Speaking of Art:
Train (4'23")
Train (4'33") | Searching for Oil | Rain | Five
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These four video investigations extend a project that I engaged in for a time during my graduate studies. In the previous project, I set a goal to create a short video each week, from capturing footage through production in a tight timeframe. This working method forced me to scan my immediate surroundings continually with an eye to whether if would be good for material for a video. The short videos on this page, while not tied to any arbitrary time frame, benefit from what I learned in this earlier project. They frame a simple event in everyday life, and by doing so, create metaphorical associations and levels of meaning that transcend the subject matter.
These videos also highlight the strong influence on my work of artists such as John Cage, Eric Satie, and the minimalist artists of the late 1960's. However, while the minimalists were working to dissociate their specific objects from any meaning outside their artwork, these videos engage a full range of associative meaning. While they can function as self-contained objects in themselves, the videos also serve as indexical signs to a broader meaning. The combination of formal rigour and emotional attachment highlighted by these videos can be identified in most of my work. It is, in fact a defining characteristic.