Collaborative Projects

Diana and I created an exhibit using two digital artists called "An Intolerable Truth: A New Take on Consumerism by Toni Dove and Chris Jordan." The basic theme of our exhibit is the effects of consumerism on modern society. Toni Dove uses conceptual interactive video presentations to get this message across, while Chris Jordan digital compiles images of waste to emphasize the results of consumerism on the planet.
http://www.tonidove.com
http://www.chrisjordan.com

The other two groups that presented today were very interesting.
Sara and Nicole's artists both worked photography based. Jessica Bruah and Graham Harwood. Jessica Bruah's pieces focus on images of faceless people. These images are set in very recognizable places yet the odd thing about them is that the subject never has an identity. Graham Harwood's work focuses on telling stories by digitally adding them to photographs of faces. Both of these artists' work confronts the viewer with the question of identity which is a universal theme that almost any viewer can relate to.

Val and Jared's artists: Pascal Dombis and Jeffrey Shaw were also compelling choices for an collaborative exhibit. Their theme was technology and use of systems. The first piece that they showed us of Pascal Dombis was very interesting. The idea behind this piece was that he would use the Google search engine and type in a color. He would then use the Image results from this to create a compilation image. This piece really touches on the fact that most of the time, using the internet search engines does not always give us the best information. It makes the viewer question how and where we get our information these days. Jeffrey Shaw's installations were very interesting also. I like that he embraces technology into his pieces.

Jess and Liz's exhibit: "Interaction Required" was really great. I really liked their choice of artists. All of the piece they chose involved the viewer playing a main role in the piece. Artist Rebecca Allen's pieces literally had people controlling the digital video pieces with sensory technology and joysticks. Usman Haque's work was really fascinating. His pieces required the participation of the viewers voices and even required their help in installing it. The balloons were a really impressive piece. I would like to see his work in person.

Kyle and Ryan's exhibit was about manipulation and how artists can make additions or changes to an already existing work and turn it into something new. Artist Lillian Schwartz does this by combining the Mona Lisa and a self portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci to test the theory that the Mona Lisa is in a self portrait also. She changes the meaning of the Mona Lisa by taking away half of it and adding another image in its place. Cory Arcangel did really interesting work as well. His work with Nintendo video games is a unique way of showing manipulation. Re-creating video games is not something normally thought of as art.

Liz and Jess's exhibit about Repetition was interesting as well. Pascal Dombis's work with algorithms and line drawing is a great example of repetition through digital imaging. Terry Mulligan's work also was a good choice for this exhibit because this work emphasizes geometric repetition. His use of patterns is really a good example of this.

Alfred and Brian's exhibit about digital imaging in popular culture was great. These are people how do artwork everyday but are not necessarily considered 'artists'. John Lasseter pioneered in digital 3D animation and created some of the most iconic characters and stories of our generation. John Knoll, the creator of the first version of Photoshop pioneered in the digital graphics in movies. This exhibit would be really relavant to the world that we live in--where the movie industry is one of the biggest industries. I think that an exhibit of these two digital artists would be interesting to go see.

Distortions

I really enjoyed the TCNJ Art Gallery's new exhibit called Distortions. All of the pieces were very unique and really allow the viewer to explore Mexican contemporary art. The best part of the Gallery opening was seeing a live performance by one of the artists. His video version of the piece was interesting also but seeing the live performance really enhanced the experience. If I'm not mistaken the ice record played a version of the Mexican nation anthem which I thought was an interesting choice because it raises the question of whether the piece is about Mexican pride or indifference. Unfortunately I was unable to stay for the panel discussion because I had to go to work but I would have liked to hear more about what the artists had to say about their artworks.