PANEL REVIEW!!!!

my panel Members included Jeffery Allison, Gordon Stettinius, Jon Henley and Frncis Thompson. Things got off to a bit of a wet start however this worked out as Gordon Stettinius and I both stumbled through our first meetings. He expressed that he had never been on that side of the table before and we worked our way though my portfolio. He like myself is a closet/beginner graphic design geek and we spent a fair amount of the time getting through the technical parts of my previous semester's work. His critique was far more technically focused than the rest of the meetings I would have for the day. It was helpful to have someone go over my images with a sharp eye and help give me ideas for tightening the post work even further. Other than that we spoke quite a bit about what i would be doing next and about the possible complications to health that can sometimes be a part of shooting documentary/ editorial work.

My next meeting was with Jon Henley who I had met previously through the professional practices class I took from last semester. Being that he also recognized me it seemed tat he was pleased to finally see some of my work. For the first seven minutes or so of the meeting we discussed the work I was presenting, spending a great amount of that time on the various ways the series could be interpreted. We spoke about the way work is valued and looked at by our society and some of the other connotations of class. He was pleased to hear about the process of shooting and how the choices were made in wardrobe and model selection. The rest of the time was spent on discussing how the industry was changing and what kinds of technical knowledge I should be getting up on to stay competitive.

The time I spent in my 3rd meeting with Francis Thompson the Capital One Art Buyer was the most stressful and nerve wracking of the meetings not because he had negative things to say about the work but because he had such an amazing poker face. He wanted to as much as I could say about the work in front of him without offering too many of his own questions. I tried to fill the time as best as I could but felt pretty insecure talking to a guy who's face wasn't telling me anything about what he was hearing. When he did respond it was generally in a clarifying manner or with a very specific question about the concept or execution.

The final meeting of my day was also the most successful, by having my meetings back to back with only a few minutes to pause in between I was able to catch a flow of ideas and adapt quickly to the challenges of each meeting all the while revising my presentation and making my comments more concise. The last meeting was with Jeffery Allison from the VMFA. He laughed at the work and was visibly enthusiastic about what he was seeing. He seemed to get every little reference i had thrown into the series from the title of the series right down to little details others had been uninterested in or had missed entirely.

I truly enjoyed the experience and feel that the comments made by my panel members were all good to positive. While some of them pointed out technical errors all were considered to be small and simply a matter of tightening up the post production. The concept was well received by all and none of them found it to be uninteresting or some about which they had nothing to respond with. All of my meetings were engaging and even the most difficult of them ran full with discussion up to or past the allotted time.

Monday ARTIST // Walker Evans (Makeup for missed)

Bud fields and his family, Hale County alabama (1941) from the book below
The first publishing of Let Us Now Praise Famous men came out in 1941. Taken on in 1936 the book grew out of a magazine assignment about white sharecroppers in the southern United States. Exploring the quality and conditions of life for some of the poorest members of society during the New Deal Era Walker Evans shot some of the most iconic photographs of the time if not in US history. The subject of work, the hardest kind, in the most dire of circumstances was not only a matter of journalistic human interest. The work explores life at losing end of the economic latter.

In my project the central question between the photographs "is what are they selling?". In the work of Evans the answer is that these poorest segments are selling their very lives. I am attempting to create work that asks the viewer to examine their own relationships to each of my characters, are they buying the image, protection, or salvation temporary and otherwise. In contrast to Evans' stark portrayals I choose to construct images slick and magazine ready, with clear sunny days overhead. the kind of image we are used to seeing in the visual lexicon of our advertising environment.

COntest Entry #2 04/14/2010

http://www.stacarts.org/exhibits/show/38
Mills Pond House Gallery Exhibition 2010 entry

contest Entry #1 04/14/2010

http://www.collegeart.org/opportunities/listing/4552/
EYA National Juried Competition 2010 application

Lecture Matthew Crawford 040510

Put on by a joint effort between the Craft/Material Studies and Sculpture and Extended Media departments, this unique lecture was unlike the kind I've regularly attended during my time at VCU. Matthew B. Crawford the author of Shop Class as Soul Craft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work, is also a Research Fellow at UVA and a Contributing Writer with The New Atlantis Magazine.

When showing his work there were photos of engines and engine troubles along with a could shots of the kind of motorcycles pictured above. After abandoning the world of political think tanks and corporate desk jobs Crawford has found intellectual satisfaction, physically rewarding work and the want to spread the word by learning the art of motorcycle restoration and maintenance and with it running his own shop.

Lecturing on the value of the labor arts, as mentally and physically demanding as any of the fine arts I've worked in, Crawford made a strong argument for the preservation of such skills. In the world of skilled manual labor there is a level of craft seen just as easily in the works of master painters as can be observed in the careful hand of an auto-mechanic or carpenter.

Crawford also expressed the idea that wrapped into the practices he described there are moral and ethical decisions as well. I very much agree that there is a responsibility social and otherwise within the world of any art, and appreciated his thoughts on the matter.

Thursday Idea blog #10

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Thursday Idea blog // what wasn't working

As titled this post is about what isn't working at this point. I think it's entirely helpful to hone down what wasn't working in forming how to move forward. The immediate problems with the above images are that two of the three have characters (billy mays and sarah palin ) that are far too recognizable. The third image falls down by attempting to go toward religious imagery simply for the sake of playing off of it with a jesus skateboarder (a person who sacrifices their safety for the sake of others entertainment) and pursues it without actually getting far enough to make it work.

Monday ARTIST // El Greco

These two images as well as many other paintings by El Greco feel like they help me be confident in my decisions with my current photographs. the crisp clear blue skies overhead in his paints depicting saints and other topics such as a view of Toledo(as pictured above in the second painting) while not placed within the frame for the same reason are just as striking. In his time El Greco's bright colors and other elements of style were completely out of step with his contemporaries. While representing old ideas and continuing to work with characters and stories well explored by other's El Greco managed to bring new life to them through his painting styles.

Monday ARTIST // Rene Magritte

the above in order of appearance: The Great War on Facades (1964), Man in the Bowler Hat (1964), The Son of Man (1964)

From all i've read about Rene Magritte i've gathered that when looking at his paintings there are no concrete answers about their meaning. The mystery and the pleasure derived from sorting out that mystery is a key element of any of his works. He changes out objects, and creates pairings that are not easily interpretable. Sometimes he uses very basic pairings as in "the son of man" pictured above. A human figure, an apple, the title itself; delving into religion and religious imagery without really wanting to talk about it. It acts as the initial grab at the audience, the first clues that when immediately applied, make sense then begin to fall apart as you begin a process of deciphering the contents of the image. What he wants is for the viewer to experience that process, and while I am choosing specific characters and archetypes and they are being chosen for some basic relationships, I wish to consider possible connections but not work to make them any more obvious.

Thursday Idea blog // Magritte and other odds and ends

I think this is a good time to further flesh out what i'm doing with this project.

From Magritte by Jacques Meuris

"His painting choice was based, from the very beginning of his definitively surrealist period, on an observation whose actual implications were not understood until later: namely that by the most faithful reproductions of objects, things -- including people-- and all that we see around us in everyday life, one can force the beholders of these images to question their own condition. There is one proviso, however: it is necessary for these objects and things to be combined in some unexpected, or in other words, unaccustomed, manner.

My project and its working mode are directly inspired by the above statement. Realizing that what i was most interested in about the super hero figure reporter figure was the relationship to it and why it existed or continued to be perpetuated. That it sold media that it was a tool to sell advertising and the product that is the commercial character of the figure in question. While I at the time of this writing am still struggling with what complimentary figure can be placed with the hero reporter, i have gone on to find other relationships that function in the same way. Or rather, by pairing other characters, archetypes and recognizable figures in uncommon instances, i feel that i can engage the viewer to seek out what the relationship between the two subjects might be (based on their own experiences and ideas ) and then to look at their relationship to those ideas. Where they came from, how they were formed , why they make those connections. While this is a serious aim I believe that there is an inherent element of humor to the project. I would further suggest that this is a positive thing, that by taking a road in image making that is less harsh than my usual presentation, that the viewer might find it easier to engage the work. I feel that it is important to me to also attempt to bring the viewer a feeling of playfulness. I do not intend to make fun of the subjects of my photographs but I consciously choose to go about their creation and presentation in a manner that could easily be found funny or that the viewer might draw a sense of amusement from.

Monday ARTIST // David LaChapelle

(the last supper, David LaChapelle, 2008)

jesus is my homeboy editorial photos for I-D magazine can be found here:

http://www.lachapellestudio.com/editorial/i-d_3/?ci=17

By taking the literal translation of a phrase both common and amusing, David LaChapelle delivers a thought provoking series of photographs for I-D magazine. In this iconic set, both literally in the sense of religious icons, and in general as product of the common occurrence of these images of jesus, Lachapelle transforms the classical representations into a more easily recognizable and surprising set up. In replacing the period and set pieces the situations turn everyday events into truly fantastic happenings while sometimes adding a sense of the banal or sexual as can be found in the photo of Mary Magdalene washing Jesus' feet in nothing but a bra and panties.

In looking to perform the reverse with my own subjects, seeing how LaChapelle was able to take the iconic and religious and turn it toward the modern and lowbrow is really inspiring.

THursday Idea blog // NEW DIRECTION BUILDING ON THE OLD

After considering the direction the project was moving i have decided to use the image of the super hero reporter but to drop the focus on the individual figure. Through several conversations and a lot of writing I have decided that the reporter figure is more interesting when compared/contrasted against a complimentary cultural counterpoint. Taking that dynamic in mind and considering what it is that makes the work of artists like Lynne Cohen and Alex Soth so interesting to me, I have decided to create a series of diptychs that share common elements but act as cultural counterpoints. I mention Soth and Cohen as their series take images that might be similar in form and content but are different enough that the viewer is asked to tease out the relationship between the images and to find the overarching threads that bind them together. Taking again from the original project idea I will expand upon the idea of cultural worship, of modern saints. I believe that based some simple observation one could state that in our American Media Culture the celebrity has taken the place of traditional figure of worship. Also from that view I have felt that these relationships have a great element of the surreal and absurd. I have long had an interest in Rene Magritte and have responded to his stylistic elements and presentation on many occasions. I think that in this case the common blue sky that visually joins the figures in his paintings might be a useful unifying visual element and signifier relating to the absurd relationship between the public and the common media tropes. I feel like I might be able to bridge this further into other common media related relationships but not necessarily one that shares a unified theme of media depiction. Perhaps one link between my figures is their economic relationships, the overarching question being, "what are they selling?"

Some of the pairings i have written up are as follows

drug dealer // pharmacist

televangelist // politician

sports player // ?

day laborer // millionaire

Monday ARTIST // Bayete Ross Smith

image above sourced from

http://www.patriciasweetowgallery.com/exhibitions/Glock9mm.jpg

Artist's personal website

bayeterosssmith.com

Acting as a silent collaborator, Bayete Ross Smith has worked with Hank Willis Thomas through most of his major projects. I found Smith while looking through Thomas' website and was immediately captivated by his works. The image above is part of Smith's series "Taking Aim", a series of photographs that act both as object and image. Included in the series of portraits are copies of many of the images which have been shot through with handguns. Also available is a video from the series in which the portraits are shot by the subjects they depict with a paint gun in an action of mock violence against themselves.

what really interests me about these works beyond their flawless execution can be found in the following quote from the artist's website concerning this series:

"Taking AIM" brings to the forefront, the feeling that is evoked when a viewer is in front of a target. I am interested in that fine line that exists between acceptable, condoned and recreational violence, and deplorable criminalized violence. This dichotomy exists through out popular culture, from Hip Hop to action movies, to sports like boxing, mixed martial arts and football. It also exists through out history, in terms of what wars, massacres and assassinations are considered just, and who is considered a tyrant. Finally it exists in the news and current events, in terms of what types of violence gets reported and how it is contextualized.

In searching for artists who's works examine media representations and their memetic functions i have not yet seen any other artist who's work hits the so directly home. I was unable to find some of the works on his website in a postable form, however also included in this series are images that when exhibited are life size featuring the same figure in up to 3 different outfits or costumes with the same target graphic superimposed over them. By presenting the figures in this manner Smith asks the viewer to examine the media backed cognitive leaps between depictions of respectable members of society and perceived threats to our safety, packing a powerful punch through the self reflective process.

Hank Willis Thomas Lecture

image sourced from http://www.18thstreet.org/_archives/2007/crosssections/crosssections.jpg

Acting strongly within the situationist traditions of Détournement, the appropriating of images and symbols for the use of turning them back upon their related producers and proponents (such as corporations, governments, advertising campaigns, etc), Hank Willis Thomas creates biting work that serves to examine the relationship between Black Identity and corporate advertising. Much of Thomas' work could be identified as adbusting, a practice that has gained in popularity since the early 80's. In one work Thomas, takes the form of a Mastercard ad, introducing his own image from the funeral of his cousin who was killed by a youths mugging him for his gold chain. The work takes a commonly recognizable form and introduces to it text and imagery that asks the viewer to interpret the relationship between the text image and appropriated form. In handling often uncomfortable and brutal images and subject matter Thomas seems to maintain an element of humor in the process. A point that was very apparent in the lecture, and evident in his demeanor. What is most successful about his work, whatever form it takes, is Thomas' ability to cut right through the sheen of advertising and reveal the problems of authenticity and racism that lay just under the surface. I was surprised to learn that outside of one minor incident Thomas has never had issues with the companies who's advertising he appropriates. Often in my own work perhaps I have been unnecessarily concerned with possible legal issues surrounding the use of logos and appropriation of advertising or broadcast work. From the lecture I definitely gained a sense that one can be both bold and subtle at the same time when handling such controversial subject matter.

Monday ARTIST //Zbigniew Libera

Zbigniew Libera- Polish artist born in 1959

images preceding the artist portrait are from a 2002-2003 series titled "Positives", all images taken from the artist's website here:

http://raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/libera/libera.htm

description of "Positives" from artist's website:

Positives, 2002-2003
Series of staged photographs, printed and reproduced photographically

Series of photographs restaging the famous historical press photos in a "positive version" - repeating the original in terms of composition, but changing the characters and the general meaning of the captured events. "The series is another attempt at playing with trauma" Libera comments, "we are always dealing with memorized objects, not the objects themselves. I wanted to employ this mechanism of seeing and remembering and touch upon the phenomenon of memory's afterimages. This is how we actually perceive those photographs ["Positives"] - the harmless scenes trigger flashbacks of the brutal originals. I have picked the "negatives" from my own memory, from among the images I remembered from the childhood."

playing with the cultural memory, trauma, and media coverage, I feel as if i've found an artist that truly works with similar ideas and in a similar manner as I do. by manipulating images from the past, Libera offers works that play heavily on the experience of the viewer and their own feelings about the past. I am interested often in figuring out similar modes in my own work. While my current project does not fall into the same category or rely upon the same emotional notes and Libera's work, I feel that by looking at his handling of graphic and emotionally charged works, and his willingness to handle controversial material I might be able to further my own skills in presenting subtle and smart artworks that handle issues of similar weight.

Really what i value most across his works is his willingness to confront the viewer with uncomfortable subject matter. To do it in a smart way, to do it in a way that provokes and to do it at all. I see him as a brave inspiration and will continue to follow his works for the foreseeable future.

THursday Idea blog // the hero narrative in mass media // the media in haiti part 1

the hero narrative in mass media serves not only to drive up ratings but to advance the clout and admiration of reporters. One easy example of the hero narrative at work in popular media is the public persona and television journalism work of CNN's Anderson Cooper. Looking at the recent incident in which Cooper saved a young boy after the boy had been hit with a piece of concrete thrown from a roof top during a looting spree in Haiti.

CNN video of the incident is here and gawker analysis of the CNN media coverage in general is found here as well as a collection of videos from the cnn broadcasts
http://gawker.com/5451459/anderson-cooper-saves-boy-as-cnns-haiti-coverage-reaches-strange-apotheosis

From the gawker article its clear to see i'm to the only one who finds something a little off about the media coverage, to use their words:

"But things got weird tonight as the news/newsmaker barrier was dramatically breached.

On AC360, Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta played a team of roving superhero reporters, covering the news but only after saving everyone's lives. (Imagine if somebody could be Clark Kent and Superman at the same time.) Here's a gripping report from Anderson "AC" Cooper on looting, which ends in him picking up a bloodied kid and dragging him to safety."

The idea of the heroic foreign correspondent is one that has a long history in modern media. From George Orwell's account of the spanish civil war in "Homage to Catalonia" up to Anderson Cooper's "Dispatches from the Edge" which cover's his early life in contrast to covering the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 as well as armed conflicts in Africa and Hurricane Katrina. The image of the hero reporter is supported by the ongoing narratives like those of CNN coverage in the current Haiti crisis. As an easy case study is the presentation of Dr. Sanja Gupta 's story (the video is also on the above gawker post). the incident in question being that there were no qualified neuro-surgeons around and Dr. Gupta was called to attend to a young girl who had a shrapnel injury to the head. The question of presentation comes about when the story is delivered in conversation fashion over a video of Dr. Gupta scrubbing in and performing surgery. What is the news value of this story? why when asked to perform a medical task which required his pick up by helicopter did the cameras accompany him?

The main question that i feel arrises from the situations being presented and the manner in which they are presented is one of authenticity. When presented with a catastrophe, in which the death toll continues to climb well into the hundred thousands now why are the news stories focused so frequently on the exploits of the reporters sent to tell the larger story?

Monday ARTIST // AGAN HARAHAP

From the artist's Deviant Art: http://TOYIB.deviantart.com/art/Neuschwanstein-1945-139274187



From the artist's Deviant Art: http://TOYIB.deviantart.com/art/MATS-Terminal-Washington-1959-143027359

http://melmanandthehippo.blogspot.com/
ARTIST BLOG ABOVE

Harahap's Superhero series has recently gained attention spreading first throughout the blogs and most recently being recognized by such news and entertainment outlets the likes of the Telegraph and the Metro Herald. While this series has gained attention for the artist it seems that it is a minor note in the larger body of work he is currently producing. Taking famous images from WWII and other news events up through the 60's and 70's, Harahap uses his sharp photoshopping skills to insert common and easily identifiable comic book figures into world events. The majority of the works center around moments of conflict, and in my interpretation offer a commentary on how the real life participants have since been portrayed. I am interested in somewhat of a reverse in my own work. rather than creating visuals in which super-heros are superimposed on happenings i would like to identify where reality is glossed over into the land of the action narrative and raise questions about why and who is being propped up in the lead roles occupied in the Harahap's work by the likes of Superman, Spiderman and Batman.

THursday Idea blog

In developing my concept for this semester's work i've been considering the role of reporters and the narratives applied to the major network reporters in haiti. In my past work i feel that I concentrated on events that were closer to home, in the case of the ash project I covered the topic of mass trauma through the lens of media where that trauma happened to the american public. In looking toward haiti i do not feel that i can take the same approach. For the most part the american population has not directly experienced the events of the disaster in haiti. Looking beyond haiti toward the general mythos of the foreign correspondent, I believe it is fair to say that the narratives built around the coverage of disasters abroad has continued over time to prop up the correspondent as a super hero like figure. What i am suggesting here is that in the coverage of events like the haiti earthquake and the coverage of the Tsunami not long ago as well as other international incidents is taken in only through the lens of the major media networks and in forming ratings grabbing narrative packages around the stories presented, networks continue to push their major correspondents the likes Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta to new heights at the center of their ongoing coverage. I am seeking to find a visual form that connects these larger than life characters and their often pristine presentation to the bleak realities of the destruction that surrounds them. Through this contrast i hope to raise questions in the viewers mind about the authenticity of the coverage, and the motives in creating such narratives amidst the already powerful human drama that is a disaster.

Monday ARTIST // Jill Greenberg

from the artist website

art also made by Jill Greenberg
(source: http://www.lifelounge.com/resources/IMGDETAIL/jill_greenberg_manipulates_john-mccain_detail-1.jpg)

A major commercial photographer, Jill Greenberg's work also explores political content and a general feeling of unrest. While her stylize work is instantly recognizable, the concepts of her series are not always apparent. Other than the many slick covers shot for the likes of The Atlantic (shown above), Time Magazine, and the New Yorker, her recent personal work has focused on frustrations with politics and politicians. Her series End Times, a sequence of images of toddlers crying, expresses the artists frustration with the late Bush Administration. In a more recent controversy the photos shown above were taken during the same photo shoot, but the latter edited in post for the demonic look. What i appreciate about her work is her ability to create images that are perfectly t home on the cover of magazines. For me Greenberg's work belongs to the trade publication medium the high lit images translate to the trade gloss perfectly.

Alec Soth Lecture

Joshua, Angola State Prison, Louisiana 2002
(source: http://www.alecsoth.com/Mississippi-new/pages/frameset.html)

Born 1969, Minneapolis, Minnesota

In searching for new ways to authentically create works of photography Alec Soth employs a method of storytelling that may be next direction in photography. It was absolutely inspiring for me to see the embrace of such adventurous methods and the obvious joy taken by Soth in pursuit of his art. Focusing heavily on the expansion of William Eggleston's concept of the Democratic Forest (the idea that all subjects may be photographed and considered with equal weight) into that of the Democratic Jungle, Soth seeks to find a meaningful way to approach photography in the current image saturated environment. While his past work is connected with loose themes that developed over the course of many and repeated road trips, his more recent works focus on bringing together the art of storytelling and the art of photography. Series like "the most beautiful woman in georgia" or "the loneliest man in Missouri" take a on the literary tone of great road novels placing him in often strange situations while in search of his subjects. Soth's approach to the process of photography is one i might very well explore and if not in active practice his views and comments on the purpose of photography and documentation will stay with me for a long time.

MONDAY ARTIST // TARYN SIMON

http://www.ted.com/talks/taryn_simon_photographs_secret_sites.html
Above link to Taryn Simon's TED talk.

http://www.ted.com/speakers/taryn_simon.html
Short Artist bio and back ground on the work being present.

I absolutely love the work of Taryn Simon. Her conceptual backing is extremely strong and well thought out. In expert fashion the images themselves appear just as complete as the thoughts that support each subject's selection.

"Simon shows the things that are integral to America's foundation, mythology and daily functioning, but remain inaccessible or unknown to a public audience."(from the artists bio, link above)

What makes the conceptual backing of her work so interesting to me is that it functions to reveal the conflict between the public and private while exploring the mythology of American culture as well as teasing out the relationship of the broad culture to often uncomfortable realities. In presentation the work is accompanied by text, SImon explains:

"A big part of the work that is sort of absent in this context is text, so I create these two poles. Every image is accompanied with a very detailed factual text and what i'm most interested in is the invisible space between text and its accompanying image. And how the images is transformed by the text and the text by the image. So at best the image is meant to float away into abstraction and multiple truths and fantasy. And the text functions as this cruel anchor that nails it to the ground. "
-transcribed from the video (link at top)

I am considering the ways in which i might be able to attempt to construct a similar relationship between the images i will create for this semester. In exploring the visual language of the media coverage of the crisis in Haiti it may be advantages to anchor the constructed images with transcriptions of related reports and commentary from the popular media's reporting.

link to artist's website
http://www.tarynsimon.com/#

SPRING SEMESTER BEGINS HERE

SPRING SEMESTER BEGINS HERE