Research

Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson, born in 1941, is an American experimental theatre stage director and playwright. He also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video artist, and sound and light designer. Robert Wilson seems to be most concerned with theatre and is known for his unique use of light on the stage. He likes to study simple movements and also is interested in furniture design and prides himself on the originality of his work. Robert Wilson has some very close ties with famous musicians, actors, and writers, which apparently fascinates a lot of people.

The reason I liked Robert Wilson is because he is basically why I chose the project I chose. He is the artist who took Lady GaGa and had her standing still for ten minutes while she posed portrait style to make a video portrait. I had never seen someone do this before and I had never even thought of anything like this but I found it very interesting. I have always worked with photography so working with video will definitely be something new for me but I am excited to try it.

Robert Wilson has done many video portraits with famous actors. He uses many creative elements for the videos like lighting, costume, makeup, choreography, gesture, text, voice, set design, and narrative. It states on his bio that "The video portraits act as a complete synthesis of all the media in the realm of Wilson's art making." It also states that the video portrait form blurs time-based cinematography with the frozen moment of still photography. The video portrait was a way for Wilson to use a multitude of creative processes found in painting, sculpture, design, architecture, dance, theatre, photography, television, film, and contemporary culture.

I really enjoy Wilson's pieces because at first glance you think you are looking at a photograph but then in closer inspection you realize that it is actually a high definition video. I really enjoy how much thought and effort he puts into setting up and staging each video. I also enjoy all of the creative lighting and staging. It is also very interesting how many famous actors and musicians who he got to pose for his videos, some of the people I could never imagine doing something like that. When I first saw that Lady Gaga did it I was not surprised but then looking through his other videos I was very shocked to see faces like Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt.

http://www.dissidentusa.com/robert-wilson/subjects/

Adam Magyar

Another artist I really enjoy that uses the video portraits is Adam Magyar. He is a Hungarian artist that likes to travel a lot to do his artwork. He spent a good amount of time in cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kolkata, and New York. Adam is very interested in made-made structures and finds human's scientific achievements an important part of human evolution. In his artist statement he mentions "...to me the city is not less of a natural environment than the rainforest." He thinks that as humans we are constantly trying to move further while leaving a trace behind in the fraction of time we are given.

Adam Magyar uses photography and also video to show time and flow of life. It said in his artist statement that he is really interesting in time, which is very interesting to me because I feel that photography shows the death of a certain time but by adding the video element he is giving life to that certain moment. His art works with my idea because I am focusing on a moment in time and I do not want to show something already gone but something constantly in motion. He is similar but different from Robert Wilson because he did not take a video of just one person standing still, he used the Subway as his setting and used very slow motion camera so that it would look like still image but really everything is moving.

This subway image is from his project called STAINLESS where he scanned rushing subway trains arriving in stations. This is a large image but when you zoom in you can see a number of tiny details from the moment. You can also see the looks on people's faces in the train, which he thought they were "scrutinizing the uncertain future." He also states that every person in the train has something in common because all of their main motivation is the arrival. He also talks about how the darkness surrounding the trains in the tunnels deep below the city turns these images into fossils of our time.

Most of the work done for his project STAINLESS are photographs but what I was most interested in was the three videos that go along with the photos. Similar to Robert Wilson, I really enjoy how he has staged these people in such a way that is so theatrical with the lighting and everything that goes into staging. He creates this feeling of time but also a feeling that time is stopped. Once again, at first glance you might assume it is just a photograph but then you realize people are slowly moving. I love this idea and it is evident he put a lot of thought and time into this project. I also really enjoy the still images because at first it looks like nothing but being able to zoom in on specific faces gives it a more personal story.

Link to Adam's website and videos:
http://www.magyaradam.com/