For my remix I decided to do something that I do on a regular basis, mod a game. What modding is taking a base game and adding or removing content to change game play, graphics, sound, or even the entire genre of game sometimes. I consider this a remix because I’m taking a initial piece of content and I mixed and matched the code of the game with various modifiers I sourced from nexus to turn a game from 2012 into a game that could rival modern RPGs. The greatest challenge in this particular remix was getting all of the modifications to play nicely, considering that there are 167 mods running simultaneously. The freedom of the internet largely allowed me to do this via nexus. It would’ve taken me decades to code a game like this all by myself, but through the freedom of sharing code and mods it allows everyone to specialize and create a better more nuanced experience in a fraction of the time it would take a lone creator. That speaks largely to the heart of the internet, the freedom to share. However, whenever sharing occurs there is always the fear of plagiarism for the creators, and lawsuits for the users. The risk of getting your livelihood destroyed by something you are not well versed in (copyright law) is always apparent when using content from ambiguous sources on the internet. Which is the crux of the issue, copyright law is fundamentally broken currently copyright law protects certain creative works for decades or more. In some cases a piece of art can be copyrighted for 100 years. Somewhat puzzling patents on the other hand, which are essentially copyright for inventions only last about 20 years. If its illogical to have a piece of machinery restricted for use for more than 20 years than how is it fine that a piece of music can be copyrighted for longer than a human lifetime? Copyright law is entirely too far reaching for the world as it is and for this reason my mod list is in the public domain. The reason being is anyone should be able to see what it is they need to do to properly modify and remix their own elder scrolls game.

Artist: Kiyomi Fukui

Exhibition: Green Thumb Project

Media: Paper

Gallery: Max L. Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA

Website: http://www.kiyomifukui.com/

Kiyomi Fukui is a Japanese american artist residing in Long Beach CA. She graduated from both California State University Long Beach and La Sierra University reviving a MFA in print making and a BFA in graphic design respectively. Fukui’s pursuit of art has lead her to the idea of impermanence and fragility and through her art she explores these ideas. Change is frighting maybe even inherently so. However, in spite of this Fukui contests that through embracing change and the fluidity of life one can discover beauty and peace that would otherwise be unattainable if shackled by fear.

The green thumb project is difficult to describe in the classical sense of art because its a living piece. Any piece of this work starts out as in a cast of a thumb print and is planted and nurtured into a plant over time. The mold itself is very detailed and has many details of the thumb even down to the thumb nail itself. Once prepared the thumbprint is then filled with a seed as well as dirt and fertilizer and finally planted and left to grow. The plants themselves don’t look to be pruned or trimmed into any form and left to grow naturally. The exhibit as a hole puts emphasis on nature with the extensive use of unfinished or clear finished wooden tables and planters.

The green thumb project is both a memento for Fukui’s mother, as well as being a metaphor for life in its own right. Through the thumb print of the passed new life grows. The idea at work is growth and renewal as well as a nod to the past. The plants core is rooted in something lost and yet the plant grows beyond its shell to thrive and survive with time. As it grows the thumb print will eventually fade into the soil but the plant will always have a bit of the initial thumbprint from when it was fragile and new.

I very much enjoyed reading writing and experiencing Fukui’s art. I think the thumb print and the plant is a beautiful analogy for life in general and the story behind the thumb print makes the entire exhibit that much more touching. The idea that the past will help you grow, but won’t be coming with you is a incredibly complicated and important aspect of life. The fact that at nineteen I’m at a point in my life were the first chapter of my life recently closed and young adulthood is in full swing makes this exhibit resonate more with the experiences I’ve already grappled with.

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My initial idea was to make a image of some kind using objects around that I could find. I wanted to create something recognizable that would lend itself well to being created with more simple materials. I initially thought I would make a smiling face but I decided that I would rather make a more neutral expression. I wanted to express the malaise experience of staying indoors for such an extended period of time. I chose to make my piece of art out of rocks because I thought it would lend itself towards creating art better than most material I could find. I think I effectively conveyed my idea although it was bit harder to convey the expression I really wanted due to the irregularity of the material I worked with. However, in the end I decided that maybe irregularity would be better for this piece in the long run. I think it was a very wise decision to use stones as opposed to other find-able materials because I wasn’t at all worried about wind with stones.

How long should a kiss last? How long should a work of art last? How long should a marriage last? How long should a human life last? All of these questions have the same answer. As long as we want it to. However, that is a thoroughly unsatisfying answer so my personal thoughts on how long all of these should last are as follows. A kiss? One second in public (get a room), in private you do you. A work of art? As long as that art is being enjoyed we should preserve it. A marriage? Hopefully, until one of them die from old age. A human life? So long as you want to experience the world, and so long as you can stand to be away from heaven is how long your life should last. However, in reality everything in this world is on a clock. Eventually time will take everything and everyone as for how this effects the way people experience art or their lives, in general I don’t think it has much of an effect. In reality most of the things on this planet exists far longer than a human life span. The only time when I see the life span of an object effect how we experience it is when it is so much shorter than the human life time that only the humans living right now will be able to experience it. Contrasting this the finite amount of time each of human has on this world is a driving force for why many people do all sorts of crazy experiences. Mid life crisis are just people with resources realizing their own mortality and fearing that they’ll miss out on their life if they don’t go out and experience something amazing/

Should other things like clean water air and land be sustainable and long lasting? Yes, yes they should. The earths life span for air, water, and land is Billions of years. eventually the world will die but, humans will either be a universe spanning empire by then, or dead. As for if its sustainable, the universe isn’t sustainable, so no, its not sustainable long term. However, practically yes it should be sustainable. As for if just a single person can make a difference, of course they can. Humanity is just a bunch of single individuals it will be a small change but a change that is significant non the less.

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Despite how far we’ve come humanity still doesn’t know how much we don’t know. The theme of this art gallery is to express the looming lack of knowledge we have about the universe as well as humanity’s desire to learn. The similarity between the art in the small human focus as compared to a vast and mysterious backdrop is an analogy to how little we actually know as compared to what’s left to discover. I selected each piece to express a feeling of ancient and unknown knowledge and brave if foolhardy people looking to explore. Another factor in selecting each piece was the heavy use of dark coloring and similar artistic style so that the entire gallery feels like it would exist in the same world. Finally I wanted the person each piece to be small and insignificant compared to the art as a whole. However, I still wanted a person in each painting so as to convey the willingness of people to explore.

Artists

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Name: N/a

Deviant art: VITOGH

VITOGH is a hobbyist artist, his primary profession is as an architect. The most striking thing about his art is that he’s a hobbyist. I find his art very interesting and quite good for someone who only makes art in his spare time, its very inspiring to know that something visually appealing can come from someone who isn’t an artist per say. VITOGH primarily draws landscapes generally with a small human figure in the landscape.

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Name: N/a

Deviant art: Mlenart

Mlenart is a freelance artist and works as the creative art director for team Bloober. His art consists of a more macabre atmosphere in many of his works with a realistic portrayal of the characters in it. His works are important because many of his works deal with destruction and decay which are generally difficult topics to express. However, Mlenart expresses the reality of these topics in his art through visual means rather than written ones.

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Name: Biagio D’Alessandro

Website: https://blas-t.artstation.com/

Deviant art: XRobinGoodFellowX

D’alessandro is an Italian artist who’s specialty is in role play, tabletop, and card games. I think his work is important because its a realist take on an unrealistic environment which is something I find lacking in many role play games. His art style is very diverse with good use of many different color palettes and tones through out his art. Many of his art works focus on some sort of fantasy setting either high fantasy or futuristic cyber punk.

Video Link: https://vimeo.com/user112663327/review/407026077/2f4f3ee966

The goal of my video was to find out a little bit more about the corona virus, my sister is a nurse so I’ve been able to get a first hand account of what it’s like at hospitals and as a healthcare worker and I thought others might be interested. I think I accomplished my goal although if I did it again I’d have a more structured interview. As for if a follow up video will ever happen, never say never but its exceedingly unlikely. Learning any new skill is always like pulling teeth and I don’t really have the drive to learn video editing.

My favorite content creator is really hard to pin down but my most watched content creator is the channel Bon Appetite. Their work really appeals to me because each cook is skilled and vastly unique in their own right, in addition to being happy and charismatic. The Bon Appetite cast don’t seem like their putting on a show when you watch which is appealing because the cast feels like genuine people. In other words they all feel authentic. Authenticity is synonymous with honesty when something is authentic its not pretending to be anything else than what it is. Performance in contrast would be deceit, but in film it manifests itself as exaggeration. Performance and authenticity are at odds with each other and good acting is being able to blend both together in just the right amounts. Pure authentic representation is really very boring because people generally aren’t doing death defying stunts day in and day out. However, unadulterated performance is what we call a B rate movie, its fake and prevents connection with the story.

In two interviews with Jennifer Aniston, one an at home interview and the other a studio show, it’s easy to see the varying blends of authenticity and performance. The studio interview it seems more performance oriented. The studio setting the formal dress and the quality of video all seems to lend to a more polished and finished product. Its less authentic because it seems that more work has been put in to make the final product look as good as possible. Contrasting that the interview over Skype seems much more uncut and authentic performance because it seems less polished. The people doing the interview don’t have a change in demeanor but the environment in which their place is less exaggerated and thereby more relatable.

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Artist: Mahsa Soroudi

Exhibition: Clio

Media: photography

Gallery: N/a

Website: https://www.mahsasoroudi.com/

Mahsa Soroudi is a Iranian immigrant currently living in southern california. Originally Soroudi lived in Tehran but, immediately after she married she moved away from Tehran, first she lived in Malaysia then after a year she moved to the US. Initially very excited to move to the US, Soroudi volunteer and tried to lay down roots. However, as time progressed Soroudi withered, lost energy, and became home sick. Eventually even the garden that she loved made up of resilient succulents withered with her. As she looked at her withered garden she found purpose in revitalizing her garden, torn form neglect. So to as her garden revived so too did Soroudi, eventually she managed to regain her vigor and find a better balance in her life, finally being able to accept california as her home.

The work shown is primarily made up of small spirals of bronze colored metal a pearl colored metal and gold. In between the spirals there are gaps making use of negative space. The primary gemstone is massive, is amber color, and flanked by two small diamonds. The main gemstone is very clear and pristenly cut as are the two flanking diamonds. The piece looks very polished with no rough unfinished edges and clean linework. Overall this ring seems to be very expensive and a grandiose exhibition of wealth for the wearer.

Soroudi in her interview related that her succulent plants helped revitalise her in a strange place. That inspiration seems to have seeped through into this piece, the swirls have a very organic feel and even look reminiscent of succulent leaves. The color scheme of this piece is also reminiscent of a desertscape, with very warm colors throughout the piece. Even the main jewel is a golden color reminiscent of the sun.

I think Soroudi’s work of art is extravagant and beautiful, and her story is compelling and heartfelt. I don’t think I would ever wear that ring for fear of getting robbed but if I was a hundred million dollars richer I may very well commission her to make me a piece of jewelry. Soroudi’s tale of homesickness from her travel away from iran is something many people I’m very close with have experienced and though I haven’t moved away I resonate with story of missing your home.

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The experience of making a spiral graph was enjoyable if a little unusual. I wasn’t used to having someone else be in control of my drawing and surprisingly it felt very similar to when i try and draw with my non-dominant hand. Overall it was a good way to pass the time, I didn’t make anything pretty to look at and it’s certainly not going in any art museums but it was a fun experiment. I think my mom had a much better time, so I might end up doing this a few more times during the quarantine.

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To complete this art activity I went to one of the climbing gyms I frequent and asked people what they thought about me based on my outfit. I asked what they thought my age, education, major, job, social groups, hobbies. As far as how people responded to me they were reluctant to share their opinion in some cases but most everyone I talked to responded to at least one question, the most common answer was that people thought I was a film major. I wouldn’t rate their interaction as unusual but people were curious as to why I was wearing what I was wearing but didn’t initiate conversation to find out why. Overall the experience was certainly different but I don’t think I’ll be dressing up again until halloween.

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Artists: Ana Alvarez

Exhibition: The Dwarven Elder

Media: Graphic art printed on paper

Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Gatov Gallery

Website: N/A

Social Media: N/A

The artist, Ana Alvarez, is a student at the Long beach state university college of the arts studying in graphic design. Alvarez is highly interested in video games and more specifically concept art for such games. As I interviewed the artist she recounted that her artwork is heavily inspired by video game, ranging from high fantasy games like Skyrim and Dark Souls, to indie games such as hollow knight. The artist fascination with video games lead her to graphic design because it allowed her the freedom to imagine an entire universe in which the characters she creates can exist.

The piece, The Dwarven Elder, at first glance comes off with very warm colors, almost the entirety of the artwork is some shade of red eventually fading into a light blue sky. The background conveys a cold high desert, almost mountainous feel due to the small amounts of white covering the plateaus giving the appearance of snow. The focus is the dwarf which draws the eye with stronger, darker line work, aided by in part by being at the center of the piece. The background in is hazy, far more greyed and less detailed giving it the feeling of distance and space. In contrast the foreground is much cleaner sharper linework with brighter colors and far more detail to convey a sense of closeness to the viewer.

Alvarez, when creating her art pieces, likes to not imagine just the single character in question but the entire backstory and setting that that character would live in. In particular for this piece, which draws from prominent western games like red dead redemption, is set in a western mining town in a high fantasy environment. The driving force in the plot being the discovery and excavation of a rare crystal found in a remote prospecting town. The character depicted is the mentor to the primary protagonist, Jen Redwater. The main antagonist in this world is a wealthy monopolist come to exploit the town for the rich deposit of crystals which the town holds. The artist thought process in this elaborate story line is to start from the outside in and imagine the world first then populate it with characters who might live in that world.

The artwork that I saw certainly feels like a good indie game, one that I’m not particularly sure I’d play, but one that has great artwork nonetheless. I enjoyed interviewing and interacting with Ana as she really did have the entirety of this worlds story planned out in her head. It added a depth to the art to know that there was a story, and the character in the piece had a personality. When I see a piece of art which I know nothing about it isn’t as much of an experience than if a piece of art has something to say beyond what you can see. Not everyone can be so lucky to have a one on one conversation with the artist who made any particular piece. However, a video game provides an entire experience you have alongside a character, someone’s artwork. A story attaches meaning and personality to a piece, and video game provides the opportunity for a very personal story because of the ability to interact with the an artwork.