Digital Mock-Up:
Wall Didactic:
Our response to Jordan Wolfson’s piece is “Webcam”. “Webcam” is ideally an animation that replicates reality TV star Kylie Jenner with a dark twist. Her voice is distorted and masculine, and she follows a strict script of a few of the most ridiculous quotes from her family’s TV show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”.
Female Figure by Jordan Wolfson is a piece that reflects ideas of conformity and it’s destructive nature within pop culture. In his piece he clearly identifies these themes using methods of animatronics, done by Spectral Motion. His piece is centered around, quite literally, a female figure with a mask resembling a witch-like character. There is audio that goes along with the piece, confessions, spoken by the figure. These confessions are blunt and seem like they would be those that society is afraid to interact with.
Diving into Jordan Wolfon’s previous works, it is clear that his themes revolve heavily around the ideas of pop culture, viewership, interaction, and the exploitation of those viewed and viewing. The idea for this concept was based off his Cool World and Animations animated videos, where pop culture references and repetition is used as a device to entice the viewer into its looping hypnotism and strange contact. The idea that pop culture is inherently violent by nature of its one sided viewership and it’s human disconnect is something that Wolfson shatters via the use of basic contact (verbal, visual). This contact exposes the consummation of a human body via media, and how it’s destruction can be normalized very quickly and seem alien and uncomfortable when dissected.
Images From Original Work:
Female Figure
Holli Would from Cool World
Research Findings:
Wolfson is known primarily for his animation work. This idea spawned from an animated video based on the character Holli Would from the 1992 film Cool World.
As a non-cartoonist and non-animator, Wolfson grasped the idea of animation and animatronics via other works of art. His inspirations spawned from the works of Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, Disney World animatronics (the animatronic interpretation of Barack Obama specifically), and the raw ideas that cartoons and animations themselves are an interesting form of media, that all forms within it are controlled and entirely intentional. The animated world is a world filled with the potential of, “distortion and mutation.”
As Wolfon’s first animatronic work, Female Figure was realized with nearly half a million dollars invested with the funds of the David Zwirner gallery. Wolfon’s vision coupled with experts at the most advanced special effects house of the time, Spectral Motion (the art house behind the majority of major Hollywood film animations, popular commercials, and most video games.)
Personal Reflection:
As someone who enjoys artist research, this introductory assignment was really interesting. After being introduced to Wolfson’s Female Figure, I went down a rabbit hole of discovering his previous works. As an illustration and screen studies major, his animations and illustrations and how they were presented were particularly interesting to me. I found that his way of conveying a feeling through an animated body and through its repetition was incredibly successful. This idea of using an animated body as a conduit for broader concepts is what I try to do within my own work, and seeing his processes and artistic journey was fascinating to say the least.
I typically do artist research alone, and on my own time. It was refreshing to have this as an assignment, to go through the journey of an artist alongside others. I enjoyed learning from my group members. Their interpretations of Wolfon’s pieces differed from my own, which later broadened how I thought about his works past Female Figure.
I felt lucky to have been assigned Wolfson, since his creations are linked to what I am trying to achieve in my own work. Having Wolfson as another name to add to my mental catalog of resources is useful when thinking about my works presentationally.
I think our project turned out great. All of us came together for the conceptual details, and I moved on with the animations and video setup from there. Animating with a time constraint actually improved our work. At first, I was disappointed that I couldn’t add a broader spectrum of animated movements. However, this restriction made me look at Wolfon’s use of repetition and how to use that to the advantage of the piece.
There were many critiques that I found useful. The one that struck me the most was the idea of sending this video to everyone’s phones, so that it could be watched individually. I recently read a book called Always Already New which is about the idea of how different forms of tangible media can affect its interpretation. We think of virtuality as an intangible form of consumption even though it must be accessed from some sort of physical form. What we often forget is that this “form” subconsciously affects our reactions to an intangible reproduced media. The critique of how this video was presented was incredibly useful and relevant to what’s been on my mind.
