laura ells

robots

here are some robots that I’ve drawn while on break at work:

I decided to make an infograph for Primer, the 2004 ultra-low budget sci-fi directorial debut of Shane Carruth. This is a time-travel, greed, and manipulation. It is also incredibly hard to follow. Perhaps this snazzy timeline will help your brain process the convoluted storyline.

There are not very many characters: the plot centers around two characters and through their interactions we are introduced to some additional ones. But since this movie is about time travel there are different versions of the two main guys: one gets 2 versions, the other gets 3 (possibly more, but that is never explicitly explained). 

I wanted to make the timeline more visually appealing than the few I have seen in the past so I decided to use a system of symbols for the major nouns that pop up throughout the plot (such as names and time machines). Hopefully that did not make things harder to understand.

Here is the complete infograph. Clicking on the image will bring you to the full size version.

The movie deals with time travel in the sense that, with the device from the film, a person can travel back in time but not forward. One interesting thing that occurs is that the amount of time spent in the time-traveling device equals the amount of time in the past the time-traveler has journeyed: if it was Thursday and you wanted to go back to Monday you would have to spend 3 days just waiting in the device.

Note: for those of you thinking, “What about when Abe shows Aaron a version of himself entering the storage unit? Isn’t a new version of the two guys created every time they travel back in time?” I am not counting those short-term multiples as new manifestations of Abe and Aaron because as soon as they enter the device, the multiple ceases to exist. In this infograph the only way a new version of someone can be created is through the use of a failsafe device.

An Undulating Course: Rocking Chairs and the History of the World

since my show opened yesterday I thought it would be appropriate to post pictures from the gallery and of my actual work. I’m very happy with how everything came out!

this is my artist statement. I typed it up on my typewriter.

this is what the gallery looks like, four pictures on each wall with a little living room set up with a rocking chair at the far wall.

here are the illustrations themselves. I’ve included both the scans of the illustrations and pictures of them framed.

the text next to each framed illustration is an excerpt from the stories that correlate with the actual illustration. I typed them up on my typewriter as well (you can see the typewriter on the table in the first picture of the gallery).

I also made a book! with the stories AND the illustrations! I wanted to write a ridiculous preface, so I made up a pen-name, Thatcher P. Willersnaps. The books are 8.5 x 8.5 and I am selling them for $20 (so if you want one let me know).

it is weird to think that this whole process is basically over. I still have my final review with the faculty and on thursday night I have to take everything out of the gallery. I’ve been so wrapped up in this for so long my family had to remind me that my birthday is on wednesday.

anyways, I feel incredibly relieved, accomplished, and just plain happy.