Self-Portraits (in the most literal sense)

 

Lines

 

Benji

The GreenScreen

French (or maybe Belgian?) artist, Benji, has a very interesting project called the ExtrActor(GreenScreen) (2005). The project in an installation--a greenscreen made out of hydroponically-watered grass. The idea is a pretty simple yet cool one: grow a platformed wall of grass and then use the green backdrop as a greenscreen to "extract" people into different settings. Like a greenscreen in the movies (hence the "ExtrActor"), a person standing on the lush, green platform can be placed into a digital setting by replacing all the green in the image with a pre-selected digital image. When exhibited in galleries, participants can use the GreenScreen themselves, selecting a background with a remote.

Extracted participant in a bowling alley.

Benji says that the project was born from the discovery that "a natural environment could be used as a 'greenscreen.' We, as a rule, have no green pixels in our skin so we are easily separated from nature and included into other digital environments." By this statement, I think Benji is making a comment on how humans are sort of unnatural. There is no green in our skin and, since green is the color most easily associated with nature, it could be interpreted that we are "easily separated from nature," especially when given the context of a natural GreenScreen like in this project. Because we are separate from nature (in this case both the color green and the green grass of the GreenScreen), we can be easily extracted from the image and placed into a "digital environment" of a fabricated setting. In the picture above, the participant is standing on the GreenScreen platform and her image is captured by a movie camera. The camera replaces all areas of green with a pre-selected background of a bowling alley, making it seem as though the participant is really in a bowling alley instead of in a gallery, standing on a platform of grass. As all of the backgrounds available are man-made, artificial places, it emphasizes the idea that humans are easily extracted into from natural environments to "digital environments."

In looking at the gallery of extractions, I saw that many of the resultant images didn't turn out quite as well as with a true greenscreen. In most of the extractions, some pixels of the participant's image were missing or green pixels would show up in the background (as seen below). For some reason, it seems as though the program used to select the participant and separate them from the GreenScreen was not completely successful. This might be because of the texture of the grass, the color variation in the grass, or even spots in the GreenScreen where grass was missing (it is, after all, real grass and prone to dying). I think that if Benji were to try to do this project again, there would be, as in most second "drafts," many improvements he could make to ensure the second round is much better than the first.

Extracted participant on a city street.

Jeff Baij

Triceratops/Tapir/Red Panda

Jeff Baij is a young digital artist who lives in Venice, California. There isn't much biographical information on him either as a person or an artist but some things can be inferred from his website. A lot of his artwork seems to have a lot of humor in it--his Shitty Food in a Gallery is a Photoshop experiment where he takes pictures of supposedly "shitty" food and puts a spotlight on them as if they were in a gallery. A lot of his work also uses .gif files as the medium. .gifs are somewhere between images and movies--they are animated images that show a couple frames of movement. One piece of his in particular, though it didn't use .gifs, caught my eye. Baij's ANIMALMIXUP! is an interactive media piece where the user can choose from the head, body and tail of twenty different animals (including a human baby, triceratops, woolly mammoth and red panda) to make different combinations of animals.

Rabbit/Zebra/Cat

By allowing the user to make their own combinations, Baij leaves his art in the hands of others. His real work, then, is selection of the animals, separation of the body parts, and creating the framework for the interaction (the website). The animals he chooses are very diverse--many are common animals (cat, dog, rabbit, hamster) and many are uncommon (triceratops, woolly mammoth, tapir). By putting these different types of animals together in one place and, potentially, together in one new "animal," Baij gets allows the user to play God. The way in which Baij makes the animal parts, though, is interesting. The framework is not flawless--the pictures do not all line up and the image does not take up the whole frame but, instead, starts to repeat, creating a disconnect in the finished "animal." I think Baij may be making a veiled statement about cloning and cross-breeding between species. Today, there are many new combinations of animals like the liger and the zorse. Perhaps, through this digital creation of a new animal, Baij is trying to show people how absurd it is to mess with and alter animals. Sometimes, the combinations don't even work and the parts don't line up. In addition, every finished "animal" is flawed by the slivers that are repeated when the image does take up the whole frame. Even if this is not his intended concept, there is definitely a statement being made about how digital image manipulation can change and alter nature's form--the program Baij creates is not meant for the user to make "real" animals but new, unnatural ones comprised of many different combinations.

I don't know if the incomplete frames are intentionally flawed but I think they detract from the piece. The slivers on the right-side of each frame that start to repeat the image make it harder for the three body parts of the animals to combine seamlessly. In addition, the way Baij cuts the images of each animal into three parts sometimes does not match well with the division of another animal. I think if this was better executed, the interaction, creation and concept would be clearer and more successful. However, most of Baij's work seems to be done in a hasty, quick-witted manner that speaks more for a volume of work rather than quality. This is a casual piece with a light-heart to it, not a serious work of art and I think it works for Baij--someone needs to have a sense of humor!

Human Baby/Rabbit/Woolly Mammoth

Project 1 Draft

This is my first draft of Project 1. I am stumped on how to make it better so please leave some comments to help me! I'm going for realism so keep that in mind. Thanks!

Artist Talk: Karley Klopfenstein

Carpet Bomb

Karley is our new Artist in Residence and is a graduate of St. Mary's (1997) with a degree in Art and Anthropology. She attempted a Master's degree at Virginia Commonwealth but was asked to leave because, despite her earnest attempt, her work was not enough to satisfy her probationary terms. It was here that she developed a "religious" studio practice while working on her sculptures. After leaving Virginia, Karley made her way to Key West, FL where she became involved in Sculpture Key West, a non-profit organization which brings sculpture into the public sphere. Working with Sculpture Key West, Karley was able to solve her conundrum of a lack of studio space to work in (because it is expensive) and was introduced to the joys of public art. She watched her fellow artists and began to appreciate how public art is transient, only existing in photos after it is finished. Public exhibition allowed for the work to be displayed for free and the work space was free as well. Karley eventually rose to the top of Sculpture Key West. As she did, she was able to start her studio practice again and worked on politically-charged sculptures involving war, craft and carpets.

Macrame M16

Her most recent works are carpet-covered weapons such as bombs, guns and tanks. These are responses to the wars going on in the world and are inspired by Afgani war rugs. She covers dangerous, violent items in carpets made in a variety of methods and the result is a weapon covered with cultural meaning and artistic beauty. The contrast of the fluffy, cuddly yarn of the carpets with the dangerous nature of the weapons is a compelling statement--you want to touch the items but know that they are dangerous. The rug patterns also introduce a contrast between the foreign and the domestic that is mirrored in the item itself--the patterns are foreign but are made domestically just as the bombs are made domestically and are bound for foreign destinations. Karley says that creating her work (more specifically her "Camouflage Tank") is a subversive act because it is a direct response to the production and use of real tanks. Where real, American tanks are made on an assembly line and no one person has the responsibility for the item's use and purpose resting on their shoulders, Karley is solely responsible for her piece. Made entirely (almost) by her hands, she is contributing to its creation but also directs its purpose--not for war but for political comment.

Sketch for Camouflage Tank

I don't know too much about Karley's work as I have not seen it in person and her lecture did not cover everything I would have liked to know. I don't know how she exhibits her studio pieces, for example. My suggestion, if she does not already do this, is that she provide some sort of context or information about the specific patterns she uses. The symbolism, the cultural source, etc. should be included when the pieces are shown. By this means, the viewer will be able to fully comprehend the meaning that Karley imbues in her pieces as she makes them. On top of this, it is interesting! Karley told us that she does a lot of research for her pieces and why not share that research with the viewer? That extra information can create a deeper level of  comprehension in the viewer and would add to the experience of the piece.

After hearing her lecture, I am excited to see more of Karley's work.She told us much about her struggle to finish the tank and I feel invested in her work--I want to see her finish it and to experience the piece for myself because I know all the work and struggle that has gone into it. I can't wait!

Color Correction

Before

After

Before

After