Friday, July 13, 2007

Contemporary photographers

Thanks to all of you for working so hard this week. Color printing is challenging to learn and you are all doing a great job.

For the Contemporary photographers assignment I want you to answer these questions in your response. I would like you to post a new entry to the blog, not just a comment.

Who is the photographer?
What is their work about? Or what is a recent body of their work about?
How did you find out about their work, where have you seen their work?
What is compelling about their work?
Are they an insider or and outsider to their subject?
What kind of story does the work tell/ communicate?

Take time with your responses, and think about the criticism article I handed out.

Email me with any questions.

Cheers,
Jess

1 comment:

momoishiguro said...

Well, here goes another one, I guess:

Who is the photographer?
David Maisler, American.

What is their work about? Or what is a recent body of their work about?
I think his "Lake Project" and "Terminal Mirage" projects are the most striking--they're of toxic sites, pools and swirls of chemical waste in beautifully artificial hues.

How did you find out about their work, where have you seen their work?
I found him on the blog Conscientious, a great art photography site kept up by astrophysicist (!) Joerg Colberg (www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/).

What is compelling about their work?
The paradox of beauty in hazardous materials. Saw his work before I read about it--at first the subjects (is toxic waste the subject?) looked natural in form, but bizarrely artificial in color. Its also hard to tell the scale of these sites when you first see them--are they the size of rubix cubes or small farms? After reading about his work, my previous reactions of awe were replaced by fascination tinged with disgust.

Are they an insider or and outsider to their subject?
An outsider, I think, because he just observes.

What kind of story does the work tell/ communicate?
It tells of planet reigned by men, and of the complicated beauty in that which destroys. It's also presents an odd cycle of excreting waste to produce, and then producing art from the waste, and then maybe one day Maisel's photographs will end up as a confetti of rubble that a sculptor in 2030 uses as paper mache? Obviously far-fetched. A toy of a thought.

-Momo