BELINDA FUENTES REVIEWS ANDEAS GURSKY

            “I am never interested in the individual, but in the human species and the environment,” the very idea that encompasses Andreas Gursky’s work. He explores the objectives of how humans interact with each other and in specific surroundings. These intentions are noticeable in Ratingen [Swimming Pool] in which he discusses humanity, spatial elements and the method of consumption. Divisions of the planes arise from the natural colors in the scene of light brown, blue a green but the spots of flesh also creates a link amongst the photograph. The perspective of the camera creates flatness, a quality commonly seen in Gursky’s photographs. In the 1980s, Gursky expands to outside scenes in order to create a larger canvas and as a result, creates more distance from the subject. His photographs are characteristic of a heighten view of the setting. Other examples of this perspective as well as repetition include chromogenic color prints, 99 Cent from 1999, a view of store isles or Shanghai, view of building levels from 2000. The distance of the camera or the viewer reshapes the ideas of the sale figure and becomes about the population of the pool as a whole. There is a detachment from knowing the individuals and interacting at this pool setting. Also, there is a distinct feel of observation occurring. Lending to the idea of photography as a documentation of human interactions as they naturally occur, the individuals are unaware of the photographer’s presence As a result, there is a division between the audience and the pool population. The pool occupants become the art that us on display in a gallery.  

BELINDA FUENTES REVIEWS KEILY ANDERSON-STALEY

            Off The Grid is personal to Keliy Anderson-Staley in that she has experience with the subject matter she is documenting and begins with her own family. This series follows families in Maine who live without the normal American necessities such as electricity, plumbing and technology. Further, she explores how homes can represent the families living in them and act as self-portraits. The series consists of various rooms of the families’ homes such as living areas, their environment such as their land; their daily lives such as their occupations but also the families themselves. With Finn in his Bedroom, Harmony, Maine, this image shows how off the grid homes can appear the same as “normal” American homes with his bedroom looking like any other teenager’s room. Displaying their lives includes intimate parts of their home including their outhouses such as Bush Oil Sign on Outhouse, Guilford, Maine, A-Frame Outhouse, Unity, Maine, Tom's Outhouse Interior, Guilford, Maine and Landry's Outhouse, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, contributing to the reality of being off the grid. Anderson-Staley enjoys the contrast that occurs with the children of these families who grew up with a certain lifestyle but also long to be apart of the common society. Katrina in the Kitchen, Sebec, Maine illustrates a young lady in her interesting environment yet there is a sense of longing as she stares in the distance, perhaps daydreaming of another life, a “normal” life. Commonly see in her photographs are ice, gardens and wood. Despite the intimate connection, she stays neutral on subjects of the environment and our society.

BELINDA FUENTES REVIEWS BENEDIKT PARTENHEIMER

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            The air of China fills with particle pollution and Benedikt Partenheimer’s series Particular Matter comments on this issue. Further, Partenheimer studies the human condition as it pertains to the environment. Thus, he discovers how humans view and treat the world. In this particular series there is an absence of light due to the air pollution. There is a reference to painting with the technique of sfumato, which blends shades together, creating soft lines. Partenheimer seeks out this issue that is one of the biggest environmental subjects. Initially the image Huangpu River/AQI 440 has a beautiful and peaceful ambience but then curiosity of the title arises. Investigation and realization of what AQI means, air quality index, and the severity of this problem to the population is evident, thus changing the meaning and feeling of this series. While Huangpu River/AQI 440 appears more of a fog landscape, Shijiazhuang 2014/AQI 360 represents a clear picture on the severity of the issue on the cityscape in which only outlines of buildings are accessible. With Chimneys/AQI 340, only two similar shapes are detectable at the bottom of the image. Air quality indexes over 300 are hazardous not only the environment but especially to the population’s health and life expectancy. Partenheimer’s website illustrates the critical aspect of air quality indexes between 301 and 500, “serious aggravation of heart of lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly; serious risk of respiratory effects in general population”. The purpose of this series mimics deception just as the Chinese government deceives the Chinese population on the extremity of the air, but also to, in the end expose the reality.

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Clarice Hess Reviews Rebecca Drolen

The Transplant show at Northwest Vista by Rebecca Drolen consisted of a long hallway and several rooms lined with portraits of people positioned in front of various foliage. Beside the portraits were photos of just foliage. These portraits were fascinating in the way they portrayed landscape through demographics. In her artist statement she talked about how each person was someone who came to the South from somewhere else and how she has pinpointed “Southern identity” as one of the main focal points of this work. Personally, I was intrigued by the use of portrait as showing a sense of place instead of person, or rather a group persona relating to place instead of an individual. Each portrait and the people within them can be viewed as an individual, but in the context of the whole work it ceases to be about the person in the picture. And yet, at the same time those people are what the work is about, specifically people who were transplanted into the South. This tug of war between the individual in each portrait and the whole sense of place or group persona that the entire work embodies is something that I would enjoy playing with in my own work.

Henry Lopez reviews Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson's work in Twilight shows dark and mysterious undertones of suburban life.  He captures these transitions frozen in time that give the viewers feeling of longing or loss.  He stages these scenes with such high detail and careful selection in the objects that he sets to help create the narrative and give a more natural feeling.  He also focuses heavily on the lighting to shroud us in mystery and drama.  In this collection of his work he gives a surreal look to a familiar setting thus changing it entirely and changing the way we might think about the suburban setting.  I respond very well to most of Crewdson's work because I am also interested in the narrative side of photography and telling compelling stories through a single image.  The main things that I would like to take from his work would be his use of lighting and interesting ways that he composes scenes.  Crewdson is able to get this cinema quality look to his photos and that is something I would like to put into my future work.