James Welling. Monday Post. 11.16.

James Welling is making photograms of plants, but they appear to be the negatives of photograms, instead of being white on black, his images are translucent and colorful and seem to radiate summer sun.

I just read that James Welling is the head of the photography department at UCLA. That's pretty rad. Welling's use of biological materials to make abstract work is relevant to my current thought processes and shooting methods.

"James Welling employs a wide variety of photographic tools and media. His abstract compositions are rendered as photograms, traditional gelatin silver prints, Polaroids, and digitally processed prints. In addition, Welling has used experimental shutterless cameras, digital, and vintage view cameras to create these images. His works challenge the technical and conceptual bounds of photography, but employ simple materials like crumpled aluminum foil, wrinkled fabric and pastry dough. In mid-seventies Welling worked with Polaroid and 4 × 5 cameras to create photograms and architectural views. He also worked on his Diary/Landscape series in which he paired abstracted Connecticut landscapes with pages of his great-great-grandparents’ diaries. This above work, from his 1986 series Degradés, is an abstract photogram made by exposing color photographic paper to various levels of light. In all of his works Welling filters the very tenets of photography, light, movement, and time, through his unique process, contributing to the continuous reevaluation of abstract photography." (http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/welling_james.php)

Tim Head. Monday Post. 11.9.

Tim Head is a British artist, born in 1946. He has done a great deal of experimentation in the art field, working with drawing, printing with ink, video installations, and experiments with UV paint and black lights.

Tim Head has worked in a variety of mediums over the years. Some of his later work, started in the early 2000’s “explores the physical ingredients of digital space.”

And another quote, “The work is motivated by the search for a kind of pictorial and spatial reality which is intrinsic to the computer, and a desire to expose the 'treacherous' nature of the digital space. Head is fascinated by the supposed perfection of the computerised image and the fact that much effort is devoted to creating ever more refined images which eliminate any evidence of the pixel. However, Head is not opposed to such technology per se. Treacherous Light is not about subverting the computer. Rather, in common with so much of his work of the past thirty years, it is about taking a medium (or an idea) and 'laying it bare, making it transparent, showing it for what it is'. [6] It is a part of an ongoing project: a probing but non-judgemental questioning of the world we live in and the technology we surround ourselves with.”

Andres Serrano. Monday Post. 11.2.

Andres Serrano is best known for his controversial images of Jesus on the Cross and Madonna with Child, both submerged in his urine. Serrano’s use of abstraction and organic compounds is the part of his work that I enjoy. He takes a biological look at what the human body produces. His more controversial work employs piss, blood, semen, and now feces; these are the pieces I have been studying. Serrano has been throwing this brand of social commentary at the art world for years now. His recent work, photographs of his own shit photographed against bright neon backgrounds are meant to show the complexities of human waste.

Serrano says, “Even though I consider myself a conceptual artist, I am a traditionalist when it comes to photography. I like to use film and shoot straight. No technical gimmicks or special effects. What you see is what I saw when I looked though the camera. If I've dazzled you with lights and colors, it's because I've dazzled you with lights and colors. Ideas are more important than effects. And effects are always better when they're real.”

I think Serrano is great because how often do we really contemplate what our bodies produce? Everything that we naturally make as living beings has been stigmatized by society and the media. It is not only socially acceptable, but we are expected to cover and mask our human odors, flush our waste, and as women, hide our menstruation as shameful weakness, not to mention the stereotypes attached to body hair. Serrano's brand of controversy may be more of a "f*** you" to the contemporary art world, but regardless, he is using his body to make art and I have a great respect for the work he creates.

Walead Beshty. Monday Post. 10.26.

Walead Beshty is a very intelligent man. His work is based on political and social movements and the process through which he makes his art is very thoughtful.

Excerpt from an "about the artist" statement, "Walead Beshty has long used photography as a tool to explore the social and political conditions of our material culture. More recently, the material conditions of photography itself have spurred his continuing investigations of the gap between the physical world and the image world, and the way this rupture is instrumentalized by ideologies that seek to infiltrate the processes through which we produce meaning."

Beshty also makes large scale, abstract, color photograms. He combines elements of early photography, and then puts a modern spin on it by using large-scale digital printers, and color processing. Another innovative piece Beshty created is a set of shatter proof glass boxes that he ships from gallery to gallery in fed ex boxes. As the pieces move, they develop cracks and shatters from the wear and tear of the travel. This speaks to the movement, the physical tracing of the pieces as they move from show to show. At each location, the boxes take on a new visual element, from the shipping. This work speaks similarly to the photographs Beshty shoots of abandoned Iraqi government buildings in former East Berlin. He had been shooting the gradual decay of the buildings, when on a later trip, his film made it's way through the airport x-ray machines. Rather than dispose of the film, Beshty began shooting with it to make commentary on the travel and the change that had taken place within the space.

Stephen Knapp. Monday Post. 10.19.

Stephen Knapp is known for his light paintings. Knapp uses light and the way light shines through glass to creature sculptural elements on walls that resemble paintings. The three dimensional pieces, also work flawlessly in 2D and look amazing when photographed; I'd love to shoot his work. There are so many potential angles to shoot the pieces from. Every direction offers new angles, new color combinations and more geometry. Knapp's work varies in scale from the size of a mantle, in his commissioned work, to taking up the side of a building, ex: 23'x40'x1'. His range is incredible. In one piece, there is only one light source illuminating the work and the result does not look any more minimal than the others. The minimalist aspect of this is great, Knapp uses only 3 materials..glass, steel and light. And truly, this is the purest color source possible, it is pure color and light.

Observing the way Knapp can literally paint with light and color is truly inspiring. I have tried my hand at painting on several occasions and always seem to fall short of the effect I strive for. Stephen Knapp has accomplished painterly shapes using only light, glass and stainless steel. It's absolutely amazing. The wording of his statement clearly shows the imagination of the artist that has been involved in this process.

Excerpt from Knapp's Artist Statement on the subject of his "lightpaintings:"

"Out of these processes and materials have come lightpaintings, in which I separate white light into pure color and paint with light. Each piece has a presence that far exceeds its physical dimensions. Stainless steel grounds the surface and its reflections ground the planes of light.

Glass allows me to manipulate and explore light and illusion, creating pure colors. I revel in their purity, their breathtaking richness – yet I am most drawn to the edges and the soft shadows that overlay a whisper of color and the borders that define space. It is here that mystery and depth and wonder can be found.

Dreams and imagination command much of our lives when we are young, yet time and society move us into structures that leave little time for them. In lightpaintings I strive to create destinations, small pieces of wonder, places for introspection and meditation where hopes, dreams and aspirations are possible

Entering a lightpainting or any work of art invokes a conditional promise to do so with open eyes, to be aware of possibilities. Perception and interaction lead to an act of mutual discovery, a universal bond of our existence. There is no right answer hidden within each piece, only a shared journey."

Batchelor. cont...

One more Batchelor image!

David Batchelor. Monday Post. 10.12.09.

David Batchelor is an abstract, multi-media artist, who is also the author of the book Chromophobia. Color is obviously an important aspect of his life and work. Batchelor is great because he uses a variety of found objects and transforms them into neon spectaculars. He is another artist who uses light boxes with amazing results. Another thing that really excited me about Batchelor is that he is represented by two galleries in Edinburgh, Scotland! So hopefully I'll be able to view some of his work in real life while I'm there! (Wilkinson/Ingleby Galleries)


Here is a description of the book if any one is interested! (it sounds great!):
"The central argument of Chromophobia is that a chromophobic impulse - a fear of corruption or contamination through color - lurks within much Western cultural and intellectual thought. This is apparent in the many and varied attempts to purge color, either by making it the property of some "foreign body" - the oriental, the feminine, the infantile, the vulgar, or the pathological - or by relegating it to the realm of the superficial, the supplementary, the inessential, or the cosmetic.

Chromophobia has been a cultural phenomenon since ancient Greek times; this book is concerned with forms of resistance to it. Writers have tended to look no further than the end of the nineteenth century. David Batchelor seeks to go beyond the limits of earlier studies, analyzing the motivations behind chromophobia and considering the work of writers and artists who have been prepared to look at color as a positive value. Exploring a wide range of imagery including Melville's "great white whale", Huxley's reflections on mescaline, and Le Corbusier's "journey to the East", Batchelor also discusses the use of color in Pop, Minimal, and more recent art."

Dan Flavin. Monday Post. 10.5.09.

Dan Flavin is another minimalist, abstract artist. He used electricity and light energy to make work. Unfortunately, Flavin died in 1996, but he left a legacy of neon artwork behind him. Flavin influenced entire spaces with his pieces. The lights in his work transformed entire rooms into sensory experiences.

(In reference to Flavin's work)
"Not seeing it in the flesh is difficult, however – it was, I suppose the proximity to Flavin’s work that produced such extreme responses in me – being a recipient of the light itself is very different from seeing it in a book or on as a jpeg." This idea of being a "recipient of the light" is vastly appealing to me. I want people to receive the color as well, the way Flavin allows his audiences to become immersed in his work, his light.

Upon google searching Flavin, I found another artist named David Batchelor and he makes incredible work as well! Look out for him next week! He also wrote a book, which I intend to buy, called Chromophobia and is the editor of another book Colour.

Anselm Reyle. Monday post. 9.28.

Anselm Reyle is incredible. He was born in Berlin and is known for his abstractions and use of found objects. He uses color and minimalism in this amazing, harmonious, glorious way. His combined media of shiny, glowing, colorful things that also light up is mind-blowing and it's messing with my senses.

The way Reyle uses different materials is something I'm really taking into consideration. His use of seemingly everyday objects in such a big way is really awesome. The tinfoil and cellophane for examples.

"By reifying the cast-off material culture that surrounds him, he indicates its shifting signification in a country that has had such seismic effects on the social and political developments of the twentieth century." This comment about Reyle's work is based on the way he uses bits and pieces that he finds in flea-markets and other odd shops and makes them into fine art. Fine art that sells at six figures. eyo! One of Reyle's pieces was the inside of a bomb shelter that he covered in large strips of bright neon colors, transforming the place into something beautiful.


This is a blog I found that has all these great abstract artists:
http://disp.tumblr.com/

Gerhard Richter. Monday Post. 9.21.

Gerhard Richter uses an incredibly wide range of color and media. Richter's paintings entitled 4900 colors was his mock-up, in a sense, for the stained glass windows of the Cologne Cathedral. It's amazing to see contemporary abstraction in a place such as a Cathedral where structure and ritual more typical.

Gerhard says this:
"I don't create blurs. Blurring is not the most important thing: nor is it an identity tag for my pictures. When I dissolve demarcations and create transitions, this is not in order to destroy the representation, or to make it more artistic or less precise. The flowing transitions, the smooth, equalizing surface, clarify the content and make the representation credible (an alla prima impasto would be too reminiscent of painting, and would destroy the illusion)."

I love this. At times, it is so hard for me to explain myself, and why I enjoy the aesthetic that I do, that when I stumble across someone so accomplished who is able to enunciate a fragment of what I'm feeling, it's a relief. Richter's blurred paintings are what his above quote is referring to. The paintings have the quality of blurred photographs. This makes me think of what Paul said again, about how a painter can recreate the work, but as a photographer it's occasionally more random. It's been really good for me to look at the work of abstract painters.

Richter's "overpainted photographs" series is inspiring. He makes such stunning objects that are often so simple. The way he influences color is so incredible. I love the many directions Richter's work has gone in; he is a painter, a photographer, and he seamlessly combines the two.

I get so frustrated that blogger has an image limit!! I want to post more images per post.

Ori Gersht. Monday Post. 9.14.

Ori Gersht's name was given to me by Paul in my individual meeting and I'm already a little bit blown away by how much more I want to know about this artist. In a few short minutes of research I have been drawn into a world of film, philosophy and thought. In a press release on Ori Gersht, talking about his new film, 'Evaders'(which is actually showing in NY RIGHT NOW!!!) there is a quote from philosopher Walter Benjamin, which reads like this,

”an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while piles of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.”

I'm speechless. Just so that I won't sit here and reword the entire Press Release I'm going to post a link to the article because this film sounds like it's definitely worth seeking out. http://www.crggallery.com/exhibitions/2009/ori-gersht/

http://www.crggallery.com/artists/ori-gersht/work/?photo=10 I can't upload this piece, but this is great. I've been thinking about all sorts of different materials to shoot through for a while, and frosted glass and lace were two of them. Whaddaya know? Gersht did it first. Great minds think alike? I'd like to think so.

Gersht's other work:
"...often turns out to be a more dimensional and resonant vehicle for portraying a mechanism of meaning through the imprint of time, light, and phenomena that perhaps expose the capacity and limitations of human memory as well."

This quote is in reference to Gersht's series where he freezes bouquets of flowers in liquid nitrogen and then photographs them as they shatter. This freezing of time, a moment that cannot be recaptured is phenomenal. See image above.

Andreas Gursky. Monday Post 9.7.

Andreas Gursky is the artist I've been looking at this week. His work speaks to the use of color and the geometry that I strive for and am so attracted to. His straightforward way of shooting is so appealing to me. Gursky lends the viewer a new way of looking at the world, his way. Looking at his images, I am always left wondering, "how did he do that?" Even knowing that Gursky started using digital media to manipulate his images after 1990, the effect still leaves me awed. I think that I choose to embrace the suspension of disbelief, because I like the idea that Gursky just stumbles across these moments and captures them to share with the rest of us. Gursky's intrigue with the man-made is a characteristic we share, in different ways. I am fascinated with the excess of corporate America, and big businesses worldwide. His display of these companies and factories as larger than life entities, but as art and also as beautiful and terrifying is a combination that gets me thinking.