Thesis Critique from 2/18

  Allison presented her project of photographing her friends who surf. Her intention is to display people who come from different backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, and ages brought together by their passion for surfing. I like how surfing, while it is an important aspect of Allison's thesis, is not the focus. In fact, it is not even mentioned. Her photos are black and white closeups of sandy faces, weathered by the sun. She also mentioned how she wanted to incorporated pieces of driftwood between the photos, and include a scrapbook beside the wall display. Someone suggested that the scrapbook should be made of driftwood rather than having it displayed on the wall. I like that idea because it is more subtle. If the viewer decides to look through the scrapbook, it may take them a few seconds to make the connection of driftwood, and the subject of surfers. I feel like if a work can allow the viewer to learn and discover more by exploring the piece, than it is more mentally stimulating. Allison is making great progress and I look forward to seeing her completed installation.
  Drew showed us several photoshopped images of juxtaposed objects. One included a mediocre car presented in the room in which it was assembled; similarly to the way ads for nice cars are presented. Another showed a cubist style image of a couch. Drew said how he photographed the same couch from multiple angles to create the impossible object. He did not have any work for his actual installation but he said that it would be in a similar vein to the work he showed us. My only criticism is that at this point in the semester he needs to get started, but I'm sure he knows this.
  Steph showed her videos of of juxtaposed images. A lot of them involved footage from old Fred Astaire films and more recent footage. My favorite one included silhouettes of Fred Astaire and a woman dancing layered atop an educational song by Devo called 'Trilobites'. The footage of the 1940s dancers syncs up perfectly with the very 80s sounding music, and it looks as though they are dancing to it. Her videos are very short and usually involve layering and or repetition. I think there is something to be said for this. You get a very different sense for something after you have seen it over and over. One video consisted of repeated clips from Madonna's music video for 'Like a Prayer'. For such a controversial video for its time with religious subject matter, Steph morphed it into something very humorous. I am not sure exactly what Steph plans to do for her thesis project but I know it is in a similar vein. Like Drew's project, I wanted to see more of what her exhibition is going to be, but I know it will be similar to her manipulated media videos.