Brent Watanabe: Thrift Store Tape Series

In ASPECTS, Artists of the West Coast V. 2, I looked at brent Watanabe's piece called, Thrift store tape 3. Briefly, the piece is described to be made up of discarded home videos, whose memoirs are lost, stolen, traded, or sold. Viewing the piece first without commentary on, I found my that my note had emphasis on the journey of these videos. The origin from which they first came from. How did they get to where they are? Who and why were they discarded? The juxtaposition that Watanabe uses also creates an eerie voyeuristic point of view. The thing I noted was the relationship the viewer has with the camera and the point of view looking in, but then being snapped backed into reality when you hear the voice of others.

Bill Arning provides the commentary on Watanabe's work and also notes how the artist uses minimal manipulation, whereas most new media artists tend to over manipulate. Arning also comments how Watanabe allows us to view, "people's leftovers" in a public area and that someone made the conscious decision to let go of the footage and memories in hopes it would disappear. Finally, Arning further discusses the voyeuristic tendency in Watanabe's work and applies it to our modern times, for example, blogging. I found this to be ironic and amusing.