Visual Lecture #1

Bret Holmes

Digital Media ART 245

Visual Lecture #1

3/6/12

            For my first lecture I attended a visual one by a University of Nevada, Reno graduate of 2003 named Ariana Page Russell. This lecture was extremely interesting for it brought new aspects of thought into my life. The entire presentation is about her artwork, which is done on no ordinary canvas/medium but rather her very own skin. Ariana has been diagnosed with an extremely severe skin disease called Dermatographia in which the skin is highly sensitive and red, swollen lines appear at minor injury. Most cases of the disease are very minor but her condition is of the top severities. Since the pain is not an issue Ariana decided to play around with the disease and as an artist combine the two. Use her skin to make art. Some of the work was fascinating but others I did not like at all. She began by first writing texts on her skin and on all areas. Her disease spread all over making the possibilities of what her skin can do infinite, I personally enjoyed the texts she wrote. Out of her 40-picture slideshow two of them were of texts and close to my favorites. She also began by connecting certain points on her skin to create what looked like mimic constellations. I was intrigued by her skin, amazed at the fact that she can draw and scratch such an irritated skin condition without any pain. I thought that the idea of her work was marvelous but something was missing. I believe it was color. She used every shade of skin color possible and all tints of red that skin color can appear. However, during the presentation I thought of an idea. For the ending to the lecture she portrayed a movie in which she took a sharp object and made designs on her body showing the audience how fast her skin swells up. I thought to myself, it would be extremely interesting if a professional painter painted her body first, leaving areas alone that, when aroused, would create the perfect shade of red to complete the piece. The parts I enjoyed the most were her wallpapers that she created from skin and pigments of skin. Plus I truly enjoyed her making of temporary tattoos with her artwork. In the pictures she displayed the artwork looked well done, with much effort and time put in. The part I enjoyed least were the videos she put up. They were both rather boring and seemed to me quite meaningless. I thought the ideas she put onto her stomach were creative, but overall some parts are missing to her artwork.