Term Project

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The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign) (1967) by Bruce Nauman  “Created in the studio Nauman established in an abandoned grocery store in San Francisco and modeled after the neon advertisement signs nearby, this seminal work acts as an advertisement of a different kind. Its colorful, circular text proclaims the words of the title: "The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths." It is characteristic of Nauman's early neon works, and typical of the tone of dry satire in much of his work.” One of Nauman’s key idea’s:

“Much of Nauman's work reflects the disappearance of the old modernist belief in the ability of the artist to express his ideas clearly and powerfully. Art, for him, is a haphazard system of codes and signs, just like any other form of communication. Aside from informing his use of words, it has also encouraged him to use "readymade" objects - objects that, unlike paintings or traditional sculptures, already carry meanings and associations from their use in the world - and to make casts of objects ranging from the space underneath chairs to human body parts.” source: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-nauman-bruce.htm

[phototermproject-blog]

Zoetropes 

The use of one or multiple zoetropes in my work would be related to the idea of circling thoughts. (I got most of these images from google image by googling zoetropes) Link to making a zoetrope: http://www.reframingphotography.com/content/animating-photographs From the above website, I took the following quotes: “A zoetrope is a drum with sequential animation stills facing inward around the circumference. The viewer peers through equally spaced viewing slots toward the images on the opposite wall. An open top allows light to enter and illuminate the images. As the drum spins, the slits provide broken views of the drawings or photographs, creating a strobe effect and the illusion of a moving image.” “The Chinese inventor Ting Huan invented the device first in 180 AD. His version hung over a lamp and would turn from the hot air currents that the lamp produced. In the western world, the zoetrope was reinvented in 1834 by the British mathematician William George Horner (1786-1837). He called his invention the "daedalum" or “Wheel of the Devil.” Forgotten for 30 years, the animation machine was finally patented in England by M. Bradley and in America by William F. Lincoln and dubbed the "zoetrope,” Greek for "turning zoo" or “wheel of life,” similar to the thaumatrope.” Link to a zoetrope in motion: https://vimeo.com/133396066

[phototermproject-blog]

Theme statement

Investigation into the idea of identity (self and group identity) in a playful, creative and destructive process using the human body, language, frustration and found materials.