Tag: exhibition

Scott Rummler – Frequency Based Art

 The NET-Art Website is pleased to share: “Scott Rummler – Frequency Based Art”

“Artist makes painting that can’t be photographed, breaks blockchain.”

Scott Rummler has developed a frequency-based painting style that breaks with the major concepts underlying visual art and digital representation.

The works are minimalist white paintings but emit frequencies that create a rainbow of colors when viewed though a digital camera. As a result, each photograph of the same painting looks different. The work breaks the 1:1 relationship between object and image that is fundamental to a wide variety of artistic and scientific disciplines.

They can even sometimes change the settings on mobile phone cameras – without causing any damage.

Photographs of the paintings break new conceptual ground in digital NFT art. They are registered in an unbreakable ledger – but because the physical paintings don’t have a consistent digital appearance, they ‘escape’ its technical confines. So they are part of the blockchain while simultaneously breaking it. 

Rummler developed the technique, which has to do with the complex interaction of paint, light, and perception, with input from visual science PhDs at RIT.

He uses paint rollers – a very common item that’s never been considered in the realm of fine art. But it has the key qualities Rummler was looking for. 

“When I hit on the rollers I knew right away it was what I had been looking for. It’s the simplest and most familiar, and also the least artsy and most radical. Ultimately it’s the most profound too, because we’re talking about a circular, time-based technique that turns the fundamentals of pictorial composition upside-down,” he says.

“During Covid, I came upon the idea that art is the one thing you have to see in person. So why not make paintings that can’t be photographed so you have to see them in person? I wanted to create art that transcends the limits on what a gallery should be, and what technology, vision, and art can be.”

Frequencies have been used for centuries by Eastern medicine – and more recently by Nikola Tesla and modern technologists. 

But for Rummler, it’s all about the art.

“Art has always been about frequencies. There is something unique and transformative that can’t be easily captured. I’m simply highlighting that fact.”

 

We got a chance to ask Scott a few extra questions during our interactions via e-mail:

 

Net-Art: Who are some of your favorite artists through out history – pre-1990? Who are some of your favorite artist post-1990? What stands out about their work that compels and inspires you? 

Scott: Pre-1990 I would say Vermeer and also Rothko.  Two very different artists, but they were the only ones whose work impacted me so profoundly that I was overwhelmed and had to walk away. Post-1990 lately it’s been Dan Flavin. He was a friend of an artist I knew, Michael Venezia, and he worked with light. I guess I got back to my roots a bit and he became more top of mind. Other than that I would say guerrilla type artists, particularly those that resisted conformity when the  mandates got a bit out of hand here in NYC.

 

Net-Art: With more and more technologies becoming both accessible and immediate, do you think that applied artists will eventually venture into integrating digital technologies into their work? 

Scott: Art should transcend any particular medium. Digital will continue to adopted at a slow but steady pace. The big change may come when we see a new system of art, galleries, and museums. I saw a bit of that in the 80’s with Mary Boone and the East Village, and more recently with NFT art. But it hasn’t really happened yet. The financial side of art has been a bit obscure, or even dodgy at times, and the media coverage sometimes borders on propaganda, so maybe those things have to change.

 

Net-Art: Do you collect the work art of other artists, if so, what is the most recent piece that you have added to your collection?

Scott: I don’t collect art. I live a very minimalist lifestyle, my place is like a bunker! But I feel like I’m ready for a change.

 

Net-Art: Do you have a defining story or moment where knew that you were or had become an artist? Can you reflect on this and share a story with us?

Scott: My first art professor, Archie Miller, was a bit acerbic, and he didn’t give me very good grades, so I assumed he thought I was an idiot, but I volunteered to help him make the Fred and Ginger sculpture that is in Rochester, NY on Scio Street. When I told him I was thinking of becoming an art major, he said “The world doesn’t need any more artists. But maybe you feel like it’s something you have to do.”

I said “Yes, that’s the case.”

I found out later he thought I was one of his best students, so I guess that was his way of motivating me. Since then, any time I had really good – or really bad – news, he was the one I called. Should have called more often though [he died not too long ago].

 

 

 

Net-Art Exhibition: Waking Accessibility Awareness..

Waking Accessibility Awareness…

Works by Ryan Seslow – 2021

This new body of digital illustration, animated GIFs and animated video is a series of reactions and expressions that address the continued lack of Accessibility and Inclusion in our 2021 reality. The series is a continuum to my ongoing exhibition: “Communicating my Deaf & Hard of Hearing Self” – you can view that here. 

I know, the title itself might be making you feel uncomfortable. Thats good because it may activate some action and accountability, or at least a series of questions. Are you up for it? Are you someone who continues to make and publish video content online with out adding captions or adding a written description of some kind to support the audio in the video? Are you hosting video or audio only based meetings with out closed captions or a live transcriber? Are you one of those people who has a podcast and shares it as an “audio-only” piece of media? Hmm, do realize how many people are left out as a result of that lack of accessibility awareness? The sad part is, you or the company or organization that you work with may have an expanded audience and a following of 1K – 30K – 100,000K people (or more). You widely use, or are asked to use and support various digital tools with out ever questioning if those tools are inclusive and accessible for everyone to receive your content? Why is accessibility and inclusion an after-thought for you and what are you going to do about it? I know, you may say; “its not ill meaning, or maliciously intended”.. I do empathize and have a lot patience.. but Im still waiting, and waiting.. will you do something about this?

A part of me feels that this new body of work can and should be shared as its own exhibition. Even though it is an expansion of the body of works mentioned in the link above, this particular series has been created over the duration of the pandemic. It is another response to the continued fight for basic accessibility and inclusion for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. Each individual piece is an expression to a range of narratives that have played out. I am using looping animations as a medium to share this conceptually as a cycle that seems to never end. The works also display the dichotomy of responses that I have experienced from people through various online platforms. This ranges from caption-less video chats & meetings, e-mail, text messages and social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram. As I write this I am both happy and angry. Happy for the small changes that some people / institutions have made via our communication about the awareness of accessibility / inclusion and how to facilitate it. But I am really angry at those who have taken a more “salty” and “dismissing” attitude and approach after being called out on their lack of accessibility and awareness of inclusion. Feeling angry is a good thing, it allows me to channel and exercise the anger, I have done that through these pieces below.

 

“No Captions, No Transcripts, No Access”, 2021 Digital Illustration

 

“The Accountability of One’s Reflection”, 2021 Animated GIF

 

“The Caption-less Podcaster” 2021, Animated GIF

 

“The Continued Clubhouse Accessibility After-Thought”, 2021, Animated GIF

 

“The Overstimulated & the Excluded”, 2021, Animated GIF

 

“Even the Word Patience gets Anxiety”, 2021, Animated GIF

 

“The Oblivious & Caption-less Zoom Hosts”, 2021, Animated GIF

 

“The Endless Vibrational Run for Access”, 2020, Animated GIF

 

“But He Can Speak, Are You Sure He Can’t Hear?”, 2020, Digital Still Frame Illustration

 

“All of My Access is Chaos”, 2020 (revised from a 2017 iteration), Animated GIF

 

“Masked Garble on Repeat”, 2021, Animated GIF

 

“Accessibility & Inclusion? It’s Not Our Fault!” 2021, Looped Animated Video

 

Please contact for availability – ryan (at) ryanseslow.com

The Contemplation of Metaphoric Flight, A Creative Teaching Template

“We need a caption, Phil, I don’t want to disappoint Roz again, help me out here”
Countless memories, the sea air and the seemingly creative blunders of reflective such-ness..what will you contribute to the process?
This is a manipulated image, its a silly one, or perhaps you resonate with it seriously? Either way, we need to adjust the contrast of the art work, please help by listing some of the options we can apply.
This is great fodder for creative inducement, consider the potential of how images speak to us, especially finding value in the subjective. What will you “allow” yourself to share?
Contrasts can be oh so subtle, they can disrupt the default patterns, this is a metaphor! How will you disrupt the pattern to bypass the part of you that clings to the familiar?
OK, patterns can also be very COOL! Patterns are about order, but order is in need of an integration of variety every so often, OK, this is another metaphor, see the pattern? 🙂
A little bit of movement goes a long long way! A little bit of texture goes a long way as well. Seems to me that creative variety is more accessible than we may think..
Ahem, you get the message, right?

“The Contemplation of Metaphoric Flight”, 2019, is a series of digital art illustrations & GIF animations generated from public domain source images via the NYPL digital archives. The illustrations were created by your old friend, Ryan Seslow. The new series of works above were specifically created to be displayed here on the C.A.C as a part of the Net Art website’s ongoing exhibition series. It is intended to serve as a visual example, an accessible template, and the creative potential for displaying, publishing, presenting and archiving such a project. (The whole thing is a metaphor)

Wait! Am I suggesting that an online exhibition, published as a blog post on a unique cross-campus social media network can also be used as a teaching tool? A transparent pedagogical tactic?! Well, yes, yes, I am! Lets dig in.

The original public domain images were cut-out with the pen-tool, composed and applied using adobe photoshop (photoshop is your friend and loves you). Do you need a photoshop pen-tool / cut-out video tutorial? Go Here – The cut-outs were necessary for the first iteration of the static pictures above. (Im referring to the bird portraits and the human clothes used to place their heads onto and into) The cut-outs are handy as they can be saved as both .psd files (the original photoshop documents) and as a transparent .PNG file. The .PNG files have a transparent background, this makes it easy to layer them over and into existing images. Plus they are forever re-usable (variation, variation, variation). But, Ryan, I don’t have access to Photoshop… OK, well, there is a trail versions! Sign up and try it! But after that trail ends, so that you know, photoshop is not required to do any of this. Web applications like Pixlr are free and accessible for all to use in the browser window itself, er, with access to the Internet of course.. OK, you can just download the .PNG files here in ready to use mode (your welcome). 

Click here to access my database, this includes all spiritual GIF making insights and alchemy tactics to engage students!

OK, so, there are a few animations above as well. The first animations above were created in adobe after effects. The renders were pushed to my iPhone and into mobile applications like Glitche (yikes, its only for iOS) and iPhone’s “Clips” video sequence maker (there are alternatives for android) The files can be saved as mp4 or .mov files making it easy to apply the videos into other mobile video editing apps. Filters are fun to play with for more customizing and visual effects. The videos can be looped into GIF animations using great apps like ImgPlay (this app is awesome, it re-sizes, edits, and has multiple out-put sources.) Animated GIFs are great extenders of so many forms of communication! Im hooked on making GIFS! I make them all public domain by adding them to Giphy.com so by all means use them at will! Here is my feed.

Of course, the digital art, illustration, collage, GIF animation aspect can be a great creative course project in and of itself! Indeed, both on an individual level but perhaps collaborating is where the extended creativity and learning takes place. This can be achieved through digital storytelling using a blogging platform just like this one. See that, you find yourself “inside the actual example”! The illustrations above clearly required a caption, captions and or a narrative. Is the narrative fictional? Will you write a short story to support the images or maybe a reflection induced by the sequences of images? What references come to mind or coincide? How can you make the description compelling? Will you share hyperlinks to your references and resources? Will you embed animated GIFs or other snippets of relevant content? Can you recompose this blog post and use it as a metaphoric template for your own class project, assignment, syllabus or exhibition? (Hint, you can easily break free of the digital art example, but it might be fun to play with this as an idea.)

I believe that this example / template series will expand, who wants to collaborate on a creative cross campus project?

And seriously, have FUN with this!

 

Manifesting Exhibition Simulations

Manifesting Exhibition Simulations

It is my intention to bring an electronic exhibition of Deaf Awareness works to a CUNY Art Gallery in NYC.

It is my intention for this exhibition to be a collaborative venture with other CUNY faculty members and CUNY students of all levels.

This exhibition will also simulate as an online experience here on the CUNY Academic Commons’s NET ART Website.

More to come as this progresses..

Feel free to reach out if you would like to find out more –

rseslow @ york.cuny.edu

Online Exhibition :: Communicating My Deaf & Hard of Hearing Self – Part 1

Communicating My Deaf & Hard of Hearing Self – Part 1

Welcome to my first series of art works produced examining and identifying as a deaf and hard of hearing person. It has been a long road. This body of work is the first in a multi-part series with supporting written explanations broken down into individual blog posts. I encourage the viewer to view the gallery of digital art works above and then delve into the individual blog posts listed below.

All of the pieces have been created in 2018 and consist of Digital Illustrations, Collage, Animated GIFs & Video Art. Fragments of manipulated grainy images and re-compositions display the variation and extension of each piece. The works are visual representations for the regular distortions, missing of sounds, words and overall communication I experience daily. They represent how I feel, react, overcompensate and adjust to communication in various interactions. They are intended to be both subtle, confusing and difficult to follow. “Communicating My Deafness – Part 1” is the first installation in the series. It is first published here on my website and shared via my social media platforms. I am seeking to extend this body of work into a lecture series for both the deaf, hard of hearing and the hearing world.

Animated Hearing – https://www.ryanseslow.com/animated-hearing/

Missed Communication Continued – https://www.ryanseslow.com/missed-communication-continued/

40 Years of Missed Communication – https://www.ryanseslow.com/unraveling-integrating-40-years-of-missed-communication/

Fears Faced Continued – https://www.ryanseslow.com/fears-faced-continued-is-this-is-a-series/

The More I missed, the More I Made – https://www.ryanseslow.com/the-more-i-missed-the-more-i-made/

1970’s Hearing Test Art Machine Hacker – https://www.ryanseslow.com/the-1970s-hearing-test-art-machine-hacker/

Opening Another Door – https://www.ryanseslow.com/opening-another-door/

Responsible Communication RE-sponsibility – https://www.ryanseslow.com/responsible-communication-re-sponsibility/

Non-Auditory Sensory Other – https://www.ryanseslow.com/the-non-auditory-sensory-other/

View the entire category on my website here

Exhibition Simulation of Missed Communication

Exhibition Simulation of Missed Communication

“Unraveling & Integrating 40 years of Missed Communication”

This is a “Simulated Proposal” of a new Exhibition that I would very much like to mount. If you are interested in further information please contact me directly via e-mail – ryan (at) ryanseslow.com

Six (or more) large flat screen video monitors hang both vertically and horizontally to create an integrated and balanced pattern on the wall. The art consists of new static digital collage works, animated gifs and motion graphics that produce a multi-channel series of narratives. The various mediums illustrate the narratives about pretending, hiding and being in denial about my severe hearing loss and deafness over the last 40 years. The works examine various aspects of the title itself: “Unraveling & Integrating 40 Years of Missed Communication”.

The exhibition space will also have 1-2 free standing computers on pedestals for visitors to access and use. The exhibition simultaneously is supported by a desktop and mobile website where the show also functions in fragments with individual stories that explain each piece further. Visitors can interact with the content in both exhibitions by sharing their own stories, leaving comments, creating dialogs and or adding to the art works and joining the exhibition.

*This idea is in development. More coming soon.

Further Reading and Supporting Resources from previously published content can be found by clicking here.