Read an article about a video artist named Ryan Trecartin, whose work involves over the top hyperactive portrayals of modern culture gone psycho. Domestic issues gone haywire, possessing strange, broken personalities, creating a world that is sure to make you a little uneasy, squeamish, and if you watch enough, certainly motion sick. Tis good stuff. (Amanda, I'm reminded of similar issues that you address in your own work.)

Here's a link to one of his earlier works but there's more to view once you get to UBU

http://www.ubu.com/film/trecartin_kitchengirl.html

I found this site that has a lot of photographs taken from serial killer crime scenes. One of my idea's was to recreate some these photographs. I've posted a few of the least graphic images, but if you interested in seeing some fucked up shit, take a look for yourself. It's about as real as gets... http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/serialkillers/scenes.htm

Went downtown Saturday night to see the annual Autumn Lights exhibit. While the work wasn't entirely inspiring or groundbreaking, it did include a few of my favorite things lacking about art shows. It was outside, and in the dark.

Project Name:

Hostile Genesis

Project Description:

six-part video series, evolving around six significant historical events both known and publicized, as well as personal

and non-publicized. Played out by one persona, striving to capture an underlying essence that

runs throughout the six events. As each part will focus directly on the portrayal of a single, specific event, I

would like to intersperse additional subject matter, unrelated in subject but relative in content, throughout each part.

Conceptual Concerns:

I’m in search of the unseen, an essence relating to the darker, troubled aspects of the subconscious. Those forces to which

humanity has yet to overcome, that run through us all. Through abstraction and recontextualizing of specific events,

I will attempt to make contact with such aspects of the mind. The goal is not to offer any such solution, but to offer

an unobstructed look at the troubled mine.

Technical Skills Covered

As I will be using final cut pro for this project, my goal is become more proficient with the program.

The video’s will be pretty much straight forward, without any manipulation to the footage, accept for basic editing.

I do want to steer away from traditional narrative technique’s. I plan on utilizing rough jump cuts, and sound

manipulation, as two possible methods to accomplish this task.

Formal Guidelines:

Six- part series approximately 36 mins total, I plan to have two video’s done by the mid term, and the remaining four

completed by the end of the semester.

Artistic References

Matthew Barney’s Cremaster cycle - ‘nough said

Readings

Chris Kraus

Thomas Pynchon

Chuck Palanuick

Psychology related material

Grade

Should be based on the fluidity of the video’s, and how well I address and portray my conceptual goals.

Goals List

become more proficient in the creation of video art.

effectively tap into the psychological realms that I’m seeking out.

address issues of the dark and disturbed subconscious that runs through us all

Gerald Förster

Nocturnal

Stephen Cohen Gallery

7358 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

September 18th - November 7th

Opening:
September 18th 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

At the least, you're guaranteed to giggle like a little school girl....

Lately, as an excuse to study light, I've been forcing myself into dingy, dive bars. If you're into to low-light, heavy shadows contrasted with blown out highlights, unusual mixtures of color, and strange foreground to background relationships, then I suggest you work up an appetite for some man-soda's, and head on down to your local spots.

The idea of the artist shaman has intrigued me lately. As world culture becomes increasingly more and more main stream, the outsider perspective is more relevant than ever. The shaman has always been in tune with knowledge and understanding that was beyond the grasp of the common people. As our world experiences greater upheavals and increased confusion, its left up the shaman to guide and enlighten the people. As artists that's exactly what we do. We enlighten and guide people through realities unseen. It used to be really heavy, spirit journeys intensified by the use of powerful plant teachers. Now it's honest, and hard critiques, or observations, reinforced by intense ideas. Modern culture has killed the old shaman. Now its up to the artist to enlighten, and guide the masses. Our institutions certainly are not holding up their end of the bargain, so it's no surprise that neither does the mainstream media. Artists seem to be the only ones left, who are truly honest, the only ones left who are courageous enough to explore uncharted territory without the need to classify, conquer, capitalize, convert, kill.

I came down with some nasty flu earlier Wednesday, and I've been practically useless till today. Seriously, I hate being taken care of. My entire body became terribly sore and achy. It was to the point that I was unable to achieve a full, deep sleep. This morphed into a strange kind of insomnia, producing extreme anxiety at times, because I couldn't put my mind to rest. I would have these brief dreams that were more like breathing images. I never had enough time to make out the images. They only settled to a sound similar to a loud explosion, which was just the sound of me waking up, over and over again. This process was intense to say the least, and almost frightening at times. I was to ill to be productive, yet I wasn't able to do the one thing I needed most, sleep.

As of yesterday, I was finally able to rest well. The anxiety is gone along with the violent awakenings. I almost feel like a new person today, however, I've lost part of my voice. As someone, whose taken their health seriously and not so seriously, I can say that their is only so much the mind, body, and spirit, can tolerate. It's all about balance. Tip those scales and your in for a world of hurt, but then again losing all control can be an extremely liberating process. That's what Ayahuasca and DMT are for.....I guess when you walk that fine, fine line, your bound to slip from time to time. It's just hard when it's completely unexpected, and when a quick recovery is practically impossible.

Here's a couple images from my BFA portfolio, I was shooting without any sort of color correction filter, which created compromised decisions during the print process.

Even though these were scanned, they scanned with practically the same bias as my papere's starting point.

In order to ease the color correction process, I made tests from the part of the image that contained a lot chalk writing. I would correct until the white was closest to neutral as possible. As you can see in this image the color of the sky was thrown off dramatically, and is now rendered a strong cast of pink and purple. It's almost as if, since the white chalk is only the subject that is rendered true, its message becomes reinforced. I just made that up, but I do think there's some truth to it.

In this image you can see a strong magenta cast along the bottom of the image, a red cast along the right edge, and a greenish-cyan towards the left edge. In the future I plan on investing in a color meter and most likely a wide assortment of color temperature filters; however, I do enjoy that aspect of chance and consequence that gets played out by exposing daylight film to a multitude of mixed light sources.

And on a lighter note.

Rick Magnusson is an artist I came across recently, whose series entitled "Bulldozers", is....playful, I guess you could say.

Ahh, the fine line between the High and the Low

But you do have to admit that his camera and lighting skills are on point, son.

There's now a link for a my fall mixtape. Just scroll down to the post and the link is just below the bottom of the playlist. It was more difficult than I thought. At this point you'll have to download the entire list as one continuous song in mp4 format.

Here's a couple of artist who make creative use of light and shadow as well color palette. I believe the latter is extremely important when creating a consistent and specific mood within an image. Lyndsay Anne Martin does exactly this through her own stylized approach to color.

This series is deals with the breakdown of human relationships. Her images often share a severe color bias. Ultimately, her images have a look that seems degraded through age, almost like the relationship itself. This stylistic decision obvious plays well into the hands of subject and context. By stepping outside tradition and reality, Martin is able to push her idea's further than if she had printed this series with neutralized color.

Andrew George is an artist who makes deliberate use of blown-out highlights and shadows void of all detail. He's also very conscious of his palette, which create a sort of all over grid, that unifies the composition.

GLAMFA... GLAMFA.... GLAMFA...

On my way down to see GLAMFA I also stopped off in San Pedro for the group opening at Angel's Gate entitled, "Fake Iraq". If nothing else the work offers a straight forward glimpse into the peripheral realms of our grossly overinflated, and overextended military-industrial complex. I'm sure that if you did end up working with the military this appraoch would be the only one negotiable; strictly through the window, absent of any and all criticism.

It's kinda funny that the most fascinating part for me invovled two booklet's made not by an artist, but by the military. One cataloged many of the private enterprises that work directly for and with the military. The other was a collection of just a few of the countries where the US has established military bases. I say only a few because out of a total of one-hundred and thirty countries with facilities, only eighty-six countries are cataloged. With a hundred and ninety-five countries in the world, seventy-percent certainly is not bad.

How far did Rome extend exactly?

With that all and said that leads me to a piece I saw later at GLAMFA. The artist's name was Tim Schartz, and Timothy left me both confused, and frustrated. Usually I can accept this, but in the case of global politics I find it frustrating when criticism and skepticism is turned directly upon dissent itself. I'm curious as to what other people drew from this work. Here it is

As someone whose studied the existence of conspiracies throughout history and world culture: 1. I've never heard the term "world conspiracy". 2. By linking only the word "individual" with the word "conspiracy", I feel as though the artist is stating that such idea's are reserved to the individual and therefore have no relevance in of themselves. If anything is likened to the individual, even a collective ideology it's history, which usually favor's thus who are lucky, or even powerful enough to create it.

With so much propaganda, disinformation, and over the top skepticism, this kind of thinking and behavior is just not very artist like at all, Mr.

There, I said it, now hate me.

As for the rest of the show, I agree with Amanda in that there was a lot of feminist art, which leads to the question; What's stopping men from having a sexual revolution? Why do the girls get all the revolutionary fun! As a male I'm quite aware of the mountain of shit that needs to be faced directly, examined closely, and processed thoroughly.(Did you think about examining your feces when you read that last part, I know I did) It's time for the revolution to extend beyond the art world.

I guess it comes down to the fact that the male ego is a bit stronger than culture, society, and government. Sorry Ladies.

I also noticed that a few of you were favorable of Renne Van Trier's breathing images. They all have this low-fi, straight forward style, and the content is equally unsettling as it is critical. Through the use of repetition, the visual experience felt similar to glimpsing into nature; However, instead of a stream or a waterfall, which offer the possibility of serenity and calmness, Van Trier's images offer a glimpse into a muddy stream of collective consciousness, ultimately leaving the mind disturbed and unsettled.