One of my images I submitted to the "Lipstick and Rouge" show got accepted.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Artist Post 12: Julia Fullerton- Batten
Julia Fullerton-Batten
Julia Fullerton Batten was born in Bremen, Germany in 1970. Fullerton-Batten attended Berkshire College of Art and Design, assisted for five years and then began to develop her own photographic style. Fullerton-Batten was later signed up with a German agent and began receiving jobs that way boosting her into her professional career. Fullerton- Batten has received numerous awards including Communication Arts, Association of Photographers Awards (AOP), PDN/Nikon Self-Promo, and more. Julia is inspired by everyday life, art and cinema. Julia Fullerton-Batten currently lives in London.
Fullerton-Batten plays with scale especially in her “Teenage Stories Series.” Julia Fullerton- Batten creates scenes (models) and photographs girls interacting with the scenes. Fullerton-Batten seems to enjoy the difference of scale between humans and the models she creates. Fullerton-Batten said in reference to her project “Teenage Stories,” “The girls I photograph in these miniature villages interact with them much like children interact with their real surroundings, living inside their own dreams and fantasies rather than living in a specific house on a specific street. In their minds they can be giants moving through our world whilst always remaining separate to it, cocooned in their own dream like existence.”
Fullerton-Batten stated in reference to her work, “As soon as I saw the first of the miniature village I knew it was the perfect backdrop for this series. The strangeness of these environments perfectly echoes the strangeness I feel when I raid my own memories looking for events that I can turn into pictures.” Julia Fullerton Batten’s work interests me because of her use of models that she creates but also I appreciate the overall environment that she creates within each photograph.
Julia Fullerton Batten’s work has a very distinct style. Fullerton-Batten’s photographs often contain muted tones, with expressionless models, and very unique clothing chosen for her models, often uniforms. Fullerton-Batten also uses flash when taking photographs however she often uses the flash to create shadows going in the wrong direction, making her final image slightly awkward. Fullerton-Batten stated, “I like the light in my pictures to appear that it’s coming from the wrong place… “People who don’t really understand photography look at the pictures and think ‘there’s something a bit weird about that, but I don’t know what it is.’”
Julia Fullerton- Batten, Marbles, 2005
C-Print 16" x 20"
Julia Fullerton- Batten, Book, 2005
C-Print 16" x 20"
Julia Fullerton- Batten, Broken Eggs, 2005
C Print 16" x 20"
Julia Fullerton- Batten, Reflection in Water, 2005
C-Print 16"x 20"
Works Cited
Julia Fullerton- Batten 21, November 2010. <http://www.juliafullerton-batten.com/>.
Farrell, Ian. The Photography of the Month: Julia Fullerton- Batten. February 2006. 21 November 2010. <http://www.valeriehersleven.com/pdfs/press/20.pdf>.
InFlux. Interview with Julia Fullerton- Batten. 21 November 2010. <http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/article/891/influx-interview-photographer-julia-fullerton-batten.html>.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Idea 12: Wonderland
Wonderland
Recently, I watched the remake of Alice and Wonderland starring Johnny Depp, I hadn’t seen this movie (Alice and Wonderland) in years and quite frankly did not remember the storyline. One of the first scenes in the movie is of Alice trying to enter this ‘wonderland’ and she drinks a liquid to shrink down enough to fit through the door. To Alice’s dismay she left the key on the table and as a result had to eat a mini cake to grow tall again. I did not remember any of this shrinking and scale play in this movie but as an adult now watching this film it interests me.
Alice and Wonderland defines as
–adjective
resembling a dream or fantasy; unreal: an Alice-in-Wonderland world of incompleted projects and wishful thinking
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Artist Lecture- Alexandre Singh
Alexandre Singh
Guest lecture Alexandre Singh is an artist and performer. I found Singh’s work to be very interesting and compelling. Singh’s work appears to be derived mostly from novels, stories, myths, and history. Singh seems to relate much of his work to math and old logic, which I found intriguing. What I enjoyed most about Singh’s lecture is how he displayed his transition from one idea or theory to the next. Singh stated that his work is “never finalized” which I found fascinating because one can see how his more could continue on because Singh’s topics, ideas, and theories can continue. When Singh described his piece, “Assembly Instructions” to us (the audience), and explained how each section of the work displayed a different topic it made me wonder it I could see the same connections that he makes through his work. Now after hearing Singh explain how his ideas and concepts come about, how his projects are displayed makes more sense to me.
Singh did not seem to answer my questions during his lecture. However, I found one of the questions he answered after his lecture to be very appealing. A member of the audience asked about the audience’s role in his work and how he expects them to respond to his artwork. Singh replied, “If you want people to drink the poison you have to put a lot of sugar on the spoon.” Singh also stated that he makes his artwork for himself and that it is an added bonus if we understand it however he tries to give us all the information for the audience to understand it on their own.
Overall, I found Singh to be interesting and refreshing for giving a different pace of lecture.
Alexandre Singh, Assembly Instructions (Tangential Magick), detail
Monday, November 15, 2010
Artist Questions: Alexandre Singh
Your work seems to be created with great precision and diligence, planning extensively for each project, taking extensive notes on each project. Do you plan everything, from your concept to how your work will be displayed before you start a project?
Assembly Instructions, installation view
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Artist Lecture- Sally Mann
Sally Mann’s lecture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was very intriguing and informative. Mann’s lecture was different than the VCU artist lectures I have been too, in that there were a series of questions asked to Sally Mann and she would respond to each one. This however allowed Mann to discuss a larger variety of her work. Mann during her lecture was very modest Sally mentioned that she enjoys hearing how much people enjoy her work, because in Lexington, VA everyone knows her as her husband’s wife.
Sally Mann made interesting comments, “that one should never put out a body of finished work until you are one third of your way through a new body of work” Mann stated that artists should follow by this rule so that they will not be emotionally attached to the work by the time it gets reviewed. In regards to trying not to be emotionally attached to her work, Mann said, she tried to photograph her father after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor however she was not brave enough to do it. I thought this was interesting because like Sally my father too has had medical issues in the past and could never imagine recording it through photography because it is so personal.
Sally Mann seemed to answer both of my questions during her lecture. Mann with her new work exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, “The Flesh and The Spirit” contains some color photographs, Mann commented that, “she pairs the scene to the medium, if it’s appropriate she will use any medium.” Mann’s new work, “The Flesh and The Spirit,” includes ambrotypes and gelatin-silver prints made from wet plate negatives. Mann used these different techniques pushing the limits making the theme of her work appear to be more vulnerable. Regarding Mann's new photographs of her and her husband she remarked that her husband was very brave to let her photograph him, the work is based on a women’s perspective photographing a man. Sally Mann’s lecture was overall very captivating.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Artist Post 11: Sonja Braas
Sonja Braas
Sonja Braas. Galerie Tanit: The Artists. 12 November 2010. <http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.galerietanit.com/bios/braas/braas_bio.htm&ei=VNbcTLXuMYL58Aav5IjgBQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCEQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsonja%2Bbraas%2Bbio%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Do >.
Sonja Braas was born in Siegen, Germany in 1968. Braas graduated from the University of Dortmund in 1997, receiving a degree in visual communication and photography. While attending the University of Dortmund, Braas received the Fullbright Grant in 1995, which allowed Braas to study photography abroad at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Braas has received many awards over the years including the Kodak prize for Young Artists, the Focus prize, the Otto Steiner Prize and more. In addition, Braas has her work published in many publications Braas’ most well known publication is, “Forces.” Braas currently lives and works in New York as well as Germany.
At a first glance Sonja Braas’ images appear to be beautiful, perfect photographs of natural catastrophes. As one examines Braas’ work it becomes relevant that the majority of these images would be very difficult to take in the suggested conditions. How does Sonja get so close to photograph that volcano? Sonja Braas in fact constructs extraordinary models of natural catastrophes and then photographs them. Braas in her series, “You Are Here,” consists of photographs of both natural and artificial landscapes. Braas would photograph zoological gardens (man made gardens) and real (natural) landscapes and merge the two photographs together making it hard for the viewer to tell what is natural and what is not. The photographs from this series, “You Are Here” appear very surreal due to this process. Braas tries to show with her work that no nature is independent of subjective perception (Sonja). Sonja stated in relation to her work, “We actually only encounter exotic landscapes at the zoo or at botanical gardens.” (Sonja)
Tom introduced me to Sonja Braas’ work and like most of Braas’ viewers I did not realize her photographs were of models she created. Sonja Braas’ work attracts me because of its obscurity and diligence. “Sonja Braas offers us photographs of models of volcanoes and tornados that she herself constructed with extraordinary precision as a basis for ideal and perfect images that simulate natural events.” (Manipulating Reality) Generally, I am attracted to how subtle Braas work is and its realistic impression.
Interview: I could not find an interview with Sonja Braas
- I could only find one quote by Sonja Braas (I included a quote regarding Sonja’s work)
Most Recent Gallery Exhibition: Gallery Claude & Fabian Walter, in Zurich Switzerland, in 2009.
Forces, #01, 2002 Sonja Braas
67" x 59" C- Print
The Quiet of Dissolution, Tornado, 2005, Sonja Braas
73" x 55" C-Print
The Quiet of Dissolution, Storm, 2006, Sonja Braas
73" x 59" C-Print
You Are Here, #18, Sonja Braas
38" x 30" C-Print
You Are Here, #30, Sonja Braas
38" x 30" C-Print
Works Cited
Manipulating Reality. Strozzina. 12 November 2010. 17 January 2010?. <http://www.strozzina.org/manipulatingreality/e_braas.php#content>.
Sonja Braas. Deutsche Borse Group. 12 November 2010. <http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/kir/gdb_navigation/about_us/30_Art_Collection/40_artists/11_braas>.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sally Mann Questions
Sally Mann questions
How do you feel your work has developed since turning the camera and placing it on yourself and your husband?
Idea 11: Shrinking
Shrinking
–verb (used without object)
1. to draw back, as in retreat or avoidance: to shrink from danger; to shrink from contact.
2. to contract or lessen in size, as from exposure to conditions of temperature or moisture: This cloth will not shrink if washed in lukewarm water.
3. to become reduced in extent or compass.
The Incredible Shrinking Women
Recently I watched “The Incredible Shrinking Women,” starring Lily Tomlin and Charles Grodin. The movie is about a woman “Pat Kramer” who begins to shrink after being exposed to a mixture of household chemicals. Kramer begins to shrink more and more each day wanting people to treat her as a equal even though she was small she managed to make America love her for the mysterious thing happened to her. It was interesting to watch a movie about household chemicals causing a suburban housewife to shrink. I found this movie to very fascinating. This movie is so interesting to me because I can see someone making a movie about this now (current time) especially since everyone is going green. Also I really enjoyed seeing the perspective of the scale between Pat Kramer and her suburban house. After Pat Kramer shrank small enough her family let her live in a dollhouse where everything was the right scale for Pat.
My work is similar to this movie in that I am making myself small however everything around me (in the house) is of a larger scale. Overall, I found the Incredible Shrinking Women to be a very intriguing movie.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Graduate School Application: SFAI
I choose San Francisco Art Institute as my school to “apply” for grad school, mostly because it is a highly ranked School for photography in the country. I also choose San Francisco Art Institute Because I love San Francisco in general, I love how the school is right in the city and is surrounded by so much culture. After traveling most of the west coast I wasn’t so fond of California until I visited San Francisco, which reminds me of the east coast a lot.
One professor at San Francisco Art Institute that’s work attracted me was Alice Shaw. Alice Shaw is a conceptual artist and is a visiting Faculty member in the Photography department. Shaw attended San Francisco Art Institute and received her Bachelors of Fine Art as well as her Masters in Fine Art there. In Shaw’s work she combines personal documentation with humor. She has a book out called, “People Who Look Like Me” published in 2006. Shaw’s book is a collection of photographs of herself with family members or friends who she feels has common traits with her. I am interested in Shaw’s work because she takes pictures of herself and her family, which I recently have been doing.
Alice Shaw’s Blog:
Phil and Me, 2002, from the book People Who Look Like Me, published by Gallery 16, San Francisco
Amos and Alice 2002, From the book People Who Look Like Me, published by Gallery 16, San Francisco
Makeover 1999, From the book People Who Look Like Me, published by Gallery 16, San Francisco
Nancy Tobin
Nancy Tobin is currently a student at San Francisco Art Institute. Tobin is a Sculpture student and creates these white airy sculpture that remind me of Annette Messager’s sculpture work. Tobin's work has been on display at the San Francisco Art Institute's gallery space the Diego Rivera Gallery. Below is a installation piece in the gallery by Nancy Tobin.
Nancy Tobin
Link to student Gallery Work: http://activeweb.sfai.edu/galleries/students.aspx
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Artist Post 10: Loretta Lux
Loretta Lux
Loretta Lux was born 1969 in Dresden, East Germany. Lux studied painting and graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Munich. Lorette Lux is a fine art photographer and is known for her surreal portraits of young children. In 2004, Lux displayed her work at the Yossi Milo gallery in New York. The entire gallery sold out making Loretta Lux well known. Later in 2005, Lux received the Infinity Award for Art, from the International center of Photography. Lux has displayed her work numerous times in both solo and group exhibitions.
Loretta Lux takes photographs of children, picking out the outfits she wants them to wear, "I never allow them to wear their own clothes," Lux stated, and then she chooses one photo out of two or three sessions of taking photos with the same child. After choosing a photograph of the child, Lux then takes the child out of the computer file and then places it or a different background that Lux painted or photographed. Lastly Lux removes details and alters the colors making the overall picture appear like pastel.
It is thought that Lux is longing for an idealized childhood creating perfect children in her work as a result. Lux’s childhood appears to play a large role in her artwork in reference to Lux’s childhood growing up in eastern Germany Lux stated, “I deeply resent the fact of having grown up there." "My work isn't about these children," she explains. "You can recognise them, but they are alienated from their real appearance - I use them as a metaphor for innocence and a lost paradise."
Lux prefers her work to be at an intimate scale 12inches by 12inches (small) to 20inches by 20 inches (Large).
Loretta Lux’s work attracts me because of her calm pastel like photographs. They are calm yet they make me think about how they were created.
Lux’s most recent exhibitions: Solo, “Loretta Lux” Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 2009 and
Group, “Collection” The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 2009
Loretta Lux, "Lois" 3, 2000, 12"x 12" or 20" x 20" (?)
Loretta Lux, "Hidden Rooms" 2, 2001, 12"x 12" or 20" x 20" (?)
Loretta Lux, "Girl with Marbles", 2005, 12"x 12" or 20" x 20" (?)
Loretta Lux, "The Green Room", 2005, 12"x 12" or 20" x 20" (?)
Loretta Lux, "The Rose Garden", 2001, 12"x 12" or 20" x 20" (?)
Works Cited
Loretta Lux. 6 November 2010. <http://www.lorettalux.de/>.
Baring, Louise. "I use children as a metaphor for a lost paradise." 12 March 2005. 6 November 2010. Telegraph. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3638552/I-use-children-as-a-metaphor-for-a-lost-paradise.html>.
Loretta Lux. Wikipedia. 31 October 2010. 7 November 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Lux>.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Idea 10: Paper Dolls
Paper Dolls
–noun
1.
a paper or cardboard, usually two-dimensional, representation of the human figure, used as a child's toy.
2.
Usually, paper dolls. a connected series of doll-like figures cut from folded paper.
Paper Dolls are figures cut out of paper wearing a basic outfit, with clothing options to change into. Paper dolls began in Asian cultures where origami and artful paper folding was popular. Centuries ago, Asian cultures were believed to use paper dolls for religious ceremonies. However all around the world countries had their own different versions of paper dolls, such as in France paper dolls were called pantins and were created to entertain adults. Today, paper dolls are widely available and are used by young children and adult collectors.
Paper dolls were also the start to Barbie by mattel, while Ruth Handler watched her child Barbara play with paper dolls, she wondered why the dolls couldn’t be 3d.
Works Cited
Wikipedia: Paper dolls. 1 October 2010. 3 November 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_doll
Dictionary.com 3 November 2010.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paper+dolls
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Artist Lecture- Zoe Beloff
Zoe Beloff
I noticed from your website that your family especially your parents seem very influential and perhaps instrumental to your work. Because your parents were both psychologists does psychology have any particular influence on your work?
Many of your films resemble characteristics of old films, by using slide projectors, hand cranked projectors, etc. Have you ever considered making a project using modern technology and what does this old technology have in relation to your film topics?
Response
Guest lecturer Zoe Beloff is a filmmaker, and works with projection performances, installations and drawings. I found Beloff’s work to be very fascinating and rousing. During Beloff’s lecture I was wondering why she spent so much time talking about Albert Grass, and not her “own” work until she revealed that she created Albert Grass, and the Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society was not real. When Beloff first announced this I thought she was joking however then I thought about the society and how Beloff explained her project on Freud’s visit to Coney Island. Beloff said she was assigned Freud brief visit in 1909 but in describing the project she alluded to Glass’s project rather than her Coney Island work. Upon revealing that Glass was her creation and not real, one could notice clues Beloff said during the lecture.
Beloff seemed to answer both of my questions during her lecture. Beloff’s work noticeably deals with psychology and medical conditions of people that interest her. For instance, in Beloff’s video, “Charming Augustine” she showed and described through video and sound how young women with hysterics acted during the 1870’s. Beloff later in the lecture discussed her Coney Island project and how she is interested in the real versus unreal. When asked during the lecture about the book of Albert Grass’s drawings Beloff stated, that her mother noticed that the drawings resembled Beloff’s. I found this interesting that Beloff’s mother could tell they were her drawings however Beloff didn’t tell her mother that she was Albert Grass. I found this to be fascinating because Beloff’s parents seem to be a major reason for why Beloff is so interested in psychology.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Midterm Critique Video Response
Midterm Critique Video Response
I feel that my critique was successful I received some vital observations that have helped me expand my perception of my entire project. For the obvious things that I know I need to improve before the final is that I need to improve my lighting to make it more consistent and easier for myself when I edit my photographs. Also the printing quality, I want my images to appear vintage and have an old cast to them, however it was brought up during my critique that some of the images were very green, I need to work on perfecting the colors so that it is exactly what I want.
It seemed as if it was agreed upon that most people enjoyed how subtle the scale was between the dollhouse and the figure of myself. I want the cut out (of the models) to be a believable size but I also want the viewer to know that the figures don’t actually belong in the dollhouse. It was commented that the viewers liked how one has to sit back, spend time with the photograph to notice that the scale is off.
I brought up the question during my critique of whether or not people enjoyed the photograph of my mother and me. Most people agreed that it might be successful for me to bring in more characters to each photograph to make the images seem more playful.
During my critique, I was told to be aware that I’m turning myself into an object, which I am aware of however that goes in relationship to my concept, that everyone plays a role as a character. After hearing all the comments during my critique I am interesting in pursuing the idea of making my work more playful, by making my project more hands on with my audience. I want to do this by perhaps turning me into a paper doll, or have outfits so that people can change my looks in each photograph.
Overall, I feel good about my critique and am excited to start working to improve my project.
Overall, I feel good about my critique and am excited to start working to improve my project.
Zoe Beloff Questions
Zoe Beloff
I noticed from your website that your family especially your parents seem very influential and perhaps instrumental to your work. Because your parents were both psychologists does psychology have any particular influence on your work?
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