Photographers: March 2006 Archives
Archinect has published an interview with photographer David Maisel by BLDGBLOG author Geoff Manaugh.
For the most part, I’m interested in landscape images not merely for what they look like, but for what they make us feel, and for what they might represent metaphorically. I’ve also wanted my pictures to take the viewer to places and sites they’ve never seen before, with a resulting sense of alienation or displacement. I'm less interested in being warm and fuzzy than in being harsh and cruel! [laughter] Those possibilities don’t exist when looking at the familiar.
Maisel's Black Maps project is being shown at the Southest Museum of Photography in Daytona. If you're on spring break, you might want to swing by.
Through June 23rd at Southeast Museum of Photography
Building 100
Daytona Beach Community College
1200 W International Speedway Blvd
Daytona Beach, FL
(386) 506-4475
This is somewhat old news at this point, but Philip-Lorca diCorcia has successfully defended his right to make street photography without the approval of his unwitting subjects. This has universally been heralded as a terrific victory for art, particularly in the photoblogger community since the bulk of their work is so heavily weighted towards street photography.
However, I found the judge's decision to be a bit more disturbing, as did she. The critical issue at the center of argument was whether diCorcia's work qualified as advertising or purposes of trade. If it did, then diCorcia was liable. DiCorcia's lawyers argued it did not qualify as commerce simply because it was art. This was determined by the photo's "exhibition in a gallery; sale of limited edition prints; and publication in an artist's monograph". Personally I find it strange that one would argue something's value as art by providing examples of its sale. Judge Gische ultimately found that diCorcia had “demonstrated his general reputation as a photographic artist in the international artistic community” and was thus engaged in art, not commerce. This leaves me to question how artists without an international reputation would fare. I find it strange and troubling that the court's definition of art would be so bound up in the gallery system and specifically connected a specific artist's success.
I have had an amazingly busy day and only now came to know that Gordon Parks passed away yesterday at the age of 93. MAN has posed some good links. Howard Greenberg Gallery's current show features a range of work from Gordon's career.
Gordon Parks
Moments Without Proper Names
Through March 11 at Howard Greenberg Gallery
The Fuller Building
41 E 57th St
(212) 334-0010
