Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Original Cat is Not Terribly Original

I posted "Original Cat" to the Smart Mobs group page in response to all the cat pictures that were popping up. It kind of goes along with the feeling of fatigue I get using Facebook sometimes.  I think there is so much potential in Facebook groups for people to discuss things in an intelligent way, and to work on collaborative projects and it's disappointing to me that it doesn't work that way. But what else could I really expect?  If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. (I'm looking at you Original Cat) Looking at it another way Facebook is just another form of recreation so who really cares?




Original Cat is part of the problem I'm sure.  I just wanted to lampoon the over use of cat pictures with another cat picture.  Use the of the language of the internet (serious cat) to discuss problems of meaning and meaninglessness on the internet.  It's not meant to disparage anyone in particular, and I admit I love cat pictures. Just not all the time.




Animal Crossing: I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE

Don't even pretend like you don't play Animal Crossing: New Leaf.  There are exactly 2.5444 people in this room that are playing it as we speak.  If you don't play it, maybe you know someone that does.
I like that there are so many opportunities to design, making little pictures for your house and experimenting with interior design.



Inspired by Mac's shirt from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 


another version of Mac's shirt.


So we know where the super toilet is.


A symbol borrowed by the Church of Satan. 

my little Facebook "project"



After becoming terribly frustrated with MySpace I joined Facebook because I thought it would be a better way to connect with my friends and family.  I've been using Facebook for nearly 6 years for the most part had a good experience with it.  I can upload pictures of my artwork to share with others, and connect with other artists I would never meet otherwise.  The downside of Facebook is that it can become very boring very quickly, because media content is rapidly cycled and recycled and we get bombarded with as much trash as quality content. I did a little project, a little experiment, inspired by my feelings of dissatisfaction about the content on Facebook.

I posted a meaningless "word picture" that is very similar to pictures that show up on my feed every day.


Then I posted a popular platitude:


...and had a very intellectual conversation about it.

Then I changed my profile to something that expresses who I am and is also a very nice looking picture.

I put some pictures of my friends up to show that I have some:





Then topped it off with a cat picture:


I didn't get much of a response from anyone.  I expected this, but I did do some thinking about the meaning of what I post on the Intertubes, and what it means to the people that are subjected to the things I post.  I wonder if anyone hid me from their news feed or "unfriended" me because of it. 

Four years ago I made my first attempts at recording and editing videos.  This is a project from my 4D Design class.  The only thing we did in this class was make and discuss video projects.  I wonder what those 4D classes are like now.

Video:  Light and Dark
by:  Linnea
Music: "Flim" by Aphex Twin


10 Years Ago

Here are some pictures I posted on some internet bulletin boards.  I made them using "Java based painting application". (Otherwise known as Oekaki, but I don't use the term because there is an association Oekaki Boards and overzealous anime fanatics.)  I spent quite a lot of time while a teenager drawing cartoons and experimenting with the paint tools.  The drawing boards were a place where I could submit my work and have people critique the work.  It was a great place for expressing and sharing ideas, and participating in collaborative efforts.  




Here is a collaborative effort assembled from works by 4 other artists ( and some random pictures).