Mark Iwinski art response

Mark Iwinski is a multidisciplinary artist. Iwinski has created artworks such as sculptures, organic prints, and photographs. Iwinski has taught at Dartmouth, Cornell, and William and Mary. His main interest is creating artworks involving nature. He is fascinated about figuring out the history of the remains or ruins that made up a landscape. He likes to capture ideas or topics such as nature as they are. He’s intrigued by “lost landscapes” meaning how things within a landscape grew and changed over time. For example, redwoods are nearly becoming extinct.

Iwinski moved to Vermont in 1999. A lot of his artworks in Vermont were either sculptures or prints and he used wood as his medium. He was inspired by David Nash and other wood artists Iwinski was also influenced by scientific topics such as cosmonometry (the fusion of shapes and stars) and chemistry (especially electromagnets and electrical charges.) He used his inspirations to create artworks such as architectural techniques out of wood, painted tree stumps or fallen logs to make woodblock prints, re-casted tree stumps, optical illusions and voids, casted shapes such as spheres, squares, cubes, or pyramids. Iwinski’s casts of shapes and stumps were all white because he didn’t add color or anything else to it. I think the effect of all the casts being white makes it appear ghost-like. He also took photographs of his processes of making different artworks or completed artworks.

I found Iwinski’s artworks to be interesting and original to some extent. Although I found it somewhat ironic that he was interested in leaving the natural landscape how it is but yet he himself is changing the landscape by creating his artworks with wood or paint. I think it’s inevitable to create any artwork without somehow altering the nature of it because we as humans are constantly changing and having an affect on the universe in one way or another.

Presentations

This past week or so, we have each shown a powerpoint presentation about the artist we researched. We also each wrote a paper about our artist and the artworks they have done and how we view their artworks. I found my classmates powerpoint presentations to be very interesting as well as informative. Most of them chose artists I have never heard of or vaguely knew about. For example, Kara Walker and David Smith.

I did my presentation and paper on Tony Oursler. In my last journal posting I gave some biographical facts. In this posting I wanted to add a little bit of information about his artworks. Oursler began in his work in the 1970’s and is still currently continuing his various artworks. In the 70’s and 80’s, Oursler did a lot of work making videotapes and installations. In the 90’s, Ourlser fused his installations using video projectors. From 2000-2009, Oursler was involved in public projects in many different cities across the globe using installations, projections, and other mediums. This paper is going to focus on descriptions of Oursler artworks in the different mediums he has worked in. For instance, Oursler videotapes and installations : “The Loner” and “Vampiric Battle”, for paintings: Red “Love Hurts” Laboratory and (Usually) black anythingyou want, for single channel videos: “Synesthesia” and “The Perfect Partner ”, and for public projects : “Five- Take Radius” and “Influence Machine.” Tony Oursler is a time-based artist as well as putting emphasis on presence and space. Oursler artworks emphasize differences in time marked by the movement of the virtual image toward the time and space of the viewer’s encounter. His work explores the exchange of the signs of presence and the self-identity through everyday practices of media consumption. The meaning of this is the media itself has created a new space in everyday life. Oursler’s installations are meant to grasp the viewer’s sense of psychological separation and integrity.

Questions to Consider:

Does a chosen artist to research reveal anything about the person who is researching the artist?

Would it ever be possible to stop time?

I wanted to know more about the effects of slow motion.

I found out that slow-motion was invented by August Musger. The process of slow-motion is where each time frame in a film is captured at a faster rate than it does when it’s played back; this effect can also been known as overcranking. Another way slow-motion can be processed is by playing the film at a slower speed; this technique is known as instant replay. Many film directors have used slow-motion in their movies to create different effects. For example, to show athletic skills, recapture a moment in a game, natural phenomena such as a drop of milk falling into a bowl, and explosions.

Seeing

Last week we presented our sculptures we made out of our found objects. I made a sculpture of a hummingbird carrying a person in a jazz dance position to symbolize “freedom to express yourself” or “freedom of expression.” My found objects consisted of gum wrappers, plastic tv dinner containers, and granola bar wrappers. There was a lot of variety and styles that people use to make their sculptures such as film strips, nature, trash, mesh netting, and lots of other found objects. The whole class tried to interpret what message each sculpture was trying to send. Some of us had similar perspectives and others had very different perspectives. This emphasizes that art is constantly open to interpretation and no interpretation is right or wrong.

We also had a reading from an excerpt from The Object Stares Back by James Elkins. In the reading, Elkins explores the complexity of seeing rather than merely looking. Elkins described vision as the act of hunting and is a process where one seeks to possess what is observed. Although vision is an incomplete process because one cannot see everything all at once it’s impossible. Elkins mentioned in the reading that there are three objects that can’t be seen: the sun, genitals, and death. Although the act of seeing itself is simple, the different ways of seeing and certain aspects such as the media influence what we see is complex. Perhaps not everything is meant to be seen or maybe we unconsciously chose things we want to see and things we don’t want to see.

Questions to consider:

1) In what ways is vision a web of self definition?

2) What is the connection between visual comprehension, linguistic reference, and anatomical reference?

I wanted to know more about how blindness could be a necessary component of sight.

There are different types of blindness such as color and legal blindness where people need special assistance. Complete blindness is know as NLP (no light perception) Those who are blind that have light perception only have the ability to tell light from dark and the general direction of a light source. The way most people who are blind use sight is replaced by sense of touch such as reading Braille for signs, books, and other objects. There are many objects and technologies blind people use to accommodate for their “lack of perception”

Project 2 proposal:

I’m doing my research project on Tony Oursler. His art covers a range of mediums working with video, sculpture, installation, performance and painting. The fields he works in are mainly video, performance, and installation art.

3-D collage reflection

For my 3-D collage of found objects I created a sculpture of a bird flying off with a person who is in a jazz dance position. My found objects consisted of a granola bar wrapper, gum wrappers, and parts of a plastic tv dinner tray. The other supplies I chose that were provided was clay, wire, glue gun, sharpie markers, and wood.

The message of my 3-d object was "freedom of expression" or "freedom to express yourself" I chose to sculpt a bird because I thought it symbolizes freedom because birds can fly many places whenever they want to. I made the bird a hummingbird because I think think they are pretty, small, and have cool features such as being able to fly backward. The person in the jazz dance position represents expression/ expressing yourself. I chose dance because it's one of my favorite hobbies and one of my favorite forms of expression by the use of body language and movement.

I wanted to show the movement of the bird getting ready to take-off in flight while grabbing on the person's top hat. At first, I had a little difficulty how to make the sculpture stand upright while still showing motion, but then I decided to use scraps of wood for support. I used one square-shaped scrap of wood for a base and a uniquely-shaped scrap of wood to support the sculpture. I chose to add texture to the scraps of wood by using different colored sharpie markers. I chose warm colors such as yellow and red on the uniquely shaped scrap of wood to represent the passion (flame-like colors) that comes with expressing oneself. I chose cool colors such as blue, green, and purple on the square-shaped scrap of wood to produce a calming affect because while there is passion, expression can also be seen as a stress-reliever.

first half of semester

The first half of the semester is almost over so I’m going to reflect on about studio projects and sketchbook assignments I have done so far. In the beginning of the semester we discussed what is art and what is time. I still believe what I said before that both art and time are open to interpretation because each viewer or even artist for that matter has a different perspective of art as well as time. There is no right or wrong way to define those two topics.

In class we have explored various time-based projects and artists. The time based projects involved drawing twenty different lines, illustration of how you got to class this morning, a collage of model drawings, flip book animation , drawing dreams, drawing the negative space between objects, listening to music while illustrating the tones and pitches, illustrating different emotions (calm or anxiety) and currently in the process of working on collaging a 3-D object/ sculpture. Time based artists and topics we have explored Gondry, Phieffer, Barney, film called ‘Memento’, right brain- left brain transitions, Mayans view of time, Early filmakers Einstein, Muybridge, Melies, Lumiere, Futurists, such as Balla, Duchamp, Servini, animation-Windsor McCay and Betty Boop, and Martha Rosler.

Out of all the projects and sketchbook assignments I have completed so far I thought the flip book animation was the hardest to do. I was pleased that I was able to create motion . The main problem was getting the frames to hold together and flip smoothly and easily. Also, in order to create motion the frames had to be very repetitive and in proportion within the frame. For example, the farther away an object or figure is the smaller it has to be until it gradually gets bigger and bigger. Although, if an object or figure is already big and in the foreground then the size must remain constant.

I liked creating the collage of the model drawings and using the negative space of an object or figure to create other objects and figures. I really got the sense of time through the collage of the models because looking at my collage as well as my classmates, I was able to see the sequence of time by looking at the different body parts and the way they were displayed. For instance, some chose a linear or circular progression.

We had a reading about Martha Rosler which focuses on her view of technology’s role in art. It was obvious that Rosler was particularly fond of Nam June Paik. Rosler believed that Paik horribly represented the use of technology in his artworks such as stacking tv sets on top of one another to create one image or multiple images. Also that his artwork is not really art it’s “anti-art” What exactly is considered “anti-art?” As I mentioned before, everyone has a different interpretation of what they consider art so therefore everyone has a different interpretation of what isn’t considered art.

Susan Petry Lecture

I went to the lecture given by Susan Petry on perception, psychology, and art. Susan

Petry is a professor of Derner Institue for Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University which is in Garden City, NY. Susan Petry does art therapy, woodcarvings, and sometimes clay.

The lecture began with perception. Perception is the process where we interpret and organized our senses we perceive into a meaningful whole (also know as Gestault) Perception is important in order to survive in this world because without it we wouldn’t be able to understand and do a lot of things. Perception allows us to use things in context, simplifies, assimilate, and gives us a selective focus. Then Petry talked about illusory contour which is where you seen an edge in a drawing. There are three properties that come with illusory contour: objective ness, dual awareness, and problem solving. Petry also talked about perceptual construction, occlusion, and depth. Petry explained that in surface characteristics of a drawing 3-D guides dual awareness. Also how isolation is an understatement “less is more.”

From this lecture, I learned that the reason why people interpret art in many different ways is because we all have different perceptions. The process of perception is universal but our own experiences shape our perception. Parts of our perception can be shared with others. For instance, when Susan Petry showed us how illusory contours are visual peek-a boos; one person would point out what they saw and another person pointed out what they saw which they both have different perceptions of the same drawing, but when one showed others where and how they saw the image the other people’s perception changed.

Sequence

Last class we discussed our artworks expressing the emotions that either had to be calm or anxiety and the collages we put together based on our drawings of a model. It was interesting to see people’s different views of how to illustrate emotions and collages. Although, we were given limitations on materials and specific instructions on the materials we were allowed to construct such as six lines, a circle, two other shapes of your creation, and only allowed texture such as shading or coloring. The collages were interesting because I thought it allowed us to see different perspectives of time, sequence, and motion of a person, place, or thing. Also in class we watched early films that were created such as Einstein, Muybridge, Melies, and Lumiere. You can definitely see how technology has changed overtime from the early films to the current films. For instance, black and white vs. color.

Questions to consider:

1) What type of art work (ex. Video, painting, sculpture etc) or movement ( Youtube, Impressionists, Cubists etc) was the most effective at communicating ideas, thoughts, and beliefs?

2) If we were given limitations of materials to produce artworks all the time would it change the way art is viewed?

Three Artists I’ve chosen to consider for the project: ( Harrell Fletcher, Tony Oursler, and Tape- Beatles) I chose Harrell Fletcher because he has done video artworks that are interdisciplinary projects and socially engaging. Also the focus of the projects isn’t entirely based on him but other people and their artistic skills and other things. I chose Tony Oursler because his work is focused on Synesthesia. Ever since I found information about people with synesthesia which I commented on in my previous blog I’ve become more interested in exploring the topic more. I chose the Tape-Beatles because they have been collaborating different artworks and turning the use of plagiarism into a positive art technique. There is this book I read called What the Dog Saw by Malcom Gladwell and one of his chapters comments on different perspectives of plagiarism (what aspects are considered okay vs. when have you crossed the line and it’s downright stealing) I found this topic interesting.

I would like to know more about peoples views on films.

Film was somewhat considered a performance art form. Film has many different uses such as educational purposes, propaganda, pure entertainment, political, and many other uses. Sometimes with films there is also participation from the audience. For example, people dressing up in costumes for a well-known or popular movie such as Harry Potter. As I mentioned before technology has changed a lot over the years. We have found ways to make film more efficient and effective as well as making the equipment more portable and easier to manage.