MY STORY
Throughout this year I have been able to explore new and exciting mediums of expression with an emphasis on comedy, advocacy, and the way that the internet is changing popular perceptions. Most of my pieces start first and foremost with what I think is funny, which is a deeply ingrained part of my personal identity that I express through these pieces. Essentially, they typically begin with a joke, but in many cases, small individual aesthetic decisions begin to take on more satirical elements. This is true in many of the motifs present in my work, especially the perennial parenthetical (NOT SPAM), which represents questions about what is and is not good content. I have developed as both an artist and a comedian over the course of this year, and I think much of my work shows a holistic world view. We live in a time in which irony is king, and I believe deeply that no matter how many scathing articles are written about millenials, this isn't a bad thing. In reality, irony need not be disingenuous. The lines between what is authentic and pure, and low brow and ironic are becoming increasingly blurred, which forms a movement to destroy false and exclusionary content standards. I think that my products are built around a celebration of these present realities. Even when I interviewed my grandpa, it was not about romanticizing the past in which he grew up, but rather showing how certain aspects of his experience could have occurred at any time, his experience is incredible, but is about the story of an individual rather than projections about the time in which he lived.
With all this said, my first goal, has first and foremost been to be funny.
With all this said, my first goal, has first and foremost been to be funny.
VLOG
This piece is an exploration of the distinctions between the identities projected falsely and exposed honestly on the internet. By performing a traditionally formed vlog, in which anyone can occupy the role of a television personality, through the reading out loud of craigslist rants and raves and yahoo asks, I create a juxtaposition between these two forms of online performances. Craigslist and Yahoo asks allows people to expose thoughts and feelings that they feel they can't otherwise share without the veil of anonymity, and in that sense it is a source of personal writing that completely lacks ego, this contrasts with the egotism and vanity of the vlog.
Sound Effect Story
In this audio post I had a friend read a prose piece and then practiced layering sound to enhance the story.
Revised Interview (for final) |
Original Interview |
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I chose to interview my grandfather and record it for this project because he has had a remarkable life and many interesting encounters!! I ended up revising the original project because there was a technical issue with the audio and there is a beep in the middle that I believe detracts from the telling of the story.
WHITE BOARD NARRATION- SKI LIFT
This whiteboard video is a dramatic/comedic telling of a story from my childhood that I often tell. The video represents an exercise both in comedic storytelling and in rudimentary drawing, two areas in which I have long dabbled. The title of the piece, "SKI LIFT DEBACLE (WHITE BOARD VIDEO(NOT SPAM))" is representative of my general title format, which I would describe as a parody of internet text forms, most strongly inspired by email subject headings from the year 2005. The parenthetical (NOT SPAM) serves, in my mind as a commentary on distinctions between authentic and 'fake', or commercial content.
Clark is my Lover is one of the pieces of which I am most proud. In this piece I use the 5x5 format to create what I hope is a clear and fluent narrative featuring a struggling protagonist. I play a fictionalized version of myself, the owner of a now successful restaurant who is approached by Clark, her cat ex-boyfriend, with whom she has undergone a painful breakup. Comedy relies on the unexpected, and so hopefully it is funny when I kiss my cat.
"ONE MINUTE MAGIC TRICK YOUR MIND WILL BE BLOWN" is a low-fi production that comments on the way internet culture forces superlatives for marketability, and the fact that magic is alive and well.
These two images represent the connotation of feminism in our society versus the denotation. The word cloud image is pulled from from www.123rf.com stock photos.
Stalin's show trials dramatization
This piece served as an ironic and comic portrayal of historical events using stuffed animals from my childhood. I created a intentional juxtaposition between the use of sock monkeys, kermit the frog, the Law and Order sound and other pieces of modern American culture, and the tragedies of Stalin era Russia.