The Universal: Treats from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

The Universal: Lonesome from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

The Universal: Promo 1 from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

The Universal: Promo 2 from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

David, Elliott, Kurdt, and Mark from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

On March 6th, 2010 Mark Linkous, the lead singer of a band called Sparklehorse, (look it up for sure) shot himself in the heart outside a friend’s house. He had been drinking all day and had a history of drug abuse, depression, and alcoholism.

When I heard the news I cried.

I cried hard for a few minutes while listening to his song, “It’s a wonderful life” and looking out over the Hudson River from my office window.

It IS a wonderful life for some, and for others it can be rough; for some it’s downright unbearable. It’s funny how some folks, in some of the worst situations in the world, can stay optimistic. While some of us that don’t have it so bad, want to wrap their lips around a shotgun. But in both cases…human emotion is the only thing that’s real. It can warp time, outlooks, and good situations to bad.

I think the reason that the death of folks like Mark Linkous and Kurt Cobain hit hard, is the same reason that some people think Elvis is still alive. These singers, writers, and artists whose work have a relevant honesty and emotion seem like lighthouse tenders. People in the dark that you can relate to. We engage with their work and for a moment it is a wonderful life, it is doable, and someone out there, other than you, is in on it too. Sometimes that makes all the difference.

So I thought for a while and made the video below. It’s meant to be projected in large space all at once…with all four channels split onto their own screen. The audio would also preferably be 5.1.

It would also loop forever.

I think I made it as an attempt to understand, and to wish them back to life. Just like with those who think Elvis is still alive…if I believe hard enough…maybe they’re still alive.

Here are the preview videos of both works…just to get you pumped for June.

Cobain Ain’t Got Nothing on Me

Cobain Ain’t Got Nothing on Me from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

There’s a Part of Me That Wants to Fit In

There’s a Part of Me That Wants to Fit In from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

Here is a preview:

Cobain Ain’t Got Nothing on Me from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

Like I said though…Paul Revere is a pretty solid piece…so not all is lost.

Cheers
John

Paul Revere from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

Red Coats from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

*these works are meant to be projected or shown on large monitors turned vertical

Here are the videos:

Black Hole 1 (a) from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

Black Hole 1(b) from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

The idea came to me after reading about the theoretical scenario of falling into a black hole. The person falling would perceive time as a linear, real-time flow. The observer would, theoretically, see the person stop at the event horizon…stuck forever. The person would supposedly also become “red-er” in color as the high wavelengths of light never make it to the observers eye. It is my belief that at this moment, time follows almost no rules. The falling person sees time as a real-time, linear flow, where as the observer sees a single second dragged out over a lifetime. I think the next “final frontier” is the understanding of time…which may ever happen.

Exhibition Notes:
The split screen is made to play on opposite walls of a gallery one on each. The other piece loops as such on a flat screen TV placed on the far middle wall. The sound from the middle wall piece is what happens when you take the X-Ray data from a black hole and put it through certain processes…especially the sound of a black hole. NASA recently found that black holes do emanate a sound…they usually hum at a B flat, but 57 octaves below middle C. In other words…you can’t hear it.

Here are some Behind-the-scenes images and a 5X5 video.:-) Enjoy!

[View with PicLens]

FIRE! BTS 5X5 from John W. Yost on Vimeo.

Special Thanks to:

Eastlight Studios: www.eastlightstudios.com
Biwa Inc : www.biwainc.com
Jerry Simpson
Chris Simpson
Shinichi Maruyama
Don Cornett
Randall Meehl

Credits:
Uzi firing crazy person: Randall Meehl
DP: Sean Donnelly
Grip/Electric: Travis Anderberg
Director: John W. Yost
Pyrotechnics: Paul Wieland