DEFINITIONS.1.一.out of focus

I need more definitions about “simplicity”, to search it in my personal experience.

Yesterday, I went to an exhibition, when I waited for my friends, I took some photos what I think is simple.

Some artists as reference

I searched some more practicians who did many brilliant abstract films.

Len Lye (1901-1980) was a New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. (from wikipedia)

Color Cry
Swinging the Lambeth Walk 
a colour box

Jules Engel (1909-2003) was a Jewish-Hungarian American filmmaker, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, and director of live action and animated films, and teacher. (from wikipedia)

Swan
Silence

Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967) was an abstract animator, filmmaker and painter. (from wikipedia)

Early Abstractions
Fantasia

Norman Mclaren (1914-1987) was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director. (from wikipedia)

Synchromy
Lines vertical

————————————————————

I am preparing for my research paper as well. I want to discuss somthing about how to use simple visualization to give more immersion.

Project Proposal

Working Title:
Simplicity and complexity

Aims:
My primary aim is to explore relationship between simplicity and complexity and balance them visually through two ways: nature and daily life.
Nature: Inspired by the dynamic spirit of Abstract Expressionism, I am willing to create interactive motion abstract paintings about a complex nature.
Daily life: I will focus on people’s daily life especially when someone is going to keep his mind on something. Because that people may be distracted when a balance of simplicity and complexity lose. Let audience find a balance through an interactive work.

Objectives:
1. Let audience choose a balance between simplicity and complexity. In the nature part, it seems like an audience’s painting with interactive work; in daily life, what’s audience’s choice, “less is better” or “more is better”.
2. Present simplification motion painting of nature.
3. Communicate my ideas about “simplicity” and “complexity” to viewers clearly.
4. Show distraction because of losing balance of simplicity and complexity in daily life.
5. Learn and use interactive technology to present my aims.

Context [Including Historical, Contemporary and Theoretical Context]

1. Initial idea
   
Firstly, I was inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photograph series “Theater” and “seascapes”. Maybe it’s because I was influenced by the Eastern culture as a child, it’s easy to be attracted by the kind of simple but significant work. Philosophical thinking of time and timeless is always brought from his works such as “Theater” series. In the “Theater” series, the only thing we can see from the center of screen is white light and nothing else. That’s because he captured a whole movie in one frame. Behind the simple white screen, it may be a very touching movie. His work makes me think about the meaning behind it, that’s what I hope my work might have.
   
Then I saw a John Maeda’s speech about simplicity and read his book The Laws of Simplicity (2006). I really like one of his ideas: “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.” John Maeda is a contemporary digital artist who did a lot of beautiful and complex visual work. And now he is currently working on SIMPLICITY, a research project to find ways for people to simplify their life in the face of growing complexity. In his book, he offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design—guidelines for needing less and actually getting more. For my project, what I want to achieve is the balance described in Law 10: “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.”

2. Visually Simplify a Complex Nature
   
About the nature part, I looked at abstract paintings which present a complex nature world. (E.g. Piet Mondrian’s Composition 1916, Tree series, The Sea and so on) Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) was one of the greatest abstract artists of the 20th century. The evolution in Piet Mondrian’s work from landscapes to abstraction is one of the most remarkable developments in the history of modern art. (Riley, Bridget, 1997, Mondrian: Nature to Abstraction) He painted from way of carefully observed landscapes to a purest abstraction, which is a long development of simplify a complex nature. Their dynamic spirit of Abstract Expressionism inspired me to use new media technology so that I can paint animated and interactive images on the computer. I will catch a simple inner character from an outward appearance of complex nature.
   
Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967) was a German maker of abstract films. He completed Motion Painting No.1 (1947), which is a stop-motion film, painted in oil on glass. He did many stop-motion abstract animations as a documentation of the act of painting, taking single frame each time he made a brush stroke. http://www.oskarfischinger.org/ Some of Oskar’s films could be easily done by software nowadays, but a perfect combination of music and movement is worth exploring more.
   
The Nature series made by John Maeda consists of a series of seven “motion paintings”, representing abstract evocative of those found in nature. Inspired by Abstract Expressionism as well, he offers us a glimpse of digital space in the spirit of landscape painting. http://www.vimeo.com/1866799
   
I am going to create an interactive motion painting to express my vision about the essence of nature and structure them into a complete work by viewers.

3. Simplicity and Complexity in daily life
   
About this part, an example will help to clarify what I mean. When a man is reading a book, he really immerses himself in reading it because of only the book in his mind. We can call the condition simplicity. What if there is a cup of tea beside him, beautiful music, or a blast of wind, situation becomes more complicated but still mild and balance. What if music is noisy, wind blows off paper on desk, and then it loses balance. However, in my research, I found that what kind of condition is simple or complex is hard to be defined especially when condition is in intermediate region of simplicity and complexity. Someone may think classic music is noise when others really enjoy it. So, I will be making an interactive video or animation to let audience make own choice of best simple condition.
   
Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart write a book The Collapse of Chaos (1994), which shows how simplicity in nature is generated from chaos and complexity, and how to discover simplicity in a complex world. Their articles can guide the project I will do and become critical theory. John Maeda’s theories on simplicity and complexity will define my experimental work as well.

Methodology
   
About motion painting, I need to draw, take photos and see more artists how they painted simplifications of representational reality. Ink and Wash painting could be added into the western abstract painting as artistic representation. I’ll look for experience that we might run into in daily life through survey, observation and experience by myself. Because complicating simple things happen everyday and everywhere. I should collect them and pick up something interesting. I should read these books introducing how to have a simple life or about simplicity as well, look at how minimalisms make their works and their thinking. Then for my work, I will think about methods simplifying complex things through interacting. In progress, I will take photograph, shoot and draw to record.

Outcomes:
   
I want to make two interactive video displayed on a computer. If it’s a touch screen will be better. Audio will be recorded in nature and daily life. Because what I will do visually is simplification of these things, use familiar sound will connect with the aim. I’m learning processing, hope it would help my idea to succeed.

Work Plan:

Bibliography

Book:
Battcock, Gregory, 1995, Minimal Art: a critical anthology, University of California Press

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong, Keenan, Thomas, 2006, New media and old media: a history and theory reader, Routledge

Cohen, Jack and Stewart, Ian, 1994, The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World, the Penguin Group

Colpitt, Frances, 1990, Minimal Art: The Critical Perspective, UMI Research Press

Goldstein, Ann, Diederichsen, Diedrich, 2004, A minimal future?: art as object 1958-1968, Museum of Contemporary Art

Hale, Nathan Cabot, 1993, Abstraction in art and nature, Courier Dover Publications

Henkels, Herbert, 1988, Mondrian: from figuration to abstraction, Thames and Hudson

Kudielka, Robert, Klee, Paul, Riley, Bridget, 2002, Paul Klee: the nature of creation, works 1914-1940, Hayward Gallery

Maeda, John, 2006, The Laws of simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life), The MIT Press

Maeda, John, 2001, Maeda at media, Universe

Marzona, Daniel, Grosenick, Uta, 2004, Minimal Art, Taschen

Meyer, James, 2001, Minimalism: art and polemics in the sixties, Yale University Press

Möritz, William, 2004, Optical poetry: the life and work of Oskar Fischinger, Indiana University Press

Pawson, John, 1996, Minimum, Phaidon Press Limited

Rothko, Mark, Anfam, David, 1998, Mark Rothko: the works on canvas : catalogue raisonné, Yale University Press

Shiffman, Daniel, Kaufmann, Morgan, 2008, Learning Processing: A Beginner’s Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)

Strickland, Edward, 1993, Minimalism: Origins, Indiana University Press

Stocker, Gerfried, Schöpf, Christine, 2006, Simplicity: the art of complexity, Hatje Cantz

Websites:
http://turbulence.org/Works/mypocket/graph/
http://www.wefeelfine.org/

http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/theater.html
http://www.pietmondrian.org/
http://www.dfuse.com/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-simplicity.html
http://www.oskarfischinger.org/

abstract painting

Paul Klee’s Flora on the Sand, which used rectangles of different sizes and colours to represent a complicated scene.

The cubes of different colors look like blurred focus on flora on the sand. Paul Klee reduced many details, and arranged these colors into cubes to get the abstract painting. The method is impressive.