Digitalscape - Tree people

This work was a pigment print done by Emily Rosario and highlights our consciousness and nature. There are many parallels that represent the likeness of "human" society and "natural" society. Each system working within nature is what creates likeness in human beings physical body and a similar process has been adapted into the creation of society. The human/tree figures in Rosario's print represent a new conjunction of nature and man, "man" being a term deemed by society. When observing trees in nature their general stature is representational of humans. They stand upright and derive their energy from forces of the earth and beyond much as we do. The fact that these tree/humans are dominating the landscape represent the fact that nature is controlled. Certainly in the United States no nature has been left untamed because of the strict federal laws and controls that are present. The wilderness, ocean, stream, virtually any large scale "natural" operation is continuously affected by humans.

It is no doubt that one could feel a sense of connection through nature but in more literal terms our connection has become utterly dependent on nature. Occurrences of the Earth happen within a sphere encompassing all environmental phenomena are orchestrated by a force in which we can't communicate. Through alterProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ions of genetics within plants it changes the original plan set in place that exists within the plants genes. Thus humans are now what represents what nature "is". This is so because we have deemed it so due to our individualistic consciousness.

Poultry

This piece was conceived and created by Nathan Wells and consists of an uncooked chicken submerged in fiberglass resin in a metal cooking tray. The work speaks of the modification of modern food and in this case highlights the meat industry. There is a great deal of contrast between the two realms of purpose but, they are all very closely related. To begin I would like to make the distinction between the pan and chicken (a common sight in the domestic world) and the resin that occupies the outer layer of the chicken and rests in the pan. The chicken at first stands out because it is perceivably a natural form. Behind the creation of this chicken is the industry. The chicken in the pan is a symbol of the removal from nature. The mass of chickens raised today are in factory settings where they are given little more than a space in which is to be occupied by a number. The machines and workers are to meet a quota of production and the only way to do this is to carry out systematic slaughter.

This final image of the chicken at first glance appears to be what it is but the layer of resin to solidify its place and the hardened resin represents the violence in its veiled form because it is acceptable because it is given a theme, as put by Donna Haraway.

Another interesting factor of this piece was the fact that the chicken decayed. The factor was only apparent by the smell of it, relating to the nature of the factories themselves. At a distance, this displayed a moist chicken in a pan but upon further inspection the viewer experiences a deeper sensation and reflection. The bone structure is recognizable all of the parts are present, it is a matter of awareness for the "veil" of resin. Food production all over the world is dominated by synthetic or artificially created assets. The chickens eat "feed corn" which is made up of genetically modified (TMS Texas Male Steril) corn grown using many chemical fertilizers. The process of harvesting the corn, shipping it to the farm-factories, distributing it to the chickens, raising and slaughtering the chickens, all used fossil fuels. The point being that commercially grown food have varying degrees of unnatural additives that are not advertised and consumers are generally not asking questions. Consumers are generally ignorant of the fact that sustainability in agriculture is important and these shiny, wrapped up meats are consuming more amounts of energy and resources than more think.

Post-Current Events

This piece was an installation piece created by Jan Dickey and Max Seckel. It began as a series of abstract paintings done by Jan relating to the current outbreak of the Swine-Flu. This piece was as passively active as the hysteria caused by the swine-flu itself.
To summarize the process of this painting the fickle nature of human society itself must be taken into consideration. This piece largely pertains to the principle as stated by Jan, "life is about jumping on bandwagons." This is evident in the time of conception of this piece. Before the final piece came into fruition it began as a series of abstract panting titled "swine-flu". These piece were rejected from the undergraduate show so the piece naturally was able to flourish. The piece once started out as a sub-conscious representation of the swine-flu into a literal rejection of the hysteria. This was done by contrasting the collection of muted, cooler tones with the presence of orange/yellow authority icons attributed by Max. This shift in pallet speaks directly of the nature of the University in conjunction with its students. What was once before a quiet introspective of the swine flu instantly became a national highlight by the exaggerated reactions by the university and the community. This is represented by the traffic cones and police officers hap-hazardly stuck everywhere and in great amounts on the piece.

This work is a wonderful illustration of how society works by giving everything some kind of personal celebrity, in this case the swine-flu, that everyone can love and hate and so on and so forth. The Hans Solo cut out was to highlight just that as he himself, a childhood icon to many of us, is also submitting to the "severity" of the disease, thus the bandwagon. It is only natural of a human populated, such as this one at UD, to have the urge to confide with each other as a population. With scarcer and scarcer amounts virtue it is much easier for someone to jump on this "band-wagon" in order to sustain a level of decency in society. Such aggressive tactics in exhibiting the swine-flu was merely a stone-cold attempt for the media to boast its own presence. Note the action hero, mask and hard-hat.