Lecture Entry: Citizen Kane with Professor Mike Jones

Last Monday, November 24th Professor Mike Jones made a special presentation of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Professor Jones, who usually teaches my Films of Alfred Hitchcock class, gave a lecture on the climate of Hollywood at the time the film was made, and spoke about the stylistics and dynamics of the classic film. Citizen Kane was released in 1941, and heralded a change in American cinema; the film was revolutionary for its use of sound and dark visuals. Welles' film set many ground rules for film noir and auteur cinema. The director was only twenty-five while making this film, yet he was already a well known figure thanks to his radio programs and stage performances. Because of his predilection for sound, which he gained during his radio days, the film features realistic sounds and dialog, as well as sound bridges that connect scenes. His cinematic influences are apparent in this film; he was fascinated with John Ford, Jean Renoir, and F.W. Murnau. Welles' admiration for Murnau's Expressionistic angles and lighting are evident in an early scene in the movie. After a film reel showing Charles Foster Kane's life story ends, a group of characters are left in a dark, hazy screening room, which is only illuminated by two shafts of light coming down from the projection booth up above. This example of chiaroscuro lighting, which allows for deep shadows, is featured throughout the film and is key to the film noir style that flourished in the following years.

I am particularly interested in auteur cinema, and was amazed at how much control young Orson Welles exercised during the creation of this movie. He co-wrote the film, directed it, starred in it and even had the final word on how the film should be edited. RKO Studios allowed Welles an unprecedented amount of freedom with Citizen Kane, and their faith in him resulted in one the most well-regarded films ever.

Lecture: Yale School of Photography

I attended an open house for Yale's School of the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut on Thursday, November 20th. The school is divided into four component departments: Graphic Design, Painting and Printmaking, Sculpture, and Photography. A lecture was delivered for those interested in the photography department by professors Gregory Crewdson and Chip Benson. Both men stressed the importance of the critique, which is the focus of the photography program. Students are subject to three critiques each semester, which works out to each student presenting new work every five weeks. For the professors, making artwork is much more important than discussing theory. The three critiques are open to all students and professors in the school of the arts and are apt to last several hours. Crewdson described the department as "lens-based", meaning emphasis is placed on constructing photographs traditionally, rather than using a lot of technical programs to enhance images digitally. The program runs two years, and each year has nine grad students.

I cannot express how human and unpretentious the students and professors were. Gregory Crewdson, who has been a great inspiration for my work, spoke plainly and was very approachable. The school was built in an old community center and the photography department's critique room is at the bottom of an old swimming pool. The walls were unadorned with prints, so, I assume, we do not get the wrong idea of what Yale looks for in terms of student work. The environment was very welcoming and I did not feel overwhelmed by the school's stellar reputation and alumni. It was an excellent visit, and Gregory Crewdson, Chip Benson, and the grad students were open for numerous questions and comments.

VMFA Fellowship Application

Here is irrefutable proof that I applied for the 2009 VMFA Fellowship. I know that the picture is reversed, but hopefully the return postcard is still legible.

Sunday Entry: Pertti Kekarainen

Photographer Pertti Kekarainen, along with Aino Kannisto, Ville Lenkkeri, and Elina Brotherus is another gifted artist to belong to the Helsinki School of Art in Finland. He was born in 1965 and continues to explore the concepts that he developed while in graduate school. Kekarainen originally studied both sculpture and painting, and began applying his skill in those areas to photography in 1993. His series of interiors entitled, "Tila" deals with the idea of space, three-dimensionality, and focus. While these images are devoid of people, centering instead on interiors and perspective, another recent series, which bares the same title, "Tila" depicts figures moving in and out of a white room. The figures are cropped closely, so that much of their bodies are out of frame, leaving their shadows at the center of the photographs. These shadows stand in for the figures and represent the ideas and conversations the characters are involved in. Without the aid of digital manipulation, the artist adds colored dots to the images, which are reminiscent of apparitions in early spirit photography. The figures are both absent and present at the same instant. Kekarainen presents these color photographs at full scale and hangs them low on gallery walls so that viewers can fully interact with the figures and interiors.

I hope that my artwork progresses in a direction similar to that of Pertti Kekarainen's. The absent subject is the focus of my current series of photographs, and I love how, in this artist's work, the shadows are more fully realized than the figures. The veil of colored dots within the images add another layer of intrigue and complexity that works extremely well.


http://www.helsinkischool.fi/helsinkischool/artist.php?id=9021


http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5132959

http://www.artnews.org/gallery.php?i=384&exi=11088

Thursday Entry: Suspension

This indeterminate, frozen duration corresponds well to the reflective engrossed nature the characters in her works usually present"
-Alberto Martin

Martin, A. (2001) "Strata of Appearance"
Florence Paradeis, 50-52.

Author Alberto Martin examines the phototgraphy and films of artist Florence Paradeis in his essay, "Strata of Appearance". Paradeis truly exploits photography's ability to suspend action, as the figures in her scenes are caught immersed in their own thoughts. In one half of her dyptych, "Tete a Tete", a female figure pours out a glass of red wine, while beneath the table, a man reaches for a fallen fork. The flow of the wine is suspended as is the man, as he gazes at the dirtied utensil; his introspective stare suggests that he has just been transported to another place. His hand is outstretched but his mind prevents him from completeing the action he set out to perform. Martin writes that Paradeis' photos show gestures that lead to "an interior sphere". It is with an obsessive glance that the heroine in "La cuisinere" attempts to wrap a raw chicken in aluminum foil. Just like in the previous dyptych, the figure in this scene is caught up in her own thoughts sparked by the mundane action of covering a chicken in foil.

Paradeis' work sat with me for a while before I could appreciate it. It was not until I saw the "Tete a Tete" pictures that I began to realize just what the artist was articulating. I love the photographic depiction of suspension and have tried to bring that to my own series. It is the in-between moments, the hesitation between states, that really causes me to pay attention to what is being shown. The figures in my current work are trapped in a similar state between ignorance and full knowledge of what is before them.

Sunday Entry: Aino Kannisto

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5132966

http://www.m-bochum.de/artist_image.php?aid=66

http://www.women2003.dk/artists.php?id=46

Photographer Aino Kannisto is another talent to have graduated with her Masters from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland. Kannisto was born in Finland in 1973 and makes "constructed pictures", carefully staged color tableaux, which feature the artist herself. She compares her photographs to literature, more specifically to short stories. Each image stars Kannisto and captures moments both dramatic and intimate. The image, "Untitled (Woman in Water)" presents a tense moment as a woman raises her head above the surface of a lake; her face is pained and vulnerable as her eyes scan her remote surroundings. In another tableaux, called, "Untitled (Classroom)", the artist sits alone at the back of an unpopulated schoolroom. The pale blue desks and chairs complement the mood of the subject, who stairs off to the side, lost in thought. Kannisto's presence in each image helps to create a narrative between the disparate scenes and each photo seems to have its own backstory.

Aino Kannisto begins planning out each scene by creating sketches and writing short stories. She writes out a script of sorts for what must occur in the scene and what has led up to that specific point. I always start off with small sketches of how I'd like my photographs to be composed before shooting. I think this type of directorial preparation allows for precise expression of your original idea, and permits the photographer to worry less about the actual compostition on the day of shooting, since it has been considered beforehand.

Thursday Entry: Unity

"This type of constructive dialogue, carried by a spirit of togetherness, is quite uncommon amongst larger groups of successful artists"
-Rupert Pfab

Phab, R. (2005) "Paradigm and Discourse: The Helsinki School of Photography".
The Helsinki School, 219-222.

Art Historian Rupert Phab's essay illustrates the connections and shared themes interwoven through the artwork of the Helsinki School in Finland. This group of artists were all taught at the University of Arts and Design Helsinki, and share common sensibilities, such as an acute awareness of historical paintings, a robust knowledge and ability to comment on contemporary international art, a sense of reflection on the medium of photography, and a unified mood of contemplation and melancholy. Artist Elina Brotherus demonstrates her appreciation for art history with her series of self-portraits set in disparate landscapes. Brotherus places herself in dynamic natural surroundings and integrates her form, whether naked or clothed, into the composition. Her photographs reference the work of painter Caspar David Friedrich in addition to numerous other artists who have worked with the nude figure in a landscape. Jorma Puranen refers to both art history and the medium of photography with his series of reproductions. By photographing famous oil paintings on display in museums with harsh lighting reflecting off of their surfaces, Puranen comments on the limitations of photographic reproduction and reality. The artists of the Helsinki school are also known for their conceptual, narrative photography and their reluctance to document society in a straight manner.

Unity can be as important within a group of artists from the same school as it is within an artist's own body of work. I have endeavored to allow my concepts to evolve and grow with time. What I have found myself most interested in, the absent subject and liminality, has been present in some form or another throughout my photography. It is fascinating to see how a basic concept can take on different, sometimes divergent, shapes over time.