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Bruce Nauman is also Wierd
Posted on December 11th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
So I went onto Youtube to find some of Bruce Nauman’s videos. I got two reactions from the videos I saw. The first few videos were actual works by the artist and were okay. Feed Me and his writing of his name in Portuguese were interesting works in that they were highly original, and I like the absurdity of the Portuguese work. I started thinking about Nauman’s work and how his neon works make tragic or mundane activities exciting while his sculpture and video are somewhat more conceptual (conceptual means I didn’t understand them at first or may never understand them) but what bothered me was the second reaction I had. One of the videos I found was an interview with a curator at a Bruce Nauman show. The Interview was for some internet site, which I have forgotten, but it bothered me in that the interview was cut up and edited to be flashy. I thought this was a way of paralleling Nauman’s neon pieces but the way people talked in the edited interview made the curator look incompetent and in a way insulting the work. I am unable to find the links I followed to find that interview but it bothers me how someone, who may have no background information on video art or the artist them self, could be swayed into someone else’s views about an artist. It is the ultimate artistic offense to deny art the chance to influence a person cleanly (if that makes sense) and I guess I was shocked when I found out my reaction to that interview.
Vito Acconci is Weird
Posted on December 11th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Well he is. After watching his movies, I don’t take anything profound away from them but I am made curious about the bizzare situations and actions he films. While watching his work I gain a feeling of watching, but in a different sense than I did with Warhol. With Acconci, I feel as though it is rehearsed, perhaps not in exact form, but definitely less raw. The positions of the cameras in his works force the viewer into a single or limited point of view. I get a feeling of cinematic viewing from his Red Tapes video and for me that cements the feeling of rehearsed viewing that I get from his work. His works do keep my interrest due to their randomness, and that to understand the Open Book video I had to watch it half a dozen times.
Tony Oursler FTW
Posted on December 8th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Tony Oursler is no less than amazing in what he does with manipulation and divisions in his video work. His subjects range from human faces to indistinguishable blobs of contrast and despite whatever level of understanding we have with the object, shows it in a way which seems alien and foreign. I find his work bizarre, intriguing, and simple. There are no great changes, nothing which can or has to interject a new or hitherto unknown interpretation, just a simple view which builds upon its bizarreness until it becomes somewhat normal. In the works which involve sound, these are no less powerful because they are no less disturbing. They too are common phrases but when heard in the context of the video works, they become as twisted and distorted as the videos are.
Is there a difference between Video Art and Artful Video
Posted on December 6th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Yes.
As a qualitative question it demands a yes or no answer and one can be found. I wont pretend to say how it is hard or challenging to divide the two or how they are so much alike that it could be both. The issue that suggests that a piece/film could be considered either is whether or not we consider a piece/film art. In that there is far more objectivity. People maintain different experiences which defines their view of art and if something challenges it, people change their perception of art or dismiss what they have witnessed as un-art. If we had seen movies like Metropolis in theaters today, would people discuss it as a work of art or as a movie? We know that it is at least a movie, it is recorded onto an object and is played in a theater, DVD player, or tape player. Making the distinction that it is art requires an analysis of the self or at least being able to quickly reference it to past experiences.
Personally, I consider a wide range of things to be art. If it is the product of someone who put into it their unique experiences ( aside- I am inferring that all experiences are unique, even mundane ones, by virtue of no one else being able to exist at the exact space and time as you are) and philosophies then it is art to me. Under this condition, all films, videos, animations, and more traditional arts fall under art, and therefore are either Video Art or Artful Video (except the traditional arts of course). It is then up to me to decide what qualities I associate with Video Art that are exempt from Artful Video.
Shocking
Posted on December 4th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Shock value replacing aura of art? I use the word aura because nothing else to me can describe the difference between shock art (notably the work of Paul McCarthy because he a reference we are all somewhat familiar with) and what I hold as more traditional or standard forms of subject matter. What Paul McCarthy creates is as much art as anything else that I or another artist creates because they both are products of our philosophies and outlooks on the world. While I don’t believe we hold the subject matter of McCarthy’s videos as normal in any way, his movies to me suggest that we have no idea what the fantasies and fetishes of our neighbors or friends are. His de-humanizing of the people in his works (through use of masks and prosthetics) references no particular individual but the anatomical similarities make the props he uses disturbing. Do I feel as though his art as some interpretive elements but the nature in which they are explored is perhaps unnecessary or gratuitous.
To summarize, I do not like him as an artist. Not because I disagree with his message, or at least the one I have inferred from his work, but because I am disturbed by his work. They are shocking and disgusting and if given the opportunity I would not view them outside of this class. I feel that his message is very effective in how he presents it but lacks any value in repeat viewing. In his more contemporary works, such as “Saloon” (?) I find his message no longer interesting or original. Upon seeing it though, I came to the conclusion that it is only successful when the medium is interesting or original. Interesting being a poor word to describe McCarthy’s works.
Post for Jan Svankmajer Competition for Posts about Jan Svankmajer for Compitition
Posted on October 30th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
For team 2 aka “Lord Voldemort”
http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/jusva941.htm
While the article on the site in dated (1994) it still provides useful insights and information about Jan Svankmajer’s work which had been around for 30 years when the article was written. The Link also maintians a list of work by Svankmajer which is more current than the article, leaving out his two most current films Lunacy (Šílení) (2005) and Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) (2008). The article also lists documents sited and explains in depth certian points the author is making.
Chelsea Girls
Posted on October 23rd, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Chelsea Girls is a very interesting movie for me. I use interesting because it is vague and holds several different meanings. The film in one way was boring. When Brigid holds court, I wished it would just end. It was the same character again and again explaining her convictions and showing her ego constantly. Nothing in that segment of the film held any value except to explain or show what happened before Pope Ondine and Ingrid. The one good thing about Brigid holds court is that it offers a look into how the people acted when they were being filmed. We didn’t need Chelsea Girls to show us that but it offers a specific look at how Brigid Polk acted when she fell out of character and when she became a representative of the people at the factory.
The film was also interesting in that it let me choose which side of the screen to watch. I found that I was drawn to either one screen or another, at least for Pope Ondine and Nico in kitchen. Before any audio came from the left screen (Pope Ondine) I was pulled away from the story of Nico and her kitchen. The silence coming from the somewhat forceful and very purposeful actions of the left screen became more involving and peeked my curiosity. It offered more than the normal actions present in Nico in kitchen, possibly because nothing seemed out of place or different. There were occasions when something would happen that would change my focus such as the cameraman putting his finger in the child’s mouth or the way in which Nico positioned herself in front of the camera combined with the camera’s movements. In a way, both films presented sensuality and we were felt to choose whether or not we preferred watching the classic model, a happy family, child, and home or if we would rather watch invasive, violent, and lustful romance.
Boys in Bed also played with the theme of sensuality but because it was so obvious, I feel that sensuality was more of a side effect to the real meaning. I could speculate that Andy made that film for Andy (as I believe someone said) but the positions of figures and the way the events were handled, allow for more speculation. The manner in which the first man was tied up and being restrained was similar to a prisoner or as a cattle. I got a strong feeling of harvesting from the females in the film. The one female as very masculine, handling the subject (the first male) while the second female looked on, very ritzy, a sort of observer or other character that is benefiting from the main action. This could have been Andy’s views on the way heterosexual relationships evolve or devolve or could have involved some sort of social commentary on violence. It is rather open ended but all of the messages gained from Chelsea Girls are from ambiguous situations. Today we can find ambiguity everywhere if we look hard enough and I wonder if some things in Chelsea Girls were meant to beat us over head with a topic or meaning?
I think what makes the film so interesting is that it lets us decide how we want to interpret the images. If we want to feel disgusted, we can. If we want to feel bored, we can. If we want to leave, we can. If we want more, we can watch more.
So Called – You are never alone
Posted on October 14th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
While not the most artistic, definitely one of the most visually interesting things I have seen in a while.
Big Brother Andy Warhol
Posted on October 11th, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Uncategorized.
I think the way that Andy Warhol was able to manipulate the people around him was fascinating. It was subtle yet everyone there was willing to give up whatever was necessary to be a part of his factory environment. He promised the fame in a roundabout way because they either hoped it would rub off onto them or he would use them as his next big project or source of inspiration and they would be center stage. In a way it did happen but what was interesting to me was that the people he surrounded himself with were so willing.
Even with reality television shows today, the contestants only participate for so long (one season) and for one or more of them, they receive a prize as detailed in a legally binding contract. For some, they still cannot take the stress or the environment and choose to leave the program while others are removed by the other members of the program. For reality TV, the producers and sponsors know that mixing certain types of people could be disastrous and therefore more “successful”. The difference as I see it between the contestants and Warhol’s followers (for lack of a better term) is that the contestants were being separated from their identities, from everything that made them who they are. As soon as they were televised, they put up their television visage and either completely adopted it or re-invented it. I don’t feel that they let down who they are For the “followers” all they had was exposed to Andy. He saw how they really were and knew that after so many weeks or if things became hard, they were not going to change. If anything they would become more fascinating.
OMG its NJP!
Posted on October 3rd, 2007 by smackababy.
Categories: Video Art.
Nam June Paik’s works show the way TV has invaded our own lives. While I do not agree with the opinions of his contemporaries that his work is self referencing (as mentioned here), I do feel that he understood the way television was going to change the way people thought. In TV Buddha, he reveals the ability of any object or person to become famous, showing how a regular statue becomes an icon merely because it is being televised. With Video Fish he showed how television could replace things in our lives. Why have regular fish when you can have no hassle TV fish? His later works show how TV did become such a massive element of our culture. Arc Double Face, The More the Better, and Jacob’s Ladder are all more impressive and powerful due to the scale and number of television sets involved. In a way these show the meaningless nature of the television program and the importance of the television itself culturally. Paik saw how communication was allowing people to do so much more, and the main avatar of this new power being the television.
As for the importance of Charlotte Moorman, she was a critical factor in four of his works as well as a life long collaborator. While she was important to the overall effect of the pieces, what made her unique over any other cellist is unknown. Why she was more important to the Fluxus Movement however is her own legacy for art and artists. She was “an effective spokesperson and negotiator for advanced art, charming the bureaucracies of New York and other major cities into co-operating and providing facilities for controversial and challenging performances. The years of the Avant Garde Festival marked a period of unparalleled understanding and good relations between advanced artists and local authorities.”(Wikipedia), the Avant Garde Festival being established by Moorman for artists who found their work at odds with the law. She sought to protect artists like Nam June Paik (and herself for her role in Opera Sextronique) and their right to artistic freedom.