blink

thoughts about the Collaborative Renditions Installation

2010-03-23T14:35:00.001-07:00

I am interested in installations that perhaps through user participation allow for one to see another anew. The television/computer screen has appeared to render our bodies meaningless. I am interested in how through the use of such autonomous mediums, I can render meaning that manifests itself in the flesh. By this I mean, through the participatory experience, there is a meeting between two individuals that creates a dialogue, an exchange that could be verbal and/or physical. I am interested in the capabilities of video to capture genuine human emotion, presented cinematically (though what is being enacted isn’t false), through the possibilities present within a given situation. It is an attempt to awake from hypnosis and celebrate the joys of life.

photos from my new video piece-Collaborative Renditions! come check the video out March 26th at the Monarch Gallery!

2010-03-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

check out the video at:

The 3rd annual Glee Medicine Show: curing cynical disorders in art seeks to provide an art experience that engages the senses and soul of both the savvy gallery goer and normal joe. This year's show explores the idea of generosity and promises to be a unique offering with archways of bologna, hand drawn advice from an oracle booth, gifts of video-viewing survival kits, and other works. The group show is curated by Lori Bury, Amanda Bowles, and Christina Carnes.

7-11pm.

Monarch Gallery
3829 Main Street
KC, MO

busy times

2010-03-11T22:36:00.001-08:00

So you might have been wondering if I still exist seeing that I haven't posted much in the past couple of months. Well, don't fear, I am still active! In fact, I am busier than ever. Life is exciting and mysterious. Here is an update on some great things happening that I am involved in (besides finishing up my undergraduate degree and preparing for graduation):

1. I am working on a new piece titled Collaborative renditions (which is as simple as it sounds) and will be featured in the third annual Glee Medicine Show at the Monarch Gallery, March 26th, 2010.
2. I am also working on a curatorial project. check it out next month:

You are invited to: A Sense of Place opening reception on April 23rd from 6-9pm at The Monarch Gallery located 3829 Main Street
Kansas City, Mo 64111

. Our motto is: art as necessity, art as intimacy, and art for life!

A Sense of Place will feature the work of: Justin Rulo Sabe, Judah Wenger, Lora Campbell, Andrew Lyles, Elysia Contreras, Christopher John Schrat, Christina Lenert, Wen-Dan Lin, Leila Hybl, Kristen Montgomery, Lea Griggs, Tess Stilwell, Jaclyn Senne, Christina Dostaler, Stephen Proski & Sean Starowitz, Sarah Skidmore, Ryan Fletcher, Matthew Jorgensen, Charlie Mylie & Abbe Finley, Ramzy Masri & collaborator, MoneyBags (Stan Chisholm & Lisa See Kim), Eric Thomas Wolever, John Hilger, Sara Cramer, & Amanda James.

Please come and relax under the sun-tree April 23rd!

Collaborative Renditions! coming soon!

2010-03-11T22:19:00.000-08:00

end of semester installation in INDA

2009-12-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

photos from my new video study-The "Aura" Phase

2009-10-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

electric relaxation

2009-10-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

slow down.

guerilla light installation in Vanderslice

2009-10-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

catching light/light graffiti in my studio space

2009-10-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

I believe I am Searching

2009-10-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

remember to enjoy the colors on the way through ( for Theresa)

2009-10-09T22:28:00.001-07:00

you are yourself,and you have acquired some peace in cyberspace

2009-10-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

2009-10-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

sal si puedes

2009-09-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

interior alterations #2

2009-09-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

interior alterations

2009-09-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

for shirley and clyde

2009-09-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

2009-09-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

rendering for first project of the semester/color composition study #1

2009-09-12T23:30:00.001-07:00

Contract statement for fall 2009

2009-09-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

“ How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but also within oneself? There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” ~Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

"I was interested in how we engage the world. How do we use our skin as our eyes? If you read a cityscape or a landscape with just your mind, and not your body, it becomes like a picture or representation, not something you really engage with." –Olafur Eliasson

“From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“…Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.”-Ephesians 5:13-14

Continuing my exploration of light, influenced by the impaired vision I faced as a child and my moment of artistic revelation, I will this semester attempt to refine my work and develop my continual exploration of engaging and playful studies of light and architecture. This is all in an attempt to bring awareness to sensations and phenomena in a multisensory presentation. Fascinated by the brilliance and possibilities of luminosity, I will expand upon the sense of play and multisensory exploration that I established last semester. I will explore light and its relation to architecture and the simple yet complex marvel that derives from its glow to regain the sense of awe in how we engage with this world. I will approach this from the role of the curious child and the inquisitive scientist without a distinction between the two. This exploration will result in a “…worthy expression of leaning into the light…” as Barry Lopez states. I hope to learn more about light’s intimate relationship to the objects and creatures upon this earth and more about its majesty.
Using both natural and artificial light, as an ephemeral source of material, I will experiment with photography, video and minimalistic installations/sculptures that react or alter space and architecture (not unlike the works of James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, and Ann Veronica Janssen). These artists have encouraged me to think outside the box by brainstorming how I can create work that takes the experience of the viewer into consideration (with the viewer in consideration perhaps this could expand my audience) and still presents a sense of my aesthetic subjectivity. If I maintain a sense of awe in creation, I believe I have the possibility to reach a vast audience that includes children. I feel that my work is a about a language common to all even if some aspects of light (such as color) may relate to specific personal experiences.
An individual, in many cases, must take the time to look, to experience. How can I offer an enticing presentation that presents the mystery of illumination and the spaces we inhabit while appearing welcoming? In a culture where access to information is fast paced, how do I present my meditations in a manner that will be captivating? How can I grab the participant/viewers attention span and suspend it long enough for them to ponder their relationship to light; long enough for them to stand in awe of their own childlike curiosity? I suspect in order to command attention/investigation that I need to construct projects that bring the viewer/participant to the “ ah-ha” moment in which they feel connected to a bit of reality through these mostly ephemeral studies. Inundating a presence that reminds the participant of their physicality in relation to the experience could do this. Instead of an essence or insight, the importance of the piece is in being caught up in the moment of investigation and exploration.
This Semester I plan to create light installations/interventions around the campus and the city, and more work/optical tricks with mirrors, illuminate Vanderslice reception room with warm tone colors at night, build a pavilion using plywood, house paint, and colored Mylar (warm toned), and develop more abstract videos exploring color and light. The projects are open to element of the surprise or the “ happy accident”. For my photographic studies, I will use various producers of light to explore and capture illusions and sensations. I will employ natural and artificial light (Light Emitting Diodes, fluorescent bulbs, prisms, etc.) as well as using light exposing on human flesh to do so. I will also study light and how it is utilized in architectural settings. Most projects will be documented by the use photography and video. My completion criteria will be as follows: I will judge how I successfully alter space, how I encourage viewer interaction, and how I developed a successful exhibition of my work for the end of semester.

2009-09-07T12:20:00.001-07:00

2009-09-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Gordon Matta Clark's Day's End.

Atsuko tanaka: Electric Dress-1956

2009-09-04T10:53:00.001-07:00

another study

2009-09-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

idea: sun setting and rising on a loop, captured from still images via google earth.
idea #2- suspend a small light panel in the painting building? turns all lights off and record. why?

another study

2009-09-01T21:48:00.001-07:00

studies for light interventions/interaction with architecture

2009-08-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

studies for light interventions/interaction with architecture

2009-08-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

inspiration for the semester

2009-08-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

ideas ( accumulated from summer 2009)

2009-07-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

1. a shadow wall/room. Use fluorescent paint. Room leading up to it could have UV tubes.
2. Capture light pillars in the cityscape via photographs.
3. Build a pathway/maze using plywood, house paint, and colored Mylar (warm toned)
4. More work/optical tricks with mirrors.
5. Research optical effects on the eyes.
6. Light guerilla installations in painting building/around campus and the city. In the trees.
7. Abstract videos made from toys that employ light i.e. circus toys/raves toys. Try to not make predictable. Use ethno poetic poetry distorted? Research speech patterns. Counting backwards.
8. Gold bricks/light on them reflecting/shining.
9. Conceptual aerobic idea: lights on timers, people dress in black with blindfolds, the lights go off, and the participants try to find their partners by reciting words from Gold by Donald hall. Whispering the words. Record this on video.
10. Film brick wall then attach false façade and project the extension.
11. Illuminate vanderslice reception room warm tone colors.
12 .Using light projectors to create out door color fields.
13 Record the sun. project it in its circular fashion at night? Where? On what? Why?
14 More videos with soundscapes. Project big.
15 Architectural renderings/drawings of houses I grew up in via google earth and abstract them with warm tones. Pencil, color pencil, ink.

urban exploring for recollection of memory

2009-07-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

"you can, of course, argue that architecture has always been about an animated surface ...[but] what does a pixel what to be?"-William J. Mitchell

2009-06-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Silence to light
light to silence
the threshold of their crossing
is the singularity
is inspiration
(where the desire to express meets the possible)
is the Sanctuary of Art
is the Treasury of the Shadows
( Material casts shadows, shadows belong to light)
-Louis Kahn

mild night's blear all ( concentric insight )

2009-06-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Iris Exposed To The Emergence Of Light

2009-06-20T10:15:00.001-07:00

Iris Exposed To The Emergence Of Light from Ryan T. LaFerney on Vimeo.

2009-06-12T20:52:00.001-07:00

iris obscured now exposed

2009-06-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

2009-06-12T13:34:00.001-07:00

2009-06-12T13:31:00.001-07:00

2009-06-12T13:30:00.001-07:00

2009-06-09T11:26:00.001-07:00

the first and the last, the present and the absent.

2009-06-09T11:15:00.001-07:00

The Ruby and Sunset Are One. Be Courageous And Discipline Yourself.

2009-05-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

This is where I fall

2009-05-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

This is where I fall, attempting to walk, amidst the awe. I meander through the haze of light that fades in and out of vision. I follow, and respect the call, the impulse to create in response to the space that I frequent and navigate (with the world as my palette and a reminder of the architecture of my past). As I learn to walk and create an aesthetic that is responsive to the subtleties of light, I utilize memory to connect emotionally to what could be so easily viewed as detached. Instead the memories trigger context providing a multitude of layers that leave my drawings within the world with awareness of phenomenon and for the care of how my brothers and sisters navigate the world.
For Relaxation/Excitation (I Know How Much You Like Surprises), I have used light, color, and space to regulate the body of the viewer/participants. The first room of the installation is primarily directed towards the idea of relaxation through the orientation of both blue and green light. This creates a meditative space. These cool shades ease nerves and attenuate emotions. It is interesting to note that the cones within the eyes are most sensitive to wavelengths at 510m, which resides around green light. It is here where the heart rate drops and the muscles relax.
At the same time, there is a push and pull between cool and warm, as a red and yellow light excites with its electric warmth and a crawl space brings anxiety for what may be discovered.
So with this being said, how can we encourage the enlightenment of our perceptions and challenge how we navigate this earth?

I've seen a Dying Eye by Emily Dickinson

2009-05-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've seen a Dying Eye
Run round and round a Room -
In search of Something - as it seemed -
Then Cloudier become -
And then - obscure with Fog -
And then - be soldered down
Without disclosing what it be
'Twere blessed to have seen -

Relaxation/Excitation ( I Know How Much You Like Surprises )

2009-05-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T15:42:00.001-07:00

2009-04-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

2009-04-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

2009-04-22T19:30:00.001-07:00

Karma

2009-04-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

A study of how we could in a simplistic manner make the spaces we inhabit more appealing...

2009-04-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

2009-04-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

study for part 1 of end of semester environment (relaxation/excitation)

2009-04-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

RELAXATION/EXCITATION

For my end of semester piece, I am attempting to use light and color to regulate the body of the viewer/participants. The first room will be a room for relaxation using colors that evoke this feeling (blue and green). These cool shades ease nerves and attenuate emotions. It is interesting to note that the cones within the eye are most sensitive to wavelengths at 510m with resides around green light. It is here where the heart rate drops and muscles relax.
In a corridor a red light will illuminate a hallway in which the viewer will walk down into a small room illuminated by warm colors, and by turning around will uncover their shadow and its afterimage. The idea here is that the colors and the visual sensation will literally cause a form of wonder and excitation.

shine bright boy

2009-04-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

void (corner square)

2009-04-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

plywood, mirror.

When I Get Back To That Place, I'll Be Completely Sober

2009-03-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Interested in encompassing the viewer’s peripheral vision through a video installation. Relates to my blurred vision I experienced as a child and the metaphysical power of light, such as near death experiences.

2009-03-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

lux/lumen mid semester installation video

2009-03-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Shadow Wall-possible idea for end of semester show?

2009-03-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Play as discovery is essential to my personal mythology; to my personal history. Perhaps a shadow wall would be a great thing to build for the end of the semester? hmmm. It is time to hit the drawing boards.

lux/lumen mid semester installation

2009-03-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

Meet Make Share @ The Monarch Gallery Space tomorrow night

2009-03-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

Next Friday is a packed evening! Glee Medicine Show 2009 Friday March 20th

2009-03-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Next Friday-Is a special night in KC.
Not only is my department, Interdisciplinary Arts celebrating its fifth year but GLEE MEDICINE IS HAPPENING AFTERWARDS.

The second annual Glee Medicine Show is rapidly approaching! Please join us after the INDA5 opening on Friday March 20th for the opening reception ( 8:30pm-12:00am) at The Monarch Gallery. There will be many special performances happening throughout the night. The show will feature work from current KCAI students as well as graduates, local KC artists, and a few out of town artists as well.

so please join us for fun art, live music, and a super awesome dance party!

info:
Glee Medicine!

8:30pm-12:00am

Monarch Gallery

1st floor

3829 Main Street

Kansas City, MO 64111

hope to see ya there.

-The Glee Team.

Exquisite Senses: They Shall Be Stript, So You May See Them.

2009-03-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

2009-03-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

study for light interventions (stairwell)

2009-02-25T19:27:00.000-08:00

feeeeeeeeel the light!

2009-02-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

location/composition

2009-02-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

study (light interventions)

2009-02-18T22:08:00.000-08:00

study for mid-terms-lux/lumen ( arc )

2009-02-14T19:12:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering:

How can I breathe life into physical material? Materials appear inert and passive, waiting. Waiting for the brittle hands of man instructed by divine intervention to aide in the shaping of each and every molecule. Is this accessible? simple environments made for anyone. Galileo presented that sense impressions are subjective so how can I bring the mystery to others in a universal aspect? Oh the paradox we stumble into as creators. How beautiful this is. I am trapped within a moral/spiritual versus physical lawfulness debate/search.An Entanglement of cognition. How can I facilitate and uncover the beauty within the moment of the unknown as if I was stepping out into the world with a blindfold on? If only we all we’re so naïve to open ourselves up to other ways of experiencing.

study for end of semester piece

2009-02-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

mirrored surface suspended just inches below the light fixture will shift light into the arc of the space.

interior light study proposal

2009-02-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

quantum/light studies

2009-01-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

"quantum:oh mysterious envoy grant us strength"

KATO @ J.M. Porters. 2.14.09

2009-01-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

KATO (KCAI Artists Together In Outreach) will be here printing up images on t-shirts, selling "roses", homemade cards, etc. to benefit artists helping the homeless and Wayside Waifs. Come on out and give us some hugs and kisses in the form of a donation to these fine organizations.

2009-01-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

design by Andrew Roth.

Untitled ( conflicted intensity), installation, 2008

2008-12-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

How can I recreate a feel of being a trapped within the darkness of eyes sewn shut, of healing, and the revelation of light? This was one of my many attempts towards a sensory experience that encompasses this physical feeling of entrapment in a narrow passageway with powerful flashing warm light.

Healing Substances

2008-12-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

There are many herbs and substances that can heal both physically and many suspect spiritually. I am interested in these substances for the many spiritual and natural connotations they offer and the boundaries they cross ( east and west ). They provide growth and their temporal qualities remind the viewer that this growth advances in the blink of an eye and is confined by various factors that contribute towards development.

2008-12-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

Help Out!

2008-11-25T18:14:00.001-08:00

North Dakota ( South Saint Louis) as geographic blur

2008-11-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

This is one of the few streets that I explored as a child overwhelmed by the concrete jungle I inhabited ( quite tiny in comparison to other metropolitan areas) and my struggles with vision.

Let us affirm that it is fitting to lose everything

2008-11-02T18:46:00.001-08:00

Gold study

2008-10-25T22:26:00.001-07:00

untitled

2008-10-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

study #1 for positive affirmation buttons

2008-10-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T21:07:00.001-07:00

some recent research..........lots of interweb and youtube

2008-10-08T21:34:00.001-07:00

2008-10-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

2008-10-01T22:01:00.003-07:00

Tachycardia

2008-09-27T11:46:00.001-07:00

2008-09-27T11:27:00.001-07:00

2008-09-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE PROJECT

2008-09-20T17:37:00.001-07:00

Yeah! Go Team! Stuff from Class on 9/14/08

2008-09-16T20:49:00.001-07:00

2008-08-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

"Realization is not knowledge about the universe, but the living experience of the nature of the universe."

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Painting By Cool Hand Luke

2008-08-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

“Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy.”

-Veda Upanishads

2008-08-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

Happiness can be achieved in the simplest of ways, all that is required is an open mind. I wish to be an advocator of happiness ( and by doing so attempting to fulfill my duty on this earth) through using the positive energy we all possess to generate warmth through serious creative play. Through this compassion, we can share; grow. All through Extrovert Meditation. We can trade and prosper into a community of equals. Our intellect could flourish and our curiosity towards this mystical and beautiful world could perhaps be renewed. We could see through the eyes of child. Perhaps, collectively we could talk of the opposite spectrum. Perhaps we could activate a new treatment towards the human race? Oh, how I want share and learn. Take time to listen from all earthly materials and expose the light. Perhaps then we wouldn’t stumble in our waltz. I want to use Warmth as a subversive lifestyle because it is too easy in this culture of desire, to become alienated from our true nature. We are social animals…
So it seems my purpose, is to serve this energy that flows inside of me ( which I’ve just recently started to relocate) through sharing with my family, friends, peers, and strangers as an antidote to fear in all its forms. Art as ecstasy; for the people as reverend Fox describes it. Together we can pick each other up, and mend, rebuild the foundation for we are all drifting through the ebb and flow. From the darkness we are born and to the darkness we shall return. Let’s shed some light on this life before it is too late.

"Alive upon Alive! Ignite your inner heart of compassion. Find answers to your deep questions: What is the purpose of my life? What is happiness? Is there a way I can help others out of suffering? How do I make life meaningful?"
— Domo Geshe Rinpoche, the 9th incarnation (female)

working on the foundation

2008-08-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

waiting-we're listening to the silence; for the breeze to hum a kind command-" we must work on the foundations, the relations between man".

ah, summer research.

2008-07-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

The following is from Conversations Before the End of Time with Thomas Moore:

Suzi: As I understand your sense of the soulful life, it would mean bringing art back into a more vernacular, everyday world, and taking it out of the more rarefied sphere of professionalism. You mentioned in the letter you wrote to me that you are very interested in the role of the arts in the world today. Do you see art as being an important vehicle for the return of soul?
Moore: Probably its most important vehicle.
Suzi: Do you want to elaborate on this?
Moore: Yes, there’s so much to say here. First, though, I’d like to pick up on this point of yours about everyday life. There are a number of ways in which we could bring the artist back into everyday life, so that we don’t just have this fringe art world that doesn’t really touch on the values of the way we live, essentially. One way would be for the artist truly to feel a sense of conviviality in the society, in being part of that community, so that there’s a responsibility, and a pleasure, in going into the world and being part of, say, actually designing the city... We can’t suddenly begin living a more artful life, which is the avenue to soul, if in the public life around us, and in everything we see and inhabit, art is invisible.
Suzi: And so, in your thinking, that could be a whole new paradigm for a socially relevant kind of art—not precisely in the sense that’s being talked about in the art world now of "political correctness" and social critique, but rather a kind of art that celebrates and participates robustly in the life-world.
Moore: Exactly. And here’s another point about soul.., soul enters life through pleasure. It’s an erotic activity: psyche and eros going together, rather than principle and responsibility. Responsibility suggests a kind of outward superego coming in and saying, "You know, this is what you should be doing." That is not a new paradigm; we’re not moving out of the modernistic world then. We’re just feeling we should do something different and more responsible.
Suzi: "If we are going to care for the soul," you say in your book, "and if we know that the soul is nurtured by beauty, then we will have to understand beauty more deeply and give it a more relevant place in life. It’s not only pleasure and conviviality, but also beauty that is necessary for the return of soul..." It’s interesting, don’t you think, that archetypal psychologists are the ones who seem to be taking the lead for a renaissance of beauty in our lives, even more than artists or aestheticians?

2008-07-29T10:38:00.001-07:00

" If the old American dream was about prosperity maybe the new one will be about spontaneity."- Kalle Lasn

take flight

2008-07-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

tonight when you drift to sleep-dream!-try to soar within a baby blue sky-travel free and light.

escape.

take flight.

Today anyone who paints space must actually go into space to paint, but he must go
there without any faking, and neither in an aeroplane, a parachute nor a rocket: he
must go there by his own means, by an autonomous, individual force; in a word, he
must be capable of levitating.-Yves Klein

Passing Youth

2008-07-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

Virginia Woolf:
One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them.

What comes after Generation Why? a. The drought (our decline) or b. an age of renewal and discovery?

2008-06-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

The question that must be raised is how do we nourish both the mind, spirit, and body when we are encouraged to do other wise? How do we share the communities of the inner cities? Who will be the first to pass the grain and say hello? We must hurry before the drought.