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/

WELCOME!!!

This is your blog.  Talk to each other; share with each other; inspire each other; disagree with each other; be good community members to each other.