i’d love some Jeff on my Wall

Jeff Wall isn’t interested in what Cartier-Bresson described as the “decisive moment,” but rather, the recreation of what defined the moment. His philosophical choice to make traditional art has characterized Wall’s work, which is heavily produced and staged to an incredibly tedious extent. His pictures provide poignant, yet subtle commentary, but Wall simply wants to present a picture, in and of itself. I think Wall’s work has changed my mind indefinitely about what constitutes integrity in a picture. Wall’s work seems to defy considerations of integrity of a picture being consistent with the authenticity of it. It embraces a picture’s ability to stand by itself. Subject matter becomes secondary to aesthetic influence on people. I find myself mesmerized by Wall’s works, with the rich visual experience they offer. I could seriously look at “An Octopus and Some Beans” all day long.

‘Mimic’ speaks heavily to me, and is a powerful statement on racism, which I can directly relate too. His work redefines the way photography can interact with an audience. The fact that these aren’t genuine moments in time doesn’t take away from the integrity of the picture for me. They are theatrical, but express such intense nuanced details, which are captivating. The dramatic backlighting of his images give the sense of depth, in pictures such as “Volunteer” and “A View From An Apartment, force me to want to go into the picture and explore the depth of the setting.

practice animation

ny times article - cardwell

This article discusses the new rules in NYC regarding shooting film and photos in public. These new rules make the environment for independent filmmakers and amateur photographers to shoot in public much more easily, with this lifted requirements of possessing a permit. What this represents is a relatively valiant effort made by the Bloomberg administration to make its rules more conducive to artists working in the city. This change is valuable to the art world, as it opens up the possibilities for artists to capture the public realm New York without intrusion, either from authority figures or inhabitants of the city. It forces the organism that is New York City to coexist with artists who are attempting, in turn, to interact with it. I think this in a way represents a political statement that speaks to uphold lawful integrity to issues of freedom of expression and civil rights.

sunday show

lies

Aline Smithson

I found Smithson's work captivating. Her use of deep contrasts, shadows, and texture make her pictures aesthetically pleasing to stare at. I found the way she is able to interact with her subject, especially in her collection of children, is intense and satisfying. Her collection of children especially illustrated how effectively she interacts with her subjects. I loved how some of her pictures seemed to capture subtle nuances of everyday life and seemingly random moments in time, but seems to exercise a great deal of control over the composition. I enjoyed her clear distinctions between foreground and background, and loved how she forces them to interact with each other.

photographic lies

This project was interesting for me as it tested my limited capabilities in photoshop, which obviously still need a bit more work. It was satisfying for me to achieve an approach to this project, which opened up a lot of possibilities to experiment with. I thought that I should have expanded more with the idea of interaction with a space, and maybe taken shots over a longer period of time, to achieve more meaningful relationships with the space at hand. I was satisfied by the spaces I chose to shoot, as I thought they gave an interesting dynamic of college life, and were relatively stimulating aesthetically.