Artist Lecture - Matteo Bittani

I have been playing video games for as long as I could remember. Through all my years sitting in front of the television screen, the countless hours button mashing trying to beat every game thrown my way, the numerous controllers and game systems I've sent to the junkyard after losing my temper for a split second after being bested by a silly machine, not once had I imagined combining video game culture with art culture. That was until I attended Matteo Bittani's lecture at UNR November 4. Bittani has found a unique way to combine these two similar cultures to create a new and interesting form of artwork. Bittani not only creates video game art, but also catalogs and shares other artist's work on his website www.gamescenes.org. Naturally, being a fan of both video game and art culture, I appreciated much of the work that Bittani was creating and sharing on his website. Bittani's project Bruno, about his friend's suicide, was one that intrigued me the most. He reenacted what he imaged the final several minutes of his friend's life was like through the game Mirror's Edge. Before Bittani explained the concept behind this piece I was utterly confused by it. After he had explained what it was about though, I found it very compelling and conceptually very deep. All in all, I greatly enjoyed Bittani's lecture as it opened my eyes up to a whole new genre of art work through the use of video games.

Artist Lecture - Extreme Animals

Jacob Ciocci and David Wightman (Extreme Animals) combine live music, video, and staged theatrics to create a unique and intriguing type of art that I have yet to see be duplicated elsewhere. I attended their show at the JCSU on September 8 not knowing what to expect, and for the first 15-20 minutes wondering if their performance was a joke. They began by showing numerous YouTube videos dealing with "tween" culture. Just as I was considering leaving this so-called "performance" art, their real artwork was presented in the form of high-energy music and synthesized sound with in-your-face videos that would make the frail of heart succumb to a mild seizure. Their mash-ups of video art appropriated from various movies, TV shows, cartoons, etc. kept my eyes glued to the screen trying to figure out what exactly I was looking at, but I was hardly able to comprehend what was in fact going on because it was all moving so quickly. Even though I did not understand what was happening, I realized I didn't need to. It seemed to me that was their intention, they were trying to bombard you with numerous images mixed and mashed up with bright, flashing colors and loud synthesized sounds. In the end, I wouldn't say that I 'liked' Extreme Animals, but it did open my eyes up to some new types of possibilities of art that I had not thought of. I have always tried to be very precise and controlling with my art work, but after watching this performance I was inspired to explore the sort of randomness that the Extreme Animals seemed to embrace in their work.

Gallery Review - Paho Mahn

I viewed Paho Mahn's joint exhibition in the Sheppard Gallery on September 15. When I initially entered the gallery I was immediately drawn to Mahn's pieces. His pieces consisted of photographs of individual recyclables organized according by color. Each piece was placed on a solid black background which made the colors of the recyclables "pop" and created a vibrant contrast that drew the viewer in more closely. His work dealt with environmental awareness and and the rate of consumption of resources today. I am not usually a big fan of works dealing with this subject because it seems so overdone nowadays and to an extent has become cliche. Mahn's pieces, however, were an exception. His work really seemed to get a strong message across to me about how wasteful our nation has become. As a stickler for organization myself, I appreciated how neat and clean each of his pieces were composed. He scaled each object to be the same size and organized and spaced them neatly. In totality, I really enjoyed viewing Mahn's exhibition; not just for it's aesthetic values, but also for the way he approached the cliche subject matter in a unique way.

Final Project: The Hidden Me

Also available to view on my YouTube Channel

The Hidden Me was the first collaborative project for the Justeen and myself. Our individual artworks differ in many ways, from materials to subject matters and everything in between. This collaboration began as a challenge to find a unique way to portray both of our individual artistic styles. Our intention for this video was to depict the alter egos of two individuals. We all hide behind the masks of what we define as normal, and through this video we unmasked each persons hidden self layer by layer.