Black Lives Matter Art

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/07/13/the-most-powerful-art-from-the-blacklivesmatter-movement-three-years-in/

Above I attached and article from the Washington Post that serves as a catalog for some very powerful pieces that emerged from the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. I think this is an interesting subject matter to inspire art. I agree with the movements message obviously as every person should. However, there is a semi-counter movement that has sprung up since the BLM. They preach "All Lives Matter" in fact some people have gone as far as to say that BLM is engaging in some form of racism by only making it about them. I personally think this idea is ludicrous, mostly because black Americans have been disenfranchised and systematically put in a situation with disadvantages since the conception of our country. But I wonder what the class thought about this? obviously everyone should be "all lives matter" but does that mean that the current way some black Americans are attempting to self preserve is unfair to every other ethnicity? And further more I have thought about making art on the subject, but am hesitant to do so because I am a white American and will not ever have that perspective or know the black struggle. What would be the best way for me to create with this subject in mind?

The article is a good read and the pieces are fantastic. Many of which were more poster type art combining printed word and drawings. Very similar to protest poster made during the late 60's and early 70's. This causes me to think of the extremely clear similarities between now 2016 and the civil rights movements of the 60's.

Too Many Remakes!

Too Many Remakes

I was discussing this with my friends the other day and was wondering what some of you guys think about this trend and specifically the movies studios decide to remake. I have fond childhood memories of most the examples in the article, and aside from being able to update special effects, I'm not really sure ruining the memories of some movies are worth it. Although, I dreamt of being able to remake my favorite movies growing up, I don't know about such direct remakes. "Re-imaginings" seem to be more successful as new films, but can also be much worse.

BRUCE CONNER

I recently saw an exhibition of Bruce Conner's life work at MoMA when I was in NYC over the summer entitled BRUCE CONNER: IT'S ALL TRUE.  I recognized one or two of his most famous works, but I really enjoyed getting to see a larger collection of his body of work together.  The exhibition was made up of everything and anything he dabbled with in his life time, from films, photograms and photographs to assemblages, drawings and prints.  Bruce Conner was a west coast artist that came out of the post war era; his pieces are known for being surrealist and haunting.  I really enjoyed looking and learning more about him and his works and highly recommend everyone to check him out as well:

http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1614?locale=en

Bruce Conner's "Sound of Two Hand Angel," 1974

Francis Ford Coppola: Influencing a generation

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is a director that I really respect and admire. He has an incredible ability to not only tell a compelling story through artistically crafted shots, but make money doing it as well.

There are many directors in Hollywood currently who's entire goal is to make the summer's biggest blockbuster. Many of them succeed. There are still directors out there, though, that continue to create films that not only are able to make enough money to warrant a multi -million dollar budget, but also hold artistic integrity.

While Coppola has not directed a 'Hollywood Blockbuster' anytime recently, his ability to create an established aesthetic in a bigger budget film is something that influenced countless directors after him. Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Christopher Nolan are perfect examples of auteurs who are still able to make an artistic statement with a large budget and too many producers to count. 

(film stills from The Godfather (1972) and Tetro (2009))

COREY RICHARDS

About a year ago I saw one of Cory Richards works for National Geographic and got HOOOKED. He's an amazing human being, known for many things behinds his photography. He was one of the first of three people to climb one of Pakistans 8,000 meter peaks in winter time. He made a film about it called "Cold" which shows his journey while questioning viewers to look at life and its power in new ways. (it won awards world wide in different film festivals)

Cory has traveled to many parts of the world to use photography as a way to discover/appreciate life elsewhere and the absolute power of nature. Some of his shots send chills up my spine and tears to my eyes. There is so much life and movement in his photos that it almost feels like your watching a slow motion clip. He's got an eye for stellar subject matter and capturing intriguing moments.

...may or may not have a major crush on this guy....just saying

http://www.coryrichards.com/#at=0&mi=1&pt=0&pi=53&s=6&p=-1&a=-1

MAKE SURE TO LOOK AT HIS STORIES TOO NOT JUST HIS PORTFOLIO

What proves reality as being reality?

“In order to pin down reality as reality, we need another reality to relativize the first. Yet that other reality requires a third reality to serve as its grounding. An endless chain is created within our consciousness, and it is the maintenance of this chain which produces the sensation that we are actually here, that we ourselves exist.”

-Haruki Murakami

South of the Border, West of the Sun

I recently read a few of Murakami's novels over Summer break. One of them was South of the Border, West of the Sun. I came across this quote as I was coming to an end to the novel. I remembered it in Shane's class the other morning when he asked us to write what we care about. Something for me has always been an attempt to understand where reality starts and where it stops--and whether or not it really exists by itself or if it is a dependent concept.

Vivian Maier

The ever famous, Vivian Maier.

I heard about this artist in another class a few days ago and became enthralled with her. I have been watching video's on her story and work. Although there are a lot of incredible artists from her time, I feel that lot of artists have to force something to happen in front of the camera or whatever image they are making, but hers seemed to fall into her lap by being at the right place at the right time. I love when things seem to work themselves out after putting in photograph after photograph.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/



There is a lot for talk about her lying about herself and past, so her "bio" isn't set and stone. However, to there knowledge she wasn't classically trained at all- completely self taught. Although her work is stunning,  what I find most interesting about her is that she was shooting for no one but herself. Her intentions interest me to no end, I guess we'll never know.

Her street photos are mind blowing to me because of everyone's comfortability with her with only seeing her for seconds. Her ability to capture each person's personality so well is mind blowing to me, frankly.

I kind of want to try to take photos every day for a period of time and get them developed, but not view them until a later date and see how I feel about them.

she also sells prints... well someone is selling prints in her name.
http://www.vivianmaier.com/print-sales/

VALIE EXPORT

Austrian artist, most prominent work is from the late 60's and 70's.
I saw a few photographs from her "Body Configurations" series in Berlin this summer, she's a badass.

Who Is Valie Export? Just Look, Please Touch

She is most popularly known for her radical performances. The series "Body Configurations" feels a bit different, maybe quieter than her other performances, but is still in the same vein as her "expanded cinema" work.

 

Mariah Robertson

I was introduced to Mariah Robertson by a friend back in 2013 and instantly fell in love. I am most interested in alternative darkroom processes, and she is a prime example of an artist working with chemistry to see what kind of unique images can come about by a bit of trial and error. Her choice of working with long reams of paper takes her photographic work from something that is generally perceived as a two-dimensional art form into something sculptural.
I was fortunate enough to see her speak here at VCU about a year and a half ago, where she elaborated more on her works in performance art and how she started working with photochemistry in a new way. Totally awesome, weird(if you were there, you know what I mean!) and inspriring.
Mariah Robertson's Chemical Reactions
Mariah Robertson Works

Walter Schels

Photographer Walter Schels, with the assistance of his wife, captured death in a new way. They would go to terminally ill patients at hospitals and ask them if they could photograph them before and after they die. They focused on 26 patients from Hamburg and Berlin, working on the series for a year. Once completed the series was titled Life Before Death. They made a dope book about it too.

http://www.walterschels.com/en/portfolios/portraits/album/8/overview/

Pipilotti Rist ~

I think it was at some point last year when one of my professors showed me some of Pipilotti Rist's work, maybe it was Dana Ollestad or Mary Beth Reed. Essentially, she is a filmmaker/video maker/moving image artist/whatever you wish to call her, who does a lot of expressive video/installation work. Her work plays around a lot with color and distorted imagery and creates this huge immersive environment, which is what really drew me in to her. Most of the time, her work discusses the body, sexuality, nature and gender. Check out her work!!! It's super colorful and crazy and dreamlike!! I personally really find inspiration in it - let me know what you think~~~

Her site doesn't really say much at all, but here it is: http://pipilottirist.net/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipilotti_Rist

Fun fact: her 1997 installation piece "Ever is Over All" was referenced in Beyonce's "Lemonade," specifically in the track "Hold Up" There's a bit of debate of whether Beyonce actually credited Rist for that visual, or if she ripped it off, but I for one can't really say for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a56RPZ_cbdc

Louisiana Channel Interview with Pipilotti Rist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn0isretmA0

Eyeball Massage: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2011/oct/05/artist-pipilotti-rist-eyeball-massage-video

Worry Will Vanish (Installation excerpt): https://www.nowness.com/story/pipilotti-rist-worry-will-vanish

Elixr interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qTPVMI8dF8&spfreload=5

What is a photograph?

So yeah. What exactly is a photograph? does it even matter if we define that? Should we be defining what photography is? or redefining it? Is it more important to define who/what a photographer is? Something to think about i guess.

http://aperture.org/blog/jacob-king-icps-photograph/

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