Goodbye

"Goodbye"

This piece is an exploration of vanity, tragedy and longing.  It is simple narrative of a young man sneaking onto an empty stage, with red and blue lighting, and simply loosing himself in lights and his imagination.
The song is "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Avenue, sung by Betty Buckley. It is actually the finale of a once silent film starlet, gone mad with the loneliness and of not being on stage anymore.
The beginning and end of the piece are very cut off and framed, enhancing the perception of being confined to reality.  The more the passion increase, the more fake, ghostly and even artificial (through the puppet) it becomes.  While it is heavily artificial in those moment, I really wanted to express an honesty and sincere belief that, in that specific moment, that was reality.
-Tony Marshall

Mini Look 2

For this one, I took another one of my pieces, and put it out in the gardens.  This starts to explore the dialogue of scale and illusion.

Mini Look 1

A close up look at one of my pieces.  This starts to help blur the margin between real and illusion.

Beadface Echo

Beadface echo, is an attempt at understanding the "Echo" setting in Premier CS6.  It is also a documentation of the removing of the bead mask created in "Beaddazzle."

"Beaddazzle" - a performance piece

"Beaddazzle"
A performance piece by Anthony Marshall:
  This piece is an exploration of act of beaddazzling, and our relationship with hobby materials, glitz and theatricality within an everyday setting.

I set up in the McKnight Atrium and worked to beaddazzle my entire face.  The process took about 5 hours.  I wanted to see how far I could push this aesthetic, with the attempt of making myself "sick" of it.  Upon completion, I found that I was rather pleased with the aesthetic "over-the-topness."  Viewers were also very interested in it, calling it "beautiful" and "fabulous."  I came to the understanding that "over-the-top" may be to some extent, out of reach.  This is because many in our culture, and apparently myself including, truly values this aesthetic value.

Project 2

  

By presenting fragments of past and present lives (personal and ambiguous) and by also harmonizing the natural and artificial worlds we live in and create, I explore the questionable spaces between the extremes where we all exist. The reattached branch, the breathing tree, the momentary casts of my self, and the memories of my experiences in combination with other natural materials, catalyze thinking in a shared space about the in-between that connects us all in the now.

 

After completing my 1st natural sculpture, I noticed this tree in a new light. I now saw her as a very uniquely posed woman that is both fun and thoughtful. She playfully exudes continual growth, strength, flexibility, beauty, balance, wisdom, and grace (attributes that I believe constitute an impressive and notable woman.) This whimsical outdoor installation was the progressive next step at bringing my ideas more to life. 

The use of more living matter such as the multiple plant fibers that were casted and/or applied, and including the openness of the environment and the public to affect the content are all important factors of my work and the conversation the installation is creating. By taking my work outside to live, I feel it becomes more real and opens up the playing field for interaction. I tangibly came to understand this more today.

As I approached her crossing the street from the parking lot, I noticed the tree had been adorned with suspended bottles. Getting closer I noticed how well they were integrated into what I had started. They were filled with personal messages of female identity and much more that I didn't get to fully explore. It was as if somebody had done what I had not yet thought of or put together. Then later in the afternoon they had been cut down and only a few pieces of rope remained tied to the tree limbs. This person shared a moment of enhanced reality with me which allowed us to see beauty in a commonly overlooked being thus motivating our choices to include the public in the experience. I hope to find out who did this additional work but know that regardless of the basis of the individual's intentions with this tree, there are no coincidences and an enchantingly fun, significant, multidimensional dialogue has potentially begun...

"Room Full of Quiet" Documentation

Room Full of Quiet Artist Statement:

In my ceramic work I present the audience with energetically marked, thick, heavy vessels that engage and express my notions of nature and our relationship to it. Here, I wanted to address a different aspect of nature that isn’t as easily captured by actions; a silence that collects and projects sound for miles.  The crisp, dry air of a northern Minnesota night combined with fresh snowfall dampens and amplifies sounds at the same time.  Every winter I cherish the chance to hear this silence.  To feel the sound of all the currents of wind blow through the trees while train whistles eek out from what seems like a different country engages my full attention.  It becomes the most beautifully loud quiet place on the planet.  Quiet is a quest.  My father (who recorded this) found his quiet after work rocking in this chair.  Years earlier he gave me quiet, rocking me to sleep in this same chair.  I present you with a kind of quiet that isn’t silence.  Everyday we are filling space with more sounds.  I find the most powerful to be in the spaces of quiet. 

DOCUMENTATION 1

DOCUMENTATION 2