Whitney Cole - Artist (Gillian Wearing)

Self Portrait as My Grandfather George Gregory
from the Family Album series

Gillian Wearing's work with portraits is insane. For me, the artificiality of the skin "suits" is reminiscent of Cindy Sherman's prosthetic portraits. The combination of the realistic bodies paired with the peering eyes of the wearer add a very unsettling level to the images. However, the portraits of Wearing as family members definitely address the idea of one's identity within the context of heritage, which is incredibly relevant to my work. I mean, I don't know if I'm quite on this level of wearing (bahaha get it? Wearing) my family, but it's very close to what I believe I'd like to accomplish.

artist- may xiong

website

may's photographs are very cinematic in their nature, as far as the framing choices and lighting techniques used in her photos. Her colors are also very poppy and bright while still being slightly desaturated as to not be gross looking (that's a technical term). Her photos are just very beautiful to look at.

anderson gallery

When walking through Latoya Ruby Frazier's show at the Anderson Gallery I noticed a lot of similar themes in it as well as the photographs we looked at from the collections they have in storage. The issue of industry as it relates to the community and environment seemed to be a common theme in all of the work we looked at that day. Specifically in the video Latoya had in the side room of the gallery had a section where it showed all the toxins coming out of her and her mothers feet. Showing all the the pollutants that have gotten into the communities surrounding the industrialized areas. But the worst part is the area is now in a state of poverty due to the decline of the industry that once sustained it.

Artist

                                                               Richard Prince


I first came across Richard Prince last year, when I was taught about his works and specifically his plagiarising approach I was almost angry that someone was out there taking pictures of pictures and actually making money off of it (a lot of money) whilst calling themselves a photographer. Since then however, I have come to widen my view and although I doubt I would ever indulge in the extreme practice he does I have come to embrace the idea of appropriation as a creative tool and is something I want to explore more. I am not entirely sure I'm fully on board yet but his work has inspired me to give it a try.

Gallery visit.

In our gallery visit we touched on a number of things, what stood out the most for me was actually getting to see how photographers who are practising at a high level produce their work, physically. This coupled with the conversation on ethics we had, made for a very informative afternoon. In regards to ethics I think that as a photographer you can't shoot for the gallery, you have to shoot for yourself and just hope that curators and audiences get what you are trying to do enough not to be put off by the nature of your images... really, work wouldn't be interesting if no one was offended by it, would it?

Anderson Gallery - Kathryn Mayes

Larry Clark's work Tulsa started an interesting conversation, also the idea that the anderson gallery would probably show it in its entirety is another interesting conversation on its own. I think a lot of artist face this problem with their work. whether to really depict the gory details or leave it to the viewers imagination. Tulsa truly captures another way of life that is in most places very prevalent. however the idea of showing the whole body of work must fit with the organizations and the public's opinion. 

Kathryn Mayes - artist post

Tamas Dezso

even though he views himself as a documentary photography there is something in his photographs that goes past capturing one moment. his lighting and subjects draw me in further to each image.