Lecture 2 : Su Friedrich

It may just be that I have a strict taste in film but I have to be honest and say that I was not excited by much of what I saw yesterday. For me there were too many rough edges to each film such as the music cutting off suddenly in Rules of the Road. Although I didn't dislike everything about her work. I did appreciate the creativity of the scratching process into the emulsion of the film. I did find that to be a bit rough though and didn't think she needed to use it all the time. It didn't really grab my attention like I thought it would. My favorite film of hers was The Ties That Bind. Maybe it was the documentary style of it I liked so much. Since I am taking a documentary film class I have a greater appreciation for them. Again with the scratching though, didn't feel it was necessary. I might have preferred regular type. I did like the fact that she made it all about her mother and omitted her own voice. Even though it was personally connected to her she still made it all about the subject of the film which was her mother. The best aspect of all the films she showed was the beginning of Rules of the Road. The use of the music and the cards to show her name and title of the film were just genius.

Burton Humor

Tim Burton was one of the artists I used last semester to explain where my line of humor was coming from. I have always admired Burton's works. It probably started with Nightmare Before Christmas or maybe it was Edward Scissorhands. Anyway, I really got into his work after I read The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy. It seemed just my type of humor. It was sick yet you couldn't help but laugh at it. This is how I wanted my work to function. I know it's not going to be read as sick which is fine but I believe I chose a sensitive enough topic that some people may not find appealing. What I love most about Burton's works are his drawings. Some of them are good enough by themselves, but are ultimately enhanced by the text. I don't think I have the courage to add text just yet to my work and I don't know if it actually needs it but it is something to think about I guess. The Boy with Nails in his Eyes is my favorite out of the entire book. The fact that he has nails in his eyes does actually gross me out. I have this thing about eyes and stuff touching them, but with the tree upside down and him holding the star I can't not laugh. The entire book is like this which is fabulous.

The other artist that I mentioned in my artist statement last semester was Edward Gorey. He is actually my main inspiration for this series. All of his works have that odd, quirky feel to them but one book always stood out to me more than the others. The Gashlycrumb Tinies was one of the funniest things I had ever read. It reads like a children's book which goes through the alphabet. The catch is that each letter stands for a different child that has died in some horrible and some not horrible way. The illustrations also are quite child like but there is an overwhelming sense of morbidity throughout the whole book. My favorite of course is Neville who dies of ennui. His little face peering out of the gigantic window just kills me every time. To me Gorey really pushes humor to the edge and that is why I love him so.

Busy Day

Please bear with me I was planning on posting quite a bit throughout the day . . . .

Lecure 1

This is a bit late but . . still.

I'm sure everyone else has said this so far but I will say it again. Kate Gilmore's lecture was the best I have been to so far. I found it very inspiring and almost creepy as to how much I could relate it to my own work. Every bit of her work that she examined was right on par with my own except she uses film and sculpture and her characters actually succeed in their tasks where mine don't. Her dark humor was astounding. She completely humiliates her characters by the end of each video and I this is what I hope to achieve with my own images. Each attempt at suicide should show how determined yet unintelligent my character really is. Gilmore also spoke about how she had aesthetic concerns with her work, such as wardrobe and color and I can understand how important those elements are. Each detail counts for something and says something about your piece. The biggest connection that I think our work had was how we both use ourselves as characters and not other people. She said each work was personal and about her life and that is how I feel about mine as well. Each piece doesn't have a specific meaning but the series as a whole has personal meaning. With her work she says she is very competitive and has to win. This is why her characters probably always reach their goal. With my work, I have had personal experiences with close friends and suicide. I never really knew how to deal with those sort of things so I always resulted to humor. I also just have this weird, morbid sense of humor that resides in me naturally. The best thing about Gilmore's work, I thought, was the use of sculpture. I found it quite amazing and I hope to one day get to this point with my own work. To have that added element that she has and that Bill Thomas also has would be satisfying.