This video represents a huge departure for me, in that it actually uses the human form (myself), and it is not directly dealing with the natural landscape and industrial/technological infrastructure as a subject, but is metaphorical in its representation of natural phenomena – namely the growth of hair as a metaphor for the seemingly infinite renewal power inherent in Nature.  More chatter after you view the video:

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Hi Res version – Direct Link

Now click below for some extra commentary and background, or continue to the prevoius post… This piece can be seen as an homage to some of my heroes of conceptual art, video art, and even independent film heroes, namely Vito Acconci, Dennis Oppenheim, Bruce Nauman, and oddly enough, Martin Scorsese – he did a student film in 1967 at NYU  (where I also went to film school) titled “The Big Shave” that was essentially a guy shaving in the mirror, and cutting himself – that was his first and last art film – it was an allegory about the draft, the Vietnam war, shaving to join the military so you could go kill people in Vietnam, etc…

I also reference “heroes” from the mythological Greeks as well in the title, and you can find out how Narcissus and Sisyphus relate by following those links to Wikipedia if you like.  The Greeks are also referenced in my “seminal” conceptual video piece Votive (Baudrillard and Sartre in Plato’s Cave), which of course has a lot in common with this piece, as they both deal with versions of reality as defined by the video screen.  Two of my other recent photographic works deal with reproducing reality photographically, and also reference “feedback” or a picture within a picture vortex -  namely my series Trash Can Triptych, which is now a single image, which I will post here in the next post, and panoramic series Pine Lane Pole Series, which was an ephemeral site-specific conceptual piece that I installed over a period of days at a major rural intersection where I live.  Both of these pieces refer to an earlier site-specific installation series of photographs titled Infinity Wall that I installed in a tiny gallery “Ljósmyndkompan” (Photo Closet) in Akureyri, Iceland in 1998.  All those photos were printed at a local one-hour photo printer, and then immediately rephotographed to create the vortex/feedback effect.  I have plans to pursue this avenue further as time passes, any thoughts?  Nick, you need to comment….

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