Replies: 35 Comments
on Tuesday, February 27th, walt said
Jose, yes, thanks for the advice. I almost mentioned that I would like to try another version to actually turn the pages, possibly include some close ups on the pages that are not spreads and details. Time...just need a little time. And maybe a better camera would be good. But then I'm just now experimenting with these things.
on Tuesday, February 27th, jose said
Beautiful work, beautiful idea, Walt. Must have a stunning effect with higher resolution. Sorry to interfere, hope you don't mind a suggestion: how about some movement? If you get a tripod, set it over the book, squeeze your arm between the tripod and turn the pages with only your hand appearing occasionaly? If you use the digital effect 'Trail', because the book is motionless, once the page has settled and trail effect withers down you'll get a great visual effect. Timing is fine, just about right to enjoy each page. Well done my friend.
on Tuesday, February 27th, Walt said
Jose,
Markus has added more space for videos. I've uploaded my artist's book mentioned below. I did it with a lower resolution and in two parts to make it easier to download for those on dial up. You can see it at:
absolutearts.com/walterking
click on "View the artist's videos. Look for Book one and Book two.
on Tuesday, February 27th, jose said
dial up versions, re-worked, re-edited and reduced, are now available. sorry about the delay. thank you Markus for solving the problem.
on Saturday, February 24th, olivier said
It is waht I thought Jose. Email are not made to transfer such large files. You should post it on one of your web page if you have one or cut the file in smaller pieces. It's OK don't worry for that
on Saturday, February 24th, jose said
Olivier, it doesn't seem to work. My computer tells me I have insufficient memory when I want to send out such a huge file: 617mb! I think we need to get more powerful machines and faster connections if we want to attempt your interesting idea.
on Saturday, February 24th, jose said
Some good ideas there Cecil! Olivier I'm going to pass the avi files back on to the pc - had them stored on tape - and will send them asap. but only the jungle ones. The artforum is 24 min total and I didn't keep avi files of the edited movies uploaded.
on Saturday, February 24th, olivier said
Cecil both bell and rogers have their good days too. I did improve my broadband a lot by buying "Reg Cure" (you will find others even some free ones) to clean my registry and others..it work pretty well. Anyway I built my PC and I am pretty proud of that. It could be fun to have a one time global/glocal event. I will get my pin up ready.
on Saturday, February 24th, Cecil Herring said
I see you all are still at this crossroads of technology, chomping at the bit to make art about motion and art about communicating art! It's all wonderful. I gave up because I e-mailed AA and found out technical guru and genius Marcus was away for a week. He has to tinker to get us up and running. It shouldn't be so difficult. I never bothered to get out the Premiere and the Canon Elura digital camcord because I wanted to paint and had some sky lights installed in my studio for better lighting. I am trying to work with my Sony Cybershot which has a minimovie clip feature. Fast, simple and the little movies are fun. It makes minimovies just right for AA if I can get the extensions saved in AA compatible format. I didn't have problems uploading and downloading until recently. Now things have gone downhill. I have BrightHouse cable but chose the light version to save a couple of bucks $45.00 vs $29.95. I think I will have to back to full service due ever increasing slowness. I hate slow downloads and uploads. The lite has become as slow as dialup and acts just like dialup! Even 10 e-mails take a few minutes to download. I called about it but noone knows anything. A tech person checked my line and said it seemed slow and said I needed to take the modum wire out and see if the pin is in the middle. I think the problem is they are squeezing the lines down more every day at peak usage times of day. So, I am looking for a faster cheaper broadband service. It's a fight with the Bells and cable (both monopolies here). They dominate the wire allotment and charge accordingly! Anyhow, good luck everybody. You all will have great works on and I will watch them. I'd rather get a box of popcorn and go see a movie at a theatre near me. (think I'll do that today.) Wouldn't it be great if we could have a festival of Absolute Art.com art movies at a cinema? A global event? I'd work for that!
on Saturday, February 24th, olivier said
Yes I have a double fast ethernet connection on my mobo. It will be interresting to see how long it will take by email. A full movie still take 3 hours on internet. But I beleive Torrent of Limewire use another kind of compression??
I remember long ago in France a TV show where a selected group of cartoonist meet together on stage to create a large drawing, each adding a few line or short element using part done by previous artist. Some of these group drawings end up with very strong character. Is there a way to do somethimg similar using video with the open source? Since you open the goal perhaps we will be able to develop our own style on video manipulation.
PS I will download on this email if you can upload a video
on Saturday, February 24th, jose said
Salut Olivier, to see them in full screen I would have to upload the original file in .avi. This wouldn't work here, it would take too long for me to upload and for you guys to download. What I can do if you wish and if you have broadband is send you the .avi files to your e-mail and then they will play on full screen with no loss of quality.
I know, Adobe Premiere takes up your time. I was lucky because watching Glenn do it gave me the initial push and from there it becomes pretty much user-friendly. My next step is going to be to create interactive art environments using Premiere and Flash... but that will take some time. And always, the painting will come first!
on Friday, February 23rd, olivier said
Nicely done Jose. I have macromedia flash MX and 9 is there a way to see them in full screen? I did try to work with adobe premiere..it so long. Good job.
on Friday, February 23rd, walt said
Jose, I'm having trouble uploading anything at all. AA is working on it.
on Friday, February 23rd, jose said
I've got them sized-down and ready but the up-load function isn't working at my end. I discovered I have a 4mb connection but that only works on the download... upload is still very slow. The stuff you find out when you start digging into the smal print!. I'll keep trying.
on Friday, February 23rd, Mark said
Jose, don't fret over it. It must be even more frustrating for you. We apreciate all your work.
on Thursday, February 22nd, jose said
I'm sorry folks, I can imagine how frustrating it must be. Should have waited a while longer before generating all this hype. I'm also having trouble uploading the dial-up freindly versions I just made. Will try again in about an hour or so. Sorry about that. And by the way, unfortunately the quality of dial-up friendly files greatly reduces the streaming of the movie and the whole feeling of the thing... but at least you'll get an idea.
on Thursday, February 22nd, Margaret said
I think the video feature is just great and would that I had the bucks for DSL or cable, but not just now. I have dial-up also, Mark, and can't watch any videos on the Internet at all, much less upload a video. Very frustrating. Some day when we enter the mainstream, we will have a lot videos to catch up on!
on Thursday, February 22nd, jose said
Tell you what Mark, I'm going to get back to the drawing board and make a second copy for dial-up connection. the quality won't be so good - tried it first but wasn't happy - but at least it will give everybody a chance to see what can be done. check in about an hour or so.
on Thursday, February 22nd, Mark said
Jose,
Tried to view your video, but am unable to. I see others have had some trouble to, but I think it might be that I am on dial-up, AARRRGGG! Any way wish I could see more then the few seconds that I do, it seems an intersting idea. Maybe one day when I can I too will take advantage of the video feature. I wish you good luck with it.
on Wednesday, February 21st, jose said
Thank you John, Jonathan. Cecil, I’m glad I got you ‘hooked’. Until aa offered us this feature I really didn’t put much faith in video beyond my own personal and amateurish use. I had fun putting a few things together but I wouldn’t even show it to friends, just the family [Oh no! not another one dad!!!]. This feature kind of changed my perspective, I went back to my old tapes, ‘cut’ them up and put them through Adobe Premiere and hoped that they would tell a story. I’m really pleased to see the reactions to this blog and discover that they actually do tell a story.
Credit has to be given to my friend Glenn who taught me a lot while we were working on the art forum docu. and who got me hooked in the first place. He had a great way of not making you feel you were talking to a camera – the talking heads bits are Glenn’s doing, and those are the real toughies. I learnt a great deal about holding the camera and not worrying too much about what I was capturing and then piecing things together. I’m afraid I am not familiar with Mac to be able to give you any helpful pointers but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. The trick is to reassemble the stuff through video-editing software, though you can of course go straight from the camera if you have a vision of what you want to bring across and manage to get the whole thing in one succession. I’m not that good… and I enjoy pasting everything back together in a different sequence.
If you get your old camera and manage to convert the image to digital format and on to your Mac you should be able to enhance colour and lighting even on the lesser quality clips… or, you just use the sound bytes and put some effect on those clips. Anyway, as I said, I’m glad I passed on my enthusiasm, that’s what I had intended. This blog wasn’t so much about me wanting to flaunt my videos but about how we can use this tool to present aspects of our work that would otherwise go unnoticed and would probably be lost. This way we keep a record of our activity. That’s a major plus.
on Wednesday, February 21st, Jonathan said
great video!!!!
on Tuesday, February 20th, Cecil Herring said
Dear Jose: First, I have to tell you, I wrote about you to a friend, "I got new work up on AA last night and have been trying to upload a minimovie to my page but I don't have the right entensions. I've written them find out how to do it. I like Jose Frietas Cruz from Portugal - his blog-movie. I like his minimovie about the jungles or whereever that is - I got a real sense of him actually. You have to keep clicking on the time line to make it load and continue but I found it enchanting and had to see it to the end. I am going to write him. This movie/paintings tool has piqued my interest and inspiration."
Now, my words are for you, Jose: I love your jungle movie. it is poetic and a moving piece, light and ethereal and says more than I thought possible with a - a MOVE Y! It's a MOVE Y! Amazing. I get a real sense of you as an artist and it explains your paintings quite a lot. I was so inspired I kind of went crazy and ran to my studio and starting making mini clips with my Sony Cybershot. They didn't work out. Wrong light bulbs, wrong everything, my hands shook...then clips would not upload onto Absolute Arts. I got an error message! My Mac Quicktime MOV.02452.MPG was not compatible. Now, I will get out my 2 year old Canon Elura Camcord and Adobe Premiere and TRY TO make a mini movie. Maybe I'll figure it out. Thanks for lighting my fire!
on Tuesday, February 20th, John said
Very nice site!
on Tuesday, February 20th, walt said
Yes, there is something wrong. Can't upload videos at all at the moment. Wanted to put up the book clip.
on Tuesday, February 20th, walt said
I think Andrew may have a point. My shorter clips seem to work best. In fact around a minute and a half at most. I've even had a hard time loading up anything over that time length.
on Tuesday, February 20th, jose said
Andrew, I think the best is to aim for under 2.30 min. My problem is I'm still being carried away with the enthusiasm and novelty of it all. Look forward to seeing images of you in Marco Island some day.
on Tuesday, February 20th, jose said
So, to keep it short, Walt, sounds like a great idea. I've got two projects I want to record: portuguese 17th century tiles and a fabulous rock formation in the ocean.
on Tuesday, February 20th, jose said
Walt, Andrew, I cant seem to be able to post longer replies than this.
on Tuesday, February 20th, jose said
test
on Tuesday, February 20th, Andrew said
Jose, I haven't been able to get the download to go past 50%. I think this is a GREAT new tool, once it's perfected, and I can just imagine how I would have put it to use for the final Florida blog. There are some bugs to work out, maybe by snipping the video into smaller, easily downloadable dialup sizes. I normally use high speed, but am in court with a cut throat provider who has blocked my line. So I'm stuck with dial up until they let me use another high speed provider. Just like the good ol' days.
on Monday, February 19th, $name said
Very nice site!
on Friday, February 16th, walt said
Jose, yes this is-- to us at least--a rather ubiquitous artist discussion...but still valid and current, especially here on aa where there are so many young and ameteur artists who want to be involved in the discourse even if they remain primarily behind the curtain so to speak.
In my own work I have several modes of operation. When I travel or hang out I make small watercolors and sketches. These are nothing more than recordings of what I saw and what it looked like and perhaps how I felt about it at the moment. They are akin to photographs although illustratively journalistic they are not at all photographic. These often go nowhere on their own. They are simply me observing.
Sometimes, years later, these impressions will have germinated, coupled and entwined with conversations, readings and musings on the nature of reality and my place in it. That's when the ideas for painting come. Often I have the idea, jot it down as a small thumbnail in those same sketchbooks and begin working that image, crafting it into realization. Other times, especially when I haven't been able to paint whether for psychological reasons or time restraints, I feel the need to simply begin with no idea where I'm going. Before long something bubbles up after much laying on of color, scaping it off, drawing a form or a figure, scraping it off again until something gets posited that captures my mind and soul...this is the beginning of the dialogue with the image that essentially drives my work. When I say a painting speaks to me it is a litteral statement. It is as if I make a prayer and God says, "it isn't quite like that you know. Have you ever thought...?" and this dialogue continues until what I originally posited is changed and edited and crafted and polished
(not so much in technique as in content) into a fully formed...what should I call it? An idea? A picture? An image or metaphor for the world that has now become more clear to me? Yes...an epiphany whether great or small occurs at some point along the way. Sometimes I think I don't know what I'm doing. Then it is done and I look and "Oh!That's what it is about." And that is sometimes when it gets a title. Other times the title comes in the middle of the process or even at the beginning. But those titled in the beginning are the most likely to be retitled later.
I have an artists book I recently finished that has a story but no words. I simply call it the Book. Its inspiration is the old and new testament. Beyond that it is a stream of conscious series of metaphorical images (pictures to be sure) of certain key highlights of that story often with anachronism and a healthy amount of my own interpretation. It is by no means sacriligeous as I have a certain respect for any text that comes down to us from history. But it often does not follow the usual interpretations and pictures things that most Biblical illustrations obscure. I doubt any religious publisher would ever publish it even though there is no real reason not to.
I think, because I really like the idea of your experiment that I'll put together a video slide show of the Book without words, maybe some music, and upload it to my site for a future experiment in the same vein as your own. Let's see if we can make your idea into something that is a regular addition to the blogs. My hat is off to you once again my friend.
on Friday, February 16th, jose said
here is the transcription of the video text:
I don’t work at the heat of emotion. I’ll experience the emotion and I’ll live the emotion, and I’ll register things in my little black book, but the image always comes later.
When I’m working I’m not really thinking about what I want to do, I’m just using colour, and I watch how colour reacts and happens. Then, as I’m going along, this connection with the things that I have read and felt suddenly happens and I start visualising some things – I start seeing something that has to do with something that I have read or felt and written in my book and that’s when I start putting a bit more direction into the work. But I don’t have a pre-arranged vision. I’ll do structural things in my little book and organize things in a certain way, and maybe that then happens on the canvas at some point. But when I place a canvas on the ground to start work I’m not thinking ‘this is going to be that particular painting x’, it’s not going to be that one on page two or three of my little book. It’s just an open page and I see where it goes. But then all the back-up work I’ll have done in the past eventually ends up there.
Sometimes I go on spells for more than a year where I don’t sell a single painting. There are times when it doesn’t happen because people wanted what you were doing before and not what you are experimenting with at the moment and it takes time for them to adapt and to get used to the new paintings. But [to think] because I don’t sell, or because I’m not in the ‘right’ galleries now, at this age, and because I’m not doing things other people think I am supposed to be doing at this age that I’m going to give up? No!
There’s fortunately, still, a wide group of people who don’t think that Art is about the Art market. You produce, and if you manage to get through the filters that take you up there, fine enough. But it’s not the reason we are doing it. Is it? We’re doing it because we feel this urge to do it. And just because I’m not in NY or Berlin it doesn’t mean that I’m not an artist. [It just means that the people who believe] that they’re dictating what Art is, aren’t seeing this work - not necessarily my own, but a whole lot of people who are doing it and others [think they can] simply dismiss and say that it’s not art because it’s not working within the system that is expected by galleries and the ‘market’.
No, we are not working within those parameters. We’re trying to set our own parameters and secretly hoping that they’ll never be accepted by the market because [the reality of things is that] you don’t really want to be cornered by that because once you are in the art-market chances are greater that you are ‘dead’ as an artist.
Nowadays, an artist has got the means [and the tools] to be his own boss. It takes a little bit more work. You can’t wrap yourself up in that mysterious aura of the mysterious artist who only paints and lives locked-up in his artist space waiting for somebody to come and find him. Today, for the very first time in history probably, artists can actually become independent.
on Friday, February 16th, jose said
Hi Walt. I know, I sometimes get frustrated. Sometimes they will download and then crash halfway through and I am left with a half-playing clip stored somewhere in my computer that activates every time I want to see that particular clip. I have to go to system tools and clean disk to wipe out the information stored in the internet files and try to get a new download. That is why I included the information that it should run for 3.45... otherwise people might think it was just green shrubberies and whatever they managed to download. But this was a test and I am sure that the good people at aa will perfect this thing in no time. And I am also sure my connection is to slow.
I had already seen the two videos you posted so far. The interview with Inka Essenhigh is very interesting. I think this is a very good way to share these types of encounters and to record some of our steps that would otherwise be lost.
I guess I’ll go transcribe what I say in the video – nothing new, things we discussed here already – so that we can start an ‘argument’ going.
on Friday, February 16th, walt said
Jose,
I'm having touble getting the video to load up. I tried one of the other clips and it did a better job. I suppose there could be a lot of traffic on that particular clip since it is the object of your experiment. But it would play for a few seconds then snap back and pause.
It's a great idea and I hope we can find a way to make it work. I have several interviews with New York artists I'd like to do the same with.
This time I want to try something different using a tool absolutearts.com recently put at our disposal. While I was looking through old footage to create short videos to place in my portfolio I came up with a few ideas for future projects involving video, namely, it could be interesting to present a blog on video or use video as the actual blog and then respond to the comments in the usual way. But would it work? I�m pretty sure that it can come in handy to liven things up a bit now and then � though never as a full substitute for text. I like text. I have no doubts that aa will one day manage to have the clip play directly on this page and allow us to respond without too much moving about, but for now I�d ask you to click here, watch the video at the top of the selection list in my portfolio, the one titled �junglewalk.jungletalk�, and then return to post your comment. The theme of this blog is obviously not the merit of my video but the idea, not totally new, that nowadays the artist has many tools at his disposal to become independent and have a go at a living in spite of the odds. Even way-out in the jungle where I was back then, aa allowed me to keep a record of my activity as an artist, and I am more and more convinced that keeping as rich a record as possible of our work and interventions is an important thing to invest time in. I hope this works and that we can discuss this further. By the way, the clip should run for 3.45 min. View The Video Blog Here
