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The works of Tanyth Berkeley, the American photographer includes a series of life-sized photographs of different women. To bring the focus of the viewers to each individual, these photographs are printed as tall as the substantive individuals; the title of each photograph derives from the name of the sitter, for instance: “Grace”, “Ariel”, and “Linda Leven”, etc. Berkeley chose to take pictures of these women who she met at the subway stations, or people she knows and has a deep connection with. The identities of these women vary from street performer, dancer and actress to transgender woman. However, they all share one thing in common: eccentric looks. At first glance, I was even startled by these bizarre faces—extremely pale skin, inconspicuous eyebrows, plump figures, misaligned eyes. The eccentricity of their faces is so compelling that viewers cannot just pass by the portraits without pausing for a minute or two to peruse the women in these photographs. These women, although have extraordinary features, are not seen as distinctive beauties by mainstream standard. They are neglected because their “beauty” is not the same as the by-default “beauty” cherished by commercialism. Society is dogmatic; people believe that beauty is what you see in the women on magazine covers and advertisements. Berkeley, through the photographs she has taken, challenges the worldwide standard of beauty and conveys the message that beauty does not necessarily need to be found in what the world unanimously agree on, or preset; rather, beauty can be found outside of normality. While taking the photographs, Berkeley asked each individual to pose or gesture elegantly, or to hold a bouquet, in order to highlight their femininity. Her instructing the sitters to pose involves communication between the sitter and the photographer; therefore her photographs also contain strings of theatrical elements.
The Canadian photographer, Scott McFarland on the other hand, overrides the presumption that photograph is incapable of capturing moments beyond a brief period of time. He found a way to extend the period of time in his photographs of a botanical garden, titled “Orchard View with the Effects of Seasons”. What McFarland did was that he took photographs of the same garden, one in each season. Then he weaved these photographs together remarkably by digital means and produced an image of the garden in all four seasons. Although this is, technically, impossible with camera, McFarland utilized this technique and created a few photographs that have also been digitally manipulated. These photographs were well put together, and therefore were natural to the eyes of the viewers and suggested the least of digital intervention. Personally, I do not totally reject his photography but I do not like the idea of manipulating photographs. Photographs are supposed to mirror the actual objects, authentically. Perhaps photographers today see digitally manipulated photographs as a trend of the new photography, but I see it only as a lower form of art, one that requires not much taste or effort on the artist’s part.
Berni Searle is a South African artist whose works are heavily influenced by her own personal experience and memory. One of the works that I was drawn most toward to was a series of photographs of Searle’s family. Searle cut out the shape of the silhouette of her family on a red crepe paper, in a series of snapshots of family outings. Then, she sank the cut-out in a basin filled with water. The red pigment of the crepe paper was oozed out as the water diffuses into the crepe paper. The figures of family members lost their shapes after being washed and washed by water. Searle named this series of photograph as “About to Forget” to refer to the diluted memory and fading family ties among a family that is once so intimate. Using such technique, Searle narrated the story of her family breakup and the nostalgic feelings she kept to herself about such a painful loss. Looking at the blurry, orange-red photographs, I feel a sense of pathos toward her. As frequent as family falling apart has become, Searle tells a sad story that, unfortunately, a lot of people have also experienced.
After visiting this exhibition, I truly feel that a new era of photography has embarked; different approach of picture-taking, subject being presented and new effects are the hints. These three photographers offer viewers a glimpse of what new photography acquires and loses. Old values are torn down as new values are built. Tanyth Berkeley challenges the worldview of beauty through the lens, Scott McFarland goes beyond the limits of photographs that are imposed by time and space, and Berni Searle employs new techniques to narrate a story of loss in her photographs. This exhibition provides me with new insights and a stronger understanding in the changing field of photography.
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There was one piece that I found particularly eye-catching. It’s a series of photographs taken by Berni Searle, but it’s not part of the About to Forget series. The title of the piece is Approach (2006). The piece contains seven individual photographs put together to create a large-scale piece that looks as if it were one large photograph. I saw this piece first when I walked into the exhibit, and immediately knew that this was what I was going to write about.
At first glance from afar, you think that that it’s a series of hills with men in a dresses scattered about. However, I realized that this was just an illusion. It’s actually just one side of a hill, with only one person throughout all the photographs. Each photo has the person descending the hill at a new position, on “each side.” After pondering on the pictures, I realize now that half the photos were reversed or flipped to create that symmetrical feel. It’s an interesting technique used by Searle, playing with the audience perception of what is the reality of what they’re seeing.
Another observation that I made about Approach was that as the person descended, they became more submerged into the ground. In the beginning of the photographs, they were sitting at the peak then standing. As the series progresses, the person slowly starts sinking, until at the end they are up to their knees in the mud, defiled by the dirt.
I read the information given about the piece given by the museum after the looking at it, and was shocked to learn the information behind the piece. The hill wasn’t a natural dirt hill at all. Instead, it is a mound created by discarded grape skins during the harvest season in South Africa. Also the person that I thought was a man in a dress was actually the artist, a woman. It’s a new concept to me that the photographer was the subject of her own photos, since the other two artists in the exhibit didn’t do that. And she’s soaked in grapes, not mud. The destruction of her white dress contrasts with the serene atmosphere surrounding her.
Thus, I think the purpose of this piece was for Searle to show us that even though something looks nice and calm from afar, it’s all an illusion. Nothing is what it seems. Even on close inspection, it photos look still look beautiful until you realize the flaw in Searle’s appearance. I’m glad that I chose to go to this exhibition. It allowed me to view a photography exhibit, as opposed to paintings, and to experience the wonder to visiting somewhere new since I had never been to the MoMA.
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A map of your photos is in the page available from the sidebar —> (Click on Snapshot Day 2007)
You may need to click on “View Larger Map” to see everyone’s contributions.
If any of you are interested in adding audio descriptions to your photos, check out VoiceThread!
See you all on Wednesday.
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Upon entering Passerby I was completely confused of what was going on. I had gone there to see Push and Pull: A Furniture Comedy for Hans Hofman part of an ongoing presentation called PERFORMA07. Passerby was a small space in which the gallery event was going on, it is behind a bar and next to an auto shop. It was not located in the most cultured looking place of the city but it definitely had something to offer. Before entering the gallery, we had to pass by darkly lit area that set a mood for disappointment but upon entering the gallery the feeling that would hit you would be confusion.
You look around and what do you see? You see people walking around. They are putting things up, taking things down. Then you notice, some people are looking at you, you feel uncomfortable maybe you are not supposed to be here, this looks like someone’s room but really messy. Then pay more attention and you notice that they also have no idea what is going on. So you feel a little bit more comfortable and you step further in.
This was probably my best experience with an exhibition. This was good because it was one small space in which everyone was able to be part of the exhibit and everyone was art. I enjoyed the fact that we were able to decorate anything that we felt like decorating and take stuff away from things we felt like it had too much. I was able to put my own designs and creations up on silver reflective aluminum paper that represented the walls of our piece. We could do graffiti on it or could tear it down and it wouldn’t matter because it was part of our creative side and that is all that mattered when we were at Passerby while observing Performa07. The most incredible thing is that we were not mere expatiators; we were able to become an important part of the artwork. My hand became the brush with which I would be able to draw and paint with. We were able to move anything around; there were no restrictions to what we could do. Our inner artists were liberated as soon as we knew that we could do anything and that anything was everything that came to our mind. We could put a do not sit sign and across from it a sit please. There was a convergence of what the artist wanted us to do and what the people who attended the exhibit wanted other people to see or do.
This was one piece in which every single one of us was able to become an artist or part of the piece. Every moment in Passerby in Push and Pull: A Furniture Comedy for Hans Hofman was a moment that would never happen again. With each passing second the art that was unique would change. Someone moving would change the piece in its entirety, the only way to keep the piece constant was to not allow anybody to come in and see it, and that would have been a waste of artistic effort. With being in this piece we were able to explore ourselves not as observers of the art world but as artists in the art world and as part of art in the art world. Our ability to change our surroundings is what made Push and Pull: A Furniture Comedy for Hans Hofman so special.
Do you know why i named it continuance of art?
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Photographs can capture moments that want to be remembered forever. However, in this exhibition photography was utilized as an instrument of perception, illustrating the ultimate central European model of modernity. As an immediate result of World War I, much of the mighty empires shattered into several apprehensive nation-states. The crises of civil war, unemployment, and inflation contributed to the volatility of the central European societies. Popularity of photography in the area led to the rise of the press and other creative techniques like photomontage: which is the result of making a composite photography by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The exhibition is a significant visual element of what can be called the timeline of the history of photography. It signifies the powerful contribution of Central Europe to the advancement of photography.
In the 1920s and 1930s, photography served as a powerful catalyst employed by progressive artists and the Surrealist movement. The mass media proliferated at a rapid pace, especially in Germany, which was by now producing more illustrated periodicals than any other country in the world. The huge acceptance of photography in central Europe was largely possible because of the established institutions with strong roots in the region like applied art schools, commercial studios, and other photographic training establishments. Innovative approaches to produce powerful and thought-provoking pieces offered a new vision in the technological domain of the period.
An explosion of unconventional forms of photography gave birth to procedures like abstract photograms, photomontages, and combinations of graphic design with a modern touch. Photomontage began as a result of the recovery from war. Response to the horrific automation and the demise of so many human bodies took form of photomontage. This concept was also at times considered as a form of visual poetry, depicting the many attitudes and emotions during the war as well as postwar sentiments like chaos, anticipation, and anxiety.
An entire section of the exhibition was devoted to the “New Women – New Men” concept, which suggested a shift in roles of both men and women alike. The death of so many men in World War I radically altered gender roles. This “New Woman” was in the middle of intense controversy for many and upset the traditional roles for men and women.
The exhibition clearly expressed the crucial role of photography in the 1920s and 1930s in Central Europe. The display `decaptured the diversifying works of so many artists; it was almost too much to absorb all at once. However, the unpredictability of the exhibition kept me attentive and asking for more. There were artists like Karel Picka whose pieces incorporated “ethnography”, emphasizing the countryside, giving the impression of an attempt to establish a connection with the people that the artist captured. Similarly, August Sander created a collection of portraits of Germans taken during the first half of the twentieth century in his “Citizens of the Twentieth Century”. The collection includes local farmers, workers, women, artists, the big city, and “the last people.”
Surrealist imagination also greatly influenced the production of the era. Surrealism was the key force that drove avant-garde artists to make interactions with the societal transformations from conventions to spiritual freedom, poetry, and eroticism. An example would be Jindrich Styrksy’s “Emilie Comes to me in a Dream” in which he denounces society for condemning sex while celebrating war and violence.
During a time of terror and hardships, photojournalism updated citizens with the latest important events and providing job opportunities for those battling unemployment. Artists like Kata Kalman experimented with social photography in Hungry. As an activist, she exposed the impoverished lives of workers, poor children, and Gypsy girls. She revealed the reality that was never acknowledged in a way that the audience couldn’t escape it. Photography soon became a prevailing political tool, that spoke the truth about urban life and demanded justice for those like the proletariat.
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but today i went with mary to the “Depth of Field” exhibition at the Met, not a huge exhibition but lots of variation within modern photography, in both appearance and concepts. you can view all the photographs online at http://www.metmuseum.org/special/depth/modern_photography_images.asp but all of them truly need to be seen in person to get the real feel of what these photographers are trying to do.
some photos that immediately stood out were Jpeg ny02 by Thomas Ruff, a large photo of lower manhattan on 9/11 with only the north tower standing in a plume of debris. however, it has been manipulated to look like a poorly compressed photo you’d find on google images, so is slightly pixilated.
also there was a familiar cowboy by Richard Prince, which was in a somewhat similar vain to what Ruff is trying to do, and both could be considered ‘appropriation’.
The piece that i felt the most connection with was Annual Rings by Dennis Oppenheim.
the photo itself i thought was very good, and wasn’t trying too hard to be ‘artsy’ or have an especially dynamic or dramatic composition or angle. i prefer this straight-forward style of documenting things as they happen, and the fact that along with the photos he had provided maps with the location drawn on, gave the sense of time and place to the art which i thought was very important to the art. what he did basically was make a sculpture from trampling rings in the snow to mimic the rings of a tree trunk. the rings are carried on the other side of the river, which is also the USA/Canada border. he was one of the first people to really try and break away from the norm in sculpture which i admired.
the exhibition is well worth checking out (and it’s free with the cultural passport B-) ), plus you’re at the met so if you’re bored there’s plenty else to do. there’s lots of different things in one small room, i think everyone would see something they liked.
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““Photography, 2007” is an exhibit that is located in the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street in Manhattan. I went to the museum on Sunday, November 25, 2007. The normal price range for students with valid IDs is $12.00, but the cultural passport gets the Honors College into the MoMA for free. It contains pictures from various artists, but they range in topics, from the construction of buildings to the skepticism of feminine beauty.
I really did not know what to expect when I walked into the MoMA. I have been to the MoMA before but usually for the paintings and sculptures. I also know about the other exhibits. Evan’s group presented on the Martin Puryear, and this provided me a chance to see that also. I went straight up to the third floor because I did not want to be distracted by the more famous artworks that the MoMA holds in its exhibits.
I walked and picked up a program and realized that the museum held paintings of Picasso and Monet. But u was able to restrain myself from these once-in-a-life-time appearances.
I went into the “Photography, 2007” exhibit and realized that each wall was dedicated to a specific artist. And it did not matter how many photos the artist had they were allowed one wall. Some artists had only one picture on their walls. The photos were not placed in any type of categories or genres. But it seemed to me that these photos were taken of the most random things and put into random positions. I think that some of the photos that were placed in this exhibit were not about content but rather the quality. The images were sharp and clear. Even if the photo itself did not make any sense to me, it still had impeccable detail and picture quality.
The photographs that were shown in this exhibit were not in fact taken in 2007. Actually, not that I think about it, there were no pictures that were taken in 2007. In fact there are some photos that dated back to 1900. But even these old photographs have outstanding picture quality. It makes you wonder how cameras back then had such good resolution.
The specific piece that I chose is about feminine beauty and the how the artist finds ways of altering that image. And in this case there was a transgender woman, and regal blond and three other women. Each had a distinct quality about why they were not considered beautiful. The artist defied the norms and took five pictures of seemingly random people. These pictures are all full length and they catch the viewer’s eye because of the picture quality. They take up one full wall, and the contrast that the white wall gives to the pictures is unheard of. The artist’s name was Tanyth Berkeley and the each piece had a name, Claire, Ariel, Grace, Linda Leven, and Rick Wilder. This was a series of five photographs and it would have been incomplete if the photos were by themselves.
The pictures were all looking toward the viewer with a look of secrecy and that the subjects were hiding something. On the information plaque the viewer is able to see that the artist randomly discovered these subjects and he used a most of them several times in his works. The subjects themselves probably have nothing to do with the idea that they are portraying. “
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My Love…
was a very interesting exhibit for me to step into. I have never been one to visit an art gallery on my own. This really was taking a big risk for me. I would probably have been better off visiting a more traditional gallery. However, as I haven’t visited galleries on my own before this, it is possible that I also had nothing to compare the exhibit to.Just food for thought,
Priya
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