research essay due 12/10/13

The creative usage of digital technologies is something the people are becoming more and more familiar with as the years progress. The accessibility of technology is at it’s peak, and the users range from old to very young. It not is surprising that in the midst of this technological savvy age, there is a new(er) medium forming around and inside of it. Digital art is progressing just as fast as the digital users are, from learning to manipulate web pages into works of satirical value, to making complex and bizarre computer animations, the art world is expanding and all the new works are exciting and refreshing.

Two artists that are in the digital realm of the art world are Takeshi Murata and Adam Sammons. These two multimedia digital artists work in the same fields: animation, video, installations, web art, photography, and glitch art. Though they share the same fields of interest and their work is very similar, each has their own individual style and goals that they wish to accomplish with their works.

Takeshi Murata, born in Chicago, IL in 1974, earned his B.F.A in Film/Video/Animation in 1997 from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. He is currently living and working out of New York City, NY. Murata’s work is primarily animation; he focuses on shapes and the movement of those shapes and how they play together when other shapes and colors are introduced. He is interested in distortion and the human essence behind the work. In a video interview he says, he wanted to make art that was able to cross over into different platforms and seen in different ways (the Creators Project). From the video interview, I learned a lot about Takeshi’s intentions with his art, he wants an emotional connection to come out of his work, and he wants an organic feeling to be felt in a scene of distortion and glitch. Takeshi’s video work is usually projected onto walls of large rooms or theaters and personally I am not sure how that is supposed to feel human, but I more than likely just need to see his work in real life in that environment to actually determine whether or not that intention is achieved.

Adam Sammons, born in Portland, OR in 1989, obtained his Undergraduate Studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA in 2008-2009. Sammons is currently living and working out of Portland, OR. Sammon’s work is multi-media, he does everything across the board, but his emphasis is digital media animation. He combines all his work in one by creating 3d images on the computer, printing them on large sheets of paper or painting them on canvases, and then taking photos of them in strange places. His work is very similar to that of Murata's in the sense that they both focus on shapes and colors and organic feels.

I was able to get in contact with him via email to ask him some questions and get an insight on his work and inspiration. He picked the questions that were easiest for him to answer, and ones that gave me an interesting idea about the type of person that he is. Here are a few screen shots from our emails back and forth:

The comparative works that I have picked from both of these artists are very similar; they are video animations, made up of a variety of shapes and colors, and both include a soundtrack. Murata's piece is called "Melter 2", the piece was created in 2003 and has a runtime of 4 minutes (Murata). Here is a link to 1minute of the video: http://archive.rhizome.org/artbase/54088/

Takeshi Murata: Melter 2 from Times Square Arts on Vimeo.
The "Melter 2" was featured on the Times Square screens from November 1-30, 2012 every night at 11:57 p.m, the reason behind this was Murata's need to present his work in a large and open area for many people to see and experience.

Murata's video features many hand drawn organic shapes and animates them to move and change color that give it a psychedelic feel. This piece is successful because it has a simplicity to it that engages the audience. The fluid movements of Murata's animations are fantastic in the sense that everything flows together and the movements make sense aesthetically. The use of color plays a large role in this piece as well because they add a contrast to the organic shapes since these vibrant and rich colors aren't usually associated with organic matter.

The piece that I chose to represent Adam Sammons' work is called, "Sea Nile Demension" the run time is 1:42 and it was made in 2012 through computer animation software and Adobe AfterEffects (Sammons).


Sea Nile Dimension from Adam Sammons on Vimeo.

Sammons' video was not displayed in a gallery of any sort, but it was featured on his Tumblr, Twitter, and Vimeo account.

"Sea Nile Dimension" is a colorful animation made up of distinct shapes and bizarre polygons that move in a very harsh and rapid way. Sammons creates his own shapes and unique movement, and the use of his unconventional shapes make the video animation very successful. In contrast to Murata's work, Sammons uses hard lines and his shapes don't move as fluidly together as in "Melter 2". As digital artists, both of these pieces are successful because they are unique in showing the endless ways to produce similar things. The variation and opportunities to create digital art are endless because of the new technology, new media is taking over the art scene because of the accessibility and ability to learn how to master new technologies.



Works Cited:

Murata, Takeshi. "Melter 2". Rhizome.com. 2003. http://rhizome.org/artbase/artwork/54088/. Web.

Sammons, Adam. "Sea Nile Dimension" 2012. Vimeo Video: http://vimeo.com/35509755. Web.

The Creators Project. "3D Landscapes Of Melting Color | Takeshi Murata". 10 Jul, 2010. Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0wALLf75jU. Web.

Times Square Arts. "Takeshi Murata: Melter 2" 2012. Vimeo Video:http://vimeo.com/55053251. Web.