Moving Pictures

The Wooster Collective has a post of an amazing video entered in the Modest Mouse competition by Max Tyrie. 4133 still images.

"Myself and a couple have friends have entered the above into the Modest Mouse video competition. Using green screen footage provided by the band we cut a simple music video. We then degraded the images and printed out each frame sequentially. (all 4133 of them) We then nailed each "shot" of 50-100 posters to various structures and posts. Then using a digital SLR camera with a long exposure we frame by frame shot each poster. Oh, and theres a little video projection (again, frame by frame on the SLR) just to mix it up. There is no compositing, no shortcuts, just lots of blood, sweat and tears, and a huge Kinkos bill!"

I guess this won't be possible with the new rules going into place.

The Complete Pictures

Aperture has Gilbert & George The Complete Pictures, a 2 volume boxed set, at 30% off. The image above is the assembly plan for the 48 hour limited edition of downloadable files that they offered in early May. I am very pleased that I got my copy and will be printing it to hang in my studio as soon as I get through my Artist's Book class. It's exciting to see that the retrospective tour will be at the Milwaukee Art Museum next summer, one of only six stops in the world.

Virtual

The power of the "vitual" cannot be overstated. It allows millions the opportunity for education, communication and comunity that otherwise would be largely inaccessible. I went to the (virtual) dictionary for definitions.

virtual adj. 1. being actually such in almost every way (emphasis mine) 2. existing in essence though not in actual fact

Today that changed for me when I received Willow #7 from muse-ings Tim Atherton.

Willow #7 Tim Athterton

The blogosphere, web sites, even books do not hold a candle to the pleasure of holding a print made by the photographer in one's hands. The passage from "almost" to "actual" is profound. This is the completion of the circle.

In the coming weeks I will be receiving Tim's second offering from Looking Glass Editions. A beautiful piece that is included in the current Humble Art's Group Show.

Alleyway # 5 83rd Street Tim Atherton

I am also eagerly looking forward to receiving Julian Thomas' limited edition offering.

Julian Thomas

If I get my work to the place where I would make similar offerings I believe I would call them
360 Degrees editions. As I said...full circle. Tim and Julian both wrote of their motivations for taking this route to sell their work. Let me just say that I am hugely grateful.

Alessandra Sanguinetti

From The Adventures of Guille and Belinda And the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams Alessandra Sanguinetti

I am most pleased to read that Alessandra Sanguinetti has been voted in as a Nominee at Magnum. I purchased her monograph The Sixth Day when it was published. A dramatic collection of beautiful pictures of farm life in Argentina that walk a tightrope, balancing between brutality and delicacy (just as with life) . Learn more about her work here and here.

Mike Brodie

Citizens for a Poodle Free Montana Mike Brodie

Christian Patterson posted a link to an interview he did for flashfilm. It is interesting to read about his background (grew up in Wisconsin, worked for William Eggleston) and his process ("I don’t feel that digital photography has matured as a medium, and it doesn't look as good to me as film. When it does, I will consider using it.")

He pointed out on his post that there are numerous photographers interviewed at flashflim which brings us back to Mike Brodie. I'm excited to see that he will be coming to Milwaukee for an exhibition at Paper Boat Boutique July 25 - August 31. He indicates that he will be at the opening reception on July 27, hoping to ride the rails to get here.

That is also the night of the opening of CoPA's First Annual Juried Exhibition, Juror Brian Ulrich. It's going to be a fantastic Friday.

(I think I have just exceeded my link quota)

Size Matters

Home 2007 Mel Trittin

For those who asked here is the zoom of the print from yesterday's post. I thought it appropriate for this to be the one to make the first holes in the wall with (click on image for larger view).

By the way...the print is a gorgeous light jet made by Burne Photo Imaging in Madison (far better than the web reproduction).

Before & After

My studio/workspace/gallery/museum is mostly done. Now for furnishing and organization. However, I have hung my first piece of work.

Home 2007 Mel Trittin

The working name is Waterford Museum Of Contemporary Art. Or WaMoCA ?

Great Portraits

Vues de dos 2002 Malick Sidibe

Through The Online Photographer the Venice Biennale has awarded the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award for the first time to a photographer. Malick Sidibe, age 72.

I think this post is particularly appropriate on the day A New American Portrait opens at Jen Bekman. Ms Bekman and Joerg Colberg have put up a post by the exhibiting photographers, discussing what makes a great portrait.

"a portrait lives in the interaction between the photographer and the sitter, a relationship which banishes any notion of objectivity."

J. Colberg

Exposures: An Aperture Blog

El Anatsui installation

Plastic Bottles 2007 Chris Jordan

A newer blog, Exposures:An Aperture Blog, has a post by Evan Mirapaul on the Venice Biennial and an installation of a sculpture by El Anatsui. I would dearly love to have the opportunity to experience in person the conveyance of idea and compare that to the experience of Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers. Is this a place where tactile trumps "frozen perfection"?

Further incentive

I posted Monday about Gallery Hopper. Here should be all the incentive you need to subscribe to or bookmark this blog. It may also be incentive to check flights and hotels.

A New American Portrait

William Eggleston in his Music Room, 2000 Alec Soth

As I mentioned last week A New American Portrait is getting ready to open At Jen Bekman this Friday. She has posted that she is struggling with posting her thoughts on the exhibit and portraits and instead has given us 3 short videos of Alec Soth on portraits.

"It's a picture of the space between us."

Good stuff.

Travel

The New York Times travel section has a useful article on planned exhibitions around the country and the world if you have, or are thinking or making, travel plans for the rest of the year. One of the resources they recommend at the bottom of the page is the excellent blog Gallery Hopper. Definitely a site to bookmark or subscribe to.

Update: In posting this I double checked the links and the NYT link has gone to requiring a sign-up and log in. I apologize for the nuisance and resent sites that do this......

Conceptual Photography 1964-1989

To Reverse One's Eyes 1970 Guiseppe Penone

Zwirner & Wirth is having a show of conceptual photographs through June 23. You have to click on each thumbnail to view larger and then go back to look at another, a bit tedious but a worthwhile exercise.

This is the contemporary photography of my youth.

When you're looking for something else...

you never know what you'll find. I am not an"Idol" watcher. In fact I can't stand the whole breathless, stagey, edited, manipulated, snotty Simon concept. I was following a link to another site and before I had scrolled to the object of my search I came upon this. 3 1/2 minutes of delightful. If you discover that there is a backstory, that this is not what it (heavily edited) appears...please don't tell me.

Portrait Roundup

As a service, here is a roundup of posts on photographic portraits. Feel free to print these out because the quality of insight and critique is something you'll want to refer back to. We'll start with Rubbernecking: On Portraiture a wonderful piece at The Spark of Accident. Conscientious has Old Favourites in conjunction with A New American Portrait at Jen Beckman. Muse-ings has a lovely post Empty Drawing Room to round things out.

Fridays are often a gold mine of knowledge, experience, opinions and fun.

The reason I use a camera...

If you're looking for a way to to waste time I've found a wonderful diversion. Flipper allows you to make virtual flip books. My effort, Minimal, is a good indication as to why my artistic expression is confined to photography. Just a little summer fun.

Relative Closeness

Day 325 July 19, 2004 2005 Todd Deutsch

If you live in the midwest head to Chicago for the Museum of Contemporary Photography's exhibit Relative Closeness: Photographs of Family and Friends running from June 15 through August 8.

" Relative Closeness presents the work of artists who focus their cameras on their own friends, families, and homes. These artists explore their immediate environments and the people who anchor them, as a way to reflect upon their own mortality. Ranging from affectionate portraits to psychologically challenging images, these works investigate and often question universal ideas of the sweetness and sanctity of family life. Some of the artists probe the very meaning of “family,” others turn to friends, themselves, or even old family photographs to examine their need for human connection and sanctuary. "

Work by: Harry Callahan,Jen Davis,Todd Deutsch,KayLynn Deveney,Deanna Dikeman,Ben Gest,Cynthia Greig and Richard H. Smith,Alice Hargrave,Vince Leo,Sally Mann,Hrvoje Slovenc,Aleksandra Vajd

Brad Moore

Trini Circle, Westminster, California 2006 Brad Moore

I had the good fortune to come across the work of Brad Moore. I was immediately drawn to the formal compositions of ironic subjects in a palette that can best be described as Southern California noon. I think his work is teriffic and am hopeful that if Brian Ulrich reads this he will too.

Samuel Fosso

La femme Americaine liberee 1997 Samuel Fosso

Meet me in Ataxia, Baby (a wonderful blog that has sadly become very sporadic due to graduate school) posted on Samuel Fosso a young photographer from the Central African Republic who opened his studio at age 13 and started taking self portraits at 16. Read an interview with the director of a BBC documentary on Fosso here. I want to find more of his work but haven't been successful.

Absolutely compelling.

It's All Good

One of the first photography blogs I subscribed to a couple of years ago was Boogie. I stayed with it for about a year and a half until I couldn't bear the constant carnage anymore. He is a prolific poster. If that makes me shallow and disengaged, so be it. It also keeps me sane (relatively). I see now he has a monograph, It's All Good. I believe in documentary photography. I believe it's important. I'd like to believe it will make a difference. I don't think it will.

Misha de Ridder

Wilderness 2007 Misha De Ridder

Shane Lavalette/Journal has an interesting post on Misha De Ridder and his book Wilderness. I am taking a class this summer on artist's bookmaking and this concept caught my eye. I love the idea of each of the images coming together to make a LARGE print. It also brings to mind the conflict that if you take it apart for your personal satisfaction (large installation) you endanger the object (book). What would you do?

Modern Art Obsession

I have been meaning to point out Modern Art Obsession (MAO) for a couple of weeks. A fantastic blog that combines wit, sarcasm, and a large dose of information. Today's post made me pull it from the "drafts" folder and let you know about it. He has posted especially for Sothophiles, the above image one from his upcomong book Dog Days, Bogota. Something to look forward to at the end of the summer. Take the time to also look at this post on artist Joe Fig, wonderful stuff.

Signs

Winter in Tembisa 1989, Santu Mofokeng

Cheese Matt Siber

The past few days have seen a flurry ot posts concerning projects relating to signs. Conscientious posted about Gregor Graf and his Hidden Town project, Matt Siber and his Floating Logo project and added an image from Robin Collyer.

To balance the concept look at this post from (Notes on) Politics, Theory and Photography looking at signs from a similar but different perspective.

"Billboards have been the medium of communication between the rulers and the denizens of townships since the beginning. The billboard is a fact and feature of township landscape. It is a relic from the times when Africans were subjects of power and the township was a restricted area, subject to laws, municipality by laws and ordinances regulating people´s movements and governing who may or may not enter the township. It is without irony when I say that billboards can be used as reference points when plotting the history and development of the township. Billboards capture and encapsulate ideology, the social, economic and political climate at any given time. They retain their appeal for social engineering. (...) At the high speed of a minibus taxi, the billboards roll by like flipping pages in a book. The retina registers arcane and inane messages about sex and cell-phones, mostly sex and cell-phones. Perhaps this is a coincidence. I wonder."

It seems the influence of signs is global. In economic, political, and artistic terms.

Again with the vernacular

This post from BigHappyFunHouse brings to mind Martin Parr's Auto Portrait and Alec Soth's Niagara at the same time. Since Alec just posted this weekend about having dinner (and being skunked with Martin Parr's dilemma) I find it all the more delightful.

Women Portraits of Western Art

If you haven't seen this (Christian Patterson brought it to my attention) it is quite extraordinary.

The greening of the business card

Paul Schmelzer at Eyeteeth: A Journal of Incisive Ideas posted this. What a delightful idea.