six

I found this light on the way down to Church Point. I think that the light is not necessarily art by any means. It may be interpreted as beautiful, but alone, it isn't art. To me, art is something that is intended and a sunset is some kind of natural instinct. But, this image drew my attention to things that exist in nature that can easily be sources for art.

Artists often depict the sun. Lightsource is one of the most important considerations in drawing, painting, photography, and other media. However, it can't become art unless someone intends it to be that. Maybe. I am still trying to come to terms with this idea.

mark napier

Mark Napier is the creater of "Shredder 1.0." This is an interactive work of art that allows the viewer to enter a web address into the system and watch as it jumbles the site. Shredder "literally deconstructs the site, slicing and dicing its text, imagery, and source code to form abstract compositions."

I got super carried away and shredded every site that I go to (my blog, friends' blogs, school website, email, etc.). It was really fun but after a while it kind of freaked me out. It's like when you're a kid and you see someone dressed in a suit of one of your favorite characters. You might know on some level that it's not real, but once you see the zipper, you're crushed. This is like seeing the zipper on all of my favorite websites.

five

I found this street sign on the way home from the beach. I found it significant enough to pull over and take this picture because of the Bruce Springsteen song "Thunder Road."

Street signs are a part of everyone's lives. They are something that we rely on, look for, and use even if we don't know where we are going. But, when a place becomes familiar enough, we no longer need to look for the names on the signs. In that way, street signs become unnecessary to many of us.

Street signs are definitely not art, but they can be something more than street signs. I don't know who named this road "Thunder Road" and I know that it probably has nothing to do with the song. However, because of this allusion, it becomes something worth looking at, or at least serves as a reminder that sometimes street signs can be more than just street signs.

raqs media collective

Raqs Media Collective Operates on an online platform that allows artists to upload their work. Then, work is mixed together to create what they call a "recsension," or a sort of remix of many artists work into one, new work. Raqs Media Collective operates on the principle of appropriation, that is, the borrowing of already existing art to create new, different art.

"From Dada to Pop, and from found footage film to hip hop, appropriation has become an increasingly important strategy for artists of all stripes."

four

I found this tree by Church Point. This tree was interesting for a lot of reasons. What first drew me to it was the way in which it seems to allude to Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and her description of a tree outside of the manor that looks as if it is "taking alms from the sun" which is how this appeared to me. Additionally, because of the time of year and the lack of leaves on the tree, it seems to be stretching towards the sun for nourishment.

I also like this tree because of how it is somewhat conventionally ugly. I love things in nature that are ugly. I love that nature makes certain things ugly, or that we perceive things as ugly. I think "ugly" also usually means "interesting." This tree is sort of sad in that way, too. You wouldn't take your wedding pictures under it and you definitely wouldn't want to have a picnic under it. You also wouldn't be particularly drawn to hang out by it because it doesn't function as much more than a scar on the face of a picture of an endless sky like this one. 

after life response

In class last week we viewed "After Life," a film that deals with the idea of life after death. I found this portrayal of after life to be intriguing. Unlike other movies I've seen that are about similar topics this one was able to deal with this idea without being all about pathos or religion or something. It really reminded me of Waking Life, another movie that deals with sort of similar themes. It's not the easiest kind of film to get into, but once you do you sort of forget that there isn't much action.

Watching a movie like "After Life," you find yourself trying to catch onto someone else's conversation. It's like standing on a train platform and trying to hear what someone else is saying without them knowing that you're eavesdropping. There is a sense almost that you're not supposed to be hearing this, and that quality is what I liked most about this film. My favorite part was when they were all sitting in the movie theater about to view the recreated memories and you know that once they do they'll be gone, but there is something really beautiful about it anyway.

I tried to think about what my memory would be if I were to die with only the memories that I'd had so far. There was one day over winter break, the day before New Year's Eve, when my brother and I got into the car and started driving. We were headed, vaguely, to Atlantic City, a place where we'd spent childhood summers with our South Jersey Italian-immigrant family and one that holds a lot of sentimental and vernacular value to us. We left our house by DC around noon and drove, switching drivers once in between. We stopped in Cherry Hill, where my family had lived before I was born, had pizza at a restaurant that my father used to eat lunch at every day (seriously), and then got back on the highway. We stopped at the cemetery to put flowers by my grandparent's graves. Then we went to Atlantic City--it was late by the time we got there--and had dinner at a mall that my grandmother had taken us to when we were kids. My brother won back the traveling cost at a casino and we got back in the car to head home around nine. What's really significant about all of this is that I drove the whole way home while my brother slept in the passenger seat. It's never like this. I am younger and so, by default, the one being taken care of. This time it was not like that. I remember most vividly the way it felt to emerge from the Baltimore Harbor tunnel, music on, Jeremy asleep, and seeing all of the times we'd made this trip flash before my eyes. And to really feel like I'd gotten somewhere. To really feel like I was headed in one certain direction. I touched my palm to the cold window and smiled as the highway signs pointed me in a direction that was decidedly home.

®TMark

RTMark is a website that "serves as a portrait of the internet" or "socially conscious sabotage." The makers are a group of new media artists who choose to remain anonymous. They choose sites to parody, such as George W. Bush's presidential site, or a the Backstreet Boys homepage, and make their version very close the real thing, so that it would be possible for a viewer to not know what they're looking at.

I was drawn to this work because of the comparison to Marcel Duchamp's readymades. I think that RTMark has similar motives as Dada artists did but with a slightly more obvious message. When we are forced to consider things art that we normally would not, it effects not only our perspective on art and culture, but also on the society in which we live, and ourselves.