Ashley presents Travis Louie

I came across this artist the other day and while he is not a photographer his works are greatly based on photography and in that we can draw inspiration. His images are all black and white and gray all over and they are all of monsters and I do just adore the monster art. Anyway back to the topic at hand, the thing that I think that most intrigues me about his work is not just the imagery itself but also the fact that each creature/monster has a back story. For example one of his more recent creatures 'Ethel.'

Ethel

According to the myth, she rose out of the sea at low tide to look for a man sometime in the 1880’s. It is said she was part jellyfish because of her transparent appearance and spindly hair. She attracted her possible suitors by giving off the scent of fine food and liquor. When the men she wooed were not to her liking, she stung them with her tentacle hair. The stings were said to induce paralysis and memory loss. In one of the stories, she even turned a man into a jellyfish.

There have been many sightings of a woman levitating out of the surf with a flowing white dress along the Eastern seaboard. Most of those reports have taken place during seaside town festivals, usually in the evening, and involving much drinking.

Les Krims presented by Ashley

It has come to my attention that not enough of the people I talk to from our class know of the genius of Les Krims, so I present him to you in all of his crazy, mixed up awesomeness.

We shall begin with one of my all time favorite series he did in 1972 'The Incredible Case of the Stack O' Wheats Murders.' This series is one of his more controversial because it is said to show women as victims of horrific crimes and I can see where these images could be seen as that but at the same time the absolute ridiculousness of there being a stack of pancakes in the images is just hilarious. In the box set he also included a package of "stack o' wheats' mix and a bottle of chocolate syrup (what he used for the blood).

Next we will move on to his homage to his mothers chicken soup. He Actually made a book in 1972 called 'Making Chicken Soup' and it is a book of his mother naked going over the recipe on how to make her chicken soup. Sooooo hilarious!

Then there are his images that just stand alone. Take for instance his 'Homage to the Crosstar Filter'

That is just a small sprinkling of his work for more go to www.leskrims.com and all of you should!

P.S. Small side note, Les Krims was the first official photographer for the Little People of America and he did make quite a few series of works with the organization.

Carolyn King submits Julia Cybularz

I remember once I was in a tiny book store and came across a book a photographer made about a project focusing on portraits of elderly patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and their daily routines. I became so entranced looking at those photos of a life I did not know and have never experienced. It was awe inspiring in a sad and quiet way seeing how strangers suffered without knowing they suffered so. I felt this sensation again after viewing Julia Cybularz's project entitled The Mathematician, which is a work that focuses on her cousin who is schizophrenic. Each photo not only stood as a quiet objection to his illness, illustrating his inner pain and struggle, but also offered a unique perspective into his world, sometimes confused and oftentimes imaginary. At the same time, these photos felt all to real and saddening, yet also unreal, merely a glimpse of a possibility. I feel they are a call to an awakening, a intervention to arouse attention. They are quietly beautiful and desperately saddening.

http://www.juliacybularz.com/artist.asp?ArtistID=16143&AKey=24WYMV6S

Carolyn King submits Apollonia Morrill

These photos are part of several separate bodies of work all focusing on site specificity and color studies by Apollonia Morrill. I greatly enjoy the composition of the photos and the color palates of the individual bodies of work. Each grouping seems to focus on a certain color selection and it further emphasizes that the photos are in fact a group. The lighting situations are also very pretty; the faint available light altered by the textured surfaces and the obscure light sources add to the mysterious and quiet atmospheres that are portrayed in Morrill's work. One of the things I've found different when shooting on medium format is that the square is a bit harder to work with as a composition as compared to the rectangle of small format. Morrill works beautifully with the square and I completely enjoy the unique composition of the photos.

http://www.sitespecificdocumentary.com/index.html

Yvette Coronado submits Lisa Kereszi

Lisa Kereszi's photography is similar to embarking on a treasure hunt through suburban America. Her work focuses on the small details within junkyards, grandma's house, and strip bars. Kereszi is Yale graduate, who received her MFA in photography in 2000 and was once an assistant to Nan Goldin. In interviews with Kereszi the artist admits to presenting her photography as straight prints, where no digital remastering occurs. This certainly gives all her work a sense of being honest and genuine. Kereszi's approach is not documentary, but her work has a mysterious narrative element about it. This is found in her series Haunted, where Kereszi photographs empty ,well lit haunted houses. Her subject matter could also be seen as kitsch, as in the objects found in her series To Grandmother's House. Kereszi's most popular series seems to be Fantasies, which center on the not so sensual side of strip clubs. All of her projects, ten in all, can found at her website http://lisakereszi.com. Her website is well done, highly organized, and easy to navigate. Kereszi's photography are certainly captivating visions of the mundane.

Christel Schlager Submits Jin Lee

http://jinslee.net/index2.html

The landscape photographs of Jin Lee are through the prairies of Central and Northern Illinois where she has lived for the past six years. The scenes are usually unpopulated. Lee’s images record the uniformity of plant structures and the subtle shifts between stillness and movement, similarity and difference, caused by weather patterns. I haven’t written a blog entry about a landscape artist and so when I picked Jin Lee I picked her for the artistic elements she used within her photos. The one I’m showing has a simple field with a single person lying in the middle of it, but she almost seems like she blends within the whole scene, because of the dark green grass and the very clear and puffy clouds of the sky. I enjoy her simplicity and also the element of the subtle uses with the figure within most her images. For the image above the composition with the cut grass going through the middle of the photo, and placing the figure quietly in the center actually works out as an advantage I think rather than a disadvantage.
http://jin411.blogspot.com/
I found this on the web and it looks to be Jim’s own personal journal. This is wonderful because you can read about her stories and her photos as she presents them to her audience.

Christel Schlager Submits Todd Deutsch

 

Todd Deutsch unlike Sally Mann is on the opposite end of the spectrum when he uses HIS own children. He photographs his kids in the manner that I accepted them to be, Colorful, Funny, and even Heartwarming. He takes his everyday mundane life and photographs it in such a way that makes it a pin or stamp within his memory book. I enjoy the still shoots he takes, as he captures the moment. The first image that placed above is my favorite, because it’s his little boy playing with bright colorful Legos, and it’s almost like a Tableau because it’s not a few Legos, it’s a TON of Legos, and we all know how expensive just a small set can be. The composition with having the boy in the corner and the Legos everywhere just works and it’s why I ended up choosing it. The second image I choose is a Black & White image, and what drew me too it was the story that is happening. I can see one of the parents sleeping on the bed and the cutest thing that is happening though, is that the child looks like he is covering the parent up with a blanket. It reminds me of a role reversal where the parents tuck in their children before going to bed. It’s got a good composition with the angle of the walls meeting at the center of the image that helps create a vanishing point. I feel that this image could even do well as being a color image.

So overall, I really like the way how Todd uses his family in a positive way to create art, and appreciate him a bit more than Sally.

http://www.todddeutsch.com/

Christel Schlager Submits Sally Mann

 

 

 

Sally Mann
Best known for her Immediate Family, collection. The book consists of 65 black-and-white photographs of her three children, all under the age of 10. Many of the themes I’ve noticed while looking at her works seem dark and they touch upon themes such as insecurity, loneliness, injury, sexuality and death. It’s really hard to believe that these are HER children whom she is placing into these odd and even cruel themes. Children are always known for their cheerfulness and light. They bring overwhelming color into the world, and are capable of bringing a smile onto people’s faces. Yet, the way that Mann has placed and moved her little figures around within the frame of the camera, makes everything contradict the already approved notion of children. The Black and White images enhance the mood of her images as like I was mentioning before with the youthful colors, you don’t get the feel of purity. I’m at such a pull to whether or not I can enjoy the images within this collection. There’s one part of me who finds the explorative side of children and the impurity to be somewhat enhancing and truthful, but I suppose the other part of me, wishes to believe that such things like a child’s death, or even a 10 year old girl smoking to be unrealistic, and fake. I understand the things that Mann wants to portray, but there is a bit of an uneasiness in my eyes, knowing that she uses her OWN children to create the work. I don’t think if I was a mother I would want them to even have any suggestion of the darker themes the happen within the world. I will give Mann credit for having good compositions and lighting within her images, and enough information to leave you thinking about what is going on within the picture plane. 

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mann/index.html#

Yvette Coronado submits Philip Lorca di Corcia

Philip Lorca di Corica's Hustlers series is a favorite of mine for it's process and style . Hustlers was created in 1990-1992, and was shot along Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. The artist cast local street hustlers as his subjects and shot them mainly at dusk or at night. One would think these were random snapshots, however these photos are carefully staged and lit as the artist composed the work well. Each photo in Hustlers are titled by the subject's name, birthplace, and the amount of money they took to pose for the photograph. His work can be seen as documentary, but his emotion laden images eclipse the documentary and become narrative. His heightened sense of drama is intriguing, since they evolve from seemingly banal everyday life occurrences.

It is a shame Lorca di Corcia does not have an established website of his own. One can see his work at the David Zwirner Gallery and various museum websites. Although, information on any of his series is missing in almost any website that features his work.I recommend the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA website devoted to Hustlers at http://lacma.org/art/Exhibdicorcia.aspx. Here you will find a great interview with Lorca di Corcia conducted with Charlotte Cotton. The Q and A reveals the artists work ethic and history of the project.

Yvette Coronado submits Robin Schwartz

Being an only child for the first ten years of my life I certainly can identify with Robin Schwartz's photographic fantasy land. Amelia's World is a series done by Schwartz, in which she uses her daughter as the main model and her muse. Schwartz had said as an only child she was constantly involved in her own imaginary world and now she photographs her only child in similar dream situations. Created in three parts, Animal Affinity, Dreams, and Imaginary Tales--the last being the only non-animal related photos-- Amelia's World is quite captivating, with Amelia being surrounded by animals and enveloped in landscapes. The artist has admitted her color and light was inspired by Pre-Raphalelite and Medieval paintings, which I believe are conveyed very well within Schwartz's work. Working with animals and children can sometimes drown photographs with cutesy sentimentalism, however Schwartz's work shines above that in that are sincere and serene. Schwartz's website presents Amelia's World well, in addition with the artist's previous work, and an artist statement is submitted for all her work. Visit the site at http://robinschwartz.net/

Thomas Lopez submits Miklos Gaal

Miklos Gaal is another photographer that takes photos from a birds eye view and gives us this illusion of looking into something that has the impression of being not real. Its as if he is photographing a scale model of the scene.

I think his technique of giving us this pinpoint detail in the main focal part of the photo while distorting some of the outer edges gives the work such an intriguing value.

Another Photographer I posted Olivo Barberi does similar work but I feel that Miklos pieces are somewhat better.

I am particularly drawn to the swimming photos because of the angle at which they are taken gives the work such an interesting perspective.

http://www.miklosgaal.com/

ALUMNI action!

This one reminds me of my final show during my last semester in UTSA, where I did the couples series w/out identifying their faces (minus my whimsical spin).

I saw read this article in the NY Times the other morning and thought you might enjoy reading it too.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/learning-photography-from-margaret-mead/?hp

Some of the slides in the slideshow are quite stunning :)

My faves are above, (not including the funeral of J.F.K and the guys doing a handstand in a London park.):

Cheers,

Apryl Corbin

**look at me libs I'm edumacating myself outside of school :) **

Thomas Lopez submits Nan Goldin

I first saw some of Nan Goldin's work while looking at books in the library and was quite taken by her in your face type of work that she does. Much of her art is really just photos of people in their daily life stuff but doing things or in situations that most people would not be comfortable with photographing.

For instance she did quite a bit of work in the 80s of

people who were dying from aids and also some with there lovers by there side. She also did a lot of photos of drag queens.

I also found a series she did of self portraits after she had been beaten by a boyfriend . There are many photos she has taken of people right after having sex or in the shower.

In addition she has done commercial work that is quit beautiful as well.

I think she does very good use with lighting in setting the mood for the photos .

http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/nan-goldin/selected-works/

Thomas Lopez submits Olivo Barberi

I found the photographs by this artist in the library and found them very interesting. I thought they were little models at first but then realized that it was taken from an ariel view and using the lens to create a somewhat distorted perspective.

I found some information on the web about Olivo that mentions his use of a tilt-shift lens to create these miniature looking effects in urban settings. He also is taking the photos from a helicopter. He has taken a lot of different photos in various cities using this technique.

Many of the photos are of famous buildings and also famous natural landmarks I was also very impressed with the ones that were of Niagara Falls the distorted perspective in these in particular work very nicely in the photos.

http://www.olivobarbieri.it/

Christel Schlager Submits Alan & Blake Weissling A Generational Influence

ALAN WEISSLING & BLAKE WEISSLING
A Generational Influence

I decided to take a small part of each of the boy’s artist statements. So here they are below.
Alan: “I want to photograph my subjects simply the way they are, whether it’s portrait where I’m trying to document the true nature of the person, or a moment of time I want others to see, or an alternate view of a scene many people would have ignored”

Blake: “I’ve open this Pandora’s box now, with drawing parallels between music an photography, so in I must dive, For me, my individual images seem like druses in some unfinished symphony…the photographs I make now hopefully will contribute in some meaningful way to that symphony of mine. I invite you to listen in.”
These guys had great images, I was drawn more to Alan’s work though and his images are the one’s I’m sharing in this entry. He had such a great sense of capturing the moment and overall had such great images that made me think of my Tableau project. He tells a story with not even that many objects or even people present, and much like what his statement was about “wanting to document the true nature” I feel he has accomplished what he wanted very successfully with his work. He makes good use of composition, and uses many interesting angles within his pieces. The one with the couple at the airport is striking. Because it’s a moment capture, and you wonder what has happened to them. Why is the man hiding his face within the womens lap? Are they sad about something, because that’s the general feeling I get when I look at the piece.

Blake’s work seems to be just missing something that Alan is presenting. Maybe it’s just the whole feel and emotion behind the piece. Not all of his shots are successful in playing this symphony he describes, but a few were rather charming.

I really enjoy looking at these pictures at the San Antonio School of Art much more than looking at Kent Rush’s works which are being shown at the same time. I really do feel that if anyone has time to go and look at the Weissling brothers work, that you should.

Christel Schlager Submits Kent Rush "Inchoate and Sublime"

Kent Rush: FotoSeptiembreUSA. Said that “Kent Rush's artwork is a formalist, object-maker's rejection of these ideas, there is something immensely gratifying about the unstudied simplicity of his images, the low tech way they are made, the quiet curiosity they arouse, and the sensual physicality of the photography itself.” Through the audio tour I listened to he has been working on this series called “Inchoate and Sublime” for over 22 years. He wanted to make images with no color, because color seduces individuals and all are printed on silver print film paper. He mentions that he doesn't have much control over the images he takes, because of the low-tech camera he is using. Overall, I had a hard time looking at his images. Probably because they were so vague and blurred and you were unable to really understand what you are seeing. It was frustrating and I had a hard time relating to his pieces, and upon learning he took over 22 years to come to where he was, I have to wonder what I'm missing and why everyone is so enchanted by his work. Maybe it's my own inexperience of photography that makes me unable to understand and appreciate his works. You can send him a email at karmstrong@swschool.org if you want to get a hold of him and talk to him personally a bit more about his works.

Christel Schlager Submits Edward Horsford

Edward Horsford
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edwardhorsford/

Edward Horsford is a photography my boyfriend shared with me. He's not very well known, but he certainly is an artist who takes great joy in the art he makes. I really enjoy his images because he uses his cameras shutter speed to capture something that the eye is unable to see. I think that a reason why something like “stop action” images are so intriguing because it's something you see every day, but viewed in a completely new perspective.  The image I'm sharing above with his hands is him capturing the moment when a water balloon pops. You can see the plastic band crunch up into what looks like a blue rose! I found that pretty lovely and the whole view of just seeing how the water just shoots out in the shape of its counter and burst into little waves as its falling. Edward gets really creative with this idea and starts adding color into the water. That way before he pops them he gets contrast between the balloon color and the water color as it pops. It's nice too when you look at his Flicker page because he puts the setting he used to capture the image. For the balloon it was "Strobist: SB600 on camera left and below, gobo'd, on 1/64th power. SB800 on camera right and above, gobo'd on 1/64th. Balloon with blue dyed water. Retouching / correction in Aperture.” I think what I really want to do after seeing his images, is try to shoot images that also can't be seen with the eye normally, shoot an image, like something jumping in a pool, or just capturing a moment of movement and really capturing the scene.

This is his website http://edwardhorsford.com/index.htm if you have any questions it seems like he is free to answer them he provides an email and even a phone number. ^^

Ashley presents Bent Objects

To start, in my opinion photography, well art in general, should not always be so serious. So I present Terry Border and his hilariously wonderful Bent Objects. Mr. Border creates scenes using everyday household items and food, fast food even (his MacDonald's images are some of my favorite). Sometimes they are meant to be just funny but other times there is a deeper meaning to it that is presented in such an adorably funny way that one cannot help but smile at the absurdity.

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Andrea Couture submits Ellen Kooi

Ellen Kooi is a Dutch photographer working in color. I found her images very interesting and I was especially drawn to the wide format of most of her images because it is a unique format that is not often seen. She uses a lot of children in her photography and with each image there is definitely a sense of mystery and dream-like/fairytale quality...who has children growing out of trees? All of Kooi's compositions are very dynamic and help add another layer of obscurity to the images.

The second image from the top is a very alluring photo. At first glance I just thought there was a woman on the side of the road with cars passing by her. But upon further examination I discovered that the woman was kneeling in the road and screaming into the storm drain. Then I realized that there is another woman in the background doing the same thing. In this photo Kooi also used some of the available light from the cars and street lights (at least that is how it seems). This gives the photo a pink/purple hue adding to the strangeness of this photo.

Here is her website:

http://www.ellenkooi.nl/Ellenkooi.htm