Lecture: Alix Pearlstein 1/28/09

On Wednesday January 28th, Alix Pearlstein spoke to a large audience at VCU. Pearlstein, a video performance artist with a background in scu;putre and dance, opened her lecture with an exert from the No Manifesto. While the work of Pearlstien was at times interesting, her speaking style is underdeveloped and distracting. She could greatly improve her stage presence with a public speaking class; using "uh" and "um" several hundered times undermines the content. She seem unsure in her explinations of her work and one might even say it felt canned at times. One of the strengths of VCUarts is being drilled on conepts and speaking with confidence about one's work. In such a setting, Pearlstein fell short.

Lecture style aside, Pearlstein's videos varied in quality and subject. She showed 5 shorts, all btween 2 and 10 minutes in length. The work that spoke to me personally was "Distance", a film from 2007. Shown dyptych style, (two frames beside each other), the film is shot in a coninuous take in which the cameras slowly switch places from their original locations at opposite ends of an empty studio. The sounds, light quality, and acting (gesture, etc) were superior to her other films. According to eva.ie , "This piece is freely inspired by Michael Snow’s seminal film from 1967, Wavelength,which he refers to as a metaphor for consciousness. It can also be seen as a metaphor for progress. Distance is intended as a consideration of the “one step forward,

two steps back” variety of progress, as well as a reflection on time passing, change,

movement towards the unknown, and the anxious anticipation of an uncertain future."

Sunday Feb 1: Robert Polidori

Robert Polidori, Canadian photographer born 1951, is noted for his photographs of architectural spaces, both interior and exterior. According to American Photo, “there are photographers who document the interiors and exteriors of buildings, but no one turns them into metaphors like Polidori”. Acording to an interview with Polidori on Minestota Public Radio, he likes to "photograph habitats...what people do with the habitats".

Polidori's series "New Orleans Aftter the Flood", published as a book and exhibited in the Met, documents interioes and exteriors. In an interview with Jeff Rosenhaim, Asspciate Curator of the Deparment of Photographs at the met, Polidori says "I take images of historical events," Polidori says, "but that's only the backdrop for the kind of subject matter that is about psychological loss, pathos, and a kind of paradox."

Polidori shoots with a5x7 camera (hmmm....) so his prints may be exhibited in large scale. Polidori currently works at a staff photographer for the New Yorker, and has several books published, including "New Orleans After the Flood". He has exhibited most notably at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Polidori does not have a website; many of his photographs can be found on artnet

Lecture: Sonya Clark 1/29/09

On Thursday January the 29th, Sonya Clark spoke to a crowd of over 100 at the Anderson Gallery, VCU. The lecture topic focused on her exhibition which is in it's final showing at the Anderson Gallery; the last showing after 10 years of being displayed all over the country.

Her collection, "The Beaded Prayers Project" is a collection of over 5000 "amulets" created by individuals from 35 different nations.. Clark had people create them during work shops she held, and eventually she began receiving the beaded prayers in the mail from strangers. As Clark explained during her talk, there were a few basic rules for a piece's inclusion.
- The creator must write a secret or prayer and put it inside the amulet
-there must be two of each prayers; theoretically, every piece in the exhibit has a twin out in the world
-the packet must be sealed, and have at least one bead
Clark discussed the significance of the bead in depth. Beads have been around for over 75,000 years. Amulets, or beads, where born when people had something so precious to them, they wanted to wear it on their person. Clark says the power of a bead is in it's hole; it's ability to be strung.
Clark discussed the community and culture of her project; she said she feels in it the presence of the 5,000 people. She also disused the power of secrecy. She subscribes to the nothing that "there are things inside of is that make us who we are. What really matters is that thing we can't see; the power in the project is the thing you can't see."

Thur Jan 29th: represent

Represent
–verb (used with object)
to present again or anew

It seems to me that this verb could refer to any and all photograph. No true image can be created without a physical object (person place thing, what ever) to photograph. That's pretty obvious. A large part of my problem I have to solve by the end of this semester: what, exactly, am I representing here? Service Stations, obviously. Looking past, though, what are those empty service stations representing? I wish I had the answer right now.


-the energy industry is turning away from the old standby of oil. We know what it's leaving behind. Where is it going? BP wants to be on the forefront of this change. http://www.bp.com/bodycopyarticle.do?categoryId=7040&contentId=7046747

-the economy is leaving little money for disposable income. The Virginia unemployment rate as climbed 1 percent in six months. http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.va.htm

-even as these service stations are being abandoned, most are eventually converted into something else: many have become seedy used car dealerships or auto repair shops








So these three things bring me to my game plan. I'm going to continue shooting the abandoned stations, but also shoot the stations that have been converted, & possibly some of the physical locations where energy of the future is being researched and or implemented.

Sunday Jan 25th: Lyndon Wade

"Room 107: Twelve Stories on the ground level.
This is where people come and leave; leave wet towels on the bathroom floor, leave half-full bottles of beer on the nightstand, leave the bed unmade,leave the bed unmade, hair on the toilet seat, stains on the ceiling, glitter in the carpet, holes in the wall, leave their wives, their lives, a mess for the morning maid. And after an hour, a day, a month, they leave all that they have left.

And you check in."


This artist bears no direct connection to my current series, but Lyndon Wade is so thorough in his execution that I buy into his series hook, line and sinker. Some may say it's gimmicky but I am enchanted with his work. Can I find heart to beat in my on series in the manner it reverberates in Wade's?

Lyndond Wade is a commercial photographer who has made a name for himself through several series of photographs. He is based in NYC but works mainly in LA.

Artists website: www.lyndonwade.com

Thur Jan 22nd: Meaning

Meaning:
–noun

1.	what is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated; signification; import: the three meanings of a word.

2.	the end, purpose, or significance of something: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of this intrusion?

It's back to the basics for me this semester. I feel like I'm starting back at square one. Even thought I've put in a semester + on this project, I'm looking for depth and I'm not finding it. "What is intended to be..expressed". That's my issue... I don't know what is so significant about my subject matter. I feel that it's there but it's just out of reach, and I don't know how to get to it.
I'm very frustrated trying to solve this problem, and I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will.

Art Critic & blogger over at www.thinkingaboutart.blogs.com says "... if a work of art says 'think about (whatever) it is directing you away from itself to something you already know about. You don't need art for that.' What exactly do we need art for? I want to see a piece of art that isn't about something we already know about... In my art, I intend to make visually appealing objects. But I only consider myself successful when it provokes further thought. I can find beauty in lots of places... I can't find things that provoke thought. I hope my art isn't a waste of time because I want my work to inspire people who aren't thinking anyways."

It's good inspiration....now, what do I want people to think about when they look at my work?

Sun Jan 18th:Judy Gelles

Mobile Home Portraits
"In 1982, on a friend's recommendation, my father bought a mobile home overlooking a golf course in Melbourne Beach, Florida. My family and I have visited every January since then. I photograph at night, after 8:00pm. The streets are desolate. The mobile home park is transformed; lit by moonlight, all is quiet and still."


The work of Gelles caught my eye at Art Basel for an obvious reason; the gas station photo, but I found a depth in her work that reaches beyond the topic. The mood & the lighting are so strongly tied to the topic. I'm impressed with the depth she reaches in these fairly simple photos. Hopefully this is something I can find during the course of the last semester. She has another series entitled "Beach Box" which is basic & graphic in nature.....definetly relates to my work.

Gelles received her MFA in Photography fro RISD in 1991. She has done several artist residencies and solo exhibitions, and published three books. She is curretnly represented by several galleries, mainly the Stephen Cohen Gallery in California.

artists site: http://www.judygelles.com/index.html
gallery: http://www.stephencohengallery.com