRtLn2qJtZ2IIItUF_65tW2zJlYg8jOokcn1Vm0cpKTGp7ZDy0o7bRYBXdKuN4OEkvNSIw63T9SC9YimBAGWZJWSzXXfa/s200/campbell-library1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579912907486446418" border="0" /></a>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-91662595491397513112011-02-27T19:01:00.001-06:002011-02-27T16:13:27.367-06:00Continuing ProgressSo, it is nearing the en<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnZH108kRXKQJ01XE6rAj6pq9Joor_BIRQWPFY9VWu_6XaBAXJ1IrWtFkDbZMJhQQlCBbHslzDOX2LEeqJGMbLhwJ1F86E61zBHIAbQThdL2Kv2DVSbvOq7eGS3eqz_cCpSVGbF9su08D/s1600/time.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnZH108kRXKQJ01XE6rAj6pq9Joor_BIRQWPFY9VWu_6XaBAXJ1IrWtFkDbZMJhQQlCBbHslzDOX2LEeqJGMbLhwJ1F86E61zBHIAbQThdL2Kv2DVSbvOq7eGS3eqz_cCpSVGbF9su08D/s200/time.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578255289067617570" border="0" /></a>d of the term and my project is nearing completion, but really there is a lot left to accomplish. I want to try to finish it at the beginning of this week so I can really hone and polish it into a great finished project and also have time to experiment with some promotional options. So, this week I made the layout for my accompanying book and I am in the midst of creating an account and sending it to lulu.com to get my book published so I can see how it looks and have a copy for our presentation. This layout process was a lot more daunting that I imagined. You can really get finicky with Adobe InDesign, I guess. The weather was no help, but I got motivated to start and finish my book layout with only a few very late nights to finish it off. A lot of what I did was to film (actually not the right word technically speaking) the majority of the core scenes that I had left to shoot and then I used specific scenes to represent my narratives in the book. I exported those still frame<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJ7NwKNKLOxz-AdHK7oezn1hI_kEkpquDghmHQ9n1kwYShyuGK9C7DntJg1H9NVDdcAjKhGHBfSmn2WV23lA9-Otyok6gb_UFqBTVbx8RDDPHlOBbnwYK-bUrfSPSash8cO02NYSqvnAt/s1600/bigbass.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJ7NwKNKLOxz-AdHK7oezn1hI_kEkpquDghmHQ9n1kwYShyuGK9C7DntJg1H9NVDdcAjKhGHBfSmn2WV23lA9-Otyok6gb_UFqBTVbx8RDDPHlOBbnwYK-bUrfSPSash8cO02NYSqvnAt/s200/bigbass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578257067699154962" border="0" /></a>s from final cut, touched them up and formatted them in Photoshop and then imported them into my book layout.<br /><br />That was enough decision making, and then the layout was infinitely more... do I want a different font, do I want multiple fonts, will this look silly? How many photos do I want? Where should they go? Etc. But I got through it and I am pretty pleased for the moment, but I am sure some changes will eventually have to be made for the final version. Simultaneously, I have been editing my footage into the three narratives I have planned to match up with my songs. And if that wasn't enough I have been listening to the songs and trying to think of how to strengthen them and cut them down to the essentials or cut out the ones that are not as strong or fit less well with the others. I need a lot of input on that, so I have sent the current versions as mp3s to a lot of musically inclined and knowledgeable people for feedback. And I am still waiting for most of it... On another note I went to and SEA (self employment in the arts) conference this weekend and attended several speakers' pre<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvhnrUVlC8bPfmDyUkzRInQI95zIha7Hxj95hhJyepQID-ZgGxCp7fdEwWGNslphptYpVr8btBBk4aASDNq0PgPhe64EBSbQQ9kTiD2HswjyFIgmU8fNRVsXLV0l7M_VyOo2SqQMNZGWe/s1600/blue+cells.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvhnrUVlC8bPfmDyUkzRInQI95zIha7Hxj95hhJyepQID-ZgGxCp7fdEwWGNslphptYpVr8btBBk4aASDNq0PgPhe64EBSbQQ9kTiD2HswjyFIgmU8fNRVsXLV0l7M_VyOo2SqQMNZGWe/s200/blue+cells.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578255142969453906" border="0" /></a>sentations which very much aligned with the concepts I am dealing with in music, video, visual arts, marketing those and making a profit from these passions. I picked up some good tips and insight, so hopefully they come in handy in the near future.<br /><br />So, here are some photos from the book in this blogpost to give a preview.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br />JORSEV<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzooSALxnxlLKEcCyijdqsUODKbZe7EgzHWAWZ_kuKY7pzXxAZaXvv8VnLxF2Mwzd9fS6nB_XG7Wl-O54Hs4TuG4V8MpGuafAMPeD0JcFoTESMum-qBAMYeTUjleJ6k7rUwqRD7UhLRZr/s1600/relive.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzooSALxnxlLKEcCyijdqsUODKbZe7EgzHWAWZ_kuKY7pzXxAZaXvv8VnLxF2Mwzd9fS6nB_XG7Wl-O54Hs4TuG4V8MpGuafAMPeD0JcFoTESMum-qBAMYeTUjleJ6k7rUwqRD7UhLRZr/s200/relive.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578255027444545714" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><object id="BLOG_video-FAILED" class="BLOG_video_class" contentid="FAILED" height="266" width="320"></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-59187388723213717822011-02-17T20:17:00.007-06:002011-02-18T20:23:07.560-06:00Connections<a href="http://gh33da.com/3DIcons/Network_Connections/Network_Connections.png"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 256px" alt="" src="http://gh33da.com/3DIcons/Network_Connections/Network_Connections.png" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/interrelated">In essence, all the things I have read this week have really come to suggest the implications and importance of connections. So I guess the idea is that things are already connected in certain ways and you can just find the connections relevant to you.</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/122701">Jorge Borges and his "Garden of Forking Paths" has many implications for the application of technology and transferrence of knowledge. I think some of Borges' other works perhaps deal more overtly with these issues, but there are definitely a lot of provocative thoughts about connection in this text not only with Ts' ui Pen's simultaneous realities, but the ancestry and professional ties are also significant to interconnectedness.</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/">Connections are made with all different implications of technology in Bill Viola's "Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space?" Viola takes a sort of piecemeal examination of structures, relationships, touching on religion, art, and a whole host of other topics that leave me wondering where one really begins and another ends. </a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/stephen-colbert-sherry-turkle-iphone_n_810446.html">I also considered the words of Tim Berners-Lee and others in an essay called, "The World-Wide Web." As I read this attempt to explain what is now part of daily life, I realized that people then thought these guys were just blowing smoke and could be brushed off, but now their words are complete understatements and extremely conservative assertions given what the web now accomplishes. When I later read about the Porcupine and the Car anecdote in Viola's article, I thought that was exactly what this article was. It was thought to be silly and harmless at the time, but now the car has made roadkill out of that confident porcupine.</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_biography.html">Sherry Turkle's <em>Alone Together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other,</em> actually touches on a lot of the issues raised by the other articles. I only read part of this book, but here is what I picked out. Everyone is quick to point out the ways the internet has changed our lives for the better, but I am with <em>her </em>on this one. What about the ways it has affected us negatively? Creating more demand on our lives, more strain on our eyes, increasing social ineptitude, encouraging laziness, and much more are all prices we pay every day for convenience. I am not so sure that all this is better.</a> </div><div><br /> </div><div><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inevitability">I guess that makes sense when Viola, in his essay, explains that the internet is a tool just like everything else and it will accomplish only what its user implements it for. This reminds me of the phrase, "user error." My brother owns a computer consulting business and I have heard his stories as well as experienced for myself how angry and frustrated people get using computers. They are stressed out and they blame the machine for their problems, but in reality they should be angry with themselves for not understanding their machine or for other humans who programmed software poorly. To be honest, the biggest drawback of a machine is also its biggest asset. It does exactly what it is supposed to. Unfortunately, people have different expectations and are never satisfied with this because they are imperfect and they make imperfect things. Is it really the computer's fault that it is being used in a different way that it was designed or programmed for? This is doubtful. What is the real benefit of technology and connections? Is it convenience or understanding or something else entirely? As I continue to use the internet and other technologies to edit my videos, market my music, create a book, etc. I think will have to reconsider the impact of these connections and what they all mean. I hope to make some valuable connections, but also some surprising or unexpected ones.</a></div><div></div><br /><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/67/224079947_2b1201f3f0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 500px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 333px" alt="" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/67/224079947_2b1201f3f0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>IHRTLUHC</div><div>JorSev</div></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-24452419394802458282011-02-10T20:12:00.010-06:002011-02-10T23:13:49.237-06:00Circuitous Circulation of Art<div> <div><div><div><div>Art, like many things in life, can be viewed frequently as a continuous coil or perhaps even a mobius strip. I say this after a <a href="http://www.legalmoviesdownloads.com/still-frames-movie-pictures/how-to-draw-a-bunny/how-to-draw-a-bunny-box-cover-poster.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 251px; height: 368px;" alt="" src="http://www.legalmoviesdownloads.com/still-frames-movie-pictures/how-to-draw-a-bunny/how-to-draw-a-bunny-box-cover-poster.jpg" border="0" /></a>review of Ray Johnson and the documentary <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303348/">How to Draw a Bunny</a>,</em> visiting the <a href="http://www.artinwisconsin.com/public/article_full.php?user_id=331">WC galler</a><a href="http://www.artinwisconsin.com/public/article_full.php?user_id=331">y</a> and listening to <a href="http://halfletterpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=56&zenid=fcrdeslogjjdhejfijvu0gc2r0">Stephen Perkins </a>speak on the subject, and then attending a convocation, luncheon, and two question and answer sessions featuring renowned curator, Mary Jane Jacob (I had already read about an interview and four articles she had contributed to).</div><br />Ray Johnson was a rather enigmatic artist, but I feel as though I can relate to him in many ways. Ray seems to have been of the mindset that he would do whatever he felt was appropriate no matter what others thought and I often feel that way too. I understand what it is like for people to be familiar with someone's ideas without giving the originator credit. I think that it was smart of Ray to keep control of his art by not allowing anyone to nail him down to a certain location or concept for too long. It seems like Ray also did a lot of things that were not only original, wonderful contributions to the world, but he also seems to have been poking fun at people and their inability to see or be original simultaneously. I have to say, I have often felt like that is the best way to handle the world and feelings of <a href="http://freethesaurus.net/s.php?q=spleen">spleen or "world weariness</a>."<br /><br />Maybe things really are just a joke when you figure out how to do what you need and want to and everyone else who hasn't figured that out is still criticizing you. That<span style="font-style: italic;"> is</span> pretty comical and probably more common than most realize. I also feel like I often act very differently according to context so that people are really confused when they observe me in another situation than they are used to. I think Ray really capitalized on that so that no one person really got everything that was in his head... Even though that seems a bit lonely and tragic, I think it is beautiful. Just like the controversy over his death. People still don't know how he made money or supported himself, or even what he ate, but he left a legacy with mail art and communication like no one else had done before him. Mail art and communicating the way he did, getting into the Museum of Modern Art through the archives, cutting his works into small pieces and asking others to "add something and pass it on" was a very circular process just like his negotiation over art processes. That makes sense considering the fact that his own death was quite possibly an elaborately planned piece (the best performance of his life) complete with all the clues to inform others about the kind of circle that he had formed with his life, the number 13, the river, communication, etc. I think that becoming your art is probably the best way to die and while in some ways his end seems tragic, I think it is ultimately more meaningful and important that way.<br /><br />I think the WC Gallery is a very interesting and intimate space. It raises many thoughts about curating, main stream art, and alternative gallery spaces. Perkins also has a very informed perspective on Ray Johnson, corresponded with the man, continues his own mail art, and is pretty interesting in his own right. For me, this trip really bridged the gap between the concepts I soaked up about Ray Johnson and the information that relates more directly to curating and everything that Mary Jane Jacob spoke about at convocation.<br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div>I am still considering Mary Jane Jacob's words after interacting with her at lunch and<a href="http://www.maryjanejacob.org/images/mary_TKphoto2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 163px; height: 378px;" alt="" src="http://www.maryjanejacob.org/images/mary_TKphoto2.jpg" border="0" /></a> question and answer sessions, but I do find a lot of her ideas and approach to curating thought-provoking. Her ideas help us be conscious of the fact that it is very important to question the manner in which art is delivered to the public and to analyze how it is received. Individuals like Jacob are important because they remind us that conventions and standards do not always serve the best interest of everyone and they need to be challenged when they are not adequately meeting the needs of changing times. It is fortunate that we were able to hear her perspective as she continues to contribute to the dialogue that exists in today's art world. If alternative spaces allow artists, curators, and their audience to communicate more effectively they will certainly continue to be implemented in a manner that benefits communities like those Jacob spoke of in places like Charleston.<br /><br />As for me, I will continue to consider her words, and she has definitely impacted the way I am thinking about the upcoming projects I have been planning in the Campus Center Gallery and in other venues. She has also confirmed many of my beliefs about collaboration and prompted me to be more active in seeking involvement of others in the space. I hope a great many students will benefit from spaces on campus even though they are not all traditional gallery spaces. Jacob has also helped me think about how someone like myself can and should collaborate with peers directly while in the campus environment and expand that experience into the world beyond undergraduate degrees. Besides her explanation of the importance of experience and the mutual risk involved for artists and curators, I also responded to her notion of fluidity in the sense that it is most important today to be open-minded and ready to change your path and thoughts to take advantage of ever-changing opportunities. I also liked the notions contained in her visuals that explain the steps of successful collaboration as observation, co-generation, action, and integration. I think that helps put it into perspective as art is a process and cooperation with others takes time, but can accomplish more than individual efforts. Thus, cooperation or collaboration is cyclical as this diagram just as some of the Buddhist ideas that MJJ applies curating (she refers to concentric circles herself about some of these topics), as well as the processes of making and displaying art.<br /><br />On a basic level, the loose narrative concepts of my project are also representative of this circular concept in life. The encompassing stages of life: renewal, advancement and struggle, and death. These represent the very basis of metaphors for life and its events and hopefully I encapsulate those in my music videos as I continue to adapt these stories with the footage that I have begun to shoot and edit. I hope my music and videos convey these concepts to some degree when they are finished, but also that they can be viewed in any order and still make sense, sort of like a lot of Native American mythology and narratives that take advantage of circular motifs and structures. Anyway, that is what I think I have learned this week and what I will attempt to apply to my project as I continue to mix my songs, add vocals and shoot video.<br /><br />"If what you got is what you need, hell, then I don't want to hear the rest." ~ Big Wreck<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br />JorSev<br /><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-35654390815017593382011-02-04T11:14:00.009-06:002011-02-04T21:56:06.186-06:00What's Happening? Allan Kaprow Et. Al.So I have been following up my study of Joseph Beuys with a brief look at Allan Kaprow. His ideas seem a bit more accessible to someone of my background and perspective, but I wonder if I would have the s<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/images/kaprow.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 146px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://www.boingboing.net/images/kaprow.jpg" border="0" /></a>ame ease of understanding in looking at Kaprow and his <em>Happenings</em> had I not tried so hard to wrap my head around Beuys first. But before thinking about that, let's talk about <em>Happenings</em>. What are they? They are something of a contradiction, aren't they? They are structured and controlled events that create a lack of control and foster a bit of chaos. How odd, right? So, a bunch of people get together with a plan, involve others in a sort of random event, all the while intending to deviate from the original plan and trying to summon some sort of mutual awkwardness. I know that sounds weird, but I think it is actually a pretty exciting notion. I think that part of the point of a <em>Happening</em> must be that you have to experience it to fuly comprehend it and gain from it, but what I do know is that it must be a pretty exhilirating thing. I mean that is what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._A._Baracus">B.A. Baracas</a> means when he says Hannibal is on the Jazz, isn't it? The thrill of not knowing what to expect, but knowing it is going to be a unique experience.<br /><br />But I digress... After hearing about Kaprow, I first started wondering,how is a <em>Happening</em> different than a Fluxus piece? Okay, so first thing I thought of was actually the Pixies song (see below), which may or may not be related even though I don't think the lyrics really correlate to the art event, the verdict is not yet in for me. But then I thought about <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5293764.ece">Fluxus</a> and <em>Happenings</em>. They both have instructions and are reinterpreted. They both are performance-based art events that are pretty hard to define since they encompass so much.<br />Allan Kaprow. But then I started thinking about how people like Nam June Paik overlapped with Kaprow in events like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Originale">Originale</a>, so maybe there isn't much of a difference. But then I started thinking, how are Kaprow's <em>Happenings</em> different than events like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Tzara">Tristan Tzara</a> at Cabaret Voltaire? Was Kaprow just some kind of of Dada reincarnation? I guess in the end it doesn't really matter to me. What matters is that they have changed the way art is understood and experienced. Nam June Paik and his Cybernetics manifesto may not have initially changed much, but I think his influence is growing all the time and Kaprow involved and interacted with so many people during his lifetime that the impact of the <em>Happening</em> is probably immeasurable. I think that is why he seems so accessible today while someone like Beuys remains even more esoteric than Nam June Paik even though both are better understood than they used to be.<br /><br /><a href="http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/6006892/ASHES+dIVIDE+Billy+Howerdel.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 379px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 500px" alt="" src="http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/6006892/ASHES+dIVIDE+Billy+Howerdel.jpg" border="0" /></a>It seems to me, that at the time Beuys was probably more understood than Kaprow, which is funny that it seems to be the opposite now. So, now I wonder are <em>Happenings</em> still possible? Are they dead with no hope of resuscitation? Should we still call them Happenings or maybe just Happened... I think what I have learned is that spontaneous, intuitive events are thrilling and that is why I try to add more improvisation to my artwork, probably why I fence, and definitely a big part of the way I make music. I would never want to be in a cover band. That is boring and stale (just like Kaprow thought art had become before he adopted the <em>Happening</em>). I would much rather have an impromptu jam even though many musicians never seem to agree with me (one amazing exception I have found is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Howerdel">Billy Howerdel</a> of A Perfect Circle, and Ashes Divide fame). This concept has definitely informed and reinforced some of the ideas for my project as I continue to lay down bass and guitar tracks and start filming. I find it much more effective to limit the amount of planning I do, so that I can improvise and collaborate more by taking advantage of the strengths that naturally occur and run with them. I am still mastering that art, but I think it will serve me well in this project and in others.<br /><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CWNm1ZF8wwg" frameborder="0" width="425" height="349" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br />JorSevcrosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-24053091993023459792011-01-27T19:38:00.013-06:002011-01-28T01:20:16.981-06:00Mesmer-ized: Hast Du Felt Fat Lately?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.artsjournal.com/artopia/Marina_Abramovic.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 384px; height: 381px;" src="http://www.artsjournal.com/artopia/Marina_Abramovic.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>This week I took a closer look at Joseph Beuys by reading short biographies, watching John Halpern's<span style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://www.newmuseumstore.org/browse.cfm/joseph-beuys:-transformer-dvd/4,2542.html">Joseph Beuys-Transformer</a></span>, and even his pop music video. I have to say that I am a bit mystified and perhaps a bit surprised I didn't know more about the man. He certainly is an enigmatic entity, but I do not know for sure how I feel about his ideas. There is something very troubled and guilty about his person that is probably mostly the result of his war-torn past. I wonder what direction his artistic ideas would have taken if he had not been in the German army during the Nazi reign of terror. In what ways would his ideas have manifested themselves if he had not been a POW? There is something truly haunting about these realities and the way that Beuys seemed to use his influence and artistic ideas to try and make amends for himself or his country during that time of hatred and confusion in the war. I suppose in some ways I can relate to this since I have seen strange consequences result in my own life experiences as the result of some sort of "<a href="http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-catholic-guilt.htm">Catholic guilt</a>." I can really understand how something that is such a dominating ideology in your youth can easily dominate your later life and thoughts with obsessive tendencies or the desire to correct such wrong circumstances. There seems to be something very human about that. I like some of the concepts about Beuys' views on art and producing artwork not with media, but in the mind of the viewer. I think I can agree with that type of observable response in the viewer. However, it seems that some parts of Beuys are at odds with himself.<br /><br />I admire the way he avoided political manipulation or the possible political influences he could have pursued to instead use his artwork to symbolically improve the world through artistic gestures contained in the acts of planting trees and performing or installing <a href="http://www.geschichte.nrw.de/artikel.php?artikel[id]=528&lkz=en">fat and felt</a> in galleries. Starting movements like Green Roots, that so slow, slow, slowly making its way to the U.S. nowadays (pretty comical) seem like fitting ways to rehabilitate the image of Germans in the rest of the world and it appeals to me that Beuys used his ideas to further projects that visibly changed the landscape of his time even if some people did not understand his metaphors and symbols. Maybe all this makes more sense considering that he volunteered to avoid the draft and was angry with the German people for not opposing the Nazi party more strongly, and that he had time to think as a POW.<br /><br />I also read "The Chain of Reason Vers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://rogerbourland.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/mesmer.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 385px; height: 263px;" src="http://rogerbourland.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/mesmer.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>us the Chain of Thumbs," from Stephen Jay Gould's <span style="font-style: italic;">Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> in Natural History</span> this week. This I found amusing, interesting and timely. It relates to Mesmer and his ideas during their most popular until they were debunked by a committee headed by Ben Franklin and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier">Lavoisier</a>. This specifically relates to Herzog's <span style="font-style: italic;">Stoszek</span> with the references to Animal Magnetism. Was it really just a glorified cult though some swore results from Mesmer's treatments, as strange as they were (though sometimes I think it is the stranger, the better with these things)? What is a cult exactly, anyhow? We are still asking this question today.<br /><br />My roommate and I have recently been "investigating" the Church of Scientology and Dianetics. Maybe L. Ron Hubbard was not so different from Franz Mesmer. We have found some shocking parallels: animosity and uncooperative nature at the question of authenticity, loyal testimonies, pseudo-science, mysterious and inexplicable belief, religious awe, demonstrations of proof or disproving proportions, etc. Is Scientology just an example of a contemporary huckster looking to Mesmer-ize the masses? Maybe this is an example of something that just doesn't change. France and the BBC would agree, but so many seem so convinced. Besides the obvious humorous value, curiosity prompted my roommate and I to start watching <span style="font-style: italic;">How to Use Dianetics </span>to see what compelling conditions create the psychological conditions that make followers of some beliefs so fanatical and determined. Anyway, it was that and the lure of free books from the library, which I am convinced is an absolutely irresistible temptation despite the lack of space on my bookshelves.<br /><br />To put this back into perspective, I guess what I have gathered from these disparate, but intertwined sources, is that so much of any idea will <a href="http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2009/02/steam_bath_downtown_sf_denizen.php">boil</a> down to a perspective favored by the links created by every person's perceptions. And more than that, there is an extreme need that seems to be inherent in human kind for some sort of healing and rehabilitation in the processes associated with daily life. Like Beuys' habitual use of lard and wool in his installations or his planting of trees or Mesmer's Magnetic rods and chain of thumbs, or even Hubbard's auditing of engrams.<br /><br />I guess this sort of theme of healing is also relevant to my project as well. I think that part of my relationship with music, and all art for that matter, is very related to this need. I most like the cathartic and restorative qualities that associated with creating or partaking of music and art. So far I have gotten good stories from my friends in creative writing to contribute to my work. We have met about them and one I will definitely use, so I have also started composing the songs for my project. I have been experimenting and laid down some drum tracks with some ideas for an overall concept and for adapting the stories to music. I want to in some ways simplify the story narratives to their most essential qualities so that others can relate to them and maybe find some sort of "healing" in that. We have also been considering the natural themes in the narratives that we are considering to be interpretations of basic life processes like birth, death, and transition. I think if I am successful with those concepts, our project could very well have some healing qualities.<br /></div><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7QMP7AmOUcA" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="345"></iframe><br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br /><br />Jordan Seversoncrosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-42967933338778498432011-01-20T20:23:00.008-06:002011-01-24T13:15:09.943-06:00Cross-zek-planThis week I watched Herzog's film <span style="font-style: italic;">Stroszek</span> in its entirety. It has really stayed with me since class ended. I keep mentally returning to it and trying to decipher what I really think of it. On some level, it really resonates with me. I read in an article that Herzog has been categorized as someone who, rather than working with "real actors" finds "real people" that capture the essence of a character that he is investigating so that they just behave as themselves. I think I agree with that interpretation and I think the capture of a "true essence" is the mark of a quality work. I think works that do this, movies, films, paintings, etc. are the ones that are most successful with me and I try to do something similar in achieving emotional reaction in my artwork. Now many see this film only for an unsettling, open or ambiguous ending, but to me this openness is very precisely orchestrated so that it is actually a sort of simplicity that makes it more complex. I am referring to a sort of less is more effect. I think in my art that works are most effective when they leave some room for connections and interpretation because it is impossible to predict how a viewer will interpret an end product and it is more effective to leave some psychological gaps in a piece that will be naturally interpreted by the viewer to fit what makes sense to them. I think this is a beautiful process and it takes real skill to find a balance of sufficient suggestion, but enough left to interpret that it makes the viewer respond with the result. This makes them return to the piece, much like the ending of Stroszek. To think of it in terms of physics and waves, such a work has enough emotional or intellectual content to stimulate a resonant frequency in the viewer. Meaning, that with little energy there is a much greater output or result. Perhaps, my resonant frequency for film and music and other works is something of a dark or tragic (according to others) range of response.<br /><br />In class and in other blog entries, I have addressed my inspiration or connection with films like <span style="font-style: italic;">the Machinist</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Memento</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Donnie Darko</span>, and bands like <a href="http://www.myspace.com/flaw">Hurt</a> and Flaw to name a few. People don't seem to understand this and the fact that I have interest in or identify with these themes has confused people and cause me to be labeled as one thing or another since before I was in Middle School. But I don't care if someone thinks there is something wrong with me because they think I only listen to Death Metal or only like twisted films. I don't think of it in those terms and I don't much care that some people are so limited as to see things that simply. I like a lot of things in those categories that others find, but for my own preferences I just think of it as something that does or does not resonate with me. Can I relate to it or find some truth in it? I do not much care for things that are cliche, contrived, or overly superficial. Those things just seem false and wrong to me. Maybe that means that I or my tastes are odd or out of the ordinary, but I do not really mind. I think that the end of<span style="font-style: italic;"> Stroszek</span> is profound in this sense. There is a suggestion there that makes you figure the film out yourself and investigate something internal instead of just passively observing the film.<br /><br />There is something about Bruno and his character, or his real personality, that is very believable and grounded in reality. There is no magical solution to his problems, he takes the things he has left, the gun, and the turkey and goes on a journey. It seems like he might be close to finding some sort of help in the character that has lunch with him and speaks some German to Bruno. He summarizes his problems, but despite language barriers and his sort of marginalized or outcast character, Bruno really did know what was going on the whole time. When there was no one to translate the banker, he still understood that he was losing everything. Before that he was resistant to leaving for America and basically predicted it would end badly for him. In this way he seems to occupy a sort of <a href="http://www.plim.org/2idiots.html">"savant"</a> archetype. Bruno only really agrees for the sake of others (who would not be so selfless in turn) because he does his best to improve life for others despite the constant abuse and mistreatment he has suffered at their hands his whole life. Bruno sort of comes full circle. Instead of just giving up, I think he takes the rest of his journey to confront what fate has in store for him. This is sort of symbolized by the circles of the truck and the ski lift and also the animals forced to habitually repeat their actions. It is as if Bruno had this revelation to find this place where he fit in and could participate in the actions of repetition that perhaps most people are too blind to recognize. The animals, the music, and the ski lift seem like they made his journey complete and offered him some comfort in what could be the end of his journey and the start of something else. Perhaps I am too much of a realist to prefer a happy ending to this. But I think that others have this understanding too. I seek out those things that I can relate to and find comfort in even if they are tragic, depressing, haunting, dark or whatever. This always reminds me of the Japanese concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_no_aware">Mono no aware</a>, which is a sort of understanding and savoring or enjoyment of sorrow even though most Americans are lost on this concept. If my project can conjure such a provocative response as <span style="font-style: italic;">Stroszek</span>, I will be pleased.<br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PcRlZlD4nUg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="425"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NThCh-_mgag" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-30405402133238906092011-01-13T21:59:00.014-06:002011-01-15T00:19:00.233-06:00Wo ist Werner Herzog?<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8sYbLLsU9FBobuuoRszl60viOsDd00u9rhI8DR07otbjTxN-vsmIBmwoceWsGdtxc2dD5UNf0UCdNoY2CSI4tGVlgQst8agSlOuzr-eqVjuZjqpLIaHiFt28dkhP2qFvdYeqL-4jimfD/s1600/Werner%252520Herzog292.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562227362475997314" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 200px; height: 156px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8sYbLLsU9FBobuuoRszl60viOsDd00u9rhI8DR07otbjTxN-vsmIBmwoceWsGdtxc2dD5UNf0UCdNoY2CSI4tGVlgQst8agSlOuzr-eqVjuZjqpLIaHiFt28dkhP2qFvdYeqL-4jimfD/s200/Werner%252520Herzog292.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div>I haven't thought about Herzog in some time, but there has always been something about him that captivates me. His accent, his mannerisms, his thought process and what he says always seem to captivate me, especially the way he seems to pause long enough to contemplate anything before he says it. I think that is very telling about his character. He also has a seemingly honest way about him, that seems as though he is always speaking the absolute truth or something at the core of what he believes. But he also seems to give limited, or restrictively consistent responses. They seem almost scripted as if he has written a response once and will always stick to it. That leads me to believe that there is something more going on and I start to try to read between the lines. This makes me think that some of the questions he doesn't answer or the explanations he won't provide are more interesting than the ideas he does maintain. Recently, reading selections from <em>Herzog on Herzog</em> and watching the commentary version of his film, <em>Stroszek</em>, among other research, I have been reminded of this odd sense of the filmmaker. </div><br /><p> </p><div>My favorite and perhaps first encounter with Herzog as a figure in the filmmaking industry (I say in because of his appearance) was in the <em>Incident at Loch Ness</em>. I had heard of the man before then, but not really seen him or had any concept of who he is. The premise of this film is basically a mockumentary or spoof of a film crew attempting to make a documentary of Herzog while he <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374639/">makes a documentary</a> about Loch Ness. This leads to tension between the differing goals of Herzog and Zak Penn. Perhaps even more interesting is the way in which Herzog delivers his stock answers and static explanations about the film. He basically says in interviews that this film, while fictional to some degree, still captures what his personality is like at work. So, basically it is him and it isn't him, which I find to be a pretty funny way of effectively circumventing the point of the questioning. True, this does in someways represent that unique sort of blend between factual documentary and scripted narrative of his own film style, but I can't help thinking he is really just poking fun at interviews and interviewers by not really giving them what they want. I think that his interview with Henry Rollins is slightly different, but that one is still humorous and both of them seem to take the interview process lightly. Maybe this isn't something real at all though, just German to English language barrier (then again maybe Herzog is just exploiting that expectation) and it just says something about me or how I would react if I were a famous filmmaker being interviewed.<br /><br />I think I relate most to the mention of obscure inspirations and artists that Herzog mentions in <span style="font-style: italic;">Herzog on Herzog</span>. For example, after listing more well-known artists as influences he says, "there is is a painter who I feel even closer to, a virtual unknown called Hercules Segers." Then he goes on to explicate his affinity for this artist that the renowned Rembrandt recognized. However, he seems to be the only one who noticed this artist. In some sense this relates to Andy Warhol and his fascination with what he calls "leftovers." Perhaps it is that same quality that I relate to then. In my interest in independent artists I find that, like Herzog, there is plenty of beauty and undiscovered talent in a largely unknown artist or someone who may be really gifted, but just lacks the means to share there gifts and goes unnoticed. I derive a real pleasure from discovering these kinds of artists and I believe that is the origin of my interest in little known or independently released or DIY musicians. This relates to my own exploration of music and videos in my current project ideas since today there are so many internet sites that create means for little or unknown musicians to get recognized. I enjoy finding them through my job as a director at WLFM, the University radio station. It is that job that has made me more aware of a lot of these sites and new means for recognition of musicians. College radio in some ways is a great model for this because of its ability to give heavy rotation to artists that are overlooked by mainstream artists.<br /><br /></div>On a side note I don't know what to make about the whole idea of Herzog's exploitation of Bruno S. It seems unlikely that he was exploiting Bruno from the beginning since he wrote a whole screenplay out of guilt to include Bruno in a main role. And it is tough to dismiss that "the Bruno" <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> very clever indeed. Perhaps it was he who exploited Herzog? Who is exploiting whom? I would suggest that <span style="font-style: italic;">Stroszek</span> represents a symbiotic relationship. Bruno may have learned from being exploited and abused all his life even if he allowed Herzog to also exploit him in some ways.<br /><div><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oxL0kpz_5Lo?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oxL0kpz_5Lo?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-55544880059800371432011-01-05T15:59:00.004-06:002011-01-05T16:28:26.702-06:00Warholworld<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.worldgallery.co.uk/i/prints/rw/lg/1/3/Andy-Warhol-The-world-fascinates-me-135390.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://images.worldgallery.co.uk/i/prints/rw/lg/1/3/Andy-Warhol-The-world-fascinates-me-135390.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />It seems to me that things in Andy Warhol's world are quite strange. Or at least most people think so, but I found that upon looking at him anew from several different sources recently, I can relate to a lot of his philosophy. Though his thinking comes off at times as quirky, insincere, or ambiguous, I could still relate to a lot of the content at the core of his ideas.<br />After watching the <a href="http://www.warholstars.org/news/ricburns.html">documentary</a> made about Warhol by Ric Burns, I have some mixed feelings. The strange juxtaposition of sound textures, interviews, archival footage, rereading of Warhol quotes, praise for the artist, etc. seems to take Warhol a little bit out of context for me. Burns' work seems to me to glorify Warhol in an unnecessary fashion. It seems that a lot of the structure and direction of the documentary is orchestrated to make Warhol seem larger than life, but that seems a bit of a contradiction to me. Reading about Warhol and his quotations in the context of his life and even some of the information that I got from the film seem to tell me something different. Despite the ways Warhol seems intentionally misleading or comical, I find that his ideas of leftovers and art as business really make sense to me. I can relate to his feeling misplaced or trying to grapple with his fame. I don't think I could handle some of that attention and I don't like a maid cleaning up after me either. Anyway, a lot of these details reveal to me that Warhol was eccentric and famous, but also a regular person that got put into these positions and categories. I don't think he ever felt like some kind of absolute <a href="http://people.howstuffworks.com/genius.htm">genius</a> or one of the most influential artists of the 20th century any more than I or my classmates do. This image does not really fit with what many expect of a genius even though we may expect awkwardness and eccentricity to be a part of the formula. We have a lot of evidence to support that he was confused and lost more often than not, and even almost forgotten or ignored while he was still alive. While that does not prevent him from being a genius, it does seem to contradict some of the image that seems to have been constructed by the documentary or perhaps the Warhol foundation on a larger scale.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Seversoncrosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-318913263880703232011-01-03T14:33:00.011-06:002011-01-03T14:56:49.142-06:00Return<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.laemmle.com/movieimages/370thumb.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 397px;" src="http://www.laemmle.com/movieimages/370thumb.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.tts-group.co.uk/_rmvirtual/media/tts/images/legacy/thumbs/PLSPOON.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://www.tts-group.co.uk/_rmvirtual/media/tts/images/legacy/thumbs/PLSPOON.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So, I am returning to the blog. I know I expressed that I wanted to continue all along, but blogging is time-consuming and involved at times. If I can't do it right, I don't like to do it. I have continued with art, especially painting. However, I have had a lot going on so sometimes I think it is better to keep making the art and living life for real than writing about it on the internet. Or maybe I have it backwards and this is or will be real life in time...<br />To connect to the last post that I left, The Room is a timely topic. I just got back from winter break and over that break I had the opportunity to meet Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero (one of the other actors from the picture) at a viewing of the film. One of the best nights of my life. Interactive audience with footballs, screaming and throwing plastic spoons...<br /><br />Anyway, welcome back blog.crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-57218786709710897532010-05-06T21:02:00.004-05:002010-05-06T21:09:17.046-05:00Keeping UpWell, let's face it... I haven't been. I knew I would not be updating much this term, but I didn't think I would stop altogether. I have been having a sort of rough term with all the reading and projects I have to do this term. But I have been in East Asian Ceramics, so I should have some artwork to show soon. I just began throwing on the wheel and that is both frustrating and fun. I have also been watching some cult movies lately, like the Room. I am also talking about a video project with some friends to enter in a contest that would relate to Tommy Wiseau's The Room. More on that later...<br /><br />-Jordan<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ISXiFJS9D5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ISXiFJS9D5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-41441721148026899472010-03-18T16:14:00.001-05:002010-03-18T16:17:12.940-05:00Raw Shock: A Study of Cultural ConformityMy video is finally finished. I feel that it has reached a state that I am comfortable with calling done, so that it can be digested by my viewers. I still have a lot of unused footage that I may expand into a larger project in the future. I plan to keep working on it, but I do feel satisfied in having something that feels complete to communicate my message. My message is something that has changed over time, but it is something that I think still meets my goals in a satisfactory manner. At first, I imagined that my video would end up being a sort of true-to-life story from a personal perspective in my ambition to pass on some of the experiences I have had for the benefit of others in a humorous, <em><a href="http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/">American Movie</a></em> sort of way. Instead, my finished project turned out to be a tighter, more honed and brief video with less direct narrative value than originally planned. It relies more on suggestion, dialogue, use of symbols, and personal relationship. There is also significantly less humor that made it into the final cut than I imagined. Instead, there are more personal, inside jokes and incidental humor that have translated into the video's development. I do not think that these qualities are bad, as they do seem to have been necessary for a strong and more direct development of content. My video now feels more like an honest portrayal of a period in my life and a reflection of this transitional state as a person. After showing it in public for the first time at Lawrence University's New Media Showcase the other night, I have found more comfort and reassurance in my final video than I expected. I was given a great deal of positive feedback without any real negative criticism, which whether good or bad is a first for me. This has made me feel more confident in my abilities to navigate mixed media projects and it has shown me the value of what I have actually done. It is easy to overlook some of the significance of a project while working towards completion, but having shown my video and rested on this incarnation of my story for a while, I have been able to see more value in my own work. My video has also become a tool and a statement for my analysis and ability to cope with these events and circumstances in my life. They help me look more closely and examine the issues that have affected me most in the process of re-Americanizing. There were certain challenges in presenting a narrative that dwells on a lot of past events and changes that were largely internal and not on video to share with the viewer. I was uncertain as to how my handling of these topics would really work out, but towards the end of editing everything began to fit in a synergistic fashion and the response of viewers has shown me that I was affective in communicating my ideas to them without sacrificing the humorous or realistic aspects of my content. I hope that this video also has the ability to reach others and enable them to relate the issues I have been grappling with to their own situations, so that they can deal with their own circumstances better or at least look at things from a different point of view. I hope that in seeing the construct that I present, others will continue to question some of the topics of cultural identity, adaptation, and personal opinion that I have raised.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mbTXTp_fLko&hl=" width="320" height="265" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&rel=" color1="0x006699&color2=" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P7N2Jz1en4w&hl=" width="320" height="265" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-76689465937994555302010-03-07T22:03:00.006-06:002010-03-11T09:11:42.223-06:00Just a step awayIt is sometimes really helpful for me to think about progress in steps or separate phases. That way I keep moving and focus on one thing at a time, but when I look back I see that I have accomplished more than I am aware of even after I started thinking about my video in a <a href="http://www.diettipsandfitness.com/recommended-products/final-phase-fat-loss-review.html">final phase</a>. Once it got to a certain degree of finish I started thinking of things in terms of <a href="http://www.finishingtouches1.net/">finishing touches</a> on a minor scale, but in some ways I have been doing more work or at least more intensive alteration since I have entered this stage. There are always a few more things that I'd like to tweak and play around with. I hope that feeling serves the project well, but I also I hope I do reach a state where I can feel satisfied with the product to feel like the video has reached my original or revised set of goals and encapsulates the message that I want viewers to receive. I have been working to swap out and trim down some of the current scene choices to make the video a bit tighter, more direct, and more effective.<br /><br />The result of changing, <a href="http://www.handlebarclub.co.uk/index.php">trimming</a>,and adding footage, not to mention credits and titles, has put me very near 10 minutes. I think that means I still have a good minute and a half by which to reduce my video so that I safely fit within the confines of the <a href="http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/10_minute_trainer.do">ten minute viewing</a> timeslot with a brief introduction and maybe a question or two, barring technical difficulties. I hope to avoid technical difficulties by starting to think about putting my project on dvd middle to late next week when I still have time to work out kinks in the final stages of development. This week I have done a lot of <a href="http://support.blip.tv/entries/114019-uploading-videos-in-hd">tedious fiddling</a> with minor parts to get them right, find a medium between abrupt and lengthy transitions, add some subtle filters for emphasis and some aesthetic purpose(rather than unnecessary dazzle), and try to consider solutions for some of the criticism I have received. So far, these general issues seem to be getting resolved better than I anticipated.<br /><br />My next concern is music. I want to keep the strongest portions of the video intact without detracting with music, but I think it will also help make some of the less effective transitions work, and generally help hold the video together. I am a bit apprehensive because I don't want to disrupt the current tone of the film or overemphasize it too much, just compliment it. I have been dabbling with <a href="http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/">Garageband</a> and I have started recording material for background sound, but I am not far enough along to say how much it will help. I definitely think music is important to the communication of a vision if applied more judiciously <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arbitrary">than arbitrarily</a>. One of my concerns is vocal use. I think that is the most effective and also the most dangerous part of adding music. I don't want to steal anything from dialogue, but some parts may not make sense to have solely instrumental music. Both can be powerful if used well. I have also been trying to find the right angle on my working title. Here are some of my considerations:<br /><br />Un/Familiar Voyage<br />Reverse Shock: An Uncanny Journey<br />Raw Shock: A Story of Return<br />Raw Shock: A Study in Cultural Adaptation<br /><br />I think that the title should be open to interpretation to make the viewer wonder, but also be applicable enough to suggest that some kind of analysis is taking place.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HlyVaoxQfF0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HlyVaoxQfF0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JJBm37kFd5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JJBm37kFd5A&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-61348117789758068082010-03-07T21:05:00.007-06:002010-03-08T00:16:01.677-06:00First, kill classic rock<div><a href="http://www.costumzee.com/view/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/thor-movie-update.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 550px; height: 834px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://www.costumzee.com/view/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/thor-movie-update.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>I was very interested in James Danky's presentation for a number of reasons. I have been a pretty avid <em><a href="http://marvel.com/universe/Main_Page">comicbook</a></em> reader since I was a child. I can remember trips to the comic book store, and waiting patiently for my subscription to Spider-man, Thor, Wolverine, or some other book to begin arriving in the mail. That I still think that <a href="http://www.superherohype.com/">anticipation</a> was one of the greatest parts about being a child. I also have a deep appreciation for underground and DIY movements. Naturally I respect and find intrigue in the combination of these two in the format of <a href="http://www.undergroundcollectibles.com/index.cfm/fa/categories.main/parentcat/8157">underground comix</a>. I have also found an interest in zines and other <a href="http://www.amazon.com/First-Copernican-Joachim-Rheticus-Revolution/dp/0802715303">narrowly circulated</a>, independent works. They appeal to my thirst for creativity and shared knowledge, as well as my belief that everyone should have an outlet and ability to produce something creatively to share their ideas and experiences. James made a lot of interesting references that were the benefit of his experience as a historian and his understanding of the way that unlikely sources may influence someone's work. It really does take a lot to change ideas and concepts that are currently being practiced, which is why such an underground movement as comix can be so fascinating. From zines and underground newspapers into more social and political issues in the more difficult to market artwork of <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://gorightly.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/s-clay-wilson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://gorightly.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/s-clay-wilson-trust/&usg=__r5xbWxH_utuT-4Q77gojYFFbqHs=&h=315&w=240&sz=19&hl=en&start=6&sig2=6KnSSIARnqlm1BbzKpN3uw&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=L3RTL_ZtJRCuJM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dclay%2Bwilson%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=PXaRS9OJI6OsMsDjgO0M">Clay Wilson</a> or Wilt Elder, Danky found relevance and history where no one else was seeking it. Danky was able to find meaning and importance in all these <a href="http://www.deviantart.com/">deviant art</a>works as demonstrated by the comparisons with classical art that he made with his students. This interest and relevance continued until recognition for these works started to come and eventually changed to movement drive the artists into other areas and even mainstream for a new kind of attention. The fact that Danky picked up on something to research and investigate that <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/neglect">no one else paid any attention to</a>, demonstrates how perceptive an individual he is. It takes a careful eye and a lot of courage to start something that no one else cares about. I am glad that people like Danky are around to start looking into what no once else gives attention to.<br /><br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CdiWEmTpwCY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CdiWEmTpwCY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /></div></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-17444260127402498612010-03-07T21:01:00.005-06:002010-03-08T00:15:21.016-06:00The Radicant: the end, the beginning, or just another root?<div><a href="http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/vinales/pics/peperomia_glabella_one.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 480px; height: 640px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/vinales/pics/peperomia_glabella_one.jpg" border="0"></a><br /><br /><br /><div>Nicolas Bourriaud closes his book with a summation of concepts--being tied together? He addresses issues of appropriation, copy, and decisions. He makes an interesting point in that the fast-paced world of today continues to value time over space so that duplications are no big deal. people are borrowing and using shortcuts to produce, perhaps putting less effort into their own contributions expecting that someone else will borrow from them in turn. Is this the answer to the questions we have about the future of art? Does this provide us with what we came seeking when we picked up the <span style="font-style: italic;">Radicant</span>? While all these concepts may prove thought provoking, I have to wonder if this is what is really happening. Have people really begun to abandon effort and craftsmanship for convenience and ease? I think some have, but I do not think that this is all we have to look forward to. Is Bourriaud guilty of these transgressions (perhaps innovations to him) himself? This book relies heavily on connections by nature, are all these references and thoughts something new, something old re-hashed to appear less lazy, or something different?<br /><br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsieur">Monsieur</a> Bourriaud, have I not been patient with you and your ideas? Why do you leave so many unanswered questions, hasty proclamations, and half-solutions? Why must you leave a bad taste in my mouth? Should a <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Radicant">radicant </a>ever really meet itself to become so entangled or neatly wrapped up and controlled by its own roots? Shouldn't it expand on into the infinite without the traditional closure of a book? If the author believes so adamantly in the future of art, the internet, mixed media, etc. and has such a great understanding of the direction in which these things will progress, why does he even bother with the obsolete format of a printed book? Why should he even publish his work? Why wasn't it composed and limited to exist solely on the internet, the vehicle of his radicant? Should I have obtained a Kindle and read this book through that lens to understand what I am missing? Why are he and his writing so obviously <a href="http://www.fll.vt.edu/French/francophonie.html">French and Franco-minded</a> in a day when the ever-diverse radicant is drawing from whatever sources are of relative convenience, regardless of individual culture or perspective? Could not these views or exercises be demonstrated in a more complete way? How limited is the thought of one who extols limitless possibilities? How does one provide so little when one purports to have so many explanations?<br /><br />Ok, N.B.<br />Good talk.<br /><br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br />p.s. Radicant, Altermodernism, Post-post, etc. would it be too much to ask that some better terminology be developed? Words need not be slaves to the concepts they describe.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-43834880495015223622010-02-27T23:55:00.004-06:002010-02-28T00:11:31.230-06:00One more stepI am pleased that I have met my goal of creating a rough cut of my video to show for my class progress report. I got the video to work out enough to have some semblance of my original vision and I cut it down to a pretty controlled length of 8:45 min. I got a select amount of criticism, but what I heard from people so far was really helpful. There are some very particular things that people drew my attention to:<br /><br />I need to think about the intro and title, the transitions of scenes, having more problems to display my point further with the plot, adding more humor, adding some of my other types of footage to round out what I have chosen, of course I need to finish trimming it down, and I am considering a bit more video to shoot that could bring together a different kind of conclusion if I wanted a more closed ending.<br />I am pleased, but I still have a great deal of work to do. It is at this sort of stage in such a project that I think a little discipline and pacing go a long way. In considering this, I was reminded of a song that has always caught my fancy conceptually. It is called "Imprint" by a band that was called doubleDrive. It has always felt for me to be a calming kind of concept to consider when I need to focus on something and take it one step at a time. I will include a Youtube video for this song. That being said, I want to also consider some more audio for my video and try to think about scoring my video also to give a more complete feeling to the finished product.<br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tAmb-AzLRe4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tAmb-AzLRe4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-67719675583278243612010-02-27T14:55:00.004-06:002010-03-08T00:17:51.561-06:00Philosophy and the Radicant<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9uYd6Q2A3v_sP2XmngpRL2qQZYi9KJbbRi00cX4QG6db465xIWFax_8IhJQUl1V2W1_d0CYEnXY0PWbdDNgHug5HviQFHXPAr8utGw_G6JQB-F3nrXtITXrwlrhHoImjgbOJ0nCWCeR3/s1600-h/Frankenthaler_Helen_Mountains_and_Sea_1952.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9uYd6Q2A3v_sP2XmngpRL2qQZYi9KJbbRi00cX4QG6db465xIWFax_8IhJQUl1V2W1_d0CYEnXY0PWbdDNgHug5HviQFHXPAr8utGw_G6JQB-F3nrXtITXrwlrhHoImjgbOJ0nCWCeR3/s320/Frankenthaler_Helen_Mountains_and_Sea_1952.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443162605995718674" border="0" /></a><br /><div>The second part of Nicolas Bourriaud's <em>The Radicant </em>deals with altermodern concepts further with an increase in discussion of philosophy and and influential thinkers. It seems that this portion is less effective in introducing more concepts, but more concerned with elaborating the concepts already introduced to delve deeper into the meaning and relationships of the continuing conceptual themes.<br />Bourriaud starts to introduce examples, largely consisting of art work by Damien Hirst and Marceld Duchamp's readymades to point to how art has evolved to new places compared to what used to be acceptable on an intellectual level in the art world. This allows him to propose ways in which art might be changing in the present to become something new in the future and what sort of implications that the birth of web 2.o may hold for the future. Bourriaud discusses ideas of Walter Benjamin that were critical in the development of discourse surrounding topics like the results of image reproduction through mechanical means, which leads to the current question of what will happen to art once digital, and internet media so dominates our culture that those traditional means are all but forgotten. Benjamin argues in one of his most influential essays that an original image has an "aura" comprised of its unique, original existence, individual history and uncorrupted characteristics that cannot be observed by any form of reproduction. What will happen to such an "aura" on the internet? Can art made on a computer and existing only on the internet to begin with have some kind of "aura," or does it even really exist as an art object at all? Critics like Clement Greenberg pushed for art to be produced in its purest and most honest form, which was for him a reduction and emphasis on the use and demonstration of the most basic and essential tools of art. This led to works by the likes of <a href="http://www.frankstella.net/">Frank Stella</a>, <a href="http://www.barnettnewman.org/">Barnett Newman</a>, <a href="http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/">Mark Rothko</a>, Helen Frankenthaler, and many others to create a form of art that best embodied this minimalist sort of intellectual art. What might be the result of such a direction of simplification or emphasis on basic elements when applied to internet and computer media? It seems that Bourriaud poses his earlier concepts and conjectures of <span style="font-style: italic;">the Radicant</span> to answer these questions and predict the direction of his altermodern, but I am not so sure it is convincing.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><br /></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-46338702866252328032010-02-27T13:58:00.011-06:002010-02-27T23:55:12.365-06:00What drives our art?Slime mold, matthew barney, wow report, beirut, michael jackson...what do they all have in common? They all provide inspiration and serve as either mentor, or muse to my classmates. These and all the other choices for the projects we've undertaken are all interesting and diverse interests. It would seem that my classmates have a great many inspirations for their work and it is fascinating to see the relationships between some of these choices of inspiration and the projects that have been developed in connection with them. Even though some relationships seem more direct and obviously connected to the end product than others appear on the surface, these choices have all had interesting impacts on individual works of art. I have to say that my own choice seems plain and ordinary by comparison.<br /><br />I had difficulty picking a mentor that I saw could be easily related and explained to others. My first instinct was to report on my inspiration from a man named Juan Carlos whom I met in Siena. The difficulty is that I have no real facts or information concerning this man and sometimes I am not convinced myself that he actually exists. He was the most remarkably positive person I have ever met, a practicing artist despite all of his life's hardships, and he is a man who has discovered the secret to his own happiness. He is the type of man who can make you feel incredibly good about your life just by sharing some of his life stories to show that your life is not so bad and that if he can still be this positive you had better be. Juan Carlos is the type of man that can tell you everything that you want or need to hear, but make you actually believe it in a way you never thought possible. He is the type man that I aspire to be, an artist who works by his own methods and standards to accomplish his goals and reach people in a way that is very rare. Unfortunately, I have found no traces of this man on the internet yet even though I know that he has art around the U.S. and Europe and has impacted many lives besides my own. He still remains mysterious and seemingly unreal or invisible even though he is impacting so many with his artwork. I hope that some day I may do the same with my artwork.<br /><br />I ended up picking <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/">Christopher Nolan</a> because of his works like Memento, and the Prestige. I half wish that I would have found something a bit less obvious or mainstream to impact my video in a less blatant and perhaps more fruitful way. However, I think that the connections I made did provide some necessary structure and goal to my project. I thought about new video techniques, using filters like sepia tone, to add a reminiscent quality and increase emphasis by using contrast to tie my scenes together better.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><br /><br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><br /><object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0vS0E9bBSL0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0vS0E9bBSL0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xPyVBO2rRyg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xPyVBO2rRyg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-50432596928674471982010-02-21T23:48:00.001-06:002010-02-22T00:00:11.688-06:00Objective: SuccinctnessThis week I did shoot a little more video including some scenes with friends and my nephew. However, I also came to the realization that I need to revise my ideas a bit. I am putting my original objectives aside in attempts to reduce my concepts into something practical and streamlined. In researching mentors I have considered the benefits of taking bold, decisive steps with my video to convey a message that meets my aim. I have plenty of material, so I have primarily been reviewing and editing it. I have one final cut project that is already close to five minutes, but does not adequately encapsulate what I imagine for my final product. I think I will now reorder and reconsider those clips, cut them down or cut them out, and try a slightly different approach to matching up scenes once I have redesigned the structure of plot points and interviews. I now see that I must be more deliberate, and concise in my integration of the two. I hope to spend enough time editing in the following days to be on the right track by the showing of my rough cut next week. I believe it takes a great deal more skill to make a short video than a long one. Perhaps, I will continue with my larger ideas later, but for now I hope I am up to the task of revising my vision for brevity. I am going to try to think about styles and techniques of condensing narration that are used in music videos and movie trailers to find a better way of conveying a strong message in a few minutes of time.<br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GQMTBHYMDtw&hl=" width="560" height="340" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpDc7lXAO00&hl=" width="560" height="340" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed><br /><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3bb3OXZOOSs&hl=" width="425" height="344" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-12290735590055119672010-02-18T15:41:00.005-06:002010-02-18T20:53:02.164-06:00Where to roost when your home is deforested<div>Hearing Jodi Sedlock speak about her personal history and path to her current profession was very interesting. Her unorthodox pathway to a career in science through the beginnings of artwork shows how people can achieve their goals through their own methods and by figuring out everything as they go along. Going to art school to find that anatomy classes and an injury lead to an internship and a desire to pursue biology is certainly not the usual way to find a profession, but it does point out that alternative avenues can be useful in finding ideal prospects. </div>The idea that art attracts attention needed to support scientific research as well as other avenues is very reassuring. Often many overlook how much art plays a role in the things around them by contributing something that they do not recognize or interpret as art. <div> </div><br />I think that is very encouraging to someone pursuing art because it shows that there is a place for creativity in many areas that may not consider at first. It is true that desperation breeds both motivation and creativity. I think Jodi shows that it is possible to pursue a course that is natural in order to find what it is you want to do. Sometimes you may have to stray from your interests to find new ones. I think that my video relates to the idea of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1088815/">cryptic diversity </a>that Jodi spoke of in relation to bats. Sometimes, we assume that since we are all humans or all of a particular religion, race, country, etc. we must have the similar perspectives and beliefs. However, often the people that seem the most like us on the surface end up being deceptively different and we don't really know until we look closer. The difference in bats can be small or large in something as simple as navigation when some bats have a vastly wider perception of food sources just because they see in a different way. I hope that my video demonstrates that the same is true for people. Upon closer inspection of ideas and perspectives that those in close proximity take for granted, we may realize that there is a greater variety of perspectives and methods available to us and it is foolish to settle for only one fraction of them. The Bat theme also correlates with my mentor research as I have been researching <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/">Christopher Nolan</a> as a possible candidate. Although it is not the reason why I have been researching, Nolan has achieved a great deal of fame recently as director of the newest Batman film franchise.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9Va9ull44yw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9Va9ull44yw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z8kzkdmPCJI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z8kzkdmPCJI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-4014013570749138672010-02-14T23:12:00.007-06:002010-02-15T11:27:38.267-06:00A Reading Period's ProgressionI feel that I have made some valuable progress over reading period. I always think there could have been a little more, but I am satisfied that I got some great footage of events that will help me structure the daily events portion of my film that will help to advance some kind of plot with in my piece however minimal it may be in the end (I would like to point out that some of the most successful videos to my mind are capable of having very little plot, but survive on character development and other elements: e.g. Seinfeld and the show about nothing idea). Anyway, I have begun using the flip style mino camera, which I like now that I have gotten used to it. It is a bit shaky at times, especially while zoomed, but it is decent to manage. I also do like some of the differences in film quality and as before I do embrace some of the home-video feeling for my project. I really like that the camera is so small and portable. I have been taking it around with me and been able to capture a lot more unplanned events as they occur to assist in obtaining a natural, organic feel to my scenes. I don't want them to feel stiff and scripted, but realistic and believable. This camera seems to allow me to accomplish this with much less effort and also more discreetly. Another good aspect of this camera is the ability to capture the already created clips from usb connection, rather than from mini dv tapes, which can be frustrating. This is a lot easier and less hassle when I want to keep shooting video and worry less about securing my footage.<br /><br />This weekend I was able to film: interactions with one of my friends from Florence study abroad, some first person view fencing, public encounters in stores, and a development of characters/ establishment of cameraman identity.<br /><br />I plan to have some more shots in the coming week that will follow more of my original vision: a professor interview, interactions with my nephew, more conflict development, the role of friends, and some of the resolution to the film.<br /><br />Overall, I think that my video is getting much closer to the point where I can delve into a lot of editing and reduce the amount of time I spend filming.<br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Madhnz4-c8U&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Madhnz4-c8U&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-kx_kg2nMg&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-kx_kg2nMg&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hjDnGBrhhaQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hjDnGBrhhaQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-11556036875912357972010-02-04T09:13:00.004-06:002010-02-05T16:26:52.188-06:00Continued EffortsThis week I began shooting footage of the daily events in the storyline of my project. I hope to get most of these done soon, perhaps next week to really get the important plot points shot to add into my project right away to establish a good structure. Currently I have just been capturing and sorting out a lot of my clips. I have also begun examining the larger chunks of footage to create the necessary subclips for insertion into the project where necessary. I feel like once I have those most important scenes captured and placed in my project, I can start editing and progressing a lot faster with Finalcut without worrying. I will continue to conduct interviews as I have been and the rest of my filming and addition should come pretty naturally to develop as I go. I have also gotten a lot of good fencing footage, which may play into my video more or less than I originally thought. For now, I have done some work and gotten a lot of good footage at my disposal to select exactly what I want, whether most of the footage is used or not. I have included a clip here as this is some of the most recent footage I have captured and I promised to include one this week.<br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6oJ8z--8z9U&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6oJ8z--8z9U&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><object id="BLOG_video-FAILED" class="BLOG_video_class" contentid="FAILED" height="266" width="320"></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-34690258266452566662010-02-04T09:12:00.005-06:002010-02-05T15:44:29.563-06:00John McKinnon: Misconceptions of the late Andy WarholWarhol's embrace of commercialism is, in some ways, continually relevant for artists. But even more relevant than that tendency to examine and use the commercialism that is still so deeply embedded within our culture is the reality of getting trapped between the old habits and bodies of work as one's repertoire might tend to find comfort in repetition and the urge to branch out in search of a new direction of creativity. The risk of this is that for someone like Warhol it means that the public may not follow his new interests and thus, he was relatively ignored in the latter period of his life. McKinnon makes this point up front as a reason to explore and understand Warhol's later works outside of the instinct to ignore his later works. It is interesting to find how fruitful this time in his life was following the attempt on his life when he began searching for new avenues in his art. When I think of myself as an artist, I have similar struggles when trying to consider whether it is best to stick with a style, series, or project long enough to create something larger and more recognizable of to change more quickly toward improvement and untouched potential. I am currently trying to find a way to explore this personal tension in my work while drawing off of my experiences abroad in Italy.<br /><br />Warhol was able to find concepts and ideas worth pursuit anywhere he went (e.g. suggestion of camouflage or looking through magazine ads) and he also made use of collaboration to draw off of artists like Basquiat. While visiting the <a href="http://www.museo-capodimonte.it/">Museo di Capodimonte</a> in Naples, I saw a silkscreen of <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2125/2149901452_3f1c135a0a.jpg">Mount Vesuvius</a> that was a commission from Warhol. He also appeared in many photographs in another part of the modern art wing as a collaborator and social figure. I think that this sort of reach and depth of Warhol even after he was regarded as washed up (though he was still producing copious amounts of new concepts and pieces that revisiting old subject matter) shows Warhol's true artistic strength in his ability to draw from a variety of sources and inspirations, internalize the concepts that he witnessed or designed and reapply or redistribute the benefits of his experiences through works that took advantages of all the connections he made with the world. It would seem that this sort of characteristic is what made Warhol a modern artist with a success that remains after him even if his popularity waned during his lifetime. I hope to find ways to combine my own interests in all my artwork, and especially my video, to make similarly strong connections that take advantage of my experiences.<br /><br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br /><br />Jordan Severson<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Msb6MZ-fBfA&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Msb6MZ-fBfA&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_TZ416BRbE8&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_TZ416BRbE8&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005894474724296628.post-41006414659765358502010-02-02T22:13:00.007-06:002010-02-03T22:29:00.360-06:00Klaus Nomi: Personality ConstructPrior to watching this film, I did not really know who Nomi was, but I had some vague familiarity with him. I think it must have just been as one of my classmates pointed out, he is one of those character types that has been digested by American pop culture and regurgitated in small pieces every now and again as new stars in the mainstream spotlight see fit to take cues from Nomi. There were many good perspectives and concepts that came up in our discussion regarding his appearance as a deliberately constructed persona who may have merely stumbled upon post-modernism. But what really strikes me is that no matter how many of his "friends" were interviewed, one could never get much of a feeling from the documentary as to Nomi's "real" or private identity. Maybe he became completely consumed by the character that he designed to play for the rest of his life, but I have to believe he was something else initially and once he was there on his deathbed, with everyone too afraid of Aids to come and visit the sad and lonely performer. It is sad that things ended up that way and that it seems somehow fitting in the eyes of certain people that he had such a dramatic end, but it is also understandable. I don't think Nomi realized everyone he pushed away in his search to achieve a tangible fame, until he needed those whom he alienated. At any rate, I understand that a lot of figures since have developed similar stage characters to stick with, but there is more ambiguity in Nomi. How conscious was his stage character's development? I have to wonder whether some of the aspects and character traits were not just parts of his imagination ready to surface or things that were already close to him and just seemed natural to develop further and accentuate or exaggerate. It seems like he became virtually indistinguishable from his stage self, and that makes me wonder how intentional each aspect of that personality was for him. Perhaps his imagination and intuition led him naturally down the path of such a character combining opera and other types of music in a unique juxtaposition. I think, in some ways that separates him from those figures who came later trying to find some sort of strange, yet memorable gimmick to cling to in hopes that it would catapult them effortlessly to fame. Little bits of many things remind me of Klaus and I think that shows a remarkable impact for such a performer that really only produced about three albums without much behind them. An example is a rather minor connection I made with a musician that I admire, (not personally, but for his music in content and style, as well as the great obstacles he has overcome just like Klaus) Chris Volz. Volz is a vocalist that founded some bands I listen to like <a href="http://www.myspace.com/flaw">Flaw</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/fiveboltmain">Five.Bolt.Main</a>, and then went on to make a solo album that turned out a little strange in my opinion. Volz lived with a stepmother when he was young and she trained him vocally because she was an opera singer. Later, Volz had gone through a very difficult childhood including experiencing the suicide of his stepmothere and he went on to form hard rock or metal alternative bands like those mentioned. What I like about him is that he incorporates those experiences he's had into his music and feeds off of them to create something that many "angry teenagers" can enjoy or at least relate to. He also has a unique vocal style due to the formal opera kind of training that he received. He is able to display a beautiful voice and then switch in a brief moment to yells and screams of agony and betrayal only to return to a soft and gentle melody. I find all of these characteristics interesting parallels to Klaus and although I see no direct correlation, I am sure that some of the Chris Volz type musicians in the world could not survive today without having had certain avenues paved by the likes of Klaus Nomi.<br /><br /><br />IHRTLUHC<br />Jordan Severson<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QAXYjTGCbo8&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QAXYjTGCbo8&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gma5IUNMTn0&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gma5IUNMTn0&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>crosshatchedplanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413497043375531050noreply@blogger.com1