final project

net.art url

http://students.uwf.edu/jlh165/artist%20view/

Site map

Final design

First draft

Thoughts on using html for the first time

     So I thought using html was going to be harder than it actually was and in turn it's actually fun to play around with. I would love to just sit all day seeing what I can make happen. I am surprised by how much i remembered and what I was able to learn on my own. Before making webpages seemed like something that wasn't possible for me or just anybody but now that I know how accessible it is I want to teach everyone about it. what has to the most interesting feeling or though is seeing this block of text become a piece of artwork. Originally I thought using html would be a hinderance to my already shaky artistic ability but it seems very "unlimited" in the ways you can use it.

Some Gifs I've been working on

Final Photomontages for Chimera project

Photomontage Formal project W.I.P.

I have been working diligently on this project and nothing is turning out the way I want it to. there are somethings I'd like to do or change but I can't because my knowledge of this program is limited but in saying that i have been learning a lot more about the program by just floundering around in it. the focus of this image so far is beauty and the way we think about it in the way we view people there are definitely gonna be some major changes but so far I like my sloth person.

Update: I know i don't need to update but i just did so much work and saved over it with this original file.

Essay on Icons as Fact, Fiction, and Metaphor

            The essay itself goes over how easy it is to “create” a photo and it hints at how important that is to the ethics of journalism, photography as documentation, and art. The article itself seems unsure on the topic itself leading the reader to these ethical questions themselves. In terms of an implied meaning, based on the change from a wet/darkroom to a digital process, the essay could be insisting that the truth and integrity behind the photography could be diminished by the digital process. Programs like photoshop and other adobe software makes it a lot easier to insert, cut-out, or change any element of any photograph in a few hours with varying results. There have been many instances where a believable edit has been leaked and used as evidence or confirmation of an event or plan of action. I can see why things like this can make people uneasy. In a time where you can take photographs from the early 1900s and colorize them. The article briefly mentions our impulse and desire for perfection in reality and how it can be seen in a whole swath of historical photos. That fact allows me to say with confidence that the purpose, ethics, and morals of the artist, the journalist, and the documenter are drastically different.

            An artist only purpose is to show and create a world they wish to see. Sometimes this includes their own version of the truth. An artist has no obligation to be true to anyone but himself (and his/her clients). So, based on that idea and the fact that this article in my opinion doesn’t really touch on those ideas I will leave the artist out of this. The journalist on the other hand has a moral and ethical obligation to be truthful. Being able to use a digital program to aid in the journalistic photo editing process is great when it’s used with integrity and a desire to show the truth. Those who are looking to document a moment should only look to document that moment.

            Really though these programs have changed photography and the way we use photography they’ve given us tools to create more unique metaphors and concepts. Photoshop and programs like it have made photo editing accessible to people who didn’t have access to those abilities before. It has made the process of photo editing easier and quicker allowing for more artistic work to be made by more people. The real change comes in the physicality of a wet/darkroom versus a digital programs workspace. How real or true a photograph is is based on the person who shot the photo and edited it. Integrity and truth have nothing to do with the way a photo is edited as long as it was edited properly. Every creator has a choice in how they want to create and show their work. Some prefer perfection and idealistic concepts over the truth and that is just the way the journalistic and artistic worlds work.

Ideas for Photomontage Formal Project

Things that I have been thinking about since we got the prompt for this project is greek gods and religion, gender, and sensuality. The idea that the perfect hybrid or human would be a powerful androgynous being whose main goal is to create more powerful and corrupted beings just like itself seems to be fitting for the theme. I want to try and focus on bringing opposing materials and views from many stereotypes and Ideas about human nature. That's another thing. I want this creature to be as inhumanly human as possible. Every design decision in this piece should be based on human traits but not given direct representation. I imagine these beings being based on gods, deities,  and mythological creatures or carrying some similarities to them. All in all I feel the need to subvert the idea of what it means to be human.

Photomontages

New media art essay

   New media art uses appropriation, remixing, and even imitation to create new works of art. In some ways it relies on other artist's work. As the reading mentioned, new media art can sometimes resemble the collages and readymade works of dada and the mass produced parodies of commercialism presented by pop artist, but they do not “acknowledge” the resemblance or accept the notion at all. From what I've read new media artist seem to have emerged from a desire to explore new ways of interpreting the world around them. Exploring new ways to use these new technologies that have been thrust upon society. For an artist being able to bring an interactive experience to an international audience sounds like a dream. It is also a step away from the commercial and corporate side of the art world. Not necessarily having to worry about galleries or curators also sounds like a dream. It is almost as if the new media artist community is it's own parody of the art world with online galleries and discussion boards on the topic. New media art focuses more on the audience's experience and interaction with the art. Rather than having one intended way to view the piece new media art often focuses on a non-linear experience that takes into account the audience's input. Narratives with many routes or multiple endings. Sometimes these experiences are designed to imitate the works and aesthetics of traditional artists while ultimately becoming its own work. New media art seems to include traditional media such as video, sculptural and electronic arts, photomontage, collage, and readymade as apart of the basis for some of the work done by new media artist. Because it is a step away from the established art world new media art, from what I have read, has its own communities and with many ways of showing and exhibiting art and participating in activism. This in my opinion can be seen as an exclusion of the traditional media because there is no way for traditional media to flow through these channels in its intended form and have its intended impact. It may be an unintentional exclusion but it is one that is possibly bred from a desire of new media artist to be innovative and new. Being able to bring an unique experience to a visitor or an audience internationally has got to be one of the biggest exclusions of traditional media from new media. Because a photo of a painting does not have the same impact as if you were to look at that painting in person. An online interactive story with multiple endings, interpretations, ways of navigating the experience, and having it remain virtually the same no matter where you view it from is the main draw of new media art for me. You don't have to wait for someone to tell you you can put this work on the internet you can just do it from your own home. There is a heightened sense of integrity that comes from the experience I think because you know you probably are not gonna make any money doing it but you want to get it done anyway because that's not what it's about.