I’m often asked: Did you get what you wanted? But how should I know what I wanted? A photo is an encounter, a surprise. Marc Riboud Today was an open session and filled with a wide range of photography and art issues. What follows is a sampling of the conversations. Chris brought in some recent B&W images scanned from his prints...not the negatives. He also discussed issues around "stamping" information on back of pictures. He pointed out some tips about the actual stamping process and using "acid-free" inks. Many of the rubber stamp companies have gone out of business...but Fremont Rubber Stamp Company in Northern California is still making them. Link below fremontrubberstamp.typepad.com Bill & Kathy discussed their recent visit to Christie's for a preview of an upcoming fine art auction of major 20th Century art...Kathy pointed out that women were under-represented (as usual) and lessor prices for these women artists (as usual). Kathy discussed a recent article in the New Yorker entitled "The Canvas Ceiling" (see link below) The Canvas Ceiling “Discussion of the historical lack of recognition of female artists prompted by a New Yorker article, “The Canvas Ceiling” that was based on a new book, “Ninth Street Women” by Mary Gabriel. The book focused on the success factors of 5 of the 11 women in the 1951 exhibit (72 exhibitors) who ultimately gained recognition. It also pointed out that some things have changed little. In 1972 10% of MOMA’s permanent collection represented women and today the figure is 11%! “ / Kathy Wishner In the same vane, we discussed the recent story and photography in the NYT Style Magazine featuring Carrie Mae Weems a well recognized photographer and recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award in 2013. Recommend you look up her bio maybe on Wikipedia. Her portrait in the article prompted questions regarding the style and execution of the portrait. It was noted that, in part, this was a commercial shot highlighting fashion as much as subject. Her work both in photography and multimedia was discussed in the article. Below is the link to her website and NYT article Carrie Mae Weems NYT Article Carrie Mae Weems Website Rene showed us a new mini book on work of Jean-Michel Basquiat being showed at the Broad Museum. As usual Rene's work was a great presentation but raised the question of access and appropriation. The discussion revolved around appropriation and ownership of images taken in the museum. All felt that appropriation is part of all art either directly or indirectly. Direct copying or not giving credit where able is unethical. As far as ownership...as long as the museum or gallery allows photography in portions of heir collection they own, the photographer keeps the rights to the image.
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“Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Neil Armstrong Today, Charley had the floor and talked about the art of space intertwined with his own history as part of the space program at JPL. Below is a picture of Charley as part of the Mariner-Mars Team 50 years ago. In the first part of his talk today, Charley reviewed the names and work of the great science fiction writers as well as the science fiction / space artists before the era of photography. During this time Charley himself created space art that he showed and talked about at our session today. He also discussed his meeting Neil Armstrong and the story behind the picture of man first stepping on the surface of the moon. Below are just some examples of his artistic skills in space art.... Below is a section of a letter Charley wrote to the Pasadena Museum of History describing the interplay of art and science
"....the powerful and enduring back-and-forth interplay between space artists and the space engineers, scientists, and astronauts who have made space travel by robotic machines and by people a reality. Many of these mission and spacecraft builders were originally inspired to choose their careers by reading adventure stories illustrated by journeys to faraway worlds. Their amazing discoveries in turn motivated a new wave of space artists to portray their own unique visions of these worlds, with fine artworks seen in many different public venues. By the late 1960s, the allure of space had exploded upon the larger public scene with such events as the Apollo moon landing, the TV series Star Trek, and the movie classic 2001–A Space Odysseycapturing the public’s imagination and delight." We also discussed the influence of the new era a direct photography of space and the planet surfaces on the art created for science fiction today. Charley promised to present the second half of his talk ....the art produced from the Hubble Telescope and other forms of data collection in todays space explorations. Unfortunately, I cannot enclose his full Powerpoint presentation....too large to include Great meeting with lots of Charley's insights into our space history. Jim Staub added the following... In a similar vein to Mr. Kohlhase's futuristic art I mention a current crop of space related art produced by NASA/JPL. See link below. These posters are hi rez and you are encouraged by our tax funded NASA to print them so long as you're not selling them. Such a deal. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/ “As an artist I have always felt that my task is not to create meaning but to charge the air so that meaning can occur." Todd Hido Today was a "catch up' logistic day but we still managed to talk about photography... First, Bill previewed his pictures (prints) from the upcoming f8 Pasadena at Girdner Gallery in December. "Not a Thief" shown above was a single image from his "Window Shopping Series" We then discussed the recent Cindy Sherman Instagram "Selfies" in the NYT Magazine section. The link to the article is listed below: Cindy Sherman Instagrams You previously received a link to a New Yorker "How should we respond to photographs of suffering" by Sarah Sentilles (August 3, 2017)...she referenced the work above. Below is a short overview of the book from Amazon website
"An argument that anyone can pursue political agency and resistance through photography, even those with flawed or nonexistent citizenship. In this compelling work, Ariella Azoulay reconsiders the political and ethical status of photography. Describing the power relations that sustain and make possible photographic meanings, Azoulay argues that anyone―even a stateless person―who addresses others through photographs or is addressed by photographs can become a member of the citizenry of photography. The civil contract of photography enables anyone to pursue political agency and resistance through photography. Photography, Azoulay insists, cannot be understood separately from the many catastrophes of recent history. The crucial arguments of her book concern two groups with flawed or nonexistent citizenship: the Palestinian noncitizens of Israel and women in Western societies. Azoulay analyzes Israeli press photographs of violent episodes in the Occupied Territories, and interprets various photographs of women―from famous images by stop-motion photographer Eadweard Muybridge to photographs from Abu Ghraib prison. Azoulay asks this question: under what legal, political, or cultural conditions does it become possible to see and to show disaster that befalls those who can claim only incomplete or nonexistent citizenship? Drawing on such key texts in the history of modern citizenship as the Declaration of the Rights of Man together with relevant work by Giorgio Agamben, Jean-François Lyotard, Susan Sontag, and Roland Barthes, Azoulay explores the visual field of catastrophe, injustice, and suffering in our time. Her book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the disasters of recent history―and the consequences of how these events and their victims have been represented." Ultimately we need to explore more of how our contract may be defined . More as we discuss in future meetings “Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.” Matt Hardy Today was an "open session" and three f8'ers brought in images for us to see and comment on. The discussion started mostly with the image location then we changed our comments to discuss the "why" of each image. The "why" included perspective, color, lines and the issue of the "punctum" of each image. To refresh our collective memory of the definition of the punctum and the studium by Roland Barthes Roland Barthes was a French philosopher who wrote extensively about photography. His best known work was Camera Lucida. Barthes wrote that a picture is a message without a code. He thought that the "studium" was the image composition and content...or the message and another component was the "punctum" (or barb) that provided a visual code to the image...something that draws our eys into the visual composition. Below are examples of the images we saw at the meeting today...as usual just a few...editors choice Joe Loudermilk showed a set of images taken at train stations in various countries Howard Landau showed several images fro a recent trip to Randsburg, a ghost town here in California Steve Lewis showed a number of images with an architectual bent from his travels...welcome back Steve Lastly, we began a discussion on photographers "social contract" with our society and communities where we live....to be continued
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