Ashleigh Hobson Senior Portfolio: Artist Lecture no. 2: Paul Pfeiffer 02/15/10

Paul Pfeiffer's lecture was intriguing, first off, I find it lovely that he was brought to VCU by the Sculpture (and Extended Media) Department, but none of his works can be viewed in the round, and I never fully understood why he is not considered a video artist. His work seems based in appropriation, but he emphasized the origin of the image/ video is not important, and that these larger than life characters are not necessarily supposed to represent themselves. This is supported by the effort he goes to to remove soccer balls, jersey numbers, etc. but these images are so iconic, we don't even need these visual clues to immediately recognize them all. Perhaps this is a very American sensibility, and I would be intrigued to know how is work is perceived throughout the world. Some subjects carry their fame worldwide, especially Michael Jackson and Soccer, or futbol. However, I've never seen Risky Business, and therefore, I thought I was watching a girl have a temper tantrum. This video was perceived rather differently to me than it was to Courtney who scoffed when Paul said some people did not recognize it as being from the movie.

I really enjoyed what Paul had to say about his mini formatting though. First, he shows it in a film format, 4x5, and then he spoke about his choice for his films to have no inherent beginning or end, that they almost function as a still image, something he does in his diorama of the Red Room. This idea is emphasized again in his Empire piece, the viewer may leave at any time during the video, but what will they miss? What will they not see? I found this concept to be rooted in almost all of the pieces he showed us, that we will inevitably not catch everything. He really makes it impossible for us to do so. How important is it that we can't? I was inspired by his creative use of medium, stretching something from how we are told it is to be used, and forcing it to act as something else. I also am always amazed that nobody gets permission to appropriate things or get model releases.

All images copyright Paul Pfeiffer