the endless distance outside my window | dream two (2)
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I am immersed in a short film series entitled “Outside My Window | Dreams.” This is actually the second video in the series as I rework the first film. I cannot think of much to say about the series or this film at this moment. I just wanted to post it. I hope you, my readers, enjoy the shorter format and embrace the art.
into abstraction | form and dreams | across the river the city that sleeps with dreams | your world disappearing, a world apart remix
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My latest video in the “Into Abstraction” series, infuses elements of surrealism and is a remix of several images from previous series. The piece also continues the evolving elements of recent images and the examination of memory attachments and the evolution of ambiguity in the psyche. The central theme is dreams; their possessive sensitivity, longing, and their magic and lost. Musically, I have moved away from the “glitch” forms of previous soundtracks in the series, and focused on a more ambient “drone” sound. Again, the complexity of sound is balanced and created with small nuances of processing. Most notably the use of various resonance and pitch, filters, reverb, and overall tonal control.
into abstraction | form and memories
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Into Abstraction | Form and Memories, the artist Walter Smith continues his exploration of field recordings translated into abstract constructs.
into abstraction | all the days are long | a we’ve come so far remix | a place of subtle nuance
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In life it seems, at times, that all the days are long. Caught in-between work, play, dreams, and aspirations. Those days can take the form of too many hours worked, too many hours away from home and loved ones, or too many memories and missed opportunities–taxing, struggling, pushing forward day after day. Sometimes we get a moment of reprieve; a day at the beach, a solitary place in time and space, the joining together of friends, family, and loved ones, or a beautiful hike on the summit of a mountain. Subtle nuances all converging in daily life, testing our resolve, our purpose, or giving pleasure and peace to our efforts.
into abstraction | a better place
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Sometimes in the waking the reality is more pressing than the dream. And the search for “a better place” takes me inside the abstract. It seems that for only a moment, when art becomes a reality, that I am free from the stress and trials of life. When burden by the complexity of life, I long for escape: Into the abstract. Into the meaning of what it is to be alive. To delineate the constraints of the mundane. To have passion. It is here, in the expression and story of my life through the process of creativity, that I encounter that which gives me any measurable sense of peace and self-awareness.
“Into Abstraction | A Better Place (a viable nuance remix)” continues the theme of the smallest of nuances being the focal point. Within those nuances, the layering of sound and imagery are explored through the digital process. Each film builds upon the vision and nuances of the previous films.
into abstraction | nuances
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This is the first film of 2015 in my new series entitled: “Into Abstraction”. The piece is called “Nuances”. It is a short multi-layered video and electronic soundscapes. As the series implies, the idea is to progress towards a state of abstraction both psychologically and visually: An inward emotional journey; full of delineated thoughts, complex constructs and fused memories. Although this piece contains figurative images and landscapes, it is the nuances of the film that contain elements of the abstract. I hope to slowly evolve through the series to a more definitive state of abstraction. It is true that I often merge, both surrealism and the abstract to create my visual themes. I also will be experimenting to the best of my ability to create beautiful and challenging electronic soundscapes, full of sampled ambient drone, field recordings, glitch/IDM, and thematic sounds.
into abstraction | all these nights in blue are where our love use to be | rooms of indigo paintings | i dream dreams without you
My first piece of 2015 in the new series entitled: Into Abstraction ~
all these nights in blue are where our love use to be
rooms of indigo paintings
i dream dreams without you
your world beginning | there’s never a dream i need to follow . video remix . piano and waterfalls pt 2 . day 10
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2014 is coming to a close. The major theme has been the two video series entitled “Your World Disappearing” and “Your World Beginning”. I initially created the two series as separate entities, however they have morphed into the same conceptual idea i.e. our lives and the experiences within it are simultaneously disappearing and beginning again and again. There is a merging of the sustainability of the mundane and the wishful aspirations of dreams and a better life. As I worked through the series this year, there was a lot of emotional ambiguity. I have tried to explore the comings and goings of my daily life, and put it into a perspective that negates anything more than what exists in the present moment. However, I can get lost in dreams and desires, the past and memories; believing that there is something significant there. So perhaps the thing that I have discovered is that there is no real disappearing of things or beginning of things just now. The present, mundane, and wishful dreams … inside my head.
Technically the film is a product of several excursions into the process of filming life at home and out in nature. Again, I have used footage from my recent hike along the Graveyard Fields’ trail in North Carolina. Upon reaching the top where the Upper Falls is located, I treaded out among the rocks. I then filmed using a macro (zoom in) setting, the pulsating flow of the falls. It gives the film a lot of its movement in an abstract form. I combined this movement with spatial and ethereal forms as well; fusing the two elements to further the sense of abstraction. These two forms are juxtaposed by the three ‘Transcending the mundane’ clips of life at home; repairing my bike, feeding the cat, and making pasta. The soundtrack continues the theme of “Piano and Waterfalls”. I used samples of field recordings and sublime piano phases to produce a rather delineated and ambiguous sense of being in the moment.
your world beginning | piano and trails – day 9
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Day 9 in “Your World Beginning” is a multi-layered abstraction of landscape and portrait. Filmed in beautiful Haywood County, North Carolina during the Fall, while on the back roads to Waterrock Knob off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is my second video featuring the trail and summit of Waterrock Knob (see the post Maps Mountains and Trails – Day 7). This is the second video using my new Sony software, and I wanted to explore some layering effects with a colored pencil effect as well. And again, I am combining samples of piano and electronic field recordings for the soundtrack. Actually the audio composing, is a very exciting aspect of the video production. Especially when it is within the realm of ambient and electronic composition.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature’s sources never fail” ~ John Muir
your world beginning | there’s never a dream i need to be
an empty room
a distant memory;
everybody has somebody
to leave behind …
there’s never a dream i need to be
your world beginning | there’s never a dream i need to follow
a darkness
ahead; and a winter’s cold night …
there’s never a dream i need to follow,
motivational speakers
coaching seminars
life plans and aspirations
girlfriends or promises …
there’s never a dream i need to be
your world beginning | we could live forever chasing this feeling
as things evolve in fragments,
blown by the winter wind
in the gray and distant place
deep within this conversation
– with self
and anyone who will listen … being so far away
we could live forever, chasing this feeling
your world beginning | a history before now
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Day 6 in the “Your World Beginning” series is entitled “A History Before Now.” This film has a more ambient feel to it than the previous “A Life of Contradictions and Disappearing Things. It is sparse in its visual content, while imploring some elements of poetic prose inspired by a fellow poet. It continues the theme of the exploration of daily life, with hints of ambiguity and historical musings as abstraction. Initially, when I created this series, I wanted it to be a distinct leap from my previous series entitled “Your World Disappearing,” giving birth to a new beginning. However, the emotional content that fueled the “Disappearing” series has slowly found its way into this series as well: ‘Everything changes except a persistent memory.’ To some degree, although everything is in constant flux–giving way to things disappearing and beginning simultaneously, there is an ambiguity and mundane existence to it all.
your world beginning | drifting into everything – day 2 : video art HD
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The fourth short film in the “Your World Beginning” series, again explores the connection between our relationship with our memories, dreams, and everyday life. The series is my attempt to delve deeper into those moments when we are living through the patterns of life that we have created for ourselves, while simultaneously feeling the ambiguity and lightness of our dreams and aspirations.
In composing the music, I am using sound samples to create a layered sonic ambience, with hints of melody and tonality. In the series, organic sounds and industrial technological sounds merge to create dreamlike structures to enrich the imagination and supplement the visual composition.
your world beginning | transcending the mundane – day 1 – video art HD
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On the edge of everything beginning … the further away we are, the closer the moment. Waking, dreaming and making pasta.
traveling without moving | your world beginning – video art HD
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“Traveling Without Moving,” is the bridge between the past and the future i.e. “Your World Disappearing” and “Your World Beginning.” A video self-portrait that is a visual journey of memories, delineated thoughts, dreams and aspirations. There is a slight contradiction at work here. The body is in motion in time, and the mind is still; the painful past and uncertain future struggle against the stillness of being present in this time and space i.e. traveling in the present moment.
give your falling tears to memories and songs | extended remix
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A remix of new and extended audio and visual material to further convey the expressive mood of ambiguity, magic and lost and the ending of things.
your world disappearing | high definition video art
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A short film of ambient minimalism. Exploring the theme of “through art I feel like subtracting” i.e. Memories fading, dreams ending and your world disappearing.
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your world disappearing | a matthew mcconaughey and true detective remix
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A “True Detective” may ask the question, is the world we believe in really here at all? Or is the totality of life, nothing but a dream?
a dimly lit light
fading by error
your world disappearing
When history calls our names, will we remember | unpublished works
self-portraits
painted with our dreams …
now and forever,
spinning into history
a blast from the past | unpublished works
A landscape can have its own surreal moment. And your memories can often be found there.
N E W D I G I T A L S C A P E S | V A R I A T I O N S – A link to my latest published art book
V A R I A T I O N S
http://blur.by/1pwpNN2
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2013 was a very good year for creativity and artistic exploration: I created a series of video art pieces, that I feel stretched the potential of my imagination. That exploration also enabled me to learn a variety of technical skills in editing within the creative aspect of visual and musical composition. Check out my “Experiment: Data Complex” series. Most notably, my latter sub-series “The World” (4 videos). But I digress, the purpose of this post is to introduce my latest published book entitled:
N E W D I G I T A L S C A P E S | V A R I A T I O N S
In 2013, my photographic and digital artwork could overall, be found, in the “Variations” series. A remix of imagery that explored ambiguity, memories, dreams, and emotional constructs. The book is a total of 140 pages and features over 100 images in a large portrait format. The link above will forward you to my bookstore @ Blurb publishing. There you will be able to access a 37 page preview.
And last but not least, I would like to thank all my fellow bloggers, whose support in 2013 has been a great inspiration.
n e w d i g i t a l s c a p e s 