S.R. Wild: Artist and Graphic Designer

Fortuitous Projections

When I arrived home after work this evening I didn’t know what to do with myself. I decided to walk back into town and go to a café to think of a plan over coffee. I sat there sipping, drawing, reading, and staring out the window for about an hour. I still couldn’t think of something to do. I thought about calling someone. I didn’t bother, I figured everyone was busy. Instead, I left the café to walk around aimlessly. I didn’t get very far because fortuitousness solved my problem of what to do this evening.

A block into my journey, I ran into W. David Powell (go see his show at the Fleming Museum). He was on his way to see Bridgman / Packer Dance at the Flynn. He asked if I wanted to go and I agreed. I read about it earlier today and it sounded interesting. I thought about going but didn’t want to go alone.

It’s odd, I’ve only been to the Flynn twice since I moved here. On both occasions a friend took me to see a dance performance. One of them was Pilobolus and it was amazing to see what the human body can do. I also saw them when I was very small… I mean young, I’m still small. It was at the Flynn of course.

So, here I was again, at the Flynn to see a dance performance. I must admit I’m not really into dance, but I’ll try anything. That’s good because I’ve enjoyed all the shows I’ve seen, especially the one tonight.

What peaked my interest in this show was their combination of dance and video. They had a projector in front of the stage that projected life-sized live and prerecorded videos on projection screens and on the dancers. It was amazing. At times, it was hard to tell who was real and who wasn’t. It was humorous too, like when the woman’s legs were projected on the man’s body.

Video can describe it better than my words:

Soft Machines, Mushroom Clouds, and Masks or: Five Bucks Well Spent

This evening, I went to the opening reception for three new exhibits at the Fleming Museum: Between Soft Machines and Hard Science: The Interstitial Art of W. David Powell, Michael Light: 100 Suns, and Actors and Exorcists: Masks of Sri Lanka.

Between Soft Machines and Hard Science: The Interstitial Art of W. David Powell is an installation of digital collages produced in 2007 alongside historic scientific instruments. He used appropriated medical, scientific, and industrial illustrations; typography; and his own drawings to explore his interest in the human mind and body, relationships, and obscure sciences, such as phrenology. The scientific instruments that accompanied the collages were equally as interesting: x-ray tube, phrenology head, electronic apparatuses, and other odd devises.

I wish I had more examples of his work to show you. I have a few hanging in my living room, but that doesn’t help you. The main reason I went tonight is because W. David Powell is my former graphic design professor. He helped me land my first “real” job — a job he once had and I was laid off from last year.

Michael Light: 100 Suns, the largest of the three exhibits, is a collection of photographs taken mostly by anonymous government photographers of atomic explosions that the United States did in the 1950s and 1960s. The photographs were eerily beautiful. It was easy to get lost in the clouds and intense lighting. Most of the photographs were just the explosions but a few were of soldiers with the explosions behind them. It was a bit disturbing because the expressions on their faces were blank and you know they were thinking, “What the fuck are we doing here?”

Looking at the instalation, I couldn’t help but think about Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. At the end of the installation, there was a list of places grouped by year of all the atomic detonations. I was surprised to find that the last one on the list was in 1992.

The last exhibit, Actors and Exorcists: Masks of Sri Lanka, I didn’t look at long because I was overstimulated from the other two, so I don’t have much to say. They were interesting and creepy. I’d like to go back and draw a few.

I didn’t mingle much because I’m still nursing the remnants of a cold: It’s difficult to speak when one is constantly coughing. Plus, whenever I see an art exhibit, good or bad, I always want to get back to my workspace and work.

Deep Fried Books

Last night, Laura and I went to Art Hop and had a grand ol’ time wandering around. There was so much to see (and smell), that it was impossible to cover everything.

The highlight of the evening was John La Falce and Drew Luan Matott’s Deep Fried Books performance (?) at Green Door Studio. The smell was… uh… interesting. I chose a copy of Hurricane (pictured above) and Laura chose a paperback copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest covered in Oreo Cookies to be deep fried, then sealed with a FoodSaver®. Mmm, there ain’t nothin’ like a good ol’ book fry.

The lowlight of the evening was the fashion show. In all fairness, we didn’t actually see the show because the catwalk was barely elevated, there were hundreds of people in front of us, and we’re both short.

UPDATE:

Laura’s cats broke the seal of her deep fried book but didn’t touch the book. Anyone have a FoodSaver® she can use?

I brought my book to work for the Monday morning staff meeting, which has now become show and tell.

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