Hello Photography, Window Light

I took a break Saturday morning to catch up on a few articles in Aperture's Spring 2013 issue. I really enjoyed reading Arthur Ou's essay "Photo.Edu: Toward a New Curriculum"

LINK: http://www.aperture.org/blog/photo-edu-toward-a-new-curriculum-by-arthur-ou/

Excerpt:

"How do we tackle a medium in the process of breakneck evolution in the photography classroom today? We now live in a world full of photographs, or, more precisely, the world is rapidly becoming a totality of photographs. To expand on this claim, we need only consider two related trajectories in the area of “mechanical vision.” One is the eventuality of photography replacing human perception. It is not a stretch to imagine, in a not-too-distant future, mechanical vision (and the recording and presenting of this vision) reaching an event-horizon, ultimately replicating in exactitude the sensations and experiences of our biological eyes. Secondly, photography will surpass human vision. Already, something resembling photography—not quite the medium as it is defined—is replacing what we have long understood as photography. When computer-generated processes can “pre-image” something that will eventually be actualized—when photographs “imagine” the future or another reality—how do we define this type of image in the photographic lexicon? Who or what is the photographer? Where does a photograph begin? Where do photographs end?"

Printing at the lab, variations on the grid

In the classroom...Abstraction grids by my students

My research on grids and abstraction has creeped its way into my high school photography classes. I knew working on my MFA would influence my creative practice (of course) but I've welcomed its impact on my teaching practice as well. It's interesting to test out research ideas with my students. For example, in this year's integrated Photography and Philosophical Literature class, students have been studying notions of perception and reality. These grids made by students represent visual explorations of how one image can manifest into something completely new. What are similarities/differences between the original photo, the grid, or each abstracted square? How do all of these renditions shape perception? Is it all the same no matter how you slice n' dice it? These have been fun inquiries to explore with students. And the correlation to my grid experiments (at least visually) seems pretty clear... perhaps these may be working better than mine!

By LH

By LP

By CG

Article: A Conversation with Joshua Citarella

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.lavalette.com/a-conversation-with-joshua-citarella/

Excerpts:
"We are now in a curious position where we begin to measure ourselves against images that not only include the whole problematic nature of photography and representation, but are further complicated by a digital production."

"I’m also ready to do away with debasing words like “Photoshopped,” which simplifies a complex process by describing it as a single tool. Jargon like this is used in an overarching way to discredit or suppress new modes of production. As a result, we find ourselves in a place where Photoshop is present in nearly all art and commercial images but is largely not discussed. Even a relatively traditional photographic practice, where the computer only becomes involved when the image is outputted as a digital C-type or inkjet print, still involves a process of resampling and interpolation. The difference between resampling with Bicubic Smoother or Bicubic Sharper has real and quantifiable effects in the final image/print and these choices now need to be considered when we try to discuss things like the politics of representation. Different types of resampling techniques will describe nuanced surfaces, such as the gradient of a sunset, clouds, or skin, in noticeably different ways."

Hitting the Proverbial Wall – Recent Thoughts

1. Looking closely at Roni Horn
• Working in series, how does a collection of visual media communicate a united message vs. 1 single piece
• Resources
• Art 21: Roni Horn, Season 3
• DVD Contacts Vol 3
• Another Water by Roni Horn
• Roni Horn (Phaidon)
• Press Play: Contemporary Artists in Conversation
2. Research on Grids
• Rosalind Krauss essay "Grids"
3. Recent Work
• Abstraction grids paying closer attention to the shifts and gradients in each square in an effort to better connect with neighboring squares
• Using photoshop to “auto align” and “auto blend” light pollution swatches did NOT work, I was hoping to explore these algorithms but alas they just simply do not “align” or “blend” swatches
• Making prints this weekend of most fall work, it will be great to spend time in the printing lab and experience these works on photographic paper
• Shooting new series looking at how the notions artificiality and the natural play out in modern day Hawaii’s landscape (contemplating a series that might discuss my interests in the collision of the artificial and natural in a more specific way)

Glitch Click Thunk Exhibiton and Artist Talk by Mark Amerika

I enjoyed attending Mark Amerika's artist talk last Tuesday and am looking forward to the upcoming interactive exhibition nights. Learning about Amerika's interests in digital media, technology, and translation is timely given my own explorations into the merging points of the technological, artificial, and natural. See link below for more info on these events hosted by University of Hawaii.

http://www.hawaii.edu/calendar/manoa/2013/10/07/21576.html?ed_id=28423

Abstraction Experiments Cont...

Abstraction Experiments

Artists I'm looking at

Penelope Umbrico, http://www.penelopeumbrico.net/publications/publicationspage_aperture.html

Bruna Strude, http://www.brunastude.com
(Based in Kauai)

Roni Horn, http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/roni-horn

Paul Pfieffer, http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/paul-pfeiffer

Brice Marden, http://www.matthewmarks.com/new-york/artists/brice-marden/

Agnes Martin, http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3787

Stephen Tourlentes, www.tourlentes.com
(Based in Boston)

 Ashley Bickerton, http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/ashley-bickerton
(Based in Bali)

Franco Salmoiraghi, http://www.francosalmoiraghi.com
(Based in Honolulu, HI)

Susan Derges, http://www.susanderges.com

Radiolab Podcast: Colors

Check this out!

RADIOLAB: Season 10, Episode 13
http://www.radiolab.org/story/211119-colors/?utm_source=local&utm_media=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed

"Our world is saturated in color, from soft hues to violent stains. How does something so intangible pack such a visceral punch? This hour, in the name of science and poetry, Jad and Robert tear the rainbow to pieces.

To what extent is color a physical thing in the physical world, and to what extent is it created in our minds? We start with Sir Isaac Newton, who was so eager to solve this very mystery, he stuck a knife in his eye to pinpoint the answer. Then, we meet a sea creature that sees a rainbow way beyond anything humans can experience, and we track down a woman who we're pretty sure can see thousands (maybe even millions) more colors than the rest of us. And we end with an age-old question, that, it turns out, never even occurred to most humans until very recently: why is the sky blue?"

Wish You Were Here Exhibition Review & Paul Pfeiffer in Art 21

Wish You Were Here Exhibition

August 30 - September 29, 2013
Chanel Waikiki Boutique
2116 Kalakaua Ave. 

• Exhibition Overview Link: http://honolulumuseum.org/art/
• Review by Jaimey Hamilton Faris: http://theoffsetter.com/art-show-at-chanel-is-something-to-write-home-about/

I'm hoping to take some of my students to view this great selection of work showing in the Chanel boutique. Check out the review written by my current mentor, Jaimey Hamilton Faris. A brief quote, Jaimey writes:

"Sponsored by the Honolulu Museum of Art (HMA), organized by John Koga and Allison Wong, and hosted by Chanel, this off-the-beaten track gem features the work of Ashley Bickerton, Paul Pfeiffer, Garnett Puett, and Lawrence Seward. Why do I want you to be there? To see how experienced artists delve into the complexities and nuances of cultural commodification without getting weighed down in parody or righteous critique. Their work, if it employs the clichés of tourist culture, only uses them strategically to hone our looking at it, engaging us with deeper issues of absent human relations."

I also took time to learn more about Paul Pfeiffer's work. I found his interests in celebrity commodification and his use of erasure to discuss time, place, and desire very compelling. His images currently showing in Waikiki feature beach scenes with iconic portraits of Marilyn Monroe removed from the environment. At first the images appear simple and commonplace, yet over time one begins to notice prints in the sand or an out-of-place shadow. With patience, Pfeiffer's images are both haunting and thought-provoking.

For more info on his work, check out: Paul Pfeiffer, Art 21, Season 2 "Time"
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/paul-pfeiffer

New work: Manufactured Horizons

This new work deals with compositing images of human-made constructions (or activity) on the water sandwiched between two images that reflect light pollution gradients. I'm currently exploring ways to articulate how the "artificial" collides with the "natural." I use quotations here since these terms open up  huge discourses on the notion of nature, wilderness theory, artificiality, the sublime, etc. I'm also thinking about the ways in which I, the artist, can not only photograph the horizon but also reproduce one via post-processing and the final print. A great read that continues to influence my ideas is William Cronon's collection of essays "Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature." 

Light Pollution Grids

Objects on Horizon Grid

NY Times: ICP Triennial Review

What’s Real Today (Check Again Soon): ‘A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial’

NY Times Art Review

May 16, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/arts/design/a-different-kind-of-order-the-icp-triennial.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0