Grounding was commissioned in 2011 by William G. Thomas, John and Catherine Angle Professor and Chair of the History Deptartment of the University of Nebraska. The release of Grounding was synchronous with the release of Dr. Thomas' book "The Iron Way" (Yale Univ. Press.) where he writes about the complexity of the US Civil War, the expansion of the railroad and the modernization of the country in the mid to late 1800's
When the idea for Grounding was first pithched I thought "What a rich idea but I need fodder." I observed trains in and around Lincoln, NE., I read about the development of the Trans Continental Railroad and how that changed our nation in many ways. I reread Kafka and I visited the Nebraska Historical Society.
I was interested in how politics, cultural identity, time, and technology were changed so profoundly by this new modern development and I searched for a similar comparison in our current time. It occurred to me that there were many visual connections between high tech circuitry embedded in our phones and computers and the technology of the 1800's. Connectivity by train changed the US and connectivity by computer has changed our world.
I included the Scarab Beetle as a metaphor for both growth and regeneration. I feel that, although we have many of the same morals and ideologies from the days of yore, we are also currently sit on the cusp of a globalized and strange new world where people of the great plains enjoy exotic fruit and social movements in North Africa are made possible by the internet.
Celle was made as a collaboration between me and my wife Anne who is an artist. Anne's work depicts an imaginary world of miniatures that are derived from her
collection of nostalgic toys and decorative objects. She explores inherent
meaning and personal attachments with these objects through her installations
and paintings.
So in this project Anne set up an installation of objects and photographed it from various angles. But she then gave me the freedom to take those photos and create an ambiguous story about a creature and the afterlife.
The name "Celle" was derived from the name of her recently deceased grandmother Marcelle who gave Anne many of the toys and trinkets used in the piece. The passing of Marcelle, although sad, seems less difficult for Anne as she has these objects to remember her by. It is the fetish object that seems to be the thing that is alive and can live longer than we can.
(be)TWEEN
Marissa Vigneault
TWEEN is the first collaborative exhibition between Anne and Michael Burton, and showcases their joint endeavor of photography, painting, and projected animation. The title TWEEN conjures up a variety of meanings: a reference to the images between key frames, which are used to create animation; a space (be)tween the individual aesthetics of both artists, where their creative voices are woven together; and a collaboration (be)tween the two artists.
Mike and Anne’s work conveys a shared aesthetic sensibility in terms of symbols, animals, and colors. It is in their working process that differences are found. Mike structures the work while making, edits while in the act. Anne reads, decides the story, and determines placement and color beforehand. She then takes photos which lead to the creation of her paintings. The images in TWEEN derive from a variety of nostalgic toys and decorative objects which Anne is perpetually collecting. The objects are used in a way suggestive of personally attached associations, as well as universal symbols.
The act of collecting suggests a desire to own, to possess, to cherish. We find security in objects and create artificial attachments to mementos that outlive those that came before. Collection as desire, or desire as collection, is forever elusive yet self-perpetuating. We can never have what we desire; it does not lead to possession, only constant reproduction where satisfaction never occurs. Within this dynamic, desire is a relation to lack, for once we name the thing we desire, we are immediately separated from it through the codified structure of language.
Cupid is the reification of desire, etymologically linked to this motivator of drives by way of his name. The Cupid who appears in the Burton’s work plays at hunting. His upper body is mobile and limber as he pulls back his bow, while his lower body is frozen in place. His performance is temporary and short-lived, for he can never step out to reach what he imagines he has conquered. In the mechanism of the projected animation, Cupid is forever looped, a petrified participant in the continuous activation of his own desire.
The state in between love and death maintains a tenuous balance between the two, fraught with tension as tight as Cupid’s bow.
EROS/THANATOS
Coy Cupid’s kiss.
I love you to death.
In March of 2011 I was asked to participate in an exhibition at the Denver Art Museum titled "Blink!; Light, Sound, and the Moving Image". It was the first exhibition of it's size and scope to feature all digital and electronic artwork and featured work from Nam June Paik, William Kentridge, Jeremy Blake, Lorna Simpson, Jennifer Steincamp, and Tony Ousler to name only a few. In total there were 49 artists featured.
As an educational suppliment to the exhibition I was asked to come back to the museum for thier "Demo and Do" series. I worked with the public to make an animation.
I made some props that I called "Key Frames" and I brought some other materials to inspire my friends who were helping. We began in the morning outside the museum where we recruited bystanders to participate in both making the animation and developing the narrative. On this page you'll find both the finished animation and a "making of" video.
In 2009 I met Aaron Beaumont, a muscian living in LA, while he was visiting Lincoln. We talked about some ideas he had for a music video for his song "Where You Lost Yourself" I agreed to make an introduction for the video for him to bring to the record lable he was working with at the time to see if they would support the project. They loved the concept so in January of 2010 I began painting the animation as my focus project and completed it in May.
There were some changes I made to the initial narrative. Originally the Projectionist was the young man and the Ticket vendor was the young woman. The old piano player longing for the young woman seemed right but to make the young woman the Projectionist just seemed sexier and more mysterious. It also set up an interesting power position for the Projectionist.
The Ancient Mariner originally started as two separate animations. Neither worked well. There was always something missing.
I met Jay Kreimer in 2009 while I was working on the Ancient Mariner and just before he and his family were heading to India. Meeting Jay as a possible collaborator changed things in a many ways for me.
I gave Jay copies of the various scenes of the animation and along with other clips I had made not originally intended to be included. Jay left me with microphones to record audio from the process of animating. I recorded for two days then sent the files to Jay in India.
Upon his return later in the year Jay had learned to play Tabla and I learned that clips of loons, acid rain snakes, worms and rising detritus were perfect for completing this animation. I understood that giving the animation time to breathe had enabled me to understand what the piece was really about; the relationship between humans and nature.
Completing this animation with Jay changed my process profoundly. As a result of a creative relationship I have learned to give up part of my work and let it grow through a collaborative production.
Channel was inspired by the dam sloughs and bypasses intented for salmon in the rivers of the Pacific North West. After watching a 60 minutes piece titled Fish Fuss with Leslie Stahl I thought, "what woud it be like for the fish going through the bypasses?"
I decided to create a fish amusement park inside the bypass where they go on a ride and have a picture taken a te end.
To add tension I included two predatory birds, or should I say opportunistic seagulls, that represent to "real" world and the dangers that lie on the otherside of the ride.
While I let The Ancient Mariner set for a while I pulled out a painting I made in 2005. The painting was from an exhibition of work I made about diabetes titled "Dependency". It depicted a view of my belly looking down while I inject insulin.
I thought about when I was a kid and how when my older cousins and brother would tickle me I would occasionally pass out. This happened other times too. I would passout if I stood up too fast or sometimes for no reason at all. It just happened. But if this has ever happened to you then you'll relate to the feeling you have just before you go out and come back where time and place seem to both slow and speed up at the same time.
The animation is about those weird transgresions where your subconscience produces dreams and reality seam to mix in unexpected ways.
These experiments include an animation about being on the road across country and my wondering mind, some familiar quotates, and a preperation for the DAM Demo and Do.
In June of 2007 I made a timelapse video at the Sheldon Museum of Art where I recorded myself painting a large canvas. Over the course of five days I changed the composition and imagery several times until