The ART of Ryan Seslow

Collaborating with Javier Cambre, a new series develops

Posted on April 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

4/22/12 :: Collaborating with Javier Cambre, a new series develops.

I am happy to announce the development of a new series of works between my colleague, fellow artist Javier Cambre and myself. I first discovered Javier’s work back in 2006. We were both showing as a part of the CUNY Queensborough Community College Faculty Exhibition. Javier showed a video installation titled “One Plus One”, ( you can view the info here – http://javiercambre.com/section/49819_ONE_PLUS_ONE.html ) and I had installed a large scale wall relief. ( see it here :: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmsmovement/272209456/in/set-929193/) I felt that Javier’s video had an emphasis on movement, gesture and composition. The works were cinematic, yet stretched the traditional aspects of the medium. Much like my own work, through the principles of design I too seek new ways to emphasize movement, variety, and compositional variations. I like to do this through the fragmenting of several inter related parts. I felt even back then, if Javier and I were to collaborate, it would be an energetic approach to creating a contrasting series of exciting works. Javier and I are both multidisciplinary artists. We both work in a variety of mediums, sometimes integrating them together, and sometimes simply showing them by discipline. The image above is the first piece in progress. Javier first arranged a series of some of his silver prints from a trip to Brazil. He spread them on the floor of his loft and re-photographed them. He later printed that as a photograph of photographs. He handed this image to me, and so the process began. I love the content and the high black and white contrast. I see it as a composite of events, stories, and narratives. I felt very much impulsed to add to the stories. I too added characters to the narrative, except mine are fictional, cartoon like, and from several different time periods. I knew I could create a visual tension by layering my screen prints directly on top of the images. This would also give the piece a layered effect and a sense of dimension. It creates the illusion of a foreground, yet the images still seem to float weightlessly. We will be posting our process as the works expand. Check out Javier Cambre’s site here:: http://javiercambre.com

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Posted in Art, artist, creativity, Imagination, people, professor of art, Useful Articles for ANYONE to USE

Tagged Art, artists, collaboration, javier cambre, photography, screen prints

Ongoing 2D design project. A Shared Idea, Inspiration, Transcendence & Evolution.

Posted on April 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

4/17/2012 :: Ongoing 2D design project.

A Shared Idea, Inspiration, Transcendence, Evolution, & Collaboration.

The images below are the result of two single images. Pablo Picasso and Kurt Schwitters are two of my favorite artists (Andy Warhol as well, but we will get back to him below) I wanted to use them as inspiration for this series of collage works. These are the first few pieces from my experiments. Each piece is sized at 8.5″X11″. The desire to create a body of works like this came from my interest in a series of works created by the students of professor Javier Cambre. Cambre is a friend and one of my colleagues at CUNY QCC. I later re-designed my interpretation of the works to fit into a project for myself, as well as my students. I have been teaching 2D design at the college level for 7.5 years. It is a course that I love to teach. I also enjoy intuitively expanding the course content and the class projects. The course allows for students to learn manual techniques, as well as basic graphic design skills. This gives us a lot of options as we focus on understanding the elements of art, and the principles of design. During my classes this week and next, I’m going to ask the class to collaborate on a series of these works by choosing and adding only one element from the original image, and then pass it onto the next person. My classes host between 16 – 22 students per class so the outcomes will generate excitement and serious variation! Stay tuned for that. Are you interested in trying out the project for yourself? The instructions are below this image. By all means, please share your results.

Kurt Picasso Re-arrangement series by Ryan Seslow

Re-Organizing a single Composition (Portrait Image)
In this project you will be re-organizing a representational image into a subjective one. You may work from the image provided (a portrait of Picasso or Kurt Schwitters, just google their names) or you may work from the image of your choice. The image selected must be black and white, and it must be a portrait. (The image should also be a high enough resolution to re-copy and scale to larger or smaller sizes, but then again, if you wish to include texture as an aspect of the work, sky is the limit) You will need at least 6-10 copies of your image, you can make multiples by using a photo copy machine or a printer.
Final output::
You will be re-creating 3 subjective variations of your portrait. The sizes of your re-organized images should not be smaller than 9×11, so please calculate this into your measurements. They can be as large as you would like.
Process::
1. Manipulate the existing image by cutting out several parts and pieces (this includes the individual facial features, head, back round, neck, & clothing areas) You may use your scissors or x-acto knife to cut out your forms.
2. Measure and cut 3 blank picture planes. ( 9×11 is the smallest size that you can use, so you may consider 3 size variations)
3. Lay out the cut pieces in front of you. You will then re-organize and compose your pieces into 3 different compositions. All 3 of the final works must be non- representational and or subjective images.
4. Scan or photograph your final outcomes. Post a copy here, or e-mail them to me using the address on this blog. I will post the works here on an ongoing basis.

Andy Picasso Re-arrangement series by Ryan Seslow

The transcendence to Video Art has evolved to this place, so far…

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Posted in Art, creativity, Imagination, insights, professor of art, Useful Articles for ANYONE to USE, workshop

Tagged 2D design, colaboration, collage, design project, kurt schwitters, new works, picasso, warhol

Artist Profile:: David Sandum

Posted on March 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Artist Profile:: David Sandum

I met David Sandum on twitter about 3+ years ago. We became fast friends and mutual lovers of each others work. David’s use of color, style and subject matter engulf you instantly. You find yourself cast into his work. His friendly warm energy is contagious! I have participated in his fund raising event for the Moss Library in Moss, Norway in 2010, and I am doing so this year again. Read the full info here :: http://bit.ly/zmHVwj

David Sandum was born 1971 in Gothenburg Sweden. Today he resides in Moss Norway and has a studio at Gamle Pikeskolen (since 2003), where he also teaches several private students. Location: Moss, Norway.

David is self-taught, even if he studied art history at the University of Utah. He see’s himself mainly as a colorist – and expressionist. Feelings, energy, and emotions are very much key to his work. The people he paints are never real portraits, “but inner portraits.” Scandinavian influences are Munch, Karsten, and Sparre. Other influences are The German Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) movement (1911-1914) spearheaded by Kandinsky; and continental masters such as Gaugain, Van Gogh, Bonnard, and Matisse.

A quote by Matisse sums it up well: “I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.”

Sandum has had several solo gallery exhibits and has carried out commissions in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the US.

Website: www.davidsandum.com
Twitter: @DavidSandumArt
Facebook art page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/David-Sandum-Art/198087786416
Read CV here: http://www.davidsandum.com/aboutcv.html

Selected interviews/links:
Ten Minutes with Painter David Sandum: http://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2011/06/ten-minutes-with-david-sandum.html
Mousetouch Visual Arts Magazine: David Sandum – I paint emotion: http://musetouch.net/blog/2011/03/21/david-sandum-i-paint-emotion/
Interview: artist David Sandum, the man behind #twitterartexhibit http://svorsk.posterous.com/interview-artist-david-sandum-the-man-behind
David Sandum: A colourful journey http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2010/02/david-sandum-a-colourful-journey/
Chronically Creative: Painting Thru Depression with David Sandum: http://www.magpie-girl.com/20100729/chronically-creative-painting-thru-depression-with-david-sandum

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Posted in Art, artist, creativity, Imagination, paintings, people

Tagged artist, artist profile, david sandum, paintings, twitter

@ryanseslow “Tuned in 2″ Moss Library, Norway, Sneak Peek

Posted on March 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

@ryanseslow “Tuned in 2″ – Moss Library, Norway, Sneak Peek

I am participating in the 2nd Twitter art exhibition in Moss, Norway for charity ( #twitterartexhibitTwo ). This is a great cause created by fellow artist and friend David Sandum – @DavidSandumArt Read the full information about the project here – http://bit.ly/zmHVwj
Two figures pose for a snap shot, as so it seems. The two characters are screen printed onto a digitized image of a large tree. The tree has been turned horizontally to suggest a change in the movement of things today. Sudden and excessive bursts of technology based changes have altered our lives, with little choice but to adapt we scramble to keep up. I mean this in the most positive of ways. We have become unified by TVs, Monitors, Keyboards and mobile devices. In the image, a young television has grown up into a strapping self sufficient flat screen monitor. Ready and willing, forward and onward, forever evolving as they archive and synthesize their data. Our relationships reach to places further and wider than we may have imagined even 10 years ago. I have been induced by technology. It has caused a new shift in my consciousness. I’m sure that I’m not alone. With gratitude and enthusiasm, this I must express.

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Posted in Art, creativity, Imagination, insights, ryan seslow, screen prints, technology

Tagged Art, charity, david sandum, moss library norway, twitterartexhibit

A Self Portrait & a Moment of Satori

Posted on February 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Above is an image of me. I’m holding up a mirror and looking into it. OK, perhaps not exactly, but it is one potentiality of how I see and perceive myself. This is a watered down acrylic painting mixed with some colored pencil over it. I layered it with a nice thick clear acrylic medium. It is mounted on a sturdy illustration board. I may frame it. I may not. I think Ill let my friends and followers on TWITTER help me decide WHAT to do with it next. I posted a quote on my twitter feed yesterday that said this: “Our twitter feed of friends and followers represent the many parts of ourselves, we can examine the parts of ourselves we may not see yet.” I was sitting in traffic when I posted this. It was gridlock on the Long Island Expressway. I normally do not text or tweet while driving, but we were stopped dead for about 15 minutes. These are two great examples of immediacy and self-expression and why twitter is such a great tool for both! We never know when or where inspiration is going to strike. Through my own experiences, it is especially when I am not looking for it. On the other hand though, I have fined tuned my intuition to be on radar for it to a degree. So, as I was looking around at all of the other stopped cars, I had a moment of Satori. Yes, satori, one of those experiences where you realize that you are connected to everything and everyone. I felt all of the ego-based perceptions of separation dissolve! I always love when this happens. It is a euphoric feeling and sensation. At that moment of gratitude, these words came into my head. “Your twitter feed of friends and followers is another great example of this exact same experience”. Everyone is connected. All of those people simply represent the many parts of yourself that you are, have not yet met, developed, or even refuse to see in yourself, you can examine those parts of yourself through the interface and sharing experience the technology allows, you can use twitter as a giant microscope that can examine yourself as the millions of fragments that you are” …….. !!!!!! WHAT! I was overwhelmed to say the least, and where the hell did that come from! I said this out loud, then I realized that my windows were wide open. I got a few perplexed looks back my way. I HAVE TO EXPRESS THIS RIGHT AWAY!! Hence, my tweet! I then realized that I had another dilemma, how do I say this in 140 characters! ARG! Talk about immediate revisions! Finally I got it down and hence the @messages and several DMs flowed in. I am excited to turn this into a post for the blog today. We humans are much more than we are ever taught to think of ourselves as. We are literally infinite universes of potential. We are interconnected, and we really are ONE. This is serious creative potential and we need to understand that. We have so much power to think and feel and share. Twitter is one fragment of the infinite other ways to express and experience this, but if you have never thought of yourself, your followers and those you follow this way, perhaps this insight will add to your experience, yup.

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Tagged Art, awareness, satori, self portrait, twitter

Cement Keyboard Street Installation Project 2012

Posted on February 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Cement Keyboard Street Installation Project 2012

A New Cement Keyboard Street Installation has hit NYC in early 2012. Technology is ephemeral, and maybe more so than we think. We are co-dependent on it, and feel a certain kind of discomfort when it is not accessible (Have you ever, or recently lost your mobile phone, or had your internet access turned off?) This installation project is a metaphor for that, while examining several ways to extend and communicate with its energy. The keyboards are cast in a variety mediums, but in this specific installment, it is cement. The molds are then fractured. They are not usable in any way, yet the viewer resonates with the works as they pass them. In a strange and not so sensual way keyboards unify us as human beings, and the context of this unification is only in its infancy.

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Posted in Art, creativity, Imagination, Installation Art, ryan seslow, sculpture, street art & graffiti, technology

Tagged Art, Cement Keyboard, Project 2012, sculpture. street art, Street Installation

ENERGETIC FUSION :: An Exhibition by Jeffrey Allen Price & Ryan Seslow

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 1 Comment

::ENERGETIC FUSION::

“The Community Collaboration of an Energetic Fusion.”
Welcome, you are now a participant. It is our intention to activate the creative awareness of the CUNY York College Community. You may ask, what is your creative human potential? What can we learn from creatively collaborating with each other? What do we see and retain when there is a public display and means for collaborative creative expression? We, the artists have installed the beginning of an ongoing energetic exhibition that transcends its energy by inducing and inviting our York college students, faculty, community members and invited guests to participate in the development of the works.

That means you, reading this.

We love the contrast of all things natural versus those of synthetic nature. We would like to do something organic with our process. Process and participation are the key words. The gallery space is now filled with a diverse array of multidisciplinary works that interweave through both of our artistic processes and practices as artists. It is a collaborative survey and micro testing of sorts, but we don’t want it to stop just there. We want to induce you, and our community to participate by adding your reactions to the installation.
What do you see? What do you feel? What do you think? Add that! How may this happen? What exactly will happen? Again, This fusion of pre-installed works now provokes you as the viewer, it asks you to question the experience. It will challenge you to assess the effectiveness of non-verbal communication.
The works included and created in the gallery over our 5-week exhibition time display tangible examples of the multidisciplinary potentials of drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, collage, photography, video, and audio. The campus art gallery is the perfect space for this happening. It is a busy location, where people can easily see what is being created, and changing on a regular basis. This will raise awareness about “how ART in a public site specific space” can shape and help raise the overall level of human awareness, non-verbal communication, and a means of the overall creative potential. It also evokes an ENERGY to take creative action. So please join us by making a drawing, taking a photo, creating a sculpture, etching a print, enacting a performance or any other form of expression induced by your experience in the space, and then add it to the installation. We are as curious to see and experience the outcome as we hope you are. Please join us for one of the Energetic Fusion Art labs! Materials will be provided, but you can also bring your own!

Jeffrey Allen Price & Ryan Seslow