Wrapping Up

I had my last meeting with my mentor this morning. We went over my project and discussed presentation.   This represents several individual prints. I have no idea how much space will be allotted and I don't know how much I will be able to hang at one time. My mentor has encouraged me to think beyond the traditional presentation of prints hung in a row. I will push this even further in the coming weeks and hopefully there will be a few surprises in January.
I know this is crazy small  and not easy to view but I wanted to give you an idea of how they work together.

Moving Forward

This combination of images represents an edit of some of the images I have been working with. I hesitate to post it as it will most likely change, but what hasn’t changed that I have I posted. In my last meeting with my mentor we talked about a hierarchy in images: subject, object and site (although I thought she meant sight and in a way, I sort of prefer that). The presence of a person in an image makes that person the subject of the image. I wanted to explore these images beyond their historical references and look at them as images themselves. I re-photographed them using my digital camera and eliminated all but traces of the original subject. What emerges is a kind of synchronic narrative. We talked about the work of Wolfgang Tillman’s in terms of bringing forth new meaning through the relationship of one image to another. We also looked at the work of Douglas Gordon, Paul Sharits, Chris Marker and Tacida Dean. We also talked about "The Poetics of Space" but I have not gotten past the introduction. Maybe after I finish the reading for Critical Theory.....

These are actually all separate prints, the large being 17x22", the medium, 11x17" and the small about 4x6". I have about 50 images I am working with. 

Movie Clip

Here is a 5 minute clip from movie I have been working on. Learning the new program has bogged me down a bit. There were many reshoots for both video and sound. Syncing them became a bit of a nightmare. End film will be about 15 minutes.
The sequence is about memory, perception and time (historic and real) as well as the ephemeral nature of photographic imagery. I hope to be able to project it onto a translucent screen that the viewer can walk around to view.

It just took me about an hour to figure out how to size this to upload and I'm not real happy with the rendering. You will have to wait for it to load. Please be patient.  It shouldn't be this difficult! I am ready to shoot myself! This is not the only thing on my to do list today! I am ready to scream.....
I guess as I get more familiar with this program things will be less frustrating.

Film Strip

I started working with new images, still projecting them on translucent material and re-photographing sections of them on both sides of the screen. I am now playing with them, creating a made up narrative within the scene.

October Gallery Hopping in New York

Last week I had a chance to go over to Chelsea and stop in a few exhibits. The Pace Gallery was showing Social Media a group show of artist that explores “public platforms of communication and social networks thorough an aesthetic and contemporary lens”, featuring works by Christopher Baker, David Byrne, Jonathan Harris, Robert Heinecken, Miranda July & Harrell Fletcher, Sep Kamvar and Penelope Umbrico (my mentor).

Here are a few highlights:

Learning to Love You More,  Miranda July & Harrell Fletcher

  Murmer Study, Chroistopher Baker

 According to Google,  Emilio Chapela Perez

 Democracy in Action/Apps, David Byrne

 Google Portrait Series, Aram Bartholl

 Flickr Sunsets, Penelope Umbrico

 Flickr Sunsets (Detail), Penelope Umbrico

 Personal Subjects (TVs from Craigslist), Penelope Umbrico

Sideways TVs, Penelope Umbrico

Sideways TVs (Detail), Penelope Umbrico

Later that evening I attended a talk at SVA where Penelope was speaking about her work.

This week  I was lucky enough to find myself in the Lower East Side where galleries are rapidly sprouting up. It reminded me a little of the East Village in the 80’s but it still lacks the energy of those times when you could barely walk down a street and not find a store front gallery with an open door. The Lower East Side takes a bit more diligence to find the galleries as they are spread out, but if you make the effort to seek them out, you would find some amazing things.

As we strolled down Orchard Street we were curious to see through a window a woman in blue overalls attacking a large layered block in the center of an otherwise empty space. Not really sure if it was a gallery or not (you can’t always tell) we poked our heads in. We were greeted warmly and invited to come in. What we had stumbled upon was a site specific, mixed media performance and installation sponsored by the French Institute Alliance Francaise as part of a month long festival Crossing the Line. The artist is Amelie Chanbannes, a French born Brooklyn based artist. In her studio she had built this large rectangles shaped object, burying within its structure numerous personal items. As she excavated the piece she would expose her hidden “treasures.” The gallery filled with the aroma of spices and flowers as she struck a section containing curry and lavender, which her mother frequently cooked with in her native country. She also unearthed images of idealized woman/girls. With every whack she took, she exposed another layer of the piece, another layer of herself. It evoked memories, both joyful and painful, sometimes pointed towards stereotypes she had to confront and overcome to become the individual she was. The piece speaks to all woman and the obstacles we struggle with and overcome as well as the layered complexities of our lives of how we embrace them. 

She will continue to chip away all weekend and can be seen on a live feed here: 

Amélie Chabannes: Intimate Immensity and Lagerstaten | Wed–Sun, Oct 12–16, 2011 | Crossing the Line 2011: FIAF Fall Festival, Sept 17-Oct 16

It was really quite amazing to watch and she was quite friendly and enjoyed conversing with us about her work. It was pretty refreshing.

We spent the entire afternoon down there and saw many exhibits but as this blog is already too lengthy so I will stop here. I encourage you to find your way down there on your next trip to New York. Feel free to contact me for gallery listings. There are also great places to stop for lunch, coffee & pastries, a glass of wine or beer or dinner. Cheers

Subject Missing

I am moving forward with this project. I have now re-photographed 10 carousels of Kodachrome slides (some are actually Anscochrome and Extachrome for you photo geeks). After I chose a certain section of the screen I set the projector on automatic and I allowed the camera to capture portions of the image without me making any further decisions. I am shooting video and these are stills from the videos. The right hand of the image is captured from one side of a transparent screen; the left is from the other side. I then synchronize the 2 videos to play the different views of the slides at the same time. It set up some interesting juxtapositions. The camera renders the color differently as the lighting situation has shifted. These images represents a storyboard. I have not figured out how I want the end result to be viewed yet. I am thinking of maybe loading it onto a digital frame (if that’s possible, I was told it is, need to research), playing with imposing nostalgic photos/technology on new ways of viewing and storing pictures. Or maybe I will project them on the same sort of translucent material I shot them on. The second option allows you to walk around them, allowing you to view them from both sides, setting up a physical relationship between you, the space, the light and the image. It makes them less picture like while brining attention to the ephemeral qualities of photographs.

Oh I haven’t spoken about the images themselves… OK. These are pictures of my family. They are fairly loaded for me on all kinds of levels (not all bad) but I was not so interested in telling you the story of my life (you would be bored). I know I’m playing with nostalgia here…..I mean, look at that wallpaper! But I am also thinking about why people take these kinds of pictures. Family snaps are generally taken to record a moment, a relationship, and holds within it a promise of holding onto something, of possessing it. Don Draper calls nostalgia “a twinge from your heart, more powerful than memory.” I know that's corny, sentimental and a bit manipulative but in a way he nailed it.

So if you look at this storyboard you will see most figures are eliminated (the intended subject is either missing or partially missing).  What is left is the space that surrounds the subject.  When I got these carousels from my family they had already been “edited”, meaning someone had totally rearranged them and you could look at one photo from 1968 and then next one would be 1974. I have no idea what this person (I think it was my father), had in mind.

As I view the extractions I feel I have allowed the pictures to tell their own story, without my stuff getting in the way. It is a story that belongs to the pictures. Perception always sees for us, it kind of gets in the way. This presentation reveals unseen things, things that are sometimes seemingly meaningless and empty and sometimes all the more disturbing for that very reason.

I also found in doing this project that I am very attached to the romance of the medium, the film, the gorgeous prints, the technological wonder of it all…so I am kind of working this out with this project. I am not sure if I will also make prints of some of these stills or just allow them to be the film. So you see, I still have many doubts and the more I work, the more questions come up. I am trying to work them through and hopefully will I survive. 

A Trip to Mass MOCA

After a month of either walking around a dark studio with my projections or cramped over a book and writing a paper, it was refreshing to get out this weekend. We headed up to Vermont with the main objective to visit my mother but our visit came with the bonus of stopping in to see our friend and colleague Jessica Phillips. It was great to connect with her in her studio and share our mutual Group 1 frustrations. Made me feel less isolated and alone.  I’m only sorry I did not allow more time for our visit.

Jessica's Studio (Jessica not shown) Set up for Open Studio Tour

After a nice brunch with my Mom and sister we headed home with a slight detour to Mass MOCA in North Adams. On view is Katharina Grosse’s project one floor up more highly. As you walk into the gallery you’re not sure which you notice first, the gigantic white forms jutting out of the floor, the florescent colored mounds of something, the distinct smell of earth or the spectacle of the cavernous room itself. As you walk around the installation you become aware that the materials used are Styrofoam and spray painted mounds of dirt. Around and in the dirt she has placed article of clothing conjuring up images of abandonment. She also builds a bench into the piece as if to welcome us to sit down and visit. Her paint spills over the forms and onto the gallery floors, walls and windows creating a totally symbiotic relationship between them. As you walk through the sheer scale of the installation is impressive making you feel a little like you are  in a  very bizarre “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” episode. 

The installation provides you with the opportunity to walk above to another gallery to view the piece from above. This point of view offers a different but, I found, not as powerful response. When you are among the pieces on the ground floor you are kind of part of it, from above you are more of a viewer. It’s interesting to note that also included in the project is a lone painting. It hangs in the upper gallery, separate from the rest of the installation. I get the feeling that it is an homage to James Rosenquist. After experiencing the installation the painting seems stagnant, conventional and well, boring.

Also on view is a huge selection of Sol LeWitt and lots more. If you are nearby it's worth the trip.

MASS MoCA