Thursday, December 12, 2013

Artist Statement Part 2

Red And Blue

A

Artist Statment

Title: Red and Blue

Collaborators: Joe Cummings and Sean Schroeder

Piece: 2 Collage Based Images.



Sean and I chose the film 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle, to frame our piece around.
(Specifically, Cillian Murphy's character Jim.) We are interested in the juxtaposition of images Boyle explores through Jim's character from the beginning of the film to the end. Jim, being the protagonist explores moments of both an active and passive character arc. Jim eloquently highlights the look of what it is to be active and passive. Sean and I explore his arc through two chosen colors, Blue and Red, along with other characters we added into the collage.
By placing Jim in a series of relationships and scenarios that seem to not coincide with where he looks like he should be, we hope to broadcast the simplistic nature that is Tragedy/Comedy. We are suggesting the comfortable interchangability these two styles live in and how Jim (depending on context, on color, on relationship, on world) can live between both worlds.

"On "repetition," Lacan describes modern identity as a feedback loop, a chain of meaning that     ultimately doubles back on itself. "What's needed," says Lacan, "is that when I reach the tail of my message, the head should not have arrived back." -Tragecine, Blogspot

We hope, through Jim's arc in the images we've placed, that we have shown the opposite styles of characters he exists in: Beginning and end. Black and White. Hungry and Full. Angry and Happy. Passive and Active. Blue and Red. 
It is our dream to deconstruct Jim's state of being to a state that has as much interchangability as the styles of Tragedy/Comedy.

Mark Rothko, an established 20th century painter once said, "We assert that the subject is crucial and only that subject matter is valid which is tragic and timeless." We played with Rothko's concept in using the colors Red and Blue to deconstruct the intense nature of connotations they exist in and use them merely for their colors, and for their connotations. Red, being Active and Blue being Passive.
I will describe one of the relationships of colors we used but not both, merely so you as a viewer, can undergo a further, well seasoned experience.
We placed Jim, in a Red world, but relative to passive relationships. He exists with sleeping lions, who may have an intense connotation to them but at the moment are just sleeping. He exists relative to a young healthy boy. Relative to an excited older man cutting his lawn. All of these relationships are paired with the color red which imply a certain tone, but we hope to play with it and to contradict your intuition.


Monday, December 2, 2013

Rush #8

Similar to your (Chucks)comparison and analysis of Lacan's theory of a 'Feedback loop' in relation to, In the Mood for Love, by Hong Kar-Wai, "Two neighbors discover their spouses are involved with one another--and in order to prepare for their confrontations with their cheating partners, the two protagonists spend a series of meetings together imaging and reenacting the illicit lovers' words and actions (complete with references to themselves as the ignorant partners waiting at home... I find a similar correlation between Sunset Boulevard and the character of Joe and his overall arch in the film.


In the beginning, he hopes for a different identity at the same time running from his own. Perhaps because of extenuating circumstances, but in the end, Joe is just not grounded or comfortable within his own skin and his prestige and pride. The film takes its course and so does Joe. However, in the end of the film, with Joe's epic monologue towards Betty, he rediscovers his old self by presenting his new one. However, shortly after, Joe dies. He dies while trying to leave the state he is in by going back to his old self, almost. His meer attempt at running from his new self, seemed to be too much for his overall character and spirit.


Many things could be taken from this, perhaps more taoist ways of thinking, or accepting ones self, etc. However, in the end, what is merely actually stated, is that his two selves came into collision with one another hence his death. His feedback loop killed him in the end.