I wish I had thought of this kind of art.

Today's presentation from Vladmir was probably my favorite presentation thus far. She is truly an artist who thinks outside of the traditional, conventional standards of artistic practice. Within her viewmaster art, she combines photography, 3D, sound, storytelling, and a bit of nostalgia to create a wonderfully interactive experience. I am one of those people who owned a view master many years ago, and finally picked one up again for the very first time today. I realized that it's a toy that I always loved, but never really thought about where they came from, or how they're constructed. I want to create my own viewmaster discs and corresponding story! Vladmir managed to think outside of the box, yet took elements that the general population has been familiar with for years.

The most interesting part of the presentation was the construction of the picture panels and packaging. The stories tied everything together and made it all work, but none of them struck me as particularily fascinating. They were fun, most of the time weird, and managed to tell a volumn of storyline in 4 short discs, but I gained the most insight from the aesthetic. I think it's interesting that when Vladmir initially attempted this endeavor, she did not realize the logistics of 3D angling, but rather stumbled upon it in the process. The mechanics of the art enabled two built-in perspectives that added tremendous depth to the story. Understanding those angles almost IS the art of the viewmaster, yet Vladmir possessed enough artistic intuition to piece together crucial elements as she went along. I think that sort of method produces some very interesting results, often times exceeding the creativity of a carefully planned venture.

The exterior packaging of the discs was a whole other art in itself. Each disc was carefully labeled and designed to coordinate with the container. As every packaging was passed to me, I began to imagine what the storyline would be like based on my impression of the artwork. Will it be gruesome? Humorous? Reflective? Then, as the storyline progresses, it as interesting to see how my first impressions were proved or invalidated, and to witness how the artwork was conceived. Often times, the imagery or color scheme of the outer packaging shell was derived from a particular scene in the storyline, or an important frame of events. Ultimately, the packaging provided an elegant and professional delivery, and unimportantly, it also gave me many ideas for painting my room.

It's refreshing to see artists out there turning perspectives of the world upside down. Excellent choice in guest artist.