It was great meeting everyone last week! And awesome getting to hang with a few of you at the Seal Beach Pier on Saturday.
Is it already time to say goodbye?
Activity: Landscapes with a Corpse
Really nice work on Plaster Casting last week. This week we’re on to Self Portraits. With a twist. This week is actually sort of traditional photography. Take a picture. A portrait. A selfie. Later in the semester we’ll do a big group Instagram project. There might be some “great” photos taken as part of that, but the social aspects of the photography there start to become more important than the individual pix.
This week: traditional portraits. With the twist that you’re imagining your own demise. For some of you this will be one of the best projects of the semester. A chance to do something different and think outside the box. For others it will be creepy and something you don’t want to think about. Some people say that art is often “controversial” because artists are trying to shock people. I think that often it is not shock for shock sake, but that artists often ask us to think about things we’d rather not think about. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and artists have the audacity to ask us not to be ignorant.
Life is unpredictable. There’s always that big truck or exotic disease that could end it all tomorrow. But the good news is that for most of you, there are many decades of pretty healthy living ahead. Hopefully it’s not too intense to imagine your earthly departure.
- Full Details: Landscapes with a Corpse Activity Page
A few weeks ago in the Summer class Layla Hadidi make a really cool Landscapes self-portrait by dumping a couple of pillows at her place and then laying in all the feathers!
EC: Mr. Nobody
Thanks to Erika Perez, we have our 1st Extra Credit! You can watch the Erika-swears-its-cool film Mr. Nobody and then discuss it for EC points (up to 20!) If you want to play, get your popcorn out & head over to the Mr. Nobody page. Thanks Erika!
EC: Sketching @Women’s Volleyball
Hey, why don’t you bring your sketchbooks to class on Wednesday! We can spend a few minutes talking about drawing (why it’s so hard, and why it’s easier than you think) and introduce the Gesture Sketch. Then you can optionally head over to a Long Beach State Women’s Volleyball match at the Pyramid (free w your student ID) where you can:
- Have fun
- Eat nachos w radioactive cheese sauce
- Score EC points for doing some Gesture Sketches of the volleyball action
Optional Women’s Volleyball meetup @Pyramid, Saturday 3 Sept, Long Beach vs Washington State, 7pm.
- Go to game
- Do a bunch of gesture sketches
- scan some of them and blog it
- up to 20 points EC
ID Cards Start This Week
Don’t forget that starting this week and for the rest of the semester, you owe me an “ID Card” on Wednesdays. Or a drawing of your ID card actually. Or a drawing of anything you like as long as it has your name clearly printed on it. Please be sure to use a 4″x6″ index card! Not a different size. Not scraps of paper. If you forget your card, I’m sure a classmate will lend you one. Yes, it’s fine to draw your card during class time if you like.
Question OTW
Each week we have a Question of the Week that you should ask during your Classmate Conversation. The Question OTW is not the whole Classmate Conversation! It’s just one question that should be part of the conversation. Who writes the Question OTW? You do! Visit the Question OTW Page to make your suggestions!
Here’s a sweet pix of 1p Art Star Demi Kong! Even though it’s a nice picture, it’s also a chance for us to talk about how you can take even better pictures.
Backlighting
The situation on Demi’s driveway is called Backlight. It just means that a bright light source, like the sun, is behind her. Sometimes the sun in your face isn’t the best because you squint and don’t look so great. But backlighting is tough because as you see, the camera wants to consider all that light and Demi comes out kind of dark and we don’t get to fully appreciate her awesome smile! 🙁 Some cameras will let you “exposure lock” on Demi and not all the sunlight around her.
Daylight Flash
The simplest way to use camera flash is to turn it on when it’s dark. Like at night. Or indoors. It turns out the simplest way is often the lamest way. Flash is often coolest when you use it in sort of opposite-from-obvious (OFO) ways. OFO #1 is Daylight Flash. Turn your flash on when there’s lots of light. If Demi had turned her flash on, then it would “Daylight Fill” to help balance the sun’s backlight, and her awesome smile would be even awesomer in this photo.
Slow Sync
OFO #2 is “Slow Sync”. If it’s dark and you turn your flash on, that’s good. Sort of. The problem is that flash in a dark room or outside at night tends to be harsh and flat. If we imagine taking this pix of Demi not at noon, but at midnight, a flash would let us see her, but she’d be blasted with light and the background would be totally dark. Sort of the opposite of the pix we have now and not all that much better. The answer is “Slow Sync”. With this camera setting the flash goes off to give us nice light on Demi, but it also uses a long time exposure so the faint background light can build up enough to show us the setting. If you imagine that Demi was standing in a street at night and there were a few neon signs on, and maybe the street was wet, then the neon and its reflection on the asphalt would all soak in with slow sync and it’d start to be a pretty awesome photo.
These days you don’t have to have a dSLR, Mirrorless Camera, or Point-and-shoot to get Slow Sync. Even a lot of phones have the setting now. Or if you do have a fancy camera, you can also try zooming while the long exposure is going. That way, in our theoretical photo of Demi, the flash would give us a sharp image of her, and the zooming would make street lights and other points of lights streaks around her. Kind of like the effect in Star Wars when they make the jump to light speed.
Oh, PS: that previous pix of Daniel was kind of backlit too, wasn’t it?
Art Kits
The CSULB Art Store made 80 Art Kits for us and they sold out of those by the end of last week. I advised those of you who couldn’t get one on Friday to buy the Plaster Casting materials at Home Depot, Lowes, or your Independent Hardware Retailer. This week the Art Store will have 20 more Art Kits, this time “minus plaster”. That is, with everything but the plaster materials you’ve already used. I haven’t heard the new price yet, but I think it will be around $52 for the minus plaster kits. They have everything else on the materials list
Roster Names, Discussion Names & University Names!
When I tried to grade your Art Talk Discussion for Week 1 I ran into a big Name Train Wreck! Some of you commented with names like:
- gzucman24
- glennzucman
- zucmanglennblog
- theartsyguy
- glennzucmanartblog
- stevezucman
- Glenn Zucman
Since I have nearly 300 of your discussion comments to read and score every Monday, really, only the last of the above name formats works. The others are impossible. And the example, “Steve Zucman” – how am I supposed to link that to “Glenn Zucman” in my gradebook.
I need to ask you to author your discussion comments with your name in the form “Glenn Zucman” and that the name you use should be the same as the name in my gradebook, which is your “university name.” The good news is that if the name you prefer isn’t the one on your birth certificate, the university will let you change that.
For Week 1 I just went ahead and gave everyone the full 16 points. Starting week 2 you should use your name in the form “Glenn Zucman” which should match your university name, to get discussion points.
Classmate Conversations
Most of the Wk 1 Classmate Conversations were a little skimpy. Try to go a bit more in depth.
TFW BAE Ruins Art Project
excerpt from Lydia Chang’s art activity post
“Plaster project. Seems easy enough,” was my initial thought. HA! It was a struggle from the moment I woke up and went over to get ready at his place. We were an hour and a half late and we had no idea what we were supposed to do. (At least parking wasn’t that difficult to find.)
The initial digging was fine, it was coming along decently (minus having to ask a couple of questions & peeking at classmates’ molds & processes) and I had completed two molds. I was mixing the plaster when I looked over to see the boyfriend (let’s call him Brian) pouring sand into one of my molds. I start freaking out and ask, “WhAT are you doing?
To which he replies, “I’m pouring sand in so that you can form your mold.”
I.. I was speechless. I look at my finally smooth plaster, at the ruined mold, back to my plaster, and sigh. At least I still had another mold, right?
Artist Conversations
Next week, Wk 3, we’ll have our 1st Artist Conversations. Be sure to use the Sample Artist Conversation in the Syllabus. Check your spelling. Check your grammar. Write in complete sentences. College level writing. Try to consider the work and think about it. You don’t have to “love” the CSULB Student Art you write about, but you should analyze it intelligently and write about it in ways that the artists can feel good about reading. Again, by “feel good” I don’t mean that you call them a genius. I mean that you spell their name correctly and write about their work and ideas with a university-level of analysis.
In Class This Week
- Roster Names, Discussion Names & University Names
- Landscapes with a Corpse
- EC: Bipolaroid
- EC: Mr. Nobody
- EC: Volleyball Sketching
- Jane & Janis
- glenn.zucman.com/i2va redesign
- Your sites – setting up, choices, delete “1st post”, LIFO-Blog, Portfolio, “Site Title”
- Next Week – writing about artists
- Looking at Art: Richard Sera, etc
- Classmates: Featured Image, Web link, skimpy 🙁
- OH
- Question OTW
- Post Names
- ID Cards on Wednesdays
Art Talk Discussion
Last week we met the Art History Timeline and we’ll be back on it next week. But this week I wanted to step off the timeline and have you do some research on a living artist. Here’s a brief intro to Joseph DeLappe and his work. Give it a look, then hop online and do some research. Then come back to the comment section below and discuss his work with your classmates. I think you’ll find a lot to talk about!
k
After watching the the lecture video regarding to the artist, Joseph Delappe, I was intrigued to learn a bit more about his former projects he has published. I appreciate his concern on political issues in today’s society, and his use of art to tackle those concerning questions. I did some research on Delappe’s official webpage and found a piece named “Me and My predator” as he is photographed wearing a drone built above his head. Delappe preformed many photos with the drone above his head. However, the only difference within the photos was the scenery. I personally believe that his message here was, where ever you are, there will always be new technology being created that can be dangerous to the human race. Delappe’s awareness visually helps society understand the hardships other countries may be experiencing, specifically in war zones.
Tina Nguyen
I think one of my favorite things about DeLappe’s art was that it just wasn’t pretty but it was deep, it conveyed a message for viewers, and all of the messages has something to do with the world today. I think that anyone looking at his art can start to really think about their life differently and question their actions. I had the same interpretation as you when I first saw the ‘Me and My Predator’ art piece on his website. ‘Me and My Predator’ is such a simple piece of art and yet it conveys such a deep meaning. When I read the title of the art it became obvious that the drone was DeLappe’s ‘predator’ and that it represented technology. I agree with DeLappe’s message that technology is really taking over our lives and in a way becoming a ‘predator.’ We spend so much of our daily lives behind a computer screen or a cell phone screen that sometimes we forget how to be human. We forget what is it like to send handwritten letters and talk to people face to face over a cup of coffee or something. I really loved that DeLappe was able to showcase that through his art and hopefully more people see it and get a sense of how technology is becoming dangerous and a predator.
Hi Tina, I agree with what you said about how his art isn’t pretty but it was deep. Like the “dead in iraq” art he depicted through a video game. Other people might think that he was just trolling on the game and spamming, but what he did had a meaning to it. He replicated a real war-like situation in the video game and typed out their information when he died. I also agree with technology is taking over our lives because it is true. Nowadays, everyone is depending on technologies even me that we don’t really know what is going on in the world. DeLappe’s “dead in iraq” shows that even though your character in the game is dead and it’s just a fun game, there’s an actual soldier dying in a war somewhere in this world and we should be aware of that.
Janis Vernier
I also really liked the ‘Me and My Predator’ project. On one hand it is a very simple installation placed on the head of the artist on the other hand i belive it still is very visuel outstanding if you meet a person wearing this ‘drone’ on her/his head.
I read a definition of ‘predator’ that describes it as ‘any organism that exists by preying upon other organisms’ In that sense I don’t think its ment to criticise technology in general, but very specfic those technologies that track you and live upon the information you feed them with. This might be social networks that you feed with information about yourself as well as tracking programms on your smartphone. A game like ‘Pokemon Go’ is only a commercial succes because it is able to track your position and sell this information to other companies.
Janis,
I agree that the “Me and My Predator” project was very easy to digest through its visual layout. Instead of simply sketching a man being stalked by the Predator in the distance, DeLappe made it real by physically placing a 3D model above his head. I believe that generally people are annoyed by things that are out of their line of sight, but that they know are right there. The feeling of being watched is always present in countries plagued by drone surveillance, and sometimes in the United States as well. You mentioned that Pokemon Go sells our GPS information to certain data collection companies, which reminds me that even in the United States people are always subjected to some form of surveillance. Joseph DeLappe understands this and depicted it in his “Liberty Weeps” piece. A crying bust of the Statue of Liberty reminds us that personal liberty is in jeopardy at home and abroad. Your analogy to a popular app used in the US helped me to connect DeLappe’s foreign and domestic criticisms.
What’s up Tina Nguyen!
I agree with you when you had mentioned a new definition of art. I had originally thought of art as something that makes you feel a certain way, but now I have another definition to add to what I think art is. Joseph DeLappe’s art really sent out a message as well as made people feel some type of way through his art. I really admired that about him. I also posted about Liberty Weeps. I felt that it portrayed the same message. It was a very moving piece and I felt very strongly about it. In my post I talked about how the Liberty Weeps piece depicted how we have failed as a society to keep up what the Statue of Liberty stands for.
Brian Sath
Hey Yuli,
I totally agree with you. I believe that Joseph DeLappe has a concern about pressing issues in today’s society. His artwork actually did intrigue very much. I was expecting something that concerned political issues from the video that I watched. When I looked his name up and went to his official page, I was actually shocked at the art work that was presented. Most of them seemed to be aesthetically pleasing. I looked into a few of his art works and the one that got to me the most was the “Kill Box”. It was a strong statement about how drones kill and that people participate in these acts. I do agree that technology may pose a dangerous threat to the human race, which is exactly what is portrayed in “Kill Box” when it first says “accept” or “deny”. I thought it was a strong statement about drones as it made my adrenaline run. When the video zero’d in on the small dot, my heart began to race as I felt as if I was singled out and would die from the drone due to the music that was playing. It was an incredible experience and was definitely thinking outside the box.
Maritess Inieto
Joseph DeLappe’s art was a very different art form that I have not really been exposed to. I would have to say that my favorite piece was the “Liberty Weeps” low polygon cardboard sculpture. The geometric shape it takes on is very aesthetically pleasing to me. It was interesting to see how he animated it through technology. I thought this was a very powerful piece in relation to today’s world. For a country that has based its history on “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, the people seem to have none of that. The Statue of Liberty represents freedom, yet it weeps because we do not have that. Even after all these years, we the people still lack freedom. His artwork portrays a lot of problems in today’s world and he is very straight-forward and to the point with what he is trying to say. His messages are very clear. The fact that he is using his work to spread awareness makes me appreciate his art even more
Joseph Delappe is a professor at the University of Nevada where he directs digital media program. He has been working with electronics since 1983. Many of his art projects have gotten famous, One interesting project I found was showing the relationship with army and video games. He used the video games to describe the real life situations in wars and how people die all the time during war. He expressed how games were exactly what was happening in war and many times was kicked out from games. It was interesting how he used art in order to inform people of real life situations. His plan seem to have worked because he was being asked to stop doing what he was doing by people playing the games.
Daniel Velazquez
Hi Daniel,
I agree with you about his art being used to inform others of real life situations just like the army names he did in the video game. I think he was able to get his point across like you said because people told him to stop. Although I find it interesting how he’s able to connect different things together just like the army and video games. There is a lot of games like that but not many that state real life scenarios. Like Professor Glenn said many might have agreed and others might have got offended but because Joesph Delappe stated it, it had people thinking of this real life situation.
Aleah Lomeli
I find it interesting that Joesph Delappe uses technology as his way of art. He has created something between armies and video games and portrayed it to what is his view as art. One project that I found very cool was “Mapping the Solar” in 2013. He performed a 460 mile bicycle ride to drag a piece of chalk that would draw a line around an area that would be large enough to create the world’s largest solar farm. I found this really cool because I believe that not many people get this creative physically to create a piece of art. Additionally, I liked his self portrait as a Monster Truck in which he clothed his second life avatar in multiple copies of a monster truck that walked through the sky. That’s something you rarely see. Joesph Delappe had a different view of art which I find interesting because it’s what he saw and thought that made me realize art is more than just pictures and sculptures.
Aleah Lomeli
Hannah Adams posting:
I did a little research online and decided to visit Joseph DeLappe’s main page to see what kind of art he has recently developed. He is still interested in using technology as either a medium or as the subject of his works. Lately he has become particularly interested in drones. A recent project he did was to create (with help) a full-scale replica of an MQ1 predator drone. He then used it to write the names of current civilian casualties caused by these drones. Drones are becoming increasingly more prevalent in modern warfare. This project made me think about how easy it is to forget that when we hear of a drone strike taking out a dangerous terrorist, civilian lives can also be taken as well. To bring this sentiment closer to home, DeLappe did two other projects. In one titled “Me and My Predator” he made a miniature scale predator drone and attached it to his head with a long rod. He said he wanted to show people how it may feel living with drones in our skies. Many may forget how that must feel for those living in the war-torn Middle East. His other project I found the most unique of the three. What DeLappe did was create rubber stamps of drones, with the intention being for people to stamp the image on dollar bills and thereby raise awareness of the growing number of drones used. I enjoyed DeLappe’s art (though I was sobered by it’s message) because it showed the side of art that isn’t just about creating something beautiful. His creations are there to bring information to the public. To educate people and maybe change their views on something they may not even be aware is happening. I think the role of art in education and awareness is indispensable. And Joseph DeLappe certainly uses art for this purpose.
Amanda Martinez
I agree that education and awareness is indispensable. DeLappe’s art enlightens the public making them more away aware of events that are going on today. The Me and My Predator piece is very powerful since there are many people today who live in fear because of drones and it is sad that they must live with that fear. The rubber stamp currency also caught my attention not just because of the drones, but because of the what the other two stamps he made meant. The one that stood out to me the most was the sea level rise stamp because it is an issue that will affect people all over the word. I have seen maps of what just a few feet of sea level rise and the rise will have a large effect on the areas near long beach. Hundreds of homes will be flooded since they are on areas where historically there were wetlands. The affects here will not even compare to the effects on the east coast where the geography is very different.
After further research, I also came to realize that Joseph Delappe was greatly interested in drones. I agree with Hannah that it is easy to light heartedly glance over drone strikes and the casualties caused by them, but it is important to remember the innocent lives that are taken by these as well. This type of project also ties into the “Dead in Iraq” situation. Delappe really wants for us to remember the fallen and to realize that there are many people putting their lives at risk and innocent lives being lost, and some of us may take that for granted. I think that it was intelligent of him to use technology and social media to portray these ideas because with the way society is today, that seems to be the easiest and most effective way to shine light on situations.
Joseph DeLappe uses art as a medium to bring awareness of really big issues that need to be thought of by the new generations. In my opinion this is why he uses various technologies and or technology items to bring his work to life. Especially concerned with war and politics displaying dead soldiers or having the statue of liberty crying to have a very visual way of looking at the everyday problems with war and our government. He takes moments to surprise us with just how much differently we can perceive everyday things by simply adding things to it and he works with computer mice very often to give us a view of things as deep as sexuality. We sometimes under estimate the power we have when we sit at a computer but he takes full advantage of the power of technology do deliver deep social messages. Some dont even require money, a display, or much time. His interventions/actions have gotten serious attention and with some all he is doing is posting on sites such as ebay and craigslist. I think that this artist can be very influential in modern day because alot of the time we forget that we have a voice much larger than what comes out of our mouth. We can influence and change the thoughts of society with technology now our thoughts can be turned into action not only by us but by everybody and Joseph is a great example of this. Our thoughts add value to culture and we must not take the power given to us by technology for granted and we need to stand up for what we believe in and bring the spotlight on issues that are forgotten or not mentioned.
I find Joseph DeLappe’s art medium to be very unique and interesting. He is different from traditional artists where they create something with physical materials to visually stimulate viewers. Instead, Joseph Delappe enters a virtual reality where users are not expecting to see something artistic and profound. Like his project, dead-in-iraq, Joseph DeLappe sends a profound message through the use of the game America’s Army. His project involves using his account and the game’s messaging system to type out names of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Not only is his project a memorial, it also sends the message that people shouldn’t undermine life and death and pay more respect to those who serve the country. I like how Joseph DeLappe does not use conventional methods to create art. Professor Zucman mentioned in class the painting of a homeless woman and her children and how it was romanticizing homelessness. I think Joseph DeLappe’s projects do not romanticize his critiques of society and his message is very clear.
Hi Amy,
I completely agree with Joseph DeLappe’s projects do not romanticize because in his projects he is straight to the point. He does this projects to make users see the reality of how in fact the war and Iraq really is.Because in virtual worlds /video games they romanticize in my opinion on how the war really is. I also think that the reason why he really did this was to make everyone not only users in video games pay more attention to what is really happening in the world. Going into video games I believe is a really good way to show the players that while they are having a blast playing, something like that the video game they are playing is actually really happening. And also by naming the hundreds of causalities in a video game/ virtual world like that will make users stop and think twice about playing. Joseph DeLappe’s projects make the people around us be more aware of what really is happening in our world than trying to sugar coat it.
Roxana,
I completely agree with the notion that DeLappe’s art work is very raw and real in the sense that he showcases information about people that no one really wants to pay attention to, especially video game players such as the ones that are showcased on his website. I love the fact that he so openly mentions these people’s names, and it’s so interesting reading other people’s reactions to his mentioning their names. You would think that people playing these games would have some sort of respect toward the names that are being displayed on the screen but it seemed to me like most people were getting rather annoyed at the fact that he was displaying names, sort of like he was being annoying and killing the fun. I think that it’s both interesting and important that he was doing this because it shows people that even though they are playing a game that’s supposed to be a form of fun and entertainment, this form of fun and entertainment is based off of the real, actual suffering of others. And when you put it like that, it seems like a very sick and twisted concept.
I am going to start off by saying wow! Joseph Delappe’s work is extraordinary. The way he uses his work to promote and make aware of issues that are happening in our world become more realistic. And by that I am referring to the terror happing in Iraq, the millions of causalities we have lost over seas that each and everyday goes on unnoticed by the rest of the world. As I did research about him I learned some of his projects such as the creation of an avatars in virtual worlds . After hearing the expiation behind that project I began to think of how people view video games. I myself never really played Black Ops or Shooting games etc.. however I grew up with those kinds of video games being played in my house. On you tube there is a lecture posted of Joseph Delappe where he talks about how he has used many virtual worlds to express the names of casualties whom have died in the Iraq. As well as how video games are portrayed false to users. Video games like Black Ops and other games that involve shooting make users think its okay to play however users do not realize that while they are playing those games, they exact same thing they are doing except on behind a screen is actually really happing in real life across the globe. He states in the video that he sees young kids playing video games then reading books. I immediately thought of my youngest brother because he plays video games not all the time but frequently instead of doing other activities such as reading or playing outside. What really caught my attention was he stated that a student presented a clip of a video game in a art gallery, and another student ran out crying. As he left crying he was asked why he had stepped out and the student responded by saying that he never thought of how much video games like those of which show shooting a military arm forces to have affected him in such a way that he never again wanted to play those video games. This shows a lot because you would think that you are just having fun playing a video game, but in the reality of it all it is not just a video game. It is actual events that are actually happening as we speak.
Hi Roxana! I agree with you on Joseph Delappe. He is an extraordinary artist who takes his art to the next level by incorporating technology and media. His artwork, “dead-in-iraq” really impacted me because of the reasons you stated in your paragraph. It looks like just fun and games; some kids would even be willing to go through it in real life because they think it’s fun. But in reality, war is scary and bloody. We aren’t exposed to the realities of war so we don’t consciously think that there are real people in these situations; that there are real soldiers dying. This artwork forced us to open our eyes to reality, and that is why I think it got so many mixed reviews. People get uncomfortable when faced with controversy. They would rather just pretend that nothing is happening and that life is great. So, when forced to see the truth, people are blindsided with the reality and will react strongly. I also really admire Joseph Delappe for using his platform as an artist to speak out. Usually, people do not voice their opinions to the public. So, the fact that he is using his art to raise awareness to these issues is brave.
Hi, Roxana! I agree with what you commented. I think DeLappe’s main objective is to raise awareness on these issues. Kids and young adults these days get obsessed with video games full of violence. I know some of my cousins are huuuge gamers and they don’t realize that just because what they are playing a fantasy game, it does not mean it is farfetched from what actually happens in the real world. Due to wars, many have died in combat and do not get to return home to their loved ones. I think a large number of gamers do not realize this as they are blinded by how “fun” the game that they are playing is. I hope DeLappe continues to use his platform as a well known artist to bring awareness to other social issues.
Hi Roxana, I full heartedly agree with your comment! DeLappe brings a sense of reality into something that is just make believe and brings awareness to the problem. So many individuals today immerse themselves into these virtual war games and forget reality for a while as the think that the more violently they play, the “cooler” it is. But the only reason causing violence and death virtually can be seen as “cool” is because at the end of the day if things don’t turned out the way they planned, they can always start another game and give it another shot. What DeLappe does is remind gamers that somewhere across the sea some actually lived through the same gory violence and couldn’t press a button to start again if things went bad for them. He received mixed messages from his art project and I think its because individuals prefer different things. Some people had they’re eyes open to reality and appreciated it and some didn’t and thought he was hindering the game because sometimes ignorance is bliss and some would prefer it that way.
Wow this video was unreal!, second time I really didn’t think how are is so relevant to our lives. Joesph Delappe uses technology to express his art in alot of cases. After doing thorough research its interesting to see how he uses modern day warfare to express his art, I think he particular chose this specific area because he has some relationship to it whether he was in the armed services in the past, I dont know. It seems to me in most of his art he really tries to express the surreal experience of what someone in the line of duty actually has to go through, as appose to it just being a picture or video game kids play for fun and think its all entertaining, without being able to grasp what it actually feels like to be doing that in real life. It was crazy to hear that the are he created was so vivid that when it was played in class, one of the students actually ran out crying , and when he was asked why he ran out crying the student said he never thought how much video games like that who show shooting a military armed forces that affected him so deeply, he said he never wanted to play them again. Its very interesting to see how much more empathy one can show when something is expressed via art.
Tina Nguyen
I was really impressed by Joseph DeLappe’s art work. DeLappe’s work really connected with the modern world. Most of his artwork seem to have some kind of message through them that viewers can interpret in any way. Going to back to last week’s question of ‘what is art?’, I now think that another definition to art could be something that gives a message to the world. One of his works that really stood out to me was the ‘Liberty Weeps’ one. I thought that one was the most impressive because I thought the color was a really well chosen color. Furthermore, I thought the fact that the Statue of Liberty weeping was very symbolic since the Statue of Liberty represents the path towards freedom and to see it that it is weeping means that our freedom is in jeopardy. I think ‘Liberty Weeps’ can really connect with today’s society especially in relation to the election, and one candidates’ idea of alienating a certain race by taking away their freedom. I love that DeLappe uses his art not only as something to be admired and looked as but as a way to send a message as well.
Monique Alcala
Hi Tina, I wanted to tell you that I relate to a lot about what you posted for example I really loved the Liberty Weeps piece and I thought it was really rad how he rode his bike to show how we could build a solar farm to provide enough energy for our country! I also had a very limited view on what art was prior to this class. This week while I spoke to our classmate during question of the week, Yonathan mentioned how influential political cartoons are and how he considers them art. Normally, we are not exposed to political cartoons but with the election approaching us, like you mentioned, they are being posted on social media outlets more and more. Originally political cartoons were drawn for satirical and comedic purposes but they are powerful enough to get one thinking more about politics and possibly persuading the public to think differently about a certain person/topic. Delappe’s pieces of art are subtle but powerful and thought-provoking and able to move people to tears (video on shooting military armed forces) which in my opinion is similar to what political cartoons try to do in our society.
Samuel De La Cruz
I am really impressed and intrigued by Joseph DeLappe’s art and the message it carries behind it. DeLappe is able to touch many subjects with his art work by using modern means of media and social web pages. DeLappe’s art that stood out first for me was about the fallen American soldiers. I found it great that DeLappe took the time and effort to remember and acknowledge the sacrifice of all the people lost because of the Iraq war. Delappe used the US Army recruiting game as the platform of doing this and it got him a wide range of responses from good to bad from people in the game. The second art work from DeLappe that stood out to me was when he rode a bike a total of 460miles dragging a chalk to mark the area needed in southwest America to build a solar farm. This area is a 100 by 100 square mile radius of solar farm that would be great enough to power all of America with energy. Ironically the land that he encircled and marked is federal owned lands that are test sites Area 51, Yucca Mountain, and Nellis Air Force Range. I like messages behind DeLappe’s art because he is not afraid to challenge norms in order to bring a good change in society. People like DeLappe are the ones that can lead to good changes in the world needed from old world views that can be outdated.
In response to Samuel comment, I am pretty sure he did not memorize all the names he typed out as he had access to a sheet of names on the side. It is indeed acknowledgment of those whom died. but it is also his method of protesting what was occurring with the war. This may be the reason that many were bothered with it at the time as some people may have seen him as only a nuisance in being disrespectful to those who died. I am curious to learn what you meant in saying that Delappe can lead to good changes in the world.
I agree with Samuel that his efforts to make his ideas into reality are incredible. They way in which he represents those ideas are also things that you or I wouldn’t have come across. I ,too, find it ironic and very unsurprising that America would prioritize its military over its own economy. The “Project 929: Mapping the Solar” is an idea that greatly criticizes our government.
I agree with Juan that Delappe most likely did not memorize each name and date. However, as a gamer myself, I see the comments to be something directed to the randomness in which they appear in the game. No one would expect a player to bring the harshness of reality into a virtual world. Yes, it is very disrespectful to those who died. Yet, from where I see it; there is a time and place for everything, not then. However, I applaud his ideas of irony, in which a simulation of a game-play can never compare to the unjust of reality that we hear of.
Like Juan, I am also curious by which means are DeLappe’s ideas are going to change the world.
Samuel,
I agree with your idea that DeLappe’s art carries a meaningful message behind it. Most importantly, the fact that he isn’t afraid to challenge society’s views. I feel that he brings to life a lot of what people are afraid to talk about. Perhaps his ideas aren’t going to change the world but revolutionize the way people think. By that I mean that people will pay more attention to what’s going on around them. While his ideas do seem a little extreme I think that its what people in todays society need to see that there are real problems. Because come on we are a generation that is always on our phones or on some kind of technology. He is a very modern artist and uses technology to get the big message across. While there is a time and a place for everything, life is short and time isn’t what we have.
Monique Alcala
I decided to begin my research on Joseph Delappe through his official webpage. After browsing through his work, I realized his inspiration behind his pieces revolve around electronics and new media. Several of his works really intrigued me such as Liberty Weeps (2015), Gandhi project and in 2013 he rode a specially equipped bicycle to draw a 460 mile long chalk line around the Nellis Air Force Range to surround an area that would be large enough to create a solar farm that could power the entire United States. The project I liked the most was his 2006 piece titled the Mouse Mandala. The Mouse Mandala project reflects the modern office life with a display of a plethora of computer mouses. I interpreted the art installation as a comparison to our attachment to electronics in our everyday lives. With each passing day we become more dependent and obsessive with technology and since the creation of the installation in 2006 he’s gradually increased the radius and so has our obsession for technology. His goal is to reach 50′ in diameter.
In response to Monique’s comment, I also enjoyed his installation “The Mouse Mandala.” I enjoyed how you talked about how you interpreted the art installation, I also thought that his installation alludes to our obsession to technology. In today’s society modern technology is so prevalent that it is difficult to not become dependent on technology, it makes our daily living more simple and practical. As you mentioned Joseph Delappe increases the radius of his art installation, and I also agree that as the radius of the installation increases, it demonstrates how our attachment and dependence in technology also increases. On his website his description for his art installation “The Mouse Mandala,” he talks about the “Luddite” revolution. I was uncertain of what the “Luddite” revolution was so I decided to google it, basically its about English textile workers who felt the need to protest against technology because they felt threaten and feared that they would loose their jobs by machines. After reading this information I viewed the installation differently, I felt like one of its themes for the installation is “robots taking over the world.” Joseph DeLappe’s goal is for his installation to reach 50′ in diameter, I believe that the increase in radius proclaims that technology is slowly replacing the human race. And maybe we should feel threaten by technology…
Joseph DeLappe works at University of Nevada as a professor in the Department of Art. He has been working with electronic and new media since 1983. He uses online gaming to visualize the culture and the way society is. DeLappe is known throughout the world, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada. One of his piece is called “dead-in-iraq” which I find really interesting. On his website, there’s a video of him playing the game and typing out the name, age, service branch, and date of death of all the service people who died in Iraq. At that time of the making, the players in the game did not get the point. Some commented that he was spamming, one guy wanted him to get kicked out of the server, but to DeLappe, he had a purpose in doing that. He considered it art, while the people at that moment didn’t. They found it annoying for “spamming.” They left negative comments like “dead…whats your point,” “just kick this guy already,” or “do that somewhere else.“ To be honest, I would probably have the same reactions as the players because I know I would be as confused as they are. Now, people consider it as an art and has a meaning to it. Other people might think otherwise because anyone can do that. Anyone can just go on to their desktop and play some kind of shooter game and do the same thing he did. I think what makes it an art is the idea he had for doing this. Because to him, it made sense.
Joy Uba
I like the point you bring up Joy! I was thinking okay, yes, maybe these gamers did not appreciate all the comments Delappe was making on there game. So my question is, “at what point did it become art?” Where is the line between someone making annoying or unnecessary comments or someone standing out and drawing attention to get there point across. I completely agree that Delappe’s art had important implications, but how would an ordinary person approach this situation without thinking they were interpreting art? I’ve come to realize the more I become exposed to these various art forms, the more difficult it is for me to draw the line in these situations. I feel that is highlighted in Delappe’s work, and it becomes difficult for us to interpret his art because it is so controversial.
From first hearing about Joseph Delappe through Glenn’s introduction, I was intrigued to discover the different medias with which he exemplified in his work. I have recently come to understanding that art is not simply limited by a canvas and paint brush, art can be expressed through virtually anything. I find this exemplary in his work because it involves applications of various disciplines, for example, with the video game, he collaborated with others who specialized in a different field to help produce his art work. This shows how art can transform through different perspectives and is not simply limited to a typical painting. In addition to having alternative medias, what I found in my research through Delappe’s work was the profound implications he left in his work. I feel that because his work is different then what people are used to seeing, they are drawn into his work. I feel his work is revolutionary because it ties in a lot of media that people use in today’s world. I feel that Delappe connects people together through his work. I want to mention my favorite piece was Quake Friends. In this performance, he reenacted a scene from the sitcom Friends, a show that I love watching, and performed it in the game “Quake III Arena.” I found it intriguing because I have no familiarity with the game but I know the show Friends so well. I feel that Delappe finds situations similar to this one throughout his work that tie people together. Although my favorite piece incorporated a t.v. sitcom I enjoy, Delappe’s work finds pieces to put together, pieces we can reflect upon our society. I want to highlight the most controversial pieces include Delappe’s incorporation of historic events, which I feel makes a bigger impact with what he is trying to portray and instill in his audience. I feel it’s Delappe’s way of reminding them of these events through medias that appeal to a different audience. I found myself captivated by his work because I found it unique and different.
Joseph Delappes way of art intrigued me as well. I too have come to an understanding that art is not just sketching and painting. One point you make that I agree with is that since his art is different it draws people in to want to learn more, furthermore you stated that his work is revolutionary because it ties in a lot of media. I couldn’t agree with you more because seeing that Delappe uses video games, many current issues, graphic design. I like how you brought up Quake Friends. I actually didn’t see this when I was doing my research. It is interesting that he connected a great famous sitcom that pretty much everyone knows to the game Quake. This would link people that love the show to those who love the game. Personally I remember playing the game Quake when I was in Junior High School. Our professor for our Computer class would put us in the game and we would all play after our assignments were done. I also agree with you in that I noticed Delappes work could make an impact to his audience. Delappes work has the effect of bringing people from different interests together by presenting issues and current events through different media outlets. His work is appealing to me too.
Through Glenn’s introduction of Joseph Delappe I was immediately intrigued by the artist of the week. From last weeks discussion I learned that art is not just paintings and sculptures, art could be virtually anything. Through Glenn’s introduction I learned that Joseph Delappe uses technology and new media to talk about society and culture. When I was doing my research on Joseph Delappe I went to his website, and I viewed his game art and performance pieces. The first art piece that I saw was his “Self Portrait as Monster Truck,” its a video of an avatar walking in the sky covered in monster trucks. Also I read in the description that the video ran in a loop on a flat screen TV at Kleio Projects in New York City. I feel like if I saw this at an art gallery I would be extremely confused by it. I am interested to know what’s the meaning behind his “Self Portrait as Monster Truck.” It is also a possibility that this piece wasn’t meant to be viewed in a deeper context, personally I thought it was aesthetically pleasing. After I watched a couple YouTube videos on Joseph Delappe’s online gaming performances, I watched “Howl: Elite Force Voyager Online” and “Quake/Friends.” I play a few online video games so I though it was cool that he utilized the in game chat system to recite “Howl,” which took over six hours to recite it in is entirety. Personally if I saw someone recite something in an in-game chat system I would not immediately consider it to be art, I would just assume that they are “trolling” by spamming the chat. Personally, one of my favorite pieces by Joseph was “Cardboard Soldier – America’s Army,” which is a polygon sculpture of his avatar being killed. Overall, I enjoyed Joseph Delappe’s art I thought it was cool that he used different forms of mediums to express himself.
Hey Alex!
I like the fact that you related this post to last week’s video as well because art really is everywhere. Similar to what you said, I also think that art can be imagined, drawn, typed, or programmed. Joseph’s electromechanical interest and his love for online performance gaming is, like what he said, a ‘Gateway’ to a new and different form of art. On the other hand I also spend time playing video games for fun. And when you mentioned that someone typing those names on chat was just a spam, I could not help but agree with you. Because no one would imagine that it was a memorial or an art work being developed unless they saw what Joseph Delappe’s was working on at that time. There’s a lot of hard work that are put in all his pieces and I doubt there is one piece that he did within one day because looking at all his sculptures and pieces it seems so gigantic. It’s awesome to witness an artist like himself and I have never seen a creator like him.
Hi Alex! I agree with you in that upon first viewing, Joseph DeLappe’s art is very confusing. Without further research, there can be so many ideas you think he is trying to express, but you may not be thinking the right one he curated in the beginning. I chuckled a little bit at your comment that “It is also a possibility that this piece wasn’t meant to be viewed in a deeper context” because that is always what I think about artists at first. I always think “What if the artist just wanted this to be blue because it looked nice and not to portray sadness or any thing else associated with the color blue?” I also agree with you that I would have considered DeLappe to be “trolling” when he recited, “Howl.” It is just not regular gameplay behavior and seems totally random. Only with further background knowledge you would understand that he is trying to make a point and chose the outlet of the in-game chat system to spread his message across. I think that Joseh Delappe’s mediums are totally interesting and were way ahead of his time.
I think that Joseph DeLappes art is most definitely different and makes the viewers look at social issues through a different lens. Joseph DeLappe is a professor of the Department of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he heads the digital media program. He worked with electronic and new media since 1983 and his work in online gaming performance and electromechanical installation have been shown throughout the United States and abroad. He began a project dead-in-iraq , where he chose to type all names of America’s military casualties from the war in Iraq into the America’s Army first-person shooter online recruiting game. I think this action of not just displaying the names but also verbally saying the names of all fallen soldiers could be very moving and I’m sure caught the attention of many of the players at the current time. After hearing that for a while I’m sure some of the gamers were questioning him and what his purpose was.
Another project that he did that I found interesting was the Project 929: Mapping the Solar. I think this idea and action speaks volumes to how he really is about the environment he lives in. In this project he is using a 15″ chalk and bicycling around a 400 mile square around the Federal Nevada test site, ‘Area 51’. His purpose in this project is to show that the 100 by 100 mile square solar farm in the Southwest would be enough to meet the country’s entire energy demand.
At first, when Professor Zucman introduced us who Joseph DeLappe was with the dead-in-Iraq project I thought that this artist was interesting. To take the action and complete that project shows you are not a regular artist and he choses to show what he believes through different avenues. His work is definitely different.It was also cool learning that DeLappe has lectured throughout the world regarding his work, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Juan Vasquez
From the start I had figured his art work would be a bit different based on his works done online and in games. After having gone through some of his work from his website I came to realize that some of his methods of work are definitely unorthodox. I would never have considered it be art if I was in any of the games with Delappe. I may have ended up as some of the people who simply ignored his typing of names as spam or his actions as griefing in the game. The reason I may consider his actions art can be the fact that, he followed through with his methods of expressing his ideas while online, I can see the end result, and that I see the intentions that Delappe had in his actions. Some of his work I don’t understand at all like “Self Portrait as Monster Truck”, or his “Walmart Terrorist” images. Looking at these works I only found myself to be confused with the idea behind them.
From his mice pieces to his art through the different gaming sites, I could tell that Joseph Delappe was definitely going to be one of the most unique artists I’ve had to study. Because of societies over reliance on technology and social media, I believe that Joseph Delappe had the right idea at targeting his audience through the different forms of social media and even in the gaming system. When Professor Zucman first mentioned the Iraq soldier name listing piece, I was shocked. I was offended by the idea at first, but after further reflecting I came to terms with his point of view and understood that some people do just play video games to “kill for pure joy” when we have soldiers being deployed and putting their lives at risk everyday for our country.
After visiting Joseph’s website and looking through more of his pieces, I found a few more that I enjoyed. One that really caught my attention was “The Mouse Mandala.” At first glance, it just looks like a pile of computer mice with an outer circle (kind of shaped like a target), but as you look closer, the cables of the mice are all woven together in such detail. The artwork isn’t just a random pile of mice, they are strategically placed, and the fact that he eventually wants this piece to expand into a 50’ diameter was even more astonishing to me!
I definitely agree that Joseph DeLappe is a very unique artists! I like your point about our heavy reliance on technology and social media and how it was the right target for his project. It made me think of how different the response would be if he did not target the gamers in America’s Army. I think by choosing a specific target, the meaning of his project has more impact rather than making a conventional memorial to get his point across.
Joseph Delappe, to me, is a very different artist than what I am normally used to. Most artists uses mediums like painting and sculpting to create their art. Although Delappe also uses those types of medium, he incorporates something different: he uses technology and media as a platform for his art. This really challenged the definition of art. Can art really be as simple as typing in a group chat? As mentioned in the video, Delappe, a professor of the Department of Art at the University of Nevada, worked on a project called “dead-in-iraq” where he enters a military game and begins to list the names of dead soldiers that have died in Iraq. I really admire how he is using this new platform to voice his opinion and be politically active. I really do believe this is art because it had a big impact on the community. Like Professor Zucman said, this piece played a controversial role; it received a wide range of reactions. However, because it did spark an emotion from an audience, I do consider it art. Joseph Delappe has many other art pieces using media, such as his recreation of Ghandi’s walk, called the “MGhandi’s March in Second Life” and “Howl: Elite Voyager Online”. On his webpage, I also looked at his sculptures and paintings. Although his art encompasses different mediums, his work always focuses on turning the average, ordinary thing into something much more meaningful. For example, in one of his paintings, he played dozens of chess games on the computer while recording his mouse strokes. He printed out these strokes and these became his work of art. From mouse strokes, to video games, to cardboard, to paper, he elevates these simple things to something much greater. One particular artwork that stood out to me was his adaption of the “Thousand Cranes”. Instead of cranes Delappe folded drones to honor the civilian casualties in Pakistan. In addition to the drones, Delappe wrote out the names of each person who died onto a drone. It made an impact on me because when the media talks about civilian casualty, we don’t really think much of it. However, by writing out the names, spectators are actually able to see the true impact: that so many people are affected, and that the victims were real people with real lives. All in all, I truly believe Joseph Delappe’s art is unique in the ways he uses different types of mediums as well as his message to his spectators.
Joseph DeLappe has a unique style to his art. I feel that his ideas are “out of the box”, in a sense that he represents his art in a style that I normally don’t see. For example, his “Paper Soldier” has many perspectives in which it could be represented. Normally, we would see statues or monuments in dedications for those who fight for our country, honoring their heroic acts. However, instead of marble, he replicated his avatar in the “America’s Army Game” into a life-size paper soldier. It’s interesting to know that he also had other ways to represent the fallen soldiers; through larger than life cardboard cutouts, through “action figures” and even through video games.
Professor Zucman mentioned in the video that DeLappe’s way of expressing his ideas received a wide range of responses. The way i see it, there’s bound to to be criticism or praise, here and there. Not everyone will see eye to eye upon various things! Furthermore, he’s taking a very unconventional stage to convey his ideas.The sets of ideas people bring with them to the gaming world can be entirely different to the ideas they make use of in the real world. People playing the game would not expect a random player to be listing out names of people, especially dead soldiers who served in the Iraq War. I find it offensive that the various responses he got were rude and insensitive.
I agree that DeLappe’s ideas are out of the box and they are completely necessary for today’s generation. I believe that it is great to have someone that will push boundaries and make people uncomfortable. Although he did receive mixed negative and positive remarks towards his works, I believe it was what he wanted- make people talk and discuss the issues, just as we are. I love how DeLappe’s work speaks volumes on subjects that should be able to speak for itself- his work just enhances the real issues and messages. It is amazing that he is open to this new world of digital media and art, to what some generations might seem to be abstract or unconventional.
Hey Cindy!
I totally agree with you he definitely has a different way of expressing and sharing his ideas and thoughts with his viewers, but in a way i think it works for him and them. It catches a younger generations attention because it’s placed on a platform where we can understand it just because its relatable.The fact that he isn’t afraid to speak about issues that are uncomfortable and aren’t usually talked about shows that he is an artist who wants to see change in bigger ways. Definitely something to admire about him!
Just like said in the lecture video, Joseph DeLappe isn’t necessarily painting or sculpting his art pieces to convey his message; rather he uses new media like technology. With his “Dead in Iraq” project, DeLappe was able to get his message across to a number of people. Rather than perhaps painting a scene of a soldier dying in combat or something of that sort, DeLappe used an online U.S. Army recruitment game to list off the names of soldiers who had actually died in Iraq. The response to this project varied, with many users writing profanity, demanding him to log out of the game. DeLappe’s goal was to bring reality into the fantasy game. I think his plan was to let the younger gamers to realize that the military is no joke, and the real life situations are not like in the game. Being in the military means risking your life in order to complete a service.
Another project that also caught my attention was his “1,000 Drones Project,” in which he had participants write out the names of civilians who were killed by drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Often the news, as he stated in an interview, numbers of killings are “often numbing and abstract.” With this piece he hoped to give his audience a visual representation of what one thousand deaths is; with 1,000 paper drones, I can only imagine his audience would be astounded by how large that number really is.
DeLappe’s projects, as I have seen so far, are used to bring awareness to many social issues.
Very good point on how he wants to bring reality into a fantasy game. I feel like a lot of times so many people forget the fact that we live in such a greed fueled and violent world, that it doesn’t translate to our lives so we remain ignorant to whats really going on around us. I feel like a lot of DeLappe’s work represents the word “America” and how americans hold so much pride in their name when in reality it is such a sugar-coated lie. For example, his cardboard sculpture “weeping liberty” is a perfect model to represent this message. To many people, the first thing people think of when they think of the Statue of Liberty is america and to see this sculpture of her weeping is saying that we as a country are failing in living up to our name.
Melissa Rios
After researching Joseph DeLappe for some time, I discovered that he was a professor at the University of Nevada where he directed the Digital Media program. I learned that the majority of his art is done through technology. He enjoys raising awareness on political issues the world faces, and he does this buy creating art. Which is what makes his work and projects extremely unique. Out of all of his projects, I have two favorite ones. One of them is the dead-in-iraq projection. This project of his, was eye opening for individuals who participated in the gaming community and to those who didn’t. Many of them don’t think about the fact that hundreds and thousands of soldiers died during the Iraq war, yet many of them are willingly paying a game for entertainment. Gamers die in their games and are revived to play again, however, soldiers die and never get back up. Another favorite project of mine was the Rubber Stamp Currency Interventions. I thought this project of his was so incredibly intelligent and informative. Joseph, had a total of three stamps each symbolizing an issue the world was being exposed to. The drone represented the military’s use of drones and and how they were being used. The second stamp was of a man with his hands up represents the extrajudicial killings of African American males by the police. The last stamp was blue waves that represent the threat of climate change that has caused sea levels to rise. Thousands of individuals volunteered to help stamp these stamps onto currency. Every individual in the world uses currency. Therefore, anyone has the chance of coming across money that has any of the three stamps. The stamps raised awareness on the on going issues and a kit of all three stamps were all available to anyone who wanted to help spread the awareness. I very much enjoyed learning about Joseph DeLappe’s art and how he chooses to create it and raise awareness on certain issues.
This is my first time learning about an artist who uses several types of modern media to really convey a message. Joseph DeLappe’s use of very political art in video games and other virtual reality is really unique. One such project using this type of media was his “Dead in Iraq” project. As mentioned in the video, he listed off the names of U.S. soldiers that were killed in Iraq, their age, the date of their death, and the service branch in the military they belonged to on an “America’s Army” game server. As a gamer that often enjoys first-person shooters, this project resonated with me. The games are fun, but at the same time they are somewhat disturbing when you really think about it. Real people are going out and killing other real people in wars and it must be an awful experience, but then these games take that experience and turn it into a virtual reality that people love. There is a disconnect here. I don’t know if I’ll stop playing these games, but this definitely made me stop and think about them more.
Joseph DeLappe’s project “Rubber Stamp Currency Interventions” also caught my attention. In this case he is not using any modern type of media. The project is actually very simple. He sells three different rubber stamps and each of these stamps serves to protest something or to raise awareness on a subject and asks that people stamp them on paper currency and share pictures of the money they stamped as well as the date and place it occurred. The first stamp project is named “In Drones We Trust” and depicts a small MQ1 Predator Drone. It serves to protest the U.S. military’s use of unmanned drones to fight wars. The second stamp is called “Hands Up Don’t Shoot”, and depicts a person holding their hands. This is an iconic image that serves to protest the killing of African American males by our police officers in our nation. The last stamp is named “Sea level rising” and depicts simple waves, but its message is very important. It is attempting to raise awareness of global climate change and the rising sea level. All three of these stamps are very political, but they all have very important messages.
Daniel Schmitz
I can relate to the points you’re making, Lucas Fuenten. I’ve also played my fair share of combat games (first person shooters, third person shooters, strategy, real time strategy, etc.) and so Jospeh DeLappe’s use of a combat video game to list off the names of dead soldiers is really meaningful.
“War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.” – Desiderius Erasmus
As young kids, playing “war” is always fun and games. That then turns into playing “virtual reality” war, where you run around in a video game shooting people and being killed. And then you sign up for the military for real. And then you get deployed for real. And then you realize real war is anything but fun and games.
Joseph DeLappe’s art is unique in comparison to the typical art pieces that come to mind when the subject is thought about. Most people would think about famous paintings such as the Mona Lisa when they think about art but DeLappe’s art is eye opening and refreshing to see. His art work was unique and represented political representations that I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed his pieces “Liberty Weeps” and “dead-in-iraq” as they gave a message/point of view that is sometimes hard to define in words. There’s a saying, “a picture means a thousand words” and I believe that his art work, while not pictures, does that. In his piece “Liberty Weeps,” which was made in response to where the US is in terms of “truth, justice, and liberty,” the message of the US currently in a situation where freedom is in trouble as the Statue of Liberty (which is a mainstream symbol of American ideals and freedom) is crying. Also, in “dead-in-iraq,” DeLappe provides another political opinion; by naming off those who actually died in Iraq, he adds the realities of war to a fantasy game that plays at war. In a game, fighting and dying isn’t a big deal because one can start again but in real life that doesn’t happen–people can’t come back. Overall, DeLappe’s art projects shine a light on social and political issues we struggle with today as a nation and personally speaks to me especially with all the issues surrounding society leading up to the 2016 elections.
Hey Linda,
You make a great point about how the majority of people think of famous paintings as art. However, times have changed and art isn’t just paintings and sculptures anymore. Art is a creative skill that allows individuals to express themselves and create something that is moving. Joseph DeLappe falls into that category because he chooses to raise awareness on social and political issues the world experiences today. One of my favorite pieces by him was also his dead-in-iraq projection. I thought it was eye opening to the gaming community and individuals. The gaming community play willingly for entertainment, while soldiers were out in Iraq living what their avatars were exposed to. The only obvious difference was that the avatars would constantly die, yet be revived ten seconds later and the soldier would never come back to life.
Hello Linda,
I agree with your comment about Joseph DeLappe. DeLappe manages to create a new point of view in the way we view art. We commonly say painting is art or sculptures is art, however people sometimes forget that video is an art form as well. Using video, DeLappe also brings in a deeper emotional connection to viewers as he list the names of those who have died in Iraq. When players play games such as Call of Duty or Battlefield, they don’t need to worry about dying. When DeLappe announce the names, it opens up the players eyes and see that they are kinda taking advantage of ‘life’. I also agree with how you interpreted DeLappe’s sculpture “Liberty Weeps” because what America stands for is falling apart in today’s society.
-Tommy Duong
It was really interesting to see the product when Joseph Delappe combines art and electromechanical aspects. For example, his project in the recruiting game “America’s Army” was captivating because it expresses his empathy and passion towards the victims and casualties during the war in Iraq. In addition, the fact that he entered over four thousand plus names in the online game is astounding. And according to one of the websites his intent was to protest and create a memorial for the soldiers who have died. I was impacted by it too, because I play online shooters for fun and Joseph perceives these types of games as harmful and a detriment. Also, while he was entering the names, and all of the sudden he gets shot and his character falls really emphasized his point and made me feel bad. As a regular individual that uses technology simply for fun, it is eye opening to witness another individual who utilizes it the best way possible.
Hi Rei,
I also play online shooters for fun and after reading about what Joseph has done it also changed my perspective a bit. Even though what we are playing is just a game, it is important to understand that there are people that risk their lives on the front lines. I feel that it is important for every person that plays shooting games to get a little bit of an eye opener like we did. Even though this was an eye opener, what we are doing is still just a game and as long as we done deface the sacrifices soldiers have made, I believe it is fine to play these games. Joseph could possibly make his message more effective or maybe give a bigger shock factor if he was outside a army recruiting office and reading the names of all those soldiers out loud.
Andy Bui
Selena Lara
As discussed in the video Joseph DeLappe’s art really focuses on the current culture and the way we work. A piece of his that really stood out to me was the low polygon cardboard sculpture “Liberty Weeps”. The piece was exhibited for Manifest Justice in Los Angeles in 2015. The piece itself was collaboration between curator Yosi Sargant, sculptor/designer Charlie Becker and Joseph DeLappe. The project was a response to “the current state of ‘truth, justice and liberty’ in these United States.” I believe that the Liberty Weeps even a year later is still very much relevant to what is going on right now. The statue of Liberty is supposed to mean freedom, justice, and enlightenment in the United States. At this point in time it can be argued that it’s the complete opposite. Lately, in the news and even social media its been shown how the KKK is once again rising, people are discriminating against one another and there is an unspoken racial war between all individuals. DeLappe’s “Liberty Weeps” really shows how in today’s culture you really have to show people what is going on in their face so that they can see that there is a problem. Perhaps the large size of the piece, which is taller than average man, can also symbolize the big problem the United States is facing. The problem is that the United States is failing at giving victims of racial crimes justice, allowing presidential candidates to speak ugly stereotypes of minorities and going to war. In my opinion, the Liberty is weeping because it’s being ripped from the freedom and justice that it’s supposed to represent. Perhaps Joseph’s DeLappe’s piece could mean a million things but to me it really brings awareness to the deeper problems seen in the U.S .
John Savage
I also found the Liberty Weeps piece was still relevant to the world today because it doesn’t seem like it means what it used to mean. Your point about how in today’s culture a problem needs to be put up in someone’s face for them to really acknowledge it I find to be very accurate. The United States is becoming a place where people aren’t doing their best to make everyone equal and happy with their fellow citizens. The Liberty Weeps piece is really showing how Lady Liberty feels about how people are treating each other, and it is making her cry because of how bad it is.
The “Liberty Weeps” piece also made me feel like Liberty is weeping at the idea of the value of liberty being ripped away, but from the country as a whole. I felt like the weeping Statue of Liberty is supposed to be a representation of who we, as a country, should strive to be. It stands for “truth, justice, and liberty,” as we should. Yet we find ourselves to be, like you said, failing so many of our own people. I felt like the Statue of Liberty is a representation of future Americans, and those in our past who helped create the country and worked to make sure those who came after them would make it better. Those people would weep upon discovering that we continued to fail many of our own and allowed ourselves to be plagued by the hatred that has existed before us.
Samuel De La Cruz
In response to Juan Vasquez and Cindy Le, I meant the form remember as in a memorial service to the fallen by taking the time to type out every lost soldier in the war of Iraq in the recruitment game. As far as changes in the world, I meant that he is not afraid to challenge any issue in society that people are afraid to talk about and discuss. DeLappe challenges these issues in order to bring awareness to the public instead of having these issues be hidden by silence. The media today controls what people have access to and only the news they want you to know. Every art piece DeLappe has worked on, dead in iraq, the drone project, liberty weeps, and rubber stamp currency are efforts to inform people of injustices. If DeLappe would not make these efforts no one would know of what has happened. In the drone project, DeLappe made a full-to-scale sized sculpture of an MQ1 Predator drone and he made it into a memorial of 334 civilian drone casualties from Pakistan written on the surface of it. For the rubber stamp currency, DeLappe used stamps of “In drones we trust”, “Hands up don’t shoot”, and “Sea level rising” to stamp dollar bills so they circulate into the currency. The use of “in drone we trust” stamp protests the use of drone strikes, the “hands up don’t shoot” stamp protests the police brutality against African American, and the “sea level rising” stamp is an attempt to spread the message of climate change. If people are more informed as to what is going on in America and the rest of the world it would make it a better place. People in general want to be peaceful and by having these issues out for everyone to see can bring a change to a better world.
Learning about Joseph DeLappe’s artwork was fascinating. His art is very creative and he tells many stories through his art. I found his art interesting because he created a piece in relation to the deaths in Iraq. I found this art piece very powerful because he delivers a message to many viewers. In a sense, his artwork is educating many people about the horrors and reality of war that take place. In addition, I really admire the fact that he incorporates modern day problems within his art. After researching more of his work I came across Liberty Weeps and this piece spoke to me because it was symbol of all the sacrifices my parents had to take in order to gain the freedom of living in the United States. The Statue of Liberty represents freedom but with tears it also resembles the hardships people had to overcome in order to gain such freedom. After looking through all his other works of art he resonates with many people beyond a normal media platform. Overall, I thought Joseph DeLappe’s art really focused on many current issues and it was very creative.
-Andrew Nguyen S2 (1pm)
John Savage
Some of Joseph DeLappe’s art is very different from the traditional way we think of art. DeLappe’s dead-in-iraq piece is a perfect example of his unusual style because he uses an army recruiting video game to make art. My reaction to this, as a guy who plays video games, was that I never thought about the war or the people dying in the war it was just a way for my friends and I to have fun. Another interesting thing that DeLappe has done was the project Me and My Predator. This project was to show how having a drone filled sky would be unsettling and make you uncomfortable because it would mean no privacy and anyone can see exactly what your doing at any given moment. DeLappe simulated this kind of world by making a type of headband connected to a pole that had a mini model of a drone. This pieces was intriguing to me because it seems like we are on our way to be having our privacy constantly invaded and not be able to stop it and DeLappe is bringing light to this possible future.
Janis Vernier
The purpose of Joseph DeLaoppe’s art seems not to be to please the eye of the beholder. Far from it! It attemps to distract the viewer and thereby push him out of a comfort-zone to let him see things in a different light. The ‘dead in iraq’ intervention is a good example: The players of the game probably play for fun and relaxation or maybe for sportive competition. They are situated in this comfort-zone when suddenly the artist starts typing these names in the game-chat. First they might be confused. after a while they might look up some of the names to find out that these are actual iraq victims and since they already started some kind of research they are more likely to reflect on the subject. I find it smart that he doesnt explain his behavior – this way the he raises curiosity which is much more likely to make the players do some research on their own.
Hi Janis!
I agree with you thoughts about his art pushing people out of they’re comfort zone. I think he succeeds in getting people to think about important topics that some people ignore or are unaware of. I hadn’t thought about the fact that he doesn’t explain his art and leaves it open for interpretation, but I like that you brought that up! I think that because he doesn’t explain his work to the other players on the video games he uses also pushed people to think about things that they might have ignored.
(Araceli Lozano)
Hey Janis,
I definitely agree with what you are saying. I myself would play war games with my older brothers as a fun pastime not thinking about what is actually going on in the real live war. When dying in a video game you can restart it at anytime, but you can not do that in real life. So many young kids play these war games and also do not think about real life people who have died the way the video game players die. If more war games would incorporate what Joseph DeLaoppe has done in his “dead in Iraq’, it could create a more contentious gamers and people in General.
Hey Janis!
First of all, you explained it really well! His dead-in-iraq intervention seemed so simple, yet it provokes so much emotion and curiosity. He didn’t explain what he was doing and just kept typing the names of each soldier who died. Most of his reactions were negative since players merely wanted to enjoy themselves, yet they were surprised by a random names and dates. The fact that they didn’t understand what was going on probably made some of them research the names.
DeLappe was very clever about the platform that he used because not only was it appropriate in a way, it reached a whole different audience that maybe wouldn’t have been aware or wouldn’t understand initially. The purpose of his art is more than just aesthetic purposes, it can make the observer think and want to know more.
Wow! I definitely agree with you entirely! I really like how you brought up the point that DeLappe is pushing people out of their comfort zone and making them see things from a different perspective. You reminded me of the video I watched of DeLappe typing in the names into the game. As I watched, I could see other people asking him what is he doing and to explain himself. Throughout the video, he simply looks past the comments and continues to type in the names of the soldiers that passed away in the war. I would not have thought that by doing so, the players in the game could become curious and look into things themselves.
Jacqueline Sanchez 1pm
I like the fact that Joseph DeLappe’s art is so modern and different. I am so used to thinking about art as strictly paintings and sculptures that hearing about new art forms helps me realize that art is not limited to paintings and sculptures. There are so many beautiful ways of creating art. Another thing that I like about DeLappe’s modern approach to art is that it can quickly and easily reach out to a large audience. He is able to get vastly different responses and reactions to his art because his art reaches so many people from around the world. This makes his art impactful and makes people think about subjects that they otherwise might not have given thought to. I believe that his idea of naming the names of dead soldiers on the video game was brilliant. I find it incredibly creative and think it shows respect for those who died in battle.
Hey Jacqueline, I totally agree with you I believe that Joseph DeLappe’s pieces are so modern and creative. Like you stated previously, when one thinks of art the first thing that usually pops into ones head is paintings or pictures the basic stuff. In the other hand, DeLappe takes it to the next level his pieces are extremely creative and portray the fact that art can literally be anything! P
I agree with Jacqueline because when i think of art, I usually think of paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Joesph DeLappe’s work is so modern and different that people who dont know much about art might not consider his work as art. His work is really impressive and makes people think about his work. Like the one about him typing the fallen soldiers’ names into a first person shooter game.
Kayla Tafoya-Sablan
Well, first off I was pretty surprised how he incorporated things such as gaming and electronics into his artwork. It’s very non-traditional art, and I really like that. It shows me how creative other people can be especially when I, myself, am not the most creative person so taking a look at his artwork. which to me, seem very politically charged. It also confirms my opinion of art being a means of expression. His work has a lot of underlying meaning, but he goes about by expressing these meanings very subtly and simply. His work doesn’t necessarily “jump out” at you, but the descriptions he has for what exactly is going on within his artwork sort of gives you the “aha” moment. There’s a lot of deeper meaning, and I’ve noticed that he expresses his concerns for social matters and events in a lot of his work. One of the pieces he put together that I thought was the most interesting was the “dead-in-Iraq” in remembrance of fallen soldiers who fought the war in Iraq. What intrigued me the most was the fact that he was so committed to this piece of artwork that he played over 200 games to honor these fallen soldiers. The artwork itself looks quite simple as it is only a screenshot of the game’s character dead on the ground while the screen displays the game’s messaging service on-screen as DeLappe types out another name of a fallen soldier to the games other players who seem to have no idea what his intentions are or who exactly he is referencing. The piece in it entirety is pretty deep in meaning which is why I was so drawn to it especially after reading of its purpose as a form of art; it’s an extremely untraditional piece, but it carries a lot of meaning and a strong political stance on the war in Iraq.
Amanda Martinez
Joseph DeLappe’s work is art in the nontraditional sense. He does not have paintings and drawings from what I saw although I did see some sculptures. I liked how his work represents issues in today’s world. Some of the pieces that stood out to me were the mouse mandala, liberty weeps, and rubber stamp currency interventions. Each of these art pieces had to do with society today. I thought it was interesting that he was essentially making a mat of old computer mouses. He was acknowledging the hard workers of the industrial revolution yet at the same time looking at society today in the midst of current technology. The mouse mandala piece is titled “Office Space” which is very appropriate since in a majority of jobs today people must use computers and other technology. I am sure there would be a way to go on without them, but humans have become so reliant on them. The liberty weeps piece was sculpture of the statue of liberty crying into her hands. Without even reading the expert I felt that I understood what DeLappe was trying to convey about the United States. This piece reminded me of issues that are occurring within the United States that need to be handled and how it is a shame that we have some of these issues living in a developed country. The last piece that was very captivating is the rubber stamp currency interventions. It is very subtle and may go unnoticed by many; however, it is everlasting until every bill that was stamped is destroyed which could take decades or even more. I like how it will get people to think about issues that are right there in front of them, yet they go unnoticed until the issue directly affects them personally.
In this week’s discussion video the artist spoken of was Joseph Delappe. The video mentioned that most of his work was based on technology, for example the virtual avatar he created reading off the names of soldiers who had been killed. I think that is very creative and it makes a huge statement. After watching the video I decided to google him and I came across his own website. I had the chance to see a few of his pieces but one that caught my attention was the “Mouse Mandala”. It is amazing how people actually can make art out absolutely anything. This art piece was created to portray the unpended lives of craftsmen and weavers during the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom. I found it shocking that Delappe mentioned he began collecting and purchasing the computer mouses since the year of 1999. It took him a while to be able to create it and even though it is currently displayed in San Francisco, he mentions he plans to keep adding to it and extending his amazing art piece.
Hey Marysol, Delappe has a lot of interesting pieces of art. For a while i was looking at all his art work and most of them are fascinating and deal with worlds events like the “Dead in Iraq” and “The Drone Project” where it has the names of the 334 civilian drone casualties from Pakistan. I like how he does this because many people are either ignoring the tragedies happening all around us or they are clueless of the facts these things are happening.
After watching the video, I researched more of Joseph DeLappe’s projects and found all of them in his website. I believe that this artist’ is a good answer to the question of the week: “Is art actually important in today’s world?” DeLappe answered that with a big yes. His works are definitely thought-provoking and his variety of mediums are a bit unique. I enjoyed his cardboard sculptures and installations, especially “Gold Gandhi,” “Liberty Weeps,” and his series of Drone sculptures. He really puts the spotlight on the war between the United States and the Middle East. People obviously know about this ongoing struggle, and it’s nice to see a different side to it. He reminds us of the soldiers and how many have died fighting because of this cause. His drone installations gives us another perspective on how much damage and terror they impose. DeLappe’s art is an example of art’s relevance in today’s world. He expresses and shares his beliefs about a current and ongoing issue with his sculptures and people are able to see and respond to them, whether they be positive or negative responses.
In this week’s discussion video, we will discussed about Joseph DeLappe. One of Joseph DeLappe’s art work is Ghandi. It was interesting because he uses a Nortek track device so he can physical walk the same distant as Ghandi. To continued, when Gandhi was prison for a year. Joseph DeLappe wants to show a similar to Gandhi experience in jail, so he and his Gandhi avatars came back and react it. I thought was interesting was that to showed that he really want it to be similar so he would sit in prison to experience what Gandhi experience. To me, he is a great artist to look up to because he want to express his art to people. As the video mention, I agree that he is an artist who isn’t using painting, but he really using game media and virtue world to do a political social critique so we can inhabit until today. After watching this video, I wanted to know more about him and his great art work so I did a research about him. I found out one of his great work, for example, The Mouse Mandala, a discarded computer mouse. He collect the old computer mice and made into art because he inspired by the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom.
In this week’s discussion video, we will discussed about Joseph DeLappe. One of Joseph DeLappe’s art work is Ghandi. It was interesting because he uses a Nortek track device so he can physical walk the same distant as Ghandi. To continued, when Gandhi was prison for a year. Joseph DeLappe wants to show a similar to Gandhi experience in jail, so he and his Gandhi avatars came back and react it. I thought was interesting was that to showed that he really want it to be similar so he would sit in prison to experience what Gandhi experience. To me, he is a great artist to look up to because he want to express his art to people. As the video mention, I agree that he is an artist who isn’t using painting, but he really using game media and virtue world to do a political social critique so we can inhabit until today. After watching this video, I wanted to know more about him and his great art work so I did a research about him. I found out one of his great work, for example, The Mouse Mandala, a discarded computer mouse. He collect the old computer mice and made into art because he inspired by the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom.
Bunny,
I agree with what you’ve said. I think what is essential to note is that his art serves as both an inspiration and a wake up call for people. Some art, on the other hand, can feel self-indulgent, but Joseph’s art isn’t like that. I think that’s why it is more popular and of course, more controversial. I also liked the Mouse Mandala, and it’s cool cause sometimes people forget just how amazing having your own personal computer was back in the day. I hope to be as inspirational, even controversial, of a character in my field as he is in his own.
My brother loves to play first person shooter games. In the past those games were Battlefield and Call of Duty, which he still has. Right now the game is Counter Strike. It’s fascinating how he’ll play the same map, same weapons, every single time. For hours. At this point some brain cells have probably died. What I love about Professor Joseph’s work, to say the least, is that he is a person who is an activist in not only something that he cares about but also something that deserved more attention. It makes people uncomfortable, yes, but I think it is necessary. I admire someone who takes a stand and sticks to it, and Professor Joseph does that time and time again. We need more people like that.
As i looked up Joseph Delappe and went through his art i notice how talented this man was. I liked how most or maybe all of his art was found http://www.delappe.net/ so its like his own pro-folio that people can see and share to other artist or art enthusiast. One topic that got me interested was the virtual paintings. These painting were done in 1996 on oil canvas. Its interesting how he did all these virtual paintings and currently we are getting a lot closer to the having a virtual reality that will allow users to physically move their avatars. Delappe see how technology was going to evolve and impact the world. Take Pokemon Go for example, its somewhat a virtual game that thousands of people got sucked into. People were playing non-stop, gamers that didn’t leave their house as much are not constantly outdoors walking around moving their avatars looking for new Pokemon to catch.
Wow. I feel like there are so many things that you can say about Joseph DeLappe’s work, from using virtual worlds to create art in a very modern technological way, to the provocative subjects that he discusses through these pieces of artwork. It really is an eye-opening concept. Although the thought that video games such as Call of Duty and Halo are clearly violent games and therefore aren’t necessarily the best form of entertainment, it had never occurred to me to think that they aren’t the best form of entertainment because these video games are essentially based off of the real life experiences and tragedies that occur in different war zones around the world. I think that DeLappe’s work is different from any other artwork that I have experienced personally, and I hope that I discover more artists like him that are able to provoke this kind of controversial and important thought in the minds of today’s society.
Hi Abigail
I agree with with you on your thoughts. Joseph Delappe is an amazing artist, I have always thought of artist to be a person that is good at drawing or painting but, Delappes work showed me that an artist can do other things. He is good at informing people of things going on in the world through technology. I also agree with you that Delappes work is different from other artist, and he is the first artist i have heard about that makes art through the use of electronics.
Hello Abigail, I agree with your thoughts on Joseph DeLappe and his artwork and more specifically his work based on video games. I haven’t seen very many pieces of art that relate to what he has created. Making the violent video games tie to our dangerous society and life experiences that we go through really makes you think of what is truly going on in the world around us. Im glad he was able to bring up the controversial idea of violence and guns and all that comes with war. The way that he uses technology to his advantage for his artwork inspires me to try to use my artistic eye to create something awesome
As I researched more about Joseph DeLappe, I found this screenshot of him playing the game. What I noticed immediately was the message by one of the players in the game. The player says, “‘dead…what’s your point?” as DeLappe is typing in all the names of the soldiers that died in the Iraq War. DeLappe is showing the people in the game that these are real people who have died in the war. He is showing us the reality of things especially to those that are playing these video games. I thought that his message was powerful in that he wanted to show that war is no joke or game. It’s something serious and tragic that come with real life consequences. Another thing that I also found interesting was his project called Mapping the Solar. In this project, he rode a bicycle with a chalk attached to it for 460 miles to draw out a circle large enough to make the world’s largest solar farm. This area that he circled would be enough to provide energy to the entire country. DeLappe wants people that we can switch to solar power instead of other forms of energy that harm the earth. DeLappe’s works are amazing in that he simply wants to share his beliefs to the world no matter what the response out there is. He just wants to get the message out and show people some issues that need to be looked at or reminded of. I felt amazed that we could use technology and different things to convey a type of message. DeLappe’s works of art are something very interesting and unique.
Hi Raylyn! I agree with what you said about how DeLappe uses technology as a way to bring his message to the public. By using mediums we can all relate to, such as video games, or riding bikes as you mentioned, he brings our attention to bigger issues that we perhaps wouldn’t have turned to had it not been for him. He uses something that we are comfortable with or exposed to in our society, but uses it in such a way that really makes us turn and look at situations that are going on around the world, such as the growing number of soldiers who have lost their lives, and lack of renewable energy as you also mentioned. It sort of forces us to acknowledge these situations that we would perhaps feel more comfortable not thinking about, although the only solution would be to not only acknowledge, but take action in these circumstances.
Andy Bui
According to his biography, Joseph DeLappe is a professor at the University of Nevada in the Department of Art. It also states that he works with electronic and new media, and I believe that is where he is able to keep the interest of a young audience. I believe a lot of his work is military inspired as he is also a director of iraqimemorial.org project.
His work in “dead-in-iraq” was interesting. In honor of the soldiers that lost their lives in Iraq, Joseph joined a US Army recruiting game and typed names of soldiers that have passed. I feel that his purpose and message for this work is constructive even if the reactions in the game were negative. Players in the game were in confusion about why he was stating all these names and the purpose of it. I believe that this was effective in raising some awareness as the other players in the game could have done more research on all these people and how they were connected. On the other hand, if I was playing that game and a player went in and “spammed” the chat I would understand that it could possibly be annoying.
In “Me and My Predator”, Joseph built a miniature predator drone that appears to be flying over his head in self-taken pictures. This is interesting because in America we don’t ever see predator drones flying in the sky so we have a sense of security. However, those that live in more dangerous areas or possible war zones may see them more often. I believe that this can be nerve wracking when you feel like you no longer have any privacy and are being watched. I also think that this was cool because from the front camera of DeLappe’s phone, it looks like there is actual done flying above him in the sky. This is a powerful piece because as technology advances and our information is digitally contained, you never know how secure your information is and who can be watching you.
After watching the introductory video and doing some research of my own on Joseph DeLappe’s art, I was intrigued by the fact that a lot of his mediums used technology. This is something that could not have been otherwise done just a few years ago, but it ties in fairly well to this weeks question on whether we consider art to be important in today’s society. Art has an impact on numerous people when it ties in to something they can relate with or care about, and by using technology as a way of expressing his messages, he successfully relates to our currently technology-centered society. One of the pieces that particularly struck me was found on his website, entitled “cowardly drones.” In current warfare, drones can be used to attack the opposing side without having to even be there. By doing so, it becomes much easier to kill without having to look your so called enemy in the eye, or even come into any sort of close contact with them. Technology has made it so much easier to harm, and as a response DeLappe created drones that have the word “cowardly” written on their sides in hopes that these images would appear on google or other search sites whenever someone looked up images of drones. DeLappe’s use of the internet as a medium for his art serves as a way to raise awareness to the public on the wrong-doings of something we may not otherwise even think about.
According to Joseph DeLappe’s official biography on his website, he is “a Professor of the Department of Art at the University of Nevada where he directs the Digital Media program.” Since 1983 he has been working with nontraditional forms of media to express his art. I think that is amazing because using online gaming as a platform for his works seems like such a modern thing that belongs in today’s world, but it seems that DeLappe was just ahead of his time. I am very much into online games myself so I think that if i had encountered him going through all the names of real soldiers who died in the war, I would have been pretty annoyed thinking that this is not the time and place for this type of thing right now. Everyone is just trying to have fun in a casual shooter game and not think about real life implications so I think I would have been one of the people calling him inappropriate. Reading about this as an outsider though, I do understand the message he was trying to get across which is actually very powerful. My favorite work of his has to be the “Mouse Mandala.” He began building this piece in 1999 and it is currently 2016. It had been over fifteen years since he started it! That is true dedication in my eyes. When I first saw his piece, it looked like a bunch of rocks and pebbles bundled together and some were strung together, but upon further research I was surprised to find out it was all computer mice! I really enjoy DeLappe’s work mainly because it speaks to the millennial generation. We are the pioneers of the digital age and Joseph Delappe’s work truly emphasizes this period.
Joseph DeLappe’s art is the kind that truly makes people think. Using digital media as a platform for his art is very smart because that is the world that most of us are living in today. I thought that it was amazing that he wanted to reenact Ghandi’s march physically and digitally. To experience it physically brings about a new sense of connection to the art piece he is performing and shows dedication to his craft. My fiancé plays online games such as call of duty and other first person shooter games, so I understand both sides of players reactions to his naming of american soldiers in the actual game. I think that it is so bold of a statement to make, but I think that we need more people like this in the world. I believe that it is so important and necessary for real world issues to be brought to light. I was browsing his website when doing more research and became memorized by his pieces of works and is messages. I love his stamps that he created for the paper money- and they all stand for real world, cautionary, and informative message to the public. And to create the stamp for money use is a very intelligent move since money is a part of everyones lives and is seen by most of us daily. His work is inspiring and I believe that it speaks to all generations.
Hey Allison, I enjoyed reading your post and I absolutely agree with you and your point of view. I love how his art is the type that makes us think and I also think it brings awareness to important issues in this world. I think his work of reenacting Ghandi’s march was also amazing and it shows that he is very dedicated to what he does as you mentioned. That reminded me of the work he did not too long ago in 2013 where he rode a bike to draw a 460 mile long chalk line to show an area that is large enough to create a solar farm that would power the entire United States. I thought that was astonishing and shows that he is willing to do whatever in order to get his point across. You mentioned his word “Dead in Iraq” and I honestly wouldn’t know how the others players felt as he was “spamming” the chat with all the names of the American soldiers that passed away because I have never played those video games.But I thought that was very creative way of bringing a bit of awareness because he did so by using a video game which is so popular.
Hey Allison
what you said about media in general being a big part of our world today is so true which is why I agree that his choice of media was the perfect way to convey his message. I play Call of Duty too so I understand the different aspects of the game. It makes the experience real and easy to relate to. I also agree that Delappe shows much dedication to his work. Although it is true that war has always been a hot topic, I don’t think anyone has taken an approach like this. Like Natalie said, it was very creative. I admire that his art is so powerful. Using your talent for good is inspiring.
I enjoyed learning about Joseph Delappe this week because I think he is a very interesting and unique artist. This is one of the first artists that I have learned about which incorporates so much technology into his artwork and I think it is very fascinating. After reading more about his work, I was even more intrigued. In my opinion, he is not much of a traditional artist. I love how he tells what is going on in this society through his art. For example, his video document/game based performative intervention “dead in Iraq” was pretty amazing. To me it was him showing respect to some of those who lost their lives during that war and he did so by using a video game, which is very popular. Another thought provoking work of his was done not too long ago in 2013. Joseph Delappe rode a bicycle to draw a 460 mile chalk line around the Nellis Air Force Range to show an area that would be large enough to create a solar farm that would be able to power the entire United States. That really amazed me, that he would go out of his way and do all that, to kind of prove a point. From my point of view his work brings awareness to important topics that we should all be informed about. I think his work of art is his way of teaching people important matters in this world and I love it.
Natalie Santana, 1pm
Hey Natalie! Glad to hear someone else found DeLappe’s works interesting because of how non traditional his art is. I do not have much exposure or experience with different artists so DeLappe is a very refreshing take on what I used to consider an artist to be. I also admire the effort he puts into his work because to me, the time and effort that is put in reflects the product that come out. In this case all of the time and effort he put in was to draw awareness to a variety of issues. I am glad he is bringing light to these issues in his own way and I am glad to here you enjoy his way of expression as well!
Marcelo Ceballos Jr. – 1pm
Daniel Schmitz
I thought (along with many others in this thread) thought Jospeh Delappe’s ‘dead-in-iraq’ was super interesting. The artist decided to type the names, branch, age, and date of death into the chat of a video game. The video game was a first-person-shooter that appeared to be themed as the Iraq conflict. You run around with a gun shooting people, killing them, and then coming back to life a few moment later if you yourself are killed.
DeLappe got some interesting responses. Some of my favorite (not necessarily in a good way) were the ones where other players complaining about the guy and voting to kick him out of the game for “spam”.
I feel like those were the people who either didn’t realize what DeLappe was doing, or the people who knew what he was doing and didn’t want to think about it.
The second type of people are the ones I imagine as the stereotypical Call of Duty kid who has sex with my mom all the time. Like this guy: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VEX8mNU36Tk/maxresdefault.jpg
“War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.” – Desiderius Erasmus
I feel like this sums up how a lot of people feel about war at times (including me). I’ve played plenty of war games and always just thought of them as games, not really reflecting about the reality of war. I remember sitting on the couch playing Call of Duty years ago and my mom would always say, “You don’t respawn in real life”, and I’d be like “Shut up mom you’re annoying” or something like that.
But I guess as you get older maybe you start to see war how it really is. Hell.
Nice insight Daniel. You should share this story with your mom. I’m sure she’d feel proud to hear about your new understanding! 😀
Joesph DeLappe is an extraordinary man who uses electronic and new media to get his message across. I am impress on how he reenacted Gandhi’s march. In one of his works he uses first person shooter games to get his message across. In this work he “type consecutively, all names of America’s military casualties from the war in Iraq into the America’s Army first person shooter online recruiting game”. Just like the video mentions, this piece of work can have many different interpretation and some might get offended saying that they are just games. Others might believe that this is a great way to honor the soldiers who fought for our country, especially in a game that is used often. Joseph DeLappe seems to go the extra mile to get his mesaage across others. This proves that he puts a lot thought and effort into his work, which makes his work more serious and something to think about.
Marcelo Ceballos Jr.
Seeing the work that Joseph DeLappe has done is very exciting to me. It’s not only exciting because of the alternative forms of media he presents his ideas in, but the scale that he presents them at. His work for Project 929 is enormous and shows how much work he is willing to put into his projects in order to get a point across. Another project that is on a really large scale is the rubber stamp currency intervention. Not only is this something that is on a large scale but it is also imprinted onto something tangible that people use everyday. This is another thing that I really like about his work. He makes his art in more of a physical way so that you can relate to it by connecting to the miles he biked or holding an actual dollar in your hand and seeing the stamps imprint. For me at least this seems like a great way to get an idea across to people because of the interaction and the connection people can make to it. Just seeing a painting or a sculpture in a museum doesn’t seem like the greatest way to spread a message to a population of people if that is what you are intending to do. DeLappe knows this and has created art in such a way to reach a wider audience. Overall I really enjoyed learning about and seeing DeLappe’s art and hope to see him continue to create great works.
Lourdes Sandoval
Joseph Delappe is a media artist and directs the Digital Media program as a Professor at the University of Nevada, specializing in electronic and new media. After researching about Delappe, I found out that he has four different degrees. In 2006, he created a controversial project called Dead in Iraq, where Delappe is able to send out a text message in the system and type out the name, age, and date of death of each American military soldier fighting in the war in Iraq. This gesture could be a way of remembrance towards those who died in Iraq, or can also be disturbing for some gamers to see. I feel like Delappe’s motive is to intervene in social realities to approach and engage with a larger audience. His work is definitely different from many others, which I love. His work, specifically Dead in Iraq, brings recognition to the public about issues that go on in the real world. Delappe has many other clever projects such as The Mouse Mandala, Kill Box, and Cardboard Gandhi.
One of the things that really caught my attention about Joseph DeLappe is that he created his art in different ways than a normal artist would. He uses the media as a platform to share his thoughts and ideas which I found pretty interesting just because it is something unusual. When you think of art pieces you usually think of something like a painting with crazy colors or maybe a clay sculpture. But in Joseph’s case he used technology and examples of media and technology to get his messages across such as his “Dead-in-Iraq” piece where he created a character online in a game. I also noticed a lot of his pieces includes drones which threw me off a bit and made me want to think and look deeper into these actual pieces. At first thought I thought he was someone who was completely against drones just because of the invasion of privacy and being against the thought of such high technology always watching us. It is a scary thought to think that someone is actually watching your every move.
I agree, DeLappe really caught my attention by the way he was able to express himself in a different media. We usually are only able to experience art through pictures and by observing. Delappe is able to express his art through virtual reality, his use of media is able to immerse us into his art through virtual reality. In his “Dead-in-Iraq” piece he created a reality in virtual reality by reading real names in a virtual game of fictional killing. I thought that was extremely creative. It really makes you think about how this game of ours that is a pass time is a a sad reality for others.
It’s amazing to see just how innovative and creative artists can be with their work nowadays, especially with the use of modern technology. Joseph DeLappe is able to express his views and standpoints through recreations with cardboard, office accessories, computer parts and more with an added flare of his own mind. Some of these art pieces are not even physical, but rather an action or movement through the internet. For example, “dead in iraq” was a super interesting action by Joseph DeLappe in which he comments the names of soldiers who died in the iraq war totaling up to a number of 4484 names. This artwork not only displays how indifferent people are to the lives of people who fought for our country but at how our society views the war as some kind of joke, to the point where they develop games from them. I believe Joseph Delappe’s work truly represents deep thinking and “out of the box” thinking. Through these innovative creations he is able to spread a message much deeper than some can portray on first glance.
Joseph Delappe is an interesting artist. Delappe’s art is unique and effective in a way that his art is able to illustrate something that is not physical to us. For example we all know who Ghandi is because we have seen him in pictures. Delappe was able to illustrate a whole event through a different media. Through the media of virtual reality. Delappe’s art is not the most aesthetically pleasing artist but his pieces all create such emotion and eye opening experiences. Another piece by Delappe is the Killbox game that he created. Killbox represents our countries use of predator missiles and drones. Drones have the capability of dropping bombs from a remote operating system through a computer. Killing at the push of a button, the same way we do in our games except with actual consequences. Delappe is able to immerse us into the world of the people who have to operate these predator drones in the sky. When I played the game I felt the uncomfortable with how easily you can take a away a life. Delappe was able to create that experience through virtual reality.
Tina Tran
Hey Daniel, I agree that Joseph DeLappe’s art is quite unique in the way his pieces were created through the materials and media he uses. Not a lot of artists would consider using such medias to portray their art. Since the world is so surrounded by social media and the internet today, DeLappe’s art is a very intruiging piece not only get the younger generation’s creative juices flowing but it also shines light onto the deeper and darker truths of America’s politics and justice. I did have a look at the drone project you’ve mentioned and I have to agree the piece, although so simple to the eye at first glance, the message behind and written on the drone itself embodies such deeper meaning behind it that triggers emotions to come through. Even though it is such a simple piece, it is very progressive and moving piece of art.
Tina Tran
From the lecture and off my own research, Joseph DeLappe seem like a very innovative artist, in terms of using different medias to create his artwork. One of DeLappe’s more popular pieces were “Dead in Iraq” and the piece portrayed a first person shooter in an online recruiting game. The piece is quite unique as it did use different types of medias from what we would think of, such as electromechanical installation and real-time web-based video transmission. More than that, DeLappe’s piece ponders at the more serious topic involving today;s world and politics within the American’s Department of Justice.
More than just “Dead in Iraq”, DeLappe have almost created some pretty interesting pieces, including “Liberty Weeps”, “Cardboard Gandi” and he even has some painted pieces including “Playing Chess”. I think my favorite has to be the “Liberty Weeps” because not only is it the statue of liberty made out of cardboard but it also has a deeper meaning in response to the truth, justice and liberty in the United States. The piece was made out of something so simple and common, that when it is made into such a large scale, it’s message and power became overpowering. My favorite part is that it is so simplistic yet so large in size and meaning.
Brian Sath; 1:00PM
Joseph DeLappe is a very unique and interesting artist. When I hear art, I tend to connect it with something that is aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand, when I hear artist, I tend to connect it with someone who is very creative and thinks outside the box. Joseph DeLappe is not the traditional artist that I would think of like Picasso or Michelangelo. He is using the social media to get out his ideas. This is thinking outside the box in terms how he presents his stance and how he creates his art. I don’t think his art is visually pleasing, however, his art makes a difference. It’s powerful and bold. His topics that he chooses are problems that not a lot of other people would like to speak about. I researched more about Joseph DeLappe and came across his projects. I started off with his first art project “The Mouse Mandala.” To me, this piece was visually pleasing, which made me assume that his other works are visually pleasing. The next one that I looked into was the “Liberty Weeps”. This artwork is actually very aesthetically pleasing to me. It wasn’t until I read the description about it, did I understand that he was standing for social injustice. It shows his character that he believes a strong way about things within this world. The art work that actually got to me the most was the “Kill Box”. The opening screen was a bit intimidating where you “accept” or “deny” the challenge. It made me feel like the movies about computers going rouge and starts attacking people. I didn’t want to apart of something like that. When I watched the video, it made my eyes just open. The visuals and sound effects were just mesmerizing. When it zoomed in on the dot, I just thought it was very powerful and intense all at once. Joseph DeLappe is a very interesting artist. I am thankful that I got the opportunity to come across his art.
Hello Brian Sath,
I completely agree with the way you see Joseph DeLappe’s works. He’s not an artist that presents art that is pleasing for the eye, even though virtual Gandhi seems pretty cool, he’s an artist that has a strong impacting message which makes it so pleasing. He directly talks to the people of the situation and makes it really easy for the message to be acknowledged or understood. His main work is through the media and guess what, we all use the media nowadays. Especially in putting fallen soldiers in an actual war game, feels much more real than it really is. His works are interesting and amazing, but I think some people have negative attitudes of his works because of how real it really is. People try to avoid real and I think DeLappe is trying to encourage it or embrace it.
Brian Sath, I agree with your perspective of Joseph DeLappe and how he represents himself. He shows what needs to be seen, and not what an ordinary person would enjoy. He’s an artist who displays what goes on in the world and tries to simplify it for someone to easily understand. It may make some people uncomfortable but it’s actually the harsh reality of the world and I’m glad that someone is trying to get that message across even though it may not be in the most pleasant way. His work is amazing, but it’s work that might not catch the attention of a viewer at first glance. Aside from that, once they do pay attention to the message, they’ll realize what he is trying to say.
Not only did Joseph DeLappe use virtual games to show a different type of art style. He conveyed emotions through his projects. Using gaming platforms, DeLappe was able to intrigue others as he was conducting his projects. On his website http://www.delappe.net , he records his art project “dead-in-iraq”. DeLappe would type out the names of fallen soldiers who had died in Iraq in a virtual video game, America’s Army. In the video, players who were in his match gave him negative responses such as “shut up”, “spammer”, or “retard”. As a gamer myself, I have ran into players who would act the same way that DeLappe encountered. Those players had the freedom to express what they wanted, and perhaps they wanted to enjoy the game in peace without seeing a message that they don’t completely understand. In my personal experience, I played a game called Arma 3, a military simulation game, in which is a little bit similar to America’s Army. However in particular, I have ran into ‘matches’ where the server would respect their fallen soldiers the same way DeLappe did by saying their names. Many of the players who join these matches, respect and acknowledge those who had died. Commonly they would ask about the soldier’s story to learn more about them. If DeLappe had done a photo of his “dead-in-iraq” project, I wouldn’t think it would have had the same effect as it did in a video format.
-Tommy Duong
Tommy, I read what you said about respect in the gaming world. That is very interesting, and I never knew that. It brings a new context to DeLappe’s piece. I agree that photos would not have done the project justice. Seeing as the artist is very concerned about presentation and the correlation between presentation and content, all of his pieces seem to have the same interesting context that is relevant to the topic. Good post!
haha, Thanks Tommy! 😀
Briana Garcia
My initial reaction to Joseph Delappe’s work was admiration. After looking at just a few pictures of his sculptures, more specifically the Cardboard Sculpture, I was already engaged because it was so unique. The patience, dedication, and creativity it must have taken him to come up with something like that is amazing. My favorite thing about this artist and his work is the message behind every piece. For instance, his other project “Liberty Weeps” was a response to “truth, justice and liberty” in the United States according to a page on his website. Because I have interests in video games like Call of Duty, I think his online gaming performance art is pretty cool. Because these games are popular among the young, I think this was a great way to use gaming to send a message. I am sure he caught the attention of many young adults and managed to spread awareness. In an interview Joseph Delappe was asked why he felt it was necessary to do the 1,000 Drones Project when there is already much talk about the issue and he responds by saying while it focuses on memorializing civilian deaths he hopes to “actualize the estimates of civilian deaths and to call into question the moral issues surrounding such remote killings”. This why I think his work is so powerful. I think he’s doing something great.
The work of Joseph DeLappe focuses on technology, politics, and war in a constantly changing society. In particular, I find his numerous pieces on drones to be especially powerful, because they are brutally honest about the use of drones as flying kill-machines. I generally do not skew in either direction of the political spectrum when it comes to our military: I support our troops but judge every action individually. Drones are the epitome of industrialized death, created on a mass scale to remove the humanity involved in ending another person’s life. DeLappe’s Killbox project shows exactly what happens to a targeted location from the viewpoint of the drone control room, turning a Northern Pakistan community into grids with a strike point. The genius in his game format comes from the subtlety of the message. It doesn’t shove any opinions down the player’s throat concerning the many problems with drone warfare, but instead uses simple statistics and real drone strike locations to simulate the lost lives within the killbox. Another drone piece, “Me and My Predator”, attaches a small-scale Predator Drone to the back of his head by an extended wire. It looks super uncomfortable on purpose, because that nuisance is experienced by millions of people in the Middle East every day and night. I can’t imagine being on alert for rockets hurdling toward my house 24/7, even when I have no involvement with international conflicts or the military in general. That’s how children in war-torn nations must feel, having no education but constantly fearing death by the “United States”. His last drone piece is the most powerful by far. “The Drone Project” is a scaled Predator Drone sculpture with the names of over 300 civilians who were killed in Pakistan by targeted strikes since the weapon’s approval. Hopefully Joseph DeLappe continues to produce work based on this issue and reaches notoriety with his specific messages.
Hey Allison, what you said about media in general being a big part of our world today is so true which is why I agree that his choice of media was the perfect way to convey his message. I play Call of Duty too so I understand the different aspects of the game. It makes the experience real and easy to relate to. I also agree that Delappe shows much dedication to his work. Although it is true that war has always been a hot topic, I don’t think anyone has taken an approach like this. Like Natalie said, it was very creative. I admire that his art is so powerful. Using your talent for good is inspiring.
I looked into Joseph DeLappe’s work and found one piece in particular whose title grabbed my attention. The piece demanded that I write about it upon seeing the pictures.
“Me and My Predator – Personal Drone System” is a series of pictures of the artist attaching a miniature version of the Predator Drone to his head. In all of the pictures, the Predator Drone is above and closely behind the man in the picture. The Predator Drone is always very nearby, and never loses sight of the person it is attached to. These images speaks to how weapons are always near us. The pictures reflect how a weapon as advanced as the Predator Drone can always be nearby and we are never out of it sight, nor are we ever out of its reach. Though wearing a Predator Drone over one’s head looks silly, the pictures serve as a warning about how these weapons can be much more dangerous as we allow them to become closer to us. The piece shows how allowing these weapons to get even more closer to us will lead to us never being able to separate them from us.
Araceli Lozano
Researching Joseph DeLappe I came across one of his art works that as soon as I saw it I felt a strong connection to it. The piece is titled “Liberty Weeps”. As soon as I saw the image information was running through my head. In the description it states that the project is a response to the current state of truth, justice, and liberty in the United States. The piece was created in May 2015. Now, more than a year later things seem to be worse in the United States. As soon as I saw the picture of the art piece I knew it had to do with the current issues that the United States is facing within its borders. The United States was supposed to be a country in which a person is meant to be free and have justice. However, even since the beginning of time, it has not been like that. People were killed for thinking or being different and it is sad to see that the cycle continues. With so much police brutality against people of color, as well as justice not being served (specifically the Brock Allen Turner ruling by Judge Aaron Persky) it seems that lady liberty will continue to weep.
I admire Joseph DeLappe’s political art work. Though some people think of art as being beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, art can also be moving and make you think about things you would not normally think about. It is something that is meant to make a person feel raw emotion that hits deep down in their core. With his art work having political background, it is a way for people to think about things that may not necessarily be pleasing, but necessary.
Esmeray Lopez
After doing a little research on Joesph DeLappe, I ended up on his website where he displays all his artwork with each individual category each piece he has created. And right off the bat you can tell that he is truly one of a kind, doing pieces of art mixed with technology that many have never even imagined of seeing before. Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of his video artwork considering it was a little strange it was still interesting to see the types of things that go through this artist head and he depicts it as his art. What I liked most about his artwork was the sculptures he has made and also collaborated with other artist to create these avatar figures with a 3D form such as the Liberty Weeps and the Cardboard Ghandi. His fascination with Ghandi also caught my attention because he not only made one piece of Ghandi or even two but three pieces, that all stood out very big, like 17 foot sculpture big. Overall i got to see the surface of Joesph DeLappe and I really enjoyed what i saw and found and am very ready to see much more of his artwork to come.
Bryan Aparicio
Joseph DeLappe’s form of art is in an unorthodox way. His pieces are a different way of him sending his messages. I really enjoyed and appreciated his project Dead-In-Iraq because it was a way to show the fallen troops that totaled up to 4,484 people. Some of his art is more of a movement and it’s admirable because he uses his own platform to display his message. In a way it is sort of relatable to what is going on today with social injustice. It’s all about using a platform and attempt to make a difference or at least bring attention to what’s currently going on or what happened then.
I was inspired by this video to go to Joseph DeLappe’s portfolio website where i saw that his artistic eye creates many other interesting pieces of work with the use of electronics, actual computer designs, games and photographs. I was not surprised when i was researching him and found out that he was the director of the digital media program at a university. Sending messages to the youth of America about important issues like video games, war and much more is awesome because it has a creative twist to it. I will definitely continue to look out for his work and check is website often because i am very inspired by all that he does. The preview to “Landscapes with a Corpse” is an amazing idea that looks so incredibly awesome. Making death become more natural in our society so we are not to scared of it could be awesome because it is a natural thing that happens to everyone. I am incredibly inspired by the work that he does.
There are so many artist that have the capacity to think outside the box, but not the same way as Joseph DeLappe. DeLappe is considered as a political and technological type of artist. He focuses on the events of the world to establish a message everyone can understand. It’s not a simple political message like vote for somebody, it’s more of a message that emotionally affects every individual. Such as the names of people who died in a game, that’s pretty deep. I used to play war games once upon a time and just playing as a character or even having any connection from the outside world to the virtual world can have a great impact on people. A few facts I researched about him was that he’s a Professor of the Department of Art at the University of Nevada directing a Digital Media program. He has many forms of art from sculpture/installation to game art and to drawings. In his some type of pro-folio, it demonstrates all his arts and works, even some publications. He’s an all interesting artist that taught me art can be used in many different ways to impact his audience. Amazing Artist. With amazing works. Interested in seeing any go here: http://www.delappe.net (pretty sure you’ve already seen them).
Shalane Holm
Joseph DeLappe is an artist who uses his art to provoke thought. His focus is on controversial content to make the viewer actually think. His Dead-In-Iraq project, as you stated had very mixed reviews. On the one hand, some viewers were very moved by the piece, while others were very offended. His work is about presentation and thought. He does not simply paint a pretty picture, art for art’s sake. His art is there to provoke thought in people. This is what brought attention to his work. His Ghandi pieces were also breathtaking. The mixed media and installation pieces are very well constructed and thought out.
Thanks everyone! Nice discussion! 😀