The Meat Department (continued...)

 "The Meat Department"

For this project, I was very interested in the method of utilizing one long, continuous shot in an effective way. I also wanted to continue on with my concept of animal (and consequently human) welfare, since that will be the focus of my senior show in the upcoming spring term. Using the medium of video to accomplish these goals was difficult enough using found footage for the previous project; using my own footage was even more difficult because I was very limited in terms of material I could film due to time and transportation constraints, as well as other issues. I realized that a grocery store would be a great place to take on this food-centric issue, and decided to focus on the meat industry as a concept in itself. Through my short film, I hope to bring its greatest shortcoming to light.

The Meat Department

A careful observation and critique of a grocery store meat department in relation 

to excessive production, overeating, and general consumerism in America.

Coming soon to this blog and youtube...

The Well of Originality Will Run Dry

After reading about all of the caveats of “fair use” in regards to artistic expression, I began to think closely about all of the artworks I have learned about in art history classes and how they built off of each other directly or indirectly throughout the entirety of history. 

   

                   Titian - Venus of Urbino, 1538                 Manet - Olympia, 1863              Yasumasa Morimura - Portrait (Twins), 1988

Also brought to mind was the amount of sampling that musical artists use today in their work.

Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (2001)

Kanye West - Stronger (2011)

 And finally I was hit with the idea that, some day, maybe far down the road still, but some day every possible form of artistic expression will inevitably have already been performed, and therefore the ability of an artist to be completely original will be a lost endeavor. So why is this idea of “sampling” another’s work such a prominent problem only within the recent past? The ease of access and acquiring of another’s work thanks to the Internet (as well as other technologies), coupled with the capitalist society in which we live today have greatly contributed to the present day situation of the “parasitic middle men of culture” suffocating our supposed artistic freedoms.

After creating my video "This Little Piggy" using 100% found video and sound, I am even more convinced that the ability of artists to modify and reuse previously existing material is crucial to the effectiveness of their work and concepts.