Scrap Book 12

It is interesting to me that such beauty would not be called a work of art, under the definition that I have been using thus far in my scrapbook entries.  The beauty of the Earth itself was not created or built by humans, nor was it the manifestation of an inspired human heart.  There are many who would say that it is the greatest work of art of all, created by an omnipotent Being who sought to share his wondrous creation with us, humans.  However, my definition only includes those works of inspiration created by human hands and human will power.  This does not in any way conflict with an ideology that the earth is the wondrous creation of an omnipotent Being.  It merely removes the claim of earth as art, due to the fact that God's hands are not human hands.  Art, I think is a very human thing, because, in my experiences, we create art in order to transcend our mortal bonds, in an attempt to create something lasting and true.  If God is an everlasting and infinite Being, than I do not see how there could be any drive to rise above weakness and mortality.  

This photograph itself, on the other hand, may be called artistic.  I took this picture on the path to the Campus Center.  For its symmetry and the contrast between the light and dark shades, it has many commonly artistic qualities.  

Scrap Book 11

I found this interesting mark on the wall in one of the practice piano rooms downstairs in Monty.  I first noticed it because it was a stark break in the monotonous pattern covering all other space on the wall.  The whole wall is covered in tiny holes, and suddenly there is a crack, drawing a line between two rows of holes, at once separating them from themselves, and uniting them in individuality from the rest of the wall.  I don't know how this crack came to be in the wall as it is, however I find no reason to believe that this crack was intentionally man-made.  Perhaps if Andy Warhol or Picasso had created a painting full of repeating dots, and like on the wall, drew a line through a few of them, then such a painting could definitely be called art, due to the name of the painter, and due to the poetic significance in the unison of "us" against "them".  Because these are in fact merely holes and a crack in the wall, they are not art.  Though, in truth, they do stand out against the rest of the wall, I probably would not have noticed them if I had not been looking for things that were not art.

Artist 6

The above image is taken from a project called "Bust Down The Doors Again! The Gates of Hell Victoria Version", which was created by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. Young-Hae Chang Industries is comprised of two artists, Young-Hae Chang and Marc Voge, who use the Flash program to tell stories set to jazz music. These stories are words that fly across the screen, or merely change position rapidly. Initially it seems that it is a one way experience, but because the words move so fast, the viewer is drawn in, by the mere effort of attempting to read the words. I myself watched the project called "The Struggle Continues" which shouted the idea that we must throw out all inhibitions and just embrace Love in all of its varied and wonderful forms. The expose was presented in simple, black, bold letters, on a plain white background, though sometimes the background was black and the words were white. The way the worods synced with the music was really cool too. This is unlike any of the other "art" that I have explored through this site, but I think I would actually consider this to be art. It is definitely inspiring, and encourages the viewer to come away from there. In terms of the tangible manifestation of a creative force working uniquely through the individual, I think these projects are definitely thr result of an inspiration, to reject the vices they find in the world around them, and encourage other to join them. And this inspiration manifests itself in visual and sonic projects that I would like to call art.

link to the page

Mike V Pictionary

Scrap Book 10

This was an awesome icicle located on one of the lower branches of the eucalyptus tree standing in outside the Campus Center between the two arches.  Obviously, the icicles have since melted, but on Monday and Sunday virtually the whole tree was encased in ice.  It was quite a spectacle, and quite moving.  One might even say that it "took you away from here", for its creatively inspirational qualities.  If a man sculpted something that looked like this, perhaps even a statue based on this very formation, it might be called a great work of art.  However, this awesome formation of frozen particles was created by forces of the natural world, totally free of any direct interference by a human, except perhaps whoever planted that tree there.  If a work of art is the tangible manifestation of a creative force working uniquely through each individual human being, than an entity created by a purely natural force, such as the weather, cannot be considered art. 

Artist 6

John F. Simon, Jr. uses computer programming and software code as a medium to explore the possibilities of visual expression and, actually it ends up being a kind of storytelling. The image to the right is taken from his "A Life" project.  The six orbs are constantly changing, fed by the program he created, following a certain progression that "models the emergent, recombinant processes of living evolutionary systems."  I thought it was really cool how he doesn't really go into it with a solid conception of what he's going to create, but instead just just a general idea of direction.  And, he says, more often than not, he, or the code, does something unexpected, and this too is incorporated into the finished code.  In my experience with art, especially in the musical vein, I have had this happen many times - where I've been working on song, but then may just begin jamming to the general tune that I already had, and all of a sudden I had three really cool parts to the song, and needed to figure out some way to incorporate them into the finished thing.  I think there is a certain freedom in approaching art like that, not to have a rigid conception of what was going to be, but letting the art come out of itself, and maybe changing some things eventually - I find that to be more honest than constraining oneself. 

Scrap Book 9

This photo was a actually taken by my friend Steve Sheridan, down on the water, somewhere near the Point.  The only manmade structure in this photo are the wooden posts located at the center of the photo, which have since been put to use as a nest for a seagull family, presumably.  I think the original objective of the posts was to alert passing boats of shallow water.  The posts in themselves, and everything else in the picture, for one reason or another, should not be considered art.  The posts because they were placed for functionality and not for creativity.  Everything else in the photo is of the natural world, and so could not be a work of art.  However, the photograph itself, is very artistic, in the way the branches frame the posts and nest, and the symmetrical reflection of the posts on the water.