About SerpentVenom
SerpentVenom is my personal web site that I have been running since 2001. The site features my blog, web design portfolio, art portfolio and other musings on web design and development.
View my resume for more extensive information about my professional career.
Origins
At the time SerpentVenom was created, I was working for a rapidly fading dot-com called Quokka Sports, a company that was broadband in a 56k modem world. I needed a domain that would allow me to show off my skills to potential employers. Of course the one I wanted was taken which was bad enough except that the site occupying my desired domain sucked. Don't you hate it when good domains go bad? Anyway, I needed to come up with a new domain.
Fortunately, fate played a hand. 2001 was the Year of the Snake which coincidently, is my year. This led me to use something snake related. Also, my initial idea was that I would use the domain to host my online portfolio, and also be my own personal soap box to comment on current events, politics and whatever else piqued my interest. Since much of my political commentary tends to be acerbic, sarcastic or even derisive, describing my commentary as venomous seemed appropriate. Thus, SerpentVenom was born.
Technical Information
SerpentVenom was designed and built with standards in mind. The structure of the site is written in XHTML 1.0 Strict. CSS 2.1 and some CSS 3 is used for the presentational layer. Funtionality is provided by unobtrusive Javascript. Visitors using older versions of Internet Explorer may not be able to experience the site as intended. I am using Dean Edward's IE8 script to provide a bridge for IE 7 and IE 6. I have no plans to support earlier versions of IE at this time. The site works as expected in Firefox 3, Safari 3.2 and Google Chrome. I expect to test it in Opera soon.
For an optimal experience, users should have Javascript and CSS active. If Javascript is not active, some pages will not work as intended, but the content of all pages should still be accessible. If CSS is disabled, the pages will be rendered as plain text and images, with no layout or styling.
About Michael
As for me, I'm Michael Wong. I'm a Web Designer/Developer by trade but an artist at heart. I have been engaged in web design since 1997. I have designed or contributed to a wide variety of sites including sports events, e-commerce sites, software company sites, government sites, non-profit sites, and personal sites that include blogs and art and design portfolios.
Art
I studied Conceptual/Information Arts (CIA), a program within the Art Department at San Francisco State University (SFSU). CIA focuses on preparing artists and media experimenters to work at the cutting edge of technology. The study of contemporary digital production skills is accompanied by the analysis of the cultural context of technology, as well as experimentation with newly emerging technologies.
I use computers to create art both for the web and for print. Personal computers and the emergence of the internet have given artists like me an opportunity to create art that is not dependent upon grants, galleries or patrons. This means we have an autonomy that some working artists do not always enjoy. This autonomy makes communicating my message easier.
My Message
I believe that art is a vehicle for raising awareness. As special interests and corporate money hold sway over our elected officials, most of us are only concerned about the next pop idol or TV survivor. What I want people to realize is that their apathy toward what goes on in our government is setting up a situation that will eventually be out of our control. I want to show people what they are missing and give them a reason to care.
Ad Art
Sometimes print advertisements, especially billboards, will capture my attention in ways the advertisers did not intend. When this happens, my response is to take the intended message and tweak it to reflect my response to the original message. My Ad Art posters are the result of this exploration and manipulation of messages.
Photography
I have been creating photographic imagery for over 17 years. I mainly work in color with occasional forays into Black and White. I started out with a 35mm Nikon FM2 but I have recently embraced digital photography because of the immediacy and affordability that digital technology offers. Whether film or digital, all of my images are created in camera. Their compositions have not been digitally altered.
My photography reflects my desire to capture what I see. I begin with ideas like the view through a window, the unusual angles and scenes of urban life, the beauty of nature, photographic experimentation. The results range from straightforward to the abstract.
