I was actually blown away by the CG art that occupies every single inch of the screen for the 2h40 James Cameron flick Avatar which he just released 6 month late and $100 Million over budget.
The movie is insanely ambitious on any level, and it also makes any graphic artist or painter wonder how two dimensional, oil on canvas creations can compete with $300 Million worth of effects. It used to be an irrelevant question because CG art used to be cartoony or flat.. but in Avatar you can see where it’s going -and it’s a lot harder to dismiss. One can bet that on Pandora there aren’t too many easel artists, and I am left wondering how we can stay ahead since eventually -maybe 50 years from now, maybe today already for a younger crowd- all man made images compete for relevance.
Avatar is far from perfect of course, and I felt every single element could actually be improved.. lighting, characters, settings, compositions.. the 3D itself is mostly redundant, and almost never adds to the story in a meaningful way. But the point here is that there IS everything in this movie, from 360 panoramic views of an invented world to crowds of individually rendered CG characters chanting in an invented language that apparently counts about 1,000 words. It is as if Cameron wanted to establish a foundation on which others can build with greater focus. And so they will, and the boundaries of popular art will get pushed even further and with them both the need for organic art and a greater intolerance for what’s less polished or less complex and pretty than the full immersion now offered by a theater ticket.
Going through Hong Kong and gathering a few images as the town gets ready for the Christmas shopping season.
Elves making their way through the mall
Glossy balloons and a background of complementary color
Plastic balls stacked like candy in a vending machine
A bikini-clad snow angel
I realized on this trip that the figure eight is omnipresent in Hong Kong.
It must have something to do with with the figure eight being such an auspicious sign for the Chinese.
In the end, I was looking and finding circles everywhere.
The W hotel in Hong Kong is full of little visual details and design ideas; I grabbed a few while sipping a cappuccino and waiting on someone.
Going up the elevator, a welcome sign for those that do not look at the great views of the harbor.
A curtain of wood and steel cables, it could be a reminder of the bamboo curtain
Lights arranged in a Calder like equilibrium above my head
Kaleidoscopic wall, mirrored fragments and lights
The chef delivers a perfect cup
A glass resting on the counter
On the way out a painting on the wall pays a form of tribute to Mao
