Sunday, May 23, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Maspeth is America, Pete Slusarski
Pete,
I really enjoyed seeing the finished product of your project.The book looks great. The hardcover, standard landscape format worked for your photographs, and the photographic paper really showed them off well. With the 5 x 7 size of each photo, you did not lose any detail, but I wondered how they might have looked if printed larger on the page (especially with more expansive scenes, such as the coke trucks in the parking lot). My only other hesitation was about the dedication page, which seemed to interrupt the beginning of the series. Otherwise, the two single photographs in the middle and the solitary ending photo served as nice breathing points.
As we talked about sometimes in class, it was impossible for you to "photograph Maspeth" or represent it in its entirety, but you really gave the viewer a wide ranging glimpse of this town, including street scenes, backyards, storefronts and interiors, homes, residents, and even pets (the black dog is one of my personal favorites!). Through these images, one can clearly see a strong control of the frame, a symmetry, and deliberate sense of order in your style of shooting.
I know you were also concerned about portraying Maspeth as an ugly place or in some negative light, but I think you accomplished quite the opposite. There is a distinctly quiet, eery beauty in your photographs, whether it appears in the setting sunlight on an old gas station, an empty house filled with balloons, or a garage adorned with lucky horseshoes paired with a dark hearse. Your book allows the viewer to explore Maspeth, as you did while photographing, and to get an intimate sense of how life is lived in this place.
You can be very proud of this body of work. Good luck to you and fellow photographers, and thanks for a great class this semester!
I really enjoyed seeing the finished product of your project.The book looks great. The hardcover, standard landscape format worked for your photographs, and the photographic paper really showed them off well. With the 5 x 7 size of each photo, you did not lose any detail, but I wondered how they might have looked if printed larger on the page (especially with more expansive scenes, such as the coke trucks in the parking lot). My only other hesitation was about the dedication page, which seemed to interrupt the beginning of the series. Otherwise, the two single photographs in the middle and the solitary ending photo served as nice breathing points.
As we talked about sometimes in class, it was impossible for you to "photograph Maspeth" or represent it in its entirety, but you really gave the viewer a wide ranging glimpse of this town, including street scenes, backyards, storefronts and interiors, homes, residents, and even pets (the black dog is one of my personal favorites!). Through these images, one can clearly see a strong control of the frame, a symmetry, and deliberate sense of order in your style of shooting.
I know you were also concerned about portraying Maspeth as an ugly place or in some negative light, but I think you accomplished quite the opposite. There is a distinctly quiet, eery beauty in your photographs, whether it appears in the setting sunlight on an old gas station, an empty house filled with balloons, or a garage adorned with lucky horseshoes paired with a dark hearse. Your book allows the viewer to explore Maspeth, as you did while photographing, and to get an intimate sense of how life is lived in this place.
You can be very proud of this body of work. Good luck to you and fellow photographers, and thanks for a great class this semester!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Elizabeth Dausch's On The Road
Elizabeth's book immediately caught my attention with the brilliant colors that not only filled the cover page, but that filled each photograph within her book. The richness of each photo that represented the people of Fordham road made me feel that this was a place characterized by a vivacious inhabitants. The journey of her book begins in the morning, which is apparent by the first photograph where the sunlight seems it is about to be blinding. The photos progress into the evening, a time that Elizabeth shows us is still bustling with life. What I enjoyed about this book is that it completely drew me into the places of Fordham road that I would have never imagined to be so detailed and unique. Elizabeth chose to make the photos a medium size, which I found to be beneficial to the work as a whole because if they had been too large one might feel overwhelmed by every detail since there are so many. Elizabeth managed to create a book that gave me a sense of experience, meaning I felt I had been there too, that I had seen these places and people this intimately as well. I was also very impressed with how she framed each photo, because I found it to be sophisticated yet unexpected. Overall this book brought me closer to a culture I had always seen at a distance, a culture that is embedded in its embellishments. At times I felt intimidated, such as the photo where the man is staring don at the camera at a slightly different angle and yet I felt comforted by the people who remained unaware of the camera's presence, who expressed themselves completely on the open street. I very much appreciated what Elizabeth wanted to show us about this particular location.
Consume Me, by Marti Eisenbrandt
I really enjoyed Marti's book, Consume Me. It is an 8x10 softcover landscape with 11 color pictures and an excerpt from a poem by Walt Whitman. Her pictures are not straight photographs; they are actually collages created using pictures she has taken. Almost all of the pictures include a photograph of the same girl; however, in every picture she looks very different. In her introduction, Marti wrote about how advertisements and magazines transport her from reality to somewhere else, and I think that the poem and the pictures capture this dream-like place very well.
I think that the pictures show a young woman who is struggling to understand and create her identity amidst all of the advertisements and images from magazines that she is bombarded with. Every picture seems to show a different aspect of this girl, and a different part of her identity. The collages seem to be very influenced by the look of magazines and the way that the girl portrays herself in many of the photographs seems as though it is influenced by the type of photography that one finds in a magazine. The choice to make the book softcover, like a magazine, reinforces how important images from magazines are to this work.
I also liked Marti's decision to intersperse a part of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass with the photographs. I felt that the text went very well with the photographs and that a lot of care was taken in matching particular photographs with lines from the poem. This made the book flow very well. The poem is somewhat ambiguous, which I felt went well with the photographs. To me, the poem seems to be about individuality and being yourself, which I think is an important aspect of the book. The girl in the photographs seems to be trying to find out who she is and attempting to be that person without apology.
Overall, I felt that this book was very thoughtfully created and I am glad I had the chance to see it.
I hope everyone has a great summer!
I think that the pictures show a young woman who is struggling to understand and create her identity amidst all of the advertisements and images from magazines that she is bombarded with. Every picture seems to show a different aspect of this girl, and a different part of her identity. The collages seem to be very influenced by the look of magazines and the way that the girl portrays herself in many of the photographs seems as though it is influenced by the type of photography that one finds in a magazine. The choice to make the book softcover, like a magazine, reinforces how important images from magazines are to this work.
I also liked Marti's decision to intersperse a part of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass with the photographs. I felt that the text went very well with the photographs and that a lot of care was taken in matching particular photographs with lines from the poem. This made the book flow very well. The poem is somewhat ambiguous, which I felt went well with the photographs. To me, the poem seems to be about individuality and being yourself, which I think is an important aspect of the book. The girl in the photographs seems to be trying to find out who she is and attempting to be that person without apology.
Overall, I felt that this book was very thoughtfully created and I am glad I had the chance to see it.
I hope everyone has a great summer!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Art is dead. Marina Abramović (and those of her kind) killed it.
If one day I become a famous photographer, would you take few seconds, minutes, or even hours to sit across from me without being able to move or interact with each other?
That's what The Artist is Present is about. People wait in line just so they can "feel her presence" (and of course the quotation marks are a mockery). What is the point of that? What part of this performance (if you may call it so, because I am personally bothered by it) is considered art (assuming that MOMA embraces its name fully)? Sitting across an artist while engaging in a meaningful conversation is delightful way of spending the hours, but Abramovic's "performance" is no such thing. I don't have to sit across from her to experience her persona. True artists exist in every photograph they produce, and if they don't...well, they failed as artists.
I think The Artist is Present is pointless and a waste of money, not to mention that Abramovic must think too highly of herself (narcissist would be too harsh) to expect people to "feel her presence" (I suddenly feel the urge to laugh).
As of her actual exhibit...A lesser disappointment than The Artist is Present, but a disappointment nevertheless. The nude installation felt out of context. They were poorly pieced together and absolutely not artistic (What's so artsy about a naked guy on a table with a skeleton on top?). I think she tried too hard to create something original (what's original these days?) and she ended up becoming a stereotype.
Robert Frank's "City Fathers" and "Parade-Hoboken, N.J."
Bresson’s The Modern Century reminds me of Robert Frank’s The Americans. Both seem to be concerned with problems of the social classes. Two powerful images of Frank are City Fathers and Parade-Hoboken, N.J.
In City Fathers the subjects are well-dressed, high-class men with their heads high and posture indicating prestige. Parade-Hoboken, N.J., on the other hand, consists of two apartment windows with a flag outside covering half of the image. Two men are staring down from each window. The one on the left looks like the typical common man whereas the man on the right is wearing a fancy jacket. The right man’s face is covered by the American flag. This image is very powerful because it looks as if the photographer is saying "Faceless man behind flag. Common man shows his true face”. Conceptually speaking, from the way the subjects of both photographs are dressed, the type of men Frank calls City Fathers are the same faceless man behind government posts.
Thoughts on Bresson's exhibit at MOMA
Henry Cartier-Bresson’s work takes you into a journey of human ugliness, metaphorically speaking. He successfully targets the upper class directly and indirectly by presenting their luxurious lifestyle as well as by presenting the struggles the lower class faces on daily bases. As I approached each photograph, I noticed that his attitude is somewhat sarcastic. A photograph depicting two Italian peasants carrying a heavy portrait of an “important figure” (in terms of monetary value) is a great metaphor for human life itself. He captured the brutality of the street within an even more brutal frame (such would be the case of photographs of the elite positioned adjacent to the have-nots. The conflict of social classes creates within the frame some sort of collision). Female beauty dies because the “ugly” (tired, dirty, peasants’ faces) becomes the new beautiful. In the photograph of the wall of windows, each window may represent the individuals below and I’m not sure whether the wall is a mockery on the stillness of human life.
Fallen Angels of Your Memory: A Psychological Portrait of Edgar Allan POE
A Review of Arjeta Hyska's, Fallen Angels of Your Memory: A Psychological Portrait of Edgar Allan POE
Arjeta has created a dark and mysterious journey through the psychology of the famous and somber poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Throughout the book, the background colors of the pages are always in flux. In so doing, the images create a collage of sorts within each spread. She has kept the pace of the book, ever changing, giving the reader a sense of how Arjeta believes Poe's psychology was like. With the spreads always changing, the reader is not bored, however, the inclusions of some of Poe's poetry, the reader is forced to take her/his time and sit back, to really decode the author’s intent.
The book is laid out almost as a mystery, a novel that we need to piece together and reorder. But, the beauty of the arrangement of the images and texts is that there can be many understandings on his psychology, and many different conclusions can be interpreted and drawn about what the photographer and what she is trying to tell the readers. With this book we are left with a puzzle that is forcing and asking us to solve it.
Also incorporated through out the book, are a few color images, which surprisingly, sit very well with the other stark, black and white images. There is also a darker sepia toned photograph, made to look like the man walking down the cobbled, wide street was Poe himself, in 1800's America. Which seems to truly embody the atmosphere as a fake portrait of Poe.
This book overall achieves a great balance between the surreal imagery that is used to represents Poe’s psyche, and the incorporation of Poe’s poems. Alongside the added bonus of giving the reader a sense that something needs to be discovered with this book, the book actively seeks this participation.
COLLIDE, Kaisas Peguero
COLLIDE
I felt quite good holding Kaisas Peguero's book, COLLIDE. The look of it is entirely elegant and inviting. The ink black pages are smooth and construct a formal atmosphere. A stream of single images open up the humbling tale and lead the spectator to an explosion of ordinary circumstances. Suddenly, "Vague earthly vapours progress in secret, things slip into silence one by one," (Nerudo). The size of the pages allows close examination without being overwhelmed by gray tones and surprising proportions. The framing induces a friendly suffocation, one a New Yorker knows all too well. The opening page declares a state of nonchalant business and Times Square reveals itself in a somehow intimate way. The blank black pages to the left in the beginning helps the eye focus on the echoing familiarity that would otherwise be perceived as chaotic. The photographs develop in such a way that the overall effect is not chaotic at
all. A progression of details capture the mind's attention which allows sincere focus. Faces emerge and appear familiar, a particular gesture or shadow catches you off guard as if you are experiencing déjá vu. I am reminded of being on a crowded subway and bumping up against strangers- I feel as though I should
be bothered by the intrusion of personal space, but oddly enough sometimes I do not mind.
The book as an object is successful in that it upholds a printed integrity, making it respectable and bold. Intimate details are so in-your-face it is as if you are being forced to look and notice and appreciate little ways the world interacts with every person. The perspective is unique, but the subject matter is universal.
The artist statement is a singular sentence revealing one fact: Kaisas lives and works in New York City. I agree with the artists' decision to reveal no more than her residence because all that needs to be understood is the ways in which the city becomes intimate and personal. My favorite pages are the final two containing one image focused upward on a boy propped onto his father's shoulders and the other of a man looking out at Lincoln Center. The thread becomes apparent: Although it may seem as if we are entirely alone in our own particular worlds, everyone becomes interconnected by a shared ending, "so that the waves can complete themselves in the sky" (Nerudo).
The artist statement is a singular sentence revealing one fact: Kaisas lives and works in New York City. I agree with the artists' decision to reveal no more than her residence because all that needs to be understood is the ways in which the city becomes intimate and personal. My favorite pages are the final two containing one image focused upward on a boy propped onto his father's shoulders and the other of a man looking out at Lincoln Center. The thread becomes apparent: Although it may seem as if we are entirely alone in our own particular worlds, everyone becomes interconnected by a shared ending, "so that the waves can complete themselves in the sky" (Nerudo).
The final pages contain off-beat perspectives pursuing vertical intrusions and matching overcast skies. The black shapes form into the very same people each of us passes on the street, the same faces that ultimately blur into one unidentifiable crowd. The final destination is certain, but the outcome is our own design. Life can make one feel crowded and claustrophobic, but in the end we must learn to see an overarching purpose to our little lives.
* Quotes were taken from Kaisas chosen poem: "March Days Return with their Covert Light" Pablo Neruda.
DAYS' TRAVEL
Ashley's book, Days' Travel, was honestly, very thoughtfully put together. The book was made up of photographs of building from various locations found along the Harlem line on the Metro North. Surprisingly, not one of them looks like another, which makes the book, as a whole, exciting to look through. Also, the flow of the book felt right. There were no moments where I felt like there was an abrupt stop in the journey. Instead, I felt like I really was driving along this one long road, and pausing for a few moments to look closer at these buildings.
In terms of layout, I especially enjoyed how several of the left images had a line going across the page, directing your eye into the right photograph. When there was a photograph that stood alone, it signaled me that there were reasons to look closer into the image. I think this change in format forces the viewer to pay more attention to the content of the photographs, and not simply glance over them.
In addition, the afterword was eloquently written, and described the efforts behind taking these photographs.
I very much enjoyed looking through this book. Great job!
In terms of layout, I especially enjoyed how several of the left images had a line going across the page, directing your eye into the right photograph. When there was a photograph that stood alone, it signaled me that there were reasons to look closer into the image. I think this change in format forces the viewer to pay more attention to the content of the photographs, and not simply glance over them.
In addition, the afterword was eloquently written, and described the efforts behind taking these photographs.
I very much enjoyed looking through this book. Great job!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Refuge, Five Cities A photography exhibition by Bas Princen
Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare Street
10012 New York, NY
Tel. 212.431.5795
Fax 212.431.5755
Opening reception: Tuesday, May 11th 7pm
Refuge, Princen's most recent project, could be described as a photographic fiction of sorts. Although it is the result of extensive travels and research in five cities of the Middle East and Turkey - Istanbul, Beirut, Amman, Cairo and Dubai - it could just as easily pass as the pictorial record of a derive through a single, imaginary city: a city without a center, populated by extraordinary and at times implausible architectural artefacts; an urban laboratory whose physical traits are defined by migratory flows, spatial transformation and geopolitical flux on a continental scale.
An architect by training, Princen has for many years used photography as a tool to observe, record and interpret the contemporary landscape. His photographs - themselves unmanipulated representations of reality - invite the viewer to construct an imaginary landscape that lies beyond the frame, outside the limits of the viewfinder.
Refuge is not, however, an exercise in abstraction. It is a documentation of the spatial products of refuge, ranging from migrant worker camps to gated satellite cities in the desert or the frequent proximity between abject poverty and extreme wealth, that at the same time sidesteps the cliches and the iconic emblems of segregation and seclusion. Starting from its peripheries, Princen's photographs conduct the viewer through a cityscape that is both familiar and remote, ominous and beautiful.
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