ethan melad : unisphere photography

House Construction

2010-07-22T11:32:00.000-04:00

There's also this I'm working on:

Our New House!

Coop Pictures

2010-07-22T11:30:00.000-04:00

So this was finished up a while ago, but I neglected to post pictures. Here they are.

Coop Progress

2009-09-26T21:46:00.005-04:00

This has happened in a couple days over the past few weeks; hopefully it will be finished this weekend:

Modern Chickens!

2009-08-28T10:41:00.010-04:00

Some may know of our love of chickens (not for eating, though), and it turns out we need additional space for all the girls. Here are a few drawings of my proposed Modern Misty View Farm Coop. It features a sealed OSB coop, corrugated translucent windows and roof, painted rafters, and stained framing. Each end of the coop opens for cleaning, and there is a drop-down door for access to nests.

Furniture Design

2009-05-17T21:14:00.007-04:00

So I've designed (based largely on a piece seen online - edit: see http://www.moormann.de/en/moebel/other.html) a flat-packing bed built from plywood and ash (or oak). The colors are entirely flexible, and I may actually prefer to use a walnut or cherry veneered ply instead. The bed should be pretty inexpensive - hopefully less than $300.

I am also doing my best to source affordable FSC certified and low- or zero- VOC plywoods, and MDF.

The renderings picture a queen size bed, and the headboard is approximately 5' tall.

Want to buy this bed? I'm looking for someone in need of a new bed to make this project a reality; I don't have the space or the money to complete the piece without knowing it has a home!

Feel free to contact me however you'd like.

Handmaps

2008-09-30T12:52:00.003-04:00

I heard about this site on NPR, and it's pretty fun. It's kind of a tangent of Found, but with a specific artifact requested: hand drawn maps. The maps illustrate creativity popping up where you might not expect it, and are sometimes very visually interesting as well as being more conceptually complex than one might expect.

Art for Obama

2008-09-24T13:08:00.002-04:00

While I haven't been posting much at all lately, this warrants some attention: Art for Obama (found on Conscientious).
I'm sure I won't be able to afford anything in this auction, but for the sake of fundraising, that's a good thing.

Andrew Burton

2008-08-24T13:07:00.003-04:00

I'm not usually attracted to narrative work, or even pictures with people in them, but this work by English photographer Andrew Burton really got me. It's concrete enough in content to allow me the choice of whether to build a narrative or let each image stand as individual statement; I like that each picture has nearly as much individual power as the last while remaining so similar in subject matter.

back in the saddle?

2008-08-16T23:06:00.002-04:00

So my activity here has obviously been sparse - party because it's summer, partly because i've been bored of art, but mainly because i was spending a ton of time getting married and traveling in portugal.

There may be a resurgence here, though, so keep your eyes peeled.

Richard Prince, conscientiously

2008-06-27T17:45:00.003-04:00

It's by no means a new discussion, but some of the issues surrounding Richard Prince's work (particularly his Cowboys series) are very well outlined and considered in Jörg's post today at Concientious. I agree with him completely, and I think this little essay very clearly explains what is "right" about Prince's work.

purpose

2008-06-26T22:24:00.002-04:00

I'm kind of contradicting today's earlier post by posting about photography so soon, but so it goes. The new issue of Purpose is out and there's some great stuff in it, particularly Jean-Luc Moulene's photos of Berlin that come from his 2000 book published by Steidl. There's a great consistency - in color, in material - through the work that ties many disparate subjects together.

Looking online, his newer work seems to be mostly sculpture - sort of 'primitive' studies and doll-like figures.

Out of it

2008-06-26T14:28:00.004-04:00

So I've been pretty much out of blog mode for the past few weeks, but I figured I'd throw something up in case anyone's actually attempting to read this. I've not been looking at much photography - or any art in general - but focusing a little more on design and woodworking, as that's what I'm currently getting paid to do. Here's a pair of mahogany salad servers I made a few months ago:

(place your orders soon, who knows how fast these one-offs will go!)

That's not really true - I've not even tried selling any yet. But if you want some, just let me know.

In any case, that's what I'm up to. I haven't seen any particularly interesting photos in a long time, even on the good old standby blogs, which is a little depressing. But hopefully things will pick up.

summer reading

2008-05-27T08:42:00.002-04:00

Now that the weather is finally cooperating, I am feeling much less inclined to sit at my computer and write. I still plan to blog, but posts may be a little more spread out. I've also reached a temporary point of saturation or most things photo-related - the NYPH (which I attended, and definitely enjoyed) has been at the forefront of all internet photo discussion and I need a little break.

R. Rauschenberg

2008-05-14T08:51:00.004-04:00

The great American artist died yesterday in Florida at age 82. The scope and importance of Rauschenberg's works remain as a defining measure of American panting, sculpture, and dance. RIP.

not so humble

2008-05-09T12:03:00.002-04:00

Here's a little self-promotion for y'all:

I'm in the current Humble Arts Foundation Group Show. There are a bunch of other great photographers in the show, including a couple I've previously mentioned on the blog.

The show is up online through June 4.

Hipsters

2008-05-05T10:35:00.003-04:00

I love me some meta-critique. A new song and great little video by Brooklyn hipster musician MESH:

Download the track here: http://www.zshare.net/audio/3539125d5efd9a/

Larry sultan

2008-04-29T09:44:00.008-04:00

I'm a little slow with the blogging lately, but here's a link to a nice interview with Larry Sultan in BR&S.

Sultan spoke at MassArt last week to a smallish but really appreciative crowd. He spoke and answered questions for quite a long time, and seemed extremely candid and honest about his work and his opinions on the art world (and its intersection with the commercial world).

I really enjoyed the lecture, particularly because Sultan showed unpublished work from many years ago. He also went into detail about the process for conceiving and creating Evidence with Mike Mandel; the book is a perfectly sequenced collection of found institutional and 'scientific' photographs. Sultan, as an artist who has worked in other media as well (painting, installation), also discussed the limitations of photography and his own influence by painting. From the BR&S interview:

"Part of the difficulty for me is that the subject that I've photographed has accumulated a history, whether it's pornography, or parents, or immigrants. Those subjects are spoken through our assumptions and our history with that cultural phenomenon. So to find a new discursive space, a space to wander around those subject matters, is a real challenge."

Tina Barney Lecture

2008-04-19T09:19:00.007-04:00

Tina Barney spoke at B.U. for a PRC sponsored event this past Thursday. It was pretty well attended, and I'm glad I went. However, I'm still not sold on Barney's work. I should clarify that, I suppose - I really do like looking at her pictures, but am still concerned about her motivations and apparent lack of concern over the way her photos portray the subjects; or rather, the way the photos only portray a certain type of person.

At the lecture she said she is most interested in two things: the body- the way gestures and positions are composed - and dress. Someone in the audience seemed to think that she was 'critiquing' the appearance and lifestyles of her (primarily wealthy and aristocratic) subjects, but I think it is more of 'generalized classification.' She thinks it is interesting to look at how this particular section of society acts and carries themselves, trying to identify common gestures or clothing patterns. But in classifying and typifying, she acts in an almost orientalist manner; in the lecture she even said something to the effect of "isn't what they're wearing crazy?" as if to imply that the dress of the subject was somehow impossible to understand or even wrong.

And frankly, I find it tiring to look repeatedly at mansions, attractive sons and daughters, gilded frames on the walls.

In any case, she was well spoken and interesting to listen to - and her methods of photographing and large format printing have obviously been a driving force and influence on contemporary art photography in the states.

Also, don't forget to go hear Larry Sultan speak at MassArt April 23.

Season's open

2008-04-09T22:45:00.008-04:00

This picture is for sale over at 20x200, and hopefully it'll be on my doorstep soon. Don Hamerman seems to mainly do commercial work, but I really like some of these baseball images that he categorizes as 'fine art.' From reading his statement at 20x200, it sounds like Hamerman was interested in the history and provenance of the baseballs, as well as the way these objects have deteriorated and, in some cases, returned to the earth. I particularly like the way the pictures examine the physicality, materiality, and impermanence of the subject. This physicality of matter also reflects, in a way, the nature of sport; what is sport if not a fleeting demonstration of tangible and concrete ability?

Ben Safdie

2008-04-06T14:39:00.006-04:00

I can't say i really agree with or completely understand Ben Safdie's artist statement -

Every situation is embedded with a sense of humor. Humor is also one of the few things that can make anything seem beautiful. With these two theories embedded within my mind, I go out and take photos...When I speak of humor I can mean a subtle chuckle or a laugh, but I can also mean a smile or recognition of something new.

Regardless of this somewhat misconstrued definition of humor, I think a number of his pictures display an interesting view of contemporary culture and material constructs.

muxtape

2008-03-28T16:31:00.003-04:00

Shane posted about this great site a few days ago, but I just got around to trying it out. And I sure do like it.
Check me out here. Other notable names are members too, including: Shane, Joerg.

At the moment I'm on my ibook with a limited amount of music, but don't worry. I'll make the Muxtape grow.

never gonna...

2008-03-28T16:21:00.003-04:00

girls v. boys

2008-03-24T22:49:00.002-04:00

Jeongmee Yoon's Pink and Blue Project shows all too clearly how gender is differentiated and created and imposed upon children by advertising and toy companies. And also how parents are expected or obligated or coerced by their kids through television commercials to buy insane quantities of merchandise for their son/daughter. I suppose I could do without the kids in the pictures, but hey, it's their room, right?

sometimes you've just got to say it

2008-03-24T16:24:00.006-04:00

Bullshit.

Rarely do I find it hard to -at least in some way- agree with or understand an artist's stated intent. But every once in a while...
I found Patricia Chan over at iheartphotograph, and after reading the excerpted statement:

"this series of portraits records a period of transition in a single subject over the course of nine days and shows a change in the facial expression, clothing, the slope of the shoulder and light as each day progresses. the repetitive act of photographing suggests the revelation of information about the nature of a subject. however this repetition does not suggest a sense of stability or coherency, but rather its opposite."

I was left quite speechless. Not only do I find the pictures totally derivative and dull, but I can't for the life of me find any absence of 'stability or coherency' in the figure, nor any noticeable change in 'the slope of the shoulder [or] light.' Sometimes an intelligent sounding statement is only that.

For the record, though, I really like Patricia's monochrome color prints. A lot.

This day in history

2008-03-21T10:14:00.007-04:00

On this day in 1965, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

And this week, 2008:

Tim lee

2008-03-20T18:18:00.003-04:00

Artist Tim Lee has some really interesting and really funny work. Lee works in a number of media; his photography acts as both a document of action and performance as well as a standalone piece. What I mean, really, is that even if the picture is of a performance, the end result is an image that refers to or nods at that performance rather than just displaying it. Lee contrasts references to pop culture and art figures with pictures of himself to create pictures that are exuberant and playful, yet still read as complicated and insightful.

Here's a 2004 interview.

IMAGE: Tim Lee, Steve Martin, 1972, 2004

Are we actually making progress?

2008-03-18T08:08:00.002-04:00

An article in the Times this morning about military and security department tactics for dealing with terrorism has, believe it or not, left me optimistic. According to the article, defense and counterterrorism officials have begun to use methods of deterrence to try and stop terrorist attacks from the ground up. They are using the web to infiltrate terrorist groups and then express dissent, and pushing well known and influential clerics to denounce attacks as harmful to the Muslim community's reputation. They hope that this cold war technique of undermining the belief system of terrorists will help reduce extremist violence and limit the chances of attacks using WMDs or other large weaponry.

“I’ve got to figure out what does dissuade you,” said Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, the Joint Chiefs’ director of strategic plans and policy. “What is your center of gravity that we can go at? The goal you set won’t be achieved, or you will be discredited and lose face with the rest of the Muslim world or radical extremism that you signed up for.”

George J. Tenet, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, wrote in his autobiography that the authorities were concerned that Qaeda operatives had made plans in 2003 to attack the New York City subway using cyanide devices.

Mr. Zawahri reportedly called off the plot because he feared that it “was not sufficiently inspiring to serve Al Qaeda’s ambitions,” and would be viewed as a pale, even humiliating, follow-up to the 9/11 attacks.

It seems to me that this is the most logical and smartest thing the American military could do in this circumstance (and has done in a long time). To simply rely on intelligence to try and stop planned attacks is not only ineffective, but does not address the real problem: why Islamic radicals (or any other group, for that matter) feel the need to take the actions that they do.

Polaroid Tiles

2008-03-14T17:39:00.004-04:00

Patrick Winfield does some interesting work with polaroids in his "Composites" series. When the work is successful, the pieces become much more than a group of polaroids; they seem to solidify and combine to become a single image. Not necessarily a 'real' image, though, but more abstract and painterly. It reminds me of a wall of colored ceramic tiles.

Unfortunately, a number of the pieces are way too reminiscent of David Hockney's polaroid work, and others look like high school art class collages: too many identifiable images and unoriginal composition.

New England Landscapes

2008-03-13T13:32:00.005-04:00

New England Survey opens at the PRC on March 27. and I'll definitely be there. I'm only familiar with 3 of the 6 photographers featured in the show, but those three are great. My former professor Barbara Bosworth has work in the show, and her pictures are always fantastic. It looks like the styles and techniques among the photographers included are pretty varied, which should make for an interesting exhibition.

Also, the PRC now has a blog. It's a good way to keep up with Boston events.

IMAGE - TANJA ALEXIA HOLLANDER

Attention span? What's that?

2008-03-12T22:16:00.006-04:00

An article in the NY Times today looks at new methods museums are taking to bring in more viewers, and reveals (or maybe just reiterates) one major issue in western (read: American) culture: we have no attention span and no interest in things that do not seem immediately exciting or beneficial.

"At the Detroit Institute of Arts, officials recently discovered that the average visitor spends only four or five minutes in any gallery, rather than the 20 minutes the officials had expected. Only 7 percent bothered to read the wall plaques."

“I call it the water-park phenomenon,” said Ford Bell, president and chief executive of the American Association of Museums in Washington. “A zillion other things are competing for our leisure time."

I'm glad museums are attempting to draw audiences in new ways, but I really wish it wasn't so much like pulling teeth...

Joseph Tripi

2008-03-11T22:10:00.003-04:00

Going through my massive list of bookmarks tonight, I came across Joseph Tripi. To be honest, I don't remember ever even looking at his work before, but now that I have I'm glad I did. His portfolio contains two projects, All America City and Suburban Textures. While I like some pictures in All America City, Suburban Textures is far more cohesive and visually interesting. The work describes our notions of suburban living (and, in a sense, simply the image of "residence") by discovering and unearthing objects, patterns, and materials. Some of the photos almost have a sense of deja vu about them; they are scenes you have seen before, but never noticed.

2008-03-08T15:34:00.005-05:00

An article in the NY Times today about current street art brought me to this picture which, in turn, brought back a funny memory.

It seems there is a sudden re-interest (Basquiat anyone?) in street art/graffiti in New York and other cities, and while it's great to see these artists getting recognition, it makes me nervous to hear about galleries actually showing the work. I'm not really one to rail against the gallery/art world system, but I think street art loses all of its conceptual, influential and political power by being displayed anywhere except the original intended location. The same would apply for work "in the style of" street art created specifically for a gallery setting. It seems to me that the white box and the grimy street are entirely at odds in their points of visual and intellectual entry, and that point of entry is all-important when viewing this type of work.

The picture above comes from Jake Dobkin's photostream on Flickr via Streetsy.
There used to be a rock by the side of route 101A when I was a kid that had the spray painted inscription:
"I LOVE YOU, LURCH"
Who Lurch is or was, I'll never know, but the staying power of the message - and, quite simply, the fact that there's actually someone named 'Lurch'- still amazes me.

look, again, at the perfect human

2008-03-07T14:15:00.007-05:00

Mark Wyse's most recent essay at Words Without Pictures is really interesting. He discusses, in part, Jorgen Leth's amazing 1967 film The Perfect Human. He involves the film in a discourse about the nature of desire in photography, using the inscrutable, almost impossibly objective (and yet totally passive) nature of Leth's film as a starting point to illustrate how negation or repression - visual or subconscious - can assert itself as a link to or force of desire. That is, to deny something is to actively introduce another something, or repress the original.

Wyse discusses photographers Nan Goldin and Christopher Williams within the framework of the conceptual process of denying or avoiding in order to cause effect. It's a worthwhile read.

Matthew Sleeth

2008-03-03T22:09:00.002-05:00

Australian photographer Matthew Sleeth has a show opening at the Aperture gallery in NYC this Thursday. I've not seen the work on view, 'Ten Series,' but I really like his 'Pictured' and Red China' series. Pictured looks at how we document our own lives, how and what we choose to remember through photography- and thus questions why we take these measures to remember and memorialize.

Red China is a look at Chinese life and culture, with one constant throughout: the color red. Initially intriguing, the color red becomes a crutch rather than a driving force for the pictures, and feels to be walking the line of cliché. In spite of that, though, there are some outstanding singular photos.

The show is up through May 17th.

artspeak

2008-03-01T11:34:00.004-05:00

Christopher Williams has a new show up at David Zwirner in NY, and his work has always intrigued me. It's definitely complicated (or conceptual? or pretentious?) stuff, and a little bit difficult to digest. To me, many of his pictures read as investigation and deconstruction of photography as a genre. His work includes 'commercial' images as well as 'fine art' images, which leads me to believe that he intends to speak in part of the technical and procedural aspects of photography; that is, he is describing photography - not a style of photography. Further, he delves into the constructive aspects of our lives by dissecting and exposing fabricated materials and objects.

In any case, the press release for his current show is the epitome of, as I would call it, "artspeak" - language on the verge of being incomprehensible due to its vagueness or pretension (yet entirely entertaining and interesting to me).

An excerpt:

How to start? A door opens. A cash register opens. A
can of sardines is opened. A mouth opens. An unzipped
zipper opens up a view. Four bottles of beer are opened,
with a bottle opener…

That’s good but it’s not our story. Let’s try again.

How to read a tire sidewall? Ratio of height to width (as-
pect ratio). Width of tire in millimeters. Maximum cold
inflation and load limit. Load index and speed symbol.
Tire ply composition and materials used.

Read the entire release here.

--News of this show came to me via Ofer Wolberger's blog Horses Think.

night lights

2008-02-29T18:21:00.004-05:00

Jarrett Murphy has some nice work on his portfolio site. A number of the pictures are too "look at the cool colors long exposures at night make!", but a few are really beautiful and somewhat haunting.

Jarrett was recently in 'The Altered Landscape' at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, OR (along with Dan Shea, from my last post). And according to his resume, he's an excellent team player!

(sorry, but he was kind of asking for it...)

Photos from B-more

2008-02-28T18:37:00.004-05:00

I think I've sen Dan Shea's work before, but I just ran across it again tonight. His portfolio is pretty big, but there's some really great stuff spread across the projects. I particularly like 'Landscape Histories'.

Ola Rindal in print

2008-02-28T17:49:00.004-05:00

Ola Rindal has some nice work on her site, and also has a new book out. The book is published by Hassla Books, originally founded in Amherst, NH, right near where I grew up. Ah, the days of driving to Newbury Comics....

Anyway, it's good to hear of interesting projects coming from an area I wouldn't exactly call a hotbed of creative activity.

anne mcmahon

2008-02-27T23:06:00.003-05:00

Anne McMahon, a RISD MFA grad, has some nice work. Unfortunately images are hard to come by online. I like her investigation of the idiosyncracies and the oddities of nature as well as the physical relationships between nature and human construct. RISD images here, PRC images here.

peace

2008-02-26T22:41:00.005-05:00

An icon turns 50!

PEACE.

animal pictures

2008-02-26T09:21:00.008-05:00

There seems to be a trend in current drawing and printmaking: animals. Particularly birds. And I really like it. As I am not really well versed in the theory or history of contemporary drawing or printmaking, I can only speculate on the intentions and reasonings behind this influx of nature; it may be reworking of the technical purity of 'documentative' artists like Audubon, or possibly a response to a lack of concern for living and moving subjects in drawing - I feel that a lot of work in the recent past has a static, unflinching, inactive subject - animals are inherently romantic and dynamic.

In any case, check these out:

TOP TO BOTTOM:

CODY HOYT, NICHOLAS DI GENOVA, BRIAN WILMONT, GAIA

Icey

2008-02-23T10:44:00.004-05:00

Looking out the window this morning I saw a group of people ice fishing. This is by no means a new occurence, but this time it reminded me of a photographer who has a great series of photos of icehouses. Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember what the photographer's name is. The pictures are shot "Becher-style" - centered and repetetive, pointing out the similarities and individual idiosyncracies of each structure. Please let me know if you think you know who I'm referring to. Catherine Opie also has some nice icehouse pictures (unfortunately I couldn't find digital versions of the best ones...).

edit: the image I had posted seemed to be causing browsing issues. bummer.

More Abstraction

2008-02-20T22:41:00.004-05:00

I ran across Bill Armstrong's work again tonight (he has a show up at Clampart). I don't particularly like the work in his current show - it feels forced into being figurative, and loses the abstract, airy appeal of previous work.

jesse chehak

2008-02-20T20:44:00.003-05:00

Jesse Chehak is an American photographer found via the German Sonic blog. I can't say it's anything groundbreaking, but the portfolio has some absolutely beautiful pictures - particularly the 'landscape' section.

Psychic connection?

2008-02-19T21:21:00.004-05:00

Sean Micka ~~has~~ had work up at Judi Rotenberg in Boston, and I really like what I've seen online (I missed the show). His painting often involves the visual and historical relationships between photography and painting, and also speaks to the physical nature of viewing art. In addition, some of his paintings look uncannily like images that I have made (and am planning on re-creating on a larger scale); now I really can't wait to make my own work....

Here's a write-up at Big Red & Shiny.

Also, a plug for former classmate and photographer Jess Dugan, who's now a writer at BR&S.

new hosting

2008-02-19T20:41:00.001-05:00

I just switched hosting, so I apologize if you attempted to view either the blog or my portfolio site and received a server error. Hopefully this will be a little more stable.

Barbara Bloom

2008-02-15T22:40:00.006-05:00

Barbara Bloom sure isn't a new artist, but until the other day I had never seen her more "2D" work. The pieces that directly address the photograph's formal aspects and its relationships to color, optical, and structural elements of Bloom's work really amaze me.

See a retrospective currently up at the ICP in NY.

Some Things are Private

2008-02-15T19:10:00.005-05:00

A new play inspired by the controversy surrounding Sally Mann's 1992 book Immediate Family is up at the Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence, RI. (Believe it or not, I really do like Sally Mann's work a lot)

"Some Things are Private" examines the reaction to Mann's book through fictionalized dialogue as well as lines and quotes from the public record. Sounds interesting, if not a little bit delayed, and hopefully it will open a new (maybe different?) discussion of subject matter and a photographer's intent. Two quotes from the Boston Globe article that I found intriguing:

"Should an artist have to answer for her work? Mann, generally open and loquacious, answers bluntly. "No."

This statement is essentially the antithesis of my belief in an artist's responsibility to the viewer.

But then she goes and says something as perfect as this:

"But it's not a real moment," Mann declares. "I don't think there's any veracity whatsoever in photography..."

The show runs through March 23, 2008.

More Politics

2008-02-14T08:39:00.004-05:00

We watched the Argentinian film The Official Story the other night, and consequently I'm keeping an eye out for any worthwhile politically generated/infused art. The above piece, “The Parthenon of Books/Homage to Democracy,” 1983, by Marta Minujin directly responds to events depicted in The Official Story. It is a full-scale replica of the parthenon constructed of plastic-wrapped books banned by Argentina's extremely oppressive junta. The junta relinquished power in 1983, when this piece was built. The work is powerful in both scale and content, and I can only imagine what it must have felt like to witness it in person.

oh, stupid vapid americans...

2008-02-14T08:00:00.005-05:00

The NY Times discusses Susan Jacoby's new book "The Age of American Unreason" today (link). I have yet to read the book, but it sounds interesting; Jacoby writes that anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism are running rampant and causing possibly irreparable harm to society. "Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge, she said, but they also don’t think it matters."

According to a 2006 National Geographic poll, "nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t think it is necessary or important to know where countries in the news are located. So more than three years into the Iraq war, only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map."

Yikes.

New photojournalism

2008-02-12T09:53:00.005-05:00

In keeping up with all the election activity, I've been paying a little more attention to current photojournalism. The above image is by Greg Miller for TIME magazine. It is a great documentative combination of political and social commentary and also functions formally (in composition and intent) as fine art. While I like seeing the romantic, brooding, black and white pictures from the campaign trail, it's always refreshing to see more current styles being published and recognized.

Also see Callie Shell's work.

Sorry for the crappy digital copywork.
GREG MORRIS, 2008

What is Portraiture?

2008-02-05T21:55:00.004-05:00

Over at Conscientious there's a great set of responses to the question "What makes a great portrait?" (see thread here). It just so happened that I was preparing to tackle portraiture as well, but from a slightly more pessimistic perspective.

I recently read an essay in the CAA art journal titled "Douglas Huebler and the Voiding of Photographic Portraiture" by Goron Hughes. Previously, I had not heard of Huebler, but the work discussed in the essay is extremely interesting and helped to solidify my opinion of the state of photographic portraiture. Huebler's seminal work (and the center of the essay's thesis) Variable Piece #101, 1972 is a logical and structured work that illustrates, in part, the impossibilities of really reading a subject's emotions via the photograph. For the piece, Huebler shot 10 portraits of friend Bernd Becher. He asked Becher to express a certain 'type' of man in each picture - Bernd Becher, Nice Guy, Spy, Old Man, Artist, Policeman, Priest, Philosopher, Criminal, Lover. Two months later, Huebler re-ordered the images and asked Becher to identify his own poses. The product is a mismatched list, a subject unable to recognize his own face.

While this essay delves much deeper into Huebler's work and its influences (the Bechers, August Sander, Sol Lewitt) as well as its comments on typologies and humanity, what hit me hardest was this proof of a human's inability to accurately read an expression in a photograph.

If this incapacity is indeed true, why should we bother to take pictures of people at all? Every portrait becomes solely an extension and product of the photographer, and makes the 'real person' in the picture irrelevant. Of course, we as viewers can make our own guesses at the emotion or situation of a subject - and that can be interesting and worthwhile - but it can only be that: a guess. The fact that I am now required to guess at a portrait subject's emotion or mental state makes me much less interested or invested in that subject; I would rather the photographer show me something TRUE and compel me to think about that.

edit: I want to also add that Variable Piece #101 relies on text to explain itself. This comment on photography's reliance on text - ie. titles - is exaggerated in that each 'title' may or may not be correct. To wit, the quote that begins the essay:

"The illiteracy of the future," someone has said, "will be ignorance not of reading or writing, but of photography." But shouldn't a photographer who cannot read his own pictures be no less considered an illiterate? Won't the inscription become the most important part of the photograph?
--Walter Benjamin

Those are just my first thoughts - please don't hold me to them.

Geert Goiris

2008-02-04T21:44:00.000-05:00

Geert Goirus has some really really great pictures.

Artforum blurb here.

Geert Goiris: Albino, 2003

Thomas Meyer

2008-02-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

From the Sonic Blog comes German photographer Thomas Meyer. His Inside Stasi and Provisorium projects both piqued my interest. Inside Stasi reminded me both of Thomas Demand as well as the film The Lives of Others - seeing these spaces which once held such power and violence rendered as worn out and trivial is, I think, extremely moving. Provisorium looks at the appropriation of everyday objects as utilitarian devices, something which happens so frequently we often don't even notice. In photographing these items, Meyer references Duchamp's readymades as well as pointing out the visual attentiveness of industrial design.

Image: Thomas Meyer, Interrogation Room

Henrik Duncker in Seesaw

2008-02-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

Seesaw Magazine has just come out with a new issue (after a long hiatus that had me a little concerned...) and it has a couple nice portfolios.

I particularly like Henrik Duncker's images of Latvia; visually, they're decidedly foreign to me as an American, but convey a universal sentiment - the coexitance of failure and hope - in their content. Henrik writes:

"In their interiors it is hard to find an object without a flower motif or a surface that is not flower patterned. The motivation for such passionate adorning becomes clear when observing the grim housing from the past."

Mundane & Complex

2008-02-02T12:22:00.000-05:00

I really like Maury Gortemiller's work (found via the Exposure Project). Much of it is a humorous yet cynical look at office culture, commercialism and our relationship (however abstract) with nature.

Laurent Gueneau

2008-02-02T09:06:00.000-05:00

Another photographer I came across through Purpose, Laurent Gueneau , has an interesting project called 26 12 1999. A little more environmental destruction for you, but beautiful nonetheless.

(I recommend looking at this body of work at Purpose, as they have color corrected the images much better than Laurent has on his site...)

Isabelle Hayeur

2008-01-30T20:39:00.000-05:00

Montreal-born photographer Isabelle Hayeur has some really nice work in a few different projects. I particularly like 'Excavations' and 'Model Homes.' Her work seems to center around a relatively common theme these days: the impact of human construction and intervention on the natural environment. But these pictures also comment on the apparent lack of care for the structures and landscapes that are created - half finished or dilapidated homes, partially landscaped lawns, trash. In 2006 Isabelle's work was featured in the great French photo webzine Purpose.

Spiral Jetty in trouble!

2008-01-30T16:34:00.000-05:00

Urgent news via MAN : A possible oil drilling project could endanger Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970). Infrastructure to support the drilling as well as underground pipes and pumps will need to be installed.

Contact Jonathan Jemming at 801-537-9023 or email jjemming@utah.gov to express your concern, and refer to Application # 8853.

You have until 7PM tonght!

The original email from Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson's widow:

Yesterday I received an urgent email from Lynn DeFreitas, Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake, telling me of plans for drilling oil in the Salt Lake near Spiral Jetty. See Attachments. The deadline for protest is [today] Wednesday, at 5PM. Of course, DIA has been informed and are meeting about it today.
I have been told by Lynn that the oil wells will not be above the water, but that means some kind of industrial complex of pipes and pumps beneath the water and on the shore. The operation would require roads for oil tank trucks, cranes, pumps etc. which produce noise and will severely alter the wild, natural place.
If you want to send a letter of protest to save the beautiful, natural Utah environment around the Spiral Jetty from oil drilling, the emails or calls of protest go to Jonathan Jemming 801-537-9023 jjemming@utah.gov. Please refer to Application # 8853. Every letter makes a big difference, they do take a lot of notice and know that publicity may follow. Since the Spiral Jetty has global significance, emails from foreign countries would be of special value.
They try to slip these drilling contracts under the radar, that¹s why we found out so late, not through notification, but from a watchdog lawyer at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the group that alerted me to the land leasing for oil and gas near Sun Tunnels last May.
Thank you for your consideration of this serious environmental matter.

Ramak Fazel: Suspicious Citizen

2008-01-28T22:12:00.000-05:00

Ramak Fazel has some decent editorial work, but his latest project, 49 State Capitols is much much better. It chronicles Fazel's nationwide tour to visit and photograph every state capitol. In addition to taking pictures at each capitol building, Fazel would mail a postcard to the next city he was to visit, and receive the postcard himself. In addition, the postcards were all sent using stamps from his own childhood stamp collection.

In this article in the NY times, Fazel describes the trip - one which uncovers, or rather reveals, the very transparent nature of American surveillance and the realities of dealing with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The product of this cross-country trip is being shown at the Storefront.

Library of Congress on Flickr

2008-01-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

This has been getting a lot of press - and rightly so. There are now over 3000 images from the Library of Congress archives available as relatively high resolution digital images on flickr . The two albums available are apparently the most popular of the LoC's collection, and include images from the FSA (with a whole lot of them in COLOR) in the 1930-40s as well as news/press photos from the 1910s. Looks like the LoC is planning to expand the collection, drawing from their archive of 14 million(!) prints, photographs, and "other visual materials." I'm looking forward to it.

See the flickr page HERE .

Photo: Alfred T. Palmer, Oct. 1942

All Color All the Time

2008-01-26T09:08:00.000-05:00

Spencer Finch has some really, really fantastic work. He currently has two shows up (as far as I know), one in Berlin and the other at MassMOCA. His work is in a number of media - photography, drawings, installation - and centers conceptually around vision and perception, with a little bit of science and imagination mixed in. Finch says:

"There is always a paradox inherent in vision, an impossible desire to see yourself seeing. A lot of my work probes this tension; to want to see, but not being able to."

I love how, with such accuracy and delicacy, Finch can create objects and color that have both strong representational aspects as well as ethereal and emotive qualities.

Image - Spencer Finch, Two Examples of Molecular Orbital Theory (Prussian Blue) | 2005, Fluorescent lights, filters, acrylic paint. This installation presents two physical theories of color. The left room creates Prussian blue with filtered light and white walls, the right room creates Prussian blue with white light and painted walls.

Downtime

2008-01-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently my host's server was down for most of yesterday and some of today. Sorry about that.

Ryan Johnson and disintegration

2008-01-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

I just ran across Ryan Johnson (via Art Fag City). At first I thought was a digitally manipulated picture, but it is actually a sculpture comprised of painted dowels. It's intriguing to me that when I'm drawn to a digital aesthetic, it turns out to be analog. This piece makes me think of the sort of disintegrating, dissolving, and degeneration that digital photography brings to an image.

See more of his work (I really like Cart) at Guild & Greyshkul.

Michael K. Williams on NPR

2008-01-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

Even if you don't love The Wire as much as I do, this interview with Michael K. Williams, who plays 'Omar' on the show, is fantastic. Williams is amazingly charismatic and has some seriously crazy stories.

Listen HERE

Laura Wulf

2008-01-23T16:13:00.000-05:00

I remember seeing Laura's work at the Decordova a few years ago and really liking it. It's a little minimalism, a little printmaking, a little 1910's Russian avant-garde, and photographically produced.

Her WEBSITE.

Martin Klimas

2008-01-23T15:24:00.000-05:00

Martin Klimas has some really interesting work on his website. Without a doubt, it references (and utilizes) the quintessential German school style of exploring typoglogies, but by photographing an actual action taking place the photographer has inserted himself as active participant. He brings up discussion of beauty and destruction, and comments on how art deals with these issues. For me, the pictures move beyond conceptual documentation. See his website here.

Design ≠ Art (?)

2008-01-22T17:05:00.000-05:00

Since I started working for a woodworker, I've been thinking about/looking at more furniture and 3D work than usual. One question that continually arises is that of functional craft's place in the art world - and the place for sculpture within the functional realm.

In a way, the evolution of functional furniture to abstract sculpture mimics (or maybe vice-versa) the path of photography. What was once an art of utility - however ornate or extravagant - has been appropriated as a method of conceptual expression. With this progression in mind, it is interesting to consider how this affects the medium as a whole. What 'kind' of furniture or photography is more important? Do these historical implications affect how we view contemporary work? And if so, can a medium sustain itself artistically when faced with the import of historical precedent?

This is not to say that it has to be one or the other, right or wrong. For me, however, a medium needs a substantial transformation - in technique, or concept, or process - to push past its past. I am constantly having troubles with photography for this very reason. With relatively limited exceptions, it simply has not changed in nearly 100 years. Digital techniques, new mounting and presentation processes, and a new concern for the physicality of the image are beginning to address the issues, but I think we've still got work to do before photography can truly become more than an interesting visual document.

Top: Robert Wilson, "Parzival: a chair with a shadow" 1987, Bottom: Noriko Furunishi, "Untitled (Grey Dry Stream) 2005

Current Show

2008-01-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

Just a little self-promotion to start things off:

NY Studio Gallery: Reality Gallery American Slide-All 2008
January 3 - January 26

If you happen to be in NYC, go check it out.

Re-Inauguration

2008-01-22T11:21:00.000-05:00

I activated this blog nearly two years ago, but never really posted anything. So now, as pluralistic criticism becomes the norm, I figured that I might as well add my thoughts to the mix.

I hope to update and monitor the blog daily, making it a useful and interesting current source for photography, arts, and culture.
If you read the blog, tell me what you think. The more feedback i get, the faster I can work out the kinks and get more information out to you, the reader.

There are a number of art and photography blogs on the internets which have influenced my decision to create my own, and for that I say thanks.

Stay Tuned.