On the Web: April 2006 Archives
I work for an interactive agency here in NYC and we launched a new project today promoting a high-end mobile video device (some would call it a phone, others a "multimedia computer"). Can't pass up the opportunity to plug Nokia Nseries since we built in an easy to use ability to blog videos off of the main site. Here's one of them that gives you a little flavor of what my work neighborhood is like.:
The project's intent is to encourage "snapshot video", using the advanced video camera of the Nokia N93 to pick up snippets of life the way you'd use a still camera. We're passing sample devices out to creative folks to piece together little films on a always changing theme. (The real video output is in color, btw.)
Blueyes 11 is now available.
The new SeeSaw features Richard Misrach (including an interview) and Sara Pickering, amongst others. (But, seriously, guys, learn how to make a real Website. This graphics-based thing, even for text, is a little silly.)
There are 125 pictures in [Chronologies], and I could have easily replaced them with another 125. In fact, this book would have been better if it had had 250 images to fully argue the concept behind it, but you would have needed a wheelbarrow to move it. The fact is that I’m never done with my earlier work. I have over 35,000 8X10” negatives that I’ve never even printed! It’s an archive that I constantly mine for both old and new ideas. - Richard Misrach
It's amazing how the dots come together sometimes. I ran across a great list of jazz quotes that are easily applied to photography or any other creative medium. In this case, the list was created to inspire Powerpoint users. Go figure.
#1: “The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.” (Duke-Ellington)
In photographic terms, the ability to see (watch? is the hear/listen analog see/watch?) is more important than any technical expertise.
#5: “Master your instrument. Master the music. And then forget all that bullshit and just play.” (Charlie-Parker)
Edward Weston believed the photographer should stick to one camera and learn all its ins and outs in order to be able to be so casual enough in using it that taking great pictures would be second nature. He had a lot of venom for equipment whores.
#7: “You can play a shoestring if you’re sincere.” (John-Coltrane)
It's the photographer, not the camera that determines the final result.
Erik's posted a thorough preview of next week's auctions at Christie's,Sotheby's and Phililp's.
I'm not a collector myself, so the financial portion of the auctions is not as interesting to me as how the prices and selections impact historical views of importance and validate (or invalidate) canonical photographers. Plus, the works are often exhibited for viewing prior to the auction, so these events offer an opportunity to see works that may not come to a gallery or museum.
First the Times, then a few days later the Wall Street Journal keys in on the graduate school farm teams.
So much for spending years toiling in obscurity -- or even starving -- to catch the fancy of the art world. With global auction sales hitting $4.2 billion last year and scores of new galleries fighting for inventory, some dealers are reaching out to a largely untapped group of American artists: the impossibly precocious.
Let's be honest, this is a rare situation. Most artists - most art students - will never have to deal with the soul crushing dilemma of turning down easy hedge fund money in favor of greater personal development and perhaps long-term artistic success. Plus, this whole higher ed arts thing seems to be a recent development that hasn't entirely proven its legs. There's a lot of proto-Schaedenfreud in these articles, people rubbing their hands just hoping for the bottom to fall out.
Stanley Greenberg's "Invisible City" was one of the first photo book I bought. (Actually, I received it as a gift.) The book collects his extensive project cataloging the hidden, frequently underground, world just outside of New Yorkers' everyday view. His latest work makes an abstract view of the constant construction that is going on all around us. (via BLDGBLOG)
Through May 20 at Candace Dwan Gallery
24 W 57th St, Suite 503
(212) 315-0065
Related: Annie Leibowitz was hired to document the construction of the New York Times Building around the corner from where I work. She seems an odd choice for the job, given her usual gig making celebrity portraits.
The Oregonian published an interview with Gregory Crewdson in connection with the new show of Crewdson's work (juxtaposed with Candida Hofer - a strange pairing in my opinion.) Many of the questions drive at Crewdson's affinity for the cinematic.
First and foremost, I consider myself a photographer in that I'm dealing with the central problem of creating a still image grounded in the real world in some way. And I feel very connected to the tradition of art photography -- the work of people like Lee Friedlander and Walker Evans. But that being said, photography has also easily absorbed the conventions of film, advertising and popular culture, too.
An interesting tic is how Crewdson naturally switches between "we" and "I" when talking about his working process. I'd need to analyze the interview more closely to determine whether there is a conscious pattern as to when he uses which pronoun. In any case, this plays into a pet thought of mine (not really a theory, just a thought) about the development of the "artist as project manager" brought about by the devaluing of individual skill coinciding with increased valuation of the artistic idea over physical artistic expression. Matthew Barney and Richard Serra would fall into this category as well. This is not to say that Crewdson is not skillful, it's just that his photography chops are not what are of primary value, its the overall conception of the piece. Execution is a matter for the production crew.
(via PORT)
