Visiting Artist Lecture: Paul Pfeiffer 2-15-10

Paul Pfeiffer

Mr. Pfeiffer (as apposed to some, but not all visiting artist at VCU) had a lot of great ideas that he was verbally able to communicate. It sounds weird when I put it that way, but sometimes I feel the visiting artists only talk about their existing work and tend to avoid discussing the ideas behind them.

"Art making is not just about making art objects. Art has a psychological central to it."

Pfeiffer described an abstract concept understood only through feelings that is hard to put into words or actions. There is an unseen code that is understood through art- sort of like subliminal feeling. "When you've made something (successful), you can feel it." This feeling is often shared with the viewer. Pfeiffer attributes some success of this 'code' to the amount of information included within artwork. A piece is just as much about what it include as it is about what is not included. He relates this amount of information to a scientific bell curve with the x axis describing the amount of information included and the y axis being the audience's interest level. There is a peak of interest in the middle of the graph that tapers off as more information is added. Too much or too little information leads to less interest. Behavioral studies (such as the bell curve) can lead artists to understand their viewers in a new light.

Pfeiffer works within several media. He is primarily a video artist, but also creates photographs and sculptures. Most of his projects would not fit into one medium, but blur the line between one, two, or all three. Paul enjoys the quality of still images because there is neither a beginning or an end. The viewer determines the length of time he/she spends with the piece. This idea is stretched into his video art. He uses loops, constant surveillance feed, and videos of such great time length they would be impossible to watch (ie: three months) to let his audience determine their interaction.

The works which I responded to most in his lecture were his extra-long videos, "Empire" and "Orpheus Descending." The amount of time put into such projects (recorded in real time of 2-3 months) blows my mind, especially when compared to the amount of reaction they got from audiences. Neither of these projects were ever displayed with an explanation or introduction. Some viewers (if you can call people passing by viewers) never realized their ongoing art exposure.

I'm glad the sculpture department brought Paul Pfeiffer to VCU. Departments should bring in more multimedia artists!