Izzy+Holtz+Spring+2018


 * **Name:** Izzy Holtz
 * **Major:** Undeclared
 * **Experience with Computers/Software:** Experienced with photoshop and final cut pro
 * **Art Experience:** Have taken painting, drawing and photography classes
 * **Fun Fact:** I was born in London
 * ** Artistic Interests: **Photography, drawing and fashion



Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins discuss very important copyright obstacles many artists face in their comic book, Bound by Law. In this day and age with so much content being produced and so much content being copyrighted, it is extremely difficult to create something entirely original that does not need permission from another copyright owner. I know this first hand from a film class I took in high school. Each student was instructed to write, direct and edit a film and to publish it on youtube. In the editing room, the most treacherous part was finding music that youtube wouldn’t flag down and ultimately remove because of the copyrighted material (music). We spent hours searching through royalty free music websites trying to find decent songs that we not only liked, but that also paired nicely with the content of our films. Though the fact that most music is copyrighted made our work more difficult and time consuming, I can now understand the value of these rules. As an artist myself, I feel particularly protective over my own work and would be upset if someone copied it without crediting me. Thus, I understand why these rules exist, and the value of having your art protected and why it is so important for artist’s work to be recognized when in the use of another artist’s hand. One interesting recent example in popular culture that I noticed was Kendall Jenner’s repost of a picture of herself by one of her fans. The reposted photo was a photoshopped picture of Kendall smoking a cigarette on top of a background of an old letter with a rose attached to it. The background was an original art piece by a small New Zealand artist by the name Lee Amckenna. Amckenna commented on Kendall’s post (which generated over three million likes) “Not cool @kendalljenner... this is not your fan’s work or yours to post! This is my original handmade artwork... the fact that your fan slapped a photo of you onto it does not make it hers or yours. I did not give my permission for her to do this - or for you to post it. It is illegal to do so. Please respond - this is not right…” Clearly this is an illegal copyright issue first hand. Although Jenner might not have known the original source, as an icon with over eighty six million “followers” it is her ethical duty to credit original artists. However, I do think there should be a time limit to copyrighted work. I remember reading last year about a class action lawsuit against Warner Music relating to the “Happy Birthday” song. Apparently, Warner Music had been collecting about $2 million dollars a year in royalties based on their ownership of the copyright to the song. A federal judge determined last year that Warner’s copyright was invalid because they found a really old songbook from 1922 with the music and lyrics which predated the 1935 copyright on the song. Indeed, a universal song like Happy Birthday should be in the public domain!
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 * Week 3 Homework: Colorized Image**
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 * Cinemagraph**

Kraus explores the various functions of performance and installation art particularly through the lenses of self-exploration, or narcissism. Video art, as Kraus explains, delves into the psychological state as a medium which is compared to the typical physical state that is used in other art forms. Video art has the ability to create a self-surrounding space, as done in Boomerang. The separation between subject and object is seemingly lost in pieces of video art like Centers because the actual subject becomes the object inherently. Krauss’ thesis would probably be something along the lines of: Video art, due to its separation of subject and object and ability to establish a self-surrounding environment, is narcissistic in nature. The feedback methods that are discussed in the paper further highlight the narcissistic features engrained in video art. For example, in Peter Campus’s mem and dor, the self is forced to psychologically and physically rearrange themselves to fully see their projected images. Moreover, the self must realize their intent when positioning themselves within the work.  Krauss continues to explain the various ways in which video art is meant to depict the psychological being. Technological speaking, the tools that video artists use in their installations are consistent with the availability programs and systems at the time. The technological revolution has provided infinitely more ways for artists to imagine and create feedback systems in their works and the mass consumption which Krauss discusses has continued to grow. The era of social media has expounded on Krauss’ observation that art only exists when mass media indulges it. Instillations like Artechouse and the Hirschhorn draws art enthusiasts and Instagram bloggers alike to take part in these exhibits. The consumerist market that installation art has attracted is much more digestible than works of the pre-tech 20th century. It is hard to believe that Vertical Roll, and the continuous “ribbon of experience” would be a sold-out exhibit in 2018, however, the disconnect between the video and playback maintains itself in contemporary video art. If Krauss were to reimagine video art in 2015, the mass consumption and concept of creation-for-collection would demand her to rework her thesis. Her more contemporary thesis would be different in the fact that it would need to account for social media attention to exhibits and the psychological yearning to attend exhibits in hopes of seeming cultured. Similarly, the desire to photograph these exhibits for online profiles and the potential to lose critical messaging about narcissism through mass consumption. There is even an argument to made that that the sole fact of consuming installation art adds another dimension to the narcissism and constant state of frustration. But I digress. Reflection and refraction of an individual, which is most commonly seen in video art, forces the subject to see or feel themselves become the object which is something that more traditional mediums cannot do. Krauss uses the parenthesis metaphor to explain the Self that exists between to two mediums and video art explains that space to be narcissism.
 * Kraus Response **

__Dan Flavin - "Corners, Barriers and Corridors in Florescent Light" - 1973__ Flavin in this piece (and his entire exhibition along with this piece) presents light as art. He uses spaces, lights and objects to create his pieces, and each work is for the audience to interpret as their own. I see this piece as almost a replica of a jail cell, a small trapped space, switching out metal bars for yellow fluorescent poles. For my proposal of this piece, I want the audience to view the footage I film through 7/9 metal bars. I will follow, (for example) someones morning routine, however in front of the lens will be metal bars, so the viewer can only see what the person is doing through the bars.
 * Conceptual Strategy Video - 3 Proposal's**

__Richard Prince - "New Portraits" - 2014__ Prince's infamous exhibition, created in 2014 consists of screen-grabbed Instagram pictures from various accounts. His exhibition got an enormous amount of backlash, leaving people to question whether it was Prince's own art or appropriation of other peoples work. With the starting price for each piece being $100,000, Prince faced many lawsuits and criticism from the public. For my interpretation, one idea I had was showing how in 2018 every part of our lives revolves around technology, more specifically our phones, and how people are consumed and obsessed with taking photos for Instagram. In this interpretation I would have the video starting off with one person sitting in a living room on their phone, and as the video continues, people will individually walk into the room (on their phone), take a seat and continue to scroll on their phone. None of the people will be talking to one another or looking at one another, each consumed with their device. After around 3/4 minutes, the living room will be completely filled with 10-15 people sitting on their phones. Once the room fills up, a few people will look up and take a few pictures of someone else in the living room, then continue to scrolling on their phone.

__Alex Israel - "Summer/Desperado" - 2015__ Israel combines two of his pieces in photo, "Sky Backdrop Painting" (2014) a pink, purple and orange sunset and "Desperado" (2015) a small sculpture on a white stand. The sculpture Israel created is based off a movie prop he found in Rome, a 1950s Ford Thunderbird next to a cactus. This small sculpture is supposed to be placed in the desert, with a fiery sunset as the backdrop. Through my own interpretation and some research, this piece aims to mimic the end of cliche Hollywood film - riding off into the sunset in a 1950s convertible. For my video project, I want it to consist of the idea of the classic Hollywood ending, a couple kissing on a (crowded?) street, hold hands and walk away - however as the couple walks away I want to create something unexpected, perhaps having them freeze as they walk away, and have the business of the street continue. Perhaps this can note how this Hollywood ending isn't in fact reality and is not what happens in everyday life.