[Reflection 1 - Lyle Rexer] The Joy of Unpredictability

 In last Tuesday’s artist talk, Lyle Rexer presents a few very inspirational ideas that kind of blown my mind a bit. I always enjoy this type of artist talk which bring me to focus on something that I never even care about, and end of finding the artistic side behind them. Lyle starts by talking about the different objects that is stuck inside the fence regardless is its by accident or on purpose by human action. The intriguing point of me is that the object inside fence does not suppose to be there naturally. There are always some outside conditions that make the objects end of interact with the fence. Because it doesn’t belong there, but when we discover them, they are there. The contradictory perception is the reason why we are intrigued, by the unpredictable composition of the image.

a sneak screenshot from the lecture

Another reflection I have toward the theme of “something stuck in the fence” is the sense of space. Firstly, let’s talk about the x,y,z axis of the image. We could consider the fence as almost a two-dimensional flat wall with a slightly thickness. However, the intrusion of the columnar subject breaks the two-dimensional space, added a weird line into the Z axis relate to the fence. Also, when considering the negative & positive of the image. The subject that stuck in the fence is also breaking through the fence wall, twisting with the wall together. I just really like the idea of crossing through something. In fact, maybe of my original characters have this element of “something crossing through the head”, I think it is a bit related to the idea of “something crossing through the fence”, but in a more mystery level. Because while the cups or woods that are stuck in the fence with all visible body parts. The subject that crosses through the head of my characters are partially invisible, which creates an interesting concept for me.

my original character - Beanie

my original character - Beanie

I think everything start with me seeing one of my friends' ear ring, which is a screw shape, the first time i saw it, I was kinda surprised and thought what if the screw was actually that thick inside the ear's part? Then I realized it is actually very thin in the connection part, but because it is invisible, we can never tell what is the shape under it.

screw earrings pic from internet

screw earrings pic from internet

The idea of seeing something that doesn't belong there in an image create a type of artistic perception in a weird way. The same idea goes into Lyle's entire discussion of the art in snapshot, record something that happen in that specific moment without much design. I personally really enjoy snapshot because it is just so simple but somehow unpredictable. It always catch the most simple and normal moment in our life, but sometime because it is so simple, people stop thinking about it, it becomes unconscious in our mind when we perceive it in our actual life. However, by capture those normal moment in camera, it actually brings people's attention back to directly view the simple moment we have in life. It might not be as artistic as something well prepared and designed, but the pure moment of life is interesting enough for me to perceive it!

A throw back to my photo project for the intro level of new media in art, "DO YOU REMEMBER? MORE IMPORTANTLY, DO I REMEMBER?", I also included many random photos that was just taken for fun at first, but I end of putting them into the actual project because they are really just that simple and cute and exist in its own form that intrigues me to view it.