- On hold
I’m sure you’ve noticed the continuing slowdown of the We Can’t Paint Network, and in particular, the lack of posts on this blog. After I return from a trip I’m currently on I’m going to be putting the WCP network officially on hold until late August (this means no more submissions will taken, etc). I’m not sure my heart is in it anymore (of course I always seem to get this way in the summer) but nevertheless my own work has always taken an obvious precedence over this “extra” venture so I’ll be focusing on that for the time being. Have a safe and productive summer readers - hopefully we will see each other in the fall.
- Michael Vahrenwald
Straw Hill, Wal-Mart, Bloomsburg, PA, 2005 © Michael Vahrenwald
Bramble #2, Wal-Mart, Boonton, NJ, 2006 © Michael Vahrenwald
Michael Vahrenwald’s photographs from his series “Universal Default” are images composed of parking lot environs lit by existing big-box store lights. More from Vahrenwald:
“The photographs in the series Universal Default are taken in the empty, outer lying spaces of newly constructed “big box” stores across the United States. Lit by the ambient glow of modern parking lot lights, the borders that separate the empty spaces of agriculture from suburban commercial architecture are illuminated. [...] The landscapes are a universal phenomenon economically tied to a culture of retail that relies upon new development. My subject is a byproduct of economics, a leftover landscape.”
Perhaps this is just me but the idea that the non-spaces in “Universal Default” have a sense of ‘presence’ reminds me of Nigiel Cooks apoclyptic “wall” paintings.
© Nigel Cook
© Nigel Cook
Be sure to check out the rest of Vahrenwald’s photos specifically the samples from his series titled “Winter Landscapes”.
- On Art Schools by Andrea Carson
Andrea Carson author of the blog View on Canadian Art addresses art education:
“What is needed is more support for emerging artists in the form of discussion and awareness of the importance and earnestness of art. I think we should encourage not collectors, but patrons of the arts, people with an investment in the creative process, rather than just the market. Patrons for whom the value of art is far beyond the commercial, who seek art’s true meaning, not what a press release tells them.
Artists, critics, collectors and patrons should create communities where art is discussed. It seems clear that social networking opportunities could facilitate such discussions on a global level. Artists need to constantly question themselves: Where are they going, what are they doing? Whose ideas have merit, and why? Complacency is anathema to art. After all, Nauman also said: “Art is a matter of life and death. This may be melodramatic, but it is also true.” “
Read the whole article here.
- Whitney’s Interview with William Eggelston
An interview with William Eggelston around the time of his exhibition at the Whitney, “William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008″:
- Jocelyn Lee
Apple tree/house, 2002 (from “The Physical World”) © Jocelyn Lee
Left: Bowhead whale hunt, Alaska, 2007 Right: Michael with hair, 2005 (both from “The Physical World”)
© Jocelyn Lee
A long time ago I happened upon a book titled The Youngest Parents. Later, and for some time, I could never remember the title or the photographer until, last week, while browsing around for new photographers to post about, I finally stumbled across Jocelyn’s website. I’m happy to see that not only did she produce another equally interesting series in black and white titled “Children’s Games”, but that now she has started to work in colour with her most recent project “The Physical World”. More from Jocelyn:“These photographs explore the extraordinary sensuality of our material world—the texture and color of our living and artificially constructed environment. This work is an homage to the nature of skin, hair, plant, earth, ice, animal, the seasonal cycles, birth and decay.
The titles are important in that they sometimes indicate emotional events that were happening simultaneous to the taking of the photograph. Often these events involved states of personal transition, like birth or death, which heightened my awareness of the landscape around me. This is an ongoing project.”
Untitled (Family at fog pond), 2005 © Jocelyn Lee
Jocelyn also has a significant number of stunning portraits on her website (in colour) that, from looking at them, I can only wish I was able to see as prints. At any rate take a look.
- Scintillation
“Scintillation is a remarkable experimental piece by young director Xavier Chassaing. This piece stands on it’s own purely for its visuals, but the technique and craft that went into the production sets this film apart. What looks like film is in fact 35,000 photographs with a mix of 3d mapped projections. Being a young director, Xavier doesn’t have the facilities and financial backing that a commercial piece will grant. Instead he had to work under what he calls “the classic dogma which is ‘What can you do with what you have…’” I think this sums up Xavier’s process pretty well.”
Read more about how Scintillation was made here.
- Olaf Breuning’s studio
© The Shelby
This is sort of what I expected Olaf Breuning’s studio to look like (via The Selby).
- On Blogging
I hope all you fellow Canadians had a great holiday weekend filled with beer, fireworks, and hangovers. Back to it…
For those of you unable to make the panel discussion on blogging at the 09 NY Photofest, Laurel over at I Heart Photograph has posted the discussion as an audio file. From listening to the talk I think it’s apparent that there wasn’t enough time to delve into a greater investigation of what blogging actually means to contemporary photography, however, I did come away with an encompassing point from all on hand - a problem with the archive. This is, at least for myself when I blog, something I have yet to resolve and in particular, it’s a problem with how blogs are meant to operate. As most of the panel pointed out, there is a tendency for those who are popular in the “photo/blogosphere” to cater towards a hungry readership - that is, to continually refresh not only content, but the depth of that content.
It seems like a contradictory concept doesn’t it? Most of you would probably agree that this is the format and limitation of a blog, right? Well, an audience member did address this (at least I think it was someone from the audience) by stating that the archive is continually re-accessed by Google searches, etc, but I will have to disagree. From looking at my stats from the past year, the amount of archived content which is found through whatever web avenue, be it searches or links, is wholly minimal compared to the posts that have been authored recently.
Yes there are continual searches for specific photographers, but they mainly revolve around the big four: Crewdson, Soth, Wall, and Sherman. For the less conspicuous ‘emerging’ photographers (which I might add make up the majority of content both on this blog and almost all photography blogs in general) these searches seem to be overwhelmingly absent. I’ve addressed this issue of history building before, but I can’t think of a way other than re-showcasing archived posts as a relevant solution. What do you think? Are today’s generation of emerging photographers being done a disservice by blogs due to their constant appetite for “fresh art”?
If you have any thoughts, or can offer a better solution, please don’t hesitate to email me directly or comment here.
- Jen Morris
from “Epic” © Jen Morris
Perhaps I’m asking too much but I really don’t like it when an artist has a website with only a few examples of their work. Nevertheless, the handful of samples from Jen Morris’ projects “Epic” and “Night” are worth checking out.
- Solar Transit of Atlantis
© NASA/Thierry Legault
“Detail” © NASA/Thierry Legault
“In this tightly cropped image, the NASA space shuttle Atlantis is seen in silhouette during solar transit, Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from Florida. This image was made before Atlantis and the crew of STS-125 had grappled the Hubble Space Telescope. Photo Credit: (NASA/Thierry Legault)
Thierry made this image using a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera.”
