Intro to Visual Practice / Fall 2010

I’ve always been fascinated by perspective, from fish-eye cameras to aerial views, so for IVP2, I decided to select an ordinary space and make it art using perspective. I picked an ordinary, typically-pointless corner of my dorm’s common room. I marked a specific location as my point of view and from that point of view, envisioned the letter “A” on the wall. The choice of “A” was entirely arbitrary – I actually just started taping the wall and it turned out that it could easily be turned into an “A.” I basically eyeballed the “A” in the wall from my designated point of view and went back and forth until the “A” was perfectly aligned. I then went to each previously selected alternate points of views that I had taken before pictures of, and took a picture of the “A” from those perspectives. From the designated point of view, the design would be complete; from any other point of view, it would look random and fragmented, but also beautiful.

Following this success, I wanted to try an outdoor version. I had envisioned selecting the point of view from a staircase looking up, and while this seemed like a good idea in theory, in reality the staircase I used was too thin to be effective. After testing out a few designs, I eventually settled for using the bend to the roof as part of the design, but it ultimately turned out to be less than spectacular. Nevertheless, it was a good effort, and this project really opened my mind to the space I passed by every day. I would walk to a class or from my dorm and see all these angles and points of view that it would be so great to project a design onto. The beauty of perspective is that it can be applied anywhere. It could even be so subtle that you could walk by it every day and not realize or appreciate it, until one day you looked from the exact spot and then it would all be clear.

After completing my project, a friend suggested I take a look at Felice Varini‘s work, and I literally sat in awe. A favorite of mine is this one, which looks amazing from both the vantage point and anywhere else. I had not known that this type of work was called anamorphic art, but I took a look at George Rousse’s Project Durham, as Bill suggested, and it is fantastic! It’s amazing that it was in Durham.

Visual explanations are the utilization of graphics to illustrate something. Imagery can be very powerful and has the ability to emphasize a point far more clearer than words can. In regards to design, a well-organized and thought-out diagram can be an extraordinary tool. “Infographics” are commonplace on the web among graphic designers. For example, the following infographic, from rajkamalaich @ flickr is a creative but organized look at the economy.

The following infographic is another example of a creative means of displaying information. From Good.is Infographics.

Information is Beautiful is a blog dedicated to visualization of information, and its owner calls himself an information designer. Similarly, Infosthetics.com features a variety of visual explanation.

Visual explanation is a method by which to communicate information, and as can be seen from the above examples, can be highly effective.

A self-organizing system is a system that manages itself internally; order is maintained dynamically. They are all about patterns and internal interaction. Commonly, self-organizing systems appear in science, especially physics, biology, and chemistry. For example, flocking behavior of birds in biology is considered a self-organizing system because there is no coordinated effort; rather, it is a collective, emergent behavior (Source). Self-organizing systems are also prevalent in computer science and computer arts; for example, self-organizing systems can be created with computer programming.

A piece that really struck me in the Nasher’s “The Record” exhibit was the “More Songs About Buildings and Food” album cover by David Byrne. Created with Polaroids, the time and effort put into such an arrangement is not difficult to appreciate. The grid-like effect emphasizes that it is put-together rather than one consistent image. It is a creative portrait of the band. In class, it was mentioned how the advent of digital design programs have taken away the necessity of creating two-dimensional artwork for album covers, and more album covers rely on graphic design. However, an album cover that came to mind was T.I.’s “Paper Trail” cover. The paper collage is created by Ian Wright and detailed pictures can be seen on his website. At a quick glance, it can be easy to miss, but upon closer inspection, you see that the cover is created with exquisite detail, made with countless scraps of paper but depicting a stunningly accurate portrait of T.I. It is reassuring to know that two-dimensional art is still alive and kicking even when it could potentially be replaced by graphic design.

Alexander Calder’s mobile sculptures could be considered a machine because they follow a specific rule and process. They are three dimensional works of art created with sheet metal, wire, and paint, and sometimes also wood, rod, and other materials. The colors Calder uses are bright and stark, and he uses simple shapes. There is a delicate balance to his work, both physically and artistically, bringing a solidarity to his body of work that makes it clear that it was “processed” through a certain machine. His thought process could be considered as the machine, as they are all unique pieces of work resulting from one general thought process.

My machine used colored bubble solution was the medium, and while the medium is entirely different, the works resulting from my machine also arose from a certain process. In my case, it was the process of standing at a certain spot and blowing bubbles; however, whereas Calder’s machine could be seen as a set of guidelines, whether thought of consciously or subconsciously, that overlies his mobiles, my machine was more of an actual mechanism that generated artwork. There is a certain element of randomness in the very nature of my process that removes the human element, while Calder’s machine is very much produced with a strong human element. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to look at an artist’s work from the perspective of machines.

Images from Google Images; more information on and works of Alexander Calder can be found at the Calder Foundation website.

I am defining a machine as a designated, formulaic process. By following the steps listed below, a unique piece of artwork will be created.

Steps

1. Mix in a color of your choice with bubble solution. I mixed in color using acrylic paint simply because that’s what I had at hand, but perhaps food coloring would be a simpler method.
2. Place sheets of paper on the ground and stand one foot away.
3. Then, by blowing bubbles over a sheet of paper, the splatters from the bubble popping combined with bubbles that land on the paper will result in a colorful drawing. Note that the tricky part is that you have little control over where the bubbles will land.
4. Repeat with a second color.

Revised Steps (for future reference)

1. Mix in a color of your choice with bubble solution using food coloring.
2. Tape a large piece of paper on a wall.
3. Standing four feet away, use a large bubble wand to blow bubbles.
4. Repeat with a second color.

Ideally, the bubbles land on the paper and the fluid swirls within are visible through the coloring added to the bubble solution.

Optional Color Combination Rules

Roll a die:

1. Blue and orange
2. Purple and green
3. Red and black
4. Yellow and purple
5. Green and red
6. Grey and pink

(low quality phone pictures, sorry)