creaturegods.com

oh hello!!

sorry for the delay, but i’ve been hard at work on a project for my portfolio development class. i have some images done, but i could stand to lose some, and also stand to gain some. it’s still very much a work in progress, but i’ve been talking about it a lot so i figure i should actually show some work to let people know that i’m actually doing something.

i don’t really want to talk about the overall meaning of this project yet, because it’s still being made, and i won’t really figure it out until it’s done, or even after that. so here are some pictures. read them however you’d like to!

feel free to share any comments on our facebook page! thanks a ton

HELLO, i know it’s been a while, but things have happened.

the following is a series of five images i created several months ago, when i was trying to figure some stuff out in my life. my original idea was to just create a bunch of constructed-reality shots based on “self-” statements, like self-help, self-serving, etc.

the more i thought about it, the weirder and more personal it got. the narrative isnt as prevalent as i want it to be, but i feel very good about the images themselves.

self-inflicted

self-reliant

self-loathing

self-destruction

self-realization

the “plot” and cast of characters go like this:

white t-shirt guy is the subject. he is the only real person in this series, as shown by the others being slightly transparent/composites of several images.

blue plaid shirt guy is one side of the subject’s conscience.

white dress shirt guy is the other side.

literal story is as follows:

1-the subject has made some decision or mistake that is so abhorrent that he sees it fit to blind himself. his conscience debates this decision, but ultimately, it seems that the one wearing the white dress shirt wins.

2-the “losing” side of the subject’s conscience feeds him, helps him do things he can no longer do, due to the previous decision.

3-as a result of the initial decision, the subject continues to have problems (water spilling), which upset the caregiving figure.

4-the caregiver eventually can take no more, and, knowing that the subject’s initial decision is the source of all this misfortune, decides to smother the subject in his sleep.

5-the caregiver feels regret, looking at what he’s done, but his counterpart attempts to explain that every decision was ultimately made by the subject himself.

i think, for an image series to be successful, it needs to be able to be read in multiple ways. seeing as how i myself got a lot of different messages from this, i think i succeeded.

throughout my work on these pieces, i wrote down and thought about many different meanings/topics in relation to the overarching theme of this work: the perils of overreacting to a situation. learning to move past poor decisions. working on picking yourself back up after something doesn’t go your way. not letting things out of your control frustrate you. not letting known problems fester until they become unsolvable.

while i am confident in this work, i was very apprehensive to show it to anybody, due to its personal nature. however, i think i need to start being more open with people, and i feel that this is a good start.

thank you for your interest, i appreciate all of you. :)

-bill@creaturegods.com

HELLO!

This weekend, Hot Shops Art Center is having their annual winter open-house. Along with a diverse selection of work by artists who have studios at Hot Shops, there will be a collection of photos from the Metro Photo Club, which I am a part of. This show was juried by Angeles Cossio, owner and curator of Drift Station Gallery in Lincoln. I entered 3 pieces for consideration and all three were accepted, so I’m pumped!! DECEMBER 4TH NOON-8, DECEMBER 5TH NOON-5. I’LL BE THERE THE WHOLE TIME!!

There will be lots of new work to be seen and possibly bought, if you’re so inclined. Some of the framed pieces on display will be priced for sale, and many of the artists (myself included) will have other ready-for-frame prints available for sale as well. ALSO, if you’ve seen anything on the site that you’d like a print of for yourself or for a gift, talk to me at the show or e-mail me or something and we can work something out!

anyway, some content….

A little while ago, I built a little bit of a photographic installation piece, based on the town I grew up in. At the time, the town was expanding rapidly, and that meant lots of new housing developments. These neighborhoods seemed to consist of 3-5 different floor plans. It was always weird to visit a friend’s house and notice that it was laid out exactly like your other friends’ houses…

To realize this installation, I gathered images of new houses being constructed in the still-expanding town I grew up in. I composited three different designs in varying orders and placed them on “streets” made of 2″x4″ wooden slabs. Every time a door is visible on a “street,” I put a family portrait in front of it. The lack of diversity in the portraits is intentional.

Ideally, I would want to build a lot of these. Enough to populate a decent-sized room. It would start out with a few of the pieces displayed, and as time passes, more added. Viewers would be invited to shuffle the pieces around, constructing their own “neighborhoods.” After a while, it would be clear that though the pieces move and change in number, the feeling (or lack thereof) of the neighborhood stays exactly the same.

Thanks! SEE YOU AT HOT SHOPS!

-bill@creaturegods.com

So it is now finals week, which means lots of scrambling to get projects done. But I’m noticing that I’m about a million times less burnt out than previous finals weeks. I think my level of self-assuredness has a lot to do with it. I’m feeling like I can handle things so much better than in the past. Plus I’m finding pleasure and beauty in little things which just makes everything seem full of wonder and excitement. Anyway….

This was a quicker assignment for my illustration class. Parameters: make a self-portrait demonstrating that you are a graphic designer/illustrator. Preferably make it square. That’s all. I began thinking about how one’s being is made up of an infinite amount of elements. There are so many facets to a person. So I created layers and gave each layer a texture so it has depth. The image:

Click to enlarge and check out the textures! I used slate, stone, fabrics, and watercolor.

-Ellen