Three-in-One Post

Another Senior Gallery
Two Days Ago

This week’s graduation gallery features three very strong female artists. Elizabeth Moore, Meliah Jones, and Debbie K. (I can never spell her last name to save my life, so out of respect, I’m not going to try.) All three have a very strong sense of craft with their art work.

And all three did something I didn’t expect.

Meliah had a video piece that caught my attention. Her aesthetics is something I can always appreciate. Anything I’ve seen from her is very visually captivating, much like herself if you ever see her in person. That’s the one thing I’ve always admired about her. Even if you didn’t meet her, her pieces still had a part of her in them. It was as if you already knew her just by looking at any of her work. But her video piece impressed me the most, as it was something that made me want to do the most unholy of actions in a gallery setting: touch the art.

Her video piece featured herself in a gas-mask-style respirator we commonly use for mixing toxic stuff with in sculpture. Meliah is no stranger to the idea of the costume, and her dress/outfit in the piece mimicked what her body was laying on top of. I couldn’t tell exactly what I was looking at, but I caught glimpses of what appeared to be something both vaginal and phallic from the above angle. Next to this was a ground angle of the same video with what appeared to be a plastic pillow shaped like a chest that she was trying to press down. Every so often, the pillow would change between the breast of a woman to that of a man and back again whenever she would let go of her vain effort at shoving this pillow into the mattress. Below this project was a pair of, what appeared to me to be, breast implants. The low angle and awkward lighting made it hard to determine if I was right or not. The only way to find out was to touch. But I didn’t, mostly out of gallery etiquette.

This piece read at so many levels for me that I didn’t know where to start! Was this a commentary on gender? What about vanity? It could easily be able feeling up places you are not suppose to. All I know is that I’m probably wrong with whatever I end up thinking is what she is trying to communicate.

I only saw one of Elizabeth. Or at least, I think it was one piece. It could have been two different pieces and I just made it into one in my mind. In either case, her piece had the same attention to detail and delicate nature of craft as what few things I’ve seen from having class with her. There is a lot of care and attention in anything I’ve seen her produce that makes me wish I had the patience she exhibits to get such a high and polished quality of imagery.

Here, Elizabeth plays with the lighting situation of the gallery by producing shadows on the gallery wall just behind a plane of glass that has, what appears to be, silkscreen images of various nature forms. Her pallet is strictly white, which lends itself quite nicely to the idea of purity and innocence. Juxtaposing the color with the darkness of the shadow it produces gives the image a ghost-like feeling. The images match the white of the gallery wall, and yet all you see is the shadow on the wall depending on the angle you stand at.

Contemporary imagery of a ghost is anywhere from the dark and cliche to the spiritual and mystifying. What Elizabeth has done is capture the essence of a spirit and visually display it. That in itself is a very difficult thing to communicate. And yet, she does so in such a way that reminds me of that feeling I used to get when I was little and actually enjoyed going to church.

The pieces that dominate the back wall of the small gallery space we have were all Debbie’s. Here is where I made my mistake. I started with what attracted me: her illustrations of these beautifully designed girls as they walked around this nightmarish fairy-tale world of child poverty and death. It was a brilliant set of work that used graphic design, animation, and fine art techniques in a way that pushed the idea of what could be art as well as aesthetic appeal to those out there who feel like art today is very alien. Debbie’s works are not so much alien as they are nostalgic in the visual sense. Yoshitomo Nara comes to mind as a similar artist who does this. So does Chinatsu Ban.

My mistake? I grew attached to this cute little girl in the illustrations that had little cat ears and a tail. I found her character design to be just adorable! I wanted her to be real, if not something tangible that I could look at and interact with.

It was around this time that I discovered the realistic representations of these girls on another wall hidden from the cute and comforting illustrations. The images were horrifying. These cute little girls were shown with insects all over their bodies, bullet wounds up and down their arms, and their ribs exposed due to starvation. The little cat girl I got attached to was pictured with a black eye the size of a grapefruit with one hand being nothing but a skeleton. Her face showed the sharp pain and sadness you see from the children on those commercials that say you can adopt a child in a similar situation for only a dollar a day.

It made me upset to see her in such a state. But that is what Debbie set out to do from the start. And she was very successful in my eyes.

The female artists at Watkins have always been the strongest at evoking something while still being visually appealing to the masses. The male artists, including myself, tend to be less appealing visually and even less capable of evoking emotions properly. It’s a gender thing apparently. And yet, everyone one I have come to admire and respect so far has broken the mold and pushed the idea of so many different aspects of contemporary art. They represent just how strong Watkins is as an art school.

These women are no exception to this fact.


Another Gay Movie Review
Yesterday

You would think that being in a film school, I would be exposed to a lot of independent films. Not so much is the case. In fact, I get told what films I should be watching, independent or big budget, more often than people actually sitting me down and having me watch the film.

Well, that’s how I found out about Another Gay Movie. I was told to watch the movie from Jason after he saw a screening of it. I looked up reviews, visited their official website, and then ultimately forgot about the movie until about a month ago. Out of impulse, I bought the unrated DVD. Why would I buy a movie I never saw before? Hell, why would I take a chance on a movie genre I don’t even like?! Because I needed another gay movie that wasn’t Brokeback Mountain (which I have yet to watch a second time due to how heavy the movie was emotionally for me).

I am not all that disappointed in my impulse buy, actually.

The story is pretty much a parody of nearly every teen sex comedy you can think of. Hell, in the background of the video store set, you can see the ones they are parodying. The twist in the gears is that each of the main characters are gay. The setting is an alternate fantasy world were being gay is seen as no big deal, according to the commentary on the DVD. For most viewers, it appears to take place in a world where everyone is gay, or at least in an area of the US with a high gay population to where being straight is a rare thing (like such a place exists).

Your characters are pretty much your stereotypical teenage cast. You have Jarod the jock who thinks working out will compensate for his lack of length. You have Griff the nerd who feels his ass is too skinny. You have Nico then fabulous femme fag who has a daddy issue. And finally, you have Andy the innocent virgin who still lives in a room with so many colorful kid-like items it borders on arrested development.

The actors play their parts very well, and chances are you’ll find yourself growing attach to all of them in one fashion. They are also broad enough to where you can probably relate to a few as well. Maybe not in the specific of their own personal issues, but definitely in their insecurities, emotional reactions, and how they generally carry themselves. (Hell, Griff alone reminds me of Jason both in how he walks and how he appears in the film! Griff even seems to be attracted to the same kind of guy that Jason is attracted to.)

The story itself is an over-the-top cliche, but then again, most parodies are a cliche in themselves. That's the nature of these kind of movies. While original in spin, the plot is fairly predictable. Hell, they even have a line stating the predictability of the story points in the first half hour of the movie! But it is still a fun ride, none the less, for those with an open mind and sense of humor.

There are some really raunchy moments during the movie. A bulldyke acting as gross as possible, a baseball team comprised of the fattest biker bears you will ever see in the gay culture, small rodent pets being used as butt plugs, and even a bondage sequence that has caused me to see Belgian Chocolate in a very different light. All these scenes, however, are suppose to be funny if not completely hilarious in their cultural commentary. And they all work at making you laugh!

There are even a few sex scenes that are featured, especially in the last quarter of the movie. The way these scenes are shot, however, isn't safe like Hollywood would do it, but at the same time, they aren't porn shots that I have been known to end up stumbling upon in some independent films. No real penises are ever shown on sceen. Well, at least out in the open, as there are a lot of bulge shots. The ass shots are all real, thankfully. At the same time, the director takes a no holds barred approach when showing the various positions on screen. You see pretty much everything when the characters end up doing it doggy style or riding each other. The shots are also long enough so you know what they are doing but short enough to not be too embarrassing to watch. They also aren't all that erotic so much as a parody of gay sex as well, so don't expect to get off watching the five minutes of moaning and humping you end up seeing.

What I really enjoyed the most about the film is that it took the guts to insert several scenes that made you care about the characters in a serious light. There are several serious moments in what could have been an all-out (no pun intended) parody similar to Scary Movie. Instead, they make it a point to evolve the relationship of two of the characters. If you've looked up this movie on YouTube, you no doubt have spoiled this part of the movie for yourself. I have, but no matter how many times I see this, it makes me smile with that feeling of fleeting love at the beauty of the sight.

My only problem with the movie is that they imply there is going to be a sequel. The director commentary says they would love to do a sequel given how well received the film was. Thing is, I've never heard of a sequel in an independent film scene before. Those seem to be reserved exclusively to the big studio films. But, then again, I don't hang around the art house films as much as others.

I want to close this review with an editorial. In the director's commentary, it was asked if any of the four actors were gay. The director said that some of them are, but given how brutal Hollywood is, they weren't going to say who for the sake of their career. While I completely understand the nature of this decision, I really don't think a person's sexuality should determine their career path. The actors in this film are very brave for what they had to do on camera, and even if they are gay or not, their acting talents should not be overlooked simply because they like someone of the same sex. If this is the practice of Hollywood, then Hollywood is no different than Nashville during the pre-civil rights movements where they would overlook talented people simply because of the color of their skin. Hell, they still do, only this time the color has changed. Even though this movie is a comedy set in a place that lends itself to the gags that happen, we should be able to live in the world they present. A world where it doesn't matter what you are on any level. Everyone has their place. Including the depressed crazy ones that get no attention to the point of being driven insane due to self-destruction.

Thrown Off Balance
Today - This Morning

Today is Day Five in not having internet access at home. Their excuse is that a server went down and it should be up and running within the next 12 to 24 hours. Or so was their excuse two days ago. The two posts above this one, as well as this one, were all typed on Notepad.

Meanwhile, my sense of stability has been completely thrown out of the window. While the internet wasn't something I took for granted, it was something that I relied heavily for social communication and balance. Something I can't really get in real life.

It is like an addiction. I've called and talked to an agent at my ISP and kept getting the same line over and over again. Unplug the modem and plug it back it. Turning it off and back on again normally fixes the problem. Blah, blah, blah!

Today, I found out that they were lying at me. Comcast's outages don't last more than a few hours and they certainly do not take out an entire state if a server goes down. Top this off with the fact that my parents are trying to get digital cable only to be handed the right equipment with the wrong text, and you have yourself some pissed off customers right now.

It is times like these that I wish the world had free internet and free cable television instead of all this corporate crap. It's bad enough there is a local campaign going on here trying to get AT&T out of the state of Tennessee.

Today - This Afternoon

Ever since the technician left the house and my confirmation call about my May 7th modem replacement, I've been all over the place as far as this internet thing and my emotions go.

Part of me is very impatient with how spotty this connection is. It likes to go out at least once an hour if not more so. Another part of me is generally depressed that I have to now gamble with my connection just to do things that only take me a minute to do such as read e-mail. The gambling part comes with how much attention I give an e-mail and if I decided to reply back. And yet another part of me wants to take matters into my own hands so badly to the point of extreme actions. I'm not talking about switching companies and then paying it for myself. I'm talking about a public lawsuit on a class action scale given how badly I was lied to about my disconnected service.

But the part that makes me who I am pretty much is going to do the bare minimum and deal with the problem as best as I can. I mean, I'll be getting a new modem from Comcast in two weeks. With a spotty connection, I really don't have to be online for hours on end, which is a good thing on paper. The bad thing is what if I'm sending someone an e-mail or posting on a message board and the connection dies? I'm pretty much screwed and will have to either send the message again or not send it at all. Knowing me, I'd try again until it gets through.

I'm stubborn like that. I'm the kind of person that would be able to fit the role of the dumb ass husband that won't listen to his sensible wife on those sit-coms where the male characters are always the source for some kind of slap stick physical comedy. And it's a wonder to some people while I continue to say that I'm not dating material.