A place to jump-off from

As our class is about media and materials, I was drawn to the discussion on Simryn Gill's Roadkill (Mixed things found on roads, toy wheels.) For two reasons: One, being that I love the idea of using materials that are considered refuse, and have a built-in deconstructed element to them. They are beyond their original shape or meaning, and Gil uses humor, and motion (wheels) to give them life, and new meaning.

This work also rang some bells in relation to some other work that I have been drawn to lately.

I have noticed a lot of contemporary artists have become interested(concerned) with the "small." There is a meditation on the "universe of the tiny" and therefore the unseen. It seems to me to be a meditation on the magical, otherworldly, or parallel reality, which is a subject that has always fascinated me.

When I did a street art unit with my high-schoolers, I discovered the work of Slinkachu.
Website : http://slinkachu.com
Blog: http://little-people.blogspot.com


Whose work is so fantastic and subtle.

Also is a video that Jenny Slate from SNL recently wrote and directed that contains elements of the Simryn Gil concept of adding a googly eye to something to animate it and personify it. Which is something I would love to do with my students, for a simple approach to animation.

http://vimeo.com/14190306