Pushing the Envelope on Cliches

I have no doubts whatsoever about the motives of many Second Life artists — making stuff to please competition judges or to increase sales or appeal to the masses. It is work that conforms to a set of well-known predetermined rules that are continuously reiterated by the public. Photographers have the greatest challenge over the cliche image, since most anyone with a camera can take a good picture of a sunset. Self-introspection aside, when it comes to making art, its the struggle that produces the best results, if only for yourself. STAY FRESH!

Artist Luke Jerram's viral sculptures - Glass Microbiology

Wow...these are the coolest.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/picture-galleries/6151478/Artist-Luke-Jerrams-viral-sculptures-trap-bacteria-and-viruses-like-Swine-Flu-HIV-and-E-coli-in-glass.html?image=7

http://www.lukejerram.com/projects/glass_microbiology

Latest Series - Budding

I've taken loads of shots of this sculpture. Very difficult to get the light and drama that I normally achieve due to the amount of transparency. I want the sculpture to be alive and want the pictures to capture it. I'm thinking that texture changing images will convey the essence of life in a microscopic world. This means my pictures won't be static like paintings but contain scripts like a short framed video.

Update: No time to work on animation but I think I've found a source for the script. For now, the still life pictures resonate. Latest news: I've submitted the full size sculpture of Budding to the UWA Design Competition. Its in the non-scripted category. Its an unusual piece (as most of my stuff is) and from what I can tell, previous winning works are representational, surreal, or deal with fantasy. It might stand out because it is unusual or be dismissed because of it.

Alot of what I see in Second life is cliche art . When the message becomes blatantly obvious, it turns into caricature and social comment. This isn't all bad. They win competitions and make sales. Cliches become cliches because they work. Its what the artist does with them that matters.

From Wikipedia:

"The term cliché is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. It is generally used in a negative context."

BUDDING

Budding is the early stage of development or reproduction...like budding plants and in this case, virons, shown in the pictures. Asexual reproduction is called budding, wherein an offspring grows out of the body of the parent. Budding* - outgrowths detach = new organism (unequal split)

http://www.arkive.org/brown-hydra/hydra-oligactis/video-09.html

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/green_hydra.htm

Some of these living things are microscopic or very small --- something like it can be created at a large scale in Second Life that we can inspect closely with our own avatar eyes. These are my inspiration for the moment for a couple of new series of primagery called Budding. My goal will be to imbue the sculpture with life and capture the beauty with the SL camera.

http://www.eyeofscience.com/eos2/english/gallery/kristalle/frame.html

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan/index.html

Why has not man a microscopic eye? For the plain reason man is not a fly.’ The early 18th century poet Alexander Pope’s wrote.

Art is the microscope of the mind, which sharpens the wit as the other does the sight; and converts every object into a little universe in itself. Art may be said to draw aside the veil from nature. To those who are perfectly unskilled in the practice, unimbued with the principles of art, most objects present only a confused mass", a quote by William Hazlitt , English critic and author(1778 - 1830)

Pond on Fire - Cambrian Explosion in Burning Life

http://www.koinup.com/RockerFaerie/work/193710/

The place is heating up. Over 380 visitors so far. Note 10/23/09 : I'm thinking thats alot of visitors and then went to Zero Mile...they get that many visitors in ONE DAY!!! Next year...THEME Park....

ENTELECHY

This weekend Physeter Nichols (conducting a tour of SL installations) stated more than once that my artwork was indicative of very different thinking - a non linear or lateral approach. I felt sort of compelled to sort this statement out because it almost seemed like a concern...as if there was something a little "tetched" about my brain.

"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction,”my favorite artist of all time said (Pictured above) He didn't spend time analyzing his next move, he moved on impulse to break down the normal restrictions and impediments to new discovery. Picasso was a lateral thinker. I'm going to imagine that I'm brainstorming with Picasso on my next piece of art.

So what is entelechy? It is the vital force that pushes you to make the most of your potential and work towards a specific goal. Chaos is a good thing for lateral or non-linear thinkers.

http://www.ahapuzzles.com/creative_thinking_1.htm

Burning Man 2009 - Get in the Spirit!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4NF8JPXtnU&feature=player_embedded