Research
James Casabere
An atmospheric narrative has been created with some simple and common things, two beds, stairs and arch doors. No too much complex light sources but just the natural light from the window and I guess there is one light source neat the audience. The shadow of water is reflected on the walls and the roof of the place beautifully, creating a world of fantasy. I think the shadow of the window is interesting on the water inside, it also suggest the audience’s movement, go upstairs and step out to the window.
The artist was trying to create psychological connections with viewers, creating dark space and subtle lights to apply emotions to the narrative and convey them to viewers. It makes me think of a corner of a hospital, it’s pale and heavy. Stepping outside is like a journey of healing yourself, no matter what is struggling you right now.
Dan Flavin
-I like how he makes different colors work together. In the photography, three space in different colors are actually connected. We can see at the end of the blue hallway, there is some red light from the left dissolving into the blue light. They create a fantastic and unreal world together.
-The most inspiring thing is how he plays with space. There are 3 groups of diagonal line applied to the walls and the roof, so when we stand in the space, the whole world seems to be diagonal and falling down to the right. So the effect is achieved not only just by light and color, but also by people’s visual illusion.
Sky Burial
Steel and blown glass
-I like it because the artist used a very simply light source and created such a strong narrative. The light above the installation goes through the blown glass and the applied white layers inside. The shadows of the nest-like installation and the white layer work well on the floor. It’s like a nest with an egg in it.
-light from above really creates a sense of focus on the installation, this is what I can try in my work.
Filled with the Brilliance of Life
Yayoi Kusama
IN INFINITY
The artist uses hundreds of coloured LEDs to create an endless space. The world of luminosity is quite strong and I think it can make the viewers forget the world outside the exhibition. As well as the second work of the artist, fill the yellow space of black dots. It makes me isolated with the real world when I’m looking into it. And my brain is filled with black dots as well, even my body turns into black dots on the yellow wall.
-The first work with LEDs includes black lines to block the whole space. It makes me think of urban spotlights at night. People may feel confused in the brilliance and flash things, the night is never going to stop.
-Both works use mirrors to enlarge the space and make the worlds look endless. Especially in the second work, there is a hole in the mirror box, when people wonder what is in there and put their head into the hole, their body and the reflection in the mirror create the work together interestingly, without head.
The Truman Show
Concept-
God has set a door at the edge of Truman’s world. It’s opened, but what are outside? Are you going to runway from your comfort zone, where you’re familiar but limit you gradually? Outside the door is black, it could be dangerous and no one knows you, everything has to start again. Are you going to betray your place of birth and running towards the world out there?
Within A Rainbowed Sea
Sordid Earth
James Casebere
“Black and white had more to do with memory and the past. Color was too much about the present, I associated it with color TV, which was not a part of my past. I wanted the images to be related to a sense of history, let’s say, whether personal or social. And I think black and white adds a certain level of abstraction.”
James Casebere
https://www.jamescasebere.com/
Arches
I find the viewpoint is quite interesting, standing in the dark inside and look into the lighting area in front. Lots of stone- like things in the space, which makes me think of ruins due to a disaster. The structure of the arch is like spider’s leg, which makes me feel like being under a giant spider.
Inspired by this piece of work, maybe I can let the light go through the hold at the back and create a sense of waiting for light coming with hopelessness.
Stairwell
Also, the view point is unique and works effectively because it let the viewer look down to the deep darkness. I think this is a stair and it may carry some memories of the artist. And because there’s no figure in it, it gives me space to imagine what could happened here. Usually when I look down stairs, I was trying to find what happened downstairs. It is quite narrative and the black area in the centre has gained much focus through applying dynamic lights and shadows.
Garage
From the name of the work I can tell that it is remarkably true to life. What impresses me most in this work is the use of white and black, which is balanced and extremely strong. I guess the models are made of plaster, which helps create such strong shadows. Seeing the play of black and white could be that effective, I am thinking of reducing colours in my world and add more sense of memory. It could be very common things in daily life, could be the space I past every day of some place like garage, where carries lots of memories of mine.
Vestbule
This place created by light and simply geometry shapes. I wonder how the artist created the shape of shadows with such sharp and clear boundaries. May be the window is covering part of the roof and part of the wall, then the light can go through and form such a dynamic shadows, which makes such a surreal space.
Storefront
Through prevent light source from filling the whole space, a narrative with strong sense of emotions has been created. Although it called “storefront”, it makes me think of rooms of an empty hospital. The door is closed and lots of frames here give me a kind of safety and arise my desire to be cured in this space. For my own work, it could be effective to leave some dark space. Sometime dark areas could be another form of lightness, as it allows the viewer’s eyes to have a rest and evoke boundless imagination.
Library
This work is quite inspiring because it makes me realise how strong a work could be without occupation of figures. The private reading area are simply constructed by several chairs and desks, but with such a strong connection with people’s actions. It uses a way of implying to suggest the existence of people instead of showing figures directly. The artist doesn’t show much ambition to add his idea and thinking to the audience, but leave such a wide space for the audience create their own connections with his work. It is like an interact project now, because it relies heavily on the audience’s imagination and memories.
Life Story
These models remain empty of detail and human figures in these two pieces of work. What is different from the works above is that items included in these two works are quite personal. And because these are in black and white, they are more like clips of memory of the artist’s life story. In the first work, the chair seems to be kicked over by someone, and cloths and books are put randomly. I think the whole space is filled with horribly silence after an intense fight.
Mat Collishaw
In Camera
Acrylic, flash lamp and stand, LED Lighting, Phosphorescent Paint, rubber, Steel
Fixing old pictures in frames of LED light is pretty cool! I like the contrast created between old time things and totally modern, technique things. Also, what inspired me most is the way he presents his work in a form of video. In the video, each picture is lighted at one time, it’s like flash back. It’s told that before people die, there is always such a flash back of their whole life happen in their mind. Then the dark room is like people’s brain, and sometimes scenes in their memory are not clear and sometimes the memory is too deep to recall The way the video has been directed help the artist complete and strengthen his concept effectively, and this should be what I achieve in my own work.
Magic Lantern
Expanded Resin, LED Lights, Motor, Perforated Sheet Aluminium, Steel Frame
“The zoetrope was invented in Victorian times, and has been updated to animate three-dimensional models rather than the archetypal two-dimensional zoetrope. The slot through which the illusion is usually viewed has been replaced with a stroboscope, a more contemporary type of shutter. The work thus bridges the time-span from the museum's inception to the present day.”
https://matcollishaw.com/works/magic-lantern/
At the beginning of this video, it shows a street where there is lots cars going by, it’s a busy night. Everything seems go as usual and nothing could happen unexpectedly. But when the lens gets more closer, I saw something are happening on the top of the building. I quite like the sense of contrast.
Barbarossa
As the slides turned over in the carousel they seem to melt and burn up under the light from the projector, accompanied by appropriate sound effects.
“The photographs were taken from the disastrous Second World War campaigns in Barbarossa where many lives were lost to the onslaught of fire or the bitter cold.”
The concept let all make sense. I guess melt pictures suggest the past of time. As time goes, people’s memory get blur. Shooting the whole process of melting and burning is a good way to presenting the idea, which makes connection to my own work. I could record the change of my world to suggest past of time.