Thursday, November 29, 2007

Art School Catalogs



I'm writing an essay that examines and looks at how Art School has been sold to artist over the past 100 years, using Kansas City Art Institute as a model. The images below are a selection of KCAI covers and pamplets from 1960 to 2004.























Sunday, November 25, 2007

Boy Scout Contest Part Two



This is my second version of the Boy Scout Contest. I'm not as happy with the video but I came out of this performance with more ideas on where to take it. I realize that there needs to be more aggression, and to play more off the stereotypes. I will have another video up by the end of the year as well as a new animation I'm currently working on.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Bas Jan Ader



The website for the 1970's conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader who disipeared at sea in 1975 is up. It has a selection of his videos, and other artist homages to him. It was nice to finally see his videos after reading about him and seeing his photos in books and magazines for years. There is really great article from Art In America (February 2004) which chronicles his art and life, and what happens to your art when you die. The article brings up a lot of issues and throws alot of Patrick Painters methods of reproduction into question. A youtube search pulled up this newly found fragment of Ader when he was a teacher at UC Irvine.



An edition of this video is already underway. I thought editions didn't exist anymore?

EIther way it's nice to see his videos online.

And whats with Art and Americas...umm Website if you can call it that.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Jan Svankmajer

I've been reading the little bit of animation critical analysis I can find and I had to stop reading and just watch some.













Dimensions of Dialogue, Part 1 and 2 (1982)



Darkness, Light, Darkness (1990)



Not sure of the name.



Et Cetera (1966)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Paragraph Gallery



"As Loud as the Sky and Pasture," by Jules Hearne and Brendan Meara is currently up at the Paragraph along with "Emerald City" at the Project Space. It features work by Dane Bonner, Amanda Gehin and Bob Glinn and the show is curated by Jared Panick.

Meara's work seemed the most interesting incorporating sound, video and lights. The sound coming from his larger video piece at times wanted to become a hip-hop song, which i actually kind of started to like. I'm a bigger fan of Amanda Gehin's animations but the drawings where nice, just not doing enough for me. The rest of the work in the show I found a little boring, paper plate stars and plastic wrapping paper. Christmas is coming!



Sunday, November 18, 2007

Black Dice at the Pistol







Got the oppurtunity to have my mind ran through a sonic cheese grater of layered electronic noise at the Pistol. These are my favorite shots of the show.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Anthony Goicolea




I was just introduced to the work of Anthony Goicolea. These photos are from "You and What Army," and I also I found this statment on his work:


For “You and What Army” I began working on a new series of large scale mural sized photographs in which I play more than one character within a single image. Through digital manipulation, I am able to clone myself and create scenarios in which I act out childhood incidents such as fight scenes, first kisses, and deranged play dates. These works are simultaneously rooted in nostalgia and science fiction. Many of the sets are constructed to depict suburban environments in which the cast of characters are seen undertakeing painfully awkward transformations as they undergo the journey from childhood to adulthood and the hazy boundries inbetween.


While hinting at the past and early Freudian developmental stages of youth, they also refer to new medical and technological breakthroughs in fertility drugs and gene cloning with biting cynicism and humor. Taking narcissistic fantasies one step further into the realm of the impossible and the absurd, the characters actually interact with their mirror images. Although many of them are engaged in spitting, licking, peeing or fighting, their deceptive beauty, esthetic content, and composition soften the more dramatic and gross elements in the work to inspire sympathy as well as fear.









I like the homage to Bas Jan Ader below in the installation Tea Party.


For more check out http://www.anthonygoicolea.com

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Norman Mclaren


Watched a good movie called Creative Process on Norman Mclaren of the Canadian Film Board who made hundreds of films and animations. These are a few of my favorites.









Friday, November 09, 2007

Collages

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These are some collages that lead me to the boy scout performances.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Cartoon College

Found this trailer on Drawn, the illustration and cartooning blog. While I haven't traversed the whole blog yet it looks to have some pretty interesting stuff. The Cartoon College documentry seems to be a labor of love in many ways, and I look forward to the movie.

It seems like Comicbooks and Graphic novels are getting more credit nowadays. While I know longer have the illustration bug, I still have a place in my heart for Graphic Novels, and cartoons. Also I'll be teaching Cartooning and Storytelling this spring to 6-8 year olds.

"Cartoon College" teaser trailer

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http://drawn.ca/

Charlotte Street Foundation Awards



The awards show for the charlotte street foundation is currently up at Grand Arts. This year’s artist are:

Cody Critcheloe
Jessica Kincaid
Emily Sall
James Trotter

Being just an awards show collection of work I felt it was a little lacking. I enjoyed the drawings of Justin Trotter and his collection of childhood toys, but wanted to see more of his drawings. The beadwork of Jessica Kincaid where just boring representations, and there wasn't enough of Emily Sall's work on display.

Cody Chritchloe’s drawings seem to just be portraits of his inner circle of friends. He travels in the same circle of Jamie Warren with her kitsch/awkward hipster Vice magazine photographs. I find that with Warren and Critchloe I’m just given 20 to 30 year old hipsters glamorizing themselves and their partying lifestyles. I admire them for staying and creating something here in Kansas City, but question there content.






Saturday, November 03, 2007

Boy Scout Contest: Part One



The collage work I've been doing the past month has lead me down the path of exploring issues of "Boys to Men." Looking through a Boy Scout Manuel from the 1980's I found these two person contest for Bear Scouts and decided that they needed to be performed.