diptych # 37 ~ (on seeing) the possibilities of form and color

W23 / restaurant ~ New York, NY / Digby, Nova Scotia • click to embiggenDuring my recent visit to NYC I purchased a used book - Robert E. Sheehan Color Photography 1948-1958 - which was published in 1987. I had never heard of Robert Sheehan and I doubt that very few others have as well. However, a quick glance thorough the book convinced me it was worth acquiring inasmuch as I gleaned that Sheehan was an early (pre 70s / New Color era) practitioner of color picture making.

As it turns out, the book is a great look / insight into the early days of serious non-commercial use of color film. A time when color picture making was considered to be an amateur-snapshooter-only practice - if one was interested in making serious (fine art) pictures, the predominate aesthetic of BW was the only way to go.

While a number of name BW picture makers gave color a try, the technical limitations of that era's color film were considered to be insurmountable for serious picture making. Nevertheless, Sheehan was one picture maker who ignored the prevailing picture making paradigm and made color picture making his life's work (a life shortened by alcoholism), pursuing what he called " the possibilities of pure color and form".

From the book:

I am not seeking a completely purified image in the painter's sense. Rather, I abstract my area from existing matter, designing it from edge to edge in the viewfinder ... it is their (the referents) selection and arrangement which makes the complete picture. If the subject matter happens to have unique qualities, then the effect is greatly heightened by incorporating it with an absorbing design."

IMO, that statement is yet another short-and-sweet how-to on the the notion of so-called composition.

decay # 49 ~ Cindy didn't eat her corn and other edible disasters

Corn and other perishables ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenRe: the subject of some projects seeming to slide by without much attention, I haven't made any decay pictures in a while. A fact I was reminded of yesterday when an awful smell nearly overcame me in my decay staging / fermenting room.

At first, I thought it to be a dead mouse which I searched for without success. Then it dawned on me that I had forgotten - travel and other commitments will do that - about a fermenting plate of food stuffs. So, I covered the plate with saran wrap and the odor disappeared.

Upon checking the plate this AM I discovered maggots had taken up residency so I figured I'd better make a picture before things got out of control. Hence, the beautiful picture you see here.

diptych # 36 (rain # 58-59) ~ catapulting the impermanence and awkwardness of a snapshot to the permanence and artfulness of painting.

Downpour / light rain ~ Brooklyn, NY / Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggenWhile in NYC, one non-photography exhibit which caught my and and attention was Chrisa Biddy's Mobile Uploads - see pictures here / read about it here. While the exhibit was comprised of small 4×6inch (on average) realistic oil and watercolor paintings, what I really liked was the fact that the paintings were created using vernacular photographs culled from Facebook and other social media networks as their inspiration.

If you don't read the short PR announcement linked to above, about all you need to know about the work is contained in the following paragraph from the announcement:

Voyeurism, exploitation, subversion, sexual exploration, etc., are all words that can be associated with Biddy's work. At the end of the day, it is simply a boy painting girls, all the while ignoring the trappings of the femme fatale and political correctness. The subjects have allowed themselves to enter a world wide web of unknown onlookers and the artist has catapulted the impermanence and awkwardness of a snapshot to the permanence and artfulness of painting.

I found the small paintings to be visually very mesmerizing and emotionally / intellectually very stimulating (keep your mind out of the gutter). And like the PR piece states, I found the exhibit to be "Like watching a train wreck; you just can't divert your eyes." Really good stuff.

diptych # 35 ( picture window # 50 / single women # 26) ~ the beat goes on

picture window / single women ~ Chelsea, NYC / Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggenSometimes some projects just seem to slide on by without much attention. I really don't know whether that's because: a) I have too many projects going on, b) I can't bring myself to focus on just one body of work, c) the world at large just offers up to many diverse picturing referents, or, d) fear of commitment.

Whatever the cause - and I suspect that it's an unholy combination of all of the above multiple choice answers - while I was in NYC and environs, I did manage to add to 2 of my longstanding bodies of work, picture windows and single women.

diptych # 33-34 ~ taking or making redux

@ the W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggenCorner / E4th and Ave.A ~ New York, NY • click to embiggenOn the entry, diptych # 31 ~ my thoughts on taking or making, John Linn commented:

First of all, the diptych attached works particularly well for me. Perhaps it is the color, or the relationship of the referents (to use your term), or the contrasting plains.

Which brings me to the text. By assembling these two images into one picture did you not make an image after taking it? I believe the making (assembling) has created a stronger picture than either of the pictures separated.

I may be splitting hairs / parsing words but, to my way of thinking and making pictures, the moment I tripped the shutter I made the image by using my eyes and in my mind's eye. At that point, the image was made.

Without a doubt and after processing the image file, I produce a print or representation thereof for viewing. However, once again to my way of thinking, the processing of producing a print (or prints in the case of a diptych) is a rather rote craft (albeit carefully and skillfully executed) of putting the previously made image on paper / the web / whatever.

IMO, the printing process is merely the act of making the already made image visible (or placing the already made image on a substrate) - certainly an important act but one which is made possible entirely by the existence of what has been previously made.

At least, that's how I see it.

civilized ku #2532 ~ art

Recycling / concept art ~ New York, NY • click to embiggenAs mentioned, while in NYC, we - me, the wife and Cindy H. (my pictures+words collaborator) - visited Chelsea to view some art and get some creative juices flowing. Of particular note, photography -wise, was an exhibit by Yang Yi, Uprooted and one by Martin Parr, Life's a Beach.

Yang Yi's work (read about it here) was both visually and conceptually interesting. Referents aside, his pictures were conceptually very much along the same thought line as my Life without the APA work. While my pictures reflect my nightmare vision (a dream state) of what might be, Yang Yi's pictures are instigated by his own dream state about what actually is:

"One morning, I don’t remember when, I woke up in a sweat, my heart pounding in alarm ... [I]n my dream, I appear, clothed; I come and go along these familiar alleys. I revisit my old school, the dazzle of lights emanating from the cinema, the riverside where I used to swim, the rooftops where I once went to get a breath of fresh air, the winding pathways… all is in darkness, unattended, there are no friends or relatives to be found anywhere. Where do all of these bubbles and floating objects come from? It becomes difficult to breathe, I fail to grasp anything, I scream but no sound can be heard…"

Yi's C prints are big - 41 × 59 inches/105 × 150 cm or 28 × 39 inches/70 × 100 cm. The larger size is priced in the $11,000-15,000US range. The smaller size in the $6,500-7,000US range. Nice prices if you can get it.

Martin Parr's beach pictures are anything but a dream. Instead, they illustrate ("steering a perilous course between objectivity and voyeurism") a reality about which he claims, "A day at the beach is the same the world over." As Susie Parr writes:

The beach is the place where public and private worlds intersect, a curious mix of defence and intimacy. Here, unstructured space is staked out and temporarily transformed, through artefact and ritual, into personal territory. In close proximity to others doing the same thing, a bit like being on a long haul flight, people let down their guard, revealing the secrets of their bodies, habits and relationships to anyone who cares or dares to look, as they dream and doze on the sand. read more here

Parr's exhibit was riotously visual and very entertaining. So much so that I purchased his book (signed by Parr) The Last Resort. Highly recommended.

civilized ku # 2527-31 ~ alien landscape

Flowers / W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggen
Front desk / W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggen
Hipster / W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggen
Lights / W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggen
Walkers / W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggenThe common areas of the hip/trendy upscale hotel (W Hotel) the wife and I stayed in Hoboken kinda looked and felt like an alien landscape. Kinda weird in a good kinda way if ya like that kinda thing.

civilized ku # 2527 ~ hipster in an alien landscape

Hipster at the W Hotel ~ Hoboken, NJ • click to embiggen