skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The third artist that I want to talk about is Pedro Isztin,
"Transformation revisits the pain, joy, and suffering that our psyches are stamped with, no matter how little or large those experiences as a child. Some childhoods are so numb, they are a blur, but they always contain the few pieces of a puzzle. We are not alone. Memories prove that" -Expert from Artist Statement, Pedro Isztin (Contact Sheet)
His photographs are 8X10'' chromogenic prints, were he has a subject wearing a photograph of himself as a child. That photograph is taped onto their bodies with red tape which raises questions about that choice. Why red tape? Why in that specific area of their bodies? What is the connection between the past and the body part in which they are taped to? Picture within a picture is a widely explored idea, in which memory can be effectively evoked. Each subject is taken through time into their past, and childhood. I think that Isztin's work implies ideas of time, change, and culture which every individual goes through in life.
Again after going through the Contact Sheet featuring the Exhibition called Tracing Memory, the second artist I want to discuss is Angie Buckley.
"Our opinions are continuously shaped through associations with people in our immediate environment and our culture. Habits stories, and traditions from various groups are passed from one generation to the next and most of these things transform over time through a subtle metamorphosis" -Expert from Artist Statement, Angie Buckley (Contact Sheet)
He images are 20X24'', and are printed on traditional format as Silver Gelatin Prints.There are photographs of individuals placed on the actual place where the photograph was taken. She seems to be playing with stories that have taken place in a particular moment in time, One can make connections between the individuals in the photograph and the environments where the photographs are being placed. There is a clear sense of time when approaching the work as a whole which can be directly connected to our memories and how we remember. I think that she also makes clear connotations to ideas of displacement and belonging to particular cultures, time and place.
"It is not necessary that my memories be based solely on actual events, but rather, I afford myself the opportunity to tailor them to meet the feeling that recreates my encounters with those I have photographed. My photographs illustrate the liquid nature of memory through the combination of the familiar with the unfamiliar" -Expert from Artist Statement, Cyrus Karimipour (Contact Sheet)
When I was going through a contact sheet featuring an exhibition called Tracing Memory I thought it was rather interesting how the artist expressed their ideas about memory with the medium of photography. One of the artists featured was: Cyrus Karimipour.
His photographs are 16X16'' pigmented inject prints, that feature some sort of collages and manipulations. All of the images are unclear as to what the detail should be. One can depict faces, and figures making a strong appearance but nothing clear. There is a sense of movement, blurriness and distortion that in my opinion references to memories and their loss information as time transcends. It seems to me that the manipulation helps the artist to recreate, and rebuild memories past, or even memories that are completely invented.
Hiroyuki Masuyama in a Japanese artist that lives and works in Dusseldorf, Germany. He has been doing a wide variety of work since 1991 until now. His original training was oil painting, but the work I am going to focus on is on photographic media.
His new work is inspired on German landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich, who did not paint in a realistic manner. Masuyama located places similar to the landscapes painted by the German painter back in the 19th century, and took thousands of photographs. The idea (as Friedrich's idea) is to use several elements to compose an idealistic site. He composted the images digitally to make a tribute to the painter. He finally resented the final work at the size of the actual paintings.
His photographs have a very painterly feel to them, they are aimed to pay special attention to the pictorial atmosphere. The concept fantasizes the ideas of time and space, present and future. By using the medium of photography, and the precess of assembling photographing elements Masuyama is making a reference to the passing of time. I think the images itself have a beautiful calm, and soft quality that plays back and forth along the fine line between two medium. The images seem to have a very painterly quality that is difficult to strip away from the photograph.
Adrian Piper is a Conceptual artist that is best known for her politically loaded approach in her art. Her experience is unbelievably extensive, she studied Philosophy, and Fine Art at universities like School of Visual Arts in New York, Harvard, University of Heidelberg in Germany, California Institute of the Arts, and Massachusetts College of Art.
Piper focuses on issues of personal identity from the stand point of an African American. She investigates issues of racism, and sexism, and also class and stereotypes. Her approach is to directly confront the viewer or people unaware with her provoking and in-your face method. Her intentions is to make you aware of your stereotypical thoughts.
I am very much interested in manipulated images that convey a psychological meaning. In particular, Piper black and white photographs that are manipulated with oil crayon and accompanied by text. The photograph 'The Mythic Being: I Embody Everything You Must Hate and Fear' (1975) Focuses on attitudes of about race and gender stereotypes from the stand point of societies xenophobia. For this work, Piper dressed up as an androgynous racially determined black afro man. They are inspired by a private performance, and finally drawing onto the surface of the photograph. I believe this add a sense of emotional content. In my opinion, the manipulation is a way to expressed a frustrating feeling. It creates a mask for the subject, beyond knowing that the subject is purposely portrayed as androgynous, but it makes us think at what we are looking at. The addition of the text, explicitly complements the image and sends a message to the viewer to whom the artist is trying to awaken. Piper is particularly motivated by her deep knowledge in Moral Ethics, and society's psychological stereotypes. Her goal is to make people be aware of the internal stereotypes that in most cases are not talked about.
Last year Stephen Chalmers visited the University and I assisted the talk about his work. I thought it would be appropriate to look up a little bit more about him, to show his work during my presentation tonight.
Stephen has an M.F.A in Cinema and Photography, a B.A in Fine Art Photography, a B.S in Psychology and he is an Emergency Medical Technician. He is very active in the community, does workshops in digital photography, and is an active artist.
His work is very much Research oriented. I am going to focus on one body of work which is 'Dump Sites'. With little knowledge of the purpose and intentions of the artist, the images portray beautiful and very specific landscape. Upon reading the title, one realizes that there is more behind the surface of the photograph. Each images portrays the specific spot where a murder has taken place. He titles the image with the name of the victim and the date of the murder.
The artist interest is to create a memorial for the victim. He argues that in murders, people only remember the killer, as opposed to remembering the victim. So, what he wants to do is to create a memorial for the victim, and only focus on that.
He shoots with 4x5 camera and creates an area of focus where he believes, to the best of his knowledge, the place where the body of the victim was found.The images are beautiful, but they are juxtaposed by the disturbing title. He creates a play between life and dead, that juxtaposes a sad, true, disturbing event from the past with the present emptiness of the landscape that is left. He can play with the assumptions of the viewer upon first encountering the photographs, and the inevitable visual imagery that creates in each of them after learning more about them.
Check out his website: Askew-view
Images found on google: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=stephen%20chalmers%20dump%20sites&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Going from blog, after blog, after blog, I came across Akos Major. I couldn't find more information than him being from Budapest, Hungary. I did find hundreds of his images, and I highly recommend people to look at his photographs.
The images seem to portray very powerful natural beauty of the landscape. I am going to focus in a few images that seem to consistently inform each other. He photographs landscapes that include snow or water, with a city scape, or natural formations.
The images are stunning! I admire his use of the square format and the placement of the horizon line. In many of his images, one can appreciate a clear consistency of the frame awareness by the photographer.
The calming presence of the images convey a level of aesthetics that in many cases is very difficult to achieve by photographing landscape. In my opinion, what the photographer achieves is that viewer can have a sensory experience when looking at it...where one can feel the coldness of the snow, or water... One can smell the cold ice, and fog... and finally, one can feel the loneliness, and isolation of some of the subjects on that landscape.
I am personally moved and inspired by these images. In particular by the choice of subject matter and the technical decisions that make the simplest things in nature become so hugely noticeable, and beautiful. Simple or (as Chris would say:) 'Minimal' is beautiful.
Check him out on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/absolutelynothing/
In 2008 I had the opportunity to go to a Photoshop conference lectured by Bert Monroy, and I have to say that everyone in that conference room left with a urge of exploring the software and getting creative. Bert Monroy is an artist, author, and lecturer, that has been a key figure and pioneer for the world of Digital Art, in 2004, he was inducted to the Photoshop Hall of Fame. He considers himself a Hyper-realist artist, that is very much inspired by photography and paint.
Bert Monroy creates a very unique and, process oriented type of work. He has a particular passion of the digital world, his work is inspiring. The photo-real paintings, are extremely detailed with a mind blowing depth of field. Every single object in his composition is made from scratch, in Photoshop, or Illustrator. One can see detailed in the leaves of far away trees, dust, reflections, rust, screws...etc. He relies his work flow in photographs.
As a photo-realist painter, I have often been asked why I don’t just take a photograph. Good question, when you consider my paintings look like photographs. Well, for one thing, I’m not a photographer. To me, it is not the destination that is important—it is the journey.
The incredible challenge of recreating reality is my motivation. —Bert Monroy
I think that it is very interesting that he doesn't consider himself a photographer, yet he has such a active relationship with the medium. He relies in photographs to achieve a hyper-real photographic painting. As he says, what it is important for him is the "journey", not the destination. That is why in my opinion, the artist is very much process oriented. He bases his passion for art in the actual process of making it, as opposed to the final product.
I am thoroughly enjoying the search and investigation of artists for this blog. A few days ago I came across Steven B Smith's landscapes, and I couldn't help but to look him up for more information.
The photographer was born in Utah, studied at Utah State and Yale, taught at Yale and Brown, and he is currently a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2005 he was awarded the First Book Prize for Photography by the Honickman Foundation and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University Press. The work featured was "The Weather and a Place to Live: Photographs of the Suburban West" where he investigates the transition of the Western landscape into suburbia.
In his photographs, one can appreciate the artist's approach towards the investigation between the interactions of humans with nature in the American West. In my opinion the images play back and forth between the ironies of a beautiful landscape that has been interrupted by man force with the objective of creating beautiful places to inhabit. In a sense, it implies the rapid growth of man-made systems that are being embedded in what it once was pure nature.
These images are inspired by the rapid changes that the land suffers not only by its natural causes, but also by the introduction of man-made systems that rapidly are occupying land to be able to one day call it suburbia, neighborhood, water system... etc
Besides the careful and detail formal aspects of the quality of the images, in my opinion they have a lonely, sad feel to them. I can help but to imagine this pure, calm, and beautiful landscape that it is being corrupted by the self centered human urge for power.
Check out his website: Steven Smith Photography
Masao Yamamoto was born in 1957 in Gamagori City, Japan. He is a freelance photographer that is best known for creating small manipulated photographs that range between 3x5 inches or smaller. His photographs are very delicate, and one can't avoid the sense of intimacy that it they transmit. Yamamoto is very much inspired by the simple things in life. In a sense, he is inspired by the most common things that happen in the environment that we don't take time to examine, or think about. In many occasions, he photographs in a snapshot manner using a 35mm camera and printing in Silver-Gelatin. The outcome of his photographs is achieved by simple manipulations that help age the photograph. He handles them for periods of time, paints on them, hand tones them, and in many occasions dyes them with tea.
"As you can see, my photos are small and seem old. In fact, I work so that they’re like that. I could wait 30 years before using them, but that’s impossible. So, I must age them. I take them out with me on walks, I rub them with my hands, this is what gives me my desired expression. This is called the process of forgetting or the production of memory. Because in old photos the memories are completely manipulated and it’s this that interests me and this is the reason that I do this work"
He is very much inspired by memories and story telling. He presents his work in an installation manner, where there is no set chronology, but an organic arrangement of objects. Each an one of them can become the start of a different story.
The qualities that strike me the most is his success in creating an intimate, quite, and spiritual environment. Not only for the viewer, but for the artist himself. The photographs have a nostalgic sense of engagement between the photographer and the place.
(images were found on Google images: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=masao+yamamoto+photography&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=18)
