Curatorial

gcaliguri_curatorial

Exponential Decay

As we stumble backwards in our intellect and cultural understanding. We must honor those that combat the rising tide of crippling thoughts and practices. These works display a place of higher learning and education as a means to reverse the negative decay of our society. Embrace your emotions in your most extreme of times. See the world for what it is and fight to improve this place and your state of mind. Seek a state of enlightenment to come to peace with what surrounds you. Art is your vehicle and these are those that have taken advantage of it.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/44583147″>I, pet goat II</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/heliofant”>Heliofant</a&gt; on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Artist Statement

As an artist I set out to create pieces that confuse the viewer with its similarities to reality and the deep seeded messages of life and our surrounding politics and social events. I attempt to achieve this by creating relatable images and incidents through animations and story telling. My process begins with an obsession of a subject, usually something I encounter in my daily attempt to digest terabytes of data that I attempt to absorb and regurgitate into some form of a useful fashion. Creation to me is mental bulimia.

The flow of data is very important for me, if it gets cut off or backlogged for a day or week. When it returns I become gluttonous and eager to consume more than I have previously. This results in an explosion of incoherent work and output of mixed thoughts and sources. The rate of the flow and steadiness is a chaotic beast that I attempt to control and use to my advantage, but ultimately it will win and I will binge again.

The type of artist I strive to be is not usually the work that I am even comfortable with sharing due to its nearly incomprehensible messages and imagery. Due to the fact much of my fascination with art began with technology and its capabilities both in functionality and beauty, this makes me driven to create something both beautiful and useful. My mind is very much a endless keyword search much like Google. I hear a word or song or see and image and my brain just begin firing off things that are relatable to me in some way and mixing and mashing them all together. Trying to take this hurricane of posts and videos into an idea.

The future artists that are currently fermenting and growing into the type of artist they will ultimately end up being. The future artist will face a new kind of market and breed of artist to compete against. Technology is becoming a standard in all forms of media as a tool for preparation and execution, something we all must adapt to and become familiar with. I push to learn as many techniques and focuses as I can as a way to push myself foreword and stay ahead of the other artists similar to me.

I am an artist of the future, a destined soul to achieve a craft that has never been achieved or thought of. I am the pathfinder and trailblazer of my technological creations.

Module 6

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I Who Are We?

1. We are the Anarchist of the web, the controllers of our cyber destiny. We control the ins and outs of data; the flow is at our finger tips. We are the anonymous ones who come and go, the passerby who seems harmless enough. We hid behind the glow of the monitors and remain silent beneath the clicks of the keyboard and mouse. We make big impacts with little foot prints. We are the new age of art and social justice, we are the gods of the cyber world that has over taken reality.
2. With every sent text, IM, Emoji, and update of status or tweet, we are those who find and exploit the backdoors and exploit our potential destruction as a show of power and force. We can hurt and help in the same intensity. We are your best friend and worst nightmare. Our reach cannot be measured and our roots cannot be dug up, we have been around for as long as the cyber world has been around.

II What Do We Do?

1. We exploit the weaknesses of the world we are a part of, we comment on the morality of man in situations that affect great numbers. We bring light to the truth that needs to be seen and understood no matter the effect, either negative or positive. The truth is the truth and needs to be known.
2. Through creation and destruction we amass data and filter it to its absolute core and utilize its essence to demonstrate our messages and views.

III What We Know?

1. We know all, there is no such thing as privacy, but what many don’t know is we are not interested in their lives. We are interested in the bigger picture, while toying with one is fun, the big pool of users is our ultimate goal. Those that think they game use our livelihood to fund their expensive house and cars are the ones that need to understand we are still the ones in control and will remain hidden even after the attack. We are untraceable, we are the ones the created the back bone you rest your lives on. We can crumble it as easily as support it.
2. Art is an expression of on or many, a symbolist form of communication and understanding. We are a part of art, we are art. We are destined to show the power we are come in contact with daily and what it can do. It can bring destruction and broken homes and can disperse beauty and knowledge. The cyber world we exist in today is a magnificent beast of chaotic input and output.

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Module 5

I do not believe we need Postmodernism because it is dead, and has been dead for a decent amount of time now. Postmodernism during its height was used as a part of social movements and change for human rights benefit. We live in a world that is the result of the change that postmodernism supported in the 60’s-80’s. As far as theoretical constructs to keep it relevant, Much of the theories can be warped and swayed to pertain to current events or movements but really why use old technological and bulk new things too it to solve new problems. It takes a fresh clean slate to create real change and new forms of expression. Recycling old will old result in the old results. That society and issues we face now, it is necessary to come with a new approach and think without relation to old ideas and norms when we want something new. If you base the new from the old, more and more of the old will creep in and take over till we have essentially created something that has already been created. Technology suffers from this greatly, we look at the expectations of people and try to build towards those not the unthought of expectations of a new idea or concept. Postmodernism is the past and we need to let it die with the dignity of the beauty it once created but accept that time is past.

Current artists who still stick to this postmodernism construct are usually those who were brought up during the rise of the movement, like Yoko Ono who is a big force in the early movement of postmodernism creating pieces that had never been thought of and highlighted social issues. A good example is her piece “Cut Pieces”. This really brought to light the idea of the male gaze and the passive expectations on women and their role in society and in a relationship.

Postmodernism is something that can only stand up if defined through the use of pluralism. Without events and cultural movements to support the definition of these artist there would be nothing. But its fault is the lack of knowing if these events caused the artist to think differently and create something based on that or to responding to the actual events and create work in a commentary of that specific event not just a general mindset they are new too.

All of these ism’s are that of post thought, no artist at least in my experience sits down and rights out a but of ism’s then builds a piece based on that, ism’s are used to describe the work to those who are not artists or cannot emotionally connect to a piece. Giving an ism’s to something is like trying to but and ism on a sunset or childbirth, these indescribable experiences cannot be summed up in a word much like art. The artist does not want to have a title for a piece then “Realism” to describe the hundreds of hours put into its creation and thought behind it and personal value. This lessens its value, naming and labeling only weaken the piece and open up arguments over the artist’s intent  and true understanding. Andre Serrano’s “Piss Christ” is an example that only that which offends or upsets forces the viewers to go to the creator and get the real insight on the piece because the are so upset, but what about that which you enjoy or possibly don’t understand, it takes more than 600 words or less to describe a piece and ultimately will fail.

ICA

For this second Gallery I took a different approach in documenting how I go about viewing the work, along with how I decided to create art from art to fill my need for creation. I used a GoPro black edition set to 4 second intervals from the time I left to the time I got back in the car. This kinda of POV approach to a viewer seeing a collection of work gives the insight to a personal experience more than a strategic documenting approach of straight forward images of the work. I wanted to achieve this new perspective as a contemporary approach to the viewing of Contemporary art.

Due to this being a video rather than a slide show I will use timestamps to refer to key points in this trip.

{1:07} is the first shot of the massive wall of work. The way these images were presented really engulf you and force you to stand in front of this massive creation for a long time and try to absorb it all. This gorgeous complex stimulation of images is almost too much to take in now matter how long you stare, but the trance you fall under is just what it seeks to achieve, some are so far away and high up on the wall you cant properly get a good understanding making a statement that maybe the message isnt in the details.

{1:11} We see this towering image of a Astronaut without his helmet standing in front of what looks like a ocean filled horizon. As you get closer, we can see that his suite has a large array of colors that mesmerize the eye and draw you into the subtle wrinkles and flow of the fabric. It feels almost oil like. Similar to that of  oil in water and the rainbow it creates. The scale of the figure towers over you making you feel small as earth is in the massive existence we fill.

{1:14} A bust of a woman with red hair and almost green skin present herself to us as a possible commentary of the morbid lives we live, death hangs over us constantly and sways our choices during our lives. This perspective flaws our possibilities in living a full life. The morbid appearance of the women acts as a photo to capture her emotions in life to be reflected in death. A miserable empty gaze.

{1:44} This odd 3-d bust of what looks like a character, that of which I can only guess is an old woman surrounded by a textured background. The way this piece was made shows a very creative way of working, this almost looks as if someone played with a dish of food to organize it to create this figure. I really enjoy the childishness of this piece along with the creative new technique and use of materials.

{2:05} This was by far my favorite piece in the entire place. A figure of a woman surrounded by pieces of paper with a dildo fixed to the painting. All of this encompassed by the words “Suck my dick”. With closer examination we see that each letter is a rejection letter from various places refusing to show this particular artist’s work. This creation from rejection is a perfect “Fuck you” to those who refused to show this work and now have actually become apart of a piece of work. I love this rebellious piece and shock value of an actual dildo being apart of the painting.

Module 4

I believe Cindy Sherman was very sincere in her intent of not focusing on theory when constructing the “Untitled Film Stills”. Although she is recreating something that is cemented in theory even if its a horrible example, those images she is simulating are based on actual images created to be pleasing to the eye by someone who is using theory. She is merely creating similar images without purposely adding theory into the concept. Although as her awareness to postmodern theoretical constructs grow I believe it may have had a passive influence over her work. Nothing out right or forced into the work but when seeing all around her doing these new things, even if she deliberately did not put effort into these theories, it will present itself in the work in even the most subtle way due to her awareness of the subject and examples of work displaying this. I believe it is a very strong example of let the theory find her after the fact. She speaks about an image she created she refers to as the “Black Sheet”. While she created and intended for this image to depict a girl after a long drunken night out coming home as the sun rises and trying to get some sleep while fighting a hang over. She had heard from others that they thought the girl was a rape victim. This is just a an example of how others will interpret something in so many ways that are close and as far away from the intended understanding by the artist. This is just a common occurrence that happens with pieces created and left with no story presented to the viewer or even a title. You will get wild narratives to justify the viewers understanding of the image.

I believe an artist should not ponder theory before the construction of a piece, if you set limitations for yourself it will only hinder the output of the piece. For me I never have an final image in my head as I start a piece, I just have a rough concept of sketch to work from. If i implemented theory to the pre-ritual I preform I would never be satisfied or feel finished with a piece due to the un-achievable visually representation of a theory. The Artist needs to flow with the work, change as it changes and never be disappointed if it is not a perfect representation of the image you held inside your head before even touching the piece. Theory is that of what we use to explain and unknown process or event occurring in result to a piece. Art is created, while theory is used to explain art, a way to simplify grand concepts to a verbal way of explanation.

The Ethereal Zeitgeist

For this showing I have chosen six pieces of Art that question the beginning of our existence along with the purpose of it. This period of time we have all grown through and continue too, is an age of reason. As science progresses and more minds join together to try to understand why we are here and how we came to be we become more understanding grow and more defined. Much of this art depicts emotions and experience that can not be explained or understood until it happens to yourself but with these beautiful works of art we see new understandings in ourselves as humans. Possibly a stepping stone to sympathize with our common human. Some the artists featured in this collection will be Alex Grey, Mars-1, Daniel Mirante, and Cameron Gray. All of these artists display magnificent technical abilities and as far as creativity and mental capacity, their attention to detail and narrative exceeds any measurable comparison.

I chose this topic and these specific artists because they are some of my personal favorite and depict things I believe words are unable to describe therefore making their artwork worth that much more to the viewer. An experience than can not be achieved without being somewhere you can view these pieces of work.

Rivers and Tides

Andy Goldsworthy’s work resists this notion of Greenberg’s Formalism because of the strong shapes and symbols created by his hands. Formalism is the critique of form and style and their purely visual aspects. This suggests that there is no narrative or metaphor created by the piece or supporting the piece. While much of Goldsworthy’s work is beautiful to the untrained eye and uninformed mind, he very much has narrative and metaphor behind his work even if it is as simple as “Erosion”. He speaks of his sight specific work as a premonition of creativity. He creates works that he believes nature only makes more beautiful when the tides rise and engulf the stacks of stones he has lain or the sun melts the ice he has so carefully melted together in a river like curve. This strong presence of creation and destruction in such a short period of time is something he is trying to communicate with his work, this is what sets him outside of the Formalist eye. I believe Goldsworthy fits to that of a Kantian-Hegelian pre modernist due to his use of materials being those of which are usually only found in nature and in a purely random and chaotic placement. There is no organization before he begins, he works from what he sees laying around and for him to be able to see a floating ball made of wooden sticks in the middle of a little waterfall along a stream is that which makes his understanding of the natural world so fascinating. He organizes chaos in a unnatural way, although he demonstrates how nature will force this to return to the state it was in before he ever came along and no matter how many times he creates a piece nature is right there on his tail destroying it all and putting it all back where it once was. This impermanent state of existence for a piece of art is something that shows the beauty of the world we live in and how if we are lucky to see one of these pieces for a moment that is amazing because it will never exist like that ever again. This ever changing canvas that Goldsworthy makes subtle changes to over and over is a philosophical practice in its own, much like a monk meditating he simply sets out across the landscape to create a piece he knows will ultimately be destroyed that day, or month,  or if he is really lucky a year or so. Aside from his own personal documentation of the pieces, we may never see them in person and therefore making them seem almost dreamlike, a idea you have stuck with you from a previous nights rests.  Goldsworthy is an artist who creates beauty from beauty and forces you to understand the power and complexity of chance and the planet we inhabit.

MOBO of Art

I decided to use a MotherBoard as a stand in for a tree since I will be discussing mainly New Media artists. Covering the location of where a CPU would sit are the inventors or the camera, computer, and video camera. Along with Pop Art and the Dada movement. I believe it is important to state who created the tools now being used to create this form of art even if the original intentions of creating a computer and camera were not Art related. The Dada Movement and Pop Art are key movements and areas of art that artist began using technology as ways to create rather than the traditional methods.  If we move down on the MOBO we will see the slots for the RAM or short term memory of the computer. Three names fill these slots, Bill Viola, John Cage, and Vera Molnar. These three artists are those that in their starts did not begin with the intentions of using technology or computers to aid them in their work or focus. These are artists that adapted to the times, changed with the pace of the new technology and used it in way it was never intended for, to create art. This relationship of old techniques with new materials is what gave us works such as Bill Viola’s projections is found spaces, using old beautiful places with these projections to create these instances or works of art that can only exist in one place. Then we have Vera Molnar who started as a painter and created geometrical paintings until she later moved to using computers to generate art. These pieces created by an artists who thinks like a painter but uses a computer is a relationship and perspective only achievable by very specific people. Last of the artist filling the RAM slots is John Cage,  a composer who became a heavy hitter for the art movement during the birth of “Happenings” he would partner up with other artists and generate music with the process of “chance”. Using coins to determine which run of notes to fill a piece, along with during performances he would create sounds that would be triggered by the dancers moving in front of a light which the dancers had no idea would happen. This was all to achieve an unrepeatable piece of art that would exist once and only once and could not be bought. One of the artists who sits alone is Nam June Paik who fills the DVI out port. Nam June Paik, known as the founder of video art. He was the first to use video cameras and real life actions to compare lived experience vs. simulated experience. His adoption of the video camera practically as soon as it became available for the public is something that shows the mind of the artists always looking to use a tool in a way it was not intended to create art. Lastly we move the PCI express ports where the MOBO allows for expansion cards such as a GPUs and Sound cards. Here we have the more modern artists that grew up with the technology from a younger age than all previously mentioned.  Louis Lefebvre, and amazing artist and director of the animated short “I Pet Goat II”. This subliminally jam pack animated short is an epic display of technical abilities along with the writing abilities of those involved.  This piece is such a powerful one due to its use of strong visual symbols to communicate a message to a large amount of people in a way other than text or an interview. This beautifully made short is an example of art with a very clear purpose. Next we have David OReilly a Irish filmmaker and animator, Oreilly has created pieces from animated shorts to his latest, a video game called “Mountain”. David OReilly is very similar to Louis Lefebvre in his use of art as a way to communicate or educate the masses. His game “Mountain” is tagged as a “Mountain Simulator” this is a game that is clearly either you get it or you dont situation. You simply load up and there is a mountain and you watch seasons and days come and pass. You can control nothing although the first thing displayed before the mountain is a line of text saying “You are God.” These artists remind me of similar intents in my own work just with a more refined and polished finished I hope to work alongside them or in a similar fashion in the future as my skills progress. These are artist that stay current and force themselves to learn new techniques from animating to video game programming. These are no easy tasks, these take thousands of hours of study and practice to get to the level of making one piece. You cant turn out work at the rate of an established painter because you are not “Painting” every time, you might be sculpting, or coding,  animating, editing, and even composing. You are taking on the load of twenty artists and even if you dont on your own complete all of these aspects, you must understand them all to create a coherent work of art. I put these high ranking artists around my name as a self test of what I hope to achieve, I never want to be behind the curve or not relevant in the aspect of technology, I want to be apart of the movement and ontop of the latest in greatest and use it to create my art. I also want to work side by side with other artist, programmers, composers really anyone that could lend me a hand in my art and even collaborating with them in hopes of having a different train of thought cleanse me of my conceptions and create something new and beautiful with someone or something that was not technically intended to be apart of art and or create art. This art tree really gave me the ability to look inward and outward to see who I admire and want to be similar to as far as my proficiency and abilities.

Module 2

An artist should absorb all the experiences of those viewing the work for the very first time as an inspiration for future work. Much of art is the escape of the subconscious, what is initially intended in a piece as far as the message and form of communicating a message may actually be a better expression of the subconscious that will not be internally recognizable until critiqued my an outsider.

As far as the artist revealing the purpose behind the work and materials and other information prior to viewing all depends on the type of art you are fitting into and the environment in which it is being displayed. For instance, abstract works especially abstract expressionism are those that need explaining before viewing. When abstract shapes and colors are chosen its not easy for the viewer to understand the artist’s intentions when viewing with no prior knowledge. Other things such as Vik Muniz’s portraits made from landfill waste. These massive pieces created from the trash are so powerful and inspiring all by themselves that no amount of text can add to the experience of going in totally blank and trying to take in this massive site of trash piled on top of itself forming these beautiful images of the workers at these landfills. Sometimes words are meant to accompany images and sometimes images are so powerful that they are universally understood by all without any form of written language passed along with it. These are the true representations of art that can we enjoyed by all across the world without a cultural or language barrier.

Some artist work in subtle ways that wouldn’t be apparent to the general viewer unless informed of certain things or even a simple thought put in their head to make certain aspect more apparent. Its like Pixar and the easter eggs they hide in every movie. Once you know that, you spend more time watching and searching for these hidden things which only improve your viewing experience. It makes multiple views better, and makes you look forward to the next movie. Artists do similar things like this but if never told, it would be a real chance of god for someone to notice these. Especially when an art showing is only up for a limited amount of time along with if you are there during an opening you may only have a few minutes to view the work. These situations are examples of when some small amount of information could push the viewer in the right direction.

Louise Bourgeois is a special kind of artist where no information prior to viewing can still leave the ability to have an enjoyable experience. But more information can also help boost the experience and gives you more understand to the piece. The cast of hands by themselves show strength and support in relationships in people, but learning the true purpose behind the hands show an individuals experiences and make you feel closer to the artist and allow for a deeper understanding of one other persons life experience.

Carone, Angela. “Turning Trash Into Art.” KPBS. KPBS, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.