Chellie Davis Art

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Ceramics

Most have long been sold and apparently unphotographed... oh well...

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Artists like Monet and Rembrandt pioneered impressionism, characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and color. Now, instead of representing light with color on canvas and paper and it is possible to use light to create an impressionistic piece of art. Leo Villareal is a contemporary digital artist who embraces digital media in a painterly manner, using hues, color, movement and light itself in an impressionistic way that is fascinating.

Villareal was born in Albequerque, New Mexico in 1967. He attended both Yale and New York University and received a BA in sculpture from Yale University in 1990 and a graduate degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Interactive Telecommunications Program (1). He began an internship in 1994 at Interval Research Corporation in Palo Alto, California, where he worked on a project incorporating virtual reality technology. That same year he attended the Burning Man Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The event encourages self-reliance and radical self-expression, and features large scale interactive art installations. This experience influenced him greatly, and gradually led him to direct his attention towards creating immersive experiences that could be enjoyed on a larger scale. In 1997 he constructed a wooden structure with strobe lights, programmed to flash in sequence and mounted it atop his camper at Burning Man It was visible from miles away as a device for signaling his camper's location in the boundless desert night. His earliest formal pieces grew out of the strobing beacon he contrived while at Burning Man. "Strobe Matrix" (1997) was created using 16 blinding lamps muted by translucent Plexiglas, foreshadows the work that Villareal has made since.

JoAnne Northrop, the curator of the exhibit Animating Light, currently on display at the Nevada Museum of Art believes that Villareal’s work is “digital art that is accessible to the mainstream of contemporary art… (it) can be appreciated by connoisseurs and art world people, but also average...viewers." To Northrop Villareal's work is important because, as she said, "he really does bridge the world of contemporary art and the world of digerati." Essentially she believes his work promotes a vision of digital technology as a transformational element in society. Villareal himself stated that,

"My work is focused on stripping systems down to their essence to better understand the underlying structures and rules that govern how they work… I am interested in lowest common denominators such as pixels or the zeros and ones in binary code. Starting at the beginning, using the simplest forms, I begin to build elements within a framework. My work explores not only on the physical but adds the dimension of time combining both spatial and temporal resolution. My forms move, change, interact and ultimately grow into complex organisms…(I’m) inspired by mathematician John Conway's work with cellular automata and the Game of Life, I seek to create my own sets of rules… Central to my work is the element of chance. The goal is to create a rich environment in which emergent behavior can occur without a preconceived outcome. I am an active participant, serving as editor in the process through careful selection of compelling sequences…These selections are then further refined through combination with other sequences through simple operations such as addition, subtraction and multiplication," he explained. "The sequence's opacity, speed, and scale can all be manipulated through custom software. Ultimately, complex compositions are formed and then displayed in random order and for a random amount of time in the final artwork. I am interested in the idea of generative art and rendering the patterns on the fly, but have not found a way to generate compelling sequences enough of the time."

Villaeral’s stunning manipulations of light and color are internationally renowned. His sculptures combine strobe lights, neon, and most recently, LED bulbs activated by custom-software with lights pulsing in non-repeating sequences dictated by software he writes. 2008 Villareal created Multiverse for the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. His most elaborate piece to date, it is a 200 foot hallway containing 41,000 white LED lights. His pieces are very open ended, his goal is to create a condition for something to happen, to create an immersive quality in his pieces that can transport people, they become vehicles that can take them somewhere based on their own perceptions, identity and memories; “I create the parameters, and let it happen.” For Villareal, even though technology is necessary to create his work, it is not about the technology, it is about the visual manifestation of the code and what the lights can do and how he can make something that’s a compelling work of art. To Northrop, being able to present Villareal's work to the public is a rare chance to impact not just what people see, but also the way they feel. That is what is interesting to people, the immersive quality of his work. It doesn't just capture your visual attention, your entire body reacts to it and you can feel that the works are trying to communicate with you. (10)

Another artist who is not interested in the technology, only what she can do with it is Shirin Neshat, an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York. She is known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. She was born in Iran in 1957 to a wealthy modern family. She was educated in both Western and Persian culture. Her father was a well-respected physician and her mother a homemaker. Her father, “fantasized about the west, romanticized the west, and slowly rejected all of his own values.” Her father’s also accepted a form of western feminism and he encouraged her to “be an individual, to take risks, to learn, to see the world.”(5) Her parents sent her to the University of California at Berkley and where she completed her BA, MA, and MFA. Revolution overtook her homeland in 1979, and she was exiled and couldn’t return until 11 years later. In 1990, she returned to Iran. "It was probably one of the most shocking experiences that I have ever had. The difference between what I had remembered from the Iranian culture and what I was witnessing was enormous.” As a way of coping with the discrepancy between the culture that she experienced and that of the pre-revolution Iran in which she was raised, she began her first mature body of work, the Women of Allah series. (4)

Her work refers to the social, cultural and religious codes of Muslim societies and the complexity of certain oppositions, such as man and woman. Neshat often emphasizes this theme with the technique of showing two or more coordinated films concurrently, creating stark visual contrasts through such motifs as light and dark, black and white, male and female.

In 2009 Neshat won the Silver Lion award for best director at the 66th Venice Film Festival for her first feature film, Women Without Men. It is an adaptation of a controversial novel that has been banned in Iran since the 1990’s. Shirin depicts the life of Iranian women, they are property and can be beaten, broken and killed at the whim of their men. The story follows four young Iranian women in 1953 through, self discovery, activism, and awareness. The message of this film is one of courage, courage for the women and people of Iran to take their lives into their own hands and create their own destiny. Art and Artists like Neshat have had a tremendous influence in shaping the “Green Movement” for civil right of the Iranian People. The Green Scroll of Freedom is a long scroll written upon and manifesting the Iranian people’s yearning for democracy, equality and dignity. (7) It has traveled the streets of Iran to major cities in the world. The Iranian people nonviolently gather donning green tokens and carrying green signs to show their support of the movement. Through speeches, articles, music, or art the members of the movement are continuing their struggle for freedom and democracy in Iran. The young Iranian generation want freedom; access to basic human rights, and democracy. The candidates in Iranian democracy are nominated by the government not elected by the people so the idea of Iranian democracy is not democracy at all. Now there is a degree of the community coming together and wanting to do something, not just talking and Neshat is able to be a part of that through her work. (8)
So what would the author Margot Lovejoy’s book Digital Currents say to classify both of these artists? Lovejoy classifies most new media art as film, video, performance, interactive art, simulation, and game art. Neshat’s work is photography, video, as well as film. Villareal is simulation, simulated light, as well as interactive as in Diamond Sea where the viewer is reflected and influences their perception of the piece. Both artists have roots in older media, Villareal in impressionism, Neshat in photography. Both impressionism and photography were controversial in their own time. Both artists continue to blow away their audiences with the experiences that they put into their artwork. Neshat is able to share a desired experience, a reflection on culture, identity and feminism. Villareal sets up a shimmering moment, a platform for the viewers own personal experience and enhancement. Their work is enabled by technology and as technology improves and adapts, so will their work but unlike technology, the effects of their work will be relevant and personal to viewers long after the technology used to create it because their work is historical, personal, and not about the technology.

Work Cited

Critical Summaries

Leo Villareal - Art Exhibit

Leo Villareal is a digital artist who embraces digital media in a painterly manner, using hues, color, light and movement in an impressionistic way that is fascinating. Villareal’s three-month exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art has not been without issues according to Sheryl, a docent at the museum. Shortly after the pieces were installed one of the LED tubes failed and it took several weeks for it to be replaced at a cost of $8,000. The exhibit features many different pieces created over a period of approximately a decade. The early pieces are relatively simple, small, and use light sources hidden behind a sheet of opaque Plexiglas. As the pieces progress color is introduced as well as different shapes and multiple complex adjoined housings. Firmament, created in 2001 is a dark room equipped with large wooden lounge couches covered in foam for the viewer to recline upon in the dark room and view the light piece suspended from the ceiling. The piece fills the entire room and is composed of a support structure of three concentric circles with 8 radiating lines which holds approximately 60 strobe lights. The effect is extremely disorienting. In 2007 Villareal created a piece called Diamond Sea, a large rectangular pane of mirror finished stainless steel with white lights that seem to travel across the space while dimming and brightening, creating a sense of depth in the piece. In 2008 Villareal created Big Bang, a circular piece composed of multiple small LEDs shifting in a radiating symmetrical pattern of swirling color, obviously intending to evoke the artists impression of the creation of the universe. In 2009 Primordial reflects a period in the artists life during which he and his wife were going through In-vitro fertilization in an attempt to have a child. The piece is a curious display of digital pixels resembling cells moving around and across a white expanse reminiscent of a Petri dish. My favorite piece was a patriotic Flag, waving across 13 LED tubes in full color. I found the piece thoughtful, there are 13 stripes on the flag after all, and beautifully nationalistic. The custom software, LED tubes, and electrical hardware necessary for such a vibrant piece are intimidating and fascinating. The exhibit overall was very different from other digital art I’ve seen, and I enjoyed it more because of it. Overall I found it surprisingly impressionistic and I enjoyed the novelty of light used to create an impressionistic piece of art, which is characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and color.

Jeremy Stern - Artist Lecture

Jeremy Stern in a Master of Fine Arts Candidate. His thesis exhibit, began in the Front Door and McNamara galleries where Students collaborated by painting around and explaining the marks and remnants of past exhibits that can be seen on the walls. In the Sheppard Gallery the walls are also marked to focus on remnants of past exhibits but when walking around the space the observer is surround by a collage of sound. Stern divided Reno with a grid and recorded sounds from each area. When an observer steps onto the corresponding grid in the gallery they hear sounds from around the city. The volume increases and decreases depending on where the observer stands, how many observers there are, a how they move within the gallery.
Stern began his lecture with a slide show of artists works that inspire him. He described his life influences and talked about Lucas Samaras and The Mirrored Room, Red Groom’s Happenings, and especially comic books and his favorite comic book store. He discussed his opinions of self portraits, as the stripped down culture and identity that make up an individual. Stern's work is largely concerning maps and collages. He uses images and symbols that represent where he has lived, as a sort of personal history that he identifies with. Other work is created using maps but cut up and rearranged to create interesting shapes and negative spaces using the boundaries and roads of the maps. While his work and lecture were entertaining and interesting I think it is apparent that Stern is still learning and deciding where his work is headed in the future.

Barbara London - Artist Lecture

Barbra London is the Video and Media Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City(MOMA). She travels speaking and curating video and media exhibits. In her lecture she discussed video and video and media art as pushing the envelope in art, constantly challenging the definition of art and she showed several clips and examples. She believes that digital art will continue to change and adapt as technology improves and changes. Her lecture focused on the different new media movements during the past 30 years New York. Through the pioneering work of artists like Nam June Paik, video art was made available to the world. Short form videos were created represent the musical work of various artists, including the Beatles. This use of popular culture, music, and video sparked the modern concept of music videos. London’s work on Looking at Music is a compilation of the some of the most ground breaking music videos throughout their respective decade. Music videos like that of David Bowie allowed him to cultivate an image that the fans could easily identify. The musician's character became another artistic form of expression through the use of video. MOMA is preserving video and media art history by collecting and archiving videos, posters, and photos from the music industry. London continually asks what is art. In a video by Laurie Anderson, she analyses the meaning and word choice of the National Anthem, saying understanding art is like understand the lyrics. She believes that artists cannot be categorized by medium or style because for most new artists, their medium changes. In music styles constantly shift and artists reinvent themselves. London’s lecture called for a breakdown of barriers and anembracing of new mediums and techniques alongside renovation and renewal of old traditions.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Crowd Sourcing

The Johnny Cash Project

I decided to contribute to the Johnny Cash project in part because I have a lot of respect for him as a very complicated individual and artist and the project seems very much in tune with that respect. This took me several hours stretched throughout a day. I am an impressionist at heart and I wanted to capture the moment of light reflecting through the trees while maintaining the integrity of the still. WATCH ME DRAW.

The One Million Masterpiece

I chose this crowd sourcing project because I greatly enjoy quilting and because of its freedom the project resembles a gigantic quilt more than anything else to me and it inspired my crowd sourcing idea. I chose to represent one of my favorite images, dragonflies in flight. I have been signing my artwork with a dragonfly for more than a decade and a painting of them currently hangs over my mantel. It seemed the appropriate subject for a quilt like project because it is very representative of me and I left my mark so to speak. It is a captured moment of light and movement. WATCH ME DRAW.

The American Quilt

Take a low resolution iconic, pop culture, controversial or political image relevant to history or our culture, grid its pixels and ask collaborators to manipulate that square and “paint” within it using software on our site… the tricky part is your color pallet is limited to the range of hues actually present in the square and we strongly encourage to keep the general color blocking similar to the original so that he overall image will still be recognizable but your square will be unique. There will be no duplicate squares. Once a picture is completed it is added to an even larger scale collaboration of all the iconic, pop cultural and political “quilted” images. Over time the quilt will grow into a living history, an ever expanding time capsule of individuals and the American history, society and impressions of pop culture or political images.