skyscapes
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/sg/skyscape_work_samples/Erik_Sanner__Skyscapes_more_v2__2010.pdf
in all of my art, i seek to illuminate the passage of time, and to share my enjoyment of reflecting on the evanescence of everything.
the first skyscapes were made as still photographs in late september 2010. i intend to continue making still skyscapes, while also exploring software (generative) skyscapes and looping video skyscapes over the coming weeks/months.
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still life without stillness
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/still_life_without_stillness/100514_still_life_without_stillness.pdf
this project was realized in the summer of 2010. an early version was shown at “the next hope” (here are images):
http://eriksanner.blogspot.com/2010/07/life-without-stillness-v2-4-feet-high-x.html
http://eriksanner.blogspot.com/2010/07/life-without-stillness-v2-4-feet-high-x.html
the final work was exhibited in the group show “new-media” at khaki gallery in boston:
http://www.khakigallery.net/newmediaexhibitionviews.html
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a traffic cone which is part of a landscape with vehicles driving through it (a traffic cone’s natural habitat) is continually painted. the traffic cone is vibrant, saturated orange, while the rest of the landscape is murky and dim. the transitory cars are also translucent, making the brevity of their appearance in the scene a counterpoint to the stable constant of the traffic cone. “traffic cone transcending traffic” is a new media installation in progress, incorporating computer-composited dynamic video which is projected onto a static painting of the scene.
so, how does the traffic cone transcend traffic? in addition to being a stronger part of the piece due to its vibrant color and central position, it is also visible even when a car passes in between the cone and the viewer – the car becomes invisible where the cone appears. furthermore, while individual vehicles appear for a mere instant, multiple layers of the traffic cone being painted (memorialized) are shown simultaneously. the surface onto which the dynamic video is projected is a painting; the traffic cone is painted orange. the traffic is not painted at all (although the road on which the traffic travels and the barricade and other constant elements of the landscape are). the traffic cone therefore transcends the traffic by its physical reproduction, by its prominence in the composition, by its ability to make portions of vehicles disappear in order to let it remain visible, by its constant presence in the piece, and by the number of layers it occupies in the projected computer-composited digital video element of the piece.
in a single piece, “traffic cone transcending traffic” explores a few themes which are often on my mind – the nature (and definition) of painting, the evolution of painting, the use of technology in order to expand the dynamic range of color, the concept of painting as a time-based rather than a static medium, and the appreciation of traffic cones as an aesthetic practice. “traffic cone transcending traffic” is related to “square of cones,” “cone time,” and “eight views of a traffic cone, eight times removed (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chashama/4132152226/in/set-72157622745970459/).”
initial videoing of the cone started on the 8th and 9th of april, 2010. painting (and videoing) the cone layers hasn’t begun yet, nor have editing and programming. the final installation will be variable in size and the final painting will be completed on-site when the piece is to be shown. i will likely create a smaller version in my studio as well.
this project was realized in september 2010, and shown at khaki gallery in boston as part of my solo exhibiton “traffic cones transcending”:
http://www.khakigallery.net/trafficconesexhibitview.html
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cone time
traffic cones seem to embody the stillness of a buddha in an always-changing world. of course the cones themselves are moved around, mangled, and decay, but for the most part our daily experience of traffic cones is witnessing swiftly-moving traffic and clouds and rain while the traffic cone is a constant presence in a fixed location.
cone time will be a new media installation. i will record video (or time-lapse photograph) a single cone (or arrangement of cones) in a landscape (once or multiple times – there could be several different landscapes with traffic cones, or one landscape with [a] traffic cone[s]). i will make a painting (or paintings) of the same scene, emphasizing the bright orange of the traffic cone, with the other elements (e.g., street, sky) less-emphasized, less-saturated color (maybe even black-and-white). i will write software which projects two different moments of time of the video of the cone. one moment will just show the traffic cone. it will be frozen in time. perhaps somebody is walking by and has cast a shadow on the cone – the shadow will be static. every minute or so, another moment will appear, also frozen. the rest of the scen will show real time passing. if someone walks by, you will see them, or their feet, or their shadow. if a car drives by, you will see it. the clouds moving, the sunlight changing. but none of those things will affect the traffic cone, frozen in its own moment in time. utterly still and not experiencing (or exhibiting) the passage of time the same way other elements of the scene (the sky, the people, the traffic) do. the cone will show the stillness of cone time.
this project was realized in september 2010, and shown at khaki gallery in boston as part of my solo exhibiton “traffic cones transcending”:
http://www.khakigallery.net/trafficconesexhibitview.html
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leatherwood chalk
the ingredients of the interactive new media installation leatherwood chalk are people to trace (and people who want to trace people), chalk to trace with, water, a surface to trace on, and video recording and projection equipment. this is a project which evolves over time and with viewer-participant interaction. it arose out of a desire to engage in some artmaking with people who don’t consider themselves artists but wanted to do something together. the recipe is nearly complete but needs to be more clearly defined and potentially refined.
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improvisations
simultaneously (alternating between) ”painting” in a computer projection and making a large abstract oil painting, i will make some improvisatory pieces, conceived as a visual response to music. a video camera filming the process and subsequent editing and programming will yield abstract new media installations.
the first improvisation (in yellow, blue and orange) was begun on sunday, 21 march 2010, and is currently in process (still painting, “painting,” and recording). the computer “painting” is limited to using the paintbrush tool in photoshop (no undo, copy-paste, etc.), sized to the same size as the physical brushes i’m using (a 3-pixel brush in photoshop is yielding roughly the same width line as a #6 boars-hair brush; i have recently switched to a smaller sable brush for more detail, and will soon begin using a corresponding 1-pixel photoshop brush).
further improvisations will follow different procedures, incorporating elements of:
- timing (e.g., complete a painting then make a projected work on top of that; complete a projected work then make a painting beneath that; alternate in half-hour stints, painting then “painting,” spending equal time in the physical and the digital);
- collaboration (with varying numbers of people);
- collage;
- photography;
- multiple projectors.
ultimately i want to make several improvizations utilizing similar techniques, with and without other people, abstract and perhaps some representational. for example, use two projectors, one is projecting video, the other is projecting whatever i (and/or a collaborator) are making in illustrator or photoshop (similar process to the experimentation jeffrey, isaiah and i engaged in last year) while i (and/or a collaborator) paint and/or collage on [canvas].
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walking the nakasendo
in homage to hiroshige, matthew and i walked 330 miles from tokyo to kyoto via the old nakasendo route. while hiroshige’s “the sixty-nine stations of the kisokaido” highlighted the difference between types of stops on the route (e.g., mountainous vs. flat), my experience of walking was that each day a bewildering variety of landscapes (urban, highway, mountaintop, riverside, suburban) blurred together.
carrying a camera in my hand for the entire journey, i shot short video clips every few minutes of walking, which a computer constantly re-edits together. a treadmill facing the projection lets people attempt to exhaust themselves as i did each day, both in training and on the actual walk – the ideal state in which to view this piece.
here are some of the video clips i’m using:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLBjIx5LTXg
one version of this piece is nearly complete. another will take longer. it is very likely that my walking partner and sometime collaborator matthew and i will work together on one or two or more other related pieces or projects.
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self portrait
constantly-changing video self portrait. homage to david hockney (specifically addressing his joiners).
this proof-of-concept takes about ten seconds to load:
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/self/self.html
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erasing rauschenberg
drawings of rauschenberg pieces being drawn, then erased, then drawn, then erased, projected onto erased drawings of rauschenberg pieces.
or drawn, then burnt, then make new paintings with the ashes, then make those “burnable” by the viewer.
different versions?
or maybe this becomes a larger collaborative and/or interactive project?
have already done some work on this project, completing two small pieces, also conceptualizing an interactive installation – but i’m not convinced that is all i want to do with this project – even if i want to go ahead and make that, exactly as i planned months or years ago, i think there is still more to explore, by myself or in collaboration.
maybe the first step is burning some drawings and see if i can paint with the ashes of those. maybe i need to read dante’s inferno and focus on rauschenberg’s inferno illustrations. maybe i need to have coffee with david ramm, who is already involved in the project (he was one of the picture-choosers-and-drawers of the two small pieces) and has in all likelihood read dante already, we can talk about rauschenberg and dante and so on – that might lead to something.
there are many ways forward with this project. i may want to work towards multiple outcomes.
years after first wanting to respond to rauschenberg’s erased de kooning, i’m still excited about finding ways to do that.
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as-yet-untitled tea project
tea poured onto a canvas is videoed, both the pouring (splashing) and the drying. this is repeated several times. video of the pouring (splashing) is slowed down, the drying is sped up, and both are projected onto the stained canvas.
i used to drink tea constantly but have curtailed that habit due to worries about the effect of caffeine on my health, which has left me with conflicting attitudes (resentment/desire/calm/frustration) towards tea.
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