Juul hondius

http://www.juulhondius.com/

Meaningful articulation.

Stan Brakhage

This week (possibly month) I'll be researching Stan Brakhage.

http://www.ubu.com/papers/tyler_parker-stan_brakhage.html

http://www.ubu.com/papers/kelman_ken-film_poetry.html

'Mothlight' 1963

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaGh0D2NXCA

Jitka Hanzlova

 

FOREST

Mitch Epstien, American Power 2003-2009

I was lucky enough to see the series American Power last summer while visiting the Tate Modern as apart of  the museum's New Documentary Forms series. It's funny,  looking at Epstein's prints, it's hard to not to think I'm look at a painting. The compositions contain a poignant ethereal quality, as if the environment itself was created from the imagination of the artist.

His images are crisp and still even when capturing motion. He utilization light and the elements to assist the character of his prints. Each photograph feels self contained, as if nothing really exists outside of the 70 x 92 inch print.

Guy Tillim

Interview with Guy Tillim

 
   I'm in love with the work of Guy Tillim. My initial interest developed after seeing a few of his images at the Tate Modern. He speaks with muted colors and and understated subject matter that ,given time, reveals a lingering visceral presence. After hearing him speak about his work, my appreciation grew exponentially. He carries a system of ethics that have developed over the course of twenty-plus years, spanning  from his early work during the Apartheid in South Africa.
   Photography inherently tells a story. Documentation is then a form of fiction. The ramifications of this, on those who work in this vein, is everything. Tillim displays a remarkable awareness of these concepts. His unique perspective and talent leads to amazing results. The portraits he creates, whether it be of a person or of a city, capture a sense honest beauty that, quite frankly, I fail to describe.

Roni Horn

From the series You Are the Weather

As with most photographers,  my interest in their concepts usually develops out of an initial appreciate for the aesthetic aspects of their work. With Roni Horn, those developed simultaneously. Her process is intriguing and the resulting prints stand as a test. Her images are made under soft even lighting that casts minimal shadows, just strong enough to set a sense of space. The colors explored in much of her work subtly compliment each other. There's a remarkably refined asymmetrical balance in her compositions. Interestingly enough, I feel as though these elements take a back seat to what is being represented. Her aesthetic choices don't really draw attention to themselves but come together to create a harmonious whole. Essentially, in doing this, she creates 'place'.
This ties into the conceptual side of her work. In her series "You are the Weather" Horn talks about wanting to create a sense of place, similar to that of a landscape, in a portrait.

There is something congruous between all of Horn's work that seems to always suggest place. In these portraits, the space around the woman, the water and the air, become just as immediate as the woman's face. Her stoic expression suggesting a kinship with the rocks and earth that form the mountains.