Project Six: Portfolio

“What can eye do?”

If the eye is truly the window to the soul, and the soul can be bent by emotion, then this series represents the emotional effects that have occurred in the recent past. Emotions can be powerful forces and at the same time have the ability to calm ones soul. Exploring these forces is fascinating. Experiencing a changing flow of emotion is common, but recognizing those changes is difficult at the moment of change. The many influences that I encounter daily, have unwontedly created an obscure mental state that oddly enough is clear when viewing the pieces in sequence. For me, this project was more about the tools available than the images.
I experienced a strange conundrum as I approached this project. To thematically link six individual images seemed simple enough. When I began, I had several ‘ideas’ and not one of them panned out. I kept reverting to the tools as a theme. The decision making process had become the biggest hurdle. As my dismay grew, in a small fit of disgust I decided to portray my emotion in a single image just to get my mind off the matter. I found a high quality image of an eye, and thought I would just make it look like it was angry.
In the course of this attempt, I discovered some new tools that had not yet used much, and as I pursued the display of anger I found myself overwhelmed by a calming joy. I created an image of just the opposite emotion I set out to portray. I set out to explore the tools available by creating individual images from nothing more than what I could ‘do’ to a photo with Photoshop. I had found my theme without trying; I began with the same image each time, and in retrospect can see the changes in my emotional state from one image to the next.

Peaceful

 

Fun

 

Contrasting Changes

 

Now I'm Angry Again

 

Lost For Words

 

I Must Sleep Now

This was incredibly hard to get started with, but then became an obsession.  So many tools, so little time. 

“May the best of your past be the worst of your future”.

Project 5 Narrative

This was an interesting discovery period.  I had no idea that Photoshop could do this.  The most difficult thing to do with this project was to create an end point.

Project 4 Research Paper and Presentation

Full Text Paper Here
ResearchPaper

Mark Tribe

As an artist, he has been influenced by history, politics, and the modern culture. Seeking to raise the awareness of today’s youth, he has combined these influences in his work. The most prevalent theme in his work is awareness. As an educator/artist he finds successful ways to bring topics of interest out of obscurity, and present them in an immersive manner.

One of the installations he collaborated on was Apparitions. It was a virtual reality installation presented in San Diego, from September 23 thru October 30, 1994. Apparitions allowed participants to sit in a chair with wheels mounted on either side, in front of a large video screen. The virtual environment is that of a medical facility, and the participant moves through the environment by turning the wheels on the chair. The medical facility is a metaphor for the use of technology in increasing ways to target audiences.

In a collaboration called Carpark, which took place August 31, 1994 at Southwestern College in San Diego, Mark Tribe along with Nina Katchadourian and Steven Matheson organized a large scale re-arrangement of peoples lives. With the help of 50 volunteers and professionals, they managed to color coordinate the parking lots surrounding the campus. A total of 3477 parking spaces were divided into fourteen color groups, and filled with corresponding colored cars.

This exercise in control undoubtedly raised the level of awareness of those who participated, or were subjected, of the simple freedoms that are often taken for granted. Being forced to re-work one’s routine based on the color of the car one drives may even be akin to basic rights once abused because of other color deviations.

Perhaps his greatest undertaking, with regard to raising awareness, was the Port Huron Project. A series of re-enactments of political speeches from the Viet Nam War era were ‘performed’ in their original locations in 2006. These speeches were strongly anti-war and largely anti-government, and their delivery was designed to show how the power of free speech was, and could continue to be, used for common good.

Regardless of one’s beliefs it is impossible not to be moved in some way by the Port Huron Project. The recreation of such emotion drives the message home.

Through all of his work, Mark Tribe has continued to put the message to the public in interesting ways. The unifying theme among all of his creations is the attempt to raise the awareness of his viewers. Not necessarily to push his views, but to create the cause for deeper consideration of a given topic.

Project 3 Metal and Plastic

Here’s the link
www.flickr.com/photos/48443483@N06/sets/72157623791968412/

Assignment 7 Poster

“A permanent solution to a temporary problem”

Assignment Six: Analyze an Ad

An ad is successful if it creates an understanding in the viewer.  Even if the viewer disagrees with the message, if the message is delivered and understood the ad is a success.

In this ad the focal point is in the upper right.  In a country where reading is done from right to left, the viewer is programmed to look here first.  The unequal proportion between the mouth, and the package in the lower right, shows the assumed ‘power’ of bad breath along with the ‘power’ in a small package of the product.  The ‘tongue’ is curved in such a way as to point to the product in the opposite corner.  This aspect provides rhythm, and moves the eye from the ‘problem’ to the ‘solution’.  Positioning the product package at a slight upward angle provides an interesting line, which suggests the improvement possible by using the product.  The apparent texture of the scales reinforces the idea of bad breath from fish.  The space between the two objects is important to create a sense of closure when the eye reaches the bottom.  Balance is achieved in a rather interesting way.  By placing the lower portion of a profile in such a way as to imply a leaning head, the image does not appear to be ‘floating’.  Instead, it is seen as if the body is just out of sight.  There is a sense of unity in the composite of the face and fish.  Even though it is an obvious metaphor for bad breath, the shape of the fish and the color at the tip allow the image to flow together.

     The flow of information is simple, as is the entire composition.  The curving line created by the fish leads the eye to the tag line and product image in the lower right.

Assignment Five “Response to Chapter Three”

 The themes in digital art encompass more than can be discussed here.  With this in mind, the following represents one viewpoint from which the term ‘major’ may be attached to the themes presented.  ARTificial life, topping the list, shares its place with gamming, and virtual worlds.  These three themes represent the pinnacle of digital artistic achievements.  In some ways they could be found under the same umbrella, but considered in stand-alone context each proves worthy of individuality.

     Artificial life, as a theme, presents aspects of life in artistic form, to simulate and respond to life.  Examples and representations of evolution, both controlled and free running, only scratch the surface of this realm.  When allowed to interpret and interact with people, a piece can “become a constantly evolving environment that, like a living system, seems to create itself”. [1] This evolving piece is ever changing and therefore a brilliant example of life that is controlled digitally yet interacted with in the real world.  The remaining two themes discussed depart from that real world and become immersive.

     Gamming, as it exists today, has become as much art as entertainment.  The advent of ‘digital’ games was about the game, and the mind created much of the environment from very little inference about the ‘playing field’.  Gamming, however, refers to the latest and greatest of fully immersive environments.  These artistic representations of either real places from past or present, or purely fictitious fantasy worlds, are nothing short of amazing in detail and interactivity.   They can be compared with interactive digital art because “…they are collaborative and participatory…”[2] Yet they are separate due to the unique aspect of competition. 

     Virtual worlds may have evolved from the development of gamming environments but they are unique in that they hold more possibilities than just playing or winning.  The opportunity to create both oneself and one’s surroundings is akin to godliness.  Yet this single aspect has attracted an enormous influx of participants.  Allowing participants to ‘hide’ behind an avatar can be a double-edged sword, but that aside, the worlds are incredible.  Second Life, as an example, is likely the finest user modified digital environment.  “Residents can … buy real estate and create and trade items, known as virtual property…”[3].  This ‘economy’ is the thing that separates a virtual world from the ‘environment’ of a game.  The participation is not only what keeps the world going, but also what forces the constant evolution of both the software behind the world, and the world as an environment of it’s own.

     Themes in digital art are as varied as the medium implications on itself.  Yet of them all, creating a world in the digital realm, finding competition in a digital environment, or representing life through digital control release the most artistic energy.  These themes allow for different levels of participation with varying results.  The opportunity to interact with either the piece itself, because of the work, or surrounded by the works of others and oneself is priceless.  One word of caution, reality still rules.

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[1] Christiane Paul, Digital Art (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2008): 145

[2] Christiane Paul, Digital Art (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2008): 197

[3] Christiane Paul, Digital Art (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2008): 238