Photo by Mary Woods
Photo by me
Thanks to all who came out to the “Chocolate & I” gallery show last Monday in NY!! I had so much fun meeting everyone, tasting truffles, and sipping their chocolate margaritas. Mmm. Music, visuals & chocolate are some of my favorite indulgences.
This was the first show of mine where I was able to incorporate both of my projectors at once, split the VGA signals and mirror the images across the beautiful gallery wall. I usually don’t have the luxury of having so much space and freedom, but this felt absolutely wonderful to break free of the singular image and experiment with some new ideas.
To think, just over a year ago I didn’t even own any of the equipment to be able to perform like I can now. I had always wanted to, but it seemed overwhelming. It’s quite an investment: laptops, mixers, projectors, cables, stands & adapters. Now after a year of experimentation, and slowly accumulating a studios worth of equipment, I can’t imagine my life without performing. I’m inspired in new directions from each and every show.
If anyone reading this photographed the night I would love to see your collection!! Feel free to send me an email, or post them here.
Video soon to come!
Jan 11, 2010 |
Inspiration
In A Dream – Best documentary that I’ve seen in quite some time. Passion and energy. Honest and pure. The life of an exceptional artist, the city he took over, and the relationships he had, that both created & destroyed the world around him. Told by the perspective of his son Jeremiah Zagar. Absolutely moving & beautiful. I love when you can see into the eyes of an artist like this, both the good and the bad. It is such fulfilling inspiration for me.
http://www.vimeo.com/3115082
Jan 10, 2010 |
Inspiration
I ran around the Marian Goodman gallery yesterday afternoon excited to absorb some of the most beautiful texture and color that I’ve ever seen. It was the last day of the Gerhard Richter exhibit and I was drawn on impulse to drive down to catch the last hour. While my little camera couldn’t even scratch the surface of collecting all of those beautiful colors & depth, I did my best to take some home with me to share. Here is the result in just a little slide show. Paintings by Richter. Song by Tycho. Make sure you turn HD on when you watch it, and launch it at full screen, for best viewing.
http://www.vimeo.com/8645774
If any of you are in the CT area on this snowy friday evening, I will be projecting some videos over at the City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport from 6-11pm tonight. Thanks to Liz of Paradox Ink for inviting me!
I picked out 10 of my favorite experimental pieces that I worked on in 2009 and this will be the first time they are landing on gallery walls. I’m sure at some point in the evening I’ll end up free-form VJing a bit too.
City Lights gallery is debuting their first Nu Media show, involving a mixed collection of video art, short films, and animation. Hope to see you!
City Lights Gallery is located at 37 Markle Court Bridgeport, CT 06604 : $5 Entry fee
Hope to see you all at the Kodomo + Danger show tomorrow night at Monkey Town! I can’t think of a better way to bring in the new year…
http://www.vimeo.com/8325375
This is the latest bit of my experimental vj works. The concept based on my mantra, energy for energy. The impact of two elements coming together and creating passion. Creation, exchange & fire. Highly compressed but wanted to share anyway! The song is called “Surfin” by William Orbit. Footage both found & mixed with my own, plus some final cut manipulation.
Dec 15, 2009 |
Inspiration,
Music
TYCHO – Dictaphone’s Lament
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It was a truly beautiful experience of dreamy audio and visuals Sunday evening during the Tycho set at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. His set is a stream of ambiance mixed with heart pounding beats, and all consuming visuals that melt into a subtle colorful bliss.
I somehow managed to hold out to see it, despite the set going on last and driving back to CT at 2:30AM, but it was worth the wait as it usually is. Of course, this coming from someone who flew to San Francisco earlier this year to see his set at the Mezzanine.
Throughout the years, Tycho has been one of my strongest inspirations as a designer and as a VJ. I’m always excited to see how he takes his design concepts and brings them to an altered state and performance level. Something I’m constantly striving to do as well. I’d be quite honored one day for the possibility of performing alongside such an amazing talent. Maybe our shows will cross paths in the near future.
Listen to sample tracks of Tycho on tychomusic.com
As promised, here are a few short clips from the Kodomo + Danger show at Miscelanea in Barcelona, Spain a couple months ago.
http://www.vimeo.com/8076209
My little hut at La Zebra the last few days in Tulum
2009 has really been one of my favorite years to date. I’ve always said that if I were to get into video art, that my main goal would be to find the means to travel while doing what I love to do. My goals being to incorporate my love of art, music, culture & adventure with the world of design, performance and exploration. Keeping those ideas in mind, a lot has shifted this year. I am slowly feeling this awakening of a newly positive outlook for 2010 and what is to come.
I just returned home from a long weekend in Tulum, Mexico. A birthday gift to myself for entering a new decade and welcoming my 30th year. What a magical little slice of the earth that place is. This particular adventure bought an overwhelming sense of peace, serenity and unbridled creativity. It was a slower pace than I’m used to, but wonderfully so, and a much needed breath of fresh air into a part of the world that I had never been.
Read more…
A drawing sample from students in class
Friday night I trekked out to Washington, DC to join the Motion Graphics Festival. The workshops all sounded wonderful, but it especially piqued my interest when I read that VJ Shantell Martin was teaching a workshop in live-painting. On the practical side of what I do, my instinct was to take the After Effects class, but the VJ side of me couldn’t let go of the opportunity to hang with other visualists from around the world, so I signed up.
The class introduced the idea of using a wacom tablet mixed with painting software to drawing live and intuitively to music, while recording your session and being able to cut it up and re-use it as animation in performance or later for editing. I found this particularly useful because I never record what I’m doing directly from the screen. There is a program called I Show You which does this perfectly, creating a high res quicktime file.
While much of my personal VJ style has been to mix motion graphics & after effects work, with video files, I’m interested in seeing what direction the concepts I learned in class could take on for me. Definitely a lot of fun, and definitely a new tool to play with and explore.
Thanks to all of you who I met this weekend. I hope our paths cross again soon!
