For my last artist talk or walk, I decided to go to an exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art called Andy Warhol The Last Decade. The BMA organized with the Milwaukee Art Museum to create an exhibition to Andy Warhol, the exhibit displays more than fifty large scale works that reveal the energetic return to creative experimentation and painting that marked Warhol’s last decade. The BMA uses this exhibit to revisit the politics and pop culture involved in the late 70’s and early 80’s of Warhol’s work.

Andy Warhol was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker, yet many didn’t know that his birth name was Andrew Warhola. Warhol was the leading figure in the visual art movement also known as pop art. Warhol is best known for starting his career by creating paintings of iconic American products, such as the Campbell’s Soup Cans, Coca-Cola and such celebrities as Elvis, Muhammad Ali, and Elizabeth Taylor. In 1979, reviewers and critics disliking Warhol’s celebrity portraits calling them superficial and commercial, however he was not phased and continued with his portraits saying “I love Hollywood. They’re so beautiful. Everything is plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.” Clearly stating his appreciation for Hollywood glamour. Sadly, Warhol died in New York City on February 22, 1987. After a good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery, he suffered from a post-operative cardiac arrhythmia causing him to die suddenly while sleeping.

While walking through the BMA, amazed by everything that Warhol created I discovered a bazaar piece that turned into my favorite piece. This particular piece is a self-portrait of Warhol created in 1978 using acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen. I love this piece because it demonstrates Warhol and all of his different sides; he took a single self-portrait, multiplied it by four and overlapped them on line using silkscreen printing, a technique that often showed up in his work. However, before printing on the linen, Warhol painted with acrylic paints to add a bit of color similar to a 1980 exercise jumpsuit. This painting is extremely trippy and certainly one of my favorite pieces that Warhol created.

http://warhol.artbma.org/

http://www.warhol.org/andy_work.aspx?id=684

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol

For my final artist blog, I decided to look for something more relevant to life rather than just awesome, and hopefully I would find both. While searching Rhizome for recent art I stumbled across something known by everyone, iphone apps. Artist Paul Slocum deigned a software company called “Softoft Techech” that recently launched a new application called “Sir Sampleton” for the iphone, ipod touch and ipad. Paul Slocum is an independent programmer, musician, and artist living in Brooklyn. Slocum is known for the music software that he created for the Atari 2600 game console and commodore 64 computer, he has shown his artwork in museums in New York as well as internationally. And finally Slocum owns the “And/Or Gallery” in Dallas, Texas for the last few years.

Sir Sampleton is an app that mimics the Casio SK-1, this app was inspired by the toy keyboards of the 1980’s. In the technically world that we live in its easier to carry around a phone then a clunky keyboard, it is now possible to have similar sound and functionality with this app as one did with an old fashioned keyboard. The app allows the user to sample sound through a microphone attached to the product and then play that sound through a digital keyboard located on the touch screen. You can use the settings within the app to modify the vibrato, note length, and sample time of the recordings; finally the app also has a small rhythm bank to use. Once you view the short demo video you can download the app onto your apple product.

Overall, I think this is an awesome art idea. Cell phones travel with us were ever we go, what better way to share art or create a public art project then through itunes and apps. Anyone can purchase this app and create there own music and sound through the creativity of Paul Slocum.

http://www.softofttechech.com/

http://rhizome.org/

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sir-sampleton/id404873671?mt=8#

While on Eyebeam.org, I found a working project that is most interesting. Aaron Meyers and Kyle McDonald create this particular project during October of this year. Meyers and McDonald are other wise unknown and there was not much information to be found. The work of art is called “People.Points” and is a real time 3D scanning installation. “People.Points” uses a technique called structured light to transform a live webcam feed into an animated, morphing and transforming 3D point cloud. This technique called structured light is the process of projecting a known pattern of pixels on to a scene. The way that these images deform when striking surfaces allows vision systems to calculate the depth and surface information of the objects in the scene, such as used in structured light 3D scanners. Meyer and McDonald but also a number of police forces use structured light for the purpose of photographing fingerprints in a 3D scene. In other words, the camera is used to digitally flatten out a fingerprint, rather than having to use tape. Meyer and McDonald are using this technology as an installation idea, taking a person’s features and digitally making them flat. I found this to be a very interesting project however once I started reading into it I noticed it seemed a bit unguided. There doesn’t seem to be a purpose other than to view the human body in a digitally flattened manor. However, there are many pieces of art that seem to not have a purpose or reason for being created but that does not make them art. I enjoyed reading about this art project even though its purpose seemed a tad lost.

Self-Portrait

Alberto Seveso is a graphic designer and illustrator born in Milan in 1976. Along with graphic design, he also dabbles in freelancing, private art commissions, and long-term contracts. He lived in Italy for more than twenty years, until he moved to Rome where he currently works as a freelance illustrator. Seveso never studied or took any classes for graphic design, his passion for graphics started around fifteen years ago when he started self-teaching.

Alberto Seveso’s digital illustrations often feature human forms made up of a layered technique creating a 3D look. Seveso takes the original photos of the people and faces and changes them somewhat, most of the people are still recognizable once the digital piece is complete. From piece to piece he is constantly playing with ideas on what to show and what to hide, involving both the original photo and the background.

After looking at his different techniques and works of art I have really come to like his style. I was already interested in the “patched” look; however, he takes it to a whole new level, by keeping significant parts of the original photo in the digitally created image. The images shown here are examples of Alberto Seveso’s work the first is called “The Three Graces” and the second is an ad created for Google. These are my two favorite pieces that Seveso has done so far but I keep discovering more and more of his work that I like so it’s hard to tell.

http://www.burdu976.com/

http://veerle-v2.duoh.com/art/comments/alberto_seveso/

http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/web/110-artworks-from-the-top-20-digital-artists-in-europe/

Project Two - Plan

For project two we are required to create self-portraits through illustrator. These self-portraits will include a digital representative, an abstract background that is different from that of the original photo and some sort of text. Even though the text is one of the last things we will be working on I believe it is just as important as the photo we will be representing. That is why along with the image I am also choosing the text. While looking at the two final photos I plan to choose from I decided that a Dr. Seuss quote would most likely fit best. Dr. Seuss is known for is wonky quotes that simply state the obvious. With a simple quote and a digital portrait I will be able to show the audience my personality.

Artist Blog

Jean-Pierre Hébert is an independent artist that lives and works in Santa Barbara, California. He is a pioneer in the field of computer art and has been working with algorithmic art as well as mixed media since the 1970’s. Hébert was awarded a Pollock-Krasner foundation grant in 2006 and a David Bermant foundation grant in 2008-09. He had a solo show recently called drawing with the mind at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts forum and is currently showing collections at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art in Chicago and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Algorithmic art is mostly visual art generated by algorithms. It is a subset of generative art and is normally always executed by a computer. Hébert works both with the computer but also with mixed media. His works primary medium is on paper, mostly drawings, and some prints. He has also worked with films, steel, copper plates, wood, sand, and even air and water. “Hébert prefers to work on paper however he also is out to explore all possibilities of drawing, from the largest, most detailed pieces to the smallest, simplest sketches and cartoons” (1). This particular image is an algorithmic work of art that is drawn by hand rather than created on the computer or through a computer program. Laque Noire (1990) is a pen and ink drawing on paper that is in a collection of digital works started by the Block Museum. The image is meant to look digitally created, however Hébert created this image strictly from drawing.

I find this absolutely amazing, Hébert was one of the first few algorithmic artists in the world, however back in the 1970’s before computers they did all they drawings by hand. And still to this day he creates some of his artwork by hand, even though it appears to have been digitally created. Normally this is not the type of art I am into, but I just find this fascinating. Out of all the artists in the Paul Hertz’s reading Jean-Pierre Hébert was certainly my favorite. How they created digital art before personal computers were so readily available, I don’t know it is truly amazing.

Heather Harvey Artist Talk

Beneath, Behind (2007)

Heaver Harvey is a visiting professor here at St. Mary’s College of Maryland as well as a sculpture and installation based artist. Educationally, Harvey is passionate; she got a B.A. Anthropology in 1993 and an M.A. in Archaeology in 1997 as well as a B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking in 2003 and an M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking in 2007. However, since 2003 she has been working on various installation shows and projects all around the United States. Harvey’s most recent installations include “Blue Ghost Revisited” a site-specific installation in 2009 in Lexington, VA, “Fractious Happy” a solo exhibition in 2009 in Wilmington, DE, and most recently “…into this honeyed presence strewn” which is a solo exhibition in 2010 in Wise, VA. Since this past exhibition Harvey has accepted a position at St. Mary’s College of Maryland as the professor of paint and printmaking.

Harvey’s installation pieces focuses specifically on the “power of quiet, hidden things, the things that nobody’s noticing, the hidden infrastructure of our lives” (Website). Her installations embody aspects of sculpture, painting, as well as drawing. By working directly on the wall, Harvey is able to change the walls from a simple space to something much stranger and less anticipated. While in the artist talk she asked herself what her work means. And replied by saying, “It doesn’t mean anything, you (as the viewer) choose your meaning, there is no message”. However, she remarked, “If I do not explain my work to the viewer they will assume the main meaning is based on how the work looks, esthetically”. Essentially, she is creating these strange installations that extend off the wall however unless she gives some explanation they will be seen as purely esthetic. This being what she does not want.

After looking at many different pictures of Harvey’s installation work, it has gathered my attention no more then her talk did. The way she comes up with her ideas is rather fascinating however; this is simply just not my cup of tea. I can’t grasp her ideas and understand these hanging objects. Although this is my opinion I will say that it is a very creative and interesting group of idea. Other than that, these works of art are a little to out there for my.

www.heather-harvey.net/installationStatement.html

Nick Hornby is a London based artist that installed the most recent sculpture series called Patrons, Muses, and Professionals onto Eyebeam’s window gallery. Nick Hornby received his education at the Slade School of Art, University College London and Chelsea School of Art. Hornby has been involved in many events from winning the Clifford Chance Sculpture Award in 2008, to being included in Anticipation a showcase for emerging artists for his life size sculptural slice of a bowing 727. He was also shortlisted for the inaugural Spitalfields Sculpture Prize in 2009, proposing a large-scale sculpture that merges six different aspects of Spitalfields. Hornby has recently been picked for the Evening Standard’s “Who to Watch in 2010”. His upcoming projects include the 2012 cultural Olympiad, which is a large public work for the South Bank Centre as well as the Tate Britain Triennial exhibition, which is Altermodern.

In the series Patrons, Muses, and Professionals Hornby presents three busts derived from eighteenth century portraits. Each work is the reproduction of three specific portraits in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “Hornby models his chosen portraits digitally, overlapping them to create composite virtual objects that reveal shifting aspects of their source material” (EB, ¶2). The results are carved via CNC and the artist casts the final busts by hand with plaster and clay from these computer-generated positives.

I feel that because Hornby is combining historical portraits with digital fabrication processes, he is able to show the difference between historically hand made art and new age “digitally” created art. Essentially, modern day works of art are primarily created using excessive amounts of technology or digital assistance. Historically, however everything was done through the artist’s hand, whether the artist worked with plaster, paints, clay, or wood, working with the material, hand tools and an amazing skill created their works of art. I think Hornby’s sculptures are remarkable. The fact that he looked into the past specifically at three portraits and added modern technology is an unbelievable idea. Also the fact that Hornby didn’t simple recreate the portraits using digital technology, he also added in a modern digital look. That being, an overlapping of the material to create virtual shifting objects.

Project #1

Color Correction Activity

Alex/ Igor

Mushroom

Chicken

Playing with Gradient in Class

After reading the Introduction offered by New Media Art, I noticed that I was drawn most to the dada artists and movement. The dada period was an informal international, cultural movement that began in Switzerland, during world war I, and grew to have participants in Berlin, Tokyo, New York, Netherlands, and Paris. The movement primarily concentrated on anti-war politics and focused on visual arts, literature, art theory, and graphic design. The word dada has many different meanings, in German it means "there, there" in French it means " hobbyhorse" and in Romanian it means " yes, yes", and it was the groups desire to resist a fixed meaning, thus proclaiming themselves dadaists.The dada period blasted onto the scene in 1916 with ear-splitting enthusiasm: rowdy, brazen, irreverent, and assaulting art and politics and would continue till around 1922.

This particular collage was created by Hannah Hoch in 1919 and called "Cut with the Kitchen Knife Through the First Epoch of the Weimar Beer-Belly Culture". And in this particular image Hoch epitomizes the dada's attitude toward war, thatit is chaos. And due of war, the world has gone mad and is more or less destroying itself. One would notice that she constantly put dada in the collage as well as Die Anti-dadaist, thus expressing how she feels about war. This collage is filled with what looks like important peoples faces as well as tires and gears. Yet all of Hoch's collages don't have to do with war and its devastation's.

However, this particular collage that Hoch made that was called "The Beautiful Lady" and was created in 1920 has nothing to do with war and the fact that humans are destroying themselves. In fact it has more to do with modern technology and the hope and optimism of its success as well as it's relationship with the modern women. Everything in this collage relates to a women (one in a modern suit for that matter) as well as the every growing technology behind the automobile, this being explained be the BMW labels, the tires, and the gears.

After looking at both of these images with some detail i feel Hoch was able to capture both the chaos of the 1919 collage as well as the 1920 collage where she juxtaposed two concepts that would other wise not get along such as the modern women and technology. Overall, however I feel that her better success was with the 1919 collage. I say this because at that point in time Hoch had more emotional attachment to the subject of war and how we as humans are destroying all that we have created. I feel the second collage is merely just expressing how times are changing, there doesn't seem to be any real emotional connection or involvement.

Pixel play in class

Scans

Burning of seven wonders coach

Cast of my Foot

Paint Fun

Cow Tipping

Dried Flowers from SMC

El Barto

Drama Queen

Fabulous

Rain Drops

The World in the Palm of your Hand.

Red Mushroom

Laser Tag

The Graffiti Research Lab was co-founded by Evan Roth and James Powderly. The G.R.L. was initially supported by Eyebeam.org however is now apart of the Free Art and Technology Lab (the FAT lab). The Free Art and Technology Lab is a non-profit research lab that supports artists, designers, and entertainers who work directly with the public. The Graffiti Research Lab is an art group that has dedicated itself to outfitting graffiti artists and activists with open source tools for urban communication. This research group experiments in both a lab and a field inorder to develop and test a range of experimental technologies.

Recently the Graffiti Research Lab has developed a tool called the L.A.S.E.R. Tag System. “This particular tool allows any citizen, artist or protester to use a projector, camera, and laser to write, in real-time, on large-scale surfaces and structures from a distance of one hundred meters away” (Eyebeam.org). Creating this tool allows people other than advertisers and the mass media, such as artists, pranksters, and citizens to share their opinion, their message and propaganda on a large scale. After watching the video for me this tool is absolutely amazing, it amplifies the opinions and thoughts of a citizen such as myself into something important that other people may not have been able to see if the large scale didn't get the audience members attention. By creating such a tool, one is allowing everyone’s voice to be heard in a big way; you are forcing as well as compelling people into listening and watching what you have to say.

To be honest, I am so enthralled with this digital art that it was difficult for me to find a flaw. The quality of the work is up to the audience member and whether they write their name or their political opinion on the side of a building. It is through the open expression of the audience members that make this digital work original and possible. As far as the technological aspect of the work I see no issues. However, I do have a question that I couldn’t find an answer to. For example, how long does the laser writing stay on the side of the building, does it disappear immediately or does it slowly dissolve this was not specified in the writings on the artwork. After looking in-depth into a handful of ‘Youtube’ videos about Graffiti Research Lab and their laser tagging system, I noticed that the writing stays up until the person in control of the computer system clears the image from the screen. There is a program that anyone can download onto their laptop, along with a camera, and a laser pointer, with these items one will be able to tag buildings just as the guys from G.R.L. have done.

Eyebeam - Projects

Graffiti Research Lab - Laser Tag

Abstract vs. Realistic

This digital image was created by Richard Colson's new book on the Fundamentals of Digital Art. This digital image is the abstract image of a women's face, because the lines and pixels are blurred it is difficult to make out the details of her face. However one can still see that it is a women's face, based on where the colors were placed.

This Digital image was created by Terry Ferdinand, by using images from his local environment he was able to create digital art that appears realistic. After looking at both types of digital art I am now less certain as to whether I prefer abstract or representational and furthermore which I'd rather work with.