Liz Johnson @sowthistle - Tumblr Blog

Art Project #2: Gif Series

I wanted to juxtapose the colorful makeup I was applying by making everything black and white. Black and white can convey several emotions and at the same time none at all. During this process, I applied makeup without any thought, I frantically applied eyeliner, lipstick, and foundation while at the same time making a mess around my sink and on my clothes. I struggle with appearance and expectations of appearance projected onto me. Everyday I try to look my best, and for the right reasons too. I try to look good to make myself feel good and not for the approval of others. If that is the case, then why do I still feel the way I do at the end of the day? Why do I still end up caring what others think of me or how they perceive me? It was a fun process making these gifs because so much can be said and gathered from a short clip, and it was interesting to see the way my story manifested itself through these gifs. We tell ourselves that tomorrow will be a new day. Tomorrow will be better. I cannot wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow has to be better than it was today. Is that something we think to mask our fear or insecurity that maybe everyday will be the same? That tomorrow could possibly be just as bad as today was? The frantic, chaotic, unique qualities of each day gets washed with the sameness and consistency that makes up our lives.

For this series, I wanted to use various timelapses of organic subject matter to play with various forms within my compositions. I chose to use scientific videos to capture the dramatic moments within the mundane or microscopic natural world. Experimenting with time and tempo, each of these gifs employs time and motion differently, having the original timeframes of these events being dramaticized depending on the image. The cycles of life and death presented in these gifs are altered because of this. I also wanted to focus on the color and texture of these organic forms, and allow these forms to speak for themselves.

In my series of self portraits, I wanted to explore how one performs or expresses identity throughout time, and how fragments of our past selves are not necessarily always a piece of who we are in a fleeting moment. We are constantly changing and how we continue to choose how to express our internal world also changes. Looking at your past self and your personal growth in a given time is a necessary reflection in which you are required to assess what parts of yourself are intrinsic to who you are. You always have the opportunity to look back at your past self with love or at the least indifference, and to transform. We are far too critical of our past selves to recognize the parts that are still there, or should still be there, what moves with us.

In two of these portraits, there’s a glimpse into my past, as well as the ways in which I expressed myself, contradicting the last collage, in which there is a disappearance into myself and my thoughts. I wanted to omit, blur, and make my face "disappear." Differentiating between constructing the best version of myself, and who I am when I am alone with my thoughts or safe in my body, I chose to express these themes through collage and fragmentation of images manually. I chose to use a bunch of printed out pictures of myself as well as botanics as a symbol of growth, transformation, and cycles.

The Drift

artondoom

Robert Brambora

Spirals, 2022 ceramic 17 x 10 x 14 cm,

zegalba

The "Bookgroove" bookrack-table by Deniz Aktay (2022)

sculpturegallery

michelle lopez

"Time and Motion"

"Time and Motion" explores the multiple dimensions of time and how it can be expressed in different facets in a work of art. It asks how time is depicted in every work of art.

Time can be expressed and understood in many contexts, including actual time, implied time, and recorded time such as in photography or film. It also quantifies time with tempo, duration, and running time of a work of art. Similarly, motion can be understood as either actual, implied, or recorded motion.

I personally connected with this text through the various examples of time and motion. Capturing time and action in a two dimensional picture is intriguing to me. I would like to apply these concepts in visual art and experiment with photography, painting, collage, and sculpture.

I specifically connected with the following pieces:

An example of recorded time being documented through photography is Henri Cartier-Bresson's: Sifnos, Greece.

Cartier-Bresson's work captures an instant in time. He has said of this work that he appreciated the geometric qualities of the structure and the sun light, and that he waited for someone to pass into the frame, making for a decisive moment in time.

I really like how this work of art plays with movement and time, and how he captures the motion of the action of climbing stairs. I appreciate how the sun hits the steps in a different sequence, from different angles. I admire the narrative of someone simply using the stairs for what they are meant for, and that It is the action that is just as useful as the structure, setting, and lighting.

Marcel Duchamp's Nude descending staircase plays with implied time, as a direct response to photographers trying to capture motion. By repeating and layering a woman, Duchamp creates motion and time, as well as movement. I appreciate this method of representing time, and think this idea could be used particularly well in collage. Layering and repetition is an excellent tool to express the passage of time with that media.

Louise Bourgeois's Arch of Hysteria sculpture utilizes implied motion in a way that endlessly circles, despite having no literal movement in the piece. Bourgeois depicts a male figure in a vulnerable position to represent the distress and discomfort. I am drawn to the negative space in this piece, as well as the fluidity of the movement, the sterile chrome curves. I think that there is power of its stillness.

gacougnol

Carmen Spitznagel

crumbargento

Poemfield No. 1 (Blue version) - Stan VanDerBeek & Keneth Knowlton - 1967 (5min)

snailjailblues

'Ritual,' 2022, mixed media

sophiegunnol

JOSEPH WALSH STUDIO

Hito Steyerl's "In Defense of the Poor Image"

Within "In Defense of the Poor Image," Hito Steyerl addresses the degradation of an image as it circulates and becomes over commercialized and mass produced. Steyerl asserts there is a hierarchy of images based on resolution, exemplifying how images become so consumed in the media that they lose their value, "as it accelerates it deteriorates." Steyerl expresses concepts such as "imperfect cinema" through the example of film media and the visual bond that we as consumers have. She asserts that privatization and piracy contribute to this mass circulation of images, as well as the poor quality associated.

I connected with this text as I have become increasingly aware of the commodification of images, and how art has become categorized in an algorithm which both encourages circulation and mass production. In short, I think that it is necessary to produce original, sharper images rather than continuously recirculate common images and themes that have saturated media and technology. I think the idea of image degradation could be an interesting theme to play with in my personal studies with photographic and film media.

Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry: Directed by Alison Klayman. With Ai Weiwei, Dan Ai, Lao Ai, Lee Ambrozy. A documentary that chronicles artist and ac

Documents the life of dissident artist and activist Ai WeiWei exploring his unique expression with different mediums. He uses both social media platforms and gallery art spaces to create and inspire younger generations to demonstrate political resistance through their voice and their art.

In 2009, the dissident artist created a work to honour the thousands of children who died in the Sichuan earthquake. He recalls how the proj

Ai WeiWei's creative means for social activism regularly demonstrates opposition to his government. He frequently uses twitter to document encounters with the police, in order to encourage others to take action against the police state.

A Washington showcase of work by the Chinese dissident artist reveals his preoccupation with the tragic 2008 Sichuan earthquake: To create o

Ai WeiWei's beautiful craftsmanship is evident in all different mediums that he interacts with. His installation exhibits document the human experience and his "eternal optimism" for a better world.

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Liz Johnson