Bill Viola in Miami

Bill Viola, Three Women, 2008. Color High-Definition video on plasma display mounted on wall,
61 x 36.25 x 4 inches (155.5 x 92.5 x 12.7 cm). Performers: Anika, Cornelia, Helena Ballent. Photo: Kira Perov.

Well, hot damn!  Guess I'll finally be making my way down to Miami after living in Florida for almost five full years.  Apparently this will be the only U.S. venue for this particular exhibition (although, did I dream that? I'm not seeing it in the press release now).  At any rate, below is an excerpt from the press release as seen on e-flux:

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami will present a major exhibition of work by Bill Viola, recognized as one of the leading practitioners of video art. Bill Viola: Liber Insularum will begin its sole presentation in the United States at MOCA, North Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.  The exhibition at MOCA marks the first public presentation of Viola’s new piece Ancestors, a recently completed video work that explores the layers of reality and illusion in the physical world, as well as the dimensions between and beyond it. The exhibition Bill Viola: Liber Insularum is presented as part of MOCA’s Knight Exhibition Series. It was first shown last year at Sala de Arte Contemporaneo del Gobierno de Canarias (Spain). The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Bill Viola Studio and was curated by Roc Laseca.

An iconic contemporary artist who draws from Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, Bill Viola is known for creating immersive video installations that explore such universally human subjects as birth, death, and the nature of consciousness. His exhibition is inspired by The Book of the Islands of the Archipelago, authored by Florentine ecclesiastic Cristoforo Buondelmonti in the 15th century. The works featured in Liber Insularum (The Book of Islands) use this historic text as a reference point to engage with distinctly modern themes of spiritual isolation in a 21st-century global landscape.

Works in the exhibition
Ancestors, 2012
Three Women, 2008
Addie, 2008
Darrow, 2008
Howard, 2008
Lenny, 2008
The Raft, 2004
Observance, 2002
Catherine’s Room, 2001
Four Hands, 2001
Surrender, 2001
Unspoken (Silver & Gold), 2001
Ascension, 2000
The Quintet of the Astonished, 2000
The Reflecting Pool, 1977–79

Odette England's Thrice Upon a Time

Image Credit:  Odette England (from Feature Shoot)

I keep running across this work, and I really like it.  There is something so visceral about the rips, tears, holes and stains in these negatives - the result of being pounded and drug across the landscapes they depict.  Really nicely compressing together the whole past/present conundrum.  And some of the best work I've seen that incorporates the nostalgic look, and the nostalgic feel without becoming cloying.  Good stuff.  Read an interview with the artist on Feature Shoot by clicking HERE.

Zoe Leonard Q+A

Really nice little interview with Zoe Leonard in Art in America yesterday.  She talks about her recent sun photographs and camera obscura installations.  A good read.  Click HERE to access.

Doug Aitken - Altered Earth (Part 2)

Doug Aitken, Altered Earth, 2012, Installation view

Nice review of this work in Frieze the other day.  Makes me think of the conversation we had in Video Art last week about the immersive Pipilloti Rist installation at MOMA in regard to its lush aesthetic qualities and the questions that prompted.  The review of the Aitken work concludes with the suggestion that, "...the work offers a direct sensual aesthetic. What finally saves it from the trap of postcard picturesque is the previously alluded to sense of Ballardian hyperstition – the post-apocalyptic possibility of a de-familiarized perception in each innocent act of discovery."

Read the entire review HERE.

Dive Dark Dream Slow - Book Review

Image Credit:  ADP Workshop

I came across a review of this book on Conscientious yesterday, and it is very in keeping with our closing discussion in Memory and the Photograph yesterday.  The publisher's description describes the book as follows:

"Photographer and bookseller Melissa Catanese has recently been editing the vernacular photography collection of Peter J. Cohen, helping to organize this massive curated archive (a trove of 20,000+ prints) into a series of single-theme catalogues. Along the way, she has pursued an alternate reading of the collection, drifting away from simple typology into something more personal, intuitive, and openly poetic. Her magical new artist book, Dive Dark Dream Slow, is rooted in the mystery and delight of the 'found' image and the 'snapshot' aesthetic, but pushes beneath the nostalgic surface of these pictures, re-reading them as luminous transmissions of anticipation, fear, and desire. Like an album of pop songs about a girl (or a civilization) hovering on the verge of transformation, the book cycles through overlapping themes and counter-themes—moon/ocean; violence/tenderness; innocence/experience; masks/nakedness—that sparkle with psychic longing and apocalyptic comedy."

Click HERE to order the book from The Ice Plant.
Click HERE to read the review on Conscientious.

WWII Photographs in Contemporary Spaces

People are waiting for the arrival of the allied forces in Duivendrech, Holland, in May 1945. (Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse)

A friend just sent me a link to this interesting work featured in the Atlantic today.  Beautiful juxtaposition of sourced/found images within their original space of capture.  I was pleased to see the editors acknowledge the (somewhat) similar work of Shimon Attie as well. 

Image Credit:  Shimon Attie

Click HERE to view more image in the Atlantic and click HERE to view Shimon Attie's work.

On-line Photo Workshop Opportunity

Image Credit:  Susie Katz (from the PhotoWings Tumblr site)

I received an interesting email yesterday from Ashoka U (the organization that facilitates the Changemaker campus initiative, of which Rollins College recently became part of - find out more about that by clicking HERE).  Apparently they are hosting a photography workshop in partnership with PhotoWings - Advancing Changemaking Skills Through Photography.  Looks to be a nice introduction to the basic concepts I introduce in my courses, The Photograph as Language and Memory and the Photograph - I especially like the fact that they emphasize the reading of the image over the technical creation.  Their site emphasizes:

What this seminar IS and IS NOT

• This IS a seminar on how to analyze and preserve existing photos. This seminar will draw on photographs from any source, including family photo albums, historical societies, community archives, and online personal, professional, or social archives, etc.
• This is NOT a seminar on how to take photos or on camera techniques. Participants may certainly include original photography in projects, but this is not a requirement.

You can find out more about this seminar and sign up to participate by clicking HERE.

Doug Aitken's Altered Earth

Altered Earth, Doug Aitken Workshop, Arles 2012.

In keeping with our conversation in Video Art yesterday about the hybrid nature of contemporary installation works in new/electronic media - this new work by Aitken looks pretty engaging.  The press-release refers to the work as "land art for the electronic age" - pretty apt, I'd say.  

"This multimedia work is described by Doug Aitken as 'a series of moments and fragments of time focusing on the geography of the Camargue, which provides an almost holographic view of the physical landscape.' The work exists through moving images, sound and architecture, exploring the ever-changing landscape.  The installation ALTERED EARTH creates a form of liquid architecture out of large-scale moving images where the viewer explores a labyrinth of synchronized moving images, which explore new definitions of time and place.  The artwork is conceived as a truly connected multimedia experience. As the work produces its own architecture, and, by extension, its own landscape, Doug Aitken has also developed a form for ALTERED EARTH, through which the work might “reconfigure itself architecturally and its content can continuously shift.”  It was this thinking that led to the conception of the digital application ALTERED EARTH, as a means by which the spectator can interact with this landscape and “have a new dialogue with it, each time they encounter it.” The application can be downloaded for free at www.doug-aitken-arles.com."

Above content from e-flux.
Find out more about the work by clicking HERE.

Landscape and Loss Discussion - Hosted by Orion Magazine

This sounds like a great opportunity to "sit in" on what is likely to be an interesting talk by landscape photographer Matt Black.  Details from the press release are below:

"There's a new generation of photographers exploring the hallowed tradition of imaging the landscape, and Black is among them. Building on our recent conversation with photographer Chris Jordan, Black and Orion staff will touch on topics ranging from process to presentation in the making of art that creates social and environmental change."  

           

The event is free, moderated by Orion staff, and will take place on October 23 at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific.   

Advance registration is required. More information and registration here.

This will be a web presentation with our usual phone format, during which you will hear from our guest, see a slide show of images from his projects including this one in Orion, and then have the opportunity to ask your questions and share your thoughts.

Image Credit:  Matt Black (from the Orion press release)

New Photography 2012 @ MOMA

It's that time of year again.  Always an interesting and challenging exhibition, if not a bit hit or miss now and then.  "From diverse points of view, the artists in this exhibition—Michele Abeles, Birdhead, Anne Collier, Zoe Crosher, and Shirana Shahbazi—collectively examine and expand the conventional definitions of photography. They challenge the assumption that photography is solely a representational medium, explore the process of picture making, exploit the proliferation of images in a media-saturated world, and blur the lines between photography and other artistic disciplines. As the medium transforms rapidly, these artists question what it means to make a photograph in the twenty-first century."  View images and find out more by visiting the exhibition website HERE.
Above content and image below from MOMA, New Photography 2012 website

Zoe Crosher:  Mae Wested (Studioed), No. 15 from 21 Ways to Mae Wested. 2012

Two Photographers Named 2012 MacArthur Fellows

An-My Le and Uta Barth - good stuff!  Watch the two video clips below to get a sense of their work and find out more.  (Click on the video clip to watch full size on YouTube).

Clips from the MacArthur Foundation website

Art and Websites

Some interesting thoughts and good points made on Conscientious today by Joerg Colberg - good things to consider for artists working with photography and other media as well.  Colberg suggests that "An artist has to think carefully about how to present her or his photography online, ideally in such a way that the presentation serves the work (and not the other way around)."  I'm growing fond of the left to right scrolling page that I've seen artists using with more frequency (such as the image below from the website of Jason Reed).

Click HERE to read Colberg's essay, which is full of examples as well. 

Image Credit:  From the website of Jason Reed

Lost and Found

Another great exhibition of found photographs re-contextualized to create new histories/stories for these lost images.  This exhibition is "devoted to photographs that were separated from their owners and then rediscovered and re-presented by professional photographers. These photos were either lost, forgotten, or thrown away. The images now are nameless, without connection to the people they show, or the photographer who took them. Cut loose from their original context but infused with the aesthetic spirit of their time, these snapshots pose many questions More info can be found HERE.

Above content from Chicago Artists Month

Scott Hubener - Contiguity

So, this MagCloud thing is pretty great.  A print-on-demand service from HP.  Very affordable and from what I can tell so far, decent image quality.  Just received a nice little gift in the mail today from Asheville, North Carolina photographer (and very fine trivial pursuit "player") Scott Hubener.  It's just damned lovely.  You can order your copy HERE.

Zoe Leonard @ Murray Guy in NYC

Questioning the very nature of photography - what it is, what it does, how it does it, and what we do with it.  This exhibition sounds fascinating.  Combining optical approaches by turning one of the galleries into a camera obscura and hanging blown out pictures of the sun in another - sounds like a fantastic experience.  You can find out more about the exhibition, and about Leonard's work by clicking HERE and HERE.

Above Image by Zoe Leonard (from the Murray Guy Gallery)

Kameelah Janan Rasheed

Just found out about the work of this prolific young artist via the Incoherent Light today.  Another artist using found and re-appropriated imagery in an innovative manner.  Her artist statement says, "My work is an excavation of memories. As an art of excavation, I am concerned with making both my process and product visible.  My work is an exploration of the materials that operate as functions of time, an occasional exorcism of insistent memories, an inquiry into the cognitive shrines we build to memories, an examination of the rituals of (re)memory, and an investigation of the role photography plays in framing and mediating our relationship with time. I make use of documentary photography, rephotography, the repurposing of found/orphaned visual as well as textual data, and collage to (re)write histories. I am concerned with the processes of salvaging memories, reconstructing narratives from fragments, and creating public records."  You can read more HERE, and view more of her work HERE.

Kameelah Janan Rasheed, 5: No Instructions for Assembly, V

Innovators in Contemporary Photography

Apparently, Colin Pantell and Joerg Colberg initiated an exchange of sorts between photobloggers this past week - opening up a discussion of which photographers "have demonstrated an openness to use new ideas in photography, who have taken chances with their photography and have shown an unwillingness to play it safe."  It's been great to see the nominations come across the various blogs.  A nice bit of overlap (particularly with Paul Graham - well deserved in my mind, at least) as well as some lesser known (to me) practitioners.  Good stuff to take a look at.  Joerg Colberg has published links to the various blogs today on Conscientious.  You can view that HERE.

Students in Memory and the Photograph might find particular interest in the reviews/discussion of works by Christian Patterson (the book Redheaded Peckerwood) and Erik Kassels.

Above Image From "Useful Photography #010" by KesselKramer Publishing

Max Sudhues at Galerie Christian Lethert in Germany

This looks like a pretty engaging exhibition - taking apart video beamers and reconstructing them via overhead projection (among other things).  Interesting bit of doubling.  Playing around with distinctions between analog and digital, but in a manner that is not trite or cloying.  I like it.

"With the aid of pincette and screwdriver Max Sudhues opened and deconstructed two broken video beamers into their components. This anatomic process and the material gained by it lead to a series of works that range from medium to content and examine the artistic usability of the used material. The innards of these gutted digital devices find new forms and narrative meanings by being observed from different analogue and digital, old and modern projection- and presentation techniques." 

- from Galerie Christian Lehert website

Click HERE to read more about the work and view additional installation shots.

Instagram Photos - Hot Topic of the Moment

I encourage my students especially to read up on many of the interesting conversations currently taking place in on-line photography blogging circles (which is really not as inclusive as it sounds - at least I hope not).  We tend to discuss the nature of nostalgia and the fetishization of antiquated photographic processes in class quite a bit, and I think younger photographers and students of photography have a lot to contribute to this conversation.  One of the great things about blogging is the ability to respond to one another and keep the dialogue going (either through comments if they are allowed or in an authored piece on your own blog that links back to the content you are referencing).

A great example of a recent post on the matter is from Tom Griggs, editor and founder of fototazo.  Click HERE to read his essay.  Be sure to make your way to the bottom where he offers a reading list related to the topic.

Image sourced from:   http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-11-01/tech/30019570_1_iphone-app-photos-social-network

William Klein + Daido Moriyama @ Tate Modern

MAN, the Brits are lucking out with this one.  This is sure to be a fantastic show.  "This is the first exhibition to look at the relationship between the work of influential photographer and filmmaker Klein, and that of Moriyama, the most celebrated photographer to emerge from the Japanese Provoke movement of the 1960s."  This work is particularly relevant to a consideration of the importance and impact of the photobook, as it "considers the medium and dissemination of photography itself, exploring the central role of the photo-book in avant-garde photography and the pioneering use of graphic design within these publications."  Click HERE to find out more about the exhibition.
 

Above quotations and image from the Tate Modern website. 

The Proliferation of the Camera Phone Image

Interesting essay on the New York Times Lens Blog today by James Estrin.  He poses some interesting questions in his discussion of what this abundance means for serious photographic practice and suggests that, "A photograph is no longer predominantly a way of keeping a treasured family memory or even of learning about places or people that we would otherwise not encounter. It is now mainly a chintzy currency in a social interaction and a way of gazing even further into one’s navel."  I wonder what some of my students think?  Click HERE to read the entire article.

For the heck of it, I'll illustrate this post with one of my recent iPhone images -

Thanksgiving 1984 (Green Dress) by Roe Etheridge

Another interesting article discussing the work of Roe Etheridge came across my "desk" yesterday.  The image mentioned in the post title (and represented below) seems particularly apt in light of our discussion of the role of color in light in photographs of "special occasions" yesterday in Memory and the Photograph.  I've included excerpts of text by Max Weintraub from the ART21 blog below:

"Thanksgiving 1984 (Green Dress) has the look and feel of an image culled from a stock photography catalog precisely because it employs the visual language of commercial photography: its vibrant, highly saturated colors and carefully balanced formal composition, its young, beautiful model, and a spread of products and produce arranged for no other purpose than our visual consumption.  But in a neat postmodern twist, Ethridge’s meticulously constructed image reveals itself as just that, a construction.  Looking further at the image, it becomes apparent that the scale is off between the model and the surrounding objects and the depth of field is inconsistent, giving the composition a collaged or Photoshopped feel.  The model’s pose and expression, meant to signal warmth, spontaneity and naturalness, seem contrived, and her seductive, couture dress appears incongruous with the image’s theme of domesticity and the family-oriented ritual of Thanksgiving.  The model’s perfect smile, dress and carefully positioned body reveal not a family snapshot but an image deeply informed by the conventions of the commercial advertisement and the telltale signs of the packaging of luxury goods.  It is perhaps not surprising, then, that the title of Ethridge’s photograph foregrounds the luxury item presumably being hawked, should this have been a real advertising image: the green dress."

I encourage you to read the entire essay (which also includes a discussion of Hiroshi Sugimoto's wax figure portraits) HERE.

Roe Ethridge. “Thanksgiving 1984 (Green Dress),” 2009. Chromogenic print, 44 x 33 in. (111.8 x 83.8 cm). Courtesy the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery.

New Issue of Fraction Magazine Out Today

Once again editor David Bram has selected a solid group of portfolios, each with their own epic and poignant moments/flashes this time.  I think that's what I enjoy most about this issue.  There is an emotive/psychological rhythm to each portfolio that seems to ebb and flow in a subtle manner that is punctuated by occasional sparks of intensity.  I'm particularly fond of how Yakkov Israels's series, The Quest for the Man on the White Donkey, unfolds.  A palpable sense of this land's history is present in the imagery, but equally dominant is the presence of the photographer and the personal/poetic response to the space.  Click HERE to view all of the portfolios.

This issue also includes a special section highlighting a recent workshop that I took part in during the summer on the Oregon coast with David Bram, Jennifer Schwartz (of Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, The Crusade for Collecting, and The Ten, and 5 fellow photographers.  We were dubbed the Astoria 6.  Find out more about that experience, and view imagery from each artist HERE.

Above Image from Fraction Magazine

What Is Conceptual Photography?

Thank you, Source, for producing this lovely little video.  There are two more parts, apparently - I'll try to find them and/or be on the lookout for them as they are released.  Very true that this notion of "conceptual photography" is quite contested - although I remain at a loss for why it bothers certain people and practitioners to the extent it does.  Nonetheless,  Source has done a nice job at picking it apart a bit. 

Their editors write that, "The term sometimes refers to 'preconceived' photographs, sometimes images with a historical pedigree and most often to pictures with a generalised indebtedness to ideas. In the current issue of Source three essays suggest different definitions. To complement these articles we have made three films asking a number of artists, critics and curators what they think of conceptual photography. In the first film, critics John Roberts and Lucy Soutter describe the use of photography in Conceptual Art while John Hilliard talks about his own involvement in the movement and how those original principles are still present in the work he makes today."

Watch the video below (or link to the YouTube clip for full screen).
Above and below content from Source Photographic Review

Six Shooters Photo Collective - Exhibition

I found out about this group of women who came together to form a collective a few weeks ago - what a great way to sustain a continued conversation about photographic imagery while thinking through your own work and process as well.  Love it.  Here are a few words from Aline Smithson discussing the project:

"About six months ago, I was out to lunch with a group of photographer friends: Nancy Baron, Noelle Swan Gilbert, Cat Gwynn, Heidi Lender, Ashly Stohl and me.  Over the course of the meal we discussed all the usual photographic topics and also talked about the desire to have fun with photography again, something that gets lost in the onslaught of competitions and reviews. Our goal is to express Six points of view, over Six days, creating a thread of visual connections whether it be through subject, color, light, or gesture, leading the viewer on a photographic journey--a visual train, so to speak, with each image dependent on the one in front and the one behind to make the engine operate and stay on track. We do not create work for the site, instead mine our archives and use work that sometimes otherwise never sees the light of day.  It's also inspired us to create random images, outside of the "project" template.  We are thrilled to announce our first exhibition, featuring five weeks, 30 images, at the Seaver Gallery at the Marlboro School in Los Angeles, opening September 5th and running though October 9th. You can check out the site here, and follow us on Facebook here!"


Above quote from Aline Smithson, Lenscratch

Roe Etheridge

Image Credit:  Roe Etheride, from MoMA

A fine artist to look at considering our recent discussions of recycling/re-appropriating imagery in the Memory & the Photograph course.  Etheridge was included in MoMA's New Photography Exhibition in 2010.  A blurb from their site mentions,

"He shoots in “editorial mode” and also borrows images already in circulation, including outtakes from his own commercial work, sometimes already published in other contexts. “Everything seems to end up in a magazine sooner or later,” Ethridge has said. Drawing upon the descriptive power of photography and the ease with which it can be accessed, duplicated, and recombined, the artist orchestrates visual fugues, juxtaposing, for example, a picture in which he has superimposed an image of a plain white plate, grabbed from Bed Bath & Beyond’s website, on a checkered Comme des Garçons scarf; a photograph of a model dressed in an Alexander McQueen shirt posing against a tripod, which he took at Pier 59 in New York; two filmic pictures of a Julliard ballet student; a still life of moldy fruit he previously published in Vice magazine; a catwalk shot from the Chanel spring 2009 fashion show grabbed from The New York Times; an image of a pumpkin that is a magnified close-up of a sticker; and a picture of a red bag in a corner of the artist’s studio. The pictures acquire their meaning from the salient way in which they have been shuffled, sequenced, and laid out in nonlinear narrative structures. Combining and recombining already recontextualized images, Ethridge at once subverts the photographs’ original roles and renews their signifying possibilities."

Above content from MoMA

Click HERE to view more of the works described above.

Create a Top 10 Group of Your Favorite LoC Images

This is pretty great - have a look, "The Library of Congress is asking for your help to curate a new set of pictures for the Library of Congress Flickr account" click HERE for more info.

New Taryn Simon work @ MOMA

Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII

May 2–September 3, 2012

The Robert and Joyce Menschel Photography Gallery, third floor MOMA, NYC

This show is closing soon, so jump on a flight up to NYC if you have the chance.  An interesting, complex exhibition that draws on photography's archival impulse and implicit narratives "A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII exploits photography's capacity to at once probe complex narratives in contemporary politics and organize this material according to classification processes characteristic of the archive, a system that connects identity, lineage, history, and memory." - MOMA

 Taryn Simon. Chapter XVII from A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII (detail). 2011. Pigmented inkjet prints, 84 x 241 7/8" (213.4 x 614.4 cm). Courtesy the artist. © Taryn Simon

Submission Opportunity for Students - Due 8/31

Welcome back, everyone!  Of course, I realize I never said goodbye for the summer, but here we are back again (almost) so let's just jump right in.

Below is a link to a pretty fabulous student exhibition opportunity.  I encourage any of you reading this to consider submitting work.  Pass the info along to any fellow students as well (including those who graduated last spring).

Here is the link:
http://alifestill.tumblr.com/submit

See you all soonish!

Stunning series by Rebecca Norris Webb in Timemachine

The latest edition of Timemachine just came across my desktop - it's another great one.  Click HERE to view the issue.  I was particularly entranced by the series, My Dakota, by Norris Webb.  Certainly one of the most captivating groups of images I've seen in some time.  Moving, with just enough melancholy - sans overt sentimentality.  And that's hard to do.  She says of the work, "Does loss have its own geography?"  And I'd say, with these pictures, yes it absolutely does.  Click HERE to view the portfolio.

Image Credit:  Rebecca Norris Webb from the series, My Dakota

Archival image source - indicommons.org

Big thanks to Leigh-Ann Pahapill for introducing me to Flicker's indicommons.org - yet another wonderful resource for archival photographs, as well as a forum for discussion.

"The Commons was launched on January 16, 2008, by Flickr with the release of nearly 3,000 photographs from two popular Library of Congress collections. The stated aims of the Commons project are to increase the public’s access to publicly held photography collections in civic institutions around the world and to provide a way for the public to contribute historical data pertaining to the collections.  More than a dozen museums, public libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions from around the world have joined The Commons, releasing over 12,000 images to be perused, tagged, and researched by the public."

 

creator: Bubley, Esther, photographer. Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. A girl taking a picture of the ceremony of laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (LOC) , creation date: 1943 May. Library of Congress : LC-USW3- 029809-E 

Sascha Weidner (Thank you, Flak Photo)

Thanks to Flak Photo, I discovered the work of Sascha Weidner this morning.  I am enthralled and mesmerized.  Spending far too much time on his website, but oh is it worth it.  Have a look, you'll see.  Click HERE to see a plethora of amazing images, installation shots and catalogs.

Image Credit:  Sascha Weidner (Installation View from Galeria Toni Tapies, Barcelona)

Zoe Strauss comments on Artforum Review

Strauss enthusiastically responds to and poses interesting questions about a recent review of her Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition, Ten Years,  in Artforum.  Click HERE to read.

Billboard 3: “Woman Kissing Baby,” Las Vegas, NV

Installation Photo by Steve Weinik
Located at Grays Ferry Ave & S 32nd St

Alex Prager @ Yancey Richardson

Nice description/review of the show on DLK Collection and a selection of images and install shots available at the Yancey Richardson site.

Alex Prager, 10:58am, Bunker Hill, from the series Compulsion, 2012

Cindy Sherman and Photshop

Interesting read on Rhizome today about the nature of Sherman's work both pre and post Photoshop.
Click HERE to read.

Images from Cindy Sherman's society portraits series (2008.)

Thoughts on the "New Aesthetic" from the Blogosphere

Came across some pretty interesting reading this weekend, especially in light of our conversation in Photo II last week about why we tend to romanticize analog processes and/or contrast them with digital technologies (even when such differences are seemingly of little importance)...

Now, just what exactly is this "new aesthetic"?  Indeed. 
Here are a few (lengthy) links, for your consideration:

Essay on the New Aesthetic, by Bruce Sterling
Creators Project Response to "Essay on the New Aesthetic"
New Aesthetic Tumblr

“The Collective Snapshot is a photographic series by Spanish photographer Pep Ventosa which blends “together dozens of snapshots to create an abstraction of the places we’ve been and the things we’ve seen.” He layers multiple pictures from several angles to create one image familiar and foreign at the same time.”

Happy (late) Birthday Andrei Tarkovsky

Click HERE to read a nice write-up on The Daily from mubi.com

Some Photographers Worth Glancing At and Knowing About

Lists, lists and more lists.  Flavorwire lets us know about "15 Exciting Contemporary Photographers You Need to Watch" as seen at this year's AIPAD show.  And Complex.com seems to think their list includes the "25 Photographers You Should Know About".  Some standards on both lists, and some surprises.

Jen Davis, Untitled No. 39, 2010. Chromogenic color photograph, 11 x 14 inches. Courtesy of Lee Marks Fine Art

Today's Find - Janelle Lynch

Thanks to Humble's Women in Photography blog - click HERE to view an online exhibition of Lynch's work.

Image Credit:  Janelle Lynch

(Untitled 6, La Fosa Común)

Alexander Gardner Outtakes of Lewis Payne

Wow!  Thank you Joerg Coelberg for prompting me to go look at these.  Click HERE to read Coelberg's thoughts on the more well known image of Payne, and click HERE to see the other outtakes.

Click HERE for image credit info from LoC

Manon DePauw - Discovery of the Week

Just read about the work of this artist on e-flux, and then made my way to her website.  Worth a look around, for sure.  Click HERE to read the e-flux review for her current exhibition, and click HERE to view the artist's website.

From e-flux:  "If Manon De Pauw explores the appearing of the image—with its measure of unpredictability, suspended materiality, narrative potential and motion—it is because much of her work is produced in the darkroom or the shadows of the studio. She has the ability to latch onto this fragile breath of the image as it emerges under the effect of light, recording its luminous fluidity to create the tangible body of the image that asserts itself before our eyes."

Manon De Pauw, ”L’apprentie 2,” 2008.  Collection of art pieces from l’Université du Québec à Montréal.

Sarah Charlesworth - Available Light @ Susan Inglett

Sad to have missed this one....

From the Press Release:  "Light, in both a physical and metaphysical sense, is at the center of this new body of work from Sarah Charlesworth. Making use of a crystal ball, an assortment of prisms, and other optical instruments, Charlesworth engages the play of light from her studio window as it reflects and refracts to conjure a mysterious animated presence. At various turns our expectations are questioned and confounded by optical inversions and visual illusions. Composed images of spectral phenomena are shown side by side with documentary style images of the studio. Props arrayed on a desk and studio materials leaning against a wall hint at the show in progress. Individually and as a group these images lay bare the act of photography as they simultaneously mask and unmask the conditions of their creation. As test shots pinned to the wall mature into finished works, there is no neutral or objective point of closure, only the shifting perspectives of the observer and the observed. The making and the taking of a photograph is indistinguishable as each work celebrates the act of seeing."

Click HERE to see more images from the exhibition.

Image Credit:  Susan Inglett Gallery

Doug Aitken @ Hirshorn, Part II

Dout Aitken @ The Hirshorn

Man!  I only hope that my art history colleagues got a chance to see this while they were in DC last weekend.  This is phenomenal.  To see it person must be mesmerizing.  A blurb from the Hirshorn is below, and you can read the full content HERE.  Read a review of the work from the Washington Post by clicking HERE.

Image Credit:  The Washington Post

From the Hirshorn website
Doug Aitken: SONG 1
March 22, 2012 to May 13, 2012

Sunset to Midnight

For nearly eight weeks this spring, internationally renowned artist Doug Aitken (American, b. Redondo Beach, California, 1968; lives and works in Los Angeles and New York) will illuminate the entire facade of the Hirshhorn’s iconic building, transforming it into “liquid architecture” and an urban soundscape. Using eleven high-definition video projectors, Aitken will seamlessly blend imagery to envelop the Museum's exterior, creating a work that redefines cinematic space. A bold commission that will enter the Hirshhorn's permanent collection and enliven its public space, "SONG 1" allows visitors to the National Mall a chance to witness the first-ever work of 360-degree convex-screen cinema.

This work, which Aitken considers “a reflection of contemporary reality,” will alter the relationship between the museum building and its urban environment. “The building is at times emphasized and at times disappears completely into the content of the artwork,” he writes. At these latter moments, the structure recedes into cinematic space, rotating, rising and evolving into new forms.

Suspension - Screen Exhibition

Too bad this is all the way over, or down, in Perth.  Click HERE to read a nice synopsis from Daily Serving.

Sam Smith, 'Into the Void', 2009, single channel HD video, 5:50 minutes

Some thoughts on Cindy Sherman @ MOMA (and other things) by Joerg Colberg

Colberg brings up some important points in his discussion of the current Cindy Sherman show @ MOMA.  He also posits that "at museums photography is over" - and he might be right.  Photo II students, I encourage you to read over the essay as it relates nicely to this week's reading on considerations of photography "on and off the white walls".   Click HERE to read the full essay.

Cindy Sherman. Untitled #466. 2008. Chromogenic color print, 8' 1 1/8 x 63 15/16" (246.7 x 162.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Robert B. Menschel in honor of Jerry I. Speyer. © 2011 Cindy Sherman

Interview with Ed Kashi on NYT Lens

Click HERE to read an interview with visiting artist, Ed Kashi, about his newly released book from Nazraeli Press, Witness Number 8: Photojournalisms.

You can also listen to an interesting interview with Kashi about his process in selecting, editing and arranging the photographs in his book Three.  Click HERE to view images and hear the interview.

Image Credit:  Ed Kashi

Interview with Gregory Halpern

Another interesting read that should help some of you in Photo II think about further developing and editing your current projects.  As Halpern says, be rebellious, work hard and try to surprise yourselves - great advice!

A link to the article is HERE.

Image Credit:  Gregory Halpern

Sarah Palmer Wins Aperture Portfolio Prize

Beautiful, thoughtful work.  In her editorial statement, Lesley A. Martin of Aperture writes,  

"Sarah Palmer’s series As a Real House is rife with partially submerged tripwires that unsettle the usual process of reading a photograph. Each image contains something—an element or the juxtaposition of elements—that works to trigger an internal pattern-recognition scan of mental databases, in hopes of locking their meaning into recognizable form.  In today’s ecology of signs, a passing jet plane functions on par with the proverbial lonely seagull. Palmer’s work accomplishes a careful balancing act, giving the viewer enough to feel the currents of meaning underneath the surface of each image, yet leaving enough up in the air so as to withhold a quick and easy read. One is left with the sense that the key to whatever it is that the artist has intended to conjure is left intentionally, tantalizingly just out of reach."

You can view more of Palmer's work on her website, by clicking HERE.

Image Credit:  Sarah Palmer (Gulls the first sign of land)

Francesca Woodman @ The Guggenheim

Nice little review of this recently opened exhibition at the Guggenheim.  Sadly, I just missed the opening.  A perfect reason to return.

Read the article from the New York Times HERE.

Image Credit:  Francesca Woodman "Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976,"

DLK Review of Paul Graham @ Pace

This review provides a solid and thoughtful description of Graham's current show at Pace, and should give the reader a good sense of what Graham is up to with this work.  As I mentioned in class, it's absolutely phenomenal to see in person and was really important (for me) to fully experience the work in this way.  Of course, I couldn't disagree more with the suggestion that these photographs are "disposable and boring".  I was completely enthralled with the subtleties of what was captured and, to me, Graham's skillful attention to the inherently dramatic light pouring down between the buildings onto the streets and sidewalks made these images anything but boring.  Five stars from me.  The best thing I saw in New York all week.

Click HERE to read the full review.

Image Credit:  DLK Collection Blog

Who Needs Actual Bodies Anyway?

No big surprise here - H&M Admits It Pasted Models Heads on CGI Bodies.  Click HERE to read the little article.

Above image from theverge.com