I'm going to think out loud here. I'm exploring various new mediums, which I hope to work in over the next year.
Xerox Art
Online definition I found: Xerox art is created by putting objects on the glass, or image area, of a copying machine. If the object is not flat, or the cover does not totally cover the object, the image is distorted. The curvature of the object, the amount of light that reaches the image surface, the distance of the cover from the glass all affect the final image.
I don't know if I like this technique enough to adopt it permanently. I would like to dabble in it though. I think the first step would be finding a copying machine I could use, maybe CFAs. What would be the advantages of Xerox art for me? Sometimes creating a clear, forward almost photorealistic artwork is important to me. Also while researching Xerox art I found a link to "mail art" which "includes postcards, paper, a collage of found or recycled images and objects, rubber stamps, artist-created stamps and paint (can also include music, sound art, poetry, or anything that can be put in an envelope and sent via post). Mail art is considered art once it is dispatched." Mail art stuck me as quite interesting since activism and communication to politicians, and the general public is a huge part of my art and mail art seems a great way to accomplish this.
Artists who Xerox:
Carol Heifetz Neiman
New Media Art is artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, video games, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology. The term differentiates itself by its resulting cultural objects and social events, which can be seen in opposition to those deriving from old visual arts (i.e. traditional painting, sculpture, etc.). New Media Art often involves interaction between artist and observer or between observers and the artwork, which responds to them.
"The forms of cultural practice that arise concurrently with emerging technological platforms, and question the focus on technological media, per se. new media art is, broadly, art that is made using electronic media technology and that displays any or all of the three behaviors of interactivity, connectivity and computability, in any combination.”
In exploring digital art, I decided combining biomimicry with digital art might be an interesting path. As I explored this subject further on the internet, many examples of biomimicry caught my attention. There's currently an alge that we can possibly use for a fuel, which is 50% more efficient than ethanol.
Interesting websites:
http://inhabitat.com/
How could you ever begin to do biomimicry justice?
Andy Goldsworthy has always been a favorite artist. It might be interesting to combine Andy Goldsworthy-esque art with digital art?
Textile Art
Jumping to textile art. Textile art uses plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. I find textile arts interesting because they use less harmful materials than say oil paints. Also wall paper art caught my attention, last semester at BU I used fliers in my art and now maybe I can wallpaper my studio with fliers?
Example of a really realistic ability of textile art below.
Recycle Art
I'm still quite interested in the idea of a painting and don't feel the need to depart from it. However, I would like to begin using recycled or second hand objects in art. Possibly add a 3D effect and a material that I strongly believe in. Also I've always enjoyed paper cutting and can possibly combine fliers, paper cutting and paper?
Earlier while looking at by Kenny Scharf and found that he also creates recycled art. The piece below is titled "spicy"...
Lamination
Exploring lamentation. A laminated print is a print that is enclosed between two clear
protective films. The films provide protection against fading,
fingerprints and other contaminates.
Prints and posters are ideal for laminating.
Lamination is permanent.
You can use a canvas transfer. A paper poster or print is coated with a special film that
lifts the image from the paper. The film, with the embedded image, is
heat-sealed to the canvas surface. The image is now part of the canvas,
taking on the texture of the canvas surface. The whole piece is given a
clear UV protective coating and stretched over a wooden framework.
You can also do hand colored prints for lamination.
Sheets of vinyl impregnated with ferro-magnetic
material can allow portable printed images to bond to magnets, such as
for a custom bulletin board or a visual presentation. Specially surfaced
plastic sheets can be laminated over a printed image to allow them to
be safely written upon, such as with dry erase markers or chalk.
Projection Art
The only requirements are electricity and darkness. Projection and performance. The viewer plays an active role.
Projection artists...Ross Ashton's Cambridge installation.
