Building the Bear

A. PRODUCTION

a. Working Title: “The Moonwalking Crucifix”, “The Moonwalking Bear” but more likely: “On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art” (after the book)

b. Medium: Digital Video, Documentary (traditional form)

c. Intended Audience: the tricky gap between the Art World and Everyone Else

d. Describe Project in one sentence:

A feature length documentary exploring the obvious, but curiously obscure absence of religious art in the contemporary art world after centuries of art dominated by religion.

e. Summary of Project in approximately 250 words:

This documentary will be exploring the work of an artist’s practice straddling the lines of religion and contemporary art while also working to make a cultural connection in his community. It will also follow interviews with writers about the qualms of religious art in the contemporary art world, curators of contemporary art, writers spiritual art, and the odd relationship between religious historians and art historians.

I want to show the ideas of many about art, history, religion, and spirituality, as they ask themselves; what is art? To make them think about their own beliefs and expression. To inspire them to look deeper into something that they may have dismissed before. Art is, if nothing else, communication. It is communication of something that is not as powerful verbally, or sensations so abstract they are beyond words. It is something we feel internally, expressed for our own purpose, or in hopes of finding that someone else can feel it too.

Being a Christian, I always wanted to create a work related to my faith. I do not want to make something evangelistic, or in the aims of preaching, but something that could touch anyone, religious or not, artist or not. Not trying to bring them to a religion, but to art. Art can lead them anywhere.

a. Main conceptual goal(s) to be achieved:

i. Conceptual themes

The analysis of several different areas of history in order to discuss a current postmodern “trend” and through a controversial discourse about religious expression (or lack of) arrive at an answer, or more of an intuitive feeling, of what art is itself.

ii. Historical themes

An intelligent but playful discussion of general art history, crossing over to religious history and American History; culminating in the postmodern era today.

iii. Cultural themes

Discussing the art in a few of the many religions and cultures in America; Catholicism, Christianity, Native American, African American, Universalist, Quaker, etc. I want to try and show light on their common thread through art and spirituality as well.

b. Discuss technical pursuits and how they parallel with your conceptual themes:

Straightforward and clear lighting style and shooting approach. Aiming to make the edit and camerawork invisible in order to support the information and discourse, not detract from it.

B. RESEARCH

a. Proposed Research Topic(s):

American Art History, general world and religious art history, spiritualism, modernism, postmodernism, Marx, Photography’s influence on fine art, contemporary American religious beliefs, postmodern theory and religious conflict, religious criticism, the quoting of religious imagery, contemporary religious artists, contemporary spiritual artists, Art museums and sites in United States relating to religion and/or spirituality, Religious journals, Art Journals, etc.

b. Describe significance of Proposed Research to Thesis Project:

The research has everything to do with the end result video, from the narration I write, to the questions I will ask to guide the interviews. My goal was to make this project a self-motivated exploration of art history and filmmaking to best suit the degree I’ve chosen at KCAI.

c. Describe Proposed Research in conceptual, theoretical, historical, and cultural terms:

My goal is to have well-rounded research in areas of history, social issues, different American cultures, religions and the –ism’s leading to postmodernism. The research should work to support a thoughtful and interesting angle on this sometimes-offensive topic.

d. Describe you proposed research methods:

i. Fieldwork

1. Visiting with directors and curators of contemporary art galleries and art museums

2. Researching exhibitions to find and visit artists working with religious and spiritual subjects

ii. Written Materials

1. Journals of both art and religious organizations

2. Books on general art history, religious art, postmodern art, contemporary trends

iii. Screenings and Work Reviewed

Documentaries; The Botany of Desire, Art 21 episodes, i.e. Spirituality, Sister Wendy

iv. Interviews needed

American art expert

Thomas Benton expert

Religious clergy opinion on art

Contemporary art expert

Postmodern expert

Gallery director opinion on religious art

Contemporary religious art director

Contemporary religious art expert (Elkins)

Historical expert

Nelson-Atkins curator or specialist

Joslyn Director

Artist working in religious context

Artist quoting religious icons to be critical or make new meaning

Artist bridging gap and why

Spiritual art expert

Artist working in spiritual context

Religion in contemporary film comment

Spiritual artist

Invitations from religious cont. art museums to all faiths

ELCA curator

Etc.

v. List resources you have already referenced for this research:

James Elkins, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art

Jane Dillenberger, The religious art of Andy Warhol

P.R. Regamey, Religious art in the Twentieth Century

Lynn Gamwell, Exploring the invisible: Art, Science, and the Spiritual

Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the spiritual in art

Willie Thompson, Postmodernism and History

Jerry Meyer, Profane and Sacred: Religious Imagery and Prophetic Expression in Postmodern Art

On the Strange Place...

Response to Tumelo Mosaka talk

“Location, location, location.” I liked that he said that when let loose how bewildered he felt in the midwest.

I should’ve written this when the lecture was more fresh in my mind, but here goes my best reflection. The things that I came away with from Musaka’s lecture:

He wasn’t the greatest storyteller, but such things can befall people who have to speak in a second language and I didn’t mind. And, for one thing, I think it’s pretty fishy to go to school just for curating. That just seems odd to me.

I admired that he admitted he is young and doesn’t yet know everything about art and curating, something that not every curator I’ve heard speak has believed. I like the way that he doesn’t make art himself necessarily, but actually he does by curating. The way that he finds artists, and who he finds, then how he assembles them is different from how any other curator would. Isn’t that art? The assemblage of expression? The collage of other human ideas?

I really need to go over and look at those videos. I wish he would’ve talked about the show more, but I guess it was interesting to hear about his process and a little history leading up to now.

I did get some ideas while he was talking about bringing art to the people and curating. I thought of a few projects I’d like to start either on the breaks or after I’ve graduated and gone back home. When I’m home, I am constantly eager to share what I learn at KCAI with others and how art, and having dialogues about it, can really bring a community together. I think I might try and take over a run down building downtown where I live and try to start some sort of community gallery or one night showing. I wonder if I could make some publicized assignment to the community, and to invite anyone to take a photo and submit it. Maybe the photo would be in the parameters of a word like “home”. Anyway, I’m kind of excited to get back to my community. But after reading a lot of articles written by Russian cubo-futurists it really is a stick situation to try and “bring art to the people” because any way you go at it, you could be labeling people as less than capable. Or worse, elevating yourself because you are the “cultured one”.

Man!

You've got to be kidding me, blogger just crashed and I lost my very long writing.

Great.

Damn it.

Okay well I wrote about how this project may in result be a more personal lesson piece about how I need to shoot my next important pieces. Maybe I'll just talk about all this stuff on monday when we screen the rough cut.

The rough cut as of now is about 5 short pieces, all tweaking a little and experimenting with what I can do digitally with Piece Touchee as a style per se.

All the pieces are different possibilities I imagined for the plot of Piece Touchee to move while I saw it for the first time.

I watched quite a few films from A Critical Cinema 3 and will talk about that too on monday.

Piece Touchee experiment

2/2/11

To start off this semester I want to jump start back into video with a short video and editing experiment. My goal is:

To make a short piece to get me back into the groove of narrative. I want to also work with elements that I haven’t tackled yet and will need to before thesis production. These being; costume, artificial lighting, USING A TRIPOD, makeup, special effect etc.

To accomplish these things by re-creating Martin Arnold’s Piece Touchee. Also this piece will function as an editing exercise, which is my favorite process, and I feel the solid meaning or crux of the piece will only reveal itself, while editing.

2/8/11

So, now that the piece has been shot I've begun the editing experiment. I've learned the micro movements Arnold used and all the different ways I move the frames in FCP. Now the doubt also begins. I'm not sure what to use for the audio track, and a remix of a 1950s song doesn't quite seem appropriate anymore. I will bring this up tomorrow for discussion.

As for the reading I've been doing, I found an interview with Arnold in A Critical Cinema 3 where he briefly discusses Piece Touchee but I need to read it a few more times to interpret his ideas. Most of the things I read needed to steep for awhile and I will read them again tonight. I also checked out Film Theory and Criticism, a book that I've been picking through and really need to buy. Among that group of books were two more, Mythologies and Death at 24x a Second. Then yesterday I found A Barthes Reader in order to decode Barthes writing Garbo's Face. Again more steepage.

Hopefully I will have some more cohesive thoughts by Thursday. I will post my developments by the end of that day.