Whiskey Day published a great blog post yesterday questioning the impact of our inspiration-saturated lives on creativity. She wrote about childhood memories of how her mom, a successful artist, "would stop in the middle of a parking lot and wonder at the pattern of the water on the pavement."
These days, inspiration is less likely to come from our still, small voice than from the cacophonous deluge of other people's work on Tumblr, Pinterest or Flickr. As she wrote,
"We are spread so thin, and across so many mediums; our ideas and creativity are diluted."
I recently decided to try something different and bring my new 'big idea" to life through what will end up being a multi-month project using the physical world instead of the virtual world as the primary medium. Instead of relying on virtual sets, I'm in the process of constructing a series of physical dioramas that I'll use to create images, comics and videos.
I'm still in a very exploratory phase. The image above started as a photo I took of an HO scale building (I put together with glue!) and a Godzilla action figure. Although special effects were created on an iPad, my plan is to use as many practical (versus digital) effects as possible in the actual project.
Now if I can just overcome my inspiration addiction and stay focused!
5 comments:
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The constant desire for fresh content is a real problem for me too as a creator. Work which I have spent weeks or months creating (VR)is eaten up by the average visitor in 30 seconds.
Maybe this is why RL is attractive at this time.
soror: Damn. I hate when that happens. I checked comment moderation and it didn't show up there.
soror: I feel that way all the time. After a day, views drop dramatically. I've tried to mitigate that by putting together compilations, but the never-ending avalanche of new digital content just pushes everything aside.
I've been thinking about making prints of some of my image work and trying a few art shows this summer. The new diorama project is mostly intended to be photographed, but if I've also played around the idea with setting them up to be exhibited.
You know, I've never considered the short online attention span in relation to art.
I imagine the way I look at art in the physical world. I stand close, I step back, I tilt my head and walk around it. I walk away and come back. I can "feel" the artist in the piece.
A 2 dimensional work online, I don't look at in quite the same way. It's far easier to take in, in some ways. Maybe I should take more time with this kind of art.
As for Soror's inworld work, as well as that of other artists, I find myself studying it in much the same way as the physical world art that I see.
I recently went to Miso's place in SL and bought a painting, and played with her musical flowers. Marx was with me, and we both walked around much like we would in a physical gallery. We touched things, listened, got closer and further away. Marx and I are both rather immersionist, and tend to move our avis around rather than camming. We enjoyed Miso's art in a very personal, real way.
It's the same with Soror's work inworld. I tend to fly more, when I visit Soror's place, but otherwise I approach it like I would a RL exhibit. Slowly, thoughtfully, and fully aware of all the angles and the play of each piece with the other.
So, Soror, I hope you know that your work is enjoyed for more than 30 seconds.
Botgirl, I'll be interested to hear your response to your own work when you use physical pieces, instead of just 2D mediums. And just so you know, your work is enjoyed for more than 30 seconds as well, but it's more of a dialogue and the thoughts that your work provokes. Like we talked about at my blog- it's conceptual art. I study your art more in my own head after I've walked away from it.
Thanks for the discussion guys.
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