ethan chan

about
cv
email
instagram
other stuff

all work:

2024  lofano / marino
            the bob dylan project
            from rags to riches...
            seconds
            get yourself a lawyer...
            hungry man...
            anthem            
            johanna’s not here
            (thomas series)
            pure evil

2023  meanwhile...
            white light / white heat
            liquid ecstasy...
            for wile e.
            leashed steam...
            family dinner
            love letters
            wild, west
            selections from the...

2022  china, revisited
            steer / madonna
            hail to the king
            tea for masochists

2021   fighting the loneliness
            american pie
            not your country
    
2020  the saint, the villain...
            stolen bike                   
            just like a woman

2019   she was trying...
            why don’t you just...
            fat man & little boy
            american reformation
            made in china
            19 transactions
            sign language



The Bob Dylan Project
(or Subterranean Homesick Bullshit) ,
2024
MATERIALS
MUSIC, SUITCASE TAG, CUSTOM CLOCK, 
POST-IT, COAT, PAPER SIGN, PILLS, 
RACCOON, DOLLAR BILLS & DUCK FEET

DIMENSIONS
VARIABLE

In 2023, Photoshop released their Generative Fill A.I. program, which was built to analyze photos and either remove or add objects into the background. I fed this program lyrics from Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues. Without any background photo to analyze, Photoshop generated random images (one image per verse) based on some of the nouns and locations in the lyrics, completely ignoring grammatical structure and most adjectives. I then attempted to recreate these images with objects in real life. The result is a materialization of the barrier between human and computer language, and what a computer sees when it’s listening to Bob Dylan for the first time. The objects are presented with the song playing in the background.


“God knows when”
“Man in the trench coat”
“Man in a coon-skin cap, in a pig pen”
”I’m in the basement, thinkin’ bout the government”
“Say’s he’s got a bad cough”
“Wants 11 dollar bills, but you only got 10”
“But you’re doin’ it again”
“Badge out, laid off”
(ABOVE: ORIGINAL GENERATED IMAGES OF THE FIRST VERSE OF “SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES”)