Some time in the Early Evening.................Alex (my Baby) Prager.

Fig 1.  Alex prager from 'Film stills' 2006

Fig 2. Alex prager from 'Polyester' 2004

If you are not already aware of her, allow me to introduce to you a photographer I've had my eye on for a while now. The first time I saw her work I was blown away by her use and combinations of colour and light. My fantastically warped mind was also attracted by the bizzar hidden and unhidden narratives prevalent in much of her imagery. I have spent many an hour admiring her pictures but never taken the time to research her proper.

Born in Los Angeles 1979 her nomadic upbringing saw her splitting her time between Florida, California and Switzerland. In the spirit of true independence Prager 'jogged on' art school and focused on the honorable art of photography, teaching herself equipment technicalities and lighting. She lists one of her earliest influences as William Eggleston (I knew she reminded me of someone). Alex has exhibited at the Michael Hoppen Gallery as part of a collection of artists whose work is defined by colour, used to either enhance reality, confuse reality or for pure aesthetic pleasure. Prager has been described by the Los Angeles Times as: "A bit Annie Leibovitz,a bit Dian Arbus" I would add Cindy Sherman and Alfred Hitchcock to this list.

Fig 3. Alex Prager from 'group show' 2009

She has buckets more vision than credentials and that, I think is what makes her great.

Reading:      http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artist,show,3,120,253,1283,0,0,0,0,alex_prager_rachel_and_friends.html

http://bumbumbum.me/2010/11/18/alex-prager-photographer/

Images:     Fig 1. 

                                                   http://saymayday.com/2009/01/pale-beauty-alex-prager/     

                                                                                   Fig 2.             

                        girlhttp://amberkekichiscool.blogspot.com/2010/02/alex-prager.html

                                                                                                   Fig 3.

                                     girlhttp://amberkekichiscool.blogspot.com/2010/02/alex-prager.html

Sat 21st May 211. The 'ZEN' Master.

Fig 1. Nude by Edward Weston.

Together with Atget, Edward Weston is one of my top boys. I was wounded when I read a quote from Weston criticizing Atget's technical abilities. However, in Westons own book 'America and  photography' 1929 He uses a quote from Van Gogh stating: "A feel for things in themselves is much more important than a sense of the pictorial" Weston is not a pictorial photographer and neither was Atget. Admittedly, He is not the most gifted technically but the way he captured a sense of presence in his human less town and cityscape's and the strange atmosphere surrounding many of his natural forms (trees), illustrates Van Gogh's point perfectly. To further strengthen my point, A quote from Weston himself in the same book : "But for the sake of argument - the difference between good and bad art in any medium or of any age lies in the creative mind rather than in  skill of hands."

Fig 1. Is one of the most beautiful pictures of a woman I have ever seen. We are not permitted to see her face. In fact biologically we cannot be 100% it is a woman. For me form is everything in this image. Through form and light Weston captures the essence of the eternal woman.

Fig 2.  'Pepper' by Edward Weston. 

Many have interpreted Westons peppers and other assorted vegetables as "overly sexual". This may be because  Freudian thinking was in Vogue at the time or that they simply had filthy minds. The peppers in particular are seductively sensual but to my mind Weston was thinking more about sculpture rather than sex when the moment came to release his shutter. Sculpture is something I harp on about alot I know , but Weston was actually accused of imitating the work of the Romanian sculptor Brancusi.

In one of his diary entries from the thirties Weston writes "No sculptor can be wholly abstract. We cannot imagine forms not already existing in nature,- we know nothing else." Weston admits that he may have been inspired by Brancusi but puts it down to them both having the same (inner) eye. He goes on to say: "Nature has all the abstract (simplified) forms, that Brancusi or any other artist could imagine. With my camera I have gone straight to Brancusis source. One might as well say that Brancusi imitates nature, as to accuse me of imitating, Brancusi"  LOL.

In my as yet uneducated opinion Ed. Weston is the Zen master of photography. Zen is about 'seeing' what is Really  there, instead of what our polluted minds tells us. Weston urges us as photographers to get into rhythm with the universe. Only then can we capture the eternal that lies within all natural forms.

Fig 3. Point Lobos 1946.

Reading :    The Photograph by Graham Clark.

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/W/weston/weston_nude_1936_full.html

http://artdurkee.blogspot.com/2009/12/edward-weston-philosophy-of-photography.html

Images:       Fig 1. http://www.masters-of-photography.com/W/weston/weston_nude_1936_full.html

Fig 2.                          http://artwarren.blogspot.com/2011/04/peppers.html 

Fig 3.                                         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Weston

Sat 21st May 211 Karen Knorr. The intertwining of practice and theory.

                                                 Fig 1. From Karen Knorrs 'Belgravia' series

        

Fig 2. From Karren Knorr's 'Gentlemen' series

Karen Knorr was one of the most significant postmodernists to emerge from the radical photography department of the Polytechnic of Central London in the early 1980s. In a similar but different way to Barbara Kruger Knorr uses image and text together to refer to particular attitudes which are classed (Belgravia) as much as they are sexed (Gentlemen). In her response to the question of why she uses text and image Knorr quotes from Barthes’ The Rhetoric of image. He describes the linguistic message in relation to the photograph: ‘Anchorage’ ties meaning down by answering questions like ‘What is it?’ text explains the image and opens it up to other meanings that are not apparent or visible in the photograph. Another interesting explanation for her use of image and text is that the two together slow down the spectators pace of consumption, creating a slow-motion reading which leaves room for reflection.  Strangely, Knorr compares her work to that of Jacob A. Riis. This was a strange comparison for me at first but, it is documentary photography of a group that is almost invisible to those outside their circle. Only in this case it is of high British culture and not low American immigrants on the lower East side. The main difference is in the way knorr uses text to parody her subject and enables us to see them in another not so bright light. In this sense I would also compare her work to that of William Hogarths satirical depictions of high society.

Reading:        'Illuminatons' Women writing on Photography From 1850's to the present.

Edited by    Liz Heron and Val Williams 1996

Interview with Karen Knorr: Fetishism of Black-and White and he Vulgarity of Colour

(First published in Marks of Distincion, Thames and Hudson, London, 1991, pp 124-31)

Images:                                    Fig 1.                                                                      

                                                                      http://www.karenknorr.com/photographs/archives/belgravia/

Fig 2.

                                                                     http://www.karenknorr.com/photographs/archives/gentlemen/

Weds 18/05/211 Thomas Demand (well I'll be dammed) never studied Photography

                                 Fig 1.http://photography-now.net/eugene_atget/portfolio1.html
                                              

Fig 2.Jerry Uelsmann 'Untitled' 1964

While I was looking through the list of photographers we must include in our 12 blog brief I was suddenly struck by the realisation that I was looking at the official UEL cannon of photographers. The 16 most important and influential photographers past and present (as far as our photographic faculty is concerned anyway). This got me thinking what would the list look like for other Universities. Would there be any major differences to our list. I watched a video on Annie Leibovitz where she states that 'Robert Frank' was considered the most important photographer when she was at Uni. Now...lets not get it twisted.....I have no problems with the list but in my humble opinion there are a few glaring omissions.

Anyway, I love Willy Egg. and I needed a deeper understanding of Stephen Shore. Three from the 'list' are required so who should I pick? and why?          Doing these blogs has very much helped me to narrow down what I like as far as photography is concerned. I like colour, I like sculpture and I love a bit of hidden narrative along with forms  natural and Geometric. Thomas Demand hits 4 out of 5. Choice made.

Fig 3. 'Bathroom' 160x120cm c-print 1997

Fig 3. Is an exact life size reconstruction of a murder scene. Demand questions how much real information we as viewers require in order to start to imagine meaning and construct a narrative. He uses the naive assumption that photography is a faithful transcriber of the real.

Fig 4. example of Troupe L'oeil

In a similar way to Troupe L'oeil he tricks the viewer into one way of thinking then, by using small errors in the lighting or perhaps the sculptural forms he skillfully reminds us of the unreality that we are looking at. I admire the craftsmanship of Demands work but I like the way he plays with our heads and eyes even more. Thomas Demand studied sculpture in Dusseldorf and then at Goldsmith college London. Although the Bechers were at Demands University,  I don't believe he ever studied under them.

Reading: 'The photograph as contemporary art'  Charlotte Cotton.

http://www.monocle.com/sections/culture/Web-Articles/Thomas-Demand/

Images:   Fig 1. 

                     http://fashionpresentationfall2008.blogspot.com/2008/09/eugene-atget.html

Fig 2.

                                http://wewastetime.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/jerry-uelsmann/

Fig 3.

                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2AdLo0rDQ

                                                                             Fig 4.

                                                       http://neshaanderson.wordpress.com/tag/trompe/

Sun 15th May 211. Stephen Shore. Deadpan Experience

For our 'Photography as Contemporary Art' project I knew exactly  which category I wanted to explore. I knew I found it aesthetically pleasing but for the life of me I could not understand why I was drawn to it so strongly. When researching deadpan photography I started by looking at one of its original and best known practitioners, Stephen Shore. A bit of a child prodigy as far as photography is concerned Shore sold three of his works to Edward Steichen at the tender age of 14. To some Shores works could be classed as documentary photographs, seldom are people present in the images that he produces and when they are they tend to be incidental to the subject as a whole.

Fig 1. El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas July 5th 1975

Fig 1. is a classic example of Shores style. Light is registered entering from the side, this helps explain the special saturated  quality that light has in his work. Colour is really a quality of light for him. By using this side light technique he subdues the potential tendandency for colour's to become harsh. Natural light stimulates the whole of the space in his pictures. Another signature of his work is his arrangement of objects in the foreground that provide links with the background. As I have discovered, deadpan is not an easy aesthetic to achieve.

Finally it is my belief that deadpan photography speaks to me on a spiritual level. It echoes the isolation and separateness I feel as part of the fractured society that I live in today.

It has been said that 'Engaging yet ambiguous, deadpan photography provides a refuge from emotion in a time of worry'.

Reading :              http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/11/04/heres_looking_at_you/

http://www.keenpress.com/blog/?p=626

Image:  http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/shore/shore_el_paso_full.html

Monday Bank Hols 2nd May 211 Mapplethorpe and the Bullwhip idea.

Fig 1. Self-Portrait, 1971

Robert Mapplethorpe like Richard Avedon studied in Brooklyn New York during the swinging sixties. Brought up as a strict Catholic his fascination with this religions rituals and mystery's influenced his entire life and Work.

I first became aware of his work when I stumbled upon some of the photographs from a highly controversial exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: The perfect Moment (1989). Included in this exhibition were images of erect black penises. This turned me off him for a wee while (pardon the puns). I had no desire to see  photographs of erect black penises, I have to deal with one of these every morning of my life. I therefore viewed him as a photographer of interest to someone other than myself. However, during my research on the self-portrait brief for Ralph I was 'exposed' to some other works by him that I found completely beautiful. One in particular comes to mind. Fig 1 Self-portrait, 1971. Once again we have a penis on view, But the fascinating thing is the way he has layered and constructed our view of him. I feel as if I want to peel it like an orange and look inside. He is encased within a silk  bag behind a wire mesh on a black background. The sensuality of the silk juxtaposed against the sharp harshness of the wire possibly represent the two extremes of his private and public self. His body has been cut up in two places which to my mind suggest the psychological and spiritual torment he feels as a result of his religious upbringing which was in direct opposition to the way he lived his life. Robert did not start off as a photographer but first started studying painting, drawing and sculpture. What really does it for me in this portrait is the way he has merged photography and sculpture so subtly and seamlessly together, to the point you hardly even notice that sculpture is involved. Combining these two mediums is something I want to incorporate in my own work. When I look at fig1. I see  modern religious iconography. Whether this was  Roberts intention, I don't know, but it very much works for me. 

Fig 2. Self-portrait with Bullwhip (1978)

Before I finnish I would like to briefly highlight one of Mapplethorpe's most famous and ambitious attempts at cross referencing the codes of sadomasochism (if in fact that is what he is attempting to do here) Fig 2. Self-portrait with Bullwhip. In an online article by Richard Meyer (July 10th 1991) he states: "Within the history of art, one is hard pressed-indeed to recall another self-portrait, whether painterly or photographic, which represents its artist as anally penetrable." This is probably true, but it was not (as I had first thought) an original idea. It is merely a revision of a much older one.

see Fig 3.

Fig 3. 'Untitled' photographer unknown (1850-3000)

Is it possible that Mapplethorpe saw this image? I would bet £ that he did.

Fig 3. was posted on facebook 03/05/2011 with the caption 'ARTORPORN???'  04/05/2011 the image was forcibly removed (censored) by the 'Gaurdians' of facebook (WHO R They?) Is the ?  answered.     ?

?
Reading:     'On Photography' Graham Clark
                     Richard Meyer 1991     http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Mappleth/MappPg3.htm
                         

                Robert Mapplethorpe

                         Encyclopedia of World Biography     

                    http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Robert_Mapplethorpe.aspx

Images:       Fig 1. 

                    http://www.american-buddha.com/maplethorpe.1.htm

                   Fig 2.
                  http://artportraiture.blogspot.com/2010/05/robert-mapplethorpe-self-portrait-with.html
 
                   Fig 3.

                  http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?       imgurl=https://www.othercriteria.com/img/products/380/l/page4.png&imgrefurl=https://www.othercriteria.com/browse/moynihan/all/private_collection_book/&usg=__UF1G0B-jP0jHngs-wvupFimMMpY=&h=280&w=350&sz=186&hl=en&start=44&sig2=52bxrYigSvJwRKmBwbA_cw&zoom=1&tbnid=dD8siLISPeDWRM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=158&ei=pending&prev=/search%3Fq%3D1850%2Bphotographs%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1276%26bih%3D594%26tbm% 3Disch&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=443&oei=gzKgTfb0Lc30sgaAqMSIAg&page=3&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:22,s:44&tx=62&ty=71