thinking about hyper reality and yayoi kusama

Posted on October 26, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

Spending some time with my new creations in my cubicle. Thinking of ways to realize my version of reality. Repeating patterns make a certain vibration for the eye.

Mythical Creatures

Posted on October 23, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

Found this guy on a search for another class…Love the life they exude and the space they occupy. El Curiot from Mexico City

Installation progress

Posted on October 16, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

Installation is still a new area for me but it is moving in a direction I like. Using yarn and paper, I am creating an environment of entrapment, conceptualizing and abstracting the grid of electricity growing over the globe. Complexity, multiplicity of dimensions and a sense of overwhelming something are my goals.

Sometimes it’s better to leave something out rather than try to cram everything in all once…

spray paint prints

Posted on October 15, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

I am looking for ways to communicate the pervasive nature of electrical power. Experiments with stencils cut from etchings turned into pattern-making exercises. I am always fascinated with the transformation that takes place from the original idea to the final product which results from actually working with the material and responding to the outcomes which could not have been foreseen before the start of the process. The image below is a cut-paper piece of a print of a stencil of a print. I know I am getting to a good place when I am constantly asking myself “but what if I do this?” and “what will happen if I try that?”

spray paint

Posted on October 14, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

I went wild with the cans this weekend. I used prints of previous etchings to make stencils, experimenting with both the negative and positive impressions possible. Although the material is not the healthiest thing to use, spray paint does have some pretty great qualities, especially the metallic ones. I like the way the graffiti-esque patterns are starting to resemble camouflage.

inspiration artists

Posted on October 13, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

Nicola Lopez

I am attracted to the way she builds up spaces, creating multiple layers of visual information to echo the complexity of the man-made environment. She combines images of construction material along with actual construction material, conveying the overwhelming nature of human activity. Her work takes on a life of its own, forming into menacing organisms that seem about to come off the wall and floor and devour the viewer. I also enjoy the way she employs light in the later installations.

Sarah Sze

I have followed her work since high school, finding great inspiration in the flowing forms of her installations and the level of detail in every visual inch. I enjoy the microcosmic aspect of her work, finding myself falling into a universe of minute, every-day objects of mass quantities: pencils, rulers, light bulbs, zip ties and countless other useful things for which she creates a totally new purpose. Her works speak of the infinite floating in space, even as it all hangs on fragile strings and seems on the verge of collapse.

spiders

Posted on October 13, 2013 by adikarev@uoregon.edu

I’ve been thinking a lot about spiders lately: the myth of Arachne and Athena, the association of spiders with weaving, knitting and other fiber arts, the amazing ability of spiders to coordinate all eight of those legs…I have been visiting the pedestrian bridge over Willamette and observing the spiders who set up shop there. This video does a good job of showing their work:

In relation to my mythological world of the technology web being spun around the globe, the webmisstress is a key figure. I brought her to life a few months ago in etching form, as a character study.

Now I am thinking about enacting her activity and creating her webs as an abstraction of the complexity of the human network which exists today.

These are still in the experimental stage. I want to incorporate more structures and complexity into the webs, bringing patterns and more concrete forms.