There One Minute, Gone the Next

My ideas behind these stop motions came from me wanting to experiment with the word ephemeral. I have decided to push my work towards the concept of creating and documenting work that last for a for a short period of time (ephemeral). 

The last stop motion was created after I failed miserably at trying to preserve the sugar that was left on the black paper after it was dropped from the cone-like structure. I thought using PVA glue was a good idea but I discovered after lathering the sugar in glue (which I had added water to) that the sugar would dissolve in it which was exactly what happened.

For once my mistakes had actually sparked a new idea. The concept of ephemeral is that it only last for a short time. I decided to create a stop motion of sugar being dissolved in water as the sugar would become a substance that is ephemeral. There one minute gone the next.  

Sometimes Making Something leads to Nothing

Francis Alys - "Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing"

Sony Bravia Advertisement - Bouncing Balls

(the making of)

These videos are very similar in the way they are made. 

Francis Alys' time in which to produce something from his work is limited due to the melting of the ice in the hot Mexican sun. Sooner rather than later the ice block is going to melt to nothing, although this is the aim of his experiment, he still wants to be able to record his concept while there's still time.  

The Production team behind the Sony Bravia Advert have the same predicament. Because they are filming 50,000 balls bouncing down the streets of New York, they cant afford the time and money it would take to re-shoot the movement over and over again.

They both have only one chance to get it right. 

These concepts are similar to the direction I want my Project to move in. I want to experiment with ephemerality. Capturing an experience that last for a brief moment in time. 

"I ate a big, red candle"

Experimenting with wax

                               

                           

Playing with Fire

I experimented with oil pastels and fire. Using a lighter/ hair dryer to melt the oil pastels causing them to flow down the page in a drip like pattern. 

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I also experimented melting other mediums such as crayons which had a more runny consistency when melted compared to the oil pastels. 

Fun with Colour

Experimenting with colour and paint. Placing blobs of colour between two sheets of cling film and squeezing them together and record how the colours blur and blend together to form other colours as seen below.

                                     

With this piece I got some clear hard plastic, placed some paint blobs on the sheet, put another plastic sheet on top and scraped them in opposite directions. It reminds me of Patrick Trotters work which I posted earlier, wasn't intentional at all just happened that way. I like the movement that I created.

Drip Artists

Patrick Trotter

After working with ink and paint with regards to letting them move on their own down a page, I looked at other Artist who used the same techniques such as Patrick Trotter who let the paint drip off the canvas when creating works.

Jackson Pollock

 Jackson Pollock's work is very interesting to me. He uses movement to create his work. He lays huge canvases on the ground. He stands around the perimeter with a paint can in one hand and usually a stick rather than a paint brush in the other. He splashes the paint onto the canvas never letting the stick touch the surface of the canvas which allows him to make more fluid movements.

Paint Stop Motion

Stop Motion showing the movement of paint down a plastic bin bag. Experimenting with different mediums and materials.

Dripping Ink Stills

These are some stills from the video "Window Ink". They show closer detail of the ink as it mixed with the rainwater.

This was an experiment involving ink and cling film. I wanted to record the way the ink moved into every little air space of the cling film.

This image to the left was a close up of the piece. It reminds me of the pattern of skin cells on my hand or the pathway of veins.

Window Ink

I experimented with ink dripping down a window. I noticed that it was raining outside while doing some of my other experiments and I wondered how rain would effect the movement of in on a slippy surface (window)

Ink Twister

This stop motion was really cool to make. The movement of the ink as it was added to swirling water was something I wasn't expecting to see. The twister/tornado like movement was interesting as it held the ink in a funnel like shape for several seconds stopping it from mixing with the water.

Swirling Ink (top view)

Swirling Ink stop motion

This is my favourite stop motion that I have created. I like the way I captured the movement of the ink and how it fits together really well. I think the movement of the ink is interesting as I think it closely resembles and even mimic the movement of smoke.

Ink and Water

I found that Ink was the most effective medium used. The way it moved through the water was very interesting to me and the fact it didn't dilute into the water straight away. It almost looks like fabric or even smoke as it spread through the water.

Paint and water

water and orange slo mo

My next idea was derived form this advertisement for Robinsons orang juice. The movement and mixing of orange juice through the water inspired me to apply the same methods to my ideas. The blurred painting that I created earlier was very flat and didn't give a true documentation of movement. I thought through the use of Video and stop motion that movement would be depicted better. And it was. 

I experimented with many mediums, adding them to water and seeing how they moved through the water.

Blurred Effect

Painting I created to show movement. Inspired by the artwork of Gerhard Richter.

The way in which he moved the paint or scraped it down/across the canvas reminded me of blurred movement which I tried to create in my painting above.

The idea of blurred movement came from the movement of my dog which I captured through my camera that I attached to him to record his perspective of the world. It really ended up as a burred mess but with an interesting effect that I wanted to further develop.

This image of a dog running helped me to look deeper into movement and how movement distorts a space.

Run, run, run............

 This video that I made was inspired by a video from youtube that I posted in my blog earlier ( scroll down to find it). I wanted to create my own video using the same methods they used. It turned out better than expected and I hope you like it.