I produced this work by Letting my found image decide my placement of various blobs of coloured paint, then pouring water over it. I then used the water and paint left over on the tarp I used to paint on to dip more paper in. This produced some very interesting colour combinations and tones.
I have started experimenting more with marbling, testing out what paints and colours work best. My method is to vaguely paint from my found images, using the colour and placement as inspiration on the surface of water then dipping the paper in. I end up getting a ghostly melted version of the images. Some paints worked better than others. I found that the darker colours and black produces the most bold look. When I used lighter colours the page would come out quite dull and have a lot of white space.
I have produced some work by dipping paint into a tray of water so that it settles of the waters surface and then dipping in a page pf paper. This has produced an interesting marbling effect. I am interested in how you can seem various vague forms in the images.
With this piece I poured water over the image when I was done painting to create this melting effect.
We have started producing work by painting found images with various techniques.
To start out our brief we have done a series of work using different mark making verbs like pour, drip, drag or splash
This is my favourite piece that came out of my experiments. I made it by pouring water over a blob of paint in the centre the page. It produce an interesting marble effect. I want to further explore how water interacts with paint.
Bens work:
In todays class me and Josh decided to improve on my Spinning Fan by creating a cage around it to stop the paint from going everywhere and making my machine more accessible and enjoyable to use. This was an improvement from my first prototype as I was completely covered in paint after the first 2 attempts at my machine, but now it is more friendly and you can stay clean. I also made a wooden plank that replicated the frame sitting on the fan that allows people to attach their own piece of paper to the board and create their own art on my machine during our interactive presentation. (Both Examples Shown Below)
I then ran through an example piece to see if it was successful and I believe it went well and is ready to add into our presentation on Thursday.
Joshs work:
The first two weeks back in studio were an introduction to art machines. The term art machine covers a very wide variety of things depending on your definition of a ‘machine’. For the purpose of the brief an art machine was somewhat defined, as the interaction of an artist and some object or contraption.
Our group did a few individual experiments to get ideas. I wrote down a few ideas but decided to go with building trebuchets, a siege weapon from the medieval era. I wanted to do this because trebuchets are cool, but also using a war machine as a method to create art was an interesting juxtaposition.
I then got to work designing my trebuchet. I started with a drawing to map out the shape, size and features. After that, I took my design down to the 3d labs to create a file so I could lasercut my trebuchet.
This was the first lasercut of the plan. It was a test to see how it worked and what I needed to change/fix.
After adding some parts to the plan and tweaking others, they were scaled up and lasercut again.
The finished trebuchets.
How I set them up to use in our group space. I made some sponge balls so that you could soak them in paint and fling them at paper or a canvas.
Kaylas work:
After thorough brainstorming of ideas, materials, and artists I immediately knew I wanted to include light in my machine in some form. As a kid I adored observatories, especially the rooms that were transformed through light and displayed plants, stars, constellations and space I wanted my work to reflect this. Through artist research I found major inspiration from Yayoi Kusama and Cornelia Parker. These two artists also had specific works that thoroughly impacted my ideas and thought processes these being Parker’s ‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View’ 1991 and Kusamas ‘Infinity Mirrored Room’ 2013. Both of these artworks impact the entire surrounding space, illuminating everything in its presence. Kusamas work gives an eery light feel throughout the piece while Parker’s plays with light and dark, manipulating light to create shadows and highlights. Through research of Parker’s piece and coming to the understand that it plays with the ‘light and dark’ concept sparked the idea of yin and yang with lead to the idea of a Chinese lantern.
To experiment I used cardboard that was laying around at home, I found this difficult to cut stars out that were crisp and clean. This meant a lovely Gordon Harris trip where I found cardboard that looked much more aesthetically pleasing. Once I started to cut out stars the process was much easier, and I had cleaner cut outs.
Once the stars were cut out I shaped the cardboard into a tube. Using the thickest wire I could find at Gordon Harris I was able to create a make shift mobile which allows the cardboard to spin I found the wire to still be too flimsy so this required a few tries, eventually with input from others in my group we were able to create a functional mobile.
When setting up all the elements together in preparation for open studio I realised there would be another obstacle to overcome, this being the studio lighting negatively impacting the lighting on my machine. We proceeded to make our own secluded space within the studio acting almost as a small room, this allowed us to control the lighting in our space more. This control over the lighting gives the stars more definition and we are provided a more saturated hue from the lamp. Enhancing the mood and energy in our space.POSTED ONJULY 21, 2021
Back in the studio this week! On Tuesday my group came together to discuss ideas, experiments we had created and ways to move forward. We came to the conclusion to create an instillation that relates to the concept of a ‘factory line” this factory line consists of three art machines that will be interactive for the audience alongside my art machine which isn’t interactive but creates a moody energy for the space of the instillation. An interactive instillation allows the audience to create artwork from our instillation that they can take away.
Through elimination of resources and a strict time line, I decided to create a rotating lantern with cut out stars. Inside will be a lamp which projects light through these cut out stars, creating a machine that projects stars on top its surrounding surfaces. I intend to have the lantern spin so that it gives a more life full energy.
To experiment I used cardboard that was laying around at home, I found this difficult to cut stars out that were crisp and clean. This meant a lovely Gordon Harris trip where I found cardboard that looked much more aesthetically pleasing. Once I started to cut out stars the process was much easier, and I had cleaner cut outs. Once the stars were cut out I shaped the cardboard into a tube. Using wire I was able to create a make shift mobile which allows the cardboard to spin.
The first art machine in our factory line is Dices Schrodingers art machine in which the original design of it was to start fires though Dice has altered this to be able to create art as opposed to starting a fire.
The second art machine in our factory line is Bens, Spinning fan machine. He has replaced the fan blades with a canvas which allows the paint to spread out at random to create art pieces.
The third art machine in our factory line is Josh’s trebuchets, they were laser cut from MDF and assembled in the workshop. They fire sponges which can be soaked with paint or ink to create splatter marks.
The fourth art machine in our instillation in my large scaled star lantern which winds up, circulating stars.
I love the idea of an interactive instillation as I find it is the best way for a deeper engagement with your audience and instillation, giving a memorable experience to the audience. Interactive art to me bridges the gap between artists and non-artists, interactive art gives the audience a memory to take away, and in the case of our instillation, a piece of art also.
To tie all these ideas together we’ve used colour, this being red. To me the lantern reminds me of a Chinese lantern, use of red enhances this idea. Ive painted the exterior of the lantern red though as I was doing this I had the idea to why not have the lamp illuminate a red glow instead of a soft yellow. Using paint on the bulb I was able to achieve this.
Lantern art machine in motion
POSTED ONJULY 16, 2021
For the first week of semester 2 we were introduced to the concept of an “Art Machine” this being blah blah blah. Due to personal circumstances I was unable to be present for the first week. Though used this time away from studio to grasp a clear, concise understanding of this assignment. Though due to circumstances I was still able to collaborate for this assignment. I love the use of a collaborative assignment especially with a very hands on project as it allows room for creative growth, new knowledge and and new thought processes from other artists.
My group decided that amongst the 5 of us it would be most beneficial to split for the first week to experiment on our own concepts and then come back together in the beginning of week 2 to share, explore and discuss our ideas and concepts. From there we currently plan to choose a concept we would like to develop on for our final product of an “Art Machine”.
The first step in approaching this assignment, especially while being away from the studio was to thoroughly read through recommended artists to research. Being away from the studio meant I would struggle with inspiration as I find myself to be inspired by other artists in my class as I feel my mind thrives in an environment full of creatives, this was something to overcome. I proceeded to brainstorm everything that was coming to my mind.
Due to being away, experimentation was very limited therefore I thoroughly drew up plans, researched and listed resources available to me, and took into consideration the time I’d have to execute once I came back to studio. I came to the conclusion I wanted to include lights or any from of illumination.
Research
Source: http://understandinguncertainty.org/node/1066
Pure randomness in art
In an article from understandinguncertainty.org, The author writes about artists using randomness in their art.
Cage at Kettles Yard
One of the artists, John Cage, speaks about whys he uses randomness in his art: “I use chance operations instead of operating according to my likes and dislikes”
“The Kettles Yard exhibition featured wonderful film of assistants reading computer-generated random numbers off a list which determined which of a row of stones were to be chosen, which brush to use, and the position of the stone on the paper; Cage finally paints around the stone, stands back and announces the results as ‘beautiful’.”
Source: Gerhard Richter, 4900 Colours: Version II
“Gerhard Richter’s “4900 Colours: Version II”. This is based on 196 panels each comprising a 5 x 5 square. A computer program assigned a colour to each square drawn at random from a palette of 25 colours. The 196 panels can be put together to form one huge display, or in the Serpentine exhibition were arranged at random in sets of four to form 49 10x 10 displays.”
It’s interesting how art made using randomness can look so deliberate. We are hoping that we can emulate this experience in our exhibition.
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/3052333/the-value-of-randomness-in-art-and-design – here is another article talking about the importance of randomness from the Lense of design.
Source: https://escholarship.org/content/qt9zv112f5/qt9zv112f5.pdf?t=oekaym
We also found some great quotes In David Kirsh’s paper “The importance of chance and interactivity in creativity” speaking about this subject.
“Chance has a privileged role in creativity. It can be used to thwart bias, overcome the drive to imitate past solutions, and stimulate new ideas”
“Creative thinking, whether in science, art or sensemaking, is not something that occurs solely in the head — the internalist view. In most cases, creativity depends on an interactive cycle of working with artifacts, reacting to interim changes in the environment and then interacting again.”
“Creativity does not happen in a situational vacuum”
“The power of chance lies in its departure from tradition. It releases us from predetermined ideas about the good that constrain our vision of the possible. Too often predictions about what will be a good idea are unreliable”
Reflection
After individually experimenting with our own art machine ideas, we have spent the week talking about how we can collaborate and connect our ideas. We decided on the idea of an art factory, where viewers can try some of our art machines to create their own art.
The main ideas of our exhibition are art processes with unknown outcomes and environments that confront us with new ideas. Our installation is interactive to inspire the viewer to challenge their preconceived ideas about art making and outcomes.
Our goal was to create an experience of thought and experiment. We invite the viewer to let go of rigid ways of art making and let chance decide the outcome. It was important to us that the result of the viewer’s interaction with our work would be mostly random and out of their control, that they relinquish the control we often try have over our art process.
They first enter our art factory to see a dimly lit room illuminated by a large red lantern. It gives off a childish, dreamlike atmosphere. This sets the mood and helps the viewers/participants see the space as a place of play. They are then presented with paper and paints to use on the various machine
Machine 1
Machine 2
Machine 3
The overall experience is supposed to be fun and unexpected, similar to the way a child interacts with art making. Looking at art more childishly can be a great way to generate new ideas.
“Children, however, have not been subject to so many years of cultural impressions. They have a purity about them, unfettered by the various beliefs and generalities the consciousness takes as truth.” – Source:https://artblot.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/picasso-on-painting-like-a-child/
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child” – Picasso
We decided to spend the first couple days of the brief exploring our own ideas and the to come back together to decide on our next step.
I connected a lot to the quote in the art machines brief; “We are, no mistake, machines. ‘Everything is a machine’ (Deleuze). Our task-to be done with technoparanoia-is to turn these machines creative, to liberate their parts in an explosion that remakes the world.”
To start with, I decided to explore these ideas.
My first idea was how the body almost becomes a machine when carrying out a practiced task. For example, when a musician plays their instrument, they let their routines and muscle memory take over their actions. If they are only following a pre written song, they become a vesicle for the task to be carried out (the song to be played).
To think about these ideas further, I filmed a drummer playing a practice exercise. I also placed paper and graphite paper on the drums to leave marks as he played. The graphite would ‘record’ his practice.
The picture above is the first minute of practice. The drummer thought he needed to spread the marks out as much as possible, so he made quite deliberate marks.
For the next minute of practice, the drummer went did a more usual practice routine. The markings are a more accurate recording on his usual practice.
The third set of practice, the drummer used different drumsticks to create different marks.
For the fourth practice set, the drummer used markers as drum sticks. The marks came out quite unnatural because the markers were difficult to hold and weren’t a similar size and weight as drumsticks.
Some of the results came out quite beautiful and really make you turn your head and study the marks. This technique would be very interesting to look at further
Here are some artists who have explored the idea of the body and its movements acting as a machine to create art.
In a project by Taiwan- based firm JL Design, Artists tracked the movement of performers to create visual images. “The human movements were captured using six motion-sensing cameras, with the data then being translated into animated scenes and the material colours of steel, coloured wire, wood and glass were added to create these visually expressive and arresting short commercials.”
Source: https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/human-motion-sculpture/
While looking at the body as a machine is an interesting exercise of thought, it also has the potential to have a negative impact. Frank Bures, in his article “On The Body As machine”, He argues how looking at the human body as a machine can put barriers around our way of thinking of the body, and in particular has contributed to a harmful approach to the medical field in America.
It is interesting how thinking of the body as a machine can expand our way of thinking but also limit us.
