The Roving Eye

Kent Dorn, Fugitive (Blue With Cigarette) 2008, mixed media on canvas

Andrew Guenther, Will to Change Things, 2007, mixed media on board

Usually when I think of portraits I tend to think of pictures of real people, or at least pictures that resemble real people. I chose both of these pieces because they confused me at first and made me think about what a portrait could actually be. When looking at Dorn's piece Fugitive I was repulsed. What stared back into my eyes was something that resembled a melting corpse. The piece was 3D in a sense in that it actually rose from the canvas. The work consisted of piles of blue and black mush, cut out pictures of two eyes, a mouth, and pins. Andrew Guenther's work was very similar to Dorn's in that it also was very chaotic and dissembled . Will to Change Things consists of an outline of a human male plastered with what appeared to be brown paint and glue. Random objects are suspended around the figure with sticks, string, and glue. I noticed sunglasses, slippers, cigars, and lotto tickets folded carefully between the teeth of a comb.

After reading The Roving Eye I thought of two questions that professor Goody posed: "What makes a portrait genuine? What constitutes artificiality?" I began to read the artist statements for both artists and things began to make sense. Dorn's work tends to focus on exploring a lifestyle that would be played out in epic survival tales. With this statement in mind I thought of the actually meaning of the word "Fugitive." The picture that I saw may not have resembled the man itself but it certainly embodied how one in his position would feel. Guenther's piece was different in that I found more meaning in the portrait itself then in the title. Looking at the items individually meant nothing but when I started to put them together I got a feeling that I was looking at an old relative. I made a connection with my uncle who wore similar sunglasses, similar slippers, and loved to gamble. After having these realizations I walked away with a better understanding of how portraits could display more then a persons facial characteristics.

Chosen Art Work

Iron Guardian (2013)
283kb
Gif
A gif I created using multiple layers. I built a layer of light that enhanced the eyes and made the picture come to life.


http://vimeo.com/59134370

Good Vibrations(2013)
1:56
Found footage movie
Using found footage from an old science video I create utter chaos with whistles and bells.

https://soundcloud.com/stream

Sound Experiment(2013)
0:42
Sound Clip
Using sound clips I try to re-create the common background noises that one would hear in a building. From footsteps to sneezing and coughing the listener is asked to close their eyes and imagine that they are present in that situation.

https://vimeo.com/59417556
Chroma Key(2013)
 0:08
mv4 movie
A collaboration between Alex Schawlbe and myself. We created a short narrative about what it would be like to be 3 inches tall.

Fair Use and Appropriation

Appropriation is one of those fine lines that seems to be walked across everyday. Being an artist, musician, and student I probably break copyright laws almost every other day. When I am working on a project for school I usually don't think twice about where my material is coming from. I don't stop and say "I wonder if the person who created this Jpeg is going to care if I bastardize it in Photoshop." The same can be said if I am working on a video project. I don't stop and wonder if Paramount pictures is going to be knocking on my door because they saw my video project that had footage from the movie Terminator int it. Its just a certain thing we take for granted and to be honest as art students we are allowed to. As long as we are using copyrighted material for projects and homework we get a free pass from copyright laws. Just don't expect to sell said work of art after you graduate. I find this to be a little unsettling because if I were to use someone else's idea in a paper I would get kicked out of school for plagiarism. Where exactly is the line drawn? What makes an idea/thought written on paper different from an idea/thought created through media?

The first article by Negativeland brought up some interesting points as well. One point I really liked was the idea of theft out of necessity. How is a small time artist/musician expected to get approval and pay copyright fees if they sample hundreds to thousands of clips. The answer is they just simply won't. Music I feel like plays by its own set of rules anyway. DJ and electronic musicians rip off tons of copyrighted material and get away with it, sometimes sampling full on choruses from other songs. However if I were to walk on stage with a rock band and try to pass off the chorus to Hey Jude as my own work I would get my pants sued off. In that aspect I feel like music copyright laws are simply a little biased by genre.