Foundation 4D – For Foundation 4D, I will be using the OSS system as a place to evaluate the photographs I have taken over the past few trips – technique, process and formal analysis. (Quite frankly, I’ve been struggling with my journal recently as I tend to let my reflections flow – in run-along sentences, informal language, slang and memes – so the OSS is a good place for me to curate my thoughts and make it coherent for an audience.)
But first and foremost, let’s go back the first critique lesson for Assignment 1 that we had. As mentioned from my previous post, I wanted to explore the ideas of eternity – at that point, I was still quite unclear about my idea. As a result, I followed my first inclination/impulse to create, and ended up with two end products: the animated stop-motion video and the writing on the floor.
- Animated Video (Oil Paint, Black & White)
Link: Animation Test
The animated video was really just a test – I wanted to try out the technique to see if it was viable. My conclusion? No, it wasn’t viable at all; it was ambitious and frankly quite overwhelming for me to take on and achieve mastery of a medium in such a short span of time. One thing that I felt was important to me was a professional quality in the presentation of work, which this animation test very blatantly lacked. I felt that my technical ability was a great limitation. The animated test was cool, but ultimately a huge bust.
2. Eternity Graffiti (inspired by the story of Mr. Eternity)
Basically, what I did was to replicated the visual of the graffiti done by the man in the story – it was a simple, photoshopped image with a photograph of some floor I took. The photograph lacked visual interest – I couldn’t captivate myself, for goodness’ sakes, how could I captivate an audience? The image was quite literal – I felt that it was too upfront and blatant for my tastes. There was a distinct lack of attempt of communication that I found highly displeasing.
At this juncture, I was extremely unsatisfied with (not to mention confused about) my end point at that time, and felt rather at a loss about the whole project. Was it too ambitious of me to tackle a topic as broad and subjective as the one I have chosen?
However, all was not lost – I stumbled upon the quiet premises of St. Joseph Church, at the upper Bukit Timah area, between Cashew MRT and Hillview MRT (downtown line) stations. The side gate of the cemetery was ajar, but the visual of a large stone cross captivated me. I immediately took a photograph and resolved to return to explore the premises again – and I did. I also gained greater clarity on my work through that chance encounter.
In Assignment 1, I aim to raise questions about what comes after death in a way that is open to interpretation.
Continue reading “4D Assignment 1 – Processes & Thoughts, Curated”
