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 Faculty members ‘Focus’ on experimental media
The first in a series of new digital media exhibitions scheduled for La Galerie Bleue, “Faculty Focus: Digital Media” tenders experimental videos, digitally generated 2-D work and 3-D interactive animation by professors from the Savannah College of Art and Design’s animation, broadcast design, interactive design and game development and sound design departments. Taking the “peak part” of explosions from blockbuster movies, motion graphics professor James Gladman has looped the footage — thereby suspending time — to create “Tantra.” “I’ve noticed that blockbuster films seem to treat the explosion as the star of the film,” he said. “They also use the explosion as a peak dramatic point of tension and release, often toward the end of the film, as a sort of ‘orgasm.’” By removing the explosions from their original context, Gladman says he is “trying to get the audience to transcend this prurient device by giving them what they want — in large proportions of just ‘the payoff’ — and hopefully satisfying this hunger that media has instilled in us. Sort of like a therapy where the glutton is forced to eat doughnuts until he cannot bear the sight of them!” Carla Diana, professor of interactive design and game development, originally created “Jack,” a virtual version of the traditional children’s “plaything,” for her personal Web site. “Displayed in an environment representative of the perfection of the intangible digital world behind the screen, ‘Jack’ lets the user experience the ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ song at the pace he desires,” said Diana, whose work has won several awards, including Flash Forward 2003, Flash in the Can and the Art Director’s Club Distinctive Merit Award. “Turning the crank in one direction or another offers the sense of ultimate control and user-driven suspense that is experienced with the real toy. A subtle hum in the spring action sets the mood and establishes an omnipresent, yet responsive, harmony.” Exploring self-trans-formation, professor of 3-D computer animation Cheryl Cabrera has created a new series of paintings titled “Re-clamation.” “These paintings are a documentation of the process of reclaiming my body after my diagnosis of hypothyroidism,” said Cabrera. “At the dawn of the digital age, digital media is more widely accepted for entertainment and commercial purposes, rather than as an acceptable medium for fine art … I believe computer imagery is one of the most important mediums ever developed. Instant publication by means of the Internet provides instantaneous exposure to the world.” Cabrera created her pieces digitally, printed them on canvas with archival inks and then sealed them with an oil-based medium for permanency. “Some have been manipulated in oil past this stage,” she said. “My ultimate goal was to blur the line between digital imagery and the traditional painting medium.” “ Digital Media” is the debut exhibition for motion graphics professor Alan Schechner’s “Six Million,” in which a single murder from the movie “Schindler’s List” is played continuously six million times. “After every replay of the scene, a computer counts from one all the way up to six million,” said Schechner. “To reach six million, the computer will have to run continuously for over two years.” Schechner acknowledged the restrictions inherent in all modes of representation. “As an artist working with images of the Holocaust, I am both deeply aware of these restrictions and also anxious to make them explicit … Many artists aware of the restrictions inherent in these culturally and conventionally acceptable means of representation have attempted to experiment with new forms as a way to address the horrors of the Holocaust.” According to Schechner, “Schindler’s List” proved an appropriate movie from which to appropriate footage because it attempted to transcend film by becoming a historical document. Computer art professor Roy LaGrone said he relies on blues-based music as a model to create traditional and virtual constructions, “internalizing its structure and dynamics, extracting ideas and incorporating elements into the work.” “DarkMagusMilesAhead #3” pays tribute to Miles Davis, who LaGrone said consistently charted new technological terrains throughout his entire career. “AstroBlack Module #1,” from the artist’s “Myth-Science” series, pays tribute to “the original cosmonaut of space jazz and thought,” Sun Ra. “This piece is also an investigation in which I reference and compare the modern-day technological functions of the alpha channel with the multidimensional roles of ancient Egyptian astrological grids,” said LaGrone. Visual effects professor Kirt Witte finds his inspiration in what he refers to as “The Other Savannah.” “My goal is to show visitors and Savannahians alike what they may have been missing or what they do not realize is right in front of them,” said Witte. “In addition to showing interesting locations and unique points of view, I also want to show what Savannah looks like using nontraditional and photographic methods like 360-degree panoramas, time exposures and infrared film.” Witte created a 360-degree panorama of the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in the shape of a cross using 26 separate photographs. Putting a slant on the theme of the entire exhibition is Ravinder Basra, a computer art professor whose work attempts to recreate images that look as though they’ve been digitally manipulated but have not been. “As individual images, the work attempts to create or challenge your perception of what is real and what is digitally manipulated,” said Basra. “As part of a body of work, the images make connections and statements, which change and alter depending on the order in which you view them. The intention is to challenge the viewer and provoke thought through association of one image with another in a nonlinear way.” Storyboards for Debra Moorshead’s “Dog’s Life,” for which the animation professor received a 2003 presidential fellowship, also will be on display. “ Faculty Focus: Digital Media” is on display at La Galerie Bleue, 3515 Montgomery St., through March 29. A reception will be held in conjunction with the college’s monthly gallery hop, March 5, 5-7 p.m. |
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