And it keeps on coming

What I did:

This week I started a new drawing. I incorporated my drawing/movement technique to the body. I also learned how to layer gifs on top of gifs, which was quite exciting. I talked to Mark and someone at north quad about spaces to show. I e-mailed Cynthia Pachikara and Heidi Kumao to meet with me to look at my work and discuss projection work.

What I accomplished/ discovered/ encountered: 

Breaking away from the sphere I have been able to become a lot more abstract. I did not realize that this was the direction my work would travel, however I am enjoying seeing my work make its own revolution to what feels right. I am focusing on the different layers of the body, from the form of the skin and its outer surfaces, to the inner workings vein systems and muscular structure. I have been working on all three very separately. My challenge will be how to incorporated these layers and their transitions between each other. I am still having a lot of thoughts on how I am going to display this piece, which at points ends up determining out I come up with the work, how many are there? Is it one that transitions between layers? Should the viewer be able to walk around, surround the piece, or should the viewer be inside it with four walls of these images? These are things I am thinking about conceptually and formally. I also am still have some trouble with the rhythm of the build up. I am fighting between beauty, softness, and flow with jaggedness and chaos. I think that shows in the work neck drawing. I need to understand my relationship with these two forces in order to continue productively.

What is next:

Continue drawing. Working on my rhythm, passing, transition, layering. Start experiencing the work on the projectors in a dark space in order to figure out the best way to present the work. See if I can rent out room 2006 for my IP space.

Visuals

I figured out how to layer my gifs 

This may come in handy 

But as of right now I will continue with my stop motion technique 

and maybe apply other gif layer at some point

Visuals

Visuals

 

Visuals

I have lost count of the weeks at this point

What I did:

This week I worked on new ways to add movement to my drawings. I am starting a new technique that builds up the drawing rather than having a constant appearance and loop. Now the drawings start to transform. I spent about 5 hours on each experiment. Each loop contains 50 frames. I reserved room 2006 and Erica and I are going to take some pictures to use as references for my drawings. I also did a lot of reflecting this week. I have been thinking a lot about scale, sequence, duration, composition and about the body its self.

What I accomplished/ discovered/ encountered: 

I feel good about my last couple of experiments and think I will continue using this method in my final piece. My plan was always to focus on a particular section of the body like the wrist or neck and go from there, but while doing my experiments I have realized that I am enjoying this abstract field of imagery and movement. I am not entirely sure that I need the form at all. When I think about the form being used I can't help but think about the negative space that is around the figure. That negative space is starting to freak me out. I don't think I want that. But maybe fill the entire frame with the form so what is visible is the wrinkles or curves of the body. This would mean the piece will become less recognizable but still give reference to the body. I like this idea and am going to experiment with it. I am also thinking a lot about my presentation of the piece. I have gone from a series of drawing that are displayed on monitors that hang on the wall in a line. I then decided that one frame can be enough. I wanted to suspend a framed screen from the ceiling and use a rear projection. This would allow the viewer to walk around the piece as if it was a 2 dimensional sculpture. Now I am thinking about having the piece surround the the viewer rather than the viewer surround the piece.

What is next:

I am going to continue drawing and experimenting with movement. I am going to focus my efforts on even more specific parts of the body that are even more magnified. I am going to take pictures. I am going to set up a meeting with Cynthia Pachikara to discuss possible ways to present this work with projection.

The Start of a New Semester

When I reflect upon my December review a feeling of relief comes over me. It was wonderful to share my work with other professors, ones that I know well, ones I don't know well and ones that I never meet. I felt a sense of connectedness in that moment as artist to artist, not student to professor. I have always know that the work I do has value, but during this process I questioned that a lot. The panel reassured me that passion spreads and if the work is valuable to me then others will see that. Questioning this will only hinder my performance, but confidence will add power to my work. And still I have to come to terms that people will draw their own conclusions in the end, which makes my conclusion the most valuable of them all. This is my experience and I want to look back and say that I accomplished something meaningful to me not for anyone else. And I believe that the work I am doing is taking steps in that direction.

As far as the critique of the work thus far, I gained a great deal of insight. My original plan was to have a series of these moving drawings, but after the review and reflecting on my work during the break I have taken Robert Platt's suggestion into strong consideration and have decides to continue my efforts in one moving drawing that has a series of moving techniques incorporated into it. My exploration within moving image has allowed me to experience different ways of achieving what I want. I felt that it was a valid point during the review when the topic of variation, pacing, and sequence was brought up in conversation, which I plan on further exploring. Also, I liked the idea that was mentioned in regards to the way the form is built up my the movement of the drawings.

The review was very helpful and I would like to continue sharing my progress with other faculty such as Cynthia Pachikara and Phoebe Gloeckner. In the next steps of my work I am going to start incorporating the moving image methods I have explored with the spherical studies into forms of the figure. This will move me in getting a better sense of where my work is going. I have arranged to rent out Room 2006 next Friday to take some reference photos of the body with help from fellow IPer, Erica. With her help I will get a variety of shots with controlled lighting. This will transcend into where I want high lights and shadows in my drawing. I also plan on work with GroundWorks to experiment with projection and rear projection.

This is the time to start pulling everything together and working on the piece that will be in the show.