Presentation of Art

1a. Marilyn Minter

 b. 7-9 works

 c. Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), within a large open space, big concrete sweeping walls, industrial feeling to the building

 d. The hyperrealistic documentations of the human form created moods of sensuality, sexuality and confusion.  I think that Minter was trying to combine the human form and unnatural substances to create images that were eye-pleasing yet chaotic.  I found the content behind the work to be highly dramatic and I got a sense of overproduction almost.



2a. Some of the work was hanging from the walls via basic black metal office clips, other works were mounted from the back.  All of the work was unframed.  The sizes ranged from large to larger, all rather big prints, the smallest starting at somewhere close to 20x30 inches.  Part of the exhibition was a video by Minter projected onto a large wall space as well.

b. The exhibition space involved tall open ceiling spaces, and wide open walkways.  One part of the exhibition led off the open area into a hallway with lower ceilings and wooden flooring, versus the buffed concrete flooring.  The space has a highly modern professional feel to it, yet more a mood of polished industrial than perhaps luxurious and expensive.

 c. The space was very well lit, lighting coming from the ceiling down onto the work.  The lighting worked very well to showcase the work.  The hallways or paths around the work was lit lowly, the attention fully being drawn upon the photography and select paintings.

 d. A few of the pieces were hung directly next to each other as to pair them off.  The work in the hallway with the lower ceiling were all spaced in equal farther distances from each other, they each appeared as separate entities.  Even though there was intentional pairing and separation from hallway to hallway and wall-face to wall-face, the entire body worked cohesively together.  The incorporation of bright colors and strange textures helped set the mood among the show.

 e. When I viewed the work the CAC was nearly empty so viewing the work was enjoyable and it was easy to take my own time to look at each and not be bothered by noise of others.



3. The exhibit looked very professional, concise and cohesive.  But I also felt a mood of informality or casualness, most likely due to the casual metal clips and lack of framing.  I was very intrigued by the casualness of the presentation of the work.  The images seemed to be highly produced and stylized.  I think the casualness worked for this exhibit because the images were so specific in the way of documenting the abstracted human forms that any more details and something would have been taken away.

Visual Research Exercise 3

The single most important thing I learned from visual exercise #3 was the significance of choosing a correct framing style.  There were some obvious bad framing choices, such as the people who used frames laying around the house, like Ivo's shiny gold frame.  But there were also other types of frames that were quite nice, that just did not work well with the photograph inside.  I was also really intrigued with the discussion of mat colors, and the use of a dark grey mat instead of stark black.

For my own work I think that simple is best.  I have been experimenting with alternative frameworks, but have not come to a conclusion on what I think will work best.  I really enjoy the incorporation of resin and layering although.  Maybe something to experiment with further at another time and on another project....

Hannah Hoch

Pretty Woman, 1920

           

Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Wiemar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919

For another class I have been looking a lot at the work of 1920s Dadaist, Hannah Hoch.  She was the only woman to be working among the German Dadaist's and I have really fallen in love with her work. She revolutionized the photomontage.  While her work is vastly different from anything I am doing, I am really intrigued in how she treats the female figure, and the fragmentation of it.  This is something I would like to explore further within my own work.

Lorie Novak

Night Sky, 1990

Midnight Swim, 1990

As suggested to me by Janie I have been looking at Lorie Novak's projection photographs.  Her work is stunning and fully relates to my ideas of projecting.  Her work is great to look at and has helped me decide on some technical issues.  When Novak projects images into the sky and onto trees she doesn't project a full frame, but lets just parts of a photograph show up.  I really like this technique and want to explore it more.  I think that when projecting onto a space a full frame may be distracting and take away from the entire frame as a whole.

Midterm Review

 

  

  

 

I really liked the activity when each person asked a question about each artist's work.  I think that is a good way to think about everybody's photography in many different ways.  I am going to list the questions I received at the review and then answer them:

What is the purpose of the skin being so blown out?
 well i was trying to capture just the figure, human form, but mostly unintentionally blew out the highlights... a process of experimentation.  when i re-shoot i am going to get a mixture (better metering),  some will be intentionally blown out, many others not.

Are you trying to create metaphors for something?
the use of windows can be seen as a metaphor.  gretchen mentioned the significance of windows and how they can represent modes of transition, a step between places, which i can see as being a similar situation to what i am in now/soon (graduation, new steps...)


Have you thought about black/white to accentuate the form?
black and white is something i have considered, for a very short period of time.  color is very important in this project and is something that i plan on continuing to explore.  to add, i think that i need to be very careful in my color choices, especially considering the different meanings behind colors and the moods they can reflect upon.  


How can windows (entrance/exit) be visually represented in another (more subtle) way?
windows in a more subtle way?  well i could consider focusing more on the light cast through windows, or maybe shadows.  although i really like the use of windows, i will definitely work to shoot some images involving windows but in a direct manner, all about trying new things...

Why not simply use photoshop?
that is a really good question, since i was able to achieve my main ideas in the work above with photoshop.  working in a traditional manner, film, enlarging in the darkroom is a really important process for me, so photoshop is just out of the question.  


Have you thought about projecting an image of you onto the building then taking the image?  Maybe play with the color bulb in the projector.
YES, and that is the next step, which i am very excited about.  and the idea of a color bulb is great!  when it comes time to really think about color and its use a color bulb may become very handy.


Are these projected or photoshopped?
the images above (and at the review) are photoshopped.  


How do the blown-out highlights affect the mode and message?
i think they create a sense of confusion, or secrecy, like maybe something is being hidden.  but i also can see that they create a shocking look, and in an emotional sense the blown out images and look create an abrasive feeling. 


Is blown out image and model your favorite?  What is the importance of recognized human form?
i like the blown model and image a lot, but i will be exploring new avenues.  recognized human form was something that i started out with, just because it was easy to think in that manner when shooting.  but the next step is to get away from the striking recognized form and explore human form in more abstracted and investigated ways.


Would having more skin detail/texture help or change your images too much?
definitely never know without trying, and the next shoot is going to involve some close up shots which will involve skin texture, so another thing to try out!


Have you thought about including other parts of the figure besides the chest and back/torso? (legs, hands, arms, face...)
yes and that is what is going to happen next.  i keep visioning images of ankles and fingertips, many other parts of the body than the chest and back.  


Do you prefer photoshop over the projector or vise versa, if so why?
projector for sure, as i mentioned above the importance of traditional processes is so important to me.


How do you want the body (figure) and the architecture to speak to each other?  Why is it important that both of these elements are included in the same frame?
i want the architecture and figure to echo each other, relate to each other, similar patterns and shape repetitions, a balance of the two.  the inclusion of both figure and architecture is the final addition to my thesis project, a reflection upon my own self (inclusion of the human form) and the study and analysis of abandoned architecture. 

Technical Difficulties

I'm thinking that this weekends frustrations can be categorized under the shortcomings list.  After running into a many technical difficulties this weekend I have finally figured out a solution.  My plan for last week was to shoot self portraits with film, pick out some of the best shots and have those transferred into slide format.  The next step was to then go out into the actual abandoned spaces and project onto those buildings.  So going about the plan, I called Robin Imaging asking questions, only to find out that their machine to create the slides is broken, and they have no intention of fixing it...

So I have decide to re-shoot all over again with transparency film and to just have those developed rather than sending out my .tif files of scanned negatives to some faraway city.

I will unfortunately not have as much as I had hoped for crit tomorrow, but film has already been ordered, and here is a practice image I created in Photoshop working with double images. 

Steps Closer

The single most important thing I learned from the previous Visual Research exercise is that big doesn't always mean better.  The largest print I made for the exercise was a little bit over 20x30ish inches.  I thought initially that I would like the largest print size the best but after the review I realized that a smaller size was better.  I liked how the 9x13 sized print was big enough that the small details were retained but the viewer was drawn into the photograph and stepped closer to look.

All about borders

The single most important thing I learned from the latest Visual Research exercise is that borders border the line of either being completely cheesy or completely perfect.  I think that my work can be benefited by borders.  Here is an example of a photoshop created border that I like a lot:

When I go to create my final prints, which will be in the darkroom, the use of borders is something I want to explore a lot more.  Filed negative carriers and such will be involved... 

Other Concerns

At the moment I am taking advanced sculpture and I am trying to tie both advanced photography and sculpture together.  My initial ideas at the beginning of the quarter was to create and build unique sculptural framework for my thesis photography to be shown in at DAAPworks. I have been looking at lot at the work of Christian Boltanski.  The content of our work is very different, he reflects a lot on death, memory and loss, but I am really drawn to his work due to his use of mixed mediums.  He uses a mixture of photography, sculpture, projections, and found objects at times.  When working on my sculpture projects I am trying to emulate Boltanski through use of layers, opacity levels, mixed mediums, and play of light.

Here are some examples of some of my favorite work of Boltanski:

 

France | photo installation

New Directions

I'm wanting to show parts of myself within my photography to get away from straight documentation of buildings.  I'm happy with my work from last quarter, but I feel that the next step is to create moods and reflections of myself into my work. The previous three photographs posted are my first attempt at stepping away from straight documentation.  They are a good first step in the right direction but I have a lot more work to do. 

New Steps

Working on new ideas for my thesis.  Using projections and myself within the photographs.

Thesis 2010

The basis of the ideas behind my thesis began with the vague concept of exploring and photography abandoned spaces throughout Cincinnati.  As time has progressed I have discovered that what I enjoy the most about this project is the act of exploring and the emotions I experience when doing so.  The next step for my thesis is to take my scientific-like photographs and turn them into a more emotional, personal experience.

Throughout the last quarter I spent much time researching various artists and methods to pursue my interests in urban exploration.  This quarter I am going to continue researching various artists to hone in on my personal style, and the finalized look I am going for.

My plan for the winter quarter, 2010, looks like this:

1. Re-evaluate my work from the previous quarter
2. Continuation of research of artists, mediums, and formats
3. Begin the process of writing my thesis paper
4. 10 rolls of film to be shot
5. Decisions made on the final subject matter to be enhanced and refined for the spring quarter