Time, Through Windows
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, sound, spoken-word, video, visual, word
Time, Through Windows explores the perception of time, using the passage from spring to winter as a metaphor for the artist’s father’s cycle of life—from child to elder. Music and spoken dialog work in combination with video to create a six-piece narrative that invites the audience into an intimate durational experience. This work, presented as a circular grouping of six audio/video pairs, acts as a vehicle for the audience to contemplate that which might normally go overlooked.
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Tags: audio, cycle, durational, father, lens, narrative, perspective, rythym, spoken-word, video, visual
It’s All About Time
Posted by Erik | Filed under spoken-word, video
I am in the middle of the woods, looking for artistic inspiration. I was supposed to be here the year prior, but my father had succumbed to illness and I chose to stay with him. These woods are not real. They were brought here and planted to match someone’s design layout. I continue to walk for a few hours until I come upon something as out of place as a city-dweller visiting a fake forest a year late. I find a huge stone in the middle of this man-made wilderness. I study the stone, looking for signs of a struggle. I find none and turn away. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see the rock has moved. This will take some time to figure out.
Though often overlooked, I believe the material surrounding the deliberate “content” acts as a lens by which we interpret that content. I explore this material in my work, looking for ways to present a unique perspective on the pedestrian. It’s All About Time investigates the perception of time and how that influences our lives and memories.
Tags: death, durational, father, lens, spoken-word, stop-motion, time, video, visual, voice
Treading Thoughts
Posted by Erik | Filed under visual, word
Rather than the music, I am interested in the silence found between notes. As important as the words, I am drawn to the sounds a person makes when in the process of thinking what to say next. I refer to this phenomenon as treading thoughts. When a creative person is in the middle of an improvisation, he reaches a point near the end of an idea or phrase where he is not quite sure what comes next. The resulting outcome cannot be completely planned while at the same time it is not completely new. It is a synthesis of the rehearsed and the randomness coming out of the moment—sometimes a mistake but more often a wonderful synergy. A professor I studied under used to refer to this as a “happy accident,” displaying his contempt for anything he could not control or plan. “Happiness” is underrated.
A Fact of Modern Life
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, music, sound, spoken-word
The piece may seem at first to be the antithesis of the majority of the work I do, with simplicity replaced with a cacophony of spoken text. However, it is about the rhythm found in the repetition and the contextual shifting that can occur. The Chicago poetry slam is an influence in this area of my work.
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Tags: audio, repetition, rythym, simplicity, spoken-word
Controlled Substances
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, sound, video, visual
Controlled Substances is an interactive media installation controlled by the real-time RSS feeds it displays.
Tags: hunger, installation, interactive media, population, time, video, water, world
Standing Waves in Shoaling Water
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, video, visual
On December of 2004 I set out to teach myself some basic video production software. Midway through a typical tutorial I heard news coming out of Asia that gave me cause to drop everything and begin new work with purpose. On December 28, 2004, I composed a multimedia and performance piece, Standing Waves in Shoaling Water. Written from the perspective of an American in the US attempting to get detailed accounts of the Tsunami, the piece calls for a single performer, world-band radio, tape recorders, bell and pre-recorded soundtracks. This audio work was first performed at Columbia College Chicago in January 2005.
In researching for the music composition I came across fellow weblogger Hellmut Issels, who published his personal and incredibly moving photographs of the Tsunami in Phuket. I sent him a request to use a few of his photographs for the video incarnation of SWSW that I planned to attempt. Failing to receive a response I decided to credit Hellmut and press on with this student project. The final video piece is six and a half minutes, using a stereo mix of all original audio parts. I consider the project finished not because it is perfect but because it’s time to begin new work. Standing Waves in Shoaling Water was written in memory of those lost to the 2004 Tsunami, December 26, 2004.
I have had Erik in class on several occasions, and he has continuously struck me as a thoughtful, mature, disciplined artist. In fact, his submission work for acceptance into the Interdisciplinary Arts program was already among the most memorable works of art of any student I have had in my 10 years of teaching.
Jenny Magnus, Adjunct Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Art, Columbia College Chicago
Tags: human, perspective, time, tsunami, video
Burning Word
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, word
Literary magazine and forum
visit site
Burning Word is an interactive literary magazine. In addition to the twelve person editorial staff, Burning Word publishes featured submissions from authors around the globe. The site is also well known for its forums, which allow writers to receive feedback and help from fellow authors and readers. The site was designed and developed to allow staff and users with little or no technical knowledge to input, edit, and publish content whenever they desire, 24/7. Burning Word is a 2002 SXSW (South by South-West) winner of the web design award.
Tags: fiction, literary, poetry, website
ekpages: urban art
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, visual, word
Visual interactive
Status: Offline.
Exhibiting graffiti as an art form, ekpages was created to bring creative minds together in a mutual appreciation for all art, and for each other. The site functioned as a creative resource from April 1996 to August 2003. The best content from ekpages will be added to this site, as time permits.
Tags: fiction, poetry, time, urban art, visual, website
Social Graces
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, music
Credits: Brian Deck: drums; Randy Henry: bass, vocals; Erik Deerly: vocals, saxophone, guitars, music and lyrics. Barry Deck, Erik Deerly: design and photography. Produced by Brian Deck with Erik Deerly. Emigre, 1990.
Unlike too many musicians with a point to make, Every Good Boy puts as much, maybe more, faith in their music as in their lyrics, and that makes a big difference. You have to admire a band nobody’s heard of that writes a no-sell-out song; you end up liking them when you discover that you’re singing along.
Option
Every Good Boy takes pop music, slows it down to the pace of the Twin Peaks soundtrack, and ads enough twists to each song to give this CD an almost eerie feeling, almost as if Rod Serling had engineered this CD.
Alternative Press
Sample Tracks:
01 History
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03 Social Graces
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07 ‘Cause I Hate You
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09 What Can I Do?
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10 Through The Woods
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Tags: audio, chicago, emigre, every good boy, guitar, indie, saxophone, vox