Leah Thibodeau// New Media

Atlantis

ldthibbs — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:33:31 +0000

Jason de Caires made some really creepy sculptures underwater off the coast of the West Indies. His intention with this piece was to illustrate how:

time and environment impact on and shape the physical body. Children by nature are adaptive to their surroundings. Their use within the work highlights the importance of creating a sustainable and well-managed environment, a space for future generations. Taylor notes that close to forty percent of coral reefs worldwide has been destroyed and that this figure is set to increase. His work reminds us that the marine environment is in a constant state of flux, and that this in turn reflects poignantly the vicissitudes, changing landscapes, of our own lives. (from his website)

And though that is true, I think his work comes off very eerie and unsettling. His sculptures were molds from children of different races and ethnic backgrounds, which were then cast from cement and living coral. While underwater, sea creatures have been noticed living in or under the pieces.

Obviously they aren’t as freaked out as I am about these. His other pieces feature a man at an office desk, a table with a bowl of fruit, and faces placed directly in corals. These especially make it seem more and more like there was some sort of nuclear disaster that ended this specific human race. People are frozen in motion, as if taken unexpectedly (except the children in the circle holding hands– they must have known it was coming). The fact that animals are taking over the art also gives the feeling that the world will continue on without us and slowly leave no trace that we even existed. I really dislike looking at these, but I also can’t look away.

Videogioco

ldthibbs — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:15:36 +0000

I found this great stopped motion.. It’s really something to aspire to. The artist, Donato Sansone, must have spent weeks figuring out this giant map of cut paper. His illustrations aren’t extremely detailed, but I don’t really think they need to be to get the point across, and besides, the camera moves too fast to really take in all that information anyway. What I like most about this video is that he incorporates his hands with the images. Usually with illustrated stop motions, the artist will do their best to keep their hands out of it so it doesn’t take away from the experience. However, Sansone has done just the opposite. He made his illustrations require his hands… pulling characters and even slicing a page open with a knife. If he had removed himself, I don’t think I would be able to appreciate his video as much; it would just be a cartoon. This is so much more, a non-linear map on the floor that opens and folds between interactions.

0110100110

ldthibbs — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:11:40 +0000

Code generated artwork has interested me since Ashley Pigford mentioned that he did it last semester in Form & Communication II. I expected whatever “art” that appeared to be static and more or less a pattern. However, that is exactly what did not happen. I came across an article on Smashing Magazine with several examples of these artworks. To be honest, I was blown away. I don’t know the specifics or how much effort is actually put in, but I think it will be worth researching further. The idea that you’ll never really know what you’ll get is very intriguing, much like a HOLGA camera.

Animals in the Underground

ldthibbs — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:39:43 +0000

In 1988, Paul Middlewick started noticing strange things in the London Underground… ANIMALS. Using tubelines, stations, and junctions, Middlewick created a “connect the dot” sort of illustration. Middlewick’s first discovery was the elephant, but as of this moment, he has identified 34 different creatures so far. These outlines aren’t forced or juvenile either, they are actually very uniform, almost like letters in a certain typeface. It’s refreshing to see something so free and childlike in a strict and unyielding train route. Just another reminder that you can find fun in anything.

Graphic Designer vs. Client

ldthibbs — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:05:10 +0000

I’m not going to write about this, but it deserves to be posted.

I saw someone working in Comic Sans the other day. I wonder what my career will be like.

Grow Old through Print

ldthibbs — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:01:50 +0000

/M/A/S/H/ designer, Dom Roberts, recently sent out wedding invitations. Normally, I wouldn’t think this would be that interesting, but Roberts took the phrase “Growing old together” in a whole new direction. Why wait to see what you and your significant other will look like when you can use Photoshop to find out? This blows my mind and freaks me out an equal amount. The things you can do with technology are just amazing. I hope they save these so 50 years down the road, they can see how close they actually were.

Check it out for yourself.

I’ll Eat You Up!

ldthibbs — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:53:05 +0000

Most of us have heard about Spike Jonze’s recreation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Thing’s Are, but there is more to the story. Father of young actor, Max Records (9 at the time of the production), was also going on a journey on his own– letting his son off on his own. During the entire production, Shawn Records (Max’s father) documented his personal journey through photography and published it as a book. This however, may be a letdown to those who are looking for more insight into Where The Wild Things are, since it is about Shawn Records’ own personal struggles, anxiety, fears, and finally, reassurances on set.

The book is to be released in late October by Publication Studio.

I haven’t read it myself (seeing as it is $120), but it seems to me that Shawn Records might be wrong about having not much to do with Where The Wild Things Are’s script. In the film, Max’s adventure turns out to be filled with anticipation, self-doubt, and an awful lot of hopelessness; not far from where I can imagine Shawn Records’ personal story goes. In the end, Max realizes that everyone has the same problems and feelings, and that it is just a matter of accepting them, dealing with them correctly, and moving on. Behind the scenes is basically the same as on screen sometimes– Records is just offering another view.

Giants in Berlin

ldthibbs — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:58:02 +0000

A French theater company put on a show in Germany between October 2nd and 4th. They used dozens of puppeteers to control each giant wooden puppet. Instead of a normal stage, they roamed the entire city for a celebration of the reunification of the country. The two characters representing the two sides of Germany will be a little girl and her uncle, a scuba driver, who will emerge from the Humboldthafen river. Usually puppet shows are just for children, but the streets were flooded with people during this performance. The viewers were from all different walks of life, which became a reunion in itself. The wooden sculptures were beautifully crafted and became so lifelike that most of the audience members broke into tears when the two characters were reunited at last.

Displacements

ldthibbs — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:00:32 +0000

I found this really great video created by Michael Naimark. He did this twice, once in 1980 and again in 2005. To do this, he first filmed a room– making sure to capture people interacting with the objects inside it. Afterward, he painted everything in the room white and projected his recorded film from the exact same spot where he first shot it. The outcome creates a very lonely and ghostly feeling. The most interesting part for me is when the film pans over the guitar on the wall, which is colored in with the projector, and then a person picks it up, creating another 3 dimensional guitar and leaving the other white copy on the wall. Very cool effect.

Bird Composers

ldthibbs — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:16:07 +0000

Jarbas Agnelli saw a photograph in his newpaper of black birds sitting on a telephone wire. Wondering what it would sound like as a musical composition, he tried it out on his piano. He emailed the photographer, who called the newspaper, who made another story of it the very next day. He later produced it as a video for the rest of the world to witness. This story is inspiring and emphasizes that both music and new ideas can be all around you.

I would love if he took more photos of birds and created a whole song.