Idea: Shadows

Shadows were mentioned in my midterm critique in reference to my color filled figures. I had not thought of shadows before when looking at my work, but the comment sparked my interest and I think it's worth exploring.


shadow |ˈ sh adō|
noun
1 a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface : trees cast long shadows.
• partial or complete darkness, esp. as produced in this way : the north side of the cathedral was deep in shadow | ( shadows) a stranger slowly approached from the shadows.• the shaded part of a picture.
• a dark patch or area on a surface : there are dark shadows beneath your eyes.• a region of opacity on a radiograph : shadows on his lungs.
• short for eyeshadow .
2 figurative used in reference to proximity, ominous oppressiveness, or sadness and gloom : the shadow of war fell across Europe | only one shadow lay over Sally's life.
• used in reference to something insubstantial or fleeting : a freedom that was more shadow than substance.
• used in reference to a position of relative inferiority or obscurity : helived in the shadow of his father.
• [with negative ] the slightest trace of something : she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was lying.
• a weak or inferior remnant or version of something : this fine-looking, commanding man had become a shadow of his former self.
• an expression of perplexity or sadness : a shadow crossed Maria's face.
3 an inseparable attendant or companion : her faithful shadow, a Yorkshire terrier called Heathcliffe.
• a person secretly following and observing another.
• a person who accompanies someone in their daily activities at work in order to gain experience at or insight into a job.
• [usu. as adj. ] Brit. the opposition counterpart of a government minister: the shadow Chancellor.
• [as adj. ] unofficial or alternative : the Committee of Twenty-Five, a shadow government of unelected businessmen.


Quotes:

“To think of shadows," Victor Hugo wrote in his great novel, Les Miserables, "is a serious thing.”

- Hugo, of course, was addressing vast concepts -- justice, memory, vengeance -- both in the book and in that particular quote. 

"But the beauty of shadows is that they can be so many things: symbols, suggestions, riddles, jokes, threats. They can be anything, or they can simply be themselves -- which is a central reason why they're so cool."

- Life Magazine

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast." 

- Charles Dickens

Annotated Bib:

Shadows: Unlocking Their Secrets, from Plato to Our Time

This book explores every aspect of the shadow from science, to history, to metaphor. It is divided into sections: The heart of the shadow, Shadows in the sky, The century of shadows, and Shadow visions. In The heart os the shadow there are sections called Shadow of the Mind, and Shadow of a Doubt, which both sounds very interesting.

‘From Six Mile Village to Three Shadows’, by RongRong and inri

Artist: Laura Letinsky

Paul recommended I look into this artist in a meeting we had in September. When I first looked at her still life photos, I thought they were not really related to the work I'm making. After reading about them I found that her concepts are very much related to mine, but in more of an indirect way. She is commenting on people without photographing people, which is something I like to do. Here still lifes show something missing, time has passed, people have come and gone, maybe a longing for something more. These ideas relate to things I'm trying to explore. Visually her minimal style is appealing to me as well.

Bio:
Laura Letinsky is an Associate Professor in the Committee on the Visual Arts. Originally from Canada, she moved to the United States to attend the Yale University School of Art from where she recieved her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1991. She previously taught at Bennington College, The University of Houston, and the Yale Norfolk Summer Program. "Venus Inferred," a series of large color photographs of couples has been shown in solo exhibitions including: the Guy McIntyre Gallery, NY; Presentation House, Vancouver; Lawndale Arts Center, Houston, TX; pArts Gallery, Minneapolis, MN; and Optica Gallery, Montreal, QUE. A monograph of these photographs with an essay by Lauren Berlant (Professor of English, U of C) was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2000. Selected group exhibitions include: Domesticated, Worcester Art Museum. MA; Verisimilitudes and the Utility of Doubt, White Columns Gallery, New York, NY; The Body Photographic, New Orleans, LO, and; The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC. The work has been published in White Columns Gallery 1995, Mirror Paradox, and Critical Inquiry. Collections include the San Francisco MOMA, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. She has begun a new series of photographs, still-lifes that explore the formal relationships between ripeness and decay, delicacy and awkwardness, control and haphazardness, waste and plenitude, pleasure and sustenance. In winter 2002, she had a solo exhibition of "Morning and Melancholia" at Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York. (from http://cms.uchicago.edu/faculty/letinsky.html)

Quotes:

"I think I was really afraid to look at myself. I had some resistance toward autobiography--I thought if I just photographed what I knew, then nobody else would be able to identify with it. But I also felt like I needed to try to figure out what I really cared about, and I guess part of my art idea, or the way that I work, is about using that as motivation--because it's so hard to make artwork. It takes so much time, it costs so much money, and there's no guarantee that anyone's even going to like it. So you might as well do something you really care about, because I don't know what other reason there is to do it. Whenever I feel like I'm floundering, or I can't locate what I want to do, I always stop, look around, and think about what makes me feel something. For example, I collect things. I can't afford to get expensive things, but I would always go to thrift stores and buy things I thought were beautiful. I love objects, so I began to photograph that subject, and the still-life work coalesced from there."
- from interview

"One thing I've noticed throughout all of your work, beginning with Venus Inferred, is this idea of distance. I'm never in someone's space; there's always a gap between me, as viewer, and the subject. With your newer photographs, you're showing me things that have been left behind, but I can never get so close that they become disgusting, which allows me to view the work more poetically, as opposed to interpreting it in a way that brings up a discourse about the grotesque or the body. The objects are always beyond my reach; there's a chasm I cannot bridge. It seems to be about that yearning or melancholy you were talking about earlier. Not only are the objects left behind, but we've lost our connection to them. 

When I first started doing the still life work in 2001, I was thinking a lot about point of view, and shifting from that earlier stance as a third-person, objective observer watching a couple, to a kind of play that involved a first-person point of view, as if I were watching myself take the photograph. I began to imagine the viewer as being a person in those stories or in those pictures, looking at the stuff in front of them. Then, in 2002, I started thinking about being a kid, and things being just out of reach--the sweet things, the things that are desirable yet also bad for you. I wanted that push-pull: the wanting but not being able to have, the having but not being able to want. "
- from interview

gallery

interview

website

Artist: Nicholas Hughes

Recently I've been thinking a lot about borders, dividers, barriers... etc. Whenever there is isolation, one of these must be present. These things occur in many different forms. I've started to document them photographically. Nicholas Hughes does this as well. His photos are all landscapes, which are beautiful and serene. I'm going beyond landscapes, but his ideas are interesting to read about, and his images pleasing to look at. He is also interested in isolation, and the benefits it provides.

Biography:
(from his website) "Nicholas Hughes is a UK based artist who works mainly within his immediate location whether that be - central London, the British coastline, Switzerland or Germany. His work has recently been shown at ‘Landscape’, the 5th International Photo Festival in Seoul 2005, Paris Photo at the Carrousel de Louvre 2005 and at ‘Earth’ The Houston twentieth Biennial Fotofest in 2006. He has a solo show at the Photographers’ Gallery in London from September – November 2007. He has pursued a career as a photographic artist since obtaining a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 followed by a Master's Degree from the London College of printing in 2002. His work is represented by The Photographers’ Gallery in London and by Gana Art Center in Seoul and has been featured in numerous publications, including Next Level, Hotshoe International, the Photographer and the British Journal of Photography, and is held in photographic collections worldwide."

Quotes:
“Immensity is within ourselves. It is attached to a sort of expansion of being that life curbs and caution arrests, but starts again when we are alone.”
-Gaston Bachelard (The Poetics of Space). Closing of Hughes' biography on his website.

"In overcoming feelings of isolation I concurred with Alpers’ affirmation that "Artists often need to be withdrawn from the world for the purpose of attending better to it." (Modern Painters)."

-Artist statement for "Verses I"

interview

gallery 1

gallery 2

artist's website

Idea: Borders

Definition:
border |ˈbôrdər|noun
1 a line separating two political or geographical areas, esp. countries :Iraq's northern border with Turkey | [as adj. ] border patrols.
• a district near such a line : a refugee camp on the border.
2 the edge or boundary of something, or the part near it : the northern border of their distribution area | figurative the unknown regions at the borders of physics and electronics.
3 a band or strip, esp. a decorative one, around the edge of something : put a white border around the picture.• a strip of ground along the edge of a lawn or path for planting flowers or shrubs : the garden borders are planted with perennials.
verb [ trans. ]
form an edge along or beside (something) : a pool bordered by palm trees.
• (of a country or area) be adjacent to (another country or area) : regions bordering Azerbaijan | [ intrans. ] the mountains bordering on Afghanistan.
• [ intrans. ] ( border on) figurative be close to an extreme condition :Sam arrived in a state of excitement bordering on hysteria.
• (usu. be bordered with) provide (something) with a decorative edge :a curving driveway bordered with chrysanthemums.ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French bordeure; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to board .

The Treriksröset cairnlocated at the only point where Sweden, Norwayand Finland borders meet.

Astronaut photograph of the France-Italy border at night. The south-western end of the Alps Mountains separates the two countries.

Artist: Nicolai Howalt

Howalt's barren landscapes really appeal to me and my search for places to be alone. I really enjoy her series "borders" where she explores man-made borders throughout Denmark, and how she speaks of them being more mental than real. Borders would be a good thing for me to explore as well, but in a social context.

biography

Quotes:

"Looking at a map of the world with its many frontiers it is obvious that someone drew the lines. Separated the territories. Created new nations, and erased others. Borders do not create themselves. And they are rarely permanent. People talk about natural borders, but they are often equally arbitrary. Take Kongeåen – the river in Jutland that used to form the border between Denmark and Germany. It was natural, but not natural after all. The river is still there, but the border has moved. 
      The word border leaves an impression of something tangible and well defined. But reality is quite different. Standing on a border it seems more mental than real. There are no lines on the ground, and the landscape is identical for miles on either side. The water that separates countries is the same colour. The clouds the same grey."
- Gitte Broeng, from artist statement about Howalt's series "borders"

"The images represent a humanization of nature: Trees figure as human symbols in a series of ”tree portraits” together with larger panoramic landscapes in monumental formats. In this way a suspense is created between immense, impenetrable space and singular, isolated trees."

- From artist statement for "tree zone", a collaboration between Trine Søndergaard & Nicolai Howalt

interview

artist's website

Gallery 1
Gallery 2

Idea: European Union

This may seem like a stretch, but during my last two meetings with Paul the European Union has come up. Not in a political nature, but when thinking about isolation, it's important for me to think about things other than social isolation. Paul mentioned looking into the countries rejected from the EU, and study the unity between the members.

Quotes:
"If you cannot join them, beat them!"

— Danish Foreign Minster Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, in a short statement to television before the European Championship 1992 Final, won by Denmark, shortly after the Danes voted against the Maastricht Treaty

"We are a very special construction unique in the history of mankind ... Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empire. We have the dimension of empire .. What we have is the first non-imperial empire .. We have 27 countries that fully decided to work together and to pool their sovereignty. I believe it is a great construction and we should be proud of it"

— Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, 2007

Annotated Bib:

The European Dream by Jeremy Rifkin

Rifkin claims that the American Dream is in decline, and the European way of life will be its replacement. He addresses how Americans 'live to work' and Europeans 'work to live' which makes for a healthier society. He writes about the history of Europe and America, and how Europe is slowly becoming better suited to adapt to "the challenges of the 21st-century". 

From the 1957 signing of the Treaties of Rome establishing the European Economic Community.

Julika Rudelius Lecture Questions/Response

Do you develop relationships with your subjects? Do you empathize with them, hate them, want to tell them your opinion?

Did you want to do these studies on humanity because you were not satisfied with the people around you? Did your ideas stem from anger or discomfort, fascination, or just a psychological curiosity?

Response:

The most interesting quote: "Representation of truths is non-existent"
I like when she spoke about her experience with documentaries, and how she realized that the style was overrated, and they do not succeed in relaying the truth because they are effected by the filmmaker's opinions. I had never really thought about film in this way.

Core of Rudelius' practice:
power
emotion
politics

The most interesting thing I learned about the artist I did not know before was that she completely controls and creates these filmed situations. When I first researched her work I thought she used a documentary style to relay her message, when in fact she does exactly the opposite.

I know the answer to my second question. Her earlier work came from anger and frustration. As she grew older, she mellowed out and made more complex work that wasn't so angry.

I found the Forever series most fascinating. I've always been interested in high society for similar reasons Rudelius is. I love that rich and powerful people seem to have no concern with the opinions of others concerning their behavior. I've always thought it was the key to their success.

I don't necessarily have any new questions, but I would really love to see her films in their entirety, and in the gallery setting with multiple screens. I was really disappointed she kept stopping her films during the lecture. It was our chance to see them, because they aren't online, and I felt it was wasted.

Artist: John Baldessari

Baldessari takes things out of photographs by painting over them in order to create a new narrative. After thinking about what I could take out or add to my photographs in order to further m concept of isolation, John Baldessari seemed like an obvious example. I've loved his work for years. I've never directly tried to make work similar to Baldessari's, but I'm sure he has indirectly influenced me (until now). I'm going to start experimenting with taking large sections out of my photos, but in a different way, and with different meaning. Looking at Baldessari images was a good way to start my experimentation.

Biography: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/john-baldessari/
"John Baldessari is often irritated. He works in Los Angeles because it tends to piss him off. “It’s ugly here,” he says matter-of-factly. “It’s not a city – just an area with no real culture.” Add traffic congestion, noise and smog to its confusing identity and it’s easy to understand Baldessari’s angst. But being uncomfortable in life seems to make John more comfortable in his own skin. “I could never work in cities that are too beautiful. Too much beauty diffuses me. It’s when I dislike my environment so much that I go inside myself and create my best work.” 
- From Artworks article (http://artworksmagazine.com/2009/10/the-sum-of-the-parts-equals-john-baldessari/)
"...by depriving people of what they really want to see, it frees them to change their priorities about what it truly means to understand something. It’s both a trick and a valuable service that has lived on in his work. “It’s a cat and mouse game where I give them clues,” Baldessari says. “It’s like a great detective story where the writer leads you to think you’ve got it all figured out, then, ‘Ah hah! No you haven’t!’ Or kind of like when a woman enjoys being flirtatious instead of saying yes on the first date.”
- From Artworks article (http://artworksmagazine.com/2009/10/the-sum-of-the-parts-equals-john-baldessari/)

Artist's website:
http://www.baldessari.org/

Interview:
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/john-baldessari/

Gallery:
http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibBaldessari.aspx