aLife, 2003
John F. Simon Jr.
A.
Introduction to the
work
-aLife, 2003 is the artwork created by John F.
Simon Jr in 2003
-He is an artist who uses his own software to create animations
-The artwork has been shown in Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland in America, 2006
B.
A detailed description
of the work
Description:
The artwork divides in to six different worlds. In the six different worlds, it can moving and changing the pattern individually and never repeat. The composition of this artwork is that the artist use his own design software code to create abstract animation. These six animation are similar to microscopic organisms, scientific diagrams of subatomic structures and planetary systems. It reflects an evolutionary process of our life.
Interesting about aLife, 2003:
I think if you stand
in front of his artwork and you never see the same thing twice. You feel addicted in his world and the pattern of the
artwork is never repeated, you may think of having an infinite world in this small
digital plastic and amazed how he use the code to create a high technology artwork. All the elements in the presentation are controlled by using
code to create the dramatic movement.The artist try a lot of way to find out the possibility of making this animation, because a small number of change in code will change in different expression of the artwork.
Also, I think that the
artwork can represent our tissue or DNA in our body, which is we saw it under
the microscope. They are small, but important to maintain in our body. Human is developed
by these small tissue, they combine together and further develop into a
complete system or change it in different shape or dimension , it is hard to explain how these tissues work together, so, the
artist uses a new method to present the idea.
There are two key quotes describing how he creates
the artwork:
“I would try
to detach myself enough to observe my process, noticing the unspoken rules I
was making as I was working. Then if I could distill some of that, I would put
it into code.”
Tranberg Dan,
“Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer,
February 2006
“Klee was
embracing dynamism with his use of arrows and lines, but he had no dynamic
medium to use. So, I thought, let’s take what he’s done, try to activate it, and
see where it takes us.”
Tranberg Dan,
“Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer,
February 2006
C.
An evaluation of the
work in terms of the issue you have chosen to focus on Networked Digital Art
Zeichen in Gelb, 1937
Heroische Rosen (Heroic Roses), 1938
He is work is inspired by the
paintings and theories of such European Modernists as Paul Klee. The last works in Switzerland is using many colour, pattern and line in his painting. “Klee was
embracing dynamism with his use of arrows and lines, but he had no dynamic
medium to use. So, I thought, let’s take what he’s done, try to activate it, and
see where it takes us.”Tranberg Dan,
“Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer,
February 2006. So, the artist based on the painting style of Paul Klee and develop the element in his digital artwork, to make it alive.We can the Klee's painting used many lines, pattern and different colour to present his idea. it can reflect how John F. Simon Jr affected by Paul Klee. He also said that art is not to watch, but to create ornamental which is share the similar idea in John F. Simon Jr work.
Are formal instructions,
the concept rather than the art object, audience participation and chance
important elements in this work?
"I
approach coding like it is a kind of creative writing. I do not start with a
flow chart. I start with a simple loop and then observe how the small changes
in the code affect the visual result. I never plan exactly what the code will
do and more often than not end up incorporating something the code did in
testing that I had not anticipated."
https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/John+F.+Simon%2C+Jr.
New Media
Art, Mark
Tribe and Reena Jana , 2006
The Formal instruction is that he needs to follow the rule of typing code
to develop his artwork, doing different experiment in
coding is a way to make a perfect visual display. The
small change in coding has a different expression in artwork. Also, there are many possibility in coding, the artist use his ability to explore the unknown aspect of the networked digital art.
The concept of using the
software it is as much a part of the art work as the images it produces. The image show to the audience is just the final product, but the
concept of using new technology to present the idea is more important. The most important part is the coding, the whole processing of making this artwork is using coding from a group number to create a visual display. The transaction of coding is the main idea of the artist want to present to the audience.
Also, aLife,
2003 is quite abstract, the element in the artwork is not easy to understand,
the audience needs to think deeply and imagine how the artist gives out his
message. The image is moving randomly and never repeat. So, the artwork shows different view in different time when you appreciate the artwork.
The remarkable or
noteworthy about this work :
“A start at
fulfilling the promise that new technologies hold unlimited potential for
artistic activity.”
Tranberg Dan,
“Digital artist writes own code for endlessly change images.”The Plain Dealer,
February 2006
Simon
believes the code he writes is s a painting on canvas.
The method to present his idea is different from the traditional painting. With
the technology advanced, the networked digital art is a new art form to let
artist to communicate to audiences, especially our new generation. The code is
written by the artist, just like the brush-stroke in painting, all the coding will affect the whole presentation of the artwork. All the process has
artist own idea. Therefore,
the new technology is a tool for artist to present his idea.The new technology provide a now platform for artist to explore the opportunity in art.
I appreciate this artwork is because the artist use a new art form to present his idea, it is different from the traditional art form. I knew it is not easy to create a digital artwork, Because I saw a video which is about how he create his artwork in his studio. He had many sketches which is the fundamental object he want to create and two big monitor are for he to create his digital artwork.When I saw the artwork again, the small piece of the artwork had many effort involved by the artist.
Reference
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