"View of Buffalo", Mixed Media
(Cardboard, Newspaper and Spray Paint), "22x"30, 2011
I really enjoy this piece. I loved the process of creating this, it was fun yet difficult. My visual goal was to create a collage but trick the eye into thinking it was a stencil. To succeed in doing this I saved all my beer , frozen pizza and other boxes. I then spray painted the blank side of all these single ply pieces. Black took just 2 coats and 3 cans total but white was absorbed by the cardboard much easier and took around 4 or 5 coats and probably around 6 to 7 cans.
I then started by making the surface. I cut out a "22x "30 piece of double ply cardboard and then mounted a piece of heavy card stock to that. From there I covered the surface with newspaper in the appropriate place (the sky and the road). I also played with how the newspaper was applied, very similar to other projects like "Bong Hits for Authority" and "Just Dessert". It is hard to tell in the sky but the paper is placed to were it looks as if it was radiating from the radio tower. I continued this style on the road, which is much easier to see, having the paper radiate from the horizon line. I then worked from the top down, first I sprayed a small amount of white over the sky portion already cover in newspaper. I faded the amount of paint as I got close to where the mountain breaks into the sky. I then took pieces of the white cardboard and placed them quite randomly over the top half of the surface, leaving breaks in between the pieces to allow the newspaper material to be realized. Once I had done this I created the radio wave using small bits of black. The mountain and surrounding hills and foliage are lacking in detail because of the flat colors I was working with. I attempted to create some variations in depth by attaching smaller pieces on top of the larger. Then came the power lines which I applied on top of everything and really works to balance the piece giving the viewer something with detail rather than just all these big chunks. I then attached the radio waves that are reflected on the road. Finally after hot glue had numbed my finger tips, I added my SB and was complete.
The concept behind this piece has a bit of history to it. Buffalo Mountain sits right behind campus and is simply a beautiful thing to look at, it is almost something of an icon as well( considering the ETSU logo's mountain looks quite familiar to Buffalo). It is pretty ironic to me though that we have this beautiful piece of nature and on top of it sits this cluster of radio/ electrical towers. Although I realize I too am probably benefiting from the towers being there I also realize the extent that people will go to for communication and just simple convenience for that matter. As much as I enjoy my cell phone I would give it up if it meant the removal of such man made objects, especially on a mountain. I get to see the mountain everyday and since I've came to ETSU I was sketching up ideas to do feature Buffalo Mountain in a work. I did do this piece for an assignment in my Computer Art class and did use the computer as a tool to get started. After taking reference photos of the mountain I worked in photoshop to build a design from the photos. Once I had my plan I was done with the computer... other than to document and blog about the work.
Wow, I wrote more than usual for this bad boy. Hopefully it is more successful with some explanation. However, if you would like to see this in person and /or talk about it with me... this piece will be display at the _Frontier Exhibition at the Tipton Gallery, Thursday 5-7pm May 19th.
Hey, OH!...This is a really cool song and a very cool video. I personally appreciate the video for not only its very simple and creative effect but also it goes very well with the song. Please Enjoy!
...keep it chill
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