FINAL source Statement

Matt Howley
Visual Language II Final source Statement
4-30-09
Throughout this semester, I have adapted and changed my source idea to match the requirements of the current project. What I began with was a simple idea of a personal journey. In my initial photos, I interpreted this source in a very literal fasion: my photos were of pathways around the city. As time went on, my method of documenting my source through photography changed very little. However, I was still learning about how to draw upon internal inspiration for artistic purposes. Essentially, there are many different levels upon which a source idea can be represented. As I first demonstrated, one can create art that is ‘literal’ in a sense that the art stands for itself and it is what it is. When it came to my artist book project, I had already begun to move my source in a new direction. As an illustrator, I was eager to create a series of drawings to represent my source of a journey. But this time, my source had significantly changed. I was taking into account the ‘broader scheme of things’ involving seasonal change, life and death, and humanity.
The idea that I had began with was very simple and concrete, but after making the artist book, I tried to not be a slave to my source and instead create something from whatever my current inspiration was. In this way I could enjoy the process of art-making much more than I previously had. Ultimatly this is my goal whenever drawing or painting or creating. In order for me to reach peak success in a work, I must learn to enjoy it. And that seems to be what the video project was all about. I took footage of what amused me while still maintaining adherence to the project guidelines. Because of this I allowed myself room to enjoy my work while still completing the requirements. My source changed drastically in the making of my first video, from cyclical changes in pathways to the subjection of one’s path to greater forces of nature. In my video I represented this by playing god with the motion of different subjects in the video. The editing techniques I used to accomplish this goal I thoroughly enjoyed. Nearing completion of my final video project, I have been forced to balance meeting the requirements while still enjoying and exercising my creativity. This has been a difficult task, yet it is one that has taught me a profound lesson in art making.

Source Statement - 4/23

Throughout the beginning stages of my video, I have been very focused on the execution of my idea rather than the idea itself. I feel that I have already created a cool concept for editing together audio and video, but now it is time to take the whole project a step further. Much of this would have to deal with the progression of movement in the video in accordance to the music. Towards the end of the video, I plan on using multiple figures to move in time to alternate tracks (sounds) in the music. This way, I plan to illustrate how different people affect one's journey, and how meeting a brillinat person is like adding a new measure to a piece of music. It creates harmony.

Another aspect of the video that will be modified is the time of day, this is already apparent in the video I have, but the final sequence will take place in a night setting, as to effect the time progression element in the video.

Final Project - Progress Journal

As it stands I am roughly halfway completed with my video. I have shot and edited the first quarter and third quarter of the film, but still have much more footage to capture. What I am posting now is a quick 20 second segment of the concept I am working with. I am editing and layering my footage in tune to music to reflect the rhythmic quality of running and traveling. My source statement will further describe the context in which I am creating this video.

Visual Language Project

Click to Play

Final Proposal - Music Motion

My primary goal for my final project is to create a video that functions as a visual depiction of a piece of music. I would like to use music that is very progressive in nature and that allows me to enjoy the act of creating this project.
For my first option, I will create a twenty to thirty second animation of a piece of music that I enjoy. Running at around 15 frames per second, this animation will consist of several hundred frames, mostly black and white. I want to focus on how audio is supposed to move a listener, and also how video can aid the movement of music. Because it is a video, the final result should be projected or displayed however is most efficient. It does not need a large space to be projected on, it can be all sizes, as long as it is on a flat screen or surface. There are several methods at my disposal to create this animation. It will be hand-drawn on the computer, as to avoid scanning and or digitizing.
My secondary option is geared towards the above goal, but instead the material for the video is actual footage instead of hand drawn animation. I want to use footage of people or things in motion, and edit that footage in a unique way that moves with the motion of a song. I will experiment with video speed, reversal, and layering in order to achieve a desired result. Because this would take much faster than hand drawn animation, the running time for the final result would be somewhere around 90 seconds to two minutes.
Finally, I will combine aspects of the previous two ideas into one unified project. Using editing techniques, I will layer hand drawings on top of video and create interaction between the two. Because it involves a degree of animation, the video will once again be around 30 seconds. The topic is the same as the above two ideas, animating the motion of music.

Five Aspects

The different focuses of my storyboards and video clips will include the following
-the passage of time over distance
-beginning of a path in relation to the destination
-the surface of a pathway. Does it have a distinct rhythm?
-interal journey versus external journey. How do they affect one another?
-branches or different stages in a path.

Source Statement

During construction of my artist book I found that my thinking was much more along the lines of imagery that could help reinforce ideas of the four seasons. I had to think of subjects that could be simply represented but could still convey a clear message of what I understand about the cycles of life throughout the seasons. I am still relating this back to the idea of pathways, but in a less direct sense. Now it is much more about the over-arching design of a life pathway. I feel that in doing this I have greater liberty to exand upon previous ideas and create a nicely colored artist book.

Artist Book Continued

In approaching my artist book project, I found it necessary to modify the current focus of my inspiration. Originally, I was photographing pathways in a very linear fashion. My subjects had a very clear ‘structure’ and were the prototypical idea of a path. Essentially they had a beginning and middle, but not always a clear ending. But with my artist book, I am choosing to represent a circular kind of pathway. In this method, I think I can also make the book itself circular. Waves, seasons, and the human body may be possible focuses for this project. The body has a multitude of circular pathways, the four seasons are entirely circular, and waves reflect the nature of the universe in general. My hope is that I can narrow my focus on a few strong ideas to incorporate into my book.

Schematics

There is an error with my other images jpeg encoding. I will rescan it asap and upload.

Response to "What Time Looks Like at the Moment"

One of the most fascinating aspects of modern art is the range of forms in which the art itself can take. Predominantly, contemporary art seems concerned with ideas over the actual execution of the art object. The artist themselves are very keen on making relationships and connections between ideas. Because of this, it seems that the objective of making art is changing, at least for some people. Whereas, the traditional goal of an artwork (classically) was to make something beautiful and charged, nowadays it seems more about simply being ‘radical’ and throwing really random things into a collage.
However, it is not until one flips through an ‘artist book’ that execution becomes just as important as the ideas contained. I believe that this is due, in part, to the sequential nature of the artist book. Each page is dependent and connected to its previous and successive pages. So in that way it becomes the artist’s job to develop a creative solution that connects each page. In Michael Snow’s Cover-to-Cover, he essentially mirrors the book and draws the sequence of pages towards the center rather than the end of the book. To me, this is extremely clever, and also a cool idea. It is not an artwork that simply describes an idea. Instead, it can inspire creativity in execution and teach artists how to view sequential artwork through a new lens.

...the rest of the photos

Source Exploration

In exploring the idea of a pathway, I have discovered that there are many unique approaches to this subject. Last week, I was approaching ‘paths’ as we typically think of them, walkways, streets, pedestrian crossings, etc. However, the aforesaid is only a very literal interpretation of a path. It does not have to exist as a surface that people are meant to walk on. Instead, a path can be made up of much smaller objects such as wires, tree roots or cracks in the ground. What all these have in common is that they reflect the nature of a path which branches instead of one which remains straight on a course. In addition to this, I also discovered that a path can be represented through modes of transportation. I began to develop this idea in two of my previous photos from last week. However, there are still many other aspects of transportation throughout the city of Boston. To me train tracks would be very interesting to photograph because there is such a great level of detail in line around said tracks. There are escalators, stairs, bridges and elevators, all of which represent a unique motion. Capturing this sense of motion and direction is my primary goal for this idea.

Pissarro - The Father of Impressionism

Camille Pissarro was born on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands but moved to Paris at age 12. There he studied painting at a number of art institutes around France. Among his mentors was Gustav Courbet and Jean Corot. He created many of his early works in France, then moved to England where he painted in London. During his lifetime, Pissarro mentored such greats as Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin. He experimented with pointilism and Neo-impressionism before settling once again on true impressionism. Pissarro sold very few of his paintings in his lifetime, but in the present his works are valued up to several million dollars.

References

Wikipedia.org

Giovanni Antonio Canal - Canaletto

Giovanni Antonio Canal was known as Canaletto to indicate him as 'little canal' as his father was of the same name. He worked from the early 1700's untill his death in 1768. Born in Venice, Canaletto was apprenticed to his father and brother as a theatre set painter. After returning from Rome in 1719, he began painting different landscapes in and around Venice. He slowly gathered attention and reputation, but eventually Englishman stopped traveling to Venice and Canaletto had to relocate to London. There the quality of his work began to decline and the paintings lost their fluidity. Sadly Canaletto never fully regained his reputation during his lifetime.

Three Artists - Source Research

Aerount van der Neer was a dutch landscape artist based in Amsterdam. He never became notably successful during his lifetime, but his paintings are quite valuable nowadays. The subject of which typically includes highly detailed waterways and roads. This artist had a particular skill for noticing transparency in objects at a distance and how to represent that in a subtle and effective way. In some cases he did employ the help of Albert Cuyp as a sort of collaborative painting effort. Despite this skill he did not acquire sufficient wealth via life as an artist and was required to maintain a tavern in order to support his wife and son.