Review of Susan Sontag’s Against Interpretation

In the race to create the new and interesting, we tend to get bogged down by the apparent need to wrap our messages under layers in our work.  Susan Sontag's paper outlines how art started as an  "imitation of reality."  Fast forward to modern day, and art has transformed into a means of translating the content into a cryptic foreign language that must be loosely translated by the viewer.  Only the artist has the original rosetta stone to decipher it. We as artists, continue to  play this game by finding new ways to hide true meaning behind layers and layers of interpretation hoping that the viewer will comprehend the original message or meaning.  This can often backfire by creating work that can be interpreted in a myriad of ways that are out of the artist's control.  Sontag paper observes that modern art work is less about the sensual perception more about the symbology and representation of abstract concepts.  She wishes to return to the period before interpretation became central to art.

I really enjoyed Sontag's paper as it mirrors my own struggle with content and my work being considered too literal.  With film and animation being both linear and story driven for the most part, it is hard to create something  that is both easy to follow and an enjoyable challenge for the viewer to interpret the content.  Much like how pop art and abstract art abstain from interpretation, Sontag states that film is interesting as an art form where cryptic messages are not as ingrained in the medium as the visual language and story are. I am going to try to keep this paper in mind as I develop my own story for my animation for Thesis.

"I Am / Am Not An Artist" aka "As Seen On TV" video performance

"I Am / Am Not An Artist" aka "As Seen On TV" video performance from Jeremy Fisher on Vimeo.

Mapped projection onto my face of contestants from Bravo’s “Work of Art: the next great artist” I recited my favorite quotes from the show while images of the artists/contestants transformed my appearance. The work asked the viewer whether these people should be considered actors, artists, personalities, or game show contestants. It also forced the viewer to laugh at some of the inherent humor of the art world.

Expectations for sculpture class

As someone who coexists in both the world of sculpture and the world of video, I feel I have a great opportunity here to create a series of works that are wholly unique.  I wish to push my video/projections sculptures into new directions and experiment with video living in the 3D space.  I have recently begun experimenting with video that escapes the confines of the screen or monitor and lives on it own, i.e. holograms and mapped projections onto 3D objects.  This work could also expand on my thesis as far as my concept or could stand on its own.  I think there are many directions I can take this work over the semester and I am excited to get to work.

Review of Semiotics: The Basics-Challenging the Literal

Before picking up this book ("cough" .pdf), I had never considered myself particularly skilled in linguistics or thought much about semiotics and tropes.  It seems like ages since I had even stepped into an English classroom.  For me, trying to sit and read about the nature of language was like trying to have an engaging read the instuction manual.  But here I am, observing the semiotics of my previous statements.  Not unlike watching the movie "Halvetica" (which I highly recommend) and then noticing the pervasive font everywhere you turn.  So as much as I want to trash the reading as a bore and textbook worthy, I actually learned quite a deal from it.