Idea: Contact

To research contact, I listened to a Radiolab episode of the same name Paul recommended to me. I provided a lot of different ways to think about the idea of contact, including the decline of public groups and gatherings since the late 1960s (girl scouts, picnics), the influence of television and going to work, online dating, meetup.com, crowd behavior, and even locust anti-social tendencies. They interview a Harvard scholar named Robert Putnam who wrote a controversial book called Bowling Alone.

"Your chances of dying over the next 12 months are cut in half by joining just one group. Social isolation is as big of a risk factor as smoking."
-Robert Putnam from book Bowling Alone

Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other changes in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.
-Robert Putam from book Bowling Alone

Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Print.

This book addresses the decline in social interactions and it's effects since the late 1960s. The titles comes from Putnam's claim that years ago thousands of people belonged to bowling leauges, but now people are more likely to bowl alone. Putnam provides data on everything from how many picnics people go on a year, decline in voter turnout, PTA meeting participation, trusting your neighbors, and church attendance.

Contact is important to my concept of isolation because it is the direct opposite of the word. By studying human interaction, I can better understand human isolation. I plan on reading Putnam's book, and further exploring the social benefits and consequences of being alone. Informed art is better art, in my opinion.

Contact makes me think about my personal interactions with other people, as opposed to my time spent alone. This picture was taken by my friend Kelley Lousier who is studying photography at Parsons in New York.

Artist: Andres Gonzalez

Visually, I am attracted to Gonzalez's minimalist, documentary style. His photos feel mysterious, yet peaceful. They give a feeling of exploring, wandering, and discovering, that ends in solitude. Hid quote about thinking of the "camera as a tool for reconciliation and problem-solving, even if it never gives a straight answer" relates closely to my process. My pictures about isolation act as personal therapy, even if they don't directly effect the situation. I also like how Gonzalez photographs a lot of mundane subject matter, but makes it interesting because of what he puts into it.


bio:
Andres Gonzalez (b. 1977, United States) is currently based in Istanbul, Turkey. He is originally from California where he pursued a degree in writing from Pomona College in Claremont, California – but after a two year stint in Namibia teaching environmental education and snapping pictures along the way, he realized that photography was a much more natural way for him to express his world view. He is the recipient of the Canon Italia Young Photographer’s Award in 2009, was a Fulbright Scholar in 2008. He was selected as one of PDN’s Emerging 30 photographers in 2006. His work has been published by W Magazine, Monocle, and Wallpaper among others.
(from Verve Photo http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/andres-gonzalez/)


Quotes:
"Over the year, I think I started using the camera to approach the way I was feeling about them, maybe as an emotional shield, maybe as a way to capture some internal conflict."
-Andres Gonzalez for Mossless Magazine (http://mosslessmagazine.com/post/963160937/andres-gonzales)

"The process suddenly felt serious in an abstract way - I had no idea what I was doing, or that I could even express myself with pictures. At that point I only knew of photojournalism, the pinnacle being National Geographic. This felt different, but I didn’t know why. So that was really the beginning, and I still try to hold onto the idea of the camera as a tool for reconciliation and problem-solving, even if it never gives a straight answer."

-Andres Gonzalez for Mossless Magazine (http://mosslessmagazine.com/post/963160937/andres-gonzales)

gallery:
http://www.tinyvices.com/gallery/131181?page=portfolios


artist website: 
http://www.andresgonzalezphoto.com/


interview:
http://mosslessmagazine.com/post/963160937/andres-gonzales

Idea: Suprematism

"Two basic types of creation can be distinguished: one, initiates but the conscious mind, serves practical life, so-called, and deals with concrete visual mind, stands apart from all 'practical utility' and treats abstrat visual phenomena. We find the concrete element in the sciences and religion - the abstract art."
-Kazimir Malevich from his book The Non-objective World, page 11.



"Our conception of reality is likewise changeable and depends upon the interplay of those elements of reality which, as they make their appearance, are subject to one kind of distortion or another in the mirror of our consciousness (our brain), since out ideas and conceptions of matter are always distorted images having not the slightest relation to reality.
Matter itself is eternal and immutable; its insensibility to life - it's lifelessness - is unshakeable. The changing element of our consciousness and feeling, in the last analysis, is illusion, which springs from the interplay of distorting reflections of variable, derivative manifestations of reality and which has nothing whatsoever to do with actual matter or even with an alteration in it."
-Kazimir Malevich form him book The Non-objective World, page 18


Malevich, Kazimir Severinovich. The Non-objective World: the Manifesto of Suprematism. Mineola, NY: Dover   Publications, 2003. Print.
This is Kazimir Malevich book on his ideas about the art movement he created. It explains that emotion is the most important factor for making Suprematist art above all other artistic considerations. 


Gray, Camilla. The Russian Experiment in Art: 1863-1922. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1962. Print.
This book covers Russian art and artists from 1863 to 1922, focusing on major movements. This would be good to read in order to understand what came before and after this movement that lead up to the formation of Suprematism and how it impacted art that came after it. 


The more research I do, the more pictures I take, and the more self analysis I do, I realize that I am very much attracted to minimal design. Being a student, it's important to not tie yourself to labels in order to maintain growth. Trying not to group myself into a particular style has caused me to overlook the fact that my work does have similarities in style throughout my production. When thinking about minimalism, Suprematism came to mind because of it's almost uber-minimal structure. I have never tried making work inside the perimeters of Suprematism, but it could be a good challenge for myself as practice. I am attracted to clean lines, organized forms, and simple but thoughtfully considered ideas. By studying Suprematism, and minimalism in general, I could better refine my practice. 

Malevich, Eight Rectangles 

Artist: Yayoi Kusama

I am mostly attracted to Yayoi Kusama because she is literally insane, and has an extremely interesting character, which is what makes her art. Her art is about herself, and what she sees. My art is about myself, and what I see. Her art is her own form of therapy, much like mine. I think the most interesting art is often not about the worlds problems, or wars, or politics, but about one person, and their one life, and their unique vision the tells a story entirely about themselves. I think this has a lot to do with the basics of communication, and how it's much easier to get through to someone by sitting them down and making your message personal, by attaching a face and narrowing a concept by putting it in a tunnel unaffected by outside opinions. But she is able to communicate because is the end her obsessions often align with others'. A lot can be learned from this hugely successful Japanese artist the voluntarily lives in a mental hospital. She said "If it was not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago."

Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_Kusama

Quotes:

(extracted from interview with index magazine)

MIDORI: What are your future plans then, generally speaking?
YAYOI: I want to live two or three hundred years to do all the things I want to do. I really need more time to think. I want to explore myself — my aesthetics, my relation to the world.

"The art that grows out of my canvases forms an environment, aspires to build a new stage on our time, involving the audience who suffer from the same obsessions as mine." (From Kusama's novel Manhattan Suicide Addict)

Interview: 

http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/yayoi_kusama.shtml

http://bombsite.com/issues/66/articles/2192

Gallery:

http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/2009-04-16_yayoi-kusama/

Her website: 

http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/e/information/index.html

Waffa Bilal: Questions/Response

Questions:

Was working with the model/models for Midwest Olympia challenging (uncofortable, hard to find someone to pose, etc.)?

Is Baiti more of an educational film than a piece of art?

Response:

Quote: "The worst reaction to art is no reaction at all."
Bilal said this in part of an answer to a question from someone in the audience about the seemingly negative reactions he receives from viewers of his art. I've always thought this myself. I've experienced no reactions from artwork I've made, and it's hard to decipher whether your work is unsuccessful, or your audience just doesn't fit when there is not comment whatsoever. I'd rather hear how terrible someone thinks it is than to hear silence.

Three words to describe his practice and artwork:
platform
political
informative

I was surprised to hear at the very end of the lecture that Bilal was forced to leave Iraq because of his artwork about civil rights that didn't align with their government. He was so modest about his courage and perseverance that he made leaving his home country and family for art seem like no big deal.

I don't know the answers to my original questions. My questions didn't seem relevant or important by the end of the lecture.

I found the paintball project to  be the most compelling. Not leaving a single room for an entire month is torture enough. Add being continually shot with paintballs to that, and I don't understand how anyone can mentally tolerate that. And it was entirely voluntary...

The more I think about Bilal's work, the more I wonder how satisfied he is with our democratic system. Is America everything he thought it would be? Would he recommend his family live here over Iraq?

Idea: Isolation

Synonyms for isolate: Cordon off, seal off, close off, fence off, seperate, set/keep apart, segregate, detach, cut off, shut away, keep in solitude, quarantine, cloister, seclude, sequester, identify, single out, pick out, point out, spot, recognize, distinguish, pinpoint, locate, loner, hermit, lonliness. 
Antonyms: Integrate, include, incorporate, mingle, join.


Wikipedia definition of Solitude: Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation; i.e., lack of contact with people. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, or circumstances of employment or situation (see castaway).

Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think or rest without being disturbed. It may be desired for the sake of privacy. Many religions promote solitude for meditation.

A distinction can be made between physical and mental seclusion. People may seek physical seclusion to remove distractions and make it easier to concentrate, reflect, or meditate. However, this is not necessarily an end in and of itself. Once a certain capacity to resist distractions is achieved, people become less sensitive to distractions and more capable of maintaining mindfulness and staying inwardly absorbed and concentrated. Such people, unless on a mission of helping others, don't seek any interaction with the external physical world. Their mindfulness is their world, at least ostensibly.

Another distinction has been made between solitude and loneliness. In this sense solitude is positive.

Wiki also explains the different types of solitude:

There are two different common types of human isolation. These are known as protective isolation and source isolation. They are different in that one is voluntary, while the other is not.

Protective isolation is the type of isolation created in tests. This can usually be classified by the fact that one can opt out of the experiment, or the isolation. It can often be prepared for, and is generally not a negative thing. (More often than not, there is a reward for the subject's time as an experiment.)

Source isolation includes no benefits, and cannot be prepared for. Thus, it is usually undesirable, and is not very common.

Emotional isolation is a term used to describe a state of isolation where the individual is emotionally isolated, but may have a well functioning social network.

I found a good article that was the cover story of New York Magazine on November 23rd, 2008. Alone Together by Jennifer Senior argues that urban loneliness caused by so many people living by themselves is largely a myth. It tells of the health effects of extreme isolation and how loneliness is relative. (http://nymag.com/news/features/52450/)

This research is relevant because studying isolation and enjoyable time alone is my concept. Knowing as much as I can about people's interpretation of isolation will help me to better communicate my concept through my images. 

Uta Barth

Artist: Natascha Libbert

Natascha Libbert is a vision of who I want to be in a few years. I am shocked at how similar we are. She deals with ideas of isolation and what humans to do cope with the feeling of separation from the world they live in. She also worked as a flight attendant in order to save money to go back to grad school for photography... which is where she developed and observed the concepts she works with today. Her visual style is also appealing to me. Her compositions aren't over worked, and her color palate and lighting scenarios she typically documents give a welcomed feeling of solitude, mystery, and excitement.  


Bio (from her website):
Natascha Libbert (1973) lives and works in The Hague, Holland. After working for several years as an account manager at an ad agency (FHV/BBDO), she decided to become a part-time flight attendant in order to go back to school. She studied photography at the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) and graduated there in June 2009.


"Photography gives purpose to questions I have. If I would not photograph, I would have to study something like sociology. Or something else to answer questions.
Something which explains how the arrangements and codes we consider normal, came to be that way."

-Natascha Libbert, on what photography means to her (from interview with ILOVETHATPHOTO http://www.ilovethatphoto.net/2010/02/21/interview-natascha-libbert/)

"This is a story about man's attempt to model his surroundings to become that which he envisions as being an ideal world. It is about how a created world has become reality. I perceived this to be especially visible in places such as hotels, airports, lounges, avenues, resorts by the sea. These places seem to present man with a truth which may be difficult to live up to. Details, both subtle and paramount, can be read in the understandable attempt of man to maintain his created decor and himself in it. In the end, what remains is the undercurrent of a man's alienated relationship to the world he created, a feeling of estrangement. This is what I observe as I travel. It is what this story is about."

-Natascha Libbert, statement on her series "Take Me to the Hilton" from her website.

Interview: http://www.ilovethatphoto.net/2010/02/21/interview-natascha-libbert/

Gallery: http://www.vankranendonk.nl/

Website: http://www.nataschalibbert.nl/index.php