...Irving Penn Exhibition...

Going to the Irving Penn exhibition I was a lil bit sceptical as I had never seen any of his work in an exhibition before, and I had only ever seen a few of his photographs before. But I had heard good things about it and decided to go even thought it wasn't a free exhibition.

Going into the main hall, there where alot of fashion photographers portraits and a few nudes. I didn't really like the nudes all that much at first , but I liked the lighting and the tone of some of the images. I later found out that the images in this room where all daylight only. This in fact made me like the images more as I really like natural lighting to studio lighting. I liked how the images where all presents also, in nice silver frames.

In the second room the picture that really caught my attention was the Salvador Dali portrait. As I am a fan of Salvador Dali anyway, I liked the portrait as I think he is such an interesting person to look at. He almost looks like someone out of his paintings or sculptures... surreal and cartoon-like. In this room there where a few more portraits including Alfred Hitchcock, which where all really sharp.

Going to the exhibition, having not really seen much of his work, I can say I do enjoy some of his work, and would recommend the exhibition, even if you have to pay a small price to enter. My favourite image of his would defiantly be the Salvador Dali portrait. The lighting, the tone and mood and even the back round fits perfectly to show Dali in his own light. Which is actually a known trait of Penn, as he apparently can take any man, woman or child and photograph them and make them all unique. (See reference)

References -

• http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2002/01/16/29565.html

...Stephen Shore...

Stephen Shore is an American photographer famous for his deadpan images and pioneering colour in contemporary art photography.

He first became interested in photography at the age of 6 when he received a dark room kit for a present. At the young age of 9 he started developing his own colour images using his 35mm camera. When he was 17 he was lucky enough to meet Andy Warhol, and took pictures in his studio. He later went on to taking pictures of the American Landscape which he is well known for. He was also the first person to have a one-person exhibition at the Museum.

In 1972, he made a trip from New York to Texas, taking many pictures that provoked his interest in Photography. He got the idea to use colour in his images when looking through the streets and towns he passed on his journey. At first he used a 35mm, then a 4x5 view camera before he finally settled on a 8x10 format camera.

His book, Uncommon Places, published in 1982, has been called the bible for the new colour photographers. This is because not unlike William Eggleston, his work has proved that a colour photograph can be a work of art, like a painting or black and white photograph. People such as Nan Goldin, Martin Parr, Joel Sternfeld, Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky has all said they are influenced by Shores work.

His work actually reminds me alot of Lee Friedlander's work, although I prefer Friedlander, and has similar tones in the images. Looking through some of his images I see alot of photographs that remind me of Friedlander's and it may be why I like them.

References -

• http://wwar.com/masters/s/shore-stephen.html
• The Nature Of Photography - Stephen Shore
• http://www.303gallery.com/docs/Shore-bio.pdf
• http://www.artnet.com/artist/15493/stephen-shore.html

...Vic Muniz...

Vic Muniz is a Brazilian Artist born in 1961 who has lived in New York since the late 80's . He is famous for creating images by arranging certain unconventional materials, to recreate well known works of art, and then photographing it, resulting in the final piece.

He was born in Brazil where he was trained and started out as a sculptor, but soon moved on to even more creative methods of making art. He at first would take pictures of his sculptures, but then focused completely on the photographing of his work. One of his most famous pieces called "Pieces of Dust" was done by collection dust around The Museum of American Art and recreating it into the pictures that where being exhibited in the museum. The ironic thing about this is, that dust is seen as a destructive thing in art, especially in museum exhibitions.

Another famous piece of work by Muniz is titled "Clouds" where he would sky wright cartoon images of clouds in the clear sky over New York and then photograph them. While "Clouds" is a well known exhibition by Muniz, I myself am not a fan of this particular piece.

In this video I found online, he talks about himself and what he thinks it is to be creative.

http://www.ted.com/talks/vik_muniz_makes_art_with_wire_sugar.html

His work really caught my attention when I was researching for my Relive and Remake project. The first image of his I saw was the image of abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock by Hans Namuth, that he had redone in chocolate syrup. The detail of the image is amazing, showing alot of precise work and dedication. Also the way he had lit the image gave it more depth which worked really well, as it could have looked flat being a 2d image of a 2d drawing.

References -

• The Photograph as Contemporary Art - Charlotte Cotton
• http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph080
• http://www.artnet.com/artist/12255/vik-muniz.html
• http://www.vikmuniz.net/html/bio.html
• http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2001/clouds/muniz/about_clouds.htm

...Postmodernism: Janelle Monáe...

After being extremely confused about this topic for a long time I decided to talk about it involving music... seeing as I love and understand music.

Modernism as I understand it is a very broad and over theorised term to describe a very old art movement. Postmodernism as I understand it is a reaction to the work of modern philosophers. Modernism was replaced by Postmodernism : which one can not even talk about in a dictionary. Basically saying that everything original has already been done, and that anything that is made now is just a copy or an influence.

"Music: An art form that has the potential to change the world"

Im going to talk about a music artist called Janelle Monae. Born December 1st 1985 in Kansas, Janelle Monae Robinson, moved to New York to study theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She later changed her plans to preforming on broadway to creating music, an art she had a true passion for.Her music has been described as Grippo: A type of music that combines styles from a wide and varying list of genres and combines them into one almost genre-less sound, music that has no borders or race whatsoever .

Her albums tell a futuristic sci-fi story of a cyber-girl named Cindi Mayweather who has been programmed not to feel any emotion. However she falls in love with a human, which is against the law, and she then goes on the run. The reason she is doing something new but is seen as postmodern is, even though she is defining herself while many other artists are letting the "era" define them, she has been influenced by many things. Listening to her music you can tell that she knows her musical history. With influences from Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and even Elvis. All the while keeping in with her own style and her own vision, telling her own story.

References -

• http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=postmodernism
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya6qYbkJb9U
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHgbzNHVg0c

...Banksy? Art or Vandalism?...

"In a world with no rules....one man broke them all"

Contemporary graffiti artist Banksy, (whose identity has been never been revealed), has become alot more popular over the last few years. His ironic, outspoken and often funny works have gained alot of attention, and have caused many arguments with critics, mainly "Is it Art? Or is it just vandalism?"

I find his work very inspiring and interesting as he says what many people are thinking and don't want to say. It also sends a powerful message to people with a shock value that many other artists don't have. I love graffiti as art and Banksy is defiantly my favourite graffiti artist.

His work has appeared all around London, and even in other places around the world. He uses his own unique style of graffiti, often using stencils mixed with well know artworks, to promote aspects of politics often ignored by mainstream media. His most identified pieces are his rats which can be seen holding signs saying things like "London Doesn't Work", ""You Lose" and "Go Back To Bed". He has also added his stencil touch to "Water Lilies" by Monet (Entitled Show Me Monet), the famous picture of the 9 year old Vietnamese girl running by Huynh Cong Ut (having her run with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald) and even Queen Victoria. He has managed to hang a piece of his own work inside London's Tate Modern and also in New York's Museum of Modern Art and American Museum of Natural History.

On March 5th 2010, a humorous and ironic film documentary about street artists, including Shepard Fairey, Thierry Guetta and Banksy was released. Banksy's face is never revealed and his voice is distorted through out the film to hide is identity. I have yet to see the film, but as it more ironic and not based on the real life of banksy i'm not really in a rush to see it.

References -

• http://www.banksyfilm.com/
• http://www.banksy.org.uk/
• http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/banksy/Banksy_photos_thumb_011.htm

...Edward Burtynsky...

Edward Burtynsky is a Photographer and artist born in 1955 and has since become one of Canada most respected photographers. He mostly does documentary photography that shows how man/manmade industry has affected landscapes. He studied Graphic Art at college and then went on to become a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Photography at Ryerson University and then became a lecturer on photographic art. He has hosted alot of exhibitions including Before the Flood (2003) and China (2005-2008), which have been shown not only in Canada, but across the States and also in Europe.

His images are technically perfect showing alot of depth and detail, usually of landscapes that have been affected by industry, such as shipyards, mines and scrap piles. His photographs are taken on a large format field camera, usually 4x5, and a printed to become high resolution pictures. The reason i chose to blog about him is because I find his images very powerful as they show a man Vs nature theme, and even in the images that show scrap heaps there is a certain beauty about them. The above image of his is my favourite of his. I love the contrast and the impact it has. The framing is great too, and i like how the lava at the front of the image looks hot, while the trees in the distance seem cold.

He has recently came out with a exhibition that was released as a book, titled Oil (2009), that shows a decade of photography that explores the subject of oil and its uses. I tried looking for the book but I couldn't find it :(

References -

• http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/
• http://www.lensculture.com/burtynsky.html
• http://www.kochgallery.com/artists/contemporary/Burtynsky/index.html
• http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/Sections/Statement_CV/Bio.html

...Lee Friedlander...

"Central Park, 1992" - Lee Friedlander

Ok, so this my attempt at a blog entry, and i'll start by talking about one of my favourite photographers: Lee Friedlander. I enjoy his style, and the mystery and mood that is present in his photographs is something that I try to create in my own.

Lee Friedlander was born in 1934 in Aberdeen Washington and first started photography taking pictures of Jazz Musicians for album covers. His early work is known for his self-exploration that can be seen not only in his cultural statements but also his self-portraits. He has said that his biggest influences are Walker Evens and Robert Frank. He has used many different cameras in his time, from a Lecia M Series 35mm camera to a Hassleblad Super-wide Medium Format Camera. Because of this, Friedlander's style has changed somewhat. 15 years ago his photographs reflected his knowledge at the time: he would use fences to frame his images, showing that he would chose and carefully plan to structure his framing. Bu his images would still come out great. Nowadays his images are more luminescent and naturally structured.

He created a series called "Stems" while suffering from arthritis. He was housebound, and had to do what many other artists and photographers do and make use of the things around him. (I recently had this experience myself). He took pictures of flowers his wife would place around the house, but was allot more interested in the stems. It was published before having his knee joints replaced since his "limbs" reminded him of stems. These images where said to be less textured than what is seen in his older work, but shows a strange period during the photographers career. He was sat in his chair at home rather than out in the city streets, woods, road or at parties.

References -

• http://www.fotopriority.com.au/2009/09/quote-a-day-lee-friedlander/
• http://www.schaden.com/book/FriLeeSte03006.html
• Lee Friedlander - The museum of modern art