Accumulation Reflection and Changing Thoughts

In the beginning, I was very naive. I thought it would be cool to get people to trip out over someone asking them for something so personal. I wanted them to reflect on what they thought about what I was asking, but I never thought about what they might think, or the kinds of answers I might get. I just considered a "yes" or "no" answer. I didn't think about the degrees of positive or negative responses I would get. Some people were blatantly offended and would cuss and yell. Some were intrigued and began to probe further at what I was asking them. In the end, I was touched at the thoughtfulness of some of the answers I got, whether they gave me what I wanted or not. I never thought I would be able to help someone cope with their problems, or find pieces of themselves that they never considered or overlooked. In the end, the piece was more about accumulating meaning and understanding of ones self or ones fellow human than just simply gathering material possessions.

I think I was assigned this exercise to find more meaningful connection between art and life, and to better understand how we assign meaning and place stock in material possessions.

Accumulation Project Finale

I know I should probably create a piece that is amazing and fantabulous and it will make you shit yourself when you see it, but I don't think that was ever the aim. I didn't approach these people and ask them for their soul parts so I could later shoot them into outerspace via rocket-propulsion system. It was just a very sincere test of their belief structure. I can't sit here and create scenarios as to what I should do to make this project exciting or more interesting. How do you make photos and paper so interesting in the first place? This project has helped me grow and understand aspects of my own personality that I never even thought about in the first place.

The intent was always to capture these souls just to set them free. I can't keep them! They’re not mine. I have mine. I've always had mine and don't need any others.

When my ball python, Snakey Wakey One, died from a neurological disease, we set him adrift in a New Balance shoe box in the middle of Lake Norman. From the shore, we shot flaming arrows in the traditional Viking Funeral style... until the piercing, orange light struck the gasoline soaked cardboard and the blaze licked away at the serpents lifeless, diseased body. I think that is how I would want to release these souls from captivity; let the flames carry the smoke and vapors to the heavens.

Julian LaVerdiere

His art work makes me think of a short story I read call “The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C. Clarke. This story has probably one of the most chilling endings I have ever read, and it’s only like 5 pages longs, so read it. The Nine Billion Names of God. I can’t really put my finger on why I see these two things relating. Maybe it’s the stark realization that what we don’t believe will ever happen can occur without a logical reason. Like the twin towers and the stars blotting themselves out as God begins to wind things up. I don’t know what I’m getting at.

Matthew Barney

I have been a huge fan of M.B. ever since I saw The Cremaster Cycle (illegal bootleg). His works are intense as hell, and have harmonious and grotesque qualities working together at the same time. Time Magazine called him the most important artist of our generation. So I guess he’s pretty important? The thing I think I enjoy the most about watching his films is when the point comes where you stop examining them, analyzing them for structural and plot integrity or trying to understand the symbols and find juxtapositions between ideas, and you start to just take in the visual components and see them as just eye-candy. It’s a purely sexual experience. It’s hypnotic and sensual and you don’t have to probe his deep, well thought-out symbols or imagery.

Site Specific Pieces day 2

I think that Arutyun and Jin win this bout. I really like Arutyun’s piece except for the fact that I think it lacks a personal touch. I guess nobody really had a problem with it except for me. The piece was very computer rendered and there was nothing in the whole piece that suggested that he had any emotional stock in the actual event. I’m not saying that he has too… I mean it happened 93 years ago. He wasn’t necessarily alive during that time. It just seemed very cold and impersonal. It seems even less important to him because he put it on YouTube.com. He gives the people the option of seeing it or not. Isn’t a mass genocide being covered up a problem? What if America (for some fucked up reason) decided to not teach the children about the Holocaust? Would you just stand by and allow someone to get away with murder? I like the actual short film, but I think the presentation could be worked on a bit. I would have been a lot more interested and responsive if you called up the entire class at 2:33 a.m. and told us to tune into channel 4 in five minutes.

Jin’s piece is simple but to the point, and I love the narrative quality.

Site Specific Project, "Existence is Futile"

Once again, this project has consumed most of my every waking thought. I got a lot of good ideas, but couldn't act on them. So the project was about site specific.

I couldn't very well reach a desert or a skyscraper's roof so I had to settle for my own back yard. For this piece I pulled inspiration from several artists, but the two that had the biggest influence were Robert Smithson with his "Non-Site" pieces and Andy Goldsworthy with land works. I pulled ideas from them on accident. I never sat down and planned out an elaborate scheme with them in mind. I decided to just start working on something and right after I did that, their ideas began to push mine into different directions, so here it is.

Keep in mind, I don't have money. Or time. Or knowledge. So I couldn't hire anyone to do this piece and I couldn't find a more suitable location that would give the piece a more pronounced meaning.

For this piece, I decided, once I started working, that it was going to take a very cliche but important subject matter and explore it deeper than I had ever before. I decided to base my piece with the theme of global warming. I started thinking about how we think about how global warming is and is going to affect us. We know were fucking up the planet with our shit, and we are collectively trying to avoid submergence of our major cities, here and all over the world. but I didn't really want to focus on that. I wanted to put myself in another cultures shoes to see how I would think about what we're doing to our planet. The first group I thought about was the Inuit people living near the north pole. You think we have it bad here when our coast line raises three measly inches. What if you were an Eskimo and all of a sudden you have to completely change your way of life because you're entire house, land and life melted, right out from under your feet. Your food swims to different bodies of water. Your transportation dies because it's getting to hot or you have nothing to move around on. I imagine it would be hard to adapt.

That's when I thought about Smithson's non-sites, or, as I like to call them, his double-displacements pieces. I, in an Inuit shoe, built an "igloo" out of unconventional timber. Because of the warm weather, I cannot bear the heat and I'm forced to remove my clothing. I don't know how to hunt or eat this food. Every asshole on the planet has polluted the earth, and I have to suffer the consequences first.

Existence Is Futile. found lumber, coat and naked body. "Igloo" - 4' x 4' x 6'

The Coolest Soul I Ever Got Was...

Malena Bergmann's Soul! She is the coolest because she gave me an A in her concept studio class, which I deserved for the countless hours of worry I had to endure outside of class and the effort I put into making every class enjoyable and unique!