For this project I wanted to focus on the issue I face everyday: being distracted by social media. I chose to have myself sitting on the couch with my laptop, notebooks, and planner open around me yet I am staring at my phone. In the background you can hear several TikTok sounds playing as lights flash on my face from the changing videos. My concept was to really emphasize how I am on my phone watching tiktoks or scrolling through instagram when I have more important things I should be doing.
*THERE IS SOUND*
The piece depicts the subject, lit by their phone and laptop screen at night, with open books and notebooks laid to the side. The subject has what could be described as a deadpan face as they browse what is presumably TikTok or some other social media. The artist uses sound very effectively to give us information about what’s on the phone screen without showing us explicitly what it is.
ReplyDeleteThe artist seems to be presenting the idea of how addicting and consuming social media can be. The other items such as the notebooks would suggest that there is some kind of work to be done and instead the subject's attention is drawn to what is on their phone. The piece could be psychological in nature since it is capturing a very real situation the artist has probably been through, so we get to understand more about the artist’s life, but since it is very literal/objective it becomes a little hard to read how the artist feels about this situation.
The audio does a great job of adding more context to the type of social media the artist consumes. I think the foundation is there since the piece itself is easy to read and understand the topic the artist is bringing up, but I do think I would have liked to have seen more visual details to inform us more about the artist themselves and or their feelings towards avoiding their work through social media. I want more to see from how the artist feels because I think you could say that they need to do their work and social media is a distraction or you could see it as work is a big stressor in their life and they are using social media as a form of escapism, and more of a clarification in the image itself I think would help.
The flashing light and changing colors of the phone screen are well-implemented and very effective/believable, but I think something more in terms of motion could’ve helped to add more depth. The light works to tell us more about the constantly changing content the artist is viewing, but maybe something more subtle like the subject's eyes moving, or something involving the notebooks to bring more attention to the fact that they represent work that needs to be finished.
This piece does a good job of representing a conversation that is very common in our society today; the addictiveness of the internet. As stated previously it poses the premis/situation but doesn’t engage with it by providing an obvious stance which is a positive in art because it allows for interpretation but at the same time does leave me wishing for more clarity in the concept as described in the premise. Overall I feel that the potential conversation the piece can start will be very engaging for the artist.
In conclusion, I really like this piece and think it’s simple yet effective in its execution. Again personally I would like more visual context to learn more about what the artist wants to say about the topic or themselves in relation to the topic. Though those ideas can then lead to the risk of adding too much to the piece or mucking up the concept.