Self Portrait Critiques and Edited Version (Week 3, Day 2)

Notes:
- layer issue on right shoulder
- skin tones still just a little too grey
- hair looks a little blocky
- some seam problems

 I cleaned up the seams and worked on the hair a bit.  I left the skin as it was though because I like how light and grey it is because it highlights my hair and since I'm known for having pale skin I wanted to really emphasize that.

Self Portrait - Illustrator (Week 3, Day 1)

Artist Post 2 (Week 2, Day 4)

Blaz Erzetic is a digital artist from Slovenia who works with graphics, illustration and photography.  He currently works at the University of Science and Technology in Ljubljana on the basics of 3D technology.  Hs passion though, lies in combining photography with digital equipment.  Most of his works centers around a reflection on the relationship between scientific innovation and modern man’s obsession with the development of new high-tech devices that have no inherent usefulness or value.  His works are comments on the role of humans in the increasingly technological world of the modern age.  One of his past exhibitions, (F)utile Machines, presented an artistic reflection on the world’s obsession with gadgets, asking the question – are they really useful?  He did this through digitally created machines which are described as, “Heavy and clumsy mechanical/chemical machines of unknown, but yet indicated functionality.”  Sticking to this theme of man’s relationship with modern technology, Erzetic did a series of prints commenting on man’s relationship with time and how this relates to man’s relationship with modern objects.  In his series entitled Time Heals, Erzetic presented six computer diptychs (photographs that uses two different or identical images side by side to form one single artistic statement) that, although made in advanced computer graphics, present as a real photograph.   In this medium, Erzetic took six digitally created objects and, using computer graphic,  altered them to look decayed.  He then presented the bright and new objects next to the decayed objects, juxtaposing the new with the used.  Basing his art off real photographs he took, he digitally created the prints in order to present a rapid aging process.

            Erzetic created these prints as a comment on man’s understanding of time and how this relates to man’s concept of the material world.  Going off of the old saying, “Time heals all wounds, “ Erzetic presents a distorted view of this old proverb; instead of presenting the common understanding of time as the world’s healer, he shows it at a catalyst for decay and decomposition.  By doing this, he attempts to comment on man’s concept of himself as a ruler of time.  He does this by taking cheap material objects, made of plastics and metals of an indeterminate lifespan, and showing how even these objects have a limited “life.”  Erzetic even chooses these specific objects, made for storage, in order to demonstrate that things man stores within himself, such as memories or spiritual richness or hope, must all surrender to the power of time. 

Erzetic's digital prints present a powerful commentary on the nature of time and the finiteness of life.  Using simple, ordinary objects, he makes us question how we view life and how we understand our relationship with technology and its relationship to man’s mortality. I found the way in which he presented this message easily understandable.  His use of material objects to demonstrate the limited time of a man’s lifetime conveyed his deeper meaning well – that it is not in objects that we find eternal life but through living a rich, creative life in every moment, not storing things away for an undetermined future. The critique I had was that he failed to say which computer programs he used to render the images.  I also question his choice of a radio as one of the rotting objects in his collection.  I thought his attempt to make this look decayed was weaker than his others and it also did not fit as well with the other objects, almost all of which conveyed a sense of storage which went along with his overall message.  Other than thee minor details I found Erzetic’s art compelling.  It definitely allows the viewer to question his or her understanding of time; this provides for a deeper look at what is truly important in life. Erzetic, in these works, continues his commentary on man and his relationship with the material world and how this relates to how man understands his brief time on earth.  

http://www.erzetich.com/artdepartment/index.html

http://www.erzetich.com/artdepartment/ad-timeheals-photos.html

http://www.erzetich.com/artdepartment/ad-timeheals.html

http://www.erzetich.com/artdepartment/ad-futilemachines.html

Line Drawing - Illustrator Practice (Week 2, Day 3)

Pan

Ideas - My Page on Final Project (Week 2, Day 3)

For my part of the final project I am concentrating on the Cardboard Boat Race that occurs every year during Family Weekend. I would begin by including a description of the race and a bit on the history and goings-on of this tradition.  I have also  found  photos from the race that shows boats during different portions of the race.  Going off that, I was thinking about doing a diagram or digital drawing of the race course.  At each marker I would have a link that would show the viewer a past photo of a boat at that part of the race.  This way, the viewer would not only have my description of this tradition but can become a part of the race and its history.  

Here are 2 of the photos I have found:

Photoshop Project (Alternate reality) Critique Notes

Critique Notes:
- could create more of a narrative through putting some sort of animal, person or object within it.  This would also grab the viewer's attention.
- could push it more abstract or more dreamy
- reminded people of a storybook or a painting

Photoshop - Alternate Reality (Week 2, Day 1)

Digital Media Artist Workup 1 (Week 1, Day 4)

            While looking at works on digital media artists I discovered the Green Pix project.  It is a giant wall on the wall of the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing that is dedicated to the presentation of digital media art.  It is a sustainable structure that harnesses solar power by day and uses this collected energy to illuminate the screen at night.  It debuted during the 2008 Olympic games and lined up emerging digital media artists to have their art presented on the new structure.  One of these artists was Varvara Shavarova, a visual artist who has had exhibitions in London, Dublin, Frankfurt, St. Petersburg, Shanghai and Beijing.  Born in Moscow, she is now based in Beijing.  Passed works of hers have included a show at the Morono Kiang Gallery.  There, she presented two videos and eight large paintings based on these videos, each depicting an impressionistic illustration of the border between Russia and China.  They presented records of the industry and landscape of this area, demonstrating the fictitious nature of this division.  In her work, she comments on how the division of two nations merely stems from the politics and culture of these two groups.  Other works of hers have combined different mixtures of sculpture, painting, and digital art.

            The work by Varvara Shavarova I took a look at was designed for the new GreenPix project.  Commissioned by SGP Architects for the media wall, it is a combination of different visual imagery that will be displayed on the side of this building.  The video imagery is a combination of the four western elements (earth, wind, fire and air) with the five Chinese (water, fire, earth, wood and metal). These elements are presented through a combination of abstract patterns and colors; the video images glide and merge into one another.  With these images, the artist is attempting to comment on man’s interaction with the natural world.  By placing these images of the natural world in the middle of a very urban environment, Shavrova wants to demonstrate this fragile relationship man has with his natural environment.  By presenting her art in this format, she wants to allow nature to claim back the city. 

            Shavrova’s installation comments on a very prominent subject in modern society – man’s relationship with his natural environment.  In this time of increased technological innovation and demand for industry and manufacturing, it is often we find ourselves creating more and more distance between the natural earth and us.  By using digital industry, a very manmade innovation, to display the natural elements, Shavrova demonstrates this distance even further.   No longer is the natural world allowed to speak on its own but rather has now been transformed and manufactured through the flow of video and lights.  Just by representing the natural in digital format, Shavarova comments on the increased presence of media in man’s daily life and the decreased presence of real presentations of nature.

Overall, I find Shavrova’s work to be successful as it demonstrates, on multiple levels, this conflicted interaction man has with his natural environment.  Yet, I do find flaws with the point of her installation.  On her website, it is mentioned that an objective of the work is to allow nature to reclaim the urban environment.  Yet, by presenting this idea in the form of digital media, I find that this objective does not come across.  Because nature is presented using manmade technology, it is not really reclaiming the environment but rather becoming a part of the manmade, something man can further manipulate and distort.  In this way, I find Shavrova’s work fails. 

            In the end, Shavrova’s work definitely conveys the meaning she wants it to display.  Given that the natural imagery is presented on a wall powered completely by solar energy, her theme of man’s relationship with nature is further amplified.  Also the fluidity of her pieces, the way they are allowed to glide and merge into one another, demonstrates the fluid nature of the elements she is conveying.  By allowing the elements to flow into one another and become one another, she comments on the way nature adapts and evolves allowing the natural world to prevail.  

tp://www.varvarashavrova.com/

http://www.greenpix.org/
http://www.moronokiang.com/publications/varvara-shavrova-catalog

Photo Retouching (Week 1, Day 3)

Photo 1- Before

Photo 1- After

Photo 2 - Before

Photo 2 - After

10 Scanned Items (Week 1, Day 2)

Item 1 - Daily planner
Item 2 - Keys and wallet
Item 3 - Remote and stapler
Item 4 - Cables
Item 5 - Hands
Item 6 - Piece of wood
Item 7 - Erasers and marker
Item 8 - Cigarettes
Item 9 - Card and tickets
Item 10 - List of Irish slang

Final Project Ideas (week 1, day 1)

1. Our own Apocalyptic countdown 
2. A guide to restaurants of St. Mary's COunty. Where to go for what/what's actually worth going to. 
3. Summer Survival guide for Maryland. How to beat the heat and humidity, what to do in your spare tim, etc. 
4. Create our own legendary animal for the St. MAry;s River somewhat like the Loch Ness
5. Collection of ghost stories about different parts of campus and historic. They could be fictional or stories that previously existed.

First Class Meeting

Just testing to see if Blogger works.  I do believe it does.


Do links work?  I think they do.

What about photos?
    yep.
on a sidenote...I could really go for a slurpee right now