Leaving Baggage Behind Through Tactile Art

This past weekend I revisited a favorite film, White Oleander, the story of a mother and daughter's jagged journey and the art they both created in different mediums.  Ingrid, the mother, is a gifted writer as well as painter, and her daughter, Astrid also having a way with words likes to draw but finds herself more intrigued by tactile art. In the final scene of the film, Astrid has moved to New York to be an artist and has assembled suitcases as a map of her life, in pop-up-book like vignettes.  This kind of art is a fun and interesting way to scrapbook and tell the stories of one's life, even if you end up carrying some baggage.  

The Beginning

This was the first week of my experimental media class. I enjoy it a lot, and am more than willing to conquer the hurdles this class will bring. The challenge is solely based on what you can accomplish using creativity and what you can provoke in yourself and others. I am pleased with the small class size and the fact that I recognize most of my fellow classmates. Also, I am very glad to see that there are many different projects to be done alone and by working with others in the class.

One of the most exciting projects will be shown at this years CJFF. The classmates will combine each storyline they have created into one by using a series (or single?) photograph. Another project I am excited for is the music video. I have done a project like this before in my editing class and really enjoyed doing so. The guidelines for this project differ due to the fact that we are to chose from a local band that could benefit from a music video. I did this for my last music video and had a lot of fun working with the musician and allowing them to add what they wanted in their own music video. These are just a couple of the projects I am anticipating.

Awareness

After class on Friday, there were many issues discussed that were unsettling to me. I have always thought that I tried pretty hard to stay aware of social and certain political issues. I guess I thought that way to make myself feel better for an excuse not to do anything about the things that I am learning about. It always seems difficult to try and do something in a very small way. It is hard to think that little bit is significant. It is interesting to think of all the little pieces that make up the technological world we currently live in and depend on daily.

I have heard about the civil war in Congo but not the particular reasons for the constant fighting. I decided to research more about Coltan and the other mining assets the country has the potential to be a developed and thriving country. The country of Congo just turned 50 this past summer.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128208303

Experimental with a hint of Realism

As a devoted student of narrative filmmaking, I have very little experience with works considered extremely experimental. What I do have some experience with, however, is narrative films that utilize experimental elements to tell their stories.

Recently I have been exploring the works of Stanley Kubrick. I meant to begin this journey sooner, but there were other filmmakers I was more interested in. I have realized now that this decision was a huge mistake, because Kubrick has an interesting way of combining experimental with narrative filmmaking to make something subtly unnerving. In the past two weeks I watch The Shinning and A Clockwork Orange, both of which I found very intriguing. Kubrick has an amazing way of playing with the sound of a world that puts the viewer on edge. And he questions what exactly is real. In The Shinning he explored the limits of the human mind when placed in solitude. In A Clockwork Orange, he created an entirely different world in which things resembled ours, but were slightly askew. Using this world he questioned the idea of forcing a person to lose their own will for the protection of mankind. A Clockwork Orange also utilized sound to unnerve the audience, and used very blunt visuals to make the viewer uncomfortable. For some reason, however, I found myself extremely emotionally attached to the main character, despite his despicable life style, repeated bad decisions, and lack of remorse towards his wrong doings. When he went to jail, before he even wanted to reform, I felt compelled to cry for the loss of his freedom. This to me was the mark of a good filmmaker. Kubrick somehow made me care for this character without doing it in an obvious manner.

BOOOOOOOM!

When it comes to blogs, there are two that I follow constantly and habitually. These two blogs are really fascinating to me, because they feature new art almost every single day. They feature all different mediums, from video, to photography and sculpture, etc. The first one, and my personal favorite is called BOOOOOOOM! you should check it out.

The second blog is called FECAL FACE DOT COM.

Recently I found an artist named Josh Keyes on BOOOOOOOM! and he actually has work that is related to some of the things that we have been talking about in class. A lot of his work shows different animals in tiny little cut out worlds, showing the clash of wild animals with the concrete, security camera, vandalized environments.

I love Keyes' work, and I hope that you find something you like on there too.

Bruce Bickford!

Okay, so this is lame to have two extra dudes on our blog, but Bruck Bickford is a really incredible stop-motion clay artist that you must check out or you'll probably just die. Bruce is an older guy that has been making stop-motion since 1964 and is still rocking out today.



He's a basement dweller much like Mr. Chad VanGaalen, but I have a feeling Bruce has put in way more time considering the following statement he has made, "In considering the time element in working with clay, Bickford adds, "Transforming is a lot like painting. You have to get beyond how long it's taking you and just let it take its own course."

Bruce's animations give an incredible sense of passing time and evolution through the human mind. All of the work he does leads to a very primal and spiritual exploration of the psyche with a mind-bending collapse of space in nearly each second of film. If anyone else has seen anything remotely similar to what this man does, please let me know.

His miniature clay sets are so elaborate it's hard to imagine the vision he harbors. He also creates 35mm line drawings and 3D paper figures. God knows what else he has hidden in the old basement.




NPR Posdcast anyone?



Here is a listing of Bruce's most popular work with a video for explanation:

1979 -Baby Snakes with Frank Zappa



1987 - Prometheus Garden



2004 - Monster Road (A documentary about Bickford)

Chad VanGaalen!

So I was thinking about what might be appropriate to share and then I remembered Mr. Chad VanGaalen! He is an excellent artist on many fronts. Not only is he a fantastic musician, but creates his own animated music videos, illustrates all of the art packaging for his albums and also makes instrumental music under the alias Black Mold. Right now he is on the Canadian label Flemish Eye and also distributes music in the U.S. through the Sub Pop label. What makes his music so wonderful is this sense of magical melancholy. It's the only way I can think to describe it. You can find that in both groups, but the lyrics under his self-titled work. For example:

An Excerpt From Willow Tree

Sleep all day
Just waiting for the sun to set
I hang my clothes
Up on the line

When I die
I'll hang my head beside the willow tree
When I'm dead
Is when I'll be free

Check out some of his music videos!

Chad VanGaalen - Subterranean - MTV Shows

Chad VanGaalen - Molten Light
Uploaded by subpoprecords. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

The high cost of the digital utopia... E-waste

Here's a link to the article we'll be discussing in class today: Hazardous E-Waste Surging in Developing Countries (ScienceDaily, Feb. 23, 2010).

Welcome to EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA!

This blog will be the home of our new class, Experimental Media! Let the wild rumpus begin!

Photograph: San Qing Mountain, China (by The Archaeology of the Recent Future Association, 2007)