4D Art

-4D art class account of an aspiring graphic designer-

[runeofthenord]

Overall I think my favorite things I've learned in this class are how to make gifs and performance art. For the final project I wanted to make a silly gif series that combined the two. This gif series portrays the funny antics of cats with a little research on the side into their silly behaviors. I am certainly a cat lover at heart. When looking at performance art it is also reminds me quite a bit of fursuiting. When someone puts on a fursuit they are not only donning that camouflage, but stepping into the reality of that character. That's why I thought it would be useful to put on the camouflage of a cat to portray their antics.

1. Knocking things over- Cats always seem to enjoy knocking different items off tables and causing chaos in general, but where do these destructive tendencies stem from? This behavior is thought to stem from a cat's hunting instincts, but also simply come from the cat's natural curiosity. (Grieves, 2016)

2. Gift Giving- Cats always seem to bringing home fresh kills or non deceased critters much to our dismay. In the wild cats bring dead animals to their young to teach them how to hunt. (Palermo, 2013) In a household setting a cat may bring you prey as you are considered the closest to being their family. (Palermo, 2013)

3. Bag Investigators- Cats love bags, boxes, tunnels, and the like there's no doubt about that. Cats love bags because they have an acute sense of smell and usually can smell the food that was in the bag before. (Reynolds, 2019) Bags are usually also coated with cornstarch or other salty compounds that attract the cat. (Reynolds, 2019) Cats also seem to enjoy the crinkling sound bags make. (Reynolds, 2019)

4. Constant preeners- Cats are meticulous preeners, often licking the same foot for half an hour. Cats groom themselves so often to cleanse injuries, to hide their scent, and simply just because they enjoy it. (Shojai, 2018)

5. Constant sleepers- Cats sleep A LOT. In fact cat's sleep eighty percent of their lives away. Daily cats sleep about 16-20 hours. (Cespedes, 2011) Cats sleep this much during the ddy due to being more active during dawn and evening. (Cespedes, 2011)

I hope you guys enjoyed my gif series and learned something new!

Sources Cited

PetMD. Why Do Cats Knock Things Over? 14 June 2017, www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/why-do-cats-knock-things-over.

Palermo, Elizabeth. “Why Do Cats Bring Home Dead Animals?” LiveScience, Purch, 29 Mar. 2013, www.livescience.com/34471-cats-dead-animals.html.

Reynolds, Lindsey. “Why Do Cats Love Paper and Plastic so Much?” MNN, Mother Nature Network, 12 Sept. 2019, www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/why-do-cats-love-paper-and-plastic-so-much.

Shojai, Amy. “There's a Reason Most Cats Don't Stink.” The Spruce Pets, The Spruce Pets, 16 June 2018, www.thesprucepets.com/why-cats-groom-themselves-so-often-4126526.

PetMD. “Why Do Cats Sleep So Much?” PetMD, 7 July 2016, www.petmd.com/cat/behavior/evr_ct_why_do_cats_sleep_so_much. Ok

[runeofthenord]

   I was not aware Post modernism had so many definitions so this article was certainly an interesting read. The article mentioned Damien Hirst who is certainly one of my favorite artists that I've been writing a research paper on recently. I identified with the mentioning as I see a bit of myself in Damien Hirst as an artist personally as I’m always looking at random objects and going “how can I incorporate this into art.” 

    To me post modernism was defined well by the Young British Artists, some of which were mentioned here such as Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin.  The YBA’s sought to create shocking and raw art from non art materials. Traditional materials of high art are considered things such paint, pencil, and canvas. Things that fit neatly in a gallery setting. Post modernism seems to look at things and go “this is art because I say it is” or “this is beautiful because I say it is” or perhaps “maybe art doesn’t have to be beautiful to be enjoyed.” It takes us back to the roots of Marcel Duchamp and his Fountain. Proclaiming something is art because the artist looks at it and says that it is so. This denotes that the artist has a lot of power in their title. Post modernism challenges the tidy structure of the gallery or sometimes fits the bizarre into the gallery without the usage of paint or pencil. 

1. Escaping the Confines of Museums: Lightning Field, Walter De Maria, 1977, Pointed Steel Rods: Although this is considered an earth work it is certainly post modern in the way it escapes the museum. It is breath taking union between land and sky that pushes the boundaries of what man can make into art. 

2. Collapsing Boundaries Between High and Low art: Girl with Hair Ribbon, Roy Lichenstein, 1965, Oil and Acrylic: This painting certainly reflects cutting the boundaries between high and low art due to the fact that is produced in a traditional high art medium, but reflects the low art style of cheap comic books. Combined, it creates something new. 

3. Rejecting Originality: Estate, Robert Rauschenberg, Oil and Silkscreen ink on canvas, 1963: I Think this work reflects objecting originality well because instead of inventing things purely meant for the purpose of aesthetic the work draws off of images one might see daily. Therefore drawing from everyday culture much in the way pop art would. 

4. Jouissance: Rhythm Zero, Marina Abramovic, Performance art, 1974: It was hard to really grasp the term and the meaning of it. The most I got out of it is that it is on the verge of something so pleasurable it grasps the threshold of pain. I think Rhythm 0 portrays this well as Abramovic left people in control to do as they pleased with her. This performance brought out the true animalistic qualities of human beings with the allowance of such freedom. 

5. Working Collectively: Rrose Selavy, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, 1920-1921, photograph,: This is a good example of artists working together on a project. Two early pioneer’s of Dada came together to shape Duchamp’s alter ego. Duchamp posed and Man Ray snapped each and every photograph of the female alter ego. 

6. Appropriating: Campbell’s Soup Cans, Andy Warhol, 1962, Screen printing on canvas: a very well known master of appropriation, Warhol would draw artistic inspiration from pop culture, mass consumerism, and advertisement culture. 

7. Simulating: You’re In, Andy Warhol, 1967, Spray Paint on glass bottles in printed wooden crate, With this category we see Andy Warhol again as he uses ordinary items to mimic a large chunk of consumerist culture and present it as art. 

8. Hybridizing: Char Nuptial Japon, Felix Armand Heullant, 19th Century, Oil on Canvas,: a strong example of hybridization is with the art movement of Japonisme. In this painting we see a very French impressionist style that is reflecting a very Japanese cultural atmosphere. 

9. Mixing Media: Monogram, Robert Rauschenberg, 1959, Oil on canvas, paper, wood, stuffed Angora Goat, tire : This work is a prime example of mixing medias as it combines several different elements together to make something between a painting and a sculpture. 

10. Layering: Golden Future, Sheppard Fairey, 2018, Color Screen Print and Multimedia Collage, : A prime example of layering many different images to create a singular piece. 

11. Mixing Codes: Power Washer, Banksy, Spray paint and Stencil, 2008, : This work mixes codes by the washing of what would be considered priceless parts of historical and cultural history in the form of cave paintings. The work offers a commentary on what we see as art vs. what we see as vandalism. 

12. Recontextualizing: The Golden Calf, Damien Hirst, 2008, Vitrine, Formaldehyde, calf, gold, gold plated stainless steel, marble, : this work represents the taking of something mundane and giving it new meaning with added materials and a title that denotes mystical and mythological qualities. 

13. Confronting the Gaze: How much Life is Enough?, Juno Calypso, 2018, photograph, : 

14. Facing the Abject: Blood Piss Blues Series, Vincius Quesada, Blood, urine, blue paint on canvas 

15. Constructing Identities:  Alvin Baltrop, Navy Sailors, 1969--72, Gelatin-silver print 

16. Using Narratives: After the Prom, Norman Rockwell, 1957, oil on canvas

17. Creating Metaphors: The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893, tempera, pastel, oil paint

18. Irony, parody, and dissonance: The Treachery of Images, Rene Margritte, 1929, oil paint 

[hcarbone3]

Project #3 - The Artist is Present

to read 

For some reason this project was difficult for me because I always assume art needs to take more time and effort, so I wasn’t happy with the performance art I had chosen for a long time. At first I thought, “how is this considered art if all I’m doing is filming myself do next to nothing for a minute?” However, with how quickly our society works all the time, it was more difficult to force myself to focus on only one thing for this long. It ended up being a lot longer than one minute since I decided to film via time-lapse, so what you see as only a minute long activity took actually 30 minutes. 

Reading is something that consumes most of my days since not only do I work full-time (before COVID-19) but I also am going to school full-time, so I chose to film myself reading my art history textbook. As I re-watch the video, it’s interesting to see how fidgety I am when I read, so major kudos to all performance artists who stay absolutely still for long periods of time. I’m really happy that this section revolved around performance art because that’s what I’m currently learning about in my art history class, and it’s fascinating! 

[runeofthenord]

The timelapse effect for this is really cool. I think it certainly adds to the performance. It is a mundane everyday activity that I'm sure we all do, but the timelapse made it exciting. I think the fidgeting also made it exciting. If you just sat still it wouldn't have as much life to it I think. Well done!

[runeofthenord]

Photo from my performance art project.

[runeofthenord]

      Project #3

     This performance was inspired by the former exercise and the verb I used to spray. I also wanted to execute a performance that I could do easily on my own as I had no one else to hold the camera for me so this performance offered an outlet of ease. This was inspired by the verb, but also evolved into a social and political commentary thought I will leave the interpretation up to the viewers. Though this performance is a comment on history and ideals of the human condition. I had planned out a full story narrative for this piece, but unfortunately had to cut it down as my phone wouldn’t take video for longer than two minutes. So I did go over the time limit of the project anyways. I wanted to display the full narrative though. There is a story here.I took a picture of the end product of the performance as it is visually interesting. I’m not sure why I chose paint as the focal point of the performance though besides the fact that during this time of isolation I have been painting with acrylics a lot and the texture has kind of caught my imagination. The texture alone is fascinating, but the texture on human skin is even more fascinating and takes on a life of it’s own. The paint is one of the strongest symbols of this work as well as the water. The overall texture is really important too. Overall this piece was a lot of fun. It brought out my inner child, but also transformed into an almost transcendental spiritual experience.  

[runeofthenord]

For this exercise I used Richard Serra's verb list to brainstorm. From the list I chose the verbs To Open, To Crumple, and To spray. For the verb To Open I simply opened a door and took photos in sequence. For the verb To Crumple I simply crumpled a piece of paper and took photos of the actions in a sequence. For the verb To Spray I sprayed myself with my plant's mister and took a photo of the reaction. This exercise certainly helps with thinking about performance art. From this exercise I can gauge that good performance art is summed up to emotion and reaction. The rawness of a moment perhaps.

[barnsburntdownnow]

Exodus (detail) Damien Hirst, 2017 Butterflies and household gloss on canvas

[acolorblue]

’The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.’

Damien Hirst.

[runeofthenord]

   Response #3 

The one thing that fascinated me solely was the fact that performance art had a difficult to trace history. Taking this class simultaneously with Contemporary Art History I had learned that the Dadaists had really began solely based off of performance and cabaret art which I found fascinating as other previous art forms were based in painting, sculpture etc. Dada started out as performance based though. A lot of theater, dance, and poetry. Art of the stage. Dada as a movement really captured my imagination. I particularly enjoyed the emergence of collage and assemblage art. Also the fact that Duchamp took a urinal and proclaimed it to be art. I feel that at this time art was certainly at the peak of Avant Garde. Then came the Happenings as the movement of performance art rolled on. Happenings took things into an even more abstract plane of emotional portrayal.  Happenings being a type of performance art that had no real narrative or structure and were simply meant to engage the audience with emotion and senses. 

   The documentary Maria Abromavich: The Artist is Present also seemed to reflect on how truly important emotion is in performance art.  The artist’s life seemed to become art itself in a never-ending performance. All the emotions and pieces of her past came together to create statements within her art. The Artist is Present was powerful because it was so raw. There was no cellphones, no talking, just staring in silence. When one takes the time to look at another human being it can be a strong experience. This is reflected within this work quite well. The reactions of the viewers became part of the piece and it almost became a truly fascinating social experiment in motion. The film seemed to reflect how performance art can be simplistic in nature, but strong in emotional perception.  

[runeofthenord]

Ode By Anna Plume

  For this project I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go in. I’m not great at abstraction. I like themes. So I compiled a collage of video clips that I felt went together. Some of these are clips that I simply had in my camera from various travels. Some I took on campus this week. I wasn’t sure what message I wanted to portray if any at all. As far as lighting goes I think I used a lot of different kinds of lighting. I also adjusted the brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness of each clip to make them pop more. As far as color goes I think I used a lot of color diversity. I mostly wanted to use calm earthy tones as well as deep rich blues. Sound wise I originally wanted to pair river sound effects with some sort of meditative music, but I could only find meditative music in three hour or so long videos which would not load into premiere no matter how much I converted them. So I stuck with the raw sound effects which I think is decent as it doesn’t draw the viewer away from the images. Overall with this project I feel I could've done more with the sound and perhaps added some interesting effects. I felt though that anything to crazy would take away from the natural feel of the video. Anyways, enjoy! 

[runeofthenord]

Response #2

Light and sound are powerful tools in art. People take these for granted in the simplicity of painterly and sculpted art forms. When are starts to move though these really come into play. Abstraction can fit well with these elements. For my project I had trouble thinking in an avante garde or abstract way. I prefer to put things in boxes. To give things categories and boxes. I like themes to fit, but as art has shown us over the past hundred years sometimes art is better for art's sake. Perhaps things don't need to fit into such man made boxes. Sometimes beauty can just be the power of light and sound. Sometimes beauty is simplicity. Simplicity that may not need to carry a message at all. This kind of art is something I strive to learn how to create with projects such as these.

[runeofthenord]

I chose the music video Rats for this project which is a fairly modern song and laid old school thrash metal on it.. The theme of the song and the video ties in really well though the high speed thrash kind of makes the tone of the video more intense. I wasn’t sure if the goal of this project was to create something unorthodox, but I like how the similar themes fit in really well.

*reuploading cause youtube was giving me trouble*

I do not own any of the images or music in this video, this is simply for educational purposes

[lsayler]

[bh333333]

Great job keeping each one short.  It is hard to tell when some of them start and stop.  

[runeofthenord]

The tone of these is very somber and intense all at once. I love the inspiration from anime though. The flow and rhythm is also well thought out and goes with the theme well.

[tarable10]

I am in awe of fine art, and the applications of the future to the classics, as well as the contemporary,  is re-inspiring enthusiasm for art itself. What would be lost to the use of technology by youth is reinvented to continue to expose the world to what was the art of the the future, at the time, and has since become art of the distant past.  Animating the works of the greats, old and new, provides a platform outside of the static image, that captures a new audience, and invigorates the existing one, without necessarily destroying the essence of the original.  We can call it enhancement.

[bh333333]

Nice creatively and taking a different approach with each gif.  

[runeofthenord]

I feel adding animation to these works does certainly give them new life. It does certainly make them more eye catching and intriguing to a more modern audience. Some works you chose are older some are contemporary, but all fit well together.

[profbullshit-deactivated2020060]

what a tangled WWW we weave

In this series of ten animated gifs (appropriated from television & movies) I am exploring the aesthetic of computer security and computerized surveillance. The interplay of these two aspects of our digital world fascinates me. Authoritarian governments have created powerful surveillance apparatuses that are supposedly only used for legitimate law enforcement, yet my close friend, who is intimately familiar with such matters, assures me that the x86 platform that most, if not all, these systems run on is inherently insecure. What kind of world are we creating where an investigator with the appropriate computer security skills can access a near limitless database of personal information? If power corrupts, then aren’t these systems being built to create an upper-class of elite computer users who are naturally corrupted by the immense power they wield?

THE HUMANOID MUST NOT ESCAPE

[tarable10]

Your point was well demonstrated with your animations. Great continuity in your theme.

[runeofthenord]

These gifs flow quickly, but tie in well with the theme. The rhythm of each though is eye catching. The scenes aren't overtly extravagant, but hold your attention well, Overall they are enjoyable to watch.

[mikaylasart]

Theme: “Madness”

“Forgive my Laughter:

I have a Condition.

It’s a medical condition causing sudden,

frequent and uncontrollable laughter that

doesn’t match how you feel.

It can happen in people with a brain

injury or neurological conditions.

Thank You!

Kindly Return This Card”

(Quote is from Arthurs medical card explaining his laughing at inappropriate times.) 

(I had problems loading one of my GIFs on this post.)

[tarable10]

This movie was a deep dive, and you captured it.

[runeofthenord]

I haven't seen this movie yet, but these gifs are compelling. The scenes are interesting and captured well in each gif. The timing seems slow on some, but it works well on certain gifs because it builds up tension and an intense atmosphere.

[francesrmm]

Expansion~

For my series of ten gifs, I chose to represent expansion. The best representation of expansion I could think of is outer space- the universe in which we live. I cut clips from a video that was a timelapse of the entire universe’s life. I focused on colors that I thought were harmonious, and specific areas that were aesthetically pleasing to me. I find it both beautiful and terrifying how vast and expansive the universe is, and I wanted to be able to represent this in my work. I specifically chose pieces from the video that looked magical and ethereal to me. The universe is both endless and timeless and that is what I wanted to capture. The universe is also an insanely powerful force capable of an immense amount of destruction- and I wanted to capture the beauty that lies within all darkness- all destruction. When you trim just a snippet of the whole universe down to a few framed tiny moving picture on a tiny screen, it doesn’t seem so overwhelming- it seems quiet, beautiful, magical, peaceful.

[tarable10]

Very etherial collection.  The subtle animations are interesting and cause for a pause.

[runeofthenord]

The rhythm of these are fascinating, almost hypnotic. These are mesmerizing in their simplicity. They're not as flashy as most gifs and have a more calming effect. I think this ties in well with the theme though. I also feel that the theme could tie into flashy Gifs as well.