Artist Lecture Review #2-Martha Rosler

On Friday March 5, the artist lecture that I attended was for the artist Martha Rosler. Rosler’s work Spanned over numerous mediums, including video art, photography, performances, tours and instillations. Rosler’s work also spans from the early 1970’s up to now; and she plans to continue her work. Throughout Martha’s lecture, it seemed as though some of her main re-occurring themes dealt with homelessness, and political issues. One of my favorite works that Rosler displayed and discussed was her “Homeward Bound” series of photo projects. With this, Rosler took portraits of the housed and homeless. As well as this, Rosler wrote “If you lived Here,” which is a book about homelessness, and made “Housing is a Human Right,” a billboard video on the topic of homelessness. Rosler’s artwork also seemed to cover a bunch of topics about current issues of the 1970’s and 1980’s, including a history project that she worked on entitled “Unsettling the Fragments.” In this project, Rosler focused on the German city “Munster” and the Anabaptist cages where anarchy leaders were hung and executed.
Over the course of the lecture, Martha also stated that she had a number of “natural” projects as well, including a “Bamboo Maze” in the Botanical Gardens. As well as this, over the course of the lecture Martha mentioned her opinion on the wonders of Photoshop. She states “I wanted my work to no look perfect and Photoshop has the ability to continue fixing images with no end.” This reminded me of my work and the way that I feel about Photoshop. Overall, I really enjoyed Martha Rosler’s lecture, she seemed to have a vast understanding of different, important political issues, and the current issues that are still occurring today. Her artwork is a great display of her passion and dedication towards humanity and the general public as a whole.

Artist Lecture Review for Mark Iwanski

On April 5, 2010 the artist speaker at St. Mary’s college was Mark Iwanski. Mark’s work consists of various mediums including photography, sculpture, printmaking, drawing and painting. Although, his most recent and well known work deals with sculpture, photography and printmaking. Throughout the lecture Mark mentioned that some of his inspirations for his work included poems, and the idea of “what things used to look/be like.” For example, some of my favorite work that Mark represented was his series of transparencies placed over actual scenery/landscapes. Mark takes transparencies of old buildings and architecture, goes to the actual site where the photo was taken, and then lines up the transparency with the landscape/architecture that exists currently. Mark said that his interest in working with this project was because he wanted to show the comparison between things that “used” to exist, and things that “currently” exist. He also stated that “photography is a way of revealing the ghost’s of the area.”
Some of Mark’s other work includes wood sculptures and cast’s of various tree stumps, with colored prints as well. With this project Mark stated that he was “transmitting from one thing to the next.” Mark takes tree stumps of large white pine mass trees, which can reach over 220ft tall and range anywhere from 350-400 years old. Mark takes that stumps, makes casts out of them, and then paints the casts and prints them onto large sheets of paper. The final print is actual really beautiful, with every mark made on the wood becoming visible. This is actually what Mark states is his favorite part about the project, the fact that you can see all of the trees rings, the chainsaw marks from lumberjacks chopping down the wood, and the etching and burning marks made on the wood. For this, Mark also stated that his inspirations were artist David Nash and Science. Also with wood, Mark has done various projects where he gold-leaf’s the base of various tree stumps, and photographs the final product. This project creates really gorgeous golden forms that don’t even really look like tree stumps when photographed.
In my opinion I think that Marks work is really unique and abstract, but beautiful and serene at the same time. I love the idea of photography being able to reveal the “ghost’s” of the area, since most of the landscapes look nothing like they did when the photographs were taken. Also, I think that Mark’s project with the tree stumps was very creative, and I think it tells an actual story or history of the tree. It seems that a reoccurring theme in Mark’s work is “history” and the past of different objects and places. Overall, I think Mark makes a great artist and I’m actually inspired to work with nature in another way.

9 to 5 Paintings- Evan Roth

A project done by artist Evan Roth now allows users anywhere to use their computers and make art at the same time. “9 to 5 paintings” is a program that allows anyone to do normal everyday tasks on their computers, such as browse the internet, write up documents, search for items, and much more. The artwork is created by the user’s mouse movements, with dot’s representing the mouse clicks, and series of lines representing the mouse’s stroke. Also, anything you do on the computer represent’s various strokes and line thicknesses. The user simply downloads a program that allows them to choose different color’s for the artwork, and then allows the program to track the user’s movements. Although there were a lot of examples of various “paintings” from different computer routines, I was unable to find a lot of information as to how the program actually transferred the movements from the mouse to the “painting.” Regardless, the program seems to produce some really beautiful artwork, and also seems to bring everyday work and art together. I really like Roth’s “9 to 5 paintings” project, mainly because you can do two things at once; some new artwork, and even some homework. Also, I honestly think that the artwork created by the program looks a lot like art made from the “paint” program on most desktop computers, so it’s possible that this is one way the program works. Overall, I think that “9 to 5 paintings” is a cool project that allows anyone who isn’t “art savvy,” make unique artwork while doing their own work at the same time.

Eyebeam feature:
9 to 5 Painting Site:

L.A.S.E.R. Tag- Eyebeam Graffiti Research Lab

So again after browsing around on the internet, looking at different digital artists work, I finally found something interesting. Developed by the Graffiti Research Lab in the Eyebeam research and development open lab, project L.A.S.E.R TAG allowed for any citizen in the New York City area to draw large-scale graffiti onto the sides of buildings and other landscapes by simply using a camera, projector and a laser. Anyone can draw in real-time on any large-scale surface, without actually damaging or obstructing the actual building or structure. Also, the artist can draw from up to 100 meters away from the actual building. As well as this, the L.A.S.E.R TAG system (LTS) is completely self-contained and mobile, while simply resting on a large trike. So in general, anyone can use the laser attached to the LTS, write on the projector, and have their message projected onto the side of any structure. The LTS also comes with a complete 1200 watt audio system and its own power supply, which all rests on the large trike while moving from place to place. I couldn’t find the actual purpose of the audio system but after watching videos of the LTS I think it’s just used to amplify different music around town.



The main purpose of creating the LTS was to “amplify the voices of everyday citizens and people in the fringe: artists, activists, pranksters and other undesirables in opposition to the dominant global cultural forces of consumerism, control and oppression.” I’m really interested in the LTS system in general because it allows anyone to draw graffiti onto any building without actually being arrested for it. Artists all over the world want to voice an opinion, and sometimes it’s through graffiti; but graffiti is illegal, which makes it very hard for some of us to voice our opinions to the world. Also, I like the fact that the LTS is mobile, so that the graffiti can be placed on various structures and buildings, and having it up to 100 meters away makes it easier to not get caught, if the artist wants to remain anonymous.






Graffiti Reseach Lab (LTS):
Eyebeam feature:

Graffiti Research Lab Main Site:

Ink Scanner-Friedrich Kirschner

While browsing through various digital media artists online I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be able to find an artist that interested me enough. Then as I continued on I found a project called “Ink Scanner.” Ink Scanner is a project by artist Friedrich kirschner that allows for any object’s silhouette to be captured through a program, by a pool filled with various liquids. The idea behind the project is that any object’s silhouette can be captured when it’s “surrounded by high-contrast fluid,” like milk or ink. The fluid around the object being submerged can also make the silhouette change its shape and form the more it is submerged into the liquid. Eventually, if one can capture the images correctly, one can begin to show the object at “different stages of submersion,” which can then be transferred into “slices” and transformed into 3D images. So, in general, the “Ink Scanner” is a pool filled with ink that scans your body’s volume as you go deep into the fluid. The volume is captured through this program by using software designed by Friedrich himself. The “scanner” can ideally capture any objects silhouette, including that of a person.
When I first saw this project it reminded me a lot of paintings or drawing in a way, but using a liquid to capture and transform the actual image. When I watched the video of the program, I could barely see the transformation that was taking place, but it seemed as though as the body was submerged into the pool of ink, the image on the screen started to transform itself into layers almost. It looked like the person’s body had changed into a piece of wood or a mountain, which I’m sure has something to deal with capturing the individual sections of the image and making it 3D. Overall I really feel like the projects purpose is to capture and transform one image into something else, without actually changing its true form. Also, apparently you can do this project on your own at home using milk and a Tupperware container and any object you'd like to see transformed. You have to download a program but it is supposed to give you the same results as it would in a large scale pool.

Ink Scanner by Friedich Kirshner from ChocolateRobot on Vimeo.

inkscanner @ eyebeam Mixer from Friedrich Kirschner on Vimeo.

His site:
Eyebeam feature:

Ink Scanner page:

Vector Self Portrait Project # 2 Revised

Before Revisions:






After:

LED Tapestry-ligorano/Reese

While looking online for an artist to learn more about, I stumbled upon a project entitled “LED Tapestry” by Marshall Reese and Nora Ligorano. When I first heard of this I was immediately intrigued because I love tapestries, especially because of their unique designs and abstract colors. The project “LED Tapestry” is simply a set of fiber optic threads weaved together on a loom and connected to RGB LED’s. All of this is then controlled by a computer to create different patterns and colors. Although, Ligorano/Reese have started to create more work where the driving source of information comes from the internet. Users around the world could submit information, such as their zip code, and come up with information that is then submitted to the LED tapestry, where a series of different lights are lit up to correspond to the submitted information. For example, the first five lights would light up to describe the current temperature, while the next five lights tell the wind chill factor, and so on until everything from humidity to the daily high and low temperature. The whole idea behind connecting information to a series of fiber optic lights that create one huge tapestry is very intriguing to me. Normal tapestries seem to be describing a story or idea while the fiber optic tapestries seem to connect one object/person to the next by weaving information together. As Eyebeam.org put it, “It’s a way to visualize a virtual world to narrate the real-time story of global information culture.” I couldn’t find much information on the project all together, but I did find a website that allowed you to input information for a “tapestry in progress.” At http://itp.nyu.edu/~bk942/icmw/final/tapestryControl.php you can type in your zip code to find out the current weather information, which is then sent to the fiber optic tapestry to display your results. The only thing about this site though is that it didn’t display any live videos or images from the tapestry being worked on. Honestly, there weren’t too many photographs of the project itself, which made me wonder how it was displayed to the public. Luckily, I was able to find some photographs on flickr.com of people viewing the project at a gallery show. Apparently, the tapestries are displayed on large LED screens, almost like looking at a television. Overall, I really like the idea behind the tapestries, and I really like the idea of turning something from a solid, cloth object to a screen of fiber-optic lights and threads.




http://eyebeam.org/projects/fiber-optic-tapestry-0