Lee Patrick [Johnson]

Here are a few shots from my last collaborative piece with Rachel LaBine and Jan Mun in the TOTEMIC show at the Gelman Gallery.

See the video here on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scGgYZrbG30

AH, SO I have been extremely busy, but I’m going to start updating my blog again… Here are a few of the projects I was working on during wintersession!

Collaborative Light Installation in CIT (stairwell)

Arduino work (http://www.arduino.cc/).  Cool physical computing stuff, unfortunately I only scratched the surface.

Arduino controlling a programmed switch and LEDs

Arduino programmed to control a DC motor and LEDs through a switch

Digital Media Final Light/Sound installation utilizing MAX MSP ( which can be found here http://cycling74.com/)

When the viewer walked across the faux-flood, which was full of porcelain tiles, the sounds created form the smashing tiles were run through Max MSP, held for 20 seconds, and then output through a set a speakers in the room located at ear level.  Three sets of computers, speakers, and microphones under the floor running simultaneously to encompass the viewer in the distorted sounds they themselves were creating after they heard the initial sounds of the ceramic to create an encompassing, eccentric environment. Lights set under the flood gave the only light to skew the viewer’s perception of the dark space.

This is the floor when the flood lights were on.

Piece 34: #50 – Behind Ladd Observatory on the ground (Obscure place).  This piece was re-gifted, I love the idea.  I’m glad someone found one of my more obscure pieces as well and it made its way to Maine.

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These came from piece #88 at Nice Slice, #59 at the Providence Public Safety Complex, and #62 Janet Zweig.  These all contained great narratives and hilarious difference

Nice Slice: It is too funny that your letter seemed to not care in the slightest about the object.  Pretty much what I expected as an overall response.  Do what you will with the piece; one guy one mug?  I remember being too tired to think of animal noises when I was eccentrically drawing all day and on that cup so a couple of the animals are saying things like “Meep” and “F#@k”.  I’m trying to think how the piece could function for you guys… a door stop?  Tip cup?  Venting frustration?

Frieda: The progression and random means by which the cup came to you is SO GREAT.  The bill you wrote on was perfect.  The perfect thing to write on… the parchment surrounding what connected you to my piece.  I actually changed your address at LCD collection systems in order to force you to go to the Prov. Municipal court thus interact with my piece (joking).  I hope you love Spain, I’ve been there twice myself – great place

Janet: Interesting E-mail and letter (articles ~ which I’m still working on).  You were the only person to comment on the imagery.  You also brought up the idea that the work can be perceived as retrospective as well as relating to the ‘here and now’ (of which most people focused on the present).

Letter received from the Pastor at Olney St. Baptist Church.  I’m glad this could be shared with such a large community.  I didn’t think of that in the slightest.  I wasn’t sure how/if something as community-oriented as an idealistic group would respond.  Interesting community focus in the letter!

This is the beginning or another visual representation of the project (Click to Enlarge).

Here are the statistics regarding the usage of my website from the semester.  Makes sense. (Click to Enlarge)

“Like so many Americans, She was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five.  [I mentally replaced 'gift shops' with Art galleries].

“The less memory is experienced from the inside the more it exists only through its exterior scaffolding and outward signs” -Pierre Nora, Between Memory and History.  [I find this interesting as it refers to public art, specifically monuments in Germany]

“But the most important reason for the study of aesthetics is that it affirms psychology’s commitment to the study of experience.  Dewey (1934) maintained that out experience of art was a good place to begin to the study of human experience.  Langfeld (1920) considered the experience of beaury to be one of the most ‘Useful’ and ‘fundamental’ of man’s experiences.  James (1890) discussed aesthetics alongside the religious experience.  The critic Edman (1928) proposed that exposure to the arts clarified, enriched, intensified and interpreted human experience.  Many conjectured that the creative experience of the artist may be comparable to the aesthetic experience of the observer of art (which may be extended to include the discovery of the scientist being paralleled by the insights of the problem-solver).  Thus the study of aesthetic exerience- in the way the study of art has facilitated the study of perception (Hochberg 1978)-  may assist in an understanding of experience in general.” -Excerpt regarding Aesthetic Experience from Psychology and The Arts, David O’Hare (1981).

As usual I was neurotically fabricating ceramic pieces in my studio the other night.    I was pondering about psychology, psychiatry, the arts, and the ‘hard sciences’ when I began thinking about the divide between the arts and sciences.  What about art and science do not correlate?  In what ways does psychology apply more to art than the “hard sciences”?  I perceive psychology/psychiatry as a possible bridge between the arts and sciences since, as a conceptual entity, it is focused on both a level of biology/physiology/neurobiology [quantitative data] as well as extemporaneous factors such as creativity, experiential events, and environmental factors [Qualitative yet currently with many unquantifiable variables].   I am interested the viewer’s physiologic response [which could be attained through thermal scanning], their psychological/sociological response [which could be collected through questionnaires, interviews, or recorded reaction] and the physicality of the art piece itself.    What type[s] of psychology/psychiatry would be a good place to start focusing on?  Cognitive Behavioral theory [1]/ DSM-related areas (Axis I, II, III, VI)[2]/ Sociology [3]?   Can (has) art been studied as a means to progress the internalization [4] of a set of beliefs?  The first example I think about is the historical use of art to scare the fear of God into the populace [the Byzantine empire for example, or Hitler, you choose!].  Just because we perceive the correlation between these concepts does not mean we have any grasp on the power it can hold on an individual or populace.  Could there be a way through medium, media, medications, setting, ambiance, scale, publicity, figure head writing or any other aspect of arts to speed up a set “agenda” of internalization or things that could be quantified about the process?  [This plays into a plethora of ideas regarding art as an educational tool and its possible functions within society... for example "public art"] Are there connections between art perception and neural imaging?   Is there simultaneously a physiologic correlation [increased bp, temp, hr, rr, blood levels] to the art-related internalization process?  If such physiologic response does exist, does a higher physiologic response to art related to the speed/amount/depth of the internalization?  What beliefs/morals/ethics/perceptions could be studied?  [What do I find interesting? – A social comprehension of mental disorder, homophobia, religion/spirituality?-  A personal investment and interest in the topic is key for internal motivation]

Can psychiatric disorder or other psychological dilemma be deduced through art?  Is there a correlation between poor mental health, a physiologic response to artwork, and personal response to art work?  Does a viewer’s interest or indifferent response to  “controversial artwork” correlate to an altered level of mental health [less or more problems with mental health if any]?  Does a viewer’s angry/agitated response to controversial artwork correlate to an altered level of mental health[less or more problems with mental health if any]?  I guess I am weaving the correlation between a viewer’s misconception or reactionary offense to artwork being tied to the possibility of underlying psychological issues.  Does the [possible] physiologic response correlate to the expected responses [does a photograph of a dead baby in a blender cause the heart rate of the viewer to increase as one may predict every time, why the discrepancies- if any]?  What kind of personality traits cause any given viewer like (or dislike) different kinds of artwork?

So where does my artwork come into play and how should my artwork be fabricated to begin to answer these particular conceptual questions?  Well, like most research tools, I feel the hypothesis of the study will dictate the design of the objects needed for the study.  In turn, the results of the study will influence the design of the artwork.  Since I am not at the point where I have a concise hypothesis or study I am working in the studio in a fashion dictated by the human body/mind [which is what I intend to study];  The body is a interconnected system of cellular processes which together function as a singular entity.  I am constructing pieces/objects to be used in combination or alone to fill the function of this project, another ideas, or any other function fitting into my artist progression.  What if I made a sequence of elements which once bisqued could combined and re-fired [or not] to be functional , sculptural, public art pieces, singular entities, or contain the aesthetics/properties necessary for the gradual alteration/progression required for consecutive research studies?  An evolutionary ceramic entity?  I see a direction, but is generalization the key?  Should I focus more on the specificity and singular function of the objects?  As in evolution, it is typically the specialization of a species which differentiates it from the similar-generalized species that will allow its survival when there is a change in environment/situation.  Muddled, I know, but the idea remains.  So this is my first entry.  I needed to just eliminate a bunch of ideas in order to focus on a direction.