Photoshop Tip/Trick

Well, thank you Adobe for sending along one of your little "Hidden Gems" today.  I'll pass this right on to my students - here you go!

Today's Find - Ralf Brueck

Some pretty interesting stuff.  It's not often I come across a group of photographs that I can honestly say I haven't seen anything like before.  Worth a look - his website is HERE.

Tom Chambers - New Work from Illumination Series

Speaking of the role of color and light in narrative....
Photo-Eye has just published a nice little review of some new work from Tom Chambers.  Click HERE to see more and read a bit.

Daria Martin's Sensorium Tests

from the e-flux announcement:
"Martin has pursued a sustained enquiry into numerous pressing issues relating to film, art and culture, including enchantment, voyeurs and artificial intelligence.  Martin’s work often raises questions about what it means to be ‘touched’ by cinema and alternates playfully between luring the viewer through sensuous images and lush archetypes, and pushing them back into an awareness of artifice. This intentionally crafted push and pull, Martin says, is a reflection of the essential contradictions of the medium of film: its ephemerality and sensuality together with a physical realisation of fantasy."

Sounds lovely.  Ah, if only we could be in the U.K....

Daria Martin, “Sensorium Tests,” Production Still.
Photo: Thierry Bal

Zoe Strauss Billboards....and More

Artist Zoe Strauss continues to amaze, impress and inspire.  Check out a short video showcasing her photographs gracing billboards around her neighborhood in Philadelphia.  An artist of true integrity, she is one to pay attention to.  You can follow her blog by clicking HERE.

Click HERE to read about her current exhibition, Ten Years, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Looks like there will be great conversation taking place there tomorrow - if you are in the area, I highly recommend attending.

Dorothea Lange - Grab a Hunk of Lightning

New film about the life and work of Dorothea Lange in production.  Apparently it is narrated by her granddaughter, filmmaker Dyanna Taylor.  Looking forward to seeing it.  Below is an excerpt, and you can find out more by clicking HERE.

New Jeff Wall work at Marian Goodman in NYC

Click HERE to view images and installation views, and to read the Press Release.

Image Credit:  Jeff Wall (from Marian Goodman website)

Whitney Biennial 2012 Artists Announced

A great Spring Break activity - I'll be there!  Click HERE for more info.  (Their website usually becomes pretty interactive, with loads of info on the artists involved as the opening gets closer - keep checking back, periodically).

Content below from the Whitney website:

"The Whitney Museum of American Art has announced the list of artists participating in the upcoming 2012 Whitney Biennial, which takes place at the Whitney from March 1 through May 27, 2012, with some programs continuing through June 10. This is the seventy-sixth in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded.  The Whitney Biennial is an exhibition held every two years in which the Museum gauges the current state of contemporary art in America."

Today's Find - Christian Friedrich

Untitled (2011): Where Time Has Lost Its Relevance II
@ P///////AKT in Amsterdam

Great review on Frieze

Leigh-Ann Pahapill to Install Site-Specific Work at CFAM this January

We are fortunate to have Leigh-Ann Pahapill return to campus this month to install a site-specific work in The Cornell Fine Arts Museum.  An excerpt from the CFAM website is below:

Likewise, as technical experts, but not (at all) by way of culture / an installation by Leigh-Ann Pahapill  (through April 8)

This on-site installation by Canadian artist Leigh-Ann Pahapill will be created by the artist over a two week period.  The artist's description of the work describes "a kind of platform enclosed by a balustrade in front of, in the distance, in the forground, in the background, in place of a guide or direction set up to indicate the proper road to a place, in due time, in recent time, in the future, in the past, in parallel to the tiers of boxes of which the gallery consists, in a moment, inside and into, in many respects the screen separating the stage from the auditorium, in relation to a piece of cloth or similar material suspended by the top so as to admit of being withdrawn sideways" (Leigh-Ann Pahapill).

• Panel Discussion 
• Saturday, January 28, 2012
  12:00 p.m.
  Cornell Fine Arts Museum
  
  Artist Leigh-Ann Pahapill and invited guest panelists will participate in an informal discussion on her process in relation to the exhibition on view at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, moderated by Dr. Jonathan F. Walz, Interim Director of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum.

See below for an installation view of one of Pahapill's recent works (from the Frieze Art Fair website)

Axes and points from which
2010
Used projection screens, tubular steel holders and numeric print
Dimensions variable
Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Catherine Bastide

Website Update for Flak Photo = Awesome!

One of THE best on-line resources for photography and photographers.  FlakPhoto is a great place to start for research or general point and clicking.  I highly recommend a daily visit to this site or, subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking HERE.

Content below is excerpted from the Flak Photo website:

What is Flak Photo and how has it evolved?

Flak Photo is an online photography channel that presents the work of artists, curators, bookmakers and photo organizations to a global audience of people who are passionate about visual culture. The site's main feature is The Collection, a digital archive of contemporary photographs which is updated five times weekly. Since launching in 2006, I've expanded my program to include a Galleries, Books, Features, and Motion section.

The project has roots in online publishing and arts exhibition and I frequently collaborate with presses, galleries, and museums to produce a continuous program of promotional “happenings”. In addition to the website, I publish a Facebook page, Twitter feed and Google+ profile and I interact with those audiences on a daily basis. I'm passionate about creative collaboration and am constantly energized by what’s happening in the online community, so producing Flak Photo gives me an outlet to satisfy that craving.

flakphoto.com

David Favrod - Today's Discovery

Amazing stuff and really interesting installation views of the work.  Click HERE to peruse.

Image Credit:  David Favrod

New Year, New Blog Image - Thanks to my Former Teachers

I started this blog for my students a few years back and have been using photographs of my former instructors as title page images, 1) because their images are fantastic and 2) as a way to say thanks!  So far I've included images from Jin Lee and Bill O'Donnell, and this year I've finally got one up from Rhondal McKinney, my MFA thesis advisor.  Making this little update prompted me to think about the many people I've had a chance to learn from over the years, and I'd like to acknowledge the tremendous support I received from some of my professors and teachers that enhanced my photographic education by helping me to think more critically about lens-based media in general through film and video (Scott Rankin, Enie Vaisburd and Bushra Azzouz particularly) and contemporary art and art history, and professional practice (Melissa Johnson, Martin Patrick, Jim Mai, Shona MacDonald, Paul Sacaridiz, Mike Wille, Melissa Oresky, Barry Blinderman, Margaret Shirley, Paul Sutinen, Terri Hopkins and, most especially, Rich Rollins - the most influential of them all).  Thanks to everyone!!

Image Credit:  Rich Rollins, 1996

Photo-Eye Best of 2011

Get ready for some good clicking!  Always a treat to see which books were selected, and by whom.  Great roster as usual this year.  Click HERE to have a look.

New MFA Page on Reframing Photography Site

This is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in pursuing graduate study in photography.  You can read over summaries of different programs and view work from students currently enrolled.  The page is sure to keep growing, I highly recommend bookmarking it as a resource.  The link is HERE.

Katie St. Clair, Ophilia

 

Katie St. Clair is a current graduate student at The University of Michigan.  You can view more of her work at http://katiestclair.com/