Fine-Cut Draft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ5eVpIA3WI

Artist Statement Draft

Brianne Lint

Artist Statement

In the current society of today the idea of the female body is something that is fantasized about and the sight of their form is something that the gaze is drawn to. Some shy away and some indulge in the pleasure of knowing they are seen as an object of lust, desire and want. This objectification of the female form has developed into the new normal because of society dictating and supporting this version of the over-sexualized woman.

In this video work I want to exploit this flaw of society for creating a societal atmosphere that influences individuals of any and all identities to view the female body in this way. What is essentially a form of degradation has been turned into something that is sought out by females and embraced by others. There is almost no feeling of shame or embarrassment when caught looking or “appreciating” the female body but rather a sense of entitlement. This video shows clips of the female body in what can be considered a sexual way in accompaniment of clips of portions of individuals faces to show the actions and reactions that show instances of this exploitation of female objectification happening.

Research Response #12

I chose to respond to the work of Eve Sussman, the artist that Kaylee completed her presentation on. With what I read and was able to discern from the work that I saw from Sussman, is that she portrays a very cinematic feel to her work. I think that the way the action in her work is actually organized and pre-planned shows a lot about her work and her process. This shows that she is very specific in her delivery and cares what her work is to every limit that she does goes through this choreographed routine to show a natural display. She has this focus and attention on using historical art pieces and art renditions of historical events to tell a new version of what is the meaning and interpretation.

I really like the way that her work 89 Second at Alcazar has this visual effect that makes her work appear as though it is a painting. The way the colors mix and is so accurately reflective of the correct historical time it looks as though this painting is re-enacted as video-art. I think that this in itself is very interesting because video art was obviously something that was not done at that time so this really shows a modern take on a part of the past. Very similar to 89 Seconds at Alcazar, Sussman's work Rape of the Sabine Women's this cinematic aesthetic appeal in her work while reflecting on the historical painting Intervention of the Sabine Women and the Roman myth of how these women were treated in their society and culture.

Research Response #11

I chose to respond to the artist presentation that Tara did on Diana Thater. I found her work to be pretty interesting especially because this is not really the typical type of art work that I focus on myself. She has a particular focus on abstraction in her work and the way that form of abstraction can be interpreted when in relation to her work directly. Using this approach that is not exactly typical in the look of her work this can further create this aspect of mystery which is a feel that I really got from her work as a general sense in the works I watched.

Thater's work Oo Fifi, I was interested in immediately which I think is because of the bright and colorful aesthetic appeal. The way that this work looks, like an older feel to video works that are no longer popular I think adds to her theme of abstraction. I also found it interesting and extremely appealing that the way this work is displayed and projected on the walls and how it almost acts as an experience and that the work can be projected on to an individual when in the line of light.

I think that Thater's work Broken Circle, shows a completely different type and feel of work as the previous but really shows her depth of work as well. She combines these aspects of past and present while using the building she does but by showing the video she keeps the modernity of the piece. I think this is essentially and ultimate way to express and explore the idea of installation video art and how that can really play into the work as a whole and without the installation aspect it is not the same work. The way that Thater is able to show all of these aspects and still maintain a strong core content and message I think really reflects the type of work that she does.

Reading Response #5

These articles are about video installation art and all that goes into that process and the difference between this and other mediums of art. The main parts of these articles discussing the question of why this installation video art is different. I found it interesting that in one of the articles video installation art was referred to as "most complex art form in contemporary culture". I could completely understand why that would be because there is so much that goes into it that most works of art only would use a fraction of what is done. Installation art and video installation art utilizes all interest of time, space and frame in addition to the video techniques used to create and edit the video component but with the installation aspect there is another piece all together that needs to be created to make the full piece functional and completed. There are multiple levels of exploration and experimentation that can happen in presentation and representation, one of which are the dimensions that are possibly used. With the elements in the video with the combination of the real life three dimensional elements, create extremely complex pieces which no other type of art can really express in the same way. These works of video installation art wouldn't be the same as just a video work because it is made as an entire piece with the installation complex. It also discusses in a large portion that as a viewer, seeing these video installation art works there is more of an experience rather than a viewing and analysis of the work. There are typically more pieces to consider with this installation aspect than when there isn't. These articles opened up a lot of discussion about what goes into the work of installation video works that I didn't know went into the work but now knowing it I can see and understand what was said because there is so much more involvement that some other types.

Is there a range of what is considered video installation art work? Does there have to be a limit or amount of what the installation includes for that to be what it is recognized as?

Research Response #10

This week I have mostly just focused my research on refining what I am going to do for my final video project. I am stable in what I want to have for my project but the specific audio is proving to be very difficult for my to find. The sound or music in the background is trying to exist on this line of sound that furthers the sexuality and sexual appeal of a women body but also something that isn't too overwhelming and gives off a feel that is also almost empowering to hear. To give a message that the person in the video is aware of the visual she is giving but not doing it necessarily for that intent. So I have been trying to find this by listening to music and different genres as well as watching some more videos that are for female strength hopefully to get some ideas. For the shaking audio I have been researching some famous feminist female poets and some of their more popular works to try and find a piece that works perfectly with the video and also have the direct intent I am looking for which is being very hard. I find the work of Carol Ann Duffy to be very interesting because there are many of her works where she specifically talks about this conflict of this view of women in society and essentially the problem with this which is the closest I think I have found to what I am looking for. Also the works of H.D. and Sylvia Plath have bee leading me places for my video or giving me ideas. I have even been think about if I do not include this part and just have the music audio even or very little other sounds or words being displayed to bring up this further point. I think it may even be to much but some sound much simpler than others. Basically this researched has helped but with the final idea yet.

Presentation #2: Sadie Benning

Sadie Benning is a transgender American video and film artist. She has had a constant focus in her work that are related to the themes of gender and gender roles, sexuality, identity, language and the all of these play a part and exist in society starting from the youth and through the stages of growing older. Starting out at a young age, Benning has experimented with other digital media outlets other than video, although this is her most popular, she has also used different approaches to her work. Beginning with overtly pixilated videos to those with different levels of clarity and using the different techniques of the relationship audio and visual aspects have in relation to one another allowed for the dynamic facet that her work in later years held.

Flat is Beautiful is an example of Benning’s work that utilizes both visual approaches of pixilation and clarity while really getting at gender and sexuality as identity in the youth of society. The masks are very evidently being used to directly get at the journey to identity or the hiding of identity in youth of society and is being seen the same for young individuals who would most likely in the viewer’s point of view have different identities. Carrying out average child activities, Benning leaves much up to the viewer’s interpretation still as she doesn’t lead in a direction of what to do about this but rather introduces this and leaves the later thinking to the viewer.  

Still using the theme of identity Benning utilizes herself and her exploration of identity in the video work If Every Girl Had a Diary. She is able to capture the thoughts and feelings that were experienced when figuring out her self-identity while having the extra external influences of society and societal roles and institutions that add pressures for what an identity should and should not be. These emotions ad struggles are what Benning expresses to display the importance identity has.

In her work The Whole World is (Still) Watching, Benning has a different approach with displaying her work through an older television set to recall and show times of the past through history. These videos being shown were about the correlation to politics, society and violent actions that were happening in society.  

http://www.vdb.org/titles/flat-beautiful
http://www.vdb.org/titles/if-every-girl-had-diary
http://www.vdb.org/titles/whole-world-still-watching

Rough Cut Critique

My idea for this work was to focus on how women and their bodies are objectified and over sexualized because of society and how society has framed the way to view and essentially treat women. The imagery I am using in this work is different view point and perspectives of the female body in a state of undress to hint at the sexualization of women. The audio track is a poetry piece that accentuates women and their empowerment and strength beyond their bodies being a main identifier of them. I really want this to come across in a way that it is obviously sexually objectifying the female body but with undertones that is persuasive and impactful.

Research Response #8

Since we are now working on our final projects so I have been doing research on women's art, feminist art and videos that have a strong focus on what women's roles are defined as according to society. I found it more helpful to really just look at a lot of videos and not specifically dig into specific artists for what I was really looking for. I wanted to mostly just get more of an idea for what I wanted to do and some different ideas for how i might show that so I just watched videos about similar issues of women in society which I found pretty helpful actually. I have some ideas at this point but still have a small struggle of just what I specifically want to be in my video not what I want it to be about so seeing more helped decide a track of what I am thinking about at least. I have also found it helpful watching random videos and short film and just some audio clips about the idea of women's mistreatment and history within society and culture. I got in a youtube spiral once or twice with videos like this and it actually gave me quite a few ideas. So this research I have done more recently was a bit different but still helped me with what I think I mostly need to work on for the beginning stages of this project still.

https://theorynow.blogspot.com/2008/02/feminist-video-art-as-forerunner-to.html
This was the link that just had a lot of videos that I was able to watch without having to navigate through a lot of other works.

Reading Response #5

This article is not one that I usually find of interest because it does not follow what I typically gravitate toward but there were aspects that I found interesting about what was being said. I think this is mostly due to me being in a position where I am not very knowledgeable about the subject so I was given new knowledge and theories that are current in culture and society to be applied. I was extremely interested in the idea of the other and how the Latin American Culture in America is essentially always seen and taken apart as different than the normal no matter what the context is. After reading this I realized how true it is even though I knew that, I didn’t quite put it on a scale of how almost everything is considered that way. Through almost the entirety of this article I kept thinking about how it mentioned the view and general acceptance or embrace of the Latin American culture in American through the use and sources of mass media and younger societal outlets but I couldn’t help but think that art, especially video art should be included in the but it is still seen as a minority work. I just think that the works that were talked about in this article were trying to show a huge level of exploitation about society and culture but something to me just seemed different about what they were doing or how they were doing it when compared to other video works that attempt the same or similar styles of exploitation in their work

Do you think that there is a component that makes this work different because of how Latin American culture is viewed in our society? Especially in comparison to other cultures that face similar struggles?