luminous deer

digital arts presents

luminous deeruniversity of oregonbachelor of fine arts2010 catalog

introductionLuminous Deer takes its cue from the historic Made in Oregon sign which graces the rooftop of the University of Oregon in Portland. The exhibition showcases the work of 13 dedicated artists who relocated to Portland for a fifth year of focused undergraduate study devoted entirely to the research and development of their terminal project. These highly motivated Digital Arts Bachelor of Fine Arts students creatively navigate between studio practice, media specific internships, academic study and individualized research. Collectively, their work challenges mediated assumptions of complicity and truth be it via social networks, political satire, reality television, excessive consumerism, cinema or simply through eloquent personal reflections on identity, nation and culture.

Their subject matter, individual to each, is as multifaceted as their visual landscape. Each has distilled their idea to its purest form and specifically chosen a media to convey its relevance. Alison Ho, influenced by being in-between cultures and multi-lingual, is interested in the tension of language. Christopher Oshiro is all about the glamorous pooch and our cultural obsession with humanizing our pets. Daniel Sexton likes to collect things and through creative exploration extends this practice into a recoding of comic books and new magazines. Jennifer Cohen takes a Darwinian approach to social constructions that determine an animal’s desirability as pet by one culture and viability as a source of food by another. Drawing enables Kate Sessions to capture the immediacy of the fleeting moment. Liz Bayan examines her relationship to her computer, a tool she views as the ultimate confessional yet one whose sincerity she questions. Matt Nixon reconstructs early picture making technologies into cinematic overtures. Melissa Tennant engages the physical embodiment of animals and humans in 3-D animations. Nawal Alaoui explores spatial relations through video installation. Paul Calvert focuses on pop culture’s obsession with Michael Jackson. Priscilla Vasquez uses storytelling to decode the silence of childhood sexual experience. Sarah Ludwig investigates queer identity through visual explorations of domestic space. And lastly, Steven Uppinghouse uses political satire and popular slogans to highlighst preconceived notions of power, nation and culture.

These 13 artists articulate their positions with an intensity and tenacity that leave a distinct impression.

-Kartz Ucci and Zara Logue, Portland, Oregon June 2010

process collaboration frustration complexity conceptualize communicate language type image confusion production ridiculous critical identity self-identification culture race ethnicity categorization data information observation design two-dimensional tension conflict concise contrast juxtaposition research experiments failure words mind-mapping bright color in-between blunt clean accountable thinking interpreting visual questioning discover lost lists impulse meticulous geography place space configuration efficiency evolving stubborn constant relationship intersecting experience

alison ho

bfa digital arts 2010

alison ho

Ingredients: carbonated water, sucrose, glucose, citric acid, taurine, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, caffeine, caramel color, benzoic acid, sorbic acid, l-carntine, inositol, niacinaide, calcium pantothenate, milk thistle extract, gingko biloba leaf extract, guarana seed extract, panax ginseng root extract, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobolamin.

christopher oshiro

christopher oshiro

I’m interested in exploring methods of archiving, organizing and prototyping memorabilia. The concept of authorship and authenticity are highlighted through the recoding of appropriated material.

daniel sexton

daniel sexton

Dog and cat lovers constantly argue over which is the better pet. But when it comes to dinner, would you prefer to eat a dog or a cat? Could you look at these animals and then eat them? This year I have been exploring the idea that pets can also be food. Though I am not a vegetarian, I would never consider eating a dog, yet in some cultures this is perfectly acceptable. Where do people draw the line between pets and food?

jennifer cohen

jennifer cohen

Illustration and drawing are like meditation to me. I like to capture the fleeting moment, the chance encounter or the odd juxtaposition and commit it to paper. I choose to work with pen because the ability to erase a mistake terrifies me. To express your idea properly you must give the moment your full attention. Mistakes are intrinsic to the process of drawing.

I also work in animation, 3-D modeling, object making and photography. Ultimately, concept should guide the hand in the choice of material or tool. This year I have explored the notion of how personal perceptions are shaped and formed, specifically our relationships with strangers and to our strange ideas. My intention is to get your attention for just a moment and perhaps make you smile.

You can see more of my work on my website and blog, KateSessions.com.

kate sessions

kate sessions

I have panic attacks. I am having one right now, in fact, because I am stressed out over having to write this artist statement that defines the last year of my life. I have spent the last six months thinking about myself - about how I interact with people, about the relationships I maintain and about the ones I cannot. In the relationships I can sustain, none is more prominent that the one I have with my computer. The most important part of any relationship is trust and communication. And while it seems I cannot figure out how to work these values into my relationships with people, my computer and I have that special bond. My computer and alternately the Internet are my main sources of companionship, comfort, entertainment and stability. And the feelings I have towards it are very similar to feelings I have towards people in my life. When my computer doesn’t work, I feel frustrated. When the Internet is inaccessible, I feel alone and abandoned. When I find a new TV show online and watch the entire season in succession I feel pure happiness. And when even such a solid relationship as my computer and I have on occasion isn’t enough then there is AIM, Facebook, Skype, Craigslist, etc … all social networks for me to reconnect virtually with anyone. But sometimes I wonder how people see me through my computer.

Martin Heidegger talks about how technology is a way of revealing the self in his text, The Question Concerning Technology. Since the inception of computers and the Internet into our daily lives, technology has become a way for anyone to leave their personal imprint on the world. It has become a way for people to connect with each other and a new and interesting means of self-reflection. Not only are we putting all types of personal and private information onto the Internet, we are also defining ourselves through this information. Due to Facebook, I am now someone whose religious views are: I love Jesus, but I drink a little and whose favorite music is: Animal Collective, Cocorosie, Joanna Newsom, Kimya Dawson, The Zombies and Islands. This information becomes me, only because I put it on the Internet in the first place. However, technology is also a way of concealing oneself. While the information you put on the internet is entirely self reflexive, it isn’t the entire Truth. It isn’t everything there is. Concealment simultaneously happens through the Internet. While there may be endless amounts of information about any given person on the Internet, there is even more information that has been left out either intentionally or not. It is quite possible that this concealment may be subconscious but it may also be our way of protecting ourselves through suppressing issues or experiences we do not want other people to know about. I am interested in the information that has been left out - omitted from society and history. The bulk of my work lies in pressuring this new cyber social system and questioning how it adds to and subtracts from our view of self. Why is it that we are more comfortable interacting with people behind the anonymity of a screen? Is this due to some new social phenomenon? Or is it just the most modern way of revealing and concealing our identities to and from ourselves and other people?

liz bayan

liz bayan

matthew nixon

My terminal project for the year is what I term as “The Chimera”, specifically the physical embodiment of the similarities between animals and humans. I feel that it is important to highlight these because we have forgotten our shared past with the natural world. We are more similar to animals, and they to us, than we civilized humans would like to believe. I think we should remember our shared connections and behaviors. We are not so different from one another.

As an example of my work, the concept for my winter installment was humanity’s talent and instinct for predation both on animals and other humans. Humans often hunt through the use of deception using devices such as camouflage, lies, etc. In this specific instance, the deception was that of a beautiful woman concealing a wicked bank of teeth. This idea was based on the behaviors and characteristics of the Anglerfish, a fish who uses a lure to draw in its victims before exposing its hideous teeth. I have hopes that “The Chimera” simulates for its audience the same reaction as that of the Anglerfish’s prey. I hope to generate fear and discomfort in the viewer as well as a realization that we humans are more than capable of being the creature that we see.

melissa tennant

melissa tennant

I have always been interested in film installation and the energy it brings to a space.

nawal alaoui

nawal alaoui

A developing trend in modern Western Civilization is the rejection of religion and the adoption of a secular theology. This is especially the case with Christianity, being the one religion most integrated with European and US culture. Parallels can be drawn between traditional Catholic canons and popular culture’s secular obsession with pop icons. Devoted fans worship their celebrities just as the early Catholic Church praised its Saints. We collect their belongings, obsess over their entire life stories, we build shrines and so much more, all in the expectation that they are more than human. My project seeks to translate our modern obsession with pop icons through the language and devices of traditional religious Canonization.

paul calvert

paul calvert

I’m interested in the conversations and ideas that surface over a shared bottle of wine.

With this project I want to explore this idea of revelation and to apply its methodology to unveiling the secrecy that seems to surround conversations about our early sexual experiences. I have been gathering a collection of deeply personal experiences via stories that people submitted to my blog, www.myfirsto.tumblr.com.

Here is an excerpt of one of the many stories… That red light shot up the back seat into my core. I felt a rush of warm blood fill my every vein and I shivered as if the coldest winds had come over me, but there was nothing cold about this shiver.

I work in photography, illustration, print based media design, object making and sound.

priscilla vasquez

priscilla vasquez

sarah ludwig

I guess you could say everything stems from my love of comedy. I would consider myself an aspiring comedian who needs more practice. I pull a lot of my material from news and current events. Usually these just manifest as stories that I work into a collection. These stories or fragments of conversation evolved into graphic representations once I met Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

As soon as I heard the newly elected Senator had posed nude for Cosmopolitan because he won a contest in 1982 titled “America’s Sexiest Man,” I knew I had to make a graphic for it. That’s when I realized I could bring my comedy into my art practice. I started making hilarious graphics about stupid things people had said or done. The work began with mostly political or popular figures but slowly turned to more personal stories from my life.

Sayings such as no one gives a fuck if you’re the walrus, was a response to someone randomly singing those familiar lines from a Beatles song. I don’t hate the Beatles but I dislike the notion that people equivocate their own rendition of the song with being cool. In turn I hate myself for reacting because who doesn’t like to have their voice heard. I see my work as a self-reflexive exercise that questions society and ideas of pop culture but above all pokes fun at human folly.

steven “pocket” uppinghouse

steven uppinghouse

acknowledgmentsThe students of the University of Oregon Digital Arts program would like to thank the Digital Arts faculty for their assistance during our BFA year.

digital arts facultyColin Ives

Craig Hickman

John Park

Kartz Ucci

Michael Salter

Ying Tan

Zara Logue


Alison Ho

I took a nap instead of thinking conceptually.Collaboration with Liz BayanText InstallationVariable

Just add vinylChina Design Now Portland Art Museum WorkshopVinyl, t-shirtVariable

Question number nineDigital print30” x 22”

SE PowellDigital print31” x 42”

Christopher Oshiro

superegoDigital illustrationVariable

makeAdaveDigital illustrationVariable

dogPartyEventVariable

feedScreen capDigital videoVariable

Daniel Sexton

Pins collectiveCNC plastic, paintVariable

ZippoCNC plastic, paint1.5” x 2” x .5”

ComicsDigital printsComic book, cellophane wrapper36” x 24”

StackLasercut baseball cards3” x 2” x .5”

Jennifer Cohen

Hot DogDigital illustration20” x 16”

Marmalade Kitten on ToastDigital illustration20” x 16”

Micropig in a BlanketDigital illustration20” x 16”

Goldfish SushiDigital illustration20” x 16”

index

Kate Sessions

Centaur and MermaidIllustrationInk on Watercolor Paper12” x 9”

How To Identify A VillainIllustrationInk on Watercolor Paper13” x 10”

77 on the #17IllustrationBristol Sketchbook, Ink, VinylVariable

Scythian MythIllustrationInk11” x 88”

Liz Bayan

styrofoam robotPerformance with styrofoam and gorilla tape5’4”

COPY CATCollaboration with Alison HoInteractive video installationVariable

examination of conscienceVideo performanceVariable

autocritiqueInteractive performanceVariable

Matthew Nixon

luminousdeer1 Found image, altered text

luminousdeer2 Negative 120 mm filmPresidential mask, found sign

luminousdeer3Negative 35mm filmPresidential mask, lighting fixture, bulb wattage Variable

luminousdeer4 Synthetic deer antlers, lighting fixture, bulb wattage Variable

luminousdeer5 Installation viewSingle channel video, visual display unit, stereo monitors

luminousdeer6 Installation viewDigital print on music stand, lighting fixture, bulb wattage Variable

luminousdeer7Installation detail White t-shirt, iron-on transfer, mining helmet, synthetic deer head wall mount, blue velvet blazer


Melissa Tennant

La FemmeProcess, InstallationBlender, handheld projectorVariable

Ant Chimera3-D printBlender4.5” x 6”

Luminous Deer Animation4 Video StillsBlenderVariable

Nawal Alaoui

UntitledVideo InstallationVariable

UntitledVideo InstallationVariable Fall4 Video StillsVideo InstallationVariable Flying4 Video StillsVideo InstallationVariable

Paul Calvert

Characters for The Urban Wildlife GuideDigital illustrationVariable

The ProdigyMDF board, colored acrylic, acrylic paint, epoxy22” x 14”

The Prince of PopMDF board, colored acrylic, acrylic paint, epoxy38” x 24”

Priscilla Vasquez

UntitledProcess

UntitledDoll and sound module Cloth, polyester fiberfillVariable

UntitledDigital photograph22” x 14”

Shadow Digital photograph22” x 14”

Sarah Ludwig

Untitled Window #1Digital photograph 13.5” x 20.5”

index

Untitled Window #4Laser-cut acrylic, cellophane, digital print 12.5” x 9”

Untitled Model #3Digital photograph 8” x 12”

Untitled Model #1Digital photograph 8” x 12”

Steven “Pocket” Uppinghouse

FTWalrusDigital illustrationVariable

My TurtleDigital illustrationVariable

BullshitDigital illustrationVariable

BankruptDigital illustrationVariable

I just like rainbowsDigital illustrationVariable

An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request.

Department of ArtSchool of Architecture and Allied Arts5232 University of OregonEugene, OR [email protected]

luminous deer

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