a statement

Currently I am inspired by the limitations of the human ear’s ability to filter and
decipher content when it is overloaded with many audible sources simultaneously. When
we have too much discernible information that needs to be translated at once, momentary
confusion is created. We become unable to distinguish the origins and definitions of sound
as they begin to overlap and pile up. Could you detect your friend’s voice through the
soundtrack of 5000 commuting people in a subway station during rush hour? Amid any
auditory chaos we begin to listen for something familiar so that we can focus on, and find
relief in, the recognizable, like sailors searching for a lighthouse from the deck of a
battered ship lost in a stormy sea.

This year I began to record, edit, and mix, languages and sounds into abstract
compositions. This kind of sound composition is known as musique concrète. Musique
concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilizes acousmatic sound as a
compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the sounds derived
from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"
(melody, harmony, rhythm, meter, and so on). While making this work, I have been
thinking about isolation, transparency, eavesdropping, observation, and the overall
misinterpretation of familiar sounds. I have become interested in removing definitions from
the words, and the origins from the sounds, that I use to compose these sound pieces. My
intent is to exhibit an auditory emotion that exists within the phenomena of audible chaos.
These “sound environments” are a result of simultaneously overlapping multiple languages
and sounds to create momentary confusion when listened to. I hope to entice listeners into
attempting to translate the unidentifiable. I want them to find a connection to the emotional
content that exists beyond the literal definition and identity of the words and sounds they
are hearing.

Some of this work exists within the space of handmade clear glass capsules that
need to be investigated by using a stethoscope. These compositions are intended to be
listened to one person at a time, in order to simulate the isolation of thoughts inside one’s
head and give each viewer an uninterrupted chance to connect with each work. I make the
physical forms in clear glass because the material is unassuming, transparent, and has an
honest quality about it. What you see is what you get, or so you think. Most of the time,
sound cannot be physically seen, is relatively invisible, and is usually only recognized by
the vibration of our eardrums. The clear glass mimics the invisible/transparent quality of
sound that you cannot see, but it also acts as an window or separator, which I intend as a
way to physically replicate what I call “immediate vicinity isolation bubbles” or IVIBs: those
zones of imaginary privacy that seem to surround people as they nonchalantly talk about
their private concerns in public while using cellular phones. The glass physically separates
each of the works interior audio narratives from each other, thereby allowing each
composition of musique concrète to coexist in the same exhibition space without detracting
from one another. Utilizing this material allows me to build a transparent environment that
can diminish, or erase, the audible from the viewer without isolating their visual
perspective, thus creating the false sense of privacy that one has inside a phone booth. An
exchange of private dialogues take place and where every passerby is witness to the event
of that conversation even if they cannot hear it. I am giving the audience permission to
penetrate this separating layer and granting them access to a private interior where they
can eavesdrop, one person at a time, and indulge a momentary fascination.

Robert Lewis

a statement

What do I believe art is? If someone were to ask Anthony, "Anthony, what is art?" I wouldn't do a fine job of telling you; I could show you though. To me art evokes response, emotion, and thought. A broad definition I know, but I mean, what is art? It's subjective isn't it? It sure seems that way when one skims over the history of art in the public realm since the dawn of culture. Is it practical? Is it useful? Is it offensive? Is it just awful? Is it not art? Art is what I make of it. Out of the hum drum of everyday life, or out of the inner workings of my own mind. Art is in the mind. My Art and my concepts of art are mine alone.

a statement

As an artist who takes pictures, I feel obligated to document experiences that
describe our temporal nature, known more commonly as life. As humanity reaches
new heights of exploration, of discovery, creation and invention—some may argue
that today humans are better than the day before. Like the prescribed recipe for
evolution, we are designed to operate within social norms, to produce a better,
smarter, and stronger generation—for the betterment of mankind. I am interested in
illustrating this cycle of preservation, our attempts to remain fossilized in an
environment which will always prevail in our erasure.

I am jealous of those who believe in the afterlife. For those who do not
believe, we recognize that the true reality is consciously unbearable. A trip to
blissful heaven is a clever disguise for an eternity of nothingness, but better yet
proves to be an elegant example of checks and balances derived by those in power.
It is this idea that gives me anxiety; it is this idea that keeps me awake at night. My art serves as a catharsis—freeing me from my fear of the inevitable.

Through contemporary photographic processes, the photograph operates as
a document to the performances that are shown before the camera. Viewers are
perceived as unaware voyeuristic participants of the bizarre rituals shown. My
performances, often including the manipulation of the body surface, become the art
itself. The fear of suffocation, the tangibility of the material, or the feeling of the execution of an unknown action is what I find most interesting. Through the
photographic window, viewers are invited into these intimate illustrations of the
sublime.

a statement

I am an artist because it makes me feel alive. As cliché of a statement that may sound, it is one of the few things I do that make me feel that way. To be able to take thoughts and ideas in my head and put them into the world not only gives me a fantastic sense of accomplishment, but it enables me to express things I could not do in any other form. Working on movies in particular, be it shooting or editing, is the one activity where literally hours can feel like seconds. It’s something that takes me away from myself, and immerses me entirely.

a statement

When it comes to creating art, I don't even see myself as an artist (at least not in the traditional sense anyway). I'm more of an observer than an artist. It isn't the necessary action of making or creating anything, it's more the reflection and reiteration of what I observe. So I look more to the observing than the actual 'creation' of material.

a statement

“The idea hovered and shimmered delicately, like a soap bubble, and she dared not even look at it directly in case it burst. But she was familiar with the way of ideas, and she let it shimmer, looking away, thinking about something else.” – Phillip Pullman, The Golden Compass

The way I am working now is completely new and foreign to me. It is vague, mysterious, sub-lingual, and subconscious. I am trusting my curiosity, my intrigue, my fascination as never before. This is a radical shift for me: I have long defined myself as a planner who deliberately and consciously makes artwork that responds directly to an issue or concept. But in the interest of growing beyond the known, I have let go to see what happens when I follow my impulses and experiment freely without regard to outcome. What I am discovering is that there is more here than I could have imagined. I have become a jealous lover to this way of working, bristling at any voice or situation that might deny me it. I strive to turn this flickering infatuation into something strong, deep and lasting, permanently transforming my personhood and practice by integrating itself harmoniously with my more philosophical and topical intentions. Until then, I must hold it gently, unconditionally, and often.

a statement

My hope is that through my art people will be able to understand what I was thinking about, what I was feeling while making the piece. I enjoy creating things and making visuals. Being able to express myself through the act of making a piece is very fulfilling. The first priority is whether or not I'm happy with the final piece, but if the audience enjoys it and understands it as well, it's an added plus.

a statement

What I want my work to achieve as art is a hard question for me to answer because I can not be completely sure the answer of the question what is art. Art to some may not be art to others so what to make my work achieve what I want is not necessarily making it art but putting my mind down in video or film.

I just want my work to be remembered, not necessarily by all but at least by some and most of all by me. I want to look back and see my ideas unfold in front of me and be glad that now anyone can see a somewhat organized glimpse into my mind.

Maybe the work will not be art to some or even most but to me it will be a masterpiece, my masterpiece that will live on forever at least in my mind and hopefully in the minds of some others.

a statement

A lot of my work as an artist is focused on the things in life that are usually invisible to the seeing eye, but have more affect on the world than those that are visible. In a strong sense, I believe the things people have to feel without being able to see have a stronger emotional affect on them. I try to visualize what these otherwise invisible feelings and senses would look like to a person related to how it would make them feel. Lately, I have been especially interested in the deterioration of a person's well-being and identity as their physical being is attacked by a disease or illness. From my experience of what I have seen people go through, the physical deterioration is apparently by simply sight, but the emotional and spiritual downfall slowly takes away their identity and changes the person more than their physical changes.

a statement

As a video artist who works mostly with live events and performances, I try to convey
my view and perception of the event in a manner that is as genuine and emotionally
connected as possible. I enjoy viewing each project from the audience perspective and
respecting the opportunity to be the link between a once in a lifetime story and the
viewer’s eyes. Bands will play shows all over the world and football at Ohio State will live long past my days here, but the subtle details of emotion and feeling that make each performance individual and unique are the focus of my work.

In personal exploration I find the most interesting aspect of video is the emergence of something new. Even the most horrific failures in advancements are of interest to me. The drive to make something truly unique and without influence by any other idea or concept is so rare today that I would like to show a perspective of reality through video in such a way, that it leaves the viewer with more of an emotional attachment and genuine understanding for when someone says, “you really should have been there”.

a statement

There is one thing that upsets me when trying to create my own work and that is other work. I don’t like seeing other work related to the subject and medium that I am going to work in because I don’t want to be influenced in any way. I like to be able to create my own ideas and use no other references in my work. When I start a project I try not to look at other artist or get influenced by other work around me. My instructors always ask me what artist I like or am influenced by and I always respond none because I don’t look at an artist for ideas. I want to find what is natural for me to create and not steal from another artist. I think the thousands of video feeds I have seen over the years can influence my work in this class, but I will not deliberately research any videos to create a project. I want my work to be a complete fabrication of my own life experiences and personal preferences. I want my work to be an expression of myself and to appeal to my taste. I will not change my ideas to please an instructor or other artist because it’s does not matter to me their opinion. Now I will try and make my work better by changing minor details and use suggestions to help portray my idea better but won’t change a concept for anyone else.

a statement

What is art?

According to Dictionary.com, art is the quality, production, expression, or realm according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. To me, art is the creation or arrangement of colors, sounds, forms, movements and other elements to produce emotion and reaction. With that said, oil painting and pastel drawing are two means for me to create art while igniting reactions in those who view my pieces. The reaction I strive to evoke in people is happiness because while creating art, I am most happy. Moreover, I believe life is about striving to be happy, and I pursue this through the use of color and subject.

While using bright reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues and purples, I paint and draw people and places. Usually these people and places are chosen while I am traveling because I find inspiration in those who are from different locations and cultures. Not only are the images I create colorful, but they are inspired by those far away people and places that many may never see for themselves. A dancer in a carnival parade in Brazil, a weaver in Peru, and a lake in Nicaragua are three examples of the images I have created.

These images directly reflect who I am from my love of travel and aspirations to teach people about the world and other cultures. In the past, I have explored and experimented with different mediums and techniques realizing that my passion is painting and drawing, and in the future, I want to integrate different materials that I find while traveling such as stones, leaves, hand woven yarn, seeds, and other elements in nature with my paintings and drawings. My vision and goals are to continue teaching people about the world through my art and to create happiness in those who view my pieces.

a statement

As an artist, I have often questioned my motives for creating. The reasons have evolved since my decision to become a fine artist, just as my techniques and inspirations. I find that the only way I am able to successfully fulfill my path as an artist is to evolve, and with that I look for inspiration from all angles. With that pre-empting, I am able to deduce that my mission as an artist is to combine what is often not combined, to display the expected in unexpected ways, and to push to the limit what habits have been perpetuated throughout the times., in regards to the visual world. If I am able to surprise and awe viewers, showing them that what they are seeing is perhaps not all that is before them, then I will have completed my short-term goals, eager to push through to the edge of my imagination.

a statement

I create contradictory art. I create art from necessity in the work place and to fulfill my own needs. I create art for the benefit of others and for my own satisfaction. I create art that is meant to be shared by the general public and art meant for my eyes only. I create both by mistake and intentionally. Sometimes I create art for no reason other than the fact that I like it. I create art that I am proud of and art that does not necessarily represent me. I hope to create art that can be viewed on multiple levels yet is beautiful in its simplicity.

a statement

Something I've learned about art during these past couple of years is the necessity of experimentation. One can only determine how others will react to a his/her artistic decisions by displaying them and receiving feedback & criticism...there doesn't seem to be any way to know beforehand how others will react to a particular artistic decision, unlike a scientific experiment...in which one has at least some idea of what will happen. This particular realization frightens me...despite the fact that my attempts to create art have typically been regarded positively. Perhaps this should be my motivation to continue experimenting, even when I'm sure no one will like my work. I may simply continue to be pleasantly surprised...or I may end up finally creating work that is a complete failure artistically. But then, doesn't one learn more from failure than from success in the first place?

a statement

I am not a conventional artist, I don’t think artistically at all times during the day. I don’t like to plan out my projects. I love to create on my own terms and at my own pace and I think that is when my best work is created.

Like many others I find it hard to explain what my work means, but one definite goal I have is to inspire. In creating, my hope is that I can draw emotions out of my audience, give them something to think about. I’m very interested in what kind of experience my viewers take from my pieces.

I believe that art is a way of expression. A way to represent sounds, images, colors, feelings, and shapes in a way that makes sense to the artist. The one that I enjoy about being an artist is the fact that art can be anything and there are no limitations to what can be created.

a statement

I create art as an antidote to Mean World Syndrome. A significant portion of the mass media that bombards me can tip me into hopeless if I am not balanced by holding onto lighter happier media. The primary goal of my art pieces is to create an oasis; small place where the mind can relax, before re-entering the fray.

I am interested in looking for moments. While this will not preclude sustained narrative, I believe that it is in these moments where I find inspiration into appreciation of my own personal moments. turning the eye to these small moments, over and over, eventually trains the mind to return to the place of appreciation of these tiny packets of now. It is there in that place of appreciation that I am able to withstand the barrage of media. This is truly an antidote to Mean World Syndrome.

a statement

My work is a body that stands alone. It is not me, it is its own. I simply allow myself to be a vessel. I believe in my work and therefore my work believes in itself and stands proud. We are separate of each other, yet we compliment one another - I feel that that is how it should be. I am the creator and the creation, we go hand in hand of each other perfectly.

a statement

My aim is to render the improbable as possible. I frequently do this in a manner that is inefficient (in terms of the software) and sometimes incomplete (yet still suggestive of the final goal). I think that a 'suggestive' art or project can be far more effective that an 'explicit' one. To this end, the leaving of gaps - whether in terms of process or of content - is somewhat critical.

a statement

I aim to visually manifest narratives of fact and fiction. I constantly search for
contradiction, fetish, and implication in both imagery and wordplay, and attempt
to exploit these nuances visually. As I explore family entanglements and romantic
transgressions, my curiosity tends to focus on the inanimate objects that bear witness
to emotional human events. A frequent visual cue found in my work is that of an implied
male presence. While an actual figure of a man almost never appears in a piece, his
existence and consequence is very much indicated. My recent work tends to obliterate
both male and female subjects completely and instead focuses on place and object.
The human touch is very close, yet absent. The scenes and situations I create convey
a narrative that is often autobiographical, and references rituals of consumption and
the compulsion to collect and idealize. I attempt to examine my personal history by
deconstructing and/or reconfiguring photos, bedsheets, and other relics. Truth is
certainly stranger than fiction, and by being painfully honest about my own past, the
ridiculous and the absurd surfaces (steeped in tragedy and complication of course).

I use traditional and digital printmaking techniques, as well as antiquated, alternative
photography processes. I am consciously utilizing current technology in conjunction with
tools and techniques that are often considered archaic and obsolete. These processess
are intricately layered, highly labor intensive, and quite scientific. Recently, I have
been working with video and film in conjunction with my practice of traditional, two-
dimensional methods of image construction. The complex processes I employ in my
studio are congruent with the complexities of content.

a statement

I realize that everything I create is only an extraction of what I have in my mind, and my ability to equate my ideas into another's perception. I've always feared the negative, which has resulted in my shyness, avoidance of conflict, depression, and my seemingly inability to be decisive. However I'm beginning to realize that choosing not to decide is still a choice, even if that choice wasn't presented. The more I realize that everything is built off the construct from which came before it, I feel hope for any future I will be presented with. I enjoy pondering the beginning of the Universe, because I believe it is one of the most fundamental divisions that separates humanity into two distinct poles. Either it began, or it always has been. If its always been, its easy for me to assume it always will be, which feels positive in my mind. However if it began then this signifies to me that there was a theoretical time in which it had not existed, and with another recent exploration of myself I've realized that if something has never been, then there can be no need to be. So if there was a beginning, then either it, or God, or something(one) else wanted this existence we call our universe, and as far as I can understand it, this seems equally as positive of a view. Ultimately I've come to a point in which that I can now question negativity, because in every perceivable case I've considered, a negative is always inherently positive when experienced in a constructed perspective that allows it be so. Unfortunately the reverse appears to be true as well, but perhaps that is where I can find my fortune.

Daniel's statement

My goals as an artist coincide with my goals as a person. My goals as a person include primarily a discovery of the self, the self I was thrown into and have been becoming and will be becoming until my heart eventually stops pumping oxygen to my life systems and I begin to become a tree or grass or particles of dust sinking to the bottom of the ocean. It is through this process of discovering myself that I discover everything else. We are all bubbles of matter and interactions floating in space bumping into each other and the world around us, collecting dust and stains and giving and taking and exploring until we pop and become a soft whisper in the cosmic night of nothingness and everything. Thus it is as a circle, making Venn diagrams with everything and everyone that I travel. The artifacts of this journey are the things that have come to be known as art. I find such definitions as confining the cacophony of the excitations and sublimations that peer beneath the sunset or peak behind the moon to wink and pop in the night. There are paths to worthy discovery and genuine knowledge and understanding in the world, the kind that lead to winding roads up chimney slopes and clouds of fluffy twirling singing notions of things forgotten and remembered. There exist truth, there is a hand on a keyboard and that hand exists or it does not. That may be as far as I can go right now; truth is a rare commodity in this green green world. It was long ago discovered that our fellow human can be led, that their actions can be corralled and their mind subverted to the desires and service of others. The conquest of the exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few has been a landslide defeat for the abused for thousands of years and this is the struggle I concern myself with: the revealing of falsehood, the destruction of privilege for the sake of Truth and Justice. This struggle is one we are all a part of. We all have a place in this world of deceit. We are either among the rotting corpses traveling in carts pulled by our slain brethren toward the mountainous walls of the crushed wills surrounding the castle of our keepers or we are dragging our broken bodies to the peaks of some forgotten shore to bask and bath in the sunlight.

Happiness and joy as well. We are all a part of this fabric of people, of time and place. All of our names are carved onto the wall. It is joy and happiness that fuels the engine of self discovery and reveals the world. It is the joy I feel in my entire self that brings sorrow and rage to my brow. It is through my happiness that I see sadness. Being content with the world may be impossible but at least some things make sense in smiles, in laughter. The world contains delightful moments of rapture and beauty, of the sublime and blissful. There are moments that take our very being and for a rare instance we vibrate in unison with everything. If it were not for the joy and happiness that can be found I would have nothing to offer but happiness in a warm gun. I want to reveal the world to those who cannot see it in order to bring about more well being. I want to find freedom for myself so that I can show others how to find it for themselves’ and us all. My art is joy and tyranny.

Daniel Guarnieri

a statement

Art to me doesn't just designate what is conventionally believed to be thought as such. I try to take art with me in all facets of my life.

My biggest drive in my art is humor. If I'm not crafting something that makes people laugh I don't fell that I've accomplished my goal.

When it comes down to it, art to me is something that makes people smile and question. I try to do that with the work I create.

a statement

I'm not sure what art is anymore. The term has been so used, misused, and widely applied that it's lost all sense of meaning to me. As a result, I tend not to concern myself with definitions and take a very subjective approach. It seems sort of pointless to argue over a label when it's so plain that everything in the various "arts" can greatly affect people. Painting, photography, sculpture, film & video, writing, dance, the other arts, and even the re-contextualization of objects or people can make us feel things, communicate information, and teach us. If they can do this - either intentionally or unintentionally - they are worthwhile endeavors.

a statement

Art today is like spinning a giant roulette wheel. You never know what you are going to get, you never know of it's value. It is like using a search engine. The information may or may not be useful. You are searching.
Art is:
tasting as many different foods as you can which may or may not be good,
ungraded,
unruled,
relentless,
serves no master,
controlled by no one,
free for the taking,
has no limit,
may or may not be understood,
guided and unguided,
always given a chance,
a good excuse,
raved about or rejected,
refined or lost,
searching for answers that have no questions,
having questions that have no answers,
down is up and up is down,
backwards is forwards and forwards is backwards,
you pull inwards while others shove outward,
reaching something that goes beyond the question why,
being so obviously understood and lost in the meaning,
what makes you sick,
never wrong,
never right,
always changing,
never there,
never is satisfied,
always taking and never giving,
always gives and never takes,
forgiving beyond comprehension,
unfair,
your cure,
the great scapegoat,
the expansion-less ideal,
the next step to freeing minds,
hoarding creativity,
squashing reality,
whatever you want it to be,
art.