Artist post # 6 October 18, 2010 Bill Viola

Artist post # 6 October 18, 2010 
Bill Viola


why:
       I am currently interested in sound art. Because I am not very aware of sound art or what makes sound art "good" or even considerable sound art I am just investigating artists and work in the genre. Bill Viola seems to be fairly recongnizable in the sound art community. 
Artist Biography:
      According to Violas webpage he " is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists. He has been instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art, and in so doing has helped to greatly expand its scope in terms of technology, content, and historical reach. For over 35 years he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. Viola’s video installations—total environments that envelop the viewer in image and sound—employ state-of-the-art technologies and are distinguished by their precision and direct simplicity. They are shown in museums and galleries worldwide and are found in many distinguished collections." 


I really enjoyed how he had "Captain of the “TV Squad,” 5th grade, P.S. 20, Queens, New York, 1960" in his list of cureers. 


Quote 1 - Sorry this is a long Quote but I really value at the end of the end paragraph describing different forms or media Viola uses. As well as how intimate Viola talks about his experience with something we all can relate to. 

"Video artist Bill Viola first came to Death Valley with a friend in 1973. A child of the green summers and freezing winters of New York, he had just graduated from university. He was 21, a student of religions. He stood in the middle of a salt flat, simultaneously inconsequential and enveloping, and felt his horizons extend.

"For the first time in my life I felt like my senses were liberated," he remembers. "I felt completely open. I felt part of me was going out that hundred miles to the mountain range and encompassing that whole thing. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

"At a certain point I became frightened. I felt like the landscape was so vast, if I got lost out here, they would never find me. And God could come down and [as if I was] a little bug, just flick me away.

"And those two realisations: that you are connected deeply to the entire cosmos and at the same time you are mortal and you are fragile and inconsequential; the search for meaning that human beings have been engaged with since the beginning of time is part of the reconciliation of those two things."

There is the landscape, there is imagination and the greatest works of the greatest painters of our time. Connecting them is Bill Viola, his video camera and a flickering image on the wall of a museum, art gallery, church or even a handheld communications device with a screen the size of a matchbox - each of them, at various times, the medium through which his work appears."

"Liberation of the Senses - Arts - Entertainment - Smh.com.au." Sydney Morning Herald - Business & World News Australia | Smh.com.au. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/04/1207249434840.html>.

Quote 2 - I have taken this quote from an interview, " do you have any advice for young artists?

my advice for the young video artists is to make sure you take
the lens cap off the camera before you push the button.
because I didn't do this all the time. also to learn from the
camera, you must keep your eye open without judgment.
cameras do not make judgments. they receive all the light equally
and we have to keep our minds and hearts open to be
completely objective, feeling everything equally good and bad,
violent and peaceful, light and dark. all opposites are necessary
for life and so you shouldn't make a value judgment on what
you are experiencing. video can teach us how to see with an
open eye." 

"bill viola - interview with the us video artist." designboom. june 9th, 2007., june 9th, 2007.. Web. 17 Oct 2010. <http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/viola.html>.

Clips of artwork- 

- a link to an interview with the artist or a review


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-V7in9LObI



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- link to gallery representing artist

BlainSouthern Gallery, London
www.blainsouthern.com

James Cohan Gallery, New York
www.jamescohan.com

Kukje Gallery, Seoul
www.kukje.org

     - link to artist website


Bill Viola

Idea post #7 October 13th, 2010 "noise"

 Idea Entry: 


investigating: Noise 


Wikipedia says: 
In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is an unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the audible noise heard when listening to a weak radiotransmission. Signal noise is heard as acoustic noise if played through a loudspeaker; it manifests as 'snow' on a television or video image. Noise can block, distort, change or interfere with the meaning of a message in human, animal and electronic communication.


Quote # 1: only to be fair as I am pro noise, I decided to research the opposition, here is what the Noise Polution Clearinghouse has to say: 

"The word "noise" is derived from the Latin word "nausea," meaning seasickness. Noise is among the most pervasive pollutants today. Noise from road traffic, jet planes, jet skis, garbage trucks, construction equipment, manufacturing processes, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and boom boxes, to name a few, are among the audible litter that are routinely broadcast into the air.

Noise negatively affects human health and well-being. Problems related to noise include hearing loss, stress, high blood pressure, sleep loss, distraction and lost productivity, and a general reduction in the quality of life and opportunities for tranquillity.

We experience noise in a number of ways. On some occasions, we can be both the cause and the victim of noise, such as when we are operating noisy appliances or equipment. There are also instances when we experience noise generated by others just as people experience second-hand smoke. While in both instances, noises are equally damaging, second-hand noise is more troubling because it has negative impacts on us but is put into the environment by others, without our consent." 

"About Noise and NPC." Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, Quieting Noise Pollution. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nonoise.org/aboutno.htm>.

Researching no profit and awareness groups is very beneficial when researching something. This happens to be the opposing side to how I feel but that is not a bad thing. In fact I think understanding how your opposing side feels is the only way to have an educated reasoning against them. 

Quote #2: 

"Our bodies and the world around us vibrate according to a certain rhythm and frequency. We are familiar with the rhythm of our own heartbeat. We also know that certain sounds or music make us happy, sad or even angry. Sound work allows us to use a variety of techniques such as voice analysis, frequency re-balancing, toning, stretching, breathing, and drumming to unleash unconscious patterns and tap into our innate ability to be in harmony with the world. Sound is a powerful tool that can be used in a variety of ways to allow us to feel connected and embrace the joy in our lives."

Our voices, To Use. "Wisdom of Sound - The Healing Power of Sound." Wisdom of Sound - Home. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www.wisdomofsound.com/the-healing-power-of-sound/>.

I found this silly phycology site with life coaches. but I did find some useful things that I was not aware of. They stressed the importance of sound. How sound can effect the body. How sound can promote happy feelings, but what they avoided to mention is that it can have the opposite effect as well. 

WHY: 

In my work I am beginning to investigate noise, to form a better not rushed idea of what the image I want to create will be. With noise in mind I plan to gather the noise or heard actions with out visual aid to return to in my thought process later on when I am creating the images I want to create. 

I enjoyed this

Artist #6 M. W. Burns

Artist #6 M. W. Burns Sound Art

Extra something to think about:


Sound in Context (Full Film) from Sound and Music on Vimeo.

 why:  Although this artists website does not have resent work I am curious about sound and incorporating that into what I could be doing with my work. I am exploring sound and the effects words or sound has on individuals that may or may not be aware that sound will be incorporated in an instillation. I really enjoyed the 2001 audio clip of the Observer that Burns has on his website. As i continue to explore sound I am sure I will find more current sound artists to talk about. 

Artist Biography From artists website: M.W. Burns is a Chicago-based audio artist using sound to conceptually activate space. Many of his recent installations rely on tactics of public address, projecting the voice into existing urban conditions. Other projects integrate pre-recorded sound into an environment, instigating the perception of events taking place. Burns has had solo exhibitions at the TBA Exhibition Space, Chicago; Northern Illinois University Art Museum; Tough, Chicago andthe Lab, San Francisco. His sound installations have been included in numerous group exhibitions, including the 2000 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Sound/Video/Film, the Donald Young Gallery; Contextual: Art and Text in Chicago, at the Chicago Cultural Center; Time Arts at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Body at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; and Takeover at the Hyde Park Art Center. Other projects include Sound Canopy, a public sound system supporting audio work created to participate in the urban environment.

Quote 1- " Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists.

Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art is interdisciplinary in nature, or takes on hybrid forms. Sound art often engages with the subjects of acoustics, psychoacoustics, electronics, noise music, audio mediaand technology (both analog and digital), found or environmental sound, explorations of the human body, sculpture, film or video and an ever-expanding set of subjects that are part of the current discourse of contemporary art.^[1]" 

^{Citation from Wikipedia:} 

^{Attali, Jacques. 1985. Noise: The Political Economy of Music, translated by Brian Massumi, foreword by Fredric Jameson, afterword by Susan McClary. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-1286-2 (cloth) ISBN 0-8166-1287-0 (pbk.)}

^{Citation for wikipedia:} 

Gann, By Kyle. "Sound Art." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_art#cite_note-0>.


Quote 2- "

Since sound simultaneously occupies physical and psychological space,  I think of sound installation as injecting something into the space between the observed and the observer. The work is something understood as present and something that includes you. " M. W. BURNS

M. W. Burns SOUND WORK. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://dotminus.net/index.html>.

- a link to an interview with the artist or a review
MoCPhttp://www.mocp.org/exhibitions/2001/10/audible_imagery.php


link to gallery representing artist
N/A 
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_activity.asp?from_url=true&job_seeker_id=275910&

link to artist website


http://dotminus.net/index.html






WORK: 


http://dotminus.net/id13.html

Idea post #6 October 7th, 2010

Idea Post #6

Frustration/ discouragement

Relation to my work:

This week I have become frustrated and discouraged about creating work in all of my classes. I need to get over it and start making work again. This week with my Idea post I was hoping to get a better sense of other peoples solutions to frustration.  I had no idea before looking this up that discouragement was a religious word. . . non religious people get frustrated too. (and its not because they need more god in their life I don't believe.) 

Quote 1: 

"Most, if not all, artists have times when they are discouraged about their work, or about how their work is received. Certainly if we look at artists from the past, many of the best ones struggled financially, emotionally, professionally, or all of the above. As sports players have slumps, artists go through periods that are fallow or difficult, when nothing seems to work, or we can't find the key, or we feel like we are laboring in obscurity." 

Although this website seems to be from a small artist, Her article intro was nice. Although we all seem to know that everyone gets discouraged when it comes to creating art it always seems nicer when we hear someone else telling us its true.  

Contemporary Fine Art,  Art Instruction, Art History, Ancestor Portraits, and Irish and Immigrant Images by a Professional Artist. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://www.ndoylefineart.com/index.html>.

Quote 2:

I as looking for a quote that had the 'get over it' feel. I found. 

“To escape criticism – do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” -- Elbert Hubbard

Boddy-Evans, By Marion. "Artists Quotes Criticism -- Artists Quotes on Dealing with Criticism." About.com Painting -- Learn How to Paint, Painting Tips, Creativity. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://painting.about.com/od/artandartistquotes/a/quotescriticism.htm>.

Elbert Hubbard was a writer in the mid 1800's to early 1900's. I found the quote on a website with many other quotes, which normally I would avoid at all coast but I found this quote to be highly fitting. 

Julika Rudelius Artist Lecture Questions

Artist lecture October 5th, 2010

http://www.rudelius.org/




- What was the most interesting quote of the lecture and why?
I very much enjoyed that she noted that her projects were "triggered by anger or discomfort" 


- Using three words, define the core of the artist's practice and artwork.
predetermined, untrue, controlled

- What is the most interesting thing you learned about the artist that you did not know before?
I did not know that her subjects were prompted to behave the way she thought would create the known reaction, or a reaction.


- What image or artwork do you find the most compelling and powerful after hearing the artist describe it?
Compelling and powerful maybe an overstatement but I found the women of the Hamptons to be pretty shocking.

- Do you have any new questions in regards to the artist?
what would happen if they behaved the way they did normally? I wonder how compelling they would or wouldn't be...or if the spontaneity would be interesting. 

Two Questions:
In past interviews you said your work is about body language and feeling uncomfortable. do you do things in your videos that creates an outcome that you intend to happen? or are things organically created?

it was very clear that she had a decided outcome for her videos so she would direct the subjects or prompt them with questions.

What is the purpose of splitting the video up into multiple screens of information? (like in the first work you show in the attached lecture?)

She mentioned the use of multiple screens and each having their own subtitles, but I did not catch her logic behind splitting them up.

Artist Entry #5 Tina Barney Monday October 4, 2010 :

Artist  Entry #5 Tina Barney: Monday October 4, 2010 :

- Small paragraph explaining why you have chosen this artist in relation to your Studio practice 


When I found Tina Barneys' photographs I was immediately struck by the eye contact and strangeness of the individuals in the photographs. I had been wanting to achieve a strange oddness in my photos that did not come across cheesy or immature.  I find there to be a guarded hollowness in her photographs that I find disturbing. There is a lot of technical things I find appealing about her photographs though. 

- Artist Biography (can use quotes from critics or galleries)
Born in New York, New York in 1945, Barney now lives and works between Rhode Island and New York City. Barney has had a multitude of solo and group shows some more resent have been; “The Portrait. Photography as a Stage”, Kunsthalle Wien, Austria“, "The Art of Caring,” New Orleans Museum of Art, and New Orleans, LA, and “The Portrait. Photography as a Stage” Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna in 2009. Barneys' editorial work has been in such publications as, The New York Times ,The Daily Telegraph, W Magazine, The Fashion, and Vogue Homme



- 2 Quotes - provide quotes with MLA citations commenting on ideas you are interested in the artist you are highlighting

"A narrative is suggested, but as the title [Marina’s Room, 1987] implies, the picture is as much about the things found in the room, as it is about the people who occupy it." 


Museum of Contemporary Photography. Web. 03 Oct. 2010. <http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/barney_tina.php>.


“When people say that there is a distance, a stiffness in my photographs, that the people look like they do not connect, my answer is, that this is t)he best we can do. This inability to show physical affection is in our heritage.” While the myth that material comfort ensures personal contentment is an alluring one, "
(although my photographs will span all economic stature not just the elite like Barneys' this disconnect between individuals is still apparent.)


"So the Story Goes." The Art Institute of Chicago. Web. 02 Oct. 2010. <http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/story/barney.html>.






- a link to an interviewwith the artist or a review


interview




- link to gallery representing artist
http://www.janetbordeninc.com/artists/Barney

- link to artist website
http://www.gallery339.com/html/artistresultsFull.asp?type=All
http://www.janetbordeninc.com/artists/Barney




- 4 images