Dan Webb

The work of Dan Webb is one of true mastery of a media.
The three pieces I choose to focus on are all instances of time being frozen and immortalized in the rigid and beautiful static material of wood.  This truly plays with one's mind, able to convince them that the piece is really what it is depicting, were it not visibly crafted out of wood.




The piece titled: Drop is a block of wood 13" by 13" and 15" tall. The top 2 inches is carved into the crowning splash of a water droplet just after it has hit the water. This shot is one that has been attempted to capture in photography may times throughout history and is the most extreme example of a single instant frozen in time.  The realistic nature of the droplet, the use of the rings of the wood aligning with the ripples of the drop, and the thick layer of wood finish over the top makes it seem so fluidic and liquid.
(left)









The piece titled Sleeper is a slab of wood with a regular sized sleeping pillow carved into the top. The pillow has indented on it the impression of a human head, imitating the fleeting moment after one raises their head and the pillow puffs back up into shape. The smoothness of the wood references the malleability of fabric, making it seem as though it will rise back into shape any second.
                              (right)




I Love You is a piece that is a wooden rendering of a foil helium balloon with cursive lettering etched into it spelling "I Love You" on the front.  In the same way that the fabric of Sleeper is so accurately depicted, the creases and crinkles of the foil on the form and the ripples of what would be the seam along the side make the balloon seem so realistic that it looks absolutely weightless. If the piece were to be painted in metallic paint one would never be able to tell that t is cared out of solid wood and is extremely heavy.  Balloons such as these are only inflated for a single day and are afterwards discarded and thrown away, along with however strong of a statement is designed onto it, unless preserved mortally in solid carved fir.





Speaking of the work technically, each of these three works shows a complete mastery of woodcarving as a practice.  This level of depiction is something notable by not only artists, but also anyone with capable knowledge of woodworking as a craft. A simple furniture craftsman or contractor would be able to see these and have a grasp at the sheer amount of time and difficulty in creating this form through these means.
The most astounding part of Dan Webb's work is the contradictory nature of what it appears to be, such as liquid or fabric or weightless, rather than the heavy solid wood one can tell it obviously is.

The most resonatory statement Webb made was his tendency to work 'backwards' from the regular system of creating work. In his years at Cornish he said that he was being taught to create the idea/concept, and then formulate a statement about it and only then begin to create a physical work to get that point across. His natural way was to simply to the physical work, only taking into account the logistical and technical process of creating the sculpture, and let the conceptual aspects form afterwards.  This aligns very well to my own nature, in that I do not really know the meaning behind my work when i first begin to create it, only how i want it to be made. In hindsight, the conceptual value is easier to see after taking into account and experiencing the process of creation.

Independent Project

Motion

5' x  18"

Paper, Micron pen, acrylic paint

Front view

Folded detail

Cross-hatching detail

This piece is meant to show how implied line in any media will help to add a sense of implied motion and energy to even the most static and rigid form. Though the work is utilizing different variations of rendering, (core shadow, crosshatching, folded form), the implied motion of the image still reads as one fluid act of movement. 

Maquette

 Maquette

My final work will be a combination of different media to create a holistic and continuous flow of momentum and motion throughout the different elements of the piece. The picture below is roughly depicting the different media style that may be used in the work, but it will most likely instead be one single work on the wall. This will be combining multiple 2 dimensional imagery techniques as well as sculptural elements.

Below is a very lightly sketched version of Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' with darkened lines over the shapes in the image showing the implied line and associated movement throughout the painting.

Gestural drawings are very demonstrative of how motion and energy is captured in an image.

Haegue Yang

Yang's work was awe inspiring as soon as i saw the installation at the Henry weeks before.  Her work takes form in abstract installations constructed out of window blinds of different variations in color and size hanging in a sculptural way to be viewed from many angles. the different perspectives show how the layering of the open blinds to the eye makes different shades and acts as a large seemingly obstructive form, but is really a thin and relatively delicate see through barrier.

Being in a place of exhibition where the point is to view the artwork put one in the mindset to think about things objectively, but when facing Haegue's installation, one cant help but to connect so some sort of nostalgic or past encounter with the simple machine of blinds. The slats can be opened or closed to see through and pulling on the cord lifts them up. The blinds themselves are not abstracted, just the assembly of them in multiples, so one should think that they function as normal blinds do. even thinking objectively, it still makes sense for the everyday object to function as an every day object, and yet because it is being viewed in a galley, it is of course not acceptable to touch the work and test this theory of the installations function. There is a desire to pull on the hanging cord in hopes that the very still sculpture will work like a Rube Goldberg machine and activate sequentially. This creates a serious tension and intrigue between the viewer and the work, all while being totally still and abstracted.

Other works of hers which do in fact function on their own autonomously create a different relationship with the viewer. The picture below is of a moving installation that raises and lowers the blinds and opens and closes them in seemingly random patterns. the many layers and angles and mechanical functioning is very mesmerizing and confusing, as if these simple hanging strips of plastic/metal that make up the every day object are all one living industrial entity.

A question was asked at the lecture where she gets all the blinds and/or if she makes them herself, and she in fact purchases all of them from an online vendor who has a very detailed selection of blind material, cord color, patterns, etc, making these materials available to anyone in the world. Knowing this simply encourages the feeling of purpose and function in Yang's work even as an abstract installation.

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Cinematic Space Final

Cinematic Space Final production

Stop motion animation
cut and folded paper

This is a link to my video on YouTube:
 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_O96fcTmA 

The title A Finite Amount displays the restraint of working from one single piece of material to create everything that takes place in this stop motion animation.

Stephen Vitiella Henry Lecture

Stephen Vitiella

This work is one of a completely different form than any other artist we have seen so far at the Henry Art Gallery.  Very few artists work in the medium of sound without being musicians, thus it stand out very much when someone makes such a spectacle of non-rhythmic vibrations that one is unable to experience by sight, like almost all other exhibits one would see in a gallery.  This presentation was very informative in Vitiella's process of capturing sounds from the environment around him, searching and picking apart the small details of the flood of sounds we hear daily, and assembling a grouping to fit his desired effect.  His actual presentation its self was unorthodox, in that he jumped around often and used iPhoto rather than a traditional slide format, which seemed fitting due to the unusual task of facilitating such a style of art. Most artists, after going through whatever process they would to finish the product, have to deal with showing it in a gallery-like setting. Angle of perception and lighting are the only major factors one can take on. As long as the audience can visually see the artwork, they can perceive it in their mind. Even for something like a film that does include sound, there is most often a visual representation of the identity of the noises.  For Stephen Vitiella, working with solely noises, the challenge is to display the sound in a way that is obvious where it is to be heard from and/or in the best manor possibly.  His example of being given the gallery space next to a fountain outside was a very clear idea of how obstructive other elements of an area would be on the display.
Many of the pieces involved multiple speakers all facing toward a center point to where the sound is focused or intentionally directed otherwise, but having a space large enough to display something from all sides like that isn't always an option. The images he showed where there was 11 different speakers, all at different heights and orientations hanging from a ceiling gave me a new respect for the difference in effect location would have on a sound display. Not only does one have to worry about proper speakers and noise pollution, but also proper acoustics and reverberation of the sounds themselves.  Having a subject matter that is primarily natural documentation,= gives a real contrast to the urban art setting in which large cities and masses of traffic and loud noises assault the senses at almost all times. Silence is definitely one of the most obvious signs of peace and serenity, making it a very interesting canvas on which to work.  As a sculpture, I often find that i have absolute freedom the form i can create in physical space, but it pales in comparison to the morphic indefinable entity of sound waves.

Cinematic Space

Cinematic Space

"Finitity"

For my interpretation of cinematic space I will be a stop-motion animation view of a process of growth and development of a space depicted in cut paper. 

Working with paper is a very developed hobby of mine and will continue to fascinate me as a medium. As paper can take on nearly any possibly form the first parameter of the structure is always the amount of paper one starts with. Whatever shape or weight it is, there is always a finite amount of the single sheet of paper. After paper has been formed it is then a still form, frozen in space and hiding almost all aspects of the process of its creation. 

I intend to use stop-motion to display both of these qualities of paper, working in a narrative that will encompass both the process of manipulation as well as the inevitable end to a finite amount material.

The following 5 images are prototypes of my forms to be used in my animation.