Thursday, September 17, 2015

Homework 2

     The topic of whether GIFs are art or not boils down to the question everyone has been asking since the beginning of time: what constitutes art? Many people will give you a definition along the lines of “art is an expression of self perspective” or “art is created to leave an impact on the viewer”. Both of which are very plausible, but don’t really answer the question.

     It’s honestly so simple. Intention. All it takes is a conscious decision to make anything into art, by my standards anyway. So, yes. GIFs are art in my book, so long as there is artistic intent behind it. Let’s not fool ourselves though. There is a clear difference between a GIF of a movie star rolling their eyes and something more along the lines of a cinemagraph.

     I first learned GIFs as a way to send my friends an actual visual of how I was feeling/ reacting as opposed to just texting it. Those GIFs are what I would categorize as communicative. But after seeing cinemagraphs in class, I can honestly say GIFs have the potential for so much more.

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     Two artists from the readings peaked my interest. The first of which is James Curran. I really enjoy the fluidity of his GIFs as well as the element of play. Anthony Samaniego also caught my eye. I’m drawn to the simplicity of his work, particularly the flowers on a blurred cityscape.

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