I really think that Allora & Calzadilla have created an interesting body of work! I especially enjoy “Returning a Sound” 2004
Jeppe Hein
Sometimes it seems like someone makes all the work you’ve ever wanted to. Jeppe Hein’s witty, poetic and sometimes off the wall body of kinetic work has me throwing my hands up in the air and shrugging. I have sketch video’s of dust bunnies being pushed around by air. The screw in the wall is not an idea I’ve had, but quite similar. I’ve often thought of peep holes in the wall (although I didn’t resolve what was inside). Needless to say, I really enjoy Hein’s work and even had a chance to see a piece at the MCA a couple weeks ago.
Almost Nothing
Falling Screw
Rotating Mirror Circle
Let Me Show You The World
Photography Ideas
Provocative One-Liners Can Work
Art that is only a joke runs itself thin, but the one-liner that opens up into a new bubble of thought that is funny and provocative is intriguing and hard to find. Ceal Floyer does it well in her piece “Today’s Special” (the first part of the video covers this piece and the rest shows the rest of her exhibition at 303 in NYC-April 2009).
decedent meals shared, perhaps, between ballerinas
I’m liking the photography of Laura Letinsky today. One article from New York Magazine described her images as “…elegant undone tables, always suggesting decadent meals shared, perhaps, between ballerinas.” It can be difficult to identify what it is about an image that you really like. You try to dive in based on color and composition…etc, but the aforementioned quote really nailed it for me. It’s the elegance, the delicate touch, the painstakingly beautiful mess. It’s really lovely!
Tell It Slant: Lesley Dill
I spent a couple hours tonight reading and looking at Tell It Slant: Lesley Dill (book). I really love her ideas and the way that she thinks around things. While I am not interested in using words or figures in my work, I connect with the poetic ideas. Here are some images of her work for reference:
Yet, 2005
Punch, 1999
Homage to N.S., 1997
In reading, I realized that I am often stuck by a word or a phrase and sometimes the context doesn’t even matter, just the beauty of the words together or the idea they emit alone. I have tons of underlined statements, transcribed sentences and recorded ideas. It seems like the canopy that connects these ideas is over my head, but just out of my minds reach. I’m not sure if I should be satisfied with the longing to make the connection or if I should continue to try to connect. Sometimes the longing is the most interesting point. Here are some glimpses of the snippets I was turned on to tonight:
“I have given my whole life to words-
chewed this dog hunger into a long meal.” -Salvador Espriu
— – —- — —— –
“Clothing houses the house that houses the soul.” -John Leland
Vision vs. Visions
“A Word made flesh” -Emily Dickinson
…Like paragraphs of Wind-” -Emily Dickinson
“…variations of black-and-white: swamp trees silhouetted against the endless snow of Maine; inky black sypte floating on the page of a book; the lakes of the Adirondack Mountains, so dark they mirror the clouds…” -images from Lesley Dill’s conversations
Beauty is poetic not cosmetic. -paraphrased quote from LD book
“My business is circumference.” -Emily Dickinson
“The tops of my dress sculptures are small and flat, but the skirts are voluminous. This kind of compression-versus-expansion is in all of my works.” -Lesley Dill
“the contaminated subjective” -Karen Jacobs
“What do we see in the space of the mind behind the eye?” -Lesley Dill
www.lesleydill.net
A Critique with Collier Schorr
I had the privilege to critique with photographer/artist Collier Schorr on Friday! She was visiting Cranbrook to lecture for the Cranbrook museum show I showed two different sets of images. The first was a continuation of the magazine images in the window. I printed a 60×40 inch image which is my largest to date. The second set were from the TV transition series. I need to continue to explore what makes a set of either of these images cohesive, but I got some good feeback from Collier and also started to understand my desire to control these images. I used to think that my main interest was documenting and finding these strange combinations, but in talking through some of the logistics of fashion shoots and portraiture, I realized that I am sort of treating the subjects of the images as real subjects. For this to come through in the images, I know that I need to push the evidence of this more, but I am excited to try it!
Waiting
Waiting is a transitional state that I often find myself in and tend to be quite impatient with. Whether it’s waiting for Rob to head out the door (although I’m pretty sure he waits for me more than I wait for him), waiting for a balloon sculpture to deflate since my prodding only messes up the process or waiting to get an answer from say, a graduate school or something like that, I tend to twiddle my thumbs, tap my fingers and get myself all worked up. Time is a precious thing in my life since there is always more to do than I have time for. My time has become quantifiably valuable in the photography business since we bill by the hour and I can also see a monetary value for the time I am putting in at Cranbrook since this experience is an investment. The laborious nature of my art work is also very time intensive.
These thoughts about waiting were inspired by some images in the series “New Londoners: Reflections on Home” and Louise Bourgeois’ “Insomnia Drawings”.
The New Londoners are a group of refugees from around the world now living in London who were connected by Photovoice with a “new and upcoming” photographer from the area to create a series of honest photo’s based on life in a new city. There were at least 3-4 photo’s titled “Waiting for… (so and so)” which got me thinking about what I do while I’m waiting and how that changes based on the place I am in. If I’m at home, I busy myself in that waiting period. If I am in an unfamiliar place as these photographers are, I tend to sit and look. I’m less interested in the photo’s themselves than I am in the idea of transplanting, seeing for the first time, collaborating and waiting.
View Slideshow of “The New Londoners: Reflections on Home”
I had an individual meeting with my artist is residence, Heather McGill and she suggested I look at Louise Bourgeois’ Insomnia Drawings in relation to my work. I am still working on tracking down the book itself but the images and information online also lead me to thinking about the state of waiting. I came across an article referencing the drawings the New York Times (read the article) Louise talks about the lulling nature of making the drawings while she is waiting for sleep to come.
Rosemary Laing
I just happened upon the beautifully integrated and suspended photography of Rosemary Laing and am really taken with it! I am especially drawn to her Bulletproofglass series and her Weather series (see below). The concepts are intriguing, but the part I can’t get over is the complicated textures and the transitional state of the subjects. Also, reports say that she doesn’t use digital manipulation to achieve these strange images, which is also an interest of mine (strange things that actually can exist). I’ve found a new favorite!
(Weather #12)
