Lecutre # 6: Critic David Walsh

David Walsh, film and art critic, social activist, and writer for the world Socialist website, http://www.wsws.org spoke to a small group of students on Thursday April 16th. The lecture was presented by the International Students for Social Equality. The advertised topic was "The Future of Art in our Crisis of Economy"
Walsh spent the majority of his time focusing on his background, the history of the great dperession, and the socialist agenda. He opened his lecture with a culture commentary, stating that "people accept the culture they encounter as a given". He went on to elaborate on the economic crisis we are in, stating lots of dark figures and numbers; 50 trillion dollars have been destroyed in the last month. Walsh claimed that the democratic activists promoted Obama as a way to forestall civil unrest, but Walsh believes that sometime in the near future, masses of people will gather to actively defend their lives and way of living.
Walsh's answer to the crisis is to make public nearly everything; health care, insurance, banks. You name it, he wants it nationalized.
Walsh finaly segued into the topic of art. He said that "tellin the truth in art is difficult", and no one is prepared for the economic situation. What of the artist? "Did any major bodyt of art point to the coming of the upheaval?" He claimed that no photo seroies, no book, play or film predicted the place where we are today. The one silver lining in his lecture was when walsh stated "The psark of Human Genius has not gone out".

sun april 12 Emma Livingston

Emma Livingston, born 1976 in Paris, France, currently resides in Beunos Aires. She received her BA in History of Art from the University of London. She has done many solo exhibtions and one group. She is featured as on of this years PDN's 30 Photographers to watch; it is her photos above, Tree Portraits, that gained the recognition. Livingson currently works as an editorial photograher, while pursing an art career in her spare time.
artist site: www.emmalivingston.com

sunday april 5th: Matt Siber

Matt Siber's series "Floating Logos" nails on the head some of my feelings towards my series. "References can be drawn to religious iconography, the supernatural, popular notions of extraterrestrials, or science fiction films such as Blade Runner. Each of these references refers to something that can profoundly affect our lives yet is just beyond our control and comprehension." -artist statement

Siber was born in Chicago and raised in the Boston area. He received his undergrad in History & georgraphy from the University in 94 & his MFA in Photography from the College of Columbia, Chicago. He has been published many times commercially, & has had several solo exhibitions, both stateside and internationally. He currently works as adjunct faculty at the COlumbia College Chicago. He is represetned by 3 galleries internationally.

Sunday march 29th: Eric Smith

Eric Smith is a commercial & fine art photographer working out of Detriot michigan. He studied fine art photography at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, but doesn't appear to have a BFA or MFA. I've chosen to highlight his work for a couple reasons. First, he is working from a place where the economy is certainly rock bottom & a mjaor industry is failing. Secondly, his subject in this series is a building that is no longer functioning as they were originally intended.
These photos are created using HDR photography. Although his site doesn't explain his specific proccess, normally HDR is a compilation of 3 or more images which both over & underexpose the scene, and then together ensure all details are hyperealistic. (There are some plugins & programs which imtate the process, but I don't think Smith is using these).
His statement explains "In a series of portfolios Eric Smith photographs architecture in Detroit, using it to illustrate the city’s ongoing transformation. In his contribution to the Midwest Photographers Project Smith focuses on the abandoned Michigan Central Station, a train depot in the Beaux Arts style that was built in 1913 and closed in 1988. Although it shows years of neglect, the building’s marble walls and Doric columns are solidly intact and the space retains its majestic scale."

Smith is represented by the Monroe Gallery of Photographyin Santa Fe, New Mexico: http://www.monroegallery.com/
his personal site is: www.ericsmith.us

Sun March 22: Brian Ulrich

*Paul recommended this artist during a meeting & I feel in love with his work.





















An exerp from Ulrich's artist statement:
In 2001 citizens were encouraged to take to the malls to boost the U.S. economy through shopping, thereby equating consumerism with patriotism. The Copia project, a direct response to that advice, is a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live. Through large scale photographs taken within both the big-box retail stores and the thrift shops that house our recycled goods, Copia explores not only the everyday activities of shopping, but the economic, cultural, social, and political implications of commercialism and the roles we play in self-destruction, over-consumption, and as targets of marketing and advertising.

Photographer Brian Ulrich received his BFA from the University of Akron and his MFA in photography from the Columbia College, Chicago n 2004. He has had several solo exhibitions, including at the Institute of Art in Chicago. He currently lives & teaches in Chicago, IL at both Columbia College and SAIC. He is represented by three galleries; the Robert Koch Gallery, the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, & the Julie Saul Gallery.

artist site: www.notifbutwhen.com
gallery: kochgallery.com

Sunday March 8th: Robert Voit

"In New Trees, Robert Voit employs delicate irony to demonstrate that the background noise of verbal communication, so to speak, has long since reached the visual domain.

His pictorial inventory, a work-in-progress since 2003, of mobile phone masts in the guise of artificial trees erected in real space in the U.S., Great Britain, South Africa, Korea, Italy and Portugal pays superficial tribute to a diffuse creative will driven by a basic desire for conciliation....

Robert Voit, who studied at the academies in Munich and Dusseldorf, satirizes the strict typological corset which has become the trademark of the so-called Becher School of photography. Classified thus as unique objects, formally these fake trees take on an absurd dynamism which creates a need for natural artificiality. In New Trees, the tree, a traditional carrier of meaning, mutates into a grotesque foil for longing."

-Christoph Schaden (the accompanying text from Voit's website)

Robert Voit, German born (1969) lives and works as a in Munich. He received a degree from the Art Academy in Munich (2001) & also from the Art Academy at Düsseldorf (2005). Both appear to be 4 year degrees. He has received over 7 grants since 1999, as well as the same number of solo exhibitions. He has been published numerous times, mainly his "New Trees" series, pictured above.
His typology feels honest and therefore extremely successful. I think Schaden has reiterated was I was thinking when viewing Voit's work, and while I won't be using humor in my series, I hope it can hold up beside the images of Voit because I have alot of respect for his work.
artists website: http://www.robertvoit.com

Artists Lecture: Jared Kames

Jared Kames, VCU graduate and former Photography & Film major (he changed his concentration to independant studies), spoke to a medium sized group of students in the Business Building of Virginia Commonwealth. Kames it the founder and owner of OneTribe, a company which designs, creates and distributes original, organic body modifcation jewelry. Kames lecutured on both the artistic and commercial aspects of his ownership.
Kames discussed how contrary to todays culural climate, body modification is nothing new; it holds roots in ancient traditions, religions and cultures. He feels a connection to the myan and aztec artists, and is strongly influenced by anthropoligists. Kames became interested in creating his own jewelry as he bgan to realize that existing jewlery was totally uninspired. "These are things we do to make ourselves aesthetically pleasing", he explained, going on to say "You can find inspiration in anything."
Launched in 2003, Onetribe is now doing quite well financially. They have one retail spac, two jewelry workshops (one here in Richmond and the other in Bali). Current undertakings include the perfect reproduction of original myan/aztec jewelry, something that has never been done before. He described his company as "an art kid and four of his friends." He feels that Onetribe bridges for all societies and races, that "we're all connected". His enthusiasim is evident and his creations are very earnest, so that each piece of jewelry becomes like a little treasure.
http://onetribe.nu/

Sunday March 1st: Simom Roberts

Simon Roberts, a photographer born 1974 in the U.K., Received his BA Honors degree in Human Geography from The University of Sheffield in 1996 and a a Distinction in Photography from the National Council for the Training of Journalists in 1997. The majority of his exhibitions and publications have been in overseas .He also has work residing in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago) and MOMA.
The photos shown above are from Roberts "Motherland" series. To capture the images, Roberts spent nearly a year visiting some 200 locations in Russia.The group does include portraits, but I chose these images which I felt related better to my work. According to Robert's artist statement, "Motherland is a bold visual statement about the nature of contemporary Russia, fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union."


artists website: http://www.simoncroberts.com
blog: http://we-english.co.uk/blog

Sumday Feb 22nd: Julie Blackmon, Domestic Vacations

I've always admired the work of Julie Blackmon, and when I saw two of her prints in person at Photo Miami, they took my breath away. Her innate attention to detail coupled with her touch for light create these incredible narratives. My current work is far from narrative, but Blackmon is still one of my photo idols, if you will.
Blackmon has been published in Vogue, London Times, Milk and National Geographic's Digitial Photography. She has had over 10 solo exhibitions and is represented by 4 galleries, as well as a commercial photography agent. She has won several photography awards, most notably American Photos Emergin Photographer of 2008. There is no information regarding Blackmons education available, which is curious.

Blackmon expounds on the above work in her artist statement:
"The paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters, helped inspire this body of work. I am the oldest of nine children and now the mother of three. As Steen’s personal narratives of family life depicted nearly 400 yrs. ago, the conflation of art and life is an area I have explored in photographing the everyday life of my family and the lives of my sisters and their families at home. These images are both fictional and auto-biographical, and reflect not only our lives today and as children growing up in a large family, but also move beyond the documentary to explore the fantastic elements of our everyday lives, both imagined and real.

The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issue that I investigate in this body of work. We live in a culture where we are both “child centered” and “self-obsessed.” The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate."

Artists Website: http://julieblackmon.com
represented by: http://www.claireoliver.com
www.edelmangallery.com
www.ggibsongallery.com
www.photoeye.com

Sunday Feb 15th: Taro Hirano

While I was shopping in Venice Beach on Sunday afternoon, I think the photo gods were directing my attention to this artist. His book was on a coffee table in a furniture store. The book, entitled "Pool", is a photographic series of empty swimming pools in California. Each pool is represented in a basic typology (very similar to my first round of photographs), and then detail shots ensue. The detail shots differ from pool to pool, depending on what takes importance for each location.
The timing in finding this book was perfect; right before leaving on my trip I went out to shoot a station & ended up taking about 100 detail shots. I got totally swept away, feeling what I haven't felt in far too long- enjoying the shoot.

According to his website (you have to search for the english version), After studying Photography as Contemporary Art at Musashino Art University, Hirano worked as photographer's assistant at Kodansha Publishing. Hirano also opened a gallery in Tokyo, "Number 12 Gallery".

Check out the project in it's entirety, alongside some other work a http://www.tarohirano.com/pool/

Sunday Feb 8th: Yiogros Kordakis

Very little information is available concerning the work of Yiogros Kordakis; I'm not even sure of his/her gender. I do know that Kordakis is an amazing Greek photographer whom exhibited at Photo Miami several images from the above series, "Global Summer". Large scale, crisp where they need to be and vibrant beyond belief, these photos are not done justice on the computer screen.
Kordakis' website, www.yiorgoskordakis.com , shows a diverse range of shots. A substantial commercial portfolio shows fashions and interiors, while art and books are dedicated to the more conceptual. Discounting the subject matter, all the images are pulled together by the same techniques that solidify the photographs above.
This work really pushes me to continue developing a "style". I'm struggling yet with linking together a mixed-bag of a portfolio , and if an objective viewer can tell that I shot all my images just by glancing through, then I'll feel a little more successful.

http://www.yiorgoskordakis.com/

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

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

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