JODY ZELLEN - Archives
Please click on the images as they link to more information about each project
Drawings
In 2005 I started a daily drawing ritual and have been making daily drawings since I began this practice. Each morning I currently make two drawings. One is akin to a scribble made to the rhythm of the first song I hear in iTunes that is longer than 3 minutes. The second drawing contains small figures. Sometimes that drawing is sparse, other times the page is filled with numerous shapes and figures.
Collage Drawings
A collection of collages made from the black pages in Artforum magazine. Archival marker and collage on paper, 10 x 10 inches.
Paintings
"Above the Fold" refers to the image in the print newspaper which exists on the front page, literally above the creased fold of the paper. These images and accompanying headlines sell the papers and capture the reader's mind: the gouache paintings in this series are inspired by them. They are abstracted representations of our collective and mediated life. Each painting is 22 x 30 inches.
See the individual works here.
This link goes to smaller paintings (2014) that are 10 x 10 inches.
This link goes to the digital photos (2013) that the paintings are based on that are 8 x 10 inches.
The Unemployed, 2019
The Unemployed is a data visualization that illustrates worldwide unemployment. Using data culled from online sources that list unemployment rates by country, The Unemployed represents the jobless as animated figures. The number of unemployed varies from country to country ranging from a few thousand in sparsely populated places to many millions. In the app, the figures move within the confines of their countries. The clusters of figures metaphorically becoming an available labor force, as well as the visible presence of the jobless. Click on the image for more information. Click here to download the free iOS app.
News Wheel, 2015
News Wheel is an app that explores the poetics of ever changing news headlines. It begins as a spinning disk divided into nine sections each representing a different news source. This playful interface invites users to start and stop the wheel eventually filling the screen with a collage of current headlines. Individual words can be deleted and repositioned so users can create their own poems from this content. In addition, dragging one's finger across the screen creates an animated chain of text derived from today's headline news. Click on the image for a video excerpt. Click here to download the free iOS app.
Time Jitters, 2014
Time Jitters is an app where animated clips, connected to random sounds (created by Yiorgos Vassilandonakis and Seth Stoudenmier) can be scaled and repositioned creating a collage of overlapping visual and sonic elements. Click on the image for a video excerpt. Click here to download the free iOS app.
Episodic, 2013
Episodic is an app that allows users to scale and reposition twelve short animations to create new narratives and explore relationships between them. Click on the image for a video excerpt. Click here to download the free iOS app.
4 Square, 2012
4 Square randomly juxtaposes fragments from my drawings and digital collages with 3 words and the 256 web safe colors. Tapping each square changes the images. Dragging the squares changes their positions. Click on the image for a video excerpt. Click here to download the free iOS app.
Urban Rhythms, 2011
Urban Rhythms, is an artwork that functions as a metaphor for how people navigate in and through urban space. It is a creative interpretation of the paths people travel when they wander through the city. Using animated stick-like figures as a stand in for urban inhabitants, Urban Rhythms is a code-based exploration of how people move in urban spaces. Click on the image for a video excerpt. Sadly this app was not able to be updated for the latest iOS.
Spine Sonnet, 2011
Spine Sonnet is an automatic poem generator in the tradition of found poetry that randomly composes 14 line sonnets derived from an archive of over 2500 art and architectural theory and criticism book titles. Rather than present scan of the book spines, I typed all the titles into a database that is housed in the app. Each tap of the screen reveals a new poem. Click on the image for a video excerpt. Click here to download the free iOS app.
WithoutATrace, 2008-present
WithoutATrace
Without a Trace juxtaposes a comic image devoid of text, three words from the original strip, a drawing made by hand tracing a news image with a live news headline and a computer tracing from a daily world news photograph from the New York Times. As news is fluid during a given day the headlines change creating new juxtapositions and uncanny and apt relationships.
Daily Photography Projects
2013-2022
Since 2013, (I skipped 2014) I shot a photograph to represent each day of the year and presented them on a single webpage.
Beginning in January, 2019 I posted the daily image to Instagram but also created a webpage for the images. Each year I have also sequenced the 365 images into a film.
View the years of daily images below:
2021_one_a_day / 2021 film
2020_one_a_day / 2020 film
2019_one_a_day / 2019 film
2019_one_a_day-faces and a faces film
2018_one_a_day
2018_one_a_day_words
2017_one_a_day
2016_one_a_day
2015_one_a_day
2013_one_a_day
Call and Response 2020-22
I have participated in a project called "Call and Response" for 15 rounds, making digital images in response to other's works.
Shadow Trees, 2019
"Shadow Trees" compiles and animates images of urban nature. Focusing on shadows cast by trees onto walls, buildings, pavement, and the trunks of other trees. It is an investigation of places where natural and built environments overlap and touch. "Shadow Trees" is a series of digital photographs, an artist's book and an animation.
Lenticular Images, 2017
I created series of 8 lenticular images using images and headlines from my News Wheel app. Click the image above to see them as animated gifs.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Jody Zellen
jzellen@gmail.com
Full website: www.jodyzellen.com