“Street artist Shepard Fairey was arrested last night in Boston on two warrants after he allegedly tagged property in Boston with graffitti based on his Andre the Giant street art campaign, reported the Boston Herald. ”
…”Fairey’s Obama image has been sold on hundreds of thousands of stickers and posters, and was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington in the days before Obama’s inauguration.
After some time, it seems the momentum of the dispute – as characterized by those with second hand (or even more remote) knowledge – tends to muddy the waters… I wonder who in the end will benefit the most?
‘dissolution’, 2005 – video still -artist Bill Viola
A still from the video artist Bill Viola is but a hint of the the real thing – which come to think of it is actually a lot like photographs – just a hint … but I have to say in this case a hint is better than nothing.
Speaking of art as experience – My first experience with any of Viola’s work was with a small piece – (and I’m hoping my memory serves me correctly in attributing this memory to Viola) – at the Des Moines Art Center, in Iowa. I may have it all wrong and I can’t seem to find any information to confirm what I remember, but it was a little plexiglass cube with a white orb – head shaped – and just large enough for this shape to be fully immersed in water. The entire thing was just about chest high – but low enough so you could look down on it. Upon that cube was a projection of a man holding his breath looking back up at you – the thing is that he’s running out of air. Peering over the cube you could see him looking back up at you – the murmuring sound gets more urgent – nearly getting to a shout underwater – but you know what happens if you have ever tried to scream under water.
That simple gesture – a “video sculpture” lets call it – was thrillingly disturbing – all the elements of suspense hard to leave or look away – the unforgiving loop presents a never-ending struggle to come up for air. I remember it still clearly being – to hear the murmurs – tiny bubbles escaping his lips… but in this case just an illusion and clearly set up to reveal itself – pull the extension cord out and the whole thing stops.
Bill Viola, Acension, 2000 video still
My second experience was with Ascension – a 10 minute loop from a dull rumbling blackness to startling plunge in a small dark and dimensionless room – My kids and I watched the sudden but slow fall, rise and fall of man – with all the religious allusions – yet my experience in watching this brought on an entirely different level of understanding. I felt their fear as they jumped and clung close to me – grasping on to me for assurance perhaps that they too might not ever fall into the water. Somehow – my being there assured them.
Below is a clip of another work by Viola and with a little imagination….. yet I hesitate… because the real experience of seeing a work such as this relies on the total environment to full effect – it points out to me the importance of creating the circumstance for art to exist – and the apparent shortcomings of all that is the web…
“Just by my nature I’ve always been drawn to slowing things down, really out of a desire to see things more completely, to quell the clutter and the agitated stream of stuff that’s coming at you constantly, so you can feel yourself living, thinking, breathing.” – Bill Viola - “Bill Viola’s x-ray vision,” The Art Newspaper, June 22, 2006
Perhaps this is a cue to consider more strongly in still photography.
UPDATE: It appears as though the work is classified as “sculpture” – according to import tax ruling… article via the Art Newspaper… seems like a “no-brainer”…
