Thursday, January 29, 2009

Lecture Entry: Alix Perelstein 1/28


Before I begin my entry on Alix Perelstein, I feel the need to write that our artist lecture series has brought in some incredible talents before such as Larry Sultan, Anna Gaskell, and Candice Breitz. It really is a privilege to attend this series when the artists are of such high quality and can articulate the concepts of their work clearly. As enriching as those experiences have been, it is also beneficial to attend lectures from those not up to the aforementioned artists' caliber. I find that in such cases, I am able to hone my critical thinking skills and allow myself to truly question the merits of their work.

Alix Perelstein, a New York based video artist with a background in sculpture and choreography, visited VCU this week and left many wondering how she has garnered the accolades and gallery openings that she listed during her lecture.During the course of the lecture, Perelstein seemed to delight in reeling off intentionally obscure artists and manifestos. She tried to work against the audience, even laughing when someone in attendance asked who she was making these videos for. Perelstein played 6 video pieces for us, and while the filming techniques became increasingly intricate and sophisticated, the works became more and more obfuscating and hollow. One of her earlier works, 2002's "Episode", was intended to showcase roles within the family unit and acting-out as a mode of exhibiting identity, yet was an unintelligible jumble of cartoon sound effects, over the top acting and shoddy direction. The camera careened in and out as actors made bizarre faces and wandered about to the sound effects of a Hanna-Barbara t.v. special. In a more recent work, entitled, "After the Fall" her core acting troupe paraded around a black studio while four cameras filmed their actions simultaneously. Spiraling cameras and caterwauling guitars bewildered the audience as her performers strutted around, just trying to keep a straight face. Their motions did not seem to hold any importance, and many of the actors appeared as confused as the viewers.

Perhaps my biggest issue with Wednesday's lecture, is just how self-serious the artist was. She spoke about her videos as if only a select, extremely educated elite could grasp their biting commentary; she expressed no sense of self-deprecation or warmth. As I mentioned before, this experience did have its upside though, as I did my damnedest to pay close attention and look for the value in her video work. I feel this lecture did help sharpen my critical eye and teach me how not to act when presenting my own work.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Thursday Entry: Transformation




"By the time we reached the vet's office the dog had transformed into a beautiful cocker spaniel. I looked at him and said, "'You don't look so bad. I think I'll keep you."'
-Jeff Jacobson


Jacobson, J. (2006) "Untitled".
Melting Point, pages 15, 40-41, 74-75.

In brief recollections, photographer Jeff Jacobson reflects on the transitional and formative moments in his life, which form the conceptual core behind his brilliant series of photographs. His photographs often feature amalgamations of images caused by reflections in glass and alterations in perspective. He writes about the process of melting; an older form is distorted and gives birth to a new form. The artist re-examines traumatic moments in his life, and is able to glean a sense of meaning and comfort from them. With candid lucidity he recalls the last words his father spoke to him: "Jeff, you're a nice boy, now leave me alone". Writing about this experience, he is able to reinterpret his pronouncement as a blessing. Jacobson's father, who was suffering from cancer, knew his son's good intentions as he encouraged him to get better, yet he was at peace with the inevitability of his death. Like the photographs he created in the book, the meaning of his father's last words transformed over time.

Jacobson's imagery is vibrant and enigmatic. Deep, unusual colors pour into the frame and lead the viewer's mind wandering. Despite the dramatic feel of his photographs, there is an underlying element of humor in many images. Ancient skeletons, which are featured in multiple images are both grim and absurd.Transformation is one of the key elements of my own work. An unseen act is able to throw a group of onlookers into a state of confused chaos.

Complete

Paul Thulin has read your blog up to this point/entry. Your blog is currently up to date and complete.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Monday Entry: Birthe Piontek

























This week's artist, Birthe Piontek was born in Leer, Germany in 1976. She studied language and German literature as an undergraduate, and went on to obtain her Master's in Communication Design and Photography in 2004 from the University of Duisburg-Essen. Her current work, which is titled, Sub Rosa studies the vulnerability of youth versus the experience and hardship found inevitably in adulthood. Piontek's series is a combination of staged portraits and still lifes, which work together to hint at a narrative. Her work is both visually striking and familiar; perhaps her imagery is recognizable because it taps into our own memories of that transition to adolescence. Piontek sights Anna Gaskell, Jeff Wall, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia as influences, and their affect on her work can be clearly detected. Her image of a milk bottle emptying its contents on a staircase is especially Gaskell-esque. The lighting on the bottles is quite ethereal and the picture is riven with deep shadows.

Like the artists' work that has impacted her, Piontek's photographs caught my eye immediately. Her visual storytelling techniques are refined and subtle. The subjects in her portraits do not seem to fit into a specific time period, which is especially intriguing. I admire the seamless manner in which she arranges portraits and still lifes together to express her narratives. It may be that I am just attached to Gaskell, Wall, and diCorcia's artwork, but I find her photographs fascinating.

http://www.photoeye.com/gallery/forms2/statement.cfm?id=195568

http://www.charlesguice.com/artists_bp.html



http://www.jenbekman.com/

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Thursday Entry: Saturation



"What makes his photographs of nonevents especially meaningful is his use of color to convey the 'feel' of a particular place. He emphasizes hues that soak the scene or resonate in a critical way, virtually creating effects of sound, silence, smell, temperature, pressure - sensations that black and white photography has yet to evoke"
-Sean Callahan

Werski, T. (1999) "The Tender - Cruel Camera".
The Hasselblad Award 1998: William Eggleston, 4-11.

Author Thomas Werski defends the work of William Eggleston and states that his artwork established color photography as a recognized medium in the article, The Tender - Cruel Camera. Before Eggleston was given the opportunity to present his photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976, only black and white photography was considered "serious", that is to say professional and worthy of critical attention. This said show, which was simlply titled, "Color Photographs", was curated by John Szarkowski, and was berated upon its opening. Eggleston's intensified colors were seen as aggressive and his choice of subject matter confounded critics; many believed that the images on display were haphazardly taken by an amateur photographer, due to their off-kilter angles and mundane subjects. The artist believed in, what he called the "democratic camera", a way of taking pictures in which every object is considered worthy of depiction. He showed ordinary objects in new, unusual ways, and enhanced his images, both aesthetically and psychologically, with a dye-transfer technique to achieve rich colors.

My work owes a great deal to the early color photographers. I try to pay attention to all of the different colors in the images, so that the picture can be interpreted correctly. My color palette usually remains subdued with a few bright elements. When I am making my color tableaux, I ask the models posing in them to come wearing neutral colors, so that I have a base to work up from. I do not want colors in the image to compete unintentionally. I find it most interesting to have at least one deep, saturated color in each image.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Monday Entry: David Levinthal















American photographer David Levinthal was born in San Francisco, California in 1949. He studied studio art at Stanford before receiving his Master's Degree in Photography from Yale in 1973. Levinthal's family was very wealthy and well respected, and allowed him to explore his interest in the arts fully. He is known for his saturated images of figurines shot with an extremely shallow depth of field. The artist constructs environments for the pre-made figures he collects and photographs them with a 20"x 24" Polaroid camera. Although he does not create the figurines, he does repaint them builds backgrounds for the tableaux.
In Hitler Moves East, his first series to feature toys, Levinthal collaborated with cartoonist Gary Trudeau on recreations of Germany's invasion of Russia in the winter of 1941. He was able turn this successful series into an entire book. Growing up Jewish, the artist had a painful link to the second world war, and he has explored this in multiple series dealing with German soldiers and concentration camps. His photographs explore concepts such as voyeurism, Jewish identity, and the re-creation of events. He has had great success with his recreation of inherently American scenes which feature baseball legends and western heroes in the form of plastic figurines.

Levinthal employs intensely saturated colors to dramatic effect. I am drawn to the richness of his color palettes as well as the depth in his shadows. As I continue with my series of tableaux, I intend to experiment with shallow depths of field, a hallmark of Levinthal's photography; he wisely uses focus to draw attention to certain areas in the images and to mask some aspects of his fabricated backgrounds. His artwork is a sophisticated extension of what, I am sure is the way many artists began to be interested in photography and compostion as a children, by filming scenarios created with toys.


www.davidlevinthal.com/index.html

http://www.connercontemporary.com/artists/david-levinthal/

http://www.davidlevinthal.com/article_artinamerica.html