Comments on: Let me tell you about my mother.

Let me tell you about my mother.

The Whelk — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:11:28 -0800

Clayton Cubitt is a video artist. He does video portraits. They are disturbing, warholian, and weird

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:16:26 -0800

According to the website, he sets up the tripod and leaves the room. Which is almost creepier.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:21:11 -0800

I feel like I'm in a staring contest.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:23:23 -0800

I think Nina Stotler is trying not to laugh.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:25:26 -0800

I feel like I'm in a staring contest. I've got a hundred dollars here says Mary Crabapple blinked before you did, Blazecock.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:26:01 -0800

Whoops. Molly Crabapple.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:31:49 -0800

That "by your side" one does a good job of telling a story in facial expressions. I think he must have found some good actors to pull it off. Reminds me of an idea I once had for a sci-fi movie that would be silent, and all told through subtitles. All the acting would be done by facial expressions, with the idea that people could communicate though some sort of brain connection.

By: grobstein

grobstein — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:08:30 -0800

I can appreciate the concept of the 'long portrait,' but I can't watch one!

By: pointilist

pointilist — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:17:27 -0800

These remind me of some pieces I saw in a private home- I wish I knew the artist. They looked like back lit transparencies a little over a foot square, in a Plexiglas frame. While the change was barely perceptible, the portraits morphed from a neutral head shot to, in one case, an expression of intense anguish. You could walk by the piece several times before noticing a change in expression. I can't tell if they were more or less interesting than these.

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:25:58 -0800

These would make great benchmarks for motion compensation based video codecs, sort of how those huge mbox files used to be commonly used to benchmark ratios of text-based compression algorithms.

By: fontophilic

fontophilic — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:36:41 -0800

Pointilist, I also remember seeing a video installation like the one you described-- super slow motion faces-- but in the Blanton museum on the UT campus this summer. I've been googling like mad, but I can't remember the artist's name. I'll post a link or name if I ever find it. Also Conan stares into your soul

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:36:42 -0800

I present a Jessica Alba self portrait

By: oulipian

oulipian — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:41:58 -0800

See also: Douglas Gordon, Gillian Wearing, Adad Hannah, Thomas Struth, Bettina Hoffman, Bill Viola....

By: shii

shii — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:52:42 -0800

I think this video is better because rather than trying so hard to be "art" it is simply a self-conscious girl who doesn't want to show her crooked teeth. It makes me smile and sympathize, unlike the linked videos that are just kind of weird.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:07:27 -0800

I can't believe you linked to that Magibon girl shii. She is reeeeaally creepy. She sits in front of the camera trying to look as cute as possible, and by that I mean child-like. Camera slightly above eye level so she is looking upward. Waving and maintaining that smirk the whole time. Making her eyes as large as possible. Singing and talking with a kid voice. She tries really hard at not breaking that illusion of innocence. To me that is waaaaaaayyyy creepier than the "art" videos. ijustine does a pretty good impression, and this is hilarious.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:50:05 -0800

Clayton Cubitt previously on MetaFilter

By: rubin

rubin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:39:12 -0800

I really love these. Makes me want to trade up to one of the new nikon/canon movie enabled SLRs so I can try it out. You get so much more a sense of the subject than with a still image. I kind of thing this is the sort of thing flicr had in mind when they started allowing (very short) movies.