Hans Hoffman

Morning Mist, 1958

Ave Maria, 1965

Rising Moon, 1964

Hans Hofmann was a famous abstract expression painter in the 50s and 60s who dealt with color field. What I found most interesting about his work was how it related to my own photography. Recently I have been trying to think a lot more about the role that color plays in my work. While I've never regarded it as the most important aspect, I feel that its something that I need to give a lot more attention to. In his book “The Search for the Real and Other Essays” Hofmann produced "A new type of landscape, one that is composed, not of trees and land, but of the tension between its space, form, color and planes." This statement rang really true with me as soon as I read it. Not only does it perfectly sum his work, but to an extent my own. I feel like in a way my work is a median between these 'trees and land' and the 'color and planes.' While I have not simplified my work to the level that he has I feel like a lot of the core components are the same. His simple yet complex ideas about objects and how they work with positive and negative space were really intriguing to me.

"It was the object that creates the negative or positive space, not, as traditionally conceived, that an object is placed in a space. If an object creates space, then it is light that creates form. Similarly, light makes color in nature, but color creates light in painting."

Idea

Color is something that has been playing a large part in my work recently. For the longest time the main thing I thought about was composition and line, making sure that the photos were perfect in that respect. I feel like in the last few months I have gotten to a point where the composition in my photos is exactly where I want it to be. I'm not saying that my compositions are perfect and I'm done progressing them but I feel like it's time to focus my attention onto something else. In my recent series its debatable that color plays a larger role then the compositions do in terms of what catches your attention. The color is what you see first, it's what draws you in, the composition and use of space are what keep you there.

I think that every picture has to have these two elements in order for it to be successful. A photo can not survive on just initial presence or intricacies. There has to be a perfect mesh of curb value and second wind depth in order for the photo to both function and keep a lasting impression. I think that this is something that is often overlooked in a lot of the instant photography of today. So many images exist purely on shock value, but have little to no lasting effect on the viewer. This is the challenge now days in the over-saturated market. Be able to grab the viewer, pull him over and make him look. But once there keep him interested enough to stick with it for more than five seconds, and remember it on top of that.

This is what I am looking for in my photos. I feel that some of my images in the recent series have both these qualities, while others lack in certain aspects. I think that if I can remember to keep both of theses things in my mind while shooting and editing the work can only grow.

O. Winston Link

NW 720-Livingroom on the Tracks, Lithia, Virginia

NW 1103-Hot Shot Eastbound, Laeger, West Virginia, 1956

Born December 16, 1914, O Winston Link is definitely the oldest photographer I have done research on. While his early life is interesting what hooked me the most was his large scale train project he worked on from 1955 to 1960. Link learned that the steam locomotive was about to be completely phased out of production and use so he decided that his goal for the next five years was going to be to document every aspect of the train, the industry, and the lives surrounding it. At first he started off by simply photographing the trains them selves from a purely mechanical standpoint as a record of how they were physically made. As time went on along his more than 17 trips from New York to Virginia he began to construct elaborate shots, mostly at night, to show off the small towns and pockets of life that existed along the tracks. Sometimes taking more than two days to construct and using ridiculously elaborate light set ups he was able to achieve amazing photos of cinema like proportions.

His photos became something more than simple documents of trains, they are a portraits of America in transition. Often going into homes and using actors and post-production techniques he was able to create the overwhelming scenes of a rapidly changing land. As time went on he established relationships with the communities as well as with the train lines themselves. His story to me is amazingly inspiring to the point where I want to do this myself. Just the thought of journeying across America following trains and photographing you're adventures sounds insanely magical.

Idea

A few recent shoots has really got me thinking about what this project really means to me. Lately I've been simply exploring, not setting a guide line for myself; no restrictions or 'cant shoot this rules.' Interestingly enough I have found that I return to the same areas over and over again, like a magnet I am drawn in, I really can't escape it. Shopping plazas are my happy place. Of all the areas in Richmond, and even wherever I travel, the one constant in areas that I shoot are shopping plazas. I know that this is obviously important and I think that I'm starting to realize that this had to be tied in a massive way to what my work is all about. Here are some recent shots:


I find myself searching for the beauty in these often rundown, dirty and sad locations. So many people go in and out of these locations daily and wouldn't even think to stop and admire what they are looking at, and why would they? These are places of business, locations for accomplishing chores, not parks. If people stopped to enjoy their surroundings then these plazas would not be doing what they were made to do; keep a constant flow. Park, buy things, leave. That's it. Excess time spent there is time spent preventing someone else from shopping. But at the right time of day, from the correct perspective you can see something else. The moments often only exist from one angle for a split second, but they are amazing.

I think this is the direction that I need to go in. If people can see a generic cookie cutter shopping plaza in a fantastic light then possibly it could cause them to second guess one themselves. The glass pane is a great medium for achieving this. Where we usually see whats inside a store or next to or behind it, being able to see it all at once balanced into one image is at the same time confusing and striking. Possibly placing the glass images with non window images will give them more context and allow it to be more accessible.

artist lecture: Hank Willis Thomas

Absolut Power, 2003

Branded Head, 2003

Viacom Kiosk View 1, 2003

Hank Wills Thomas, what a breath of fresh air. I have to say that last few VCU photo lectures Alec Soth, Shimone Attie just from off the top of my head have not been that stellar. Thomas however gave new life to the VCU photo lecture program by with his simple layout, charismatic attitude, and generally interesting and new ideas. From start to finish I was hooked, completely focused on what it was he had to say. His images and presentation methods were different and he really seemed to care about giving the lecture and involving the audience, instead of simply spitting out what he wanted to say. I would definitely rate Hank Wills Thomas among the best artist lectures I have seen in my college career.

Right from the beginning you could tell that Thomas didn't take this hole thing too seriously, which is a good thing. Too often I see lectures where the artist is so caught up in themselves that they place themselves above the audience and talk down as if on another level. While I understand that they are established artists and most of us are undergrads I still feel that for a lecture to be successful the artist has to be able to establish a connection early on with the crowd. Thoma's simple description of his undergrad and graduate careers were just enough to draw me in and be able to relate his personal story to my own. So often artists push their earlier work away and label it unimportant when most of the people in the crowd are in that stage currently. He discussed his topics and main themes gradually and straight forward, but leaving room for thought. If he truly had no idea what he was going to talk about, it really didn't show.

I loved the way he referred to advertisements as 'modern hieroglyphics.' Thinking of them in this way really aided the understanding of the concepts in his work. His art though often simple from a visual standpoint contains deep and powerful meaning that is emotionally charged. "You can never really escape the system, so I try to make a comment on it from the inside." The idea of erecting a massive fake Master Card add, satirizing the company and the ad campaign itself and not having to worry about having it taken down because it's essentially free advertising for the company is a crazy idea. His work really challenges the things we see everyday, the images that have forcibly become a part of everyone's life.

Katharina Grosse

Untitled, 2006

Town and Country, 2006

Cincy, 2006

Katharina Grosse's paintings are massive explosions of color, material and energy. Her mix of over saturated colors sprayed on to unlikely surfaces are very dramatic and over the top. Material that could easily be seen as garbage or ruble becomes suddenly glorified and used as a canvas. Her work ranges in scale from on the walls of a small gallery space to engulfing an entire warehouse, pushing what is generally though of as an art object. At a certain point these large works become almost performance like in that the viewer has to physically travel a sizable distance in order to take the entire piece in. It becomes an entirely new form that cannot really be easily defined by a term such as painting or sculpture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3nV--hCckc

Watching her work is truly just as much a part of the work as the piece itself. The droning sound mixed with the dense particle clouds creates an atmosphere that is very overwhelming. The artist here is deeply involved physically in her work to the point that she had to protect her self from the materials that surround her. The whole process of all that goes on to create one of her pieces is really interesting to me. So much more than just a brush or a canvas is needed in order to make each piece come into reality. Instead of bringing her work to the space, she makes the space itself her work.

Idea

Spaces are a huge part of my work. They are what I look for, what I think about, what fulfill me as a photographer. They are the core of my work. They are what have got me as far as I have. When I think of a shot I think of a space I envision the area. But what is a space? Why does this word continue to resurface constantly in my work? Well I think its time to define what this 'space' phrase really means to me as a photographer.

Ever since I purchased my first Cybershot ten years ago I've been a photographer. I feel that since that day I have viewed the world differently from others around me. It can stop me dead in my tracks sometimes seeing a shot. People can look but they don't always see what I see. It's just a wall, a parking lot, a window, but to me it has always been so much more. It's always been hard for me to justify what and why I photograph the things I do. The best way to put it is that it is just a feeling, a click, like when a cook knows when his steak is seared to perfection. I have thousands of photos saved dating back to the first Cybershot days, to the 5d days of recent. Recently I went back and examined a lot of my old photos and was surprised by how much I have grown, and at the same time how much I am still the same person. My style has never changed, it has only been refined.

So space. I think what I look for in a place I want to photograph is that all of the elements work together. That I can control each and every aspect of the area with making it look too much like I am. I'm attracted by light, line and cleanness in a space. A space has to have atmosphere, a vibe. When I enter a space it immediately becomes apparent that I need to photograph it. I think this is a large part of what my new work is all about. Where as before I would try to capture the entire space in full through wide angle now I am much more selective. I've become even more picky by cropping out the extraneous areas. This is a natural progression that I think will only progress as time goes on. I'm looking forward to cropping, choosing and blocking out space to continue the search for the perfect...space. I'm going to stop saying space now. Here are two 10 year old images:

John Opera

John Opera's images all have a similar visual and conceptual theme that ties them together. And while looking at his images you might not be able to immediately see how they all fit together, with a little bit of studying i starts to come together. I found his use placing abstractions and landscapes together on the same page to be a very interesting way of displaying work. Not only does it make you look at the abstractions in a different context but allows the viewer to draw similarities between the pieces. "Interior abstraction" and "Untitled (Shed II)" have similar compositions, color and tone, forcing me to think about them in relation to each other. In a gallery he displays all the different types of images mixed up, again playing on context. Images that could easily be in completely different bodies of work are all shown at once creating a strange story like melody that makes the viewer draw their own conclusions.

Idea

There's no way around it, purpose is what i lack. While I definitely have my own reasons for why I shoot what I shoot, they are not always apparent from the way I speak about the work. I feel like I constantly struggle between producing work that I know is attractive and work that has serious meaning behind it. But the more I think about it I feel I have come to realize that you don't really need to be able to explain your work in detail all the time, as long as you can grab the interest of the listener. I feel like I focus way too much on having a 'solid concept' and being able to say 'my work is about this,' when that is clearly not the way that I function.

I'm a good shooter. I'm good at having an idea or a plan or a location and going out and making a picture happen. It's rare when I have an envisioned plan that fails. This can be said for almost all of my undergraduate work that I have done so far. From AFO to senior port I have developed my style of working and carrying out a project and I think that I do not take enough time to stop and recognize these patterns that have formed.

1. Start with an idea or random thought
2. Completely visualize in my head the finished product
3. Possible sketch or small scale test shoot
4. Shoot
5. Post production
6. Store on hard drive and or print

It's funny to think about it but basically every project I have done in my early art career has basically followed these guide lines. So what does this say about me and my work? Well I definitely feel like I have hit a wall, both in my work and in my life. I'm at a serious transitional period and virtually ever aspect of my life is suffering because of it, and most importantly my work. Possibly its time to start a new process, try to rework my way of thinking so that I am more motivated. And I really really need a serious change of scenery.

I keep going back to the Alec Soth lecture a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure that in other settings, at some point he has spoken well and intelligently and optimistically. Obviously to get to that point of fame and success you have to be at least in some way inspirational and interesting but no one in that theater that day saw that, I can guarantee that. I think it definitely taught me something in the way of appearances really are everything. I'm sure that Soth didn't speak like that to the people giving him grants and awards, but for whatever reason in his head he felt like he had no need to impress or inspire an auditorium full of young impressionable youth that day.

Whats my point here? Well at the risk of sounding jaded it's all about talking the talk. You can produce horrible work but if you are able to sell it then it does matter. This is no new concept but I think its one that I have over looked for a while. I'm not saying that my work is going to start sucking, but I simply need to be able to speak better about my work and my self. Not only will it increase interest in my work, but also hopefully my confidence. Oh and pray to God that I don't end up like Alec Soth.

Sarah Pickering

Landmine, 2005
Napalm, 2005

Artillery, 2005

Flicks Nightclub 2004

Dickens, High Street 2003

Semi Detached 2003

Pickering's work seemingly dances on a fine line between reality and construction. Upon first glance it is not outright obvious if her work has been altered in post-production or not, and this is especially true for the "Public Order" series shown second here. The images are extremely stagnant and carefully composed with each shot containing some sort of opening to another area. These openings become a gray area where it becomes difficult to determine fiction from fact. In reality her images are actually documents of simulation, with the only manufacturing being done in the scene itself. Everything you see in her photos has been created by someone for for testing or demonstrating purposes. Pickering photographs illusion, events that could be misinterpreted as real situation, when the reality is that it is all 'fake.'

Her work to me is an interesting comment on the digital photoshop world itself. Now days we seem to define fake and real as if it was photoshoped to the point where the integrity and validity of the image has been altered. These images however contain completely fabricated content but have no real post-production alterations made to them, so whats more real? You can't really call these images 'reality' because they depict a simulation, a forced a event or space. But are they more real then if she would have photoshoped in other rooms or explosions? It is this play on our desire to stamp every image as true or photoshoped that I think is truly awesome about this work. I love questions!