Art in Their Eyes
Andreas
Berner and Nova Jiang are two artists that approach art in two different ways. They
both use technology in some way to create their art. Nova Jiang uses technology
in a way that brings her sculpture like art to life. She uses it to her
advantage to get people to play and interact with her work. Berner on the other
hand uses technology to design and create things like commercials and music
videos that are used more for marketing purposes. Berner’s work is more towards
the design aspect of art where as Jiang’s work is more about fine arts. I have
attempted to contact both artists but only got one response back from Nova
Jiang. However, because of the amount of work she has currently working on for
an upcoming project, she noted me that she was too busy to answer a few of my
questions.
Andreas Berner is a graduate student from
NYU with a Masters of Science degree in Digital Imaging and Design. He works as
a creative director for several projects and agencies including his own private
film production called Permanent Eye Pictures. He has directed several
commercials and even music videos. He has also worked with several types of art
including filmmaking, performing arts, and art and technology, but mainly works
with 3D art and visual effects. I wasn't able to find a website for his film
production, however, I did find that he was commissioned by several big
companies such as Hyundai. Berner’s main tool for producing his work is a
computer. He uses programs such as Maya and After Effects to create and put films
together. His focus is more towards marketing, creating designs to promote or
sell and an idea or product. Like many of the commercials seen on television,
his goal is to make the product or idea look good so that people will become
interested.
He uses several techniques such as using various camera angles that puts the audience in place of the camera and getting them to mentally interact with the video. In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin presents the idea of performance in film and how different camera angles are used to compliment an actor’s performance. Berner uses this idea in his work to capture the objects in his videos and present them well to the audience as if the idea or product is the star of the commercial or music video. Berner also uses bold, vivid colors to his advantage to catch the viewer’s eyes and to draw them into watching the video. His style also separates him from other similar artists in the business. He clearly has strong skills in 3D art and visual effects that he makes the subjects in his videos almost seem realistic but still having this sense that it was digitally created and animated. One really good example to sum up what he does would be a video for a commercial that he did for Hyundai for the 2012 Olympic games.
The commercial features a red Hyundai driving down the road passing by different countries with signs saying “welcome” in their language. Throughout the twenty seconds some of the film, he changes up the camera angles to catch different views of each scene and the car but still featuring the car driving down the road. As a viewer looking through the eyes of the camera, you are traveling down the road with the car experiencing the different countries that the car passes by before finally ending up at London, the final destination of the video. All Berner’s work have one clear meaning behind them. What he displays in his pieces is what the audience will interpret it as. For example, the Hyundai commercial is about the car and the Olympics. As a creative director his job is to make videos like this to get people to interested the things he’s trying to sell, in this case, the car and also promoting the Olympic Games at London. Berner’s work is more towards being aesthetically pleasing while Nova Jiang, a fine artist, on the other hand is more about making art that is more functional and teaching something about life.
He uses several techniques such as using various camera angles that puts the audience in place of the camera and getting them to mentally interact with the video. In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin presents the idea of performance in film and how different camera angles are used to compliment an actor’s performance. Berner uses this idea in his work to capture the objects in his videos and present them well to the audience as if the idea or product is the star of the commercial or music video. Berner also uses bold, vivid colors to his advantage to catch the viewer’s eyes and to draw them into watching the video. His style also separates him from other similar artists in the business. He clearly has strong skills in 3D art and visual effects that he makes the subjects in his videos almost seem realistic but still having this sense that it was digitally created and animated. One really good example to sum up what he does would be a video for a commercial that he did for Hyundai for the 2012 Olympic games.
The commercial features a red Hyundai driving down the road passing by different countries with signs saying “welcome” in their language. Throughout the twenty seconds some of the film, he changes up the camera angles to catch different views of each scene and the car but still featuring the car driving down the road. As a viewer looking through the eyes of the camera, you are traveling down the road with the car experiencing the different countries that the car passes by before finally ending up at London, the final destination of the video. All Berner’s work have one clear meaning behind them. What he displays in his pieces is what the audience will interpret it as. For example, the Hyundai commercial is about the car and the Olympics. As a creative director his job is to make videos like this to get people to interested the things he’s trying to sell, in this case, the car and also promoting the Olympic Games at London. Berner’s work is more towards being aesthetically pleasing while Nova Jiang, a fine artist, on the other hand is more about making art that is more functional and teaching something about life.
Nova Jiang, a graduate from UCLA with a Masters
of Fine Arts in Media Art and a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine
Arts at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Outright Nova Jiang displays
art in a totally different way, visually and interactively. Unlike Berner,
Jiang’s work is more physical where as Berner’s art is more digital. Her use of
technology isn’t done on the computer. She uses electronics and software in her
pieces to make them come to life by making things move. One of her pieces
called, “Landscapes Abbreviated,” created for Wave Hill’s 2012 Winter Workspace
Program, is made up of 16 pieces side by side in a grid like format. Each piece
has a kind of bar with plant life on it that constantly swings around creating
a sort of maze that people can go through, almost like a game.
Jiang’s focus also isn’t about the visual aspect of art as Berner is with his. Her purpose is more towards creating a sense of play for her audience, where like in her piece, “Landscapes Abbreviated,” her audience is actually the performers in her piece instead of the piece being the performance itself. Jiang’s work can be described as new media according to Manovich. In Manovich’s book What is New Media, he presents the idea that new media is interactive. He states that, “[I}n the process of interaction the user can choose which elements to display or which paths to follow” (55). In one of her pieces titled, “Archipelago,” she created three green almost mini type-like floats for a commission for the 2010 01SJ Biennial. An event that hosts artists that presents their work to the public in promoting how we can change the world with the tools we have. Each of the floats holds bottles, paper, and pens in them. The green floats are supposed to symbolize deserted islands. People are welcome to come up to any of the islands and write something down and put into the bottle. According to Jiang, “Archipelago” is representing how “people should leave the island of their daily routine.” Instead of creating a piece where people look at and try to interpret what the meaning behind the piece, Jiang has them actually participate with the her and the piece themselves as a kind of activity to get people to actually act, in this case, to leaving their desert island routine.
Compared to Berner, Jiang’s work can be interpreted in many ways because of how abstract it can be. It doesn’t exactly say in front what the meaning behind each piece. Her pieces have more freedom to the viewers to look at and interpret it in their own way. Berner’s pieces have one meaning to them and that is about the products or idea he is focusing on in his videos.
Jiang’s focus also isn’t about the visual aspect of art as Berner is with his. Her purpose is more towards creating a sense of play for her audience, where like in her piece, “Landscapes Abbreviated,” her audience is actually the performers in her piece instead of the piece being the performance itself. Jiang’s work can be described as new media according to Manovich. In Manovich’s book What is New Media, he presents the idea that new media is interactive. He states that, “[I}n the process of interaction the user can choose which elements to display or which paths to follow” (55). In one of her pieces titled, “Archipelago,” she created three green almost mini type-like floats for a commission for the 2010 01SJ Biennial. An event that hosts artists that presents their work to the public in promoting how we can change the world with the tools we have. Each of the floats holds bottles, paper, and pens in them. The green floats are supposed to symbolize deserted islands. People are welcome to come up to any of the islands and write something down and put into the bottle. According to Jiang, “Archipelago” is representing how “people should leave the island of their daily routine.” Instead of creating a piece where people look at and try to interpret what the meaning behind the piece, Jiang has them actually participate with the her and the piece themselves as a kind of activity to get people to actually act, in this case, to leaving their desert island routine.
Compared to Berner, Jiang’s work can be interpreted in many ways because of how abstract it can be. It doesn’t exactly say in front what the meaning behind each piece. Her pieces have more freedom to the viewers to look at and interpret it in their own way. Berner’s pieces have one meaning to them and that is about the products or idea he is focusing on in his videos.
Although both Nova Jiang and Andreas Berner
are both modern artists they have different ways in approaching how they create
art. They’re also both different in that one is a designer and the other is a
fine artist. Berner creates videos and film for the purpose of selling while
Jiang creates her sculptures to get some sort of a teaching across. What they
create art for also effects the type of art they create. Since Berner working
in the business where it focused more on marketing goods, he has to create work
that will sell and be able to promote the company. Jiang creates work that fits
more for a museum setting where art is more about being appreciated for what
their for. Both artists may be different in the field of art they are in, they
are both professionals at what they do and that is what makes them similar as
artists.
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Works Cited
Andreas
Berner. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012.
<http://andreasberner.com/>.
Benjamin,
Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Walter
Benjamin. N.p., 1936. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>.
Manovich,
Lev. "What New Media Is Not." The Language of New Media.
Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. 49-61. Print.
Nova
Jiang. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.novajiang.com/>.
"Nova Jiang." Wave Hill
Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.wavehill.org/arts/artists/nova-jiang/>.
