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Motion Studies

16k Pixel Animated scenes, perfectly looped in 24p.

Inspired by motion, assemblage, and jjjjjohn.

The crypto-art informed audience will recognize the influence of @jjjjjjjjjjohn (twitter) in the window set piece. Objects within the window present various themes, ideas, or stories, all based on my experimental film and photography background. These are all handbuilt designs, animated in camera, and only edited digitally (no compositing).

Technical details:

The pieces in this series are 4,000 x 4,000 pixel, 24p animated-video loops. The first pieces were first minted with TEIA on Tezos, but due to performance issues, I’ve reminted them on Ethereum and can help owners bridge their tokens.

Motion Study #1

Artwork Notes:

 

  • The automaton horse references “The Galloping Horse” by Eadweard Muybridge, filmed in 1873. His work was foundational to the development of cinema.
  • I have an MFA in film and animation, and much of my work dealt with the interplay of various technologies and techniques. My MFA thesis notebook is leaning against the stack of books that the horse is sitting upon. In that notebook are all my notes and calculations for my MFA production, from ~15 years ago.
  • The other books include early texts on experimental photography and cinema techniques, collected works of one of my favorite haiku poets, various spiritual texts I found particularly powerful, and an old textbook of the first martial art I was exposed to.
  • The calla lilies reference photography work by Man Ray (in addition to many, many others). Man Ray was another artist that has been hugely influential not only to my work but to the art world as well. I also have a very personal connection to callas, and they’re likely to be a recurring theme.
  • The vintage camera is a favorite from my collection. I went to college in Rochester, NY; the home of Eastman Kodak, who released the first Brownie camera in 1900. Effectively, they made snapshot photography a reality, by putting the tools of creation into the reach of regular folks.
  • Finally, the scene through the window is on top of the mountain near my studio where I constructed this piece. It’s only a 30 minute hike to the top, and while I can’t actually see my studio from the lookout places, I can look out into the future that I’m building with my art.

Motion Study #2

Artwork Notes:

 

  • The books include Stopping Time, a favorite of mine that tells the story of William Edgerton, who pioneered high-speed flash photography.
  • The string in motion is a self-built system similar to that used in the “String Vibrations” photo series, this time in a custom copper pipe armature.
  • The color changing lights are arranged around the scene, each one or pair individually sequenced.
  • The background is a night scene of Durham, shot from a rooftop bar in downtown.
  • I think the plant is an Ivy – I just liked it.

Motion Study #3

Artwork Notes:

  • The books include an old mini-textbook from my collection about darkroom techniques and two about physics and art (photons are crazy!)
  • The timer is the same kind I used in darkrooms when I was in middle school and undergrad (’93 – ’03-ish).
  • I’ve had that architecture-style lamp forever! Feels good to use it in art.
  • The video is literally exposing a cyanotype on the inner left wall of the window! Cyanotypes are some early printmaking options, typically now used for contact-negatives and photograms. The choice to create a photogram was inspired by Man Ray and early avant garde photographers and filmmakers.
  • The laser was attached to the seconds hand, and is the primary illumination in the scene besides the typically red-bulb used in darkrooms.

 

This is the cyanotype that was exposed within the video: