Optimus Maximus Keyboard

The Optimus Mazimus keyboard definitely proves the direction personal computer technology is headed. It allows for greater user interaction with convenience in mind; a huge factor in the future of technology development. Each key features its own tiny screen that shows the function currently assigned to it—that’s 113 screens in all. Why is this so special? Well, each key can change its image dynamically depending on what you’re doing. For example, when the user presses the shift key, all the pictures change to uppercase versions. It also makes switching between different keyboard layouts, like those from different languages, quick and easy. It has the ability to perform even cooler tasks though. You can set a key to display what iTunes track you’re currently playing or make a key into a tiny clock. This type technology boggles my mind. I had no idea anything like this even existed. Of course, it’s still extremely futuristic resulting in its steep price. However, I can’t help but think—when will tools like this be the norm? It would surprise me if I don’t see it as our standard in my lifetime.

Guiness "Slide" Commercial

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The concept of this commericial is so clever and the visual effects are really appealing. The commerical is less than a minute long, but during that minute a fresh pint of Guiness is slid down the bar by the bartender. The pint then slides out the bar and through city streets and offices. Ultimately, the Guiness arrives just in time to a new employee who is courageously negotiating salaries with his new boss. The transitions from place to place are what make the commerical so creative. The pint slides through the city by coming in contact with random objects found there—from bike pedals to the hood of a car to a skateboard to piping. The end result is a visually engaging piece with a sweet and to the point, yet brilliant storyline.

Stop Motion- "Her Morning Elegance"

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This is one of the most unique, well put together stop motions I’ve seen. I think the idea of this stop motion is my favorite part. I look at it is if her morning thoughts are sweeping through her. In the mornings our dreams are still lingering. Our subconscious thoughts have not left the surface of our mind. To me, this video demonstrates all of these unfinished notions from our brain in physical form. They’re causally moving by her as she remains in her bed. This stop motion is made so well. It’s close to flawless. Some of the transitions are so smooth it looks as if it’s done with a video camera. I have made my own stop motion animation and it’s not easy. I can only imagine how much time and effort this took.

Stop Motion Animatoin- "8 Bit Trip"

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This is an extremely involved stop motion animation. Clearly there’s a little more going on technologically because it’s such exceptional quality. Also you can see that there are some special effects going on with camera angles. These guys know what they’re doing. It looks as if they have thrown all their stop motion skills out on the table. The visual effects they pulled off are pretty unbelievable. They also incorporated some conceptual parallels. They use old school, outdated video games as a theme yet are using this modern technique.

Art Event- Four Serigraphs by Clarence Carter

I was initially drawn to the Betty Warren Herzeg Gallery in the Yager Museum, because of the bright colors radiating from the tiny circular space. When I saw Carter’s serigraphs I didn’t even realize they were serigraphs at all, which are prints made from a silk-screening process. They seemed too flawless. The precision of Carter’s work adds to how impressive these four pieces are.
When I look at art, I try to do so first without looking at the title of the pieces. When I do this I feel like I’m forming my own opinions and making my own inferences without being swayed by the name given by the creator of the piece. It feels like I’m observing the piece in a more pure way. Normally this works positively for me. However in this case it did not. Every piece left me feeling puzzled. I wasn’t sure what the artist was even trying to portray…until I read the titles. Suddenly everything became clear to me. I’ve never experienced art where the title is so vital in understanding the concept of the piece.
The first piece I observed looks like a silhouette and its shadow. I later saw its title which is “Nude in Motion.” This makes perfect sense as motion is illustrated through a slight change in hue in the silhouette of what I thought was the brighter silhouette’s shadow. I was at a conceptual loss when I saw the second serigraph. It looks like a grid in the background with some bright red ovular shapes in the foreground. The title is “Fiery Furnace.” Again, I immediately saw what the artists had intended after I read the title. It did, in fact, look like an abstract version of fire in a fireplace. I really questioned the third serigraph. There was a larger circular shape on top of a small circular shape. In the larger shape there was a very realistic looking eye. I asked myself over and over what this could mean. When I read the title, “Balancing Act,” things became a little bit clearer. It was more about the composition of the piece and the connection between the two shapes rather than the eye. The last serigraph seems the most significant. It shows three crucifixes, all of which have somewhat abstract bodies nailed to them. The background is red, which I assumed was making some type of allusion to hell. There is also a fiery looking sun, but it’s covered with a black shadow. Additionally, there are numerous spear-like tools pointing upward towards the crucifixes. The title of this piece is “The Ninth Hour,” which is very appropriate. During the ninth hour of Christ’s crucifixion, he yelled “My God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment, Christ experienced a real hell on earth in order to save mankind from their sin. This piece clearly depicts that scene.
All Carter’s pieces are very interesting. He exhibits great use of color while incorporating an interesting abstract technique that results in a mystical quality.

Esteban Diácono: Let Yourself Feel

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This is an animation project Diácono created after being inspired by Olafur Arnalds music. The song that fueled Diácono ‘s project is called Ljósið. When explaining how we went about his project he said, “I first imported the audio and set up 2 sound keys layers, one for the piano and one for the strings. Then I worked the particles and the particle subsystem and linked things like the emission, the turbulence, the velocity, the spin amplitude and the strength of the fields to the sound keys outputs. Then I set up the colors with 2 different palettes, and well, after that there was a lot of trial and error in order to achieve what I was looking for. There’s a lot of randomness involved in here, so there was also a lot of luck, of course.” Understanding Diácono ‘s process is nice background information to have after watching his video. However, it doesn’t necessarily make any sense to me. I still can’t fully comprehend how he created such a beautiful piece. I did pick up on the fact that he had to use technology though, which is an ongoing theme in modern art today. Diácono ‘s work is so visually stimulating. The colors flow in an out like smooth silk gliding in water. They mirror the music’s beat which adds to the beauty of the piece. It’s after the fact –after you realize that it’s not all digitally made– that you question how it was created. Personally, I don’t need to know. I found myself left in this mesmerizing state after watching such a great combination of music and visual appeal. That’s enough for me– it trumps the technological aspect. Yet at the same time, I recognize how essential the technology was in allowing a piece to be created that resulted in such a pure and special reaction.

Beautiful Graffiti Art

I think Graffiti art is a great example showing how public art can be. These works of art are located on the walls of buildings. Absolutely anyone can see them. These types of pieces support my suggestion that art is moving in a new direction; where it’s less important for artists to be famous because their work got into a museum. Reaching large numbers of people seems to be an artistic trend that’s becoming more and more popular. Pieces like can probably result in some sense of community. I feel like if I had something like this near my home I’d be all about it. I’d want people to see. I’d be proud that it was created where I live, on my turf. They’re a signature feature of their location. Furthermore, these pieces are so stunning to look at. It’s pretty hard to believe they were made using spray cans. More examples of this graffiti art can be found here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9XtsxC/www.marcofolio.net/photoshop/graffiti_art_to_boost_your_inspiration.html

Scott Campbell "Almost Always There"

These pieces are done in Campbell’s signature style. He uses laser etching to form tiny multi-layered creations. In these particular pieces he used dollar bills. I find this to be very interesting because Campbell used an extremely peculiar medium. You wouldn’t think that dollar bills could form such beautiful pieces. They’re old and grimey. They’re mindlessly passed around from person to person, holding less and less value everyday. However, he modernizes their look using this technlogically advanced method. He re-vamps they’re dirty appearance and transforms them into these elegant works of art. Without developing technology, however, this could not be done, which proves how important technology is in terms of the creation of art today. Additionally, Campbell creates interesting pieces conceptually. It’s somewhat alarming to see the word “Devil” or Jesus Christ's dying face resemble a dollar bill when we, as a society, are so used to seeing “In God We Trust.”

Liu Bolin, The Incredible "Invisible Man"

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The end of this video has a quote by Amy Lowell. It says, “Art is the desire for a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” This was perfect for the end of a presentation showing Bolin’s work. He combines unique creativitiy with wit. His work is so modern with this exremely clever twist. But don’t let that distract you from seeing how talented he is. His precision is outstanding, and he really does look invisible. In fact, in one imagine I had to pause the video before I could find him. It’s like a twisted, realistic “Where’s Waldo.” Every image seems more impossible to pull off, yet somehow he does with an uncanny ability to make it look close to perfect.

Art Review- Dick Morrill "The Human Comedy"

When I first saw Morrill’s pieces, I focused on the thick application of bright oil paints on the canvas, however once I realized each piece had specific subject matter, I became much more intrigued. Each painting illustrated characters who clearly have their own individual personality. They have unique facial expressions and body language. Each canvas tells a story, and I think this is a goal of Morrill’s. He describes each act of creating a piece as an “exploration and discovery.” He explains that all his pieces are a mixture of his “life experiences, dreams, and influenced by the masters.” Each piece illustrates a hint of truth. In my opinion, art constructed with these points in mind is beautiful. It’s honest. Morrill’s shows humanity. His paintings are emotional and show real human qualities yet have been created with a sense of humor in mind.
I’m certainly no expert when it comes to artists, and I’m sure there are many artists out there who create similar work to Morrill. However, I haven’t seen them and can only base my opinion on what I know. I believe Morrill has put an interesting and modern twist on pieces created by artist gods. In my opinion, Morrill’s pieces look as if they’ve been inspired by artists like Picasso. Morrill’s scattered and bizarre yet planned and meaningful pieces remind me of works such as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Morrill’s Operation Theater reminds me of Picasso’s Guernica. Both fill the canvas in an appealing way, using distorted bodies, light, and other objects.
In Morrill’s artists statement he describes his ambition as “to find some pictoral instant of truth that can help penetrate the conundrum in which we all linger.” In other words, we live in a world that’s not only confusing, but filled with mystery. Morrilll hopes to create works that somehow put some clarity our often ambiguous existence.

Stop Motion Animation- Minilogue/Hitchhikers Choice

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This is an extremely complex stop motion animation. Every transition is so smooth. Some portions are sped up to more frames per second making it almost look as if it was recorded on a video camera. I had to look twice because that’s how well thought out and planned it was. After doing my own stop motion animation on a chalk board, I can only imagine how much time this took. Also, this is the short version. I’d be interested in seeing the long one. I just wish the background music was different because it was a bit distracting for me.

Storm Drain Graffiti

Strom drain graffiti is really cool example of how artists can turn something so ordinary into an interesting work of art. Sure, storm drains are extremely useful and needed for the maintenance of streets. However, they’re by no means attractive let alone something those walking by would ever look twice at, let alone think twice about. After they’re painted though, you can’t help but stare. They’re so interesting to look at and their designs are really creative as well. In some, other structures close by are used to add to the concept of the image. I think art like storm drain graffiti shows what direction art is going in. It’s more focused on reaching a large mass of people rather than those who pay for entrance into a museum.

Street Art: Joshua Allen Harris

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This really shows that as a society we have come to accept art in so many different forms. If I was told that there were these large, animated creatures on the streets of urban cities, I would never think that they would be made from tape and garbage bags, let alone come to life because of subway exhaust. Nothing about these “inflatable bag monsters” are typical when considering “standard art,” if there is such a thing. They aren’t located in a typical place, they aren’t made from typical material, and they don’t take the typical level of skill we’d expect from a successful artist, yet they still fascinate the public and certainly function as interesting and legitimate pieces of art. They literally come to life when enough subway exhaust pushes through the gaps in sidewalk grates which serve as the base for these creatures. When they are up, they look almost magnificent as they naturally sway with the air below and around them. Joshua Allen Harris didn’t need a whole lot of artistic ability to create these pieces. It’s simply a really clever idea. People stop to see what’s causing them to grow and expand and they really seem to appreciate their beauty. They seem magical, especially at first glance, yet they’re made from plastic bags and they dwell on the sides of dirty streets. There must be something ironic about that.

The Fun Theory

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This proves how important aesthetic appeal is to people these days. Something interactive and fun can cause people to change their daily paths . There’s something exciting about stairs that look like piano keys. I’m sure everyone that passes by asks themselves, “Do they function like piano keys too?” They can’t help but find out. People who look like they’re on their way to work slow down and check them out. Some people even stay a while and play with the stairs. I love that this video shows human nature in such a pure form; people can’t help but give in to their curiosity. You can tell that they’re feeling this sense of discovery. In a world that is so accustomed to technologically advanced things, that’s something you can’t find everyday.

Paint Jam, Dan Dunn

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As viewers it’s really hard to tell what Dan Dunn is making until he’s completely finished. Usually he’ll flip his canvas around or turn it on its side and all of a sudden it comes to life, as this beautiful piece of art work. For me, Dunn combines two of my favorite artistic mediums: paint and music. His style is new, which makes it exciting. He not only paints with music, but he paints to music, which is something that hasn’t been done with his level of success before. The speed of his strokes parallel the beat of the song and when a long note is held, he paints a longer line on the canvas. Because he creates his pieces so quickly, and in front of an audience, there’s this sense on interaction, which adds to the “awe factor” the audience feels when watching him. They saw him start his painting and watched him finish it, all the while listening to this narrative that the music provides. Although Dunn uses no advanced form of technology and what he’s doing isn’t very remarkable, it’s unique and original, making his performances worth watching.