The Apartment

“The Apartment” is an animation tI created hat’s explores the human experience of uncertainty. I explore this idea through the first person camera view experience of a character who has woken up in their apartment. The character is not important. The scene is meant to present a universal understanding of uncertainty through confusion in a place that looks real, but as one further explores, they wonder what is reality in a place that seems at first glance familiar.

 

I get my inspiration from many sources. One of my main sources are animated films that I see on television, online, or at the theatre. The first that comes to mind are Pixar films. When I see a Pixar film such as “The Incredibles,” which is an animated film that started my interest into the field of animation, I get a wealth of ideas for animations and scenes that I want to start on my on. Other Disney and Pixar films influence me as well, but that is the one that resonates in my mind. Whether I am working on an animation, video art, or other forms of art such, I find that life influences my work. My job, daily experiences, life goals are all things that speak through my works of art.

 

Time is a big factor in my life, whether it be time management working on a project or running late for something such as work. I have found that lately, the idea of time has had a major influence on what I animate in my projects. In “The Apartment,” the scene begins on the view of an alarm clock going off. It time to wake up! There is this day-to-day battle with the alarm clock. Everyone has had that feeling of wondering whether they have set the alarm or have those weird days where the alarm clock doesn’t go off for some reason and now they are late to something. This is an idea that anyone can relate to, time not being on your side. In “The Apartment,” the scene uses the element of time to explore the idea of uncertainty. As the scene continues, the viewer is left to wonder. Has the person in the scene woken up? Or they sleep walking? Is this dream or reality? I find this an interesting scene to explore because if anyone has ever woken up in that state of mind where things are unclear, sometime one doesn’t know if they have fully woken up. Sometimes dreams are so real they seem like a reality and one doesn’t realize it’s a dream until they wake up. The confusion between the two creates this uncertainty that we all experience in life, in through the scene I hope to convey this message to make the viewer question things that or uncertain in their own lives. Where do we go from here? What path do I take? No one truly knows. It is the path we choose to take that leads us to discoveries along the way in a world of doubt.

 

"The Apartment" Delbert S DuBose Jr, 2016.

 

 

Watch Me Move

         "Music is Me" by Delbert DuBose Jr, 2015.

 

I wanted to talk about a past project I worked on. In  a project before this one, I created a video project where I wanted to told a narrative about what music is to me. With a new project I  wanted to look at the music in a different way so initially I wanted to do a project about the club experience. As obvious in my last video pieces I love dancing. I originally had the idea to 3-D model a scene of my car driving to the club with the music playing and end up with a video montage of me dancing at the club. What I ended up creating was a video piece that breaks down at the core what I wanted to explore which was my dancing. I followed somewhat of a process or a journey over my pieces. First I told a story about the bay area and what from the area influenced the music and how I respond to it. My second project, Music is Me, let the viewer into my world where they see how important music is to me and how music is reflected in everything that I do. In this new piece I explore music at its core, the way I interact with the music, which is literally just the dancing.

"Global Groove" Nam June Pike, 1973.

                "Club Music" First Interpretation

               "Club Matte" Second Interpretation

 

 

What I attempted to do, other than just dragging and dropping video footage into After Affects, was to use the video I captured over multiple layers to create a dancing motif that references choreography at times and at other times just looks like a group dancing together yet every figure is me. I also went beyond the footage and I used my dancing figure as a silhouette to  get a different effect in the piece. I also was influenced in my work by a video in 1973 called Global Groove. O was drawn in by the duplication of form throughout the video. Repetition and motion guided my inspiration for my video. Overall I just attempted to have fun with the project and see where it took me whether than having an end in mind and seeing what kind of video piece I come up with when I steer away from a narrative. I just let the project guide me.

 

 

       "Watch Me Move" Delbert S DuBose Jr, 2015.

Costco Machine

             "Back to the Future Opening Sequence"

Looking at what we have seen there have been many versions of a Gulberg machine. One of the first examples that comes to my mind would be a simple version of a Gulberg machine  found in the opening credits of "Back to the Future.

                                 Gulberg Machine

 

I looked at other examples of a machine as such. In a project I look to create my own Gulberg machine, but in my version I created a Costco Gulberg machine. I start the scene with a time clock that simulates an alarm that starts the machine. As the scene continues it starts a chain reaction that gets all my objects going. I started with simple physics and for now, the most interesting part is the domino effect I have with the radios I created that reflect the radio I use at work as a Supervisor. We learn in contemporary art, that art reflects life. I find that in my art, the experiences I come across reflect in my work. Since I work for Costco Wholesale , I wanted to bring my experience to life. So take the journey through my experience of your local Costco in "The Costco Machine."

 

                         "The Costco Machine"

A look at Art in the Bellagio

Fiori Di Como" by Dale Chihuly

One of my favorite places I like to go to is  Las Vegas. No matter how many times I go I always walk through the Bellagio because it's one of the main hotels, but they also have much art placed around the hotel. One of the main pieces that stand out to me in this hotel is the art the assortment of flowers created by Dale Chihuly titled Fiori Di Como, a piece of  art that we see on the ceiling. The flowers are a glass sculpture that looks like a garden of beautifully colored glass flowers that seem to grow on the ceiling of the Bellagio.

Video capturing the sculpture on the Bellagio Ceiling

Chihuly is an artist that has redefined glass sculpture as an art. The sculpture consists of 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms that weigh about 40,000 pounds. They are supported by a 10,000-pound steel armature according to Las Vegas Journal review. I think its interesting to go beyond how we see some art publicly displayed. We always see art on the wall and sculptors placed on the ground or at eye level. Las Vegas is a city of tourist and much traffic of people gathering around to take in the sights, so for an artist to have viewers in awe of a piece of art that hovers above them. It's something you can't miss. The piece screams to be view with its vibrant colors and each glass flower interacting with another. Also important to notice is the bright lighting also that pulls the viewer into the piece. A sculpture that remains in the mid long after one leaves the city of sin.

                "Through the Looking Glass"

"Through the looking glass is a video I watched discussing his art process with glass. He looks to

push the forms in glass to an organic form that happens naturally. In looking at his glass sculpture at the Bellagio, I like seeing the organic form in the glass as each blown piece of glass becomes a flower. Its something that takes your eye because the sculpture extends the length of the lobby ceiling. You almost would miss it if you didn't look up, but once you do its a sight to see. It's great to see how organic forms in nature can inform different medium especially once such as glass. Glass is a medium that is hard edged and looks sharp, but once an artist such as Chihuly works it, the glass becomes soft and seems to flow over the forms taking glass beyond its original look.

Zeitguised

                                   Henrik Mauler

Through my research working through digital media, I have come across the work of the Zeitguised group. The Zeitguised group is a group of artist, designers, and technologists based in Berlin, Germany. I have seen many examples of the work that comes out the group so I have always been interested to know their process in how they come up with the unusual forms that seem to be unique to the aesthetic of the Zeitguised group. In doing my research I actually came in contact with one of the artist that works with them and his name is Henrik Mauler.

                 Geist.xyz: Physical Design Show

                "Whats the Matter": Geist.xyz show

 

In talking with Henrik he mentioned that the background of the  group was in architecture, design, fashion, and sculpture. He had been working for the group since 2001, but has been in the field since 1988. In his work he looks to explore uncharted visual territory, uncanny contradictions, or just finding satisfaction in nice things. I was really attracted to their work because I see a heightened awareness in an attempt to create or discover visual imagery that has not been presented yet. I think overall in the work released from the group, their overall nature is in creating physical forms, objects, and textures, that we haven't encountered and cause the viewer to take a closer look.

 

 

                                  "Absolute Amber" Still

                              "Absolute Amber"

                                 "Concrete Chrome"
Artifacts from a perceived reality and abstractions drive the work that is created by Henrik and the Zeitguised group. I think this notion sticks out the most when looking at their work because in much of their work the viewer can see reference to objects from real life, but in the way in which the forms are depicted refer to the objects in the most abstract way which seems to pull away from the original source material as much as possible. The way in which abstraction is used in the work allows for some interesting shapes and forms that seem to be biomorphic in nature and maybe even slightly refer to biomorphic forms in nature. One of the images I remember from past lecture, is the image above with the metallic, reflective material. What really catches my eye with a project such as that one was that the image created is almost that of balloons flying or smoke/ steam that comes from a train both of which emulate a floating type substance or object. Yet what we see before us is materal reminiscent of metal which is something very solid. Something that couldn't possible float. the abstraction of form in this image allows for an interesting juxtapositions of form material and physics in nature.

                                   "Peripetics"

I asked Henrik what kind of projects they plan to work on in the future and he said, "hopefully more interesting ones! There are always lots of interesting fragments, unfinished ideas and plans in the drawer. I really can't say what crosses our paths and minds in the future!" I like that there work uses abstraction break down the forms of objects. It seems like "fragmentation" is an idea that really guides the work. I like seeing artist who can take animation as a medium to explore new ways of looking at things. Animation can be used to create interesting juxtaposition between form, material, shape, and movement and the Zeitguised group uses those attributes well to create unique forms of visual language.

Alex Lee: The World Around Us

I had the pleasure of contacting and talking to a new media artist by the name of Alex M Lee. He was born in Seoul Korea. His family moved to the US and they settled in Connecticut. He visits Seoul quite often and finds that Seoul has become "one of the most wired countries in the world."                  

"Darkroom (Hanging Prints)," Computer Drawing. 2009

"Darkroom (Clock and Light)," Computer Drawing. 2010

"Untitled (First Photograph Ever)," Computer Drawing. 2008

He is a digital artist that incorporates his art experience around the idea of making images. He began working with analog photography at first, then slowly transitioned to digital as the  photographic field went digital. He explained to me that his process of dealing with photography developed alongside the same time that the industry went digital. He said, " I transitioned to 3D modeling and animation because I saw more possibilities with furthering the discussion of materiality, form, structure, and artifice."

                         Haeshigae (for Proust)

https://vimeo.com/36066402

https://vimeo.com/36066402

In talking about his work Alex explained that ultimately he is "trying to come up with imagery that evokes our understanding of the world around us." He uses the temporary tools at hand and the extend of technology to guide his work. His transition from still imagery to time based works was inspired by the possibilities he saw in 3D. This artist grabbed my attention because he gave a lecture on campus and I liked how he used 3D in order to explore the process of image making on the computer. I always like how artist like Alex take different paths to explore different ways of seeing things, but use some of the same material I am familiar with.