Meural Fits Gifs: A Collaboration with A. L. Crego, Thoughtful Gifmaster
āI think Meural will take gif out of the web, where this format is used for many strange purposes. Gif will be dressed by Meural with an elegant suit.ā
Adrian L. Crego is an artist. I wonāt box him into one medium or artform, as he is a person who colours his ideas for the world to see with many different mediums and formats and brushstrokes.
Hereās a bit about Adrian, in his own words. His passion leaks through the screen.Youāll see.
āI am a 27 and self-taught digital artist living in A CoruƱa, in the north of Spain. Since I remember I was always seduced by any kind of art: books, films, pictures, music, etc, and I still think that art and culture is the only way to change people minds. I donāt believe in art that is empty, that do not tell anything. I always want to create pieces that make people think, or at least, make them start to think.Ā
I began taking photos and shooting videoclips and educational reportages in any circumstance, I do not believe in a specific kind of photography or video, everything is watchable, so everything is photographable. The trick is learn to see.
At the same time I was learning about light, colors, shapes and composition I was learning motion design, editing and digital retouching to make possible my own worlds, because I think that nowadays ārealityā is more false, than the āvirtual realityā and with all this technology I managed to create my own thoughts in photos.I never stop reading and studying about sociology, psychology, and nowadays Iām really interested on network relationships and how all this virtual anarchy works, despite I do not have any social network, unless artistic ones.
When ācinemagraphā appeared on the web I focused on it, but only to study the mechanism that made people love them. I did thousands of cinemagraphs because with a gif we can give more meaning to the picture. Sometimes in a static picture we can misunderstand the information, but when it has motion, we can understand almost perfectly the hole meaning, especifically in street art. I think Cartier Bresson would made gifs ;)
Despite of doing hundred of cinemagraphs, I donāt really like them because I saw that they need something more. Ā I was talking with them about what everybody was talking, so I keep on my researching.
Later I began to focus on gif artists, but REAL gif artists. In gif art, there are so many people doing great things, but the society (as always) prefer watching stupid gifs, or weird things in a eternal loop. On other hand I must say that gif format is a really prostituted format, but on the other hand, I am happy for this, because this format is the opposite of the other ones. The standar is that something appear because is great and brutal and then, it is converted in a nonsense product; but with gif art, itās being the opposite. It was born as a marketing tool, and people used it to loop videos and stupid things, and nowadays (I think) itās living a new born.
I connect all this facts with my personal thoughts about people and world and I saw that people like ātweeted thingsā. They donāt read books, the read quotes. They prefer series rather than films. They donāt write, they tweet. And the same in almost any kind of art. I also write poetry, essay, micro stories, etcā¦ and I saw also there that people read little things on the web, but donāt want to spend time reading a book. I know that all this mind chaos is generated by the brutal flow of information of the web, but I think that we have the duty to stop, and think deeply about where are we going.
So I finally decided to began with gif format, because I thought it was the best way to get into the web to try to make people think, using this chaotic, little, and fast way of living. Gif art is fast, little, accessible but at the same time, I try to use this characteristics to create an immersive loop that get into the spectator and make them think.ā
Among his many projects, Adrian is currently preparing an installation with gifs in a collective exhibition with another six artists in his hometown A CoruƱa, in the northwest of Spain, opening later this month.
Weāre thrilled to be collaborating with Adrian in bringing you the best art and photography from around the world. We believe this is the start of somethingā¦ big.
- Sim
11 years agoā¦
