Ben Zank needs work

Ben Zank

American Photographer living/working in New York

Source - artist found on blog I need a guide

http://ineedaguide.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.benzank.com/about/

http://phlearn.com/phlearn-interviews-ben-zank

These images are sourced from the I need a guide blog, they are both untitled works. 

Reading information from Ben Zank's personal website tells us that he works mostly in self portraiture, he is mostly always the subject of these obscure timely interactions. 

Zank creates clever compositions through an approach that embraces spontaneity, resourcefulness and willingness. Zank sees locations very uniquely in his process of art making; he projects his imagination into the location, searching for potential surreal interactions. He gives himself wholly to the photographic process and the results show evidence of his open minded approach.

Zank creates worlds of wonder and intrigue in his images, as a viewer I find it very pleasing thinking of the possibilities of the characters in the photos. The photos are staged but that doesn't detract from the genius of the photograph! This style of work inspires me to engage more ambitiously with location and be inspired by a particular place because Zank does this so incredibly well. Its like he sees a place and then extends it in his mind and then projects that extension back into the space. I love.

Frederic Lezmi needs work

These images were presented in a book titled Poor Politicians 

 2011

comprises of 29 Cards in a Box

The project: tells the story of 28 destroyed/damaged/forgotten images of Albanian politicians in the streets of Prishtina. 

Is this a representation of politicians

 or a reflection of the streets in which they reside

maybe the fluid nature of urban graffiti

...time moving by

...shifting politics ??

Were they intentionally destroyed. How long did the original image last?

These are the thoughts that I have whilst pondering the content of these images and I have realised that for this reason it is a great concept. Quite simple and abstract, this series based purely on an observation of the street. The fact that there is 29 of these images of different peeling, decaying faces of politicians makes an interesting comment on the notion of politics and seeking popularity for votes, but the facade fades. Upon recognising the face of a politician we most likely draw a link to the politics and ideologies that they stand for, does tearing away their representation show that there is little care for there politics? Maybe. Maybe not.

The surface quality of the torn posters render really interesting layers of textures, adding quite a chaotic element to the composition. These images are not overly complex in my opinion and there isn't the element of experimentation that I am drawn to but what I do love is the observational quality that was executed in capturing this series.

Ed Freeman needs work

Ed Freeman

Desert Realty series

Ed Freeman is great photographer with a diverse range works that include nudes, surfers, underwater captures and reflections on architecture. In my research file I have included the photos that first drew my attention to Freeman; which are part of his Desert Realty body of work.

Desert Realty is a compilation of digitally enhanced photographs of buildings in locations that scatter across small towns and deserts of Southern California. 

These buildings look like they would be worn out and lonely in reality but Freedman shows us something else in these locations. There is a sense of serenity in the solitude in which this photographer presents these highway stop overs. I think that the light is particularly effective in creating a painterly effect and giving new life to these crusty old buildings. Dreamy skies take me to the most romantic times of day and I want to be in these photos.

The framing is really great, shot from a distance these highway stop overs are presented as portraits that have character. The line of the horizon seems to always be in a similar position, the top two thirds of the image is designated for beautifully unreal skies. I find myself curios about these places.

Risaku Suzuki needs work

Risaku Suzuki (1963)

Began exploring the medium of photography in the mid-1980s.

1990 first solo exhibition, and in 1998, he published his first photographic book, KUMANO (Korinsha Press), which looked at his native Kumano region of Japan.

 Since then he has portrayed a wide range of subjects—sacred places in Japan, Mont Sainte Victoire in southern France, cherry blossoms, snow, and Cezanne’s studio—taking a different approach for each. These works he has shown in a succession of solo shows and books

This work was untitled but part of a photographic book titled Stream of Consciousness 
I am reminded of the work of Rinko Kawauchi aesthetically and conceptually; the use of Fuji 400 film favours the beautiful, crispy, cyan tones and the subject matter is delicate and fragile in nature like Kawauchi's work.

Personally, I find his images unbelievably beautiful there is a sense of mystique, nostalgia and a kind of rare momentous magic. Nature is featured heavily and almost exclusively in Suzuki's Stream of Consciousness and it is captured and presented in a very fairy-take like manner. In the three images below we look into the picture frame from vastly different angles, but the suggestiveness is as strong throughout. The top image we look up through beautiful, snowy pink blossoms to an airy blue sky. The second image shows an untouched snowy path through the trees, void of the presence of any footsteps this image is full of potential! The third image peeks down through branches to water below, the focal point of the image movement in the water - what is below the surface I wonder?

These wonderfully crisp images tickle my imagination in all the best ways - I could become consumed by Suzuki's Stream of Consciousness.

Susan Guice

Susie Guice

Fine art photographer based in Biloxi, Mississippi.  

underwater photography exploring the freedom of water

I find a sense of truth resonating in these images, this is a very personal truth that has come from spending much of my childhood in the ocean. There is a sense of weightlessness in these images and I love the use of high contrast black and white filter. The playfulness in the movement of the body makes these images full of joy and wonderment.

I wanted to include this piece of writing as I think it compliments and understands the images with words that I cannot conjure.

Beneath the Surface

Under the surface of water, the rules of gravity are suspended. Here, the very nature of our bodies seems to change once submerged.

In this changing of the body into newfound freedom, there is likewise a freeing of the mind and release of inhibitions. A changing of the inside by changing the outside. This freeing of the spirit and unpredictable spontaneity that is a joy to behold. The swimmers know I am there, but they quickly become mesmerized by their newfound fluidity and forget themselves into the depths.

Along Coastal Louisiana and Mississippi, post Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, all our water sources have taken on new significance. First, Katrina destroyed homes and adjacent pools. Then, BP poisoned our beloved Gulf of Mexico. Watching children at play in newly minted public or private pools — we realize that things are becoming ‘normal’ again. We’ve waited a long time to feel this way.

There is always something beneath what we perceive on the surface. We just aren’t always given the opportunity to see what it is.

- BEAUTIFUL

Brendan Fowler

Is this photography or is this sculpture?

What are those images/moments/memories?

Who do they belong to?

Why are they being destroyed?

Are they being destroyed?

This series of work belongs to Brendan Fowler.

Visual Artist.Musician

I like how these look smashed together, but as fowler points out in an interview for Art + Auction (2013) they are time consuming, conscientious constructions. This sense of deconstruction and paradox is wonderfully playful and I adore his work. By breaking down the barriers between art disciplines Fowler makes the viewer stop and think about form, presentation and how we interpret. Extremely clever!

The shape of them also reminds me of Nude descending a staircase for its all over angular juxtaposed composition! very cool!

Alex Prager

I love every single one of these images. so much.

 

 

Alex Prager - an American self taught photographer b 1979 - creates cinematic images that reference both film (directed by Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock) and fashion photography. This combination of these elements contributes to a style of melodrama and movement.

 

 

 

This scene looks totally constructed and everyone has their position, its like a painting!

 

The movement of the birds and a striking pose! What beautiful colours and tones!

 

This is obscure and stands out as quite unique in the oeuvre of Prager's work I have managed to glimpse

 

Is this a clip from a movie?

 

 

 

Her work is beautiful and alluring. Like a movie - I am drawn into its narrative.

Lisa Oppenheim

Man holding large camera photographing a cataclysmic event, possibly a volcano erupting, 1908/2012 (Tiled Version 3). 2012. Gelatin silver print (photogram), 32 7/8 x 39 9/16" (83.5 x 100.5 cm).

This photograph feels like an exploration of the universe! 

So Lisa Oppenheim is a New York born artist who graduted from Brown in 1998 with a bachelor degree that focused on modern culture and media, art and semiotics. I am most interested in Lisa Oppenheim for the emphasis that she places on experimentation and process. An example of this is the her idea to not take actual photographs herself but to find images or textures that already exist and put new life into them. Lisa believes in transforming the image to explore how the image can exist and in this sense I think her work is almost a scientific analysis of photographs. A series called Lunagrams in 2010 is an example of her forensic approach - Oppenheim experimented with moonlight by exposing archival glass negatives during the night. Personally I love this approach towards art making I think she is an artist that really pushes the ways in which we consider a photograph. 

Prue Stent

Prue Stent

Melbourne based photographer (recent graduate)

Recently I have stumbled across this artist - Prue Stent, a recent graduate of RMIT, I think her work is wonderful. It is obscure and subversive as it addresses femininity with constructions of spontaneous colour and fun objects.

This work is part of her 2014 pink series, a body of work that beautifully combines landscapes of the body and of nature. I feel happy viewing and reading her whimsical compositions in which she pushes the experience of materials and combines these materials with the female figure. The impact of these images lie in the strength of composition. I think I feel relief when I see these images because I view them as a funny dialogue with aspects of the female body. I don't find them confronting by any means by Stent reminds me that I can be more comfortable. Stents photography is an exploration of gender and I love the openness and bubbliness in which she approaches these themes. I am most excited by the playful nature of her work.


EXTENDED RESEARCH 4/5/15

Body of Work - Pink

Prue Stent's words

I become obsessed with certain colours. It was green a while back but at the moment it is pink. I like to challenge myself to work with a colour and then explore the ‘idea’ of the colour. At the moment my focus is on pink and all the many cultural associations there are with pink especially as it relates to precepts of gender identity.

In a lot of my work you will notice that the face of the model is absent or obscured by veils or masks of one sort of another. This symbolises our cultures focus on the female body rather then individuality. The viewer is then left to decode what the work says about the power of feminine sensuality. I also like to juxtapose the natural environment with the female form to magnify themes of poise and strength.

The obsession with a colour I LOVE COLOUR this can be easily pursued but which colour pathway do I take. Blue consistently appears as a favourite. I commit to blue. 

Paul Caponigro

ARTIST:   Paul Caponigro

TITLE OF WORK:  Peach, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1989

SOURCE: Book 'The Nature Of Photographs' Stephen Shore

WHY DOES THE IMAGE INTEREST ME:

Whilst flicking through the course textbook I was drawn to this image because it took me a while to decipher what kind of object was being photographed. An object which life is escaping from. Shrunken and dehydrated.  I find the composition alluring. I'm not sure If I think it is beautiful.

I find myself asking how was this image captured? In searching for this answer I found that it is an image of a peach. The skin of the peach is like a rough landscape and at the same time this piece of fruit looks like an eye. I feel like I am staring into a miniature shrunken world and I realise that I like this image because although it is a very simple image of a piece of fruit it comes to me in the first instance as being quite abstract.

Recipe for researching

2. HOMAGE

a) Research File

• Every week (weeks 1-11), you will research two (2) photographic artists, find an image of their work that inspires you, and make a research file
• Your Research File can be a blog, PDF, or PowerPoint presentation

Make sure you include:

• Title/caption for each image 
• Source from which you found the images (book, website, magazine, etc.)
• 1-2 paragraphs (minimum 100 words) on why the images interest you – do not copy & paste information from another source e.g. Internet
• State YOUR opinions. Be descriptive & critical 

**Important Notes**

• The photographers you choose each week can work in any lens-based media but they must be professional artists/photographers
• The images you select cannot be the same as those shown in the weekly lectures
• Three (3) of your artists must be sourced from chapters 3, 4 or 5 of the textbook (‘The Depictive Level’, ‘The Mental Level’ or ‘Mental Modelling’)
• Submit your Research File to Moodle Assessment