Gentrification video

This week I did not look into any major artists. Instead, I focused more on my own project that will be premiering March 11, 2011 in the cinema at Lawrence University. Jinglie and I have had an entire week of editing, but for some reason I do not feel like we are far enough in this process. However, I am currently in Chicago getting some more shots for our video. All together we have about two more studio filming sessions with the green screen, and one day to do straight shots of different scenes. Jinglie really has this massive, stylish vision for our music video. I do as well, but I focus more on the content than the style. We both have a similar vision; we are just focusing on different aspects of it. I think our ideas are creative and inspiring. With both of our intellect combined, we will create a video that makes a statement and is still full of style.
On a different note, our product is complete and on sale at Zazzle.com. We are selling posters online for 9.95. Please go on to this website and check out the design we created on Photoshop. Here is what the poster looks like, with the exception of a few titles.

 

The Internet Exploding

So this week I read articles by Jorge Borges, Bill Viola, and Tim Berners-Lee. After reading their points of view of the Internet, I was not at all in shock. What I received from the readings was that the Internet would soon power our society. Were they wrong? Think about it. At Lawrence University, when the network is down for hours, students and faculty both are loosing their minds. Sad, but it is true.

The World Wide Web is so much more advanced today; it can link so many different themes in one passage, like a blog. I sit here and think about the different social networking spaces that are available to the world, and how hypertext and HTML have both contributed to the Internet exploding the way it has. For the purpose of my final project, we have to come up with a product and sell it. Jinglie, my partner, and I have decided to create posters and T-Shirts and sell them at a launch party. In order for any of this to be successful, we desperately need the Internet. The web is this cycle that our society tends to rely on. 

Ray and Mary Jane Jacob

Ray Johnson and Mary Jane Jacob both struck me as impressive artists in the 20th and 21st century. In my previous blogs I have explained how I can appreciate experimental art, however some pieces I can not connect with on a personal level. With Johnson and Jacob's work, I can relate to many of their pieces, which makes their work more enjoyable for me.

After watching, "How to Draw a Bunny", a documentary about Ray Johnson, I took a trip with my class to Depere, Wisconsin to visit a "Ray Johnson Art Gallery" in a man's bathroom. Bizarre? Yes, it seemed that way to me as well. However, after taking the trip I was excited about Ray Johnson all over again. I enjoyed Johnson's collages that he formed through silhouettes of different artists and ordinary people. He was extremely talented, but some of his work, I couldn't understand. I am starting to be more understanding to art that I do not understand, but some art still is just way out there.

Mary Jane Jacob is that artist I have been looking foward to reading and hearing from all term. Jacob came to Lawrence University to speak about different collaborations she has done and her experiences as a whole in the art industry. I particulary found her work with the Charleston area to be really touching. Basically, she collaborates with different artists and they express different emotions that are still present post Civil War and Civil Rights Movement. She spoke about a plantation home that still has its space in that town, yet other homes are being torn down. This related first hand with my project. The issues of gentrification in Chicago has its similarities to some of Jacob's work, which made it more interesting to listen to.

Life Is Art

Allan Kaprow is an interesting character that I learned about this past week. Last week, I briefly discussed the fluxus movement and what it meant to be a fluxus artist. I have not come across many fluxus artists in my studies here at Lawrence, but I can say I enjoy it. It is something different, and outside of “the box”. Some people may wonder how could I possibly enjoy Kaprow’s work and not like Bueys from last week. Honestly, there is something about Kaprow’s work that is intriguing in a way, involving his audience in his pieces. Bueys was just simply disgusting. I understand that his work was relating to his emotional pain from being imprisoned and involved in WWII, which possibly is why I cannot relate to it. One piece I didn’t like of Kaprow’s was the housewives licking the jam off of the car. I personally think it’s entertaining and captivating, but I am a firm believer in things being sanitary as well. Art can be beautiful and magnificent without being gross.

Kaprow is a performance artist in a different way. When you think of performance art, one would think of some sort of action being done by the artist, like in my piece. In my final project, Jingle and I are piecing together a poetry performance piece with a music video. In both of those pieces, we have artists performing for the audience. In Kaprow’s pieces, the audience is the art itself. I find that to be intriguing, but I think it can only be done once. If another artist was to try to duplicate Kaprow, I wouldn’t consider it art.  

Here is an example of some spoken word poetry, and the type of performance art we will deliver through video.