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Process Books and Projects

Hello Everyone! I hope everyone got my email, but noone has gotten back to me so I was wondering if anyone is still out there! I will be in school on Monday, you can get your process books back from me. I want us to decide on a common hour so I will make sure I am there on the right time. Please comment on this Post!

new one

Sarah Davis Decay

I looked at the different momento mori and vanitas works and what interested me was the contiunal reappearence of the skull. The symbolisim and reminder of the certainty of death was a common thread through all of the works. I specifically noticed the teeth in all of the skulls that always seem perfectly intact. I suffer from gingivitis and my mouth is usually in a state of pain- I have had gum surgery once and may soon have to have it again (gum transplant surgery is known to be one of the most painful surgeries- you are awake the entire time). When the pain gets bad I will have nightmares about my teeth falling out. All of these thoughts led me to a piece about tooth decay.

All types of decay have one thing in common, they all happen over a certain period of time. I decided to use a flip book of images so that I could convey what happens over a long period of time in a very short period of time to an audience. This book starts out with a smile and ends with a toothless frown. I hope that this shows the severity of tooth decay and dental carries. It is the most common disease around the world and it's history dates back to the middle ages.

GETTING YOUR PROCESS BOOK BACK!!!

Come to my office this Friday, April 25th at 2:45 PM. I will stay there no longer than half an hour. So if you want your process book and your print out back come there on time!

dk

my piece is centered around the theme of beautiful/decay, which is actually the title of an artistic magazine (thats the only connection the two have). in order to translate this title visually i began thinking of the beautiful and decay as opposites, sort of like the yin and yang symbol. with that in mind, the use of fish (particularly koi fish) became something that i absolutely wanted to do. besides the comparable shape of fish to the two elements of the yin and yang symbol, koi fish are connected to ideas of prosperity, wealth and overall well being because of the old stories told about them (the one i am familiar with is one describing the transformation a koi will make into a dragon if it succeeds in swimming up the Yellow River and passing through what is called the "Dragon Gate"). thats basically the idea behind the top fish (the beautiful fish). opposing that, i think of the bottom fish as symbolizing everything the former does not.

"Asleep in your grave." -Cursive's The Great Decay

After liking Banksy's work, I decided to do a graffiti piece for this project. Some of you may have seen it in the tunnel on the way over to class today. Its on the S wall of the 13th street tunnel. I used six stencils of smoke stacks to create negative images and then a freehand portion of smoke rising from their tops. The most important part of this aesthetic-and the reason why I made them negatives instead of positives-is to cover up/emphasize the graffiti that is under them and around them. I wanted to play with varieties of pollution to represent decay.
I used this image as a template to digitally tag places that I don't yet have the gall to tag in reality (and to fulfill project requirements). I took pictures around town and made a series of four surfaces where I would have liked to put this same image on.

Chevron, as a gas company is an easy choice and relatively obvious for how it can be a form of pollution.


The fence that I put the smoke stacks on is dilapidated and not maintained, which through negligence has decayed on its own. This is the same reason I am artistically interested in rust.



The Jefferson ad on University that I would have loved to tag is a criticism on advertising as a form of mental/visual pollution. I was particularly inspired by this video by the Graffiti Research Lab and the Anti Advertising Agency for it. If you ever find yourself on University Ave and 10th St, you may find yourself hating this ad, too.


Finally, the Pepsi truck would have probably been the most fun to tag, especially as the Pepsi employee was standing right next to it. Anyway, that's a criticism on healthy vs. unhealthy foods.

decay

decay is part of the natural cycle of life. to me decay is not really destructive or disgusting but rather a natural decomposition. To me the process of human decay begins when a body dies and can no longer take care of itself. my idea behind this photo-shot was capturing the idea of a body decomposing and breaking down to return to the earth. The sheet is there to cover parts that don't need to be seen. showing her breasts and such would give the wrong idea and make the image sexual. i want the image to look natural and beautiful yet rotting.

Inevitable Decay- Adriana and Jeremiah

Decay has many shapes and forms. The decay of society through lack of morals, social values and poor guidance. The decay of abandoned homes, buildings and city streets. The natural decay process which recycles nutrients back into the ecosystem and provides the means for new life. From the day we are born we begin our inevitable decomposing process. With each passing day we become older and closer to death. Despite the nature of decay we live in constant fear of age and time. In this project we sought to represent this inevitable decay of life and our obsessive fear with the decomposing process.

Decay of Language

The English language is slowly decaying. More and more, ordinary words are being taken and given new, profane definitions. In the past there were only four or five vulgar words. But now, there are at least a hundred words that have some profane alternate definition. I can't remember the last time that I actually said the word "balls", for the sole fear of being misunderstood. For people like me who have decided to refrain from using profanity, it is quite difficult, as we may say words whose primary meanings have changed and not even realize it. I only just recently realized that "trick" is no longer just a prank you play on someone. It is bad enough that words are being changed into something taboo, but even worse is that these bad words are slowly becoming more used for their vulgar meanings than their original ones. People no longer refer to a donkey as an ass, because they feel that doing so would be morally unacceptable, and they feel people would assume that one is referring to the buttocks. Everyone seems to have forgotten that a hoe is just an instrument used to till land. And if someone says you're gay, they don't mean to say that you look happy. All because a few individuals decided that the English language was too clean.

What's more, it seems to me that those who have taken it upon themselves to contaminate these words don't believe they are doing anything wrong. I often hear people say something along the lines of "They're not bad words, stop being a punk." or "There is no such thing as bad words... they're just words." So, then is it safe to assume that it is perfectly normal for a 5 year-old child to use these words? Or a minister? Of course not. This trend is spreading fast throughout our language-- so fast that future generations of children may just learn these profane definitions first, and old meanings will be forgotten.

The cartoon aesthetic just goes to show what future children's dictionaries may look like if this continues!

[DK]

Decay to me, through my investigation is present in our world in many shapes and forms. The three main forms of "decay" that I decided to convey are dealing with family and childhood, societal stability, and religion. After careful study of Bansky's work, I decided the best form of art to convey this imagery is through guerilla art. In a sense, this art form can be looked as a certain type of beautiful decay in art. It really cuts itself loose from alot of traditional restrictions and ideations. It is a decay of art but a rebirth and new way of art making. Being that this is a digital class, I edited original photos of mine and placed "grafitti" that references the different forms of decay that I wanted to display. The societal stability is shown through the poverty and lesser quality of living that is the product of it. The childhood and family picture shows and rundown house with an abandoned stroller along with images of lost and distressed children. Lastly, the religious form shows a defaced crucified Christ to represent the lack of belief in the thinking. 

decay metapor...

Through my research about decay, i have realized that decay is mainly a term used to describe a negative process, whether its moral decay, urban decay, or tooth decay. Being able to admire a building in a gradual state of decay presents a unique beauty. While a brand new building with no signs of wear and tear can be appealing, decay reveals the past and serves as a visual memory of changes that a surface has undergone. It reminds us that nothing can escape the effects of time, go unchanged by the elements, or remain the way it was originally created. All of the changes to the original surface make up and tell the story of the surface, while decay makes different parts of this "story" visible. Decay has a way of eroding and avoiding just the right areas to create a whole new composition, made interesting by all of its different components and past appearances.

I feel like this cycle of decay can be related to how we as individuals are formed and how we become who we are. We might start out as this fresh, unaltered base layer. But over time, we are constantly being painted over, added onto, torn down, graffittied, weathered, etc. While the initial clean layer might seem appealing, a more "layered" and "decayed" person is more relateable and more attractive. Through decay (time), we can see all the different "layers" of a person, how they all relate, and how they shape and form the person that we are today.

Through my piece, I am trying to represent this idea by juxtaposing visual elements of surface or building decay, with text explaining a gradual change over time in a persons life. The image starts out as this clean, impersonal base layer. The surface is constantly changing, being graffitied, molding, being painted over, even changing the texture. As the images evolve, the text evolves also. On the first page, the text is very mechanical, with little personality, and the way the text is written is very choppy and impersonal. As the narrative progresses, the text becomes a little more rounded, a little more beautiful, and the way it is written gradually becomes more personal and detailed.

The "themes" in the text also tie into what is going on in the image. Graffiti to me represents someone elses ideas, thoughts, or opinions being placed on you. So on the pages where graffiti is added, the text is in quotations, to symbolize that these experiences were something someone once said to me. Where fresh layers of paint or texture are added, fresh perspective or new starts are taking place within the text.

The final image is the most important part of the work. It shows the beauty of decay in the image, while the text shows the beauty of discovering oneself, and how both are made possible through decay.

Decay

For this project I wanted to work with decay in the sense of neglect, and then translate that neglect into something graceful and even beautiful. I chose to photograph mold because it is usually something that is cleaned up, covered up, or destroyed. In Florida, however, anything humid that doesn't move molds. Without constant upkeep and tending, mold accumulates.

When looking at the mold, I realized that it creates intricate, tiny "landscapes." Using Photoshop to match colors, tonality, and scale, I added in small elements to better set the "scene." I wanted the photographs to have a very tactile final format, so I matted them on altered matboard and framed them in old, worn frames. (You can see these during crit.) These frames both elevate the subject matter in the photographs, while their material texture underscores the overall idea of neglected decay.

The images would be properly viewed hung on a wall (framed) in one row:

Until Death Do Us Apart

Artist statement:

In this final project i wanted to work with the concept of Memento Mori. Remind the viewer that all humans die, no matter what choices they make, the lifestyle they live in, how successful they are, how they love nor what promises or vows they make.

I wanted to convey the idea that humans know they are going to die eventually. In order to do this i used marriage. When two people get marry they are require ( In the Catholic Church) to say wedding vows.

"I,-------, take you, --------, for my husband/wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us apart."

At the end of this traditional vow the person acknowledges that no matter how happy the marriage is, no matter how deeply they love, death will take them apart in the future.

I feel this also shows how beautiful human love can be. People know that in the future the person they love is going to past away leaving them the bitterness of loneliness. However people still get marry. Humans know they'll die but they also know how love makes life worth living.

I hope both of my ideas are shown by my image.

1 People know they are going to die eventually. (vows)

2 People still get marry because even though death is horrible and unstopable, true love is worth experiencing.

( in my drawing i show the girl with a loving face. She is "looking" at a skull. She is accepting death and willing to enjoy love while she lives and her partner live)

Self-imposed Decay

Decay is as pervasive as life, but we choose to ignore it for a peace of mind or a better sense of self. Sometimes, though, I find that doing the opposite provides a more informed, more realistic grasp of my actions.

I wanted to examine decay as a process that is controlled, that is a choice. One of my bad habits is the tendency to scratch my itchy skin, particularly on my legs, when it feels dry. This simple surrender to my animalistic instincts allows me a brief sense of relief, even at the expense of breaking my skin, making myself bleed. This happens most often during the coldest, driest time of the year – winter, and by the beginning of spring, I’m left with legs that look like they’ve been beaten and battered. Then summer returns and my skin heals until it happens all over again. This constant cycle (I’ve yet to manage to change my ways) is my own recognized form of self-decay. More than a mere physical decay of my skin, it’s an act that marks the passing of the year and the subsequent loss of will-power.

I chose to create this image as a sort of confessional that invites the viewer to become a voyeur to my frenetic and futile actions. A simple move – a scratch, with enough frequent repetition, can easily become hysteric and aggressive. My skin is torn and my hands have evidence of blood on them. The bath serves as a private and psychological retreat. It’s a desperate attempt to seek absolution from my unhealthy habits that will probably never come.

Decay of Life

Artist statement:

My idea is a little complicated to say the least. A few weeks ago I ended up having an extremely horrifying nightmare in which I was unable to wake up from. In the dream I thought that I had died. I was unable to efficiently communicate with my roommates and it felt like everything in the world had become dry, smelling reminiscent of burnt styrofoam. In the dream I kept trying to find things that normally brought me comfort, but every time that I looked, either they no longer existed, or had lost all appeal to me. I remember thinking in my dream that I wished that I had appreciated all of these things, because now I would be spending the rest of eternity in a monotonous, dreary world. Even my boyfriend and my roommate could not console me. At first I wasn't aware of the fact that I had died, and when I did realize it, all I could do was cry and ask how it happened. Neither my boyfriend or my roommate would answer me, which caused me to feel more isolated. They kept telling me that it was OK, but that was hardly any form of comfort in my eyes. After I woke up from all of this, I was so relieved to realize that it was all just my imagination. That said though, I began to think about how much I take a lot of things for granted. Even with everyday activities, I felt like that I, along with the rest of the world, was just going through the motions and not paying much attention to anything other than my immediate goals. This gave me the idea for the decay project.

Working on a final project for my Time Based Media class, I decided to make a collaboration, and make a two-part video of my experience, one centering on life, and one on death. The life video will be shot as a time-lapse video, where my character performs daily actions with a lack of emotion. As the video progresses, the speed of it will continue to increase until it abruptly cuts out. The scenes in the first video will set up the scenes for the second video, where it will be filmed at normal speed. When my character awakens in the death world, he will be in the same location as the first film, except the entire world will be reminiscent of my dream. The lighting will be solely from candles and I plan on removing any form of comfort from the film. During one scene (which is of my character taking a shower), he will turn on the faucet, in hopes of rousing himself, but it will pour out sand. As another parallel (in the first video there will be a scene in which he walks his dog), he will return to his dog cage in which he finds his dog completely completely vanished. All of the scenes will be directly related to the first video in some form. For the decay part I chose to shoot the entire video within the confines of my own room. I think that this gives the video a more personal feel, as well as makes the idea more confined.

I chose sand as a way to represent time in my work. Before watches and clocks, hourglasses (filled with sand) were one of the few ways to accurately document the passage of time. The project uses the idea of decay to show how throughout our lives, our appreciation for the things around us dwindle; we lose appreciation for the world around us. Death represents the inability to change our appreciation, and grants the person no second chances to find something more meaningful in their past.

The following image is an edited screenshot from the film. I tried a few different effects, deciding to have minor alterations instead of making the film highly stylized. This is one of the many styles that I tried. I ended up not using it in my final piece because some of the effects made the film look too grainy.



-Jason

Urban Decay

Urban Decay effects many cities. Though Gainesville was awarded one of the best places to retire, live and play, it is also a city with poverty and urban decay. Walking along the streets of Gainesville, one can see many abandoned buildings, broken homes, and graffitied walls. Poverty is prevailent in many areas. There are definite defined spaces within Gainesville where professors and professionals live versus the poor.

Most travel sites show the beautiful aspects of a ciy even though poverty can be found adjacent to tourist destinations. One example is Jamaica where there are specific travel destinations. The more shabby parts of town are hidden away and often not easily accesible by tourists. Through our "website" we are exposing the urban decay that surrounds the wealthy center of the city of Gainesville, the University of Florida. Like a traditional traveler's guide website, our site shows places to eat, sleep, explore and shop. Within each category we provide information pertaining to each subject. We are promoting urban decay sites just as traditional travel sites promote their beautiful, Disney-esque areas.

The postcards also show urban decay when traditionally postcards show ideal snapshots of a site. These postcards incorporate traditional postcard phrases such as "Welcome" or "Wish you were here." The "Urban Decay Nation" and "Home of the Arts" quotes plays off of the University of Florida slogans, "the gator nation" and "home of the gators" to place the images in context.

Through the website and postcards, we hope to show that urban decay can be found in just about any city. Though gentrification is one means of solving the problem, it is not perfect as urban decay tends to be fixed up in one area but then begins in another. Urban decay cannot be hidden away as tourism websites do and should be addressed by the public as a problem that should be solved.

decay of my sanity?

oh my god. how do i turn this into something i don't hate?

Some more...

Okay, I think these are the rest. Sorry it's separate from the others--I'm workin' on it. Anyway... Any comments or suggestions? I tried to make the images cartoony because children's cartoons are innocent, and it makes me think of how these previously normal words have lost their innocence...

Decay of Language.

Phew... I finally have a rough draft of my project. So, I used two words with vulgar meanings here so far. I'm adding normal words also so that it isn't so predictable. First-time viewers might not expect to see vulgar definitions with such normal looking pictures. There will be 10 in all. I'll do some of the others with a vulgar image and normal definitions. So, so? Is this OK?

dk

example....societal decay

decay

The lives in the city are decaying. In fact, the city itself is decaying. Look at the city as your heart. Whether is emotional, mental, physical, logical, or spiritual, the city is dying, no hope, no way out. The purposes of the community of being together and help each other is gone. Remember the good old days about caring for each other and thinking about each other? That’s the upper image. It is the city that we have been dreaming and living, a heaven. But that’s not enough. We always want more, and that really decaying our hearts, the work have done, and the long way we have been walking. The city is falling apart, into some thing blurry, the second image, but we still can see the city. Our hearts are still not completely dead. However, the last image, because of our sinful desire, naive thoughts and irresponsible decisions, soon, our world from inside out will be burned by ourselves into ashes. That’s called hell!

[DK] update

Soooooooo I think I'm going to modify my idea to have each image show the DK of children's innocence by making al the added grafitti imagery by of lost looking children. It will be a series starting at the broken home then going into each image. Should I make the images all the same of different too? Comment people!

Complete Randomness!

I don't know if anyone here knows what cel-shading is, but I just completely cel-shaded this image, pixel by pixel. I was thinking of how to incorporate a cartoonish look in my decay of language project, so I did this as a starting point. Enjoy!

...For those who don't know, this is what the image looked like originally, below. What I did was mimic a technique known as "cel-shading". Snazzy, no?

when i began thinking of decay i thought of human decay and the recycling of our organic material-kinda gross i know. i wanted to take this photo ina place that was damp and perfect for rotting materials. it was actually raining when i took this photo!

i want to give her the feel of sinking back into the ground. i still have to play around with the color balance of each photo and what not.