25 August 2008
Desiree Dolron
Desiree Dolron's work for me very closely approaches perfection.
There isn't much I can find about the artist online apart from the fact that she was born in the Netherlands in 1963. I love her photojournalistic Cuba series, but images from 'Xteriors' is what really drew me to her work in the first place.
Not only do I love the painterly quality of her images, but I also love their uniqueness. 'Xteriors' looks like an elaborately photographed dream sequence.
Other images from 'Te Dí Todos Mis Sueños' and 'Gaze' respectively:
Labels: Photography
posted by Abigail at 18:44
22 August 2008
David Burdeny
I know it's a popular style among fine art photographers - large format, B&W film, long exposures - but I think few do it as well as David Burdeny. His work is obviously reminiscent of Michael Kenna's - who is listed as one of Burdeny's influences in his artist statement on his website.
"I'm fascinated with the quality of light and the spatial immensity the ocean possesses. I have an enormous reverence for feeling so small in the presence of something so vast, where perspective, scale, time and distance momentarily become intangible. My photographs contemplate that condition, and through their reductive nature, suggest a formalized landscape we rarely see. The glory lies not in the act of this removal or reduction, but in the experience of what is left - sublime experience located in ordinary space: a slowly moving sky, the sun moving across a boulders surface or sea foam swirling around a pylon."
- David Burdeny in his artist statement
I love the experience of looking out at the open sea - looking at the horizon where sky meets sea, I'm reminded of the infinite space which surrounds us and paradoxically, I feel comforted having a sense of my place in this universe even if it may seem ultimately insignificant. For me, this feeling is perfectly encapsulated in Burdeny's photographs of the open sea. And I don't think I can ever tire of looking at such images.
Labels: Photography
posted by Abigail at 01:08
21 June 2008
Ghosts I-IV
I intended to write something about Ghosts I-IV back in April, shortly after it was released, however I just kind of forgot about it (even after uploading the images and everything). Of course I bought Ghosts online the very day it was released. I'd been yearning for an instrumental album from Trent Reznor since the release of Still in 2000, so the idea of an instrumental 2-hour double album along those lines was ridiculously exciting.
For me, Ghosts is without a doubt some of the most beautiful music in the entire Nine Inch Nails catalog. Though I think what made the experience of it more powerful was the photography included in the accompanying PDF - images which complemented the music so well and seemed to encapsulate the very atmosphere of the album in visual form.
I'm not sure how exactly I would feel about these images on their own, but in the context of Ghosts, I think they suit the music perfectly and find the whole package really inspiring. Photography is credited to Philip Graybill (you can find additional photos for Ghosts not included in the PDF on his site) and NIN art director Rob Sheridan.
Labels: Music, Photography
posted by Abigail at 10:56
13 March 2008
Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison
Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison are a husband & wife team who create wonderfully unique and beautiful images which combine painting techniques and sculpture with photography. I first encountered their work from The Architect's Brother online a few years ago and was as impressed by the aesthetics as I was by the humour. I feel the images make their point without being excessively morose - and it's too easy to go in such a direction given the subject matter.
The images from The Architect's Brother were made using the archaic photogravure process, which explains their unique texture and Victorian-esque look. Their newer, colour work can be viewed on their official site. Personally I prefer the surreal turn their new work has taken - it creates a world even stranger than the monochromatic photogravures of The Architect's Brother.
"I want to make images that have open, narrative qualities, enough to suggest ideas about human limits. I want there to be a combination of the past juxtaposed with the modern. I use nature to symbolize the search, saving a tree, watering the earth. In this fabricated world, strange clouds of smog float by; there are holes in the sky. These mythic images mirror our world, where nature is domesticated, controlled, and destroyed."
- Robert ParkeHarrison in this bio
To me some of their newer colour work - especially 'Overflow' (above) and 'Gray Dawn' (below) - looks like it could come straight out of Andrei Tarkovsky's Mirror or Stalker. And I love that - like they're images of a world halfway between memory and imagination.
Labels: Photography
posted by Abigail at 00:49
16 February 2008
Misha Gordin
7. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Finding my own path and following it.
8. What advice would you give to up- coming photographers looking to define their own style?
Be careful when choosing your teacher. If you have real talent you might not need one.
9. After developing a body of work that reflects your personal thoughts and feelings, what has your photography taught you about yourself?
That I am a simple man trusting his intuition.
- Misha Gordin in this interview
Truly, I don't know what I can say about Mischa Gordin other than that I am in complete and total awe of his work. Both technically and conceptually it is some of the most brilliant photography I have ever encountered in my life. The worlds he creates with photography are breathtaking in their strangeness and beauty and for me they bear much resemblance to the images of the Tarot and alchemical illustrations. This is a man who truly understands symbolism and employs it in a very direct sense - it's not just an intellectual form of symbolism in which each symbol equates a certain verbal meaning. Rather, his images transcend all words and theory and encountering them is really an experience and not just an exercise in modern art criticism.
"The real power of photography emerges when altered reality is presented as existent and is expected to be perceived as such. An obviously manipulated image is a trick that shows a lack of understanding of the unique power of photography - the belief engraved in our subconscious that what was captured by the camera has to exist. In the best examples of successfully manipulated images the question "Is it real?" does not arise."
- Misha Gordin in his statement
I think he has some really fresh, practical and nonconformist ideas on art and photography. Apart from that I like the fact that he seems like a pretty modest guy who, unlike most contemporary photographers, doesn't over-rely on theory. In fact for images so dense, rich and alive, I would say he's really light on theory. And of course, the most amazing thing about his photos - they are all assembled and printed manually in a traditional darkroom!
"The power of a good image comes from its soul no matter if this soul is analog or digital."
- Misha Gordin in his statement
Also, his commercial work is fantastic and really blurs the line between commercial and fine art. Check out his website at bsimple.com. Also be sure to check out his Shadows of the Dream series, which is where the first 4 images in this entry are from.
Labels: Photography
posted by Abigail at 16:37
04 February 2008
Chris Jordan's 'Intolerable Beauty'
I never expected to like Chris Jordan, but I do. His work is current, terrifying - probably taking what Koyaanisqatsi deals with a step further. I think it's an example of really good 'political' (for lack of a better word, really) art and I find such art quite necessary.
"The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits."
- Chris Jordan in his artist statement for Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption
"As an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but I do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake."
- Chris Jordan in his artist statement for Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption
Labels: Photography
posted by Abigail at 01:05
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