The fax machine ate my homework

During the process of this assignment I couldn't stop thinking about the 1999 movie, Office Space. Having been stuck in a cubical for two years selling insurance it is a movie that I can relate to. In the movie, one of the main characters was constantly having issues with the office's fax machine. He was continually receiving the message "pc load letter" from the machine. During the climax of that plot line three co-workers bring the fax machine out to an empty field and take out their aggressions with a baseball bat and a series of loafer-laden foot stomps. All of this is done with a 90's gansta' rap song for a soundtrack.
It was with this scene in mind that I came up with my idea. What would my art, and in this case my homework, look like chewed up through a less than user-friendly fax machine? To play on this concept I chose one of the worst designed Chinese restaurant menus I could find and renamed all of the items with a paper-based theme as if the fax machine itself was ordering off the menu. I also placed a spatter effect on the whole page to make it grainy. I played with a gradient to make it appear as if it didn't print out evenly. I made a logo with a fax machine and chopsticks and made my piece's title the restaurant name. I gave the appearance of a torn corner on the bottom right and topped off the page with the phrase "pc load letter" in large letters across the page.

My theory on this "fax" project, was to create something that looks like it has been deconstructed and put together as a whole. I went with the look of a bunch of Polaroids creating my face.

I believe this fax show is about the beauty in change. Since all of the artworks are being created and sent to the show through a fax machine, some details of the images are being reduced due to some information being lost each time the piece is being sent. It is hard to determine the way my final piece will come out due to the fact that it is in color, straight off the computer, and is going to be sent using an out-dated form of communication.

When I first entered the FAX show, I wasn't sure what to think. A fax machine is used to send documents to different places, in a quick and convenient way. I would never think to use this form of technology to send pieces of artwork, let alone create a whole gallery exhibit based upon this idea. But it is interesting, in a way we are creating art through the use of a fax machine. The original composition is changed when it is turning into a fax, and with whatever pieces of information that is transmitted, we get an image that becomes it's own work. This image is than reproduced again and again, changing each time. The use of the fax machine also allows many people to become involved as well as challenges the question of what art really is and who can produce it.

For my submission, I was interested in how the fax machine changes a colored image. I wondered if the work of art would effect the viewer in the same way, how the mood may change and so on. The first image is a photo I took of the Eiffel Tower that also has a strong color contrast. The second image is an impressionist painting I did of a scenic landscape. I'm also interested to see the effect that a painting has vs. a photographic image when it becomes a fax. Overall the FAX show is an interested way to communicate art in more ways than one. This show also opens the door for many people to submit different forms of art and it will be interesting to see how this exhibition progresses.

FAX

So after viewing this FAX show i was very confused to what we are calling art but this is a great way for someone to grind out work and have it be shown in black and white. It amazes me what people will fax into a show even if it's not that great. After all we don't really know what people are trying to represent with there work it's just put up by the curator and how that person wants to set it up. To think that something is in color to be turned into black and white is surprising because you don't know how things will turn out on the other end unless you go down and figure it out. The FAX show puts a whole new side to art since there is more than just images since we can use other topics and media as art. Poetry, music, dancing, the show helps me realize that there is more an art show then there really is.

For the work i put it was done in color but when it was printed out that went right out the window. There wasn't much color but the color that was there represented school colors. So i guess having this piece as a fax show changes it up with a representation from where i came from. Self portrait and portray different feeling at one moment in time.

Fax Submission

The FAX gallery really pushes the limits of the traditional views of a gallery. In place of framed paintings or prints lies a lone fax machine, and from it spews a medley of artwork that can be deemed nontraditional to say the least. The idea of a fax machine to me is something that is of little utilitarian worth now. With advancements in file sharing technology, as well as an increasing drive to have everything computer based, fax machines have become obsolete. Putting one in a gallery is breathing new life to this played-out machine, giving it a home in a world where practicality has cast it aside. There is an almost nostalgic, blast-from-the-past feeling behind it, like watching an old cartoon or finding a toy from you childhood. Granted, there is a different, much less "fun" association with a fax machine, but there is still a feeling that is hard to ignore.

For my submission, I wanted to explore the obsolete nature of the fax machine. Nowadays, if you need to share something with somebody, typically we will just upload the file somewhere and share a link. This is what my piece focuses on. It is conceptual, challenging the artist's expectations of a typical gallery visitor. I first created several graphic representations of a fax machine and posted them to popular image sharing sites (photobucket, flickr, snapfish, and dropbox), all under the title "Nostalgia." Then, for my actual fax submission, I laid out the url's for these images in a simple, straightforward manner. I also made them look weathered to illustrate the fact that, whether you are faxing or file sharing, information always has to go through several channels and pass through several hands before it gets to its final destination. My hope for this piece is that the text will be recognizable as a url and that someone will take the initiative to follow it to find the true "artwork" of my submission. However, I am also aware of the effort needed to copy an entire url by hand, and, in this day and age of copy-and-paste gratification, I am curious as to whether or not anyone will be willing to take on that task.

Here is one of my links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32305004@N07/5178091850/

(Gallery visitors won't have this luxury of course.)

Fax Show Project

When I first walked into the fax show and saw all the different things that had come through the fax It really caught my eye. I kept think how much it's like life, You go through life (going through the fax machine), thinking about life in one sense in your head, but the way it comes out isn't what you expected. Sometimes it's weird, other times your confused and just don't get it, sometimes it's funny, other times it's beautiful, and other times it's sad or makes you angry. You just don't know what you're gonna get. The quote that stuck out is the ride and enjoying the ride of life.

For this assignment I wanted to approach it as life, this big grid of life.. that you go through and you have to just sit back and enjoy it. Take it how it is. And not take it so seriously. Yeah we have our ups and downs and all that but at the end of the day you have to sit back and enjoy what you got, regardless if it's how you wanted it to come out. I did a photo shoot taking pictures of just not thinking of what you have left to do, not caring about whose around you, and just being silly, and just letting the ending results just come out and what ever happens at least you were having fun. I wanted to express the "grid" of life that you are gonna take and its curvy and has its bumps but thats life. You got your dark times, your gray times, and your happy (white and shinning and bright, that stick out) times, thats shown through the different shades. I hope you enjoy.

Freedom of Expression

The FAX show taking place in the gallery challenges the idea of What is Art? Most of the work displayed throughout the gallery really shows that art can be almost anything depending on the way the viewer looks at it. It is interesting to think that an amazing work of art can be misconstrued in the process of faxing the work from one place to another. By losing value and detail this FAX project can ruin a piece of work that once could have been incredibly interesting which makes it an interesting challenge!

When we were first given the assignment to design something that could be faxed in i thought of a lot of interesting ideas, mainly in black and white. I chose to use black and white photography to capture an interesting composition. With the limitations of only black and white ink on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper I needed to be creative with my final product. I decided to use 3 separate photographs and combine them together when presented in the gallery. What made this project interesting was that as different as these three images were, they had a similarity that made them work well together. Each person photographed was looking out of the frame in a different direction. Therefore when I combine the images the direction of their eyes move the viewer from picture to picture. I thought this was a great way to represent myself as an artist with so many limitations. Furthermore the word "Freedom" on the top photograph gives a sense of freedom of expression which to me is one of the main ideas of this show. Overall this show was a fun way to interpret art and it will be enjoyable to experience other artists work as the show progresses.

FAX

The FAX show raises many questions. When I first saw the show, I thought to myself, "what would make someone think to fax their artwork, or even then turn it into a show?" The fax machine helped to move business quicker. Instead of mailing something, you put it on the fax and send it, thus saving time as a fax is almost instantaneous. Having worked in a business office, I have had experience with what a fax can do to a document that you send. It always alters the document, whether it be hardly noticeable or unreadable.

When given the assignment to design something to be sent via fax, a lot of thoughts started going through my head. I wanted something that was handcrafted but also "mashed" with technology. I then began a thought process. I decided that somehow to incorporate that into my project, so I used the human brain. This was designed with paper and scanned in to give the black lines to give the feeling of a human brain. Thinking about the assignment, I decided to put in a mouth that would be what is actually "said" by the fax machine. The intent of an original idea is perceived by the originator's mind, while the fax machine gives the composition a voice to the recipient (whether it is sent correctly or not).

FAX

The FAX show brings up the question of dynamic value and precedence of quality in art. A fantastic painting can be wrung through a fax machine, drained of its primary characteristics and initial value and leave behind a shadow of its former self. However, based on a series of judgements based on personal perceptions, the piece can regain some sort of value and instead become a unique piece, instead of a copy of a piece. The paper that comes out the side is agreeably worthless. But depending on what it is a copy of, what it has become, who made it and so on, the piece can overcome its obvious lack of actual material quality and become something more.
For my faxes, I've chosen to transmit an old design project based on a nightmare to see how the parts are transformed and what it creates in the end. On each of the pages/rooms of this nightmare i've included instructions, whether or not they will come out I have no idea. What this symbolizes is what you plan and prepare for may not be the result you expected. Another fax I included was a copy of a Family Circus cartoon, with an elephant taking a dump on one of the characters. There is immature scribbling scrawled over the page, something akin to bathroom wall fodder. Personally, I just always hated that comic strip, it's just so incredibly corny and lame, it somehow represents "The Man" in a wholesome white bread way. It's a relic of archaic values itself, so I'm interested to see what comes out the other end, no pun intended. Another fax I included is a printer test page I had laying around, and I wrote the phrase "lead but follow", it just seemed like something deeper, or something that you would fill in the rest. Leadership and followship are values themselves, however they may be eroded when ran thru nostalgic equipment.

near-future technologies?

The fax show is the most surprised show for me which I never seen and never thought about it before. Because this is the show for anyone who has the idea want to tell someone or want to send it to someone and wish people would not forget about them or their works. Not like the other artist show that have to create some special art, such as Photographs, ceramics, paintings, or something else. However, it is more difficult for me to think about what I can do for the fax show than I just create one specific art.
The question the fax show raises for me is that we could send most of the things through the fax on time. No matter where are we, we still could send something which comes to our mined or something important by fax. Also, the fax is one of the ways we can explain clearly than just talking on the phone. However, sometimes the fax would destroy our image, or not that clear than we though. Sometimes, it is good, but sometimes it is bad. For me, I had so many troubles through the fax. However, one of the interesting troubles which I had before was that I had to send my identification ID to the company before I had the interview. And I should have the appointment for the interview after I send my identification ID, but when I went to the company to do the interview at that day, people would not know it me, and they said I do not have the appointment. The reason why they could not know it is me on the ID is because the photo looks much fatter. Yes, the photo is totally different than I have after send it by fax.
Through the show, I decide that I want to push the limit to send something has the reality and have more dimensions by fax. And I found that I should enter the machine. Because that we can send most of the things by fax, but not everything. That is the reason why I did not mention anything before. I wish I can send myself by fax, so I could travel around the world without talking an airplane for a long time, or driving a car. Also, I would like to see how much did I changed after arrive at some place through the fax.