Eldon Booth

Eldon Booth

Eldon Booth is a moving image artist who makes documentary based films, these films are shot over a long period of time in which the characters involved change in appearance and personality. Booth uses ideas that displays information dealing with fact and fiction, usually documentaries are based on fact, and accurate information, but there are documentaries that deal with false information but revealed in documentary style to label it true. A documentary known as Exit through the Gift Shop is an good example of mockumentary type filming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0b90YppquE&feature=related

Exit through the Gift Shop is based on the world of street art, the documentary/mockumentary displays footage of actual events that occur over a period of time. The film follows Thierry Guetta an amateur film maker as he ventures deep into the world of street art and eventually becomes one himself. The documentary takes a mysterious turn of events as Guetta becomes Mr Brainwash, a street alias that builds a massive reputation for himself. The film becomes somewhat a too good to be true outcome, revealing the locations of the infamous Banksy which is highly unbelievable since the artist is a wanted criminal. Mockumentaries however disguise the fact that the information is false with it's overall appearance and the acting styles of the characters within the film.

Eldon Booth is currently working on a feature length film called Finding Honk, the film is based on a character named Heydon, a young man searching for his older brother Honk. The story is filmed in documentary style, although there is evidence of cinematic techniques such as super slow-motion scenes and colour correction/grading. After watching the trailer, I realized how I couldn't tell if it was a documentary or mockumentary, even if I had no knowledge of these characters, I couldn't tell if the information portrayed is false because the of the little knowledge i have on the characters, the little knowledge I have on the events of that time, and some of the shots seemed shaky as if the camera was hand held.

During the lecture, we had the opportunity to watch the film Elephant directed by Gus Van Sant. The film was a re-inactment of the massacre that occurred at Columbine High School. The film was shot in documentary style with a cinematic film techniques like color correction/grading. Since the film was based on true events, the film seems absolutely true, and any traces of false information would be covered by the techniques used in the film.

Mary Curtis

Mary Curtis

Mary Curtis is a New Zealand Jeweler currently lecturing at the Manukau School of Visual Arts, her work consists jewelry made from functional 3D objects with historical value. Curtis is a collector of objects, like Frances Hansen, not only is the work important but the way it is displayed is just as important as the work itself. "Stuff" was a a show Mary Curtis held that involved 70 pieces of hand made jewelry displayed inside a glass case, the pieces of jewelry were scattered in a random composition inside the case. I personally didn't see the point in making it that way at first, but when Curtis explained how the pieces are so small, it would be a great way of displaying it as one big piece. I also realized that the pieces are so small and scattered, that the display forces the viewer to move in closer and engage with the artwork more. Curtis not only has a unique way of making work, but she also thinks about every other variable when presenting it. I personally don't have much experience with presentation of work, but seeing her work and her installations make me realize how I should take installations seriously.

Personal Experience with Presentation

Coming into art school, I thought the process of making work was the most important part of art making, seeing as it was the longest process, I spent more time thinking about making art work than presenting it. During the painting brief this year, I had prepared 3 main works to display for my final, preparing the work was difficult enough, making 3 main works and preparing experimental works to support those works was time consuming, my thoughts were knowing that I had finished, I wouldn't have to worry about anything else but hanging my works up on the wall before the due time. However, hanging the works up was not the only thing I had to worry about, Frances Hansen advised me to think hard about how my works should be displayed. First off, I had to decide which was my strongest piece and second, how would i present these as works that show development over time. This took me a good 2 hours of thinking, but i eventually came to a conclusion and presented my work with a linear composition, showing my strongest work at the top, and the bottom two as my supporting pieces. The experiments were placed in an order according to the time they were made, the earlier pieces on the bottom, and the latest pieces on the top. I thought this was a good way of presenting my work and showing how they developed over time.