statrep3

Now that I’ve decided not to drop out of art school, work has resumed on my thesis.

 

Proto 2A et Proto 2B

Status:

The conceptual work for these iterations of my work is more or less complete. I reworked all of the variables from Proto 1 and removed the obsolete functions. I have simplified the formulas for Proto 2 and removed all of the trig functions that do not pertain to the angle generators. My reason behind this decision was to make this version closer to what I have envisioned as a final product. While the trig functions were nice as they are easy to set and always yield a result within a predefined range, they do not yield the precise control that I will require for future versions.

In the past I would create a function to produce something at a given point such as a part. Once I have the function which uses the variable which I want the size of the part to be dependent on, I would plug that function into a trig function and set the trig function so that all the parts will fall within a given range. This ensures that I do not have parts that are too large or too small to work with.

For Proto 2 I have replaced most of the trig equations with (1/x)^(1/n) and x^(1/n) with x being the formula that yields a value that is dependent on what I what that value to be dependent on (i.e.: the distance to the origin). In this case, n is set to a certain constant that controls the range of possible answers. This new limitation formula is slightly more challenge to control as I am now setting the curve of the graph of the function to a specific slope. In other words, I want the output to change at a certain rate depending on the input.

Proto 2 will be more simplistic mathematically. I hope by doing this I will be able to build on it with less difficulty in later iterations. The later versions will be far more complicated as they would have to be. The math required for Proto 2 will be predominantly algebra and trig. Proto 2A will probably feature the angle generators from Proto 1 (which use single variable calculus) as I am still working on trying to create a more advanced version of angle generators (this is the one problem that has plagued me for months and I have even gone so far as to try to repurpose equations from quantum mechanics (not that my attempts were all that viable)). I won’t install my latest experimental angle generator until Proto 3.

Proto 2A, as stated, will use the angle generators from Proto 1. It will also use the new variable, Energy, as well as the revised formulas and the new limitation equation (which will need to be refined down the road).

Proto 2B will use a random number generator to create the angles. Excluding the angle generators, it will mirror Proto 2A

The purpose of Proto 2 is to determine the effectiveness of my new variables and revised formulas. It will also allow me to test how much control I want over the angles of a piece by exploring two extremes, total control and no control.

I will add a status report as well as a photo once the first module of each piece is complete. These two pieces will be completed by 11/15/2013. To achieve that, Energy, which acts as a limitation for the piece in its entirety, will be set to a relatively low value. This will be the first time one of my pieces has a set overall limit that is predefined by a mathematic value instead of creating a piece that could go on forever and just stopping after long term trends become predictable.

 

As long as I can remain devoid of any and all emotion, I should have the first modules done by Tuesday.

 

On a completely unrelated note, I have yet another plaster piece polluting the floor of my studio.  

 

 

 

statrep2

I made a piece for the show which crumbled into dust. I made another piece as a substitute. It broke when I tried to move it to CSB. It’s supposed to by a representation of myself so it’s fitting that it’s completely fucked up and looks like shit. If I’m too incompetent to make even the simplest of pieces then I probably shouldn’t be making art.

 

If my substitute piece is unable to be shown due to the quality or the fact that I am unable to deliver what I initially promised then I guess I won’t show anything this year. At this point I'm fed up and am half tempted to dispose of that piece. I'll let my peers decide for themselves what will become of that piece. I will not be around to defend nor condemn it.

 

I have a third collection of work that I do not consider to be art. It is composed of the failures which I have destroyed.

 

 

 

 

statrep1

As of late I have been quiet about my thesis (which is referred to as the great project in my notes due to the fact that it will take me much of my life to perfect). This lack of information is due to the fact that production has stalled over the past week due to unavoidable distractions. By distractions I am referring to the fact that plaster dust prevents the glue that I use to make my prototypes from working and so I have been trying to clean my studio as it is a plaster hellhole. I may have trashed my studio in a fit of rage last week and somehow spawned a piece I call Rot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This piece is the newest addition to my little menagerie of nightmares and travesties. Every so often I create a piece based on irrationality. Maybe this is a byproduct of my rational work? I don’t actually know why I keep making these things but I have to maintain a certain level of discipline to keep myself from filling the world with them.

 

 

Since I have been tasked with fabricating a piece that has to do with time I am at an impasse.

 

 I could find some systematic, orderly way to represent the passage of time through an abstract representation of the infinitely expanding universe.   

 

 I could also fixate on time as the ultimate destroyer which will devour and erase every trace of one’s existence leaving nothing behind.

 

I am fully committed to both yet both cannot exist simultaneously. Order rejects chaos. The irrational corrupts the rational. I am one or the other, not both and certainly not at the same time. My attempts to force a merger only work in simplistic pieces that have my entire body of work to fall back on.

 We'll see which side wins on Thursday.....

 

progression of past work.

I made a timeline of my work because I am an ego maniac.

 

This contains the bulk of my work. I did not make art before 2010. I may post more pictures of the most recent pieces on the Rational side of my work.

statrep0

What I have been working on over the past week.

 

 

Aside from e-mailing only one of our professors a link to my blog and failing the first assignment as a result, I have been busy trying to figure out how to explain my project to people who either don’t understand and/or don’t care about the math I use. I can say this because last semester I managed to bore the hell out of my fellow classmates in a twenty minute lecture on the formulas behind this project (mostly to get back at them for having to sit through all of their presentations). My basic idea is this: what if I created a series of rules and mathematical functions which govern the appearance and construction of an object. I was actually hoping create the equivalent to my own universe which runs on my laws as supposed to the laws of physics but I figured I would start with this abstract representation of said imaginary universe. Currently I am trying to teach my piece to grow properly in a vacuum – (by vacuum I mean that the piece is only affected by itself and not my gravity, the furniture in the room the piece occupied etc.). Once the piece response to itself and can actually survive and thrive in a vacuum, I’ll teach it to grow in a room. Hopefully one day it will be complex enough that I will be able to place one in any environment and it will utilize the space and all available resources in the best possible manner. This will likely take many years and the right computer software and I obviously don’t have the time to program it in right now so for this year I’m settling for making it grow in a vacuum.

 

Next week I hope to make a video to better explain what I am trying to do.

 

 

Prototype 0 – Purpose: to test the concept of advanced math based art and to determine the feasibility of such a project. Current Status- Data table intact, log book intact, prototype destroyed during relocation.

I messed up on the angle generator equations to for Proto0, all the angles where one of two values. I also cut this piece off at module 15 but it could have grown in one direction forever.

 

Prototype 1- Purpose: To refine the angle generator equations and anchor generator equations. Current Status- Data table missing, Log book intact, prototype destroyed during relocation.

 Note: each module in Proto1 is a different color.

 

 

to be continued….

Interview Assignment

This falls under homework for thesis class. I didn't want to do a standard Q&A so I wrote a report.  

            For the interview assignment, I was instructed to question and report on fellow student Rachel Clinton. Miss Clinton is a fourth year senior concentrating in the art of digital photography. Originally from the nearby village of Bridgewater, New Jersey, Miss Clinton attended high school where she studied painting and drawing extensively. However, upon graduating from her high school, Rachel Clinton revealed that she was tired of art and so she made the decision to attend Rutgers for that university had many majors and a good art school should Miss Clinton ever change her mind. Rutgers also had a painting studio which swayed Miss Clinton’s heart away from other possible schools that she could have attended. It was at this prestigious university that Rachel Clinton discovered that she had a love of photography and so enrolled in Mason Gross. Her camera of choice is a cannon digital single lens reflex or DSLR. She recently traveled the land taking photographs as she journeyed. However, Miss Clinton prefers the human body as her subject of choice. While she is uninterested in portrait photography, Rachel Clinton prefers the abstracted form of the human body. Every aspiring artist is inspired by one of the legends and Rachel Clinton is no different. She lists Edward Weston and Bill Brandt as among a few photographers that have influenced her work. She also has a few mentors ranging from a former classmate to Gary Snider, who she had the privilege of having as an instructor for three semesters. She sights Gary Snider’s ability to point out which specific aspect of her work evokes which specific emotion as being most helpful. While Rachel Clinton is no doubt a skilled photographer, she will state that she needs to work on improving how she presents her work and that she needs to work on making decisive choices in regards to the installation process. When not refining her craft, Rachel Clinton enjoys dancing, reading and a variety of outdoor activities ranging from hiking to kayaking. After college, Miss Clinton hopes to obtain an internship as an assistant to a photographer or in magazine production. She would also like to work as a freelance photographer or anything that pertains to photo editing. Rachel Clinton would be willing to work anywhere where she can thrive and learn will being challenged.