'Movement & Motion' 13 week Project - RESEARCH

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Movement & Motion Project 2011

I would be here all day if I blogged about each Artist who's inspiring me throughout this process so I'm just gonna blog about this Artist [ b e l o w ] - the rest of my research work so far I have in my research sketchbook.

> Aideen Barry 

Aideen Barry is a Visual Artist, working in the mediums of performance, film, musical composition, drawings and animation. THE WOMAN IS A LEGEND.. her work focus's on many subjects such as OCD, Hysteria and Domestic Dystopias. I was at the Crawford Art Gallery over the summer and came across her work at the show 'Gravity' - my 1st encounter with her work. 'Vacuuming in a Vacuum' 2009 _ it blew me away (no pun intended)!!!

OUTSTANDING & INCREDIBLE WORK

'Gravity' Poster

I was so drawn to her piece, my friend with me had to literally drag me out of the gallery space as I was stuck to her work.  She manipulated the Housewife into a Shelleyesque creature. She manifested as a half-human half-vacuum cleaner, floating in an un-natural way in a zero-gravity vacuum. This future depiction of horror was also accompanied by a series of sculptural objects based on further notions of domestic dystopias.

Click next to this for video link:  Link to her video installation 'Vacuuming in a Vacuum'

Video Still ( performative Film), Plastic, Rubber, Fiberglass, Silicone.

now thats what I call sculpture (Image Below)
IT AMAZED ME

The uncanny is familiar, yet strange; it often creates cognitive dissonance within the experiencing subject due to its paradoxical ability to simultaneously invoke attraction and repulsion, fascination and intimidation.


This cognitive dissonance often leads to slippage between initial perception and subsequent evaluation. She explores these issues in a playful manner often using humour to entice the viewer.


She tends to engage with the instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange, sometimes amusing, but often threatening.

Another piece I quite like from Aideen Barry is 'Flight Folly' 2010

Remote control Helicopters, plastic, motors, fiberglass, silk, wood, cotton, steel, aluminium,

" Flight Folly" was performed as a part of 'The Performance Project', on June 19th 2010 at Liste Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland.


Flight Folly is a humours performative work, where she created a dress that could "take off", by the process of being lifted by 20 syncronised remote control helicopters all operating from one remote control, on one frequency.


On the basis of earlier works dealing with the theme of flying, which the artist drew from her experience with weightlessness gained during a research fellowship in astronaut training at NASA, Aideen Barry has developed this work specifically for Liste.


The performance cites historical notions of fairs or world expositions and how experiments in flight were commonplace at those venues.


Aideen Barry’s artistic focus deals with the notion of the “Uncanny“. In her works she examines our perceptions and creates images on the border between the truly perceivable and pure imagination. 


 The reason I am pulled to her work is because she allows reflections of realities.. she works with many mediums like film, animation etc. I love the fact that she went to NASA and trained there for experience for her 'Flight Folly' piece. 


Since seeing 'Vacuuming in a Vacuum' this summer I have this huge interest in her work, her mind and her creativity. She is truly inspiring and I would like to explore her work further in the future. I choose her as 1 of my artists to research for the 'Movement & Motion' project because there is movement in each of her works. As part of my project, which i will get to eventually, I would like the end piece to be a video installation piece and seeing Aideen Barrys work really helps my research process and thought process.

I adore her stop motion work 
(I plan on doing some stop motion included in my final video installation piece)

'Aideen Barry in Headlands Project Space'

 

I saw pieces from this video (below) at the 'Gravity' Show in Crawford also... freeken awesome.. must have taken a very long time to create this.. genuisly creative and unique. I'd love to hop inside Aideen Barry's mind for like a day, bet its EPIC in there. For one artist she's some artist.

I have heaps of other artists researched also - can be seen in my research notebook

THE PROJECT

These are some of my thoughts & notes to myself in my sketchpad:

My idea process stemming from 'Movement & Motion' branched out to Dance, Time, Weather, Travel, Light, Mechanics, Physics & Waves.

The most interesting for me is Dance & Light

The 5 P's - Process, Progress, Personal, Plan & Product sort of gave me a foundation to work from.. well kinda.. good to have those 5 words

Thinking of Dance a good few words came into mind - Choreography, Energy, Inertia, Flow, Power

Action, Fluid, Swirl, Freedom, Rythm, Interaction, Communication...

I quite like Inertia as a place of discovery - it is used to describe the motion of matter & how its affected by applied forces. The resistance of any physical object to change in its state of motion or rest.

Also theres Rythm - Nature teaches Rythm, it is manifested in the waves & tides in the vibrations of light & sound in the harmonious movements of the sun, the stars & the planets. When man began to express himself by Rythmic movements of the body he was imitating the everlasting dance of the universe. [Aincent Dancing - Dance Origin]

With regards to movement - it is what makes the world exsist, it creates the things we can see. All we make is because our mind & bodies move. It is a mode of bieng, the condition of a potential bieng actualising itself.  I have an interest for movement, moving objects of the human physique & movement throughout lighting - the human movement & the relationship between body movement, expressions & emotions. Dance through light would be very interesting to explore.

I would like to discover the act of moving in space with light

but how do I express what I am doing? what I want to do? why I am doing it & why???

There are 4 elements of dance

> Design

> Dynamics

>Rythm

>Motivation

How the heck can I interpret dance with light??? study these 2 more maybe!!!

I gotta figure States of Motion, Arrange relations between bodies, time & space. I have a friend who is a contemporary dance artist who is always around to help me out, maybe she could dance for me with light??? I could choreograp, film & photograph the piece & then try it as a 3D end piece somehow!!!

How the frik could I do this!!!... argh!!! I enjoy the work of William George Wadman & many other artists who work with dance.. his work is a great inspiration for me. I could try photographing a series of light movements with my friend too.

The outcome of this project is for me to catch the motion of movement.. freeze the moment but show motion... confusing much.. why yes yes!

why not take out the dancer completly & just concentrate on the light?? all the ideas.. where to start..

I could use light or even water to resemble the dancer... bright idea.. me likey...

Using slow shutter speeds & wide aperature openings on my camera I will try these images.. 3D work to follow or not.. this is all a process for me & I understand that my ideas/plans will be forever changing along the way of this project...

Some of my work already (pre college) using slow shutters:

I absolutely love shooting light movements.....

Time to start making light... I love it!!!

Dancing with light: EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS

I twirled around & around & around for 30 seconds (nearly threw up with the dizzyness but it was worth it) . Using a light from my phone - 29 September - 30s F/20 ISO 800

My idea was to show a flow in motion of light to resemble a dancer of some sort.. I failed at these attempts but tis all part of the learning process & I kept going.. I knew I had to keep going with this & that the reason I was experimenting was so I could learn & keep my idea growing

The more photos I experimented with the more I figured out what I was looking for... this image got me on track & gave me a boost to keep going.. I like the swirls, the spinning effect  the action...

I could base it on Inertia - the ever changing state of motin & use the lights to show this. Maybe even create a 3D light piece at the end but also experiment with different materials along the way...

These light tubes must have meaning/purpose...

{below image} - I danced around (unsure what I kind of dance I was doing - but I went for it anyways) - continously twirling & twisting in a circular motion. It looks like the light collected in this image is like a force around a body & it looks like it is hovering above the ground. I printed this image out at A3 size & cut out the light - I then shone a flash light through it - It was an experiment to record the shape only - this was to further give me more ideas through the process... the more I experiment the better & broader my mind & the process becomes.. Im not looking at an end piece yet, I am learning, growing & experimenting for now & I am enjoying it too - wether Im lost or not.

I hung the A3 image from my studio desk, I placed my tripod with wireless sync flash behind it. I captured the light..

   

The shapes & form captured are really interesting creating light movement.  I will further experiment with light & do more of these kind of images

I could blacken out the image except for the light.. literally just capture the light, concentrate on the tubes of light, interpret them into a dance maybe!!!  How do I do that!!!

How do I do that... well 1st things 1st... take heaps more experimental light photographs...

Heres more images taken to record/collect light

Lights from Cars

30 second exposures - capturing flows/beams/starbursts

The last image here caught my attention most - the shapes from the top lights remind me of birds flying in lines.. maybe I could do a light piece with birds in flight or birds dancing.. TRY EXPERIMENTING WITH BIRD FIGURES!!!

Same night as above car photographs, this image was recorded in my bedroom - I danced around with the light from my phone and got a few images - this one stood out most for me. it reminds me of a baby bird/chick.. I wasnt looking to create any bird images at this point but this just came out like this.

I was brought back to a photograph taken of me in New Zealand 2008. The shot was my idea & I got a friend to take the shot. I absolutely love running after birds.

 

So I decided I would try experiment with drawing birds through light movement

I tried to show the movement of wings in motion here.. didnt get what i want but i like this image

Now this image caught my eye... to me this resembles a  bird from the side!!!

I traced over the photograph as I just wanted to capture the light and shape.

This is the image 'inverted' in photoshop.. tis quite interesting

now what could I do with the line & shape captured.... time to get experimenting for myself

How can I make it 3D if I wanted it to be a 3D piece??? The more I create/experiment the more I see new things

my mind thinks in lines.. I drew it linear

(some images rotated to right here.. cant rotate them!!!)

What it may look like somehow in 3D!!!

Created with layers of paper to give it a 3D look/feel!!!

Multiple layers of hard paper with the design on them folded together to create a fan

I honestly do not know what this is but I think I was trying to find the shape!

Next 3 pieces were created using tin cans - flattened down and cut 

Still looking for shape

More shape finding

Using Metal Wire I created this - again jsut creating the shape

Seeing as it was originally a light image I decided to stencil it onto a box (made from hard paper) and see if somehow I could project the image. I have also been reading up about Optical Fibres and neons opening my mind to explore light more.

Projecting it onto a wall using a lamp.. unsure why it is a pink/purple colour! 

Projecting it out the top window of my house and into the alleyway next door

So I realised that I was moving too fast so I decided to back track and go back to Birds...

Birds symbolise alot - for me they mean:

Joy, Beauty, Freedom, Hope and Peace.

Words that spring to mind when I think about Birds are Flight, Feathers, Flock, Speed, Flap and Fly.

Birds connections to the skies symbolise the future, signs of premonitions, possibilities of change in dreams. Birds can link to ideas and proposals linked to everyday life. With regards to personal feelings they potray Freedom & Spirituality.

So I gotta train my arm to properly draw Birds so that I can draw them better through light. 1st things 1st - head down to the water, get some bread & photograph the birds down there.. mainly really annoying seagulls but they are great to photograph. I took about 200 constant photographs but heres the photographs I am using as a means of getting their shapes and practising drawing them

I love the bird in the 2nd row middle image - very funny!

After that I took these images and started drawing the shapes

Just an example of what I was doing:

So these werent large enough for my hand to practise so I had to go bigger.. I did!

Heres a few images from what I did.. these were the right size for me


(BELOW) Line Drawings from the photographs

Right.. next thing.. get out to my back garden and start drawing birds & see what comes from it

Im pretty happy with these light birds

BUT WHAT NEXT!!!

(BELOW) That was supposed to look like a bird crashing into me.. I have no freeken idea what came out but its kinda interesting... 

(BELOW) So I decided to mess around as always and heres what came of it!!! haah!!!

(BELOW) Then I donned a gas mask prop I own with big headphones and heres what came of that.... why I did it I have absolutely no idea but I like what happened and the end result here...

Just messing about here:

 'I am the Light-Maker'

So im after thinking of doing the story of a bird - from birth in its nest as an egg etc

Doing all of this through light movement.. maybe make it a stop motion video or display it in a book as photographs.. Hopefully it doesnt rain at the weekend.. My mothers gaf is the perfect place.. trees, grass, walls & a field.. also I will go down by the river too. Heres hoping it doesnt rain or I'll have to do it indoors and I can give it a go but would rather try it outdoors as soon as it gets dark and nice one that it gets darker earlier.. ill have more time. Ill blog again when its done.. Hopefully it works!

Some inspiring work that is helping me through this process

Michael Van Hout

Earth Art

Harry Allen

Evington Ironworks

THE AMAZING SHELI MARKEE

I absolutely adore her wire line birds

Also Alfred Hitchcocks film 'The Birds' 1963 is awesome.. Attack of killer birds

So I tried to create light drawing images of the life of a bird... i didnt get what I wanted but I kept drawing. I started drawing a bird in flight.. I bought a 'skinz' body suit (so my face couldnt be seen in the light)..  Im like a ninja in it! haha!

Heres what I created that night:

getting the shape of the bird:

A bird mid flight: 

Trying to draw birds on telephone wires:

So thinking about telephone wires I decided to create more.. on a recent bus journey I took out my sketchpad & started quickly drawing telephone wires & poles... just quick line drawings. I started thinking about birds in the cities & suburbs, in the skies and water..where the go, where they are.I thought to myself well… I know where birds are & where they go… I decided to set out & draw buildings, trees, houses, apartment blocks, electricity poles & wires. Suburban houses, a lake & a boat. I pieced ‘my cityscape’ together on a large A1 sheet… I drew out images a few times (I enjoy graphical drawing so I was quite happy drawing out buildings etc) & then brought home the A1 sheet & lay it on my bed as a map for when I drew with light. 

The idea then sprang to my head to create a drawing of a light city (2D) & print it off at largescale.... & have the light birds interacting in this cityscape... so I started piecing together a cityscape... I practiced drawings first & then moved onto light drawings.

DRAWINGS:

MY STUDIO SPACE AT THE MOMENT:

MORE DRAWINGS/PLANNING:

looking at poles (photos from my phone)

I PRINTED OUT 20 A3 SHEETS & CREATED THE CITYSCAPE AT LARGESCALE

SHOWING MOVEMENT:

ME, MY BLACK SKINZ SUIT & A LIGHT... HERES WHAT YOU GET:

Here is a collection of some of the images in the cityscape (which took 6 hours of Photoshop - layers, transform tools & layer masks)

Heres the cityscape as a JPEG

(Its a huge file so heres an A4 sized version, its a little warped from making it a small size - big size would not upload)

CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR BIGGER VIEW

 Now to add & choose the birds for the image....

Just a few more I have drawn (I will be duplicating these, transforming -  horizontally flipping, rotating, warping, perspective etc).. Ill draw more tonight as the more birds I have the better

My mind is now set on creating a stop motion animation piece. Over the past week I have not only been drawing birds with light but I moved onto drawing places where birds are… Cityscapes, lakes, trees, suburbia, the skies, electric poles etc.

The more the better as I know I’ll be doing stop motion & that takes a load of images. I would like to have the birds flying around the cityscape & urbanscape, landing on buildings, flying off electricity cables etc. Also have an arial view of a cityscape & urbanscape & draw that out in light (make it that it’s from the birds perspective), I’m going to try make the bird who is looking down land on the boat in the lake in the 2D image & then that’s when the 2D 'cityscape' image is introduced. I would like this piece to be 1 – 2 mins long & also I plan to record bird sounds to go with the background sound to this piece.

STOP MOTION....  time consuming but very worth it. I have been looking at Stop Motion Clips from Youtube & heres a few that interest me... Im a big fan of Aideen Barrys Stop Motion also (from the top of this blog)

A SHORT VIDEO BY ME SHOWING A LITTLE OF WHAT I AM DOING

(Music is not mine, just put it in for the blog only)

I CREATED THIS VIDEO AROUND THE 3RD WEEK OF THE PROJECT BUT THE FILE WOULD NOT OPEN... AFTER NEARLY THROWING MY LAPTOP OUT THE WINDOW AFTER WEEKS I GOT IT WORKING.... WAIT FOR THE BIRDS AT THE VERY END...

JOURNEYS & DESTINATIONS THROUGH TRAVEL

LINKS TO YOUTUBE VIDEOS IVE BEEN WATCHING & REALLY LIKE:

http://youtu.be/q0v9N3ES3Vw



Now to make the images move... I will be working on making the boat move into the distance today... so I've a date with Photoshop for the next few hours.. Until next time......CHOW .

So creating the boat leave the lake and into the distance was a challenge... It took me 3 and a half hours of Photoshopping.. these are open layers so I will be going back in with the birds later on when I am editing... I cant as yet figure out how to get the right sizing but Im 'googling' around. Heres what I did.. It is looped 3 times & looks really stretched out in width.. something I gotta figure out

Capturing wing movements 15 mins to create

Flying off the boat 30mins to create

This took a good while - Image is better looking in regards to width stretching etc. This is all a learning process for me so Im sure Ill get somewhat a bit better. This took 1 hour

Monday 12/12/2011 -  60mins to create

Sun Movements - 30mins to create

I HAVE FOUND THE COOLEST LIGHT GRAFITTI ARTIST - These videos are amazing!

http://www.michaelbosanko.com/videos

Michael Bosanko's work that has inspired me through my work:

heres what I created the other day... these are shapes of birds on kitchen paper.. the texture on the kitchen paper reminds me of swirls in skies... kind of reminding me of picaso's 'Starry Night'.. which I know has nothing to do with my work & it may not seem like that for anybody else. I dont know why it popped into my head! haha!

How cool... a birds nest is in my mams back garden. It appeared over christmas.. we think its a robins nest..Im not allowed go near it as it may frighten them away so this is the closest I got to it..

Drawing with light last night & heres what happened! I really dont know why I did it... reminds me of skeletons/xrays! so bizzare but ill put it into my workbook anyways

More movements... this isnt that good but once again I figured i'd pop it in! haha

Tuesday 13/12/2011 - 60mins to create

I AM STARTING TO GO GA-GA FROM PHOTOSHOP

(but tis all worth it) haha!!!

So my laptop decided to break last night... My screen went blank. Brought it up to PC World this morning... 3-4 weeks I will be waiting for it to be back.. So im Laptop & Photoshop'less for that length of time, these things only happen to me but hey it could always be worse... time to figure out a way to access Photoshop for the Christmas Holidays as I will be working over the break.  (RANT OVER)

MORE WORK TO FOLLOW SOON

Presentation is tomorrow.. Sketchpads & Nerves are at the ready :O

Heres my video presentation:

Had to upload it to my youtube account as it wouldnt upload here!!! WIERD!

Also I wrote down the wrong K Number at the end when creating this! its

K00132318 not K00131318..whoopsie. Cant go back and re-edit right now! CRAP!

Im sure its fine tho! Wont panic just yet! haha!

My studio ready for presentation

1st year LSAD Self Portraits are up.. Im giddy... there are some really interesting portraits

EINSTEINS DISCOVERY OF THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY THAT 'LIGHT CARRIES THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE, THE SECRET OF TIME'

For me drawing the birds & cityscape gave me a sense of freedom, I know its odd to say that as I am free in this world... but making the birds made them feel more real, they came to life when I drew them. Birds & Light symbolise Freedom & Spirituality for me & by creating them I felt these feelings too.  Light in its own sense is a free source, it is forever never ending & Birds are alive in the skies, free to fly wherever they like. I am constantly looking up at birds in flight in the sky & wishing I had the ability to fly off. Maybe this all just makes sense just in my head I dont know. haha!