Cut-Up

William Burroughs describes "The Cut-Up Method" by Brion Gysin. This method involves randomly generating prose, either by computer software or literally cutting up paper with words and then randomly putting them together to create poetry. I've said before that I like methods that create themselves, mostly because I'm a very indecisive person, so I like to avoid making decisions about what to create. However, I must admit, I'm turned off by this method, the way it's described. I'm not exactly sure why I'm turned off by it, but perhaps it's too far removed from the artists' own work. Also, I'm not convinced that using this method truly creates meaningful work. For one, the artist really doesn't put in much effort at all, doesn't even necessarily have to have an idea of where it's going, and calls it original art. If they don't have meaning of their own to put into the work, is it really "meaningful" prose? Is it really art?

Mariachi Lion!

This is my supercool Mariachi Lion that I entered in the beginner "Lion Statue" contest in Worth1000! I wanted him to look like those animal statues all over a city that are all different (i.e. the pandas in DC, the herons in St. Mary's County, etc.). The tools I used included the lasso to select the area to make his black suit and cut objects that I added to the lion. I also used the clone stamp to fix a shadow in the red bow. I copied, pasted and transformed each individual botonadura (silver buttons that line the sides of the pants and jacket). Lastly, I copied, pasted, and rotated the sombrero (hat) to the top of the lion.

Gradient FUN!

S-E-X-Oh!

Last Friday night I saw a wonderful production called "S-E-X-Oh!" by Teatro Luna. The show was a compilation of true stories about the Latina women who perform for this group. While most of the stories were funny, others were heart-breaking and upsetting. The movement of the show was very well done as it flowed so seamlessly to bring in very dynamic emotions. Being able to identify with the show, as a Latina, really brought me into the whole experience. I think that this is why the show was so amazing to me and perhaps not to others. Simply being Catholic is not really what the show is about, but more specifically being a Latina (who are stereotypically devout Catholics). I believe that some may have misinterpreted what was being portrayed with these topics on stage. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see these women perform such an amazing show and I hope that I see them in their new show soon.

Dada

I really liked the Dada techniques I read about. I like using a lot of pieces that people wouldn't normally think of and recycling them in a way. For example, using a gum wrapper as part of a collage not only gives it a new use, and therefore is not trash, but also gives it a new meaning and role.

I didn't know which artist I would be most interested in so I chose the first person, Hans (Jean) Arp. His art looked much simpler because it was not as busy as some of the other artists. Specifically I looked at "Forest," which is an example of assemblage in that he used 3D pieces to create an image. I also looked at "Automatic Drawing," which is either an example of abstraction or chance, depending on how the work was created, or could perhaps be both. It seems though, if the markings were intentional, it would be abstract in that it does not represent anything in the natural world. However, if it were created by using some kind of machine or other means of unintentional markings, it could be considered chance. I briefly looked at the other images as well, which seem to be very identical to these two pieces in that they are examples of assemblage or abstraction.

My Scuba Adventure

Here is my audio project highlighting a scuba divers leap into the underwater world. As you listen to the calming background of the underwater bubbling and swishing, you will also hear breathing and the bubbles that are exhaled. Glide along, peacefully in the deep blue sea, but watch out for the passing boat!

Sounds by:
Splash - Dynamicell
Breathing - Me!
Underwater - Suonho
Bubbles - Halion
Boat - Neonaeon

Reynold Bailey: Perception-Guiding Image Editing

Today, Reynold Bailey gave a talk on Perception-Guiding Image Editing. I thought that he was funny and liked the format of his presentation. However, I was not expecting such a huge part of his talk to be an extensive neuroscience background of the work he does. I thought this much detail was unnecessary and could have been summed up much more quickly for the purposes of his talk. Feeling like I was in a review session for all my neuroscience classes really distracted me from what his talk was actually about. I really only saw a few slides that were about his actual work, and am therefore not truly sure what the talk was about. It seems to me that he has studied the interaction between human perception and the way graphics are displayed on the computer and is now finding ways to alter graphics so that humans will perceive them a certain way. For instance, his cinematography example about having a main character in the background of a scene can be colored in a different way (warmer colors) so that humans will more readily perceive and attend to the character as opposed to something else in the scene. Overall, I thought his work was very interesting, just that the talk could have been organized to be more effective.