I am continuing to look at video art as the core medium of my work.  So, as such it makes sense to look at artists who have done the same. I recalled names that educators such as Brian Weaver, Lee Merrill, Brandon Hudson, and others have shared with me.  I am researching and seeking to understand expressing identity as an African-American, and inner turmoil that has brewed over decades, as an aspect of my self-portraiture.  It is an even greater challenge because the processing of all of my experience has been affected by MPD, though I never knew until recent years.

On another note, for about a year or two I've been haunted by the memory of a work I'd seen, but cannot identify...I've also drawn a still of the video and asked at least a score of educators, MFA's, and MA's.  No one could recall ever seeing anything like it.  Perhaps it is a figment of my imagination, or a distorted memory.

Either way, I've looked at works from well-known video artists such asNam Jun Paik, Tony Oursler, and of course Bill Viola, and Carrie Mae Weems, to try and understand my own ideas and feelings.  I am looking at how they can use symbology, as well as how they use performance effectively.

The research has influenced this piece, I started out calling 'Selfie'...For now I've moved to calling it 'So Many Tiers.'  This work represents a view of my life cumulatively.  Looking expressly at what that lifetime, principally what its thinking felts like. 

The work is in progress, however, here is a preliminary view of what is very close to what the work will be like when completed.  Things like timing, music, and the blended apparitional imagery will likely be adjusted or changed. 

On one hand, we as citizens want to be good citizens and address social and political issues in ways that make a difference.  However, high-frequency, short timespan, highly sensationalized news cycles, we are probably inundated.    But that is not the worst of the circumstance, it is also the case that we generally are overloaded with bad news, ill will, and fear-mongering. How bad it gets and the affect it has on our psyche are the core thoughts of 'Social Product.'

The video below is simply a capture of some work-in-progress.

This is my first sculpture that is not wood or metal sculpture, The work will combine poultry wire,  tape and clay, with, projection video, and iPhones.  It began with a chicken-wire structure for the head form.  Somewhat of a caricature form of my own head, vertically long and narrow.  I covered the wire form with gaffing tape, and then with papier-mâché, which I'll sand and then cover with gesso.  Uncertain yet whether or not I will tint the piece, or rely on the projection video to provide the skintone.

The projection video is my face, of course, performatively expressing my feelings about many things we are all forced to deal with.  What those things are specifically are unknown until on the other side, inside the form, there are a bunch of LCD screens (donated iPhones) which are playing video loops of various current events, and interview clips, press comments from leaders and influencers, and a variety of other emotionally impactful things.   

I am scraping video clips from the internet, from news agencies, youtube, tiktok, whatsapp, 4Chan and other sites for the content of those videos that represent what we are exposed to hour after hour, day after day.   The videos will be edited in to a loop that will be running from different starting points on six to eight screens inside the head shaped form.

Yes, it's been too long. Every day, I kept thinking...hmmm, I need to update my blog...but then I was actually working or making art work.   So there!   Then again, I also said to myself, no one is reading it...but I do need a trail of updates as I progress...ugh someone turn off my brain it's driving me crazy!

Honestly!  Blogging?? I can barely keep up with my thoughts and ideas, and much less write them down.   I cannot help editing them (the thoughts), as opposed to keeping it closer to
stream-of -conscious like...

I am guessing that one of the benefits, aside from documentation that can aid in communication between student and professor, is that from an academic perspective it can aid in slowing down the thoughts, or help in making some thoughts happen if you suffer from a dry spell (of thinking hahah).  

I will be catching up, with pics and video here and there, on what has transpired in the past 10 days.I am spending the next few hours updating my notebooks, and this blog.  So, please check it on Monday, the 9th, to see where I am regarding my current works right now.