project three - stop motion frame animation with audio

"unrequited love: as told by a herbivore"

 stop motion frame animation with audio: c. willis (left), p. zbella (right)

Artist Statement:

love (n) \ˈləv\
    1: strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
    2: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration
    3: unselfish loyalty and benevolent concern for the good of another 

Upon being rejected by the caterpie he fancies, our herbivore friend ventures in search for a sense of belonging. It isn't until after he's propelled into space with an astronaut and enters a parallel universe that he himself becomes a caterpie and finds love with another caterpillar.

Note: amadeus, final cut pro, and garageband were used for the compilation of audio on the left.

project two - stop motion frame animation

 stop motion frame animation: c. willis (left), p. zbella (right)

Artist Statement: 

When given the opportunity to create a stop motion frame animation, p. zbella and I agreed on establishing a  storyline between our two segments. In the video to the left, you'll view a caterpillar who is absolutely infatuated with a caterpie, but upon rejection, he ventures through the rest of the composition in search for a sense of belonging. By being propelled into space with an astronaut and entering the composition on the right, he's exposed to a parallel universe where he himself becomes a caterpie and is then accepted by another caterpillar.

Note: The video to the left was created with Adobe After Effects, as opposed to Adobe Photoshop, upon approval.

reading one - critical questions

(in correspondence with The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin)

one. 

     Benjamin addresses the value behind a variety of art mediums, from traditional painting to photography, by comparing individual and unique pieces to mass produced works. What Benjamin fails to mention is with processes such as engraving, often times an artist will mark an "X" across their work so it cannot be reproduced beyond the intended amount of copies. With this procedure implemented, an artist will experience what it is like to deface their own work in order to preserve it - something that many artists of traditional mediums will not have to endure. Though mass produced, by destroying the original template, should each of the existing prints be recognized as mere copies or works of fine Art?

two. 

      Benjamin identifies that original works of Art by traditional mediums have a unique aura to each of them, whereas mass produced works from film and photography lack such a presence. With our current day technology, we're primarily exposed to masterpieces that reside in prestige museums by photographs. Do these shared images of original works carry the same sense of aura, or does the photograph extract it?

project one - diptych digital montage

 Reality VS. Fantasy Diptych: c. willis (left), p. zbella (right) _________

Artist statement: 

It is inevitable to compare reality to fantasy with modern day media and folklore influencing us from an early age. While selecting images for this assignment, p. zbella and I zoned in on concepts of reality and paired them with what could be considered their "equivalent" in the realm of fantasy.  These relationships are as follows:

1. Animals: 
• Caterpillar – Caterpie, Pokemon
• Narwhal – Unicorn
• Zebra – Unicorn
• Octopus* – Scene depicting the battle between a Man and Octopus on Pottery
2. Advertisement: 
• Average Sized Woman – Barbie
• Pizza – Totino's Pizza Box
3. Celebrity Depictions:
• Elvis – Marilyn Monroe
4. Exploration:
• Birds and Trees – Astronaut and Space
5. Limbs:
• Legs – Tentacles*
6. Love Triangles:
• New York and Pumpkin, Flavor of Love – Knives and Ramona, Scott Pilgrim VS. the World
7. Nature:
• Murky Waves – Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa
8. Technology:
• 2013 Smart Car – Doc’s Time Machine, Back to the Future

*The same image was utilized for both of these comparisons

Of these elements, I attempted to maintain the integrity of each of these relationships in a montage, meanwhile allowing the different concepts to interact with one another in one cohesive environment.