Jens Windolf

Jens Windolf was born in 1967 in Cologne. He went to school for graphic design and architecture and he works as an art director for many different types of media outlets sine the late 90s. He has been working within the medium of photography very recently, since 2008. His series "Ghosts" his artist statement in brief is this:

"My work is constructed around a map-like view of reality as a representation of human ideas and experiences. Human absence creates a stage-like setting that is left open for interpretation. What will be projected into that visual setting is up to the viewer's ideas of how to experience space."

Website
Interview
no gallery representation

Andres Gonzalez

Andres Gonzalez is a young photographer with a more documentary approach to his work/ His education started with a BA in Creative Writing, Pomona College. Claremont, CA. in 1999. Then he went to the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies in Portland, ME in 2001. He then received an MA at Ohio University in Visual Studies in 2004. I chose to focus on his work of Ukrainian Winters as he examines the culture of an Ex Soviet State and its peoples survival of its brutal winters. What i really enjoyed about his photography is that his approach at documenting involves a creative and objective eye, photographing landscapes, people, buildings, and cityscapes of the cities, towns, and villages of the Ukraine.

Website
not represented by a gallery
no interview

Mass Transit

"In Japan and many European countries, bike-and-ride is a major — in some cities the predominant —commuting mode. The use of bicycles as a “feeder” mode to transit, with convenient bicycle access to transit stops, helps railways in those countries compete with automobiles and maintain a high share of overall trips."


not sure who exactly wrote this, since there's a few authors to the entire article.

This article is fitting in my work because it talks about the ways to transform a city's mindset and what needs to be done to make a place "greener" in a sense. The idea of cities helping the "feeder" mode of transportation would increasing cut down on traffic, toxins in the air, road rage (my opinion), and congestion (in the broadest of terms). Many people would travel this way (i.e. biking to a train station) is things were safer. When surveyed, many said that they'd bike if there was a theft proof place to park their bikes, others said they would bike if the trains could carry their bikes. There are still many things that need to be panned out for this to take a greater hold on our country, but i feel that we're taking steps in the right direction. By looking at Europe and Japan, i figure that American's and their cities could take note. In Switzerland, ever train station has a place to rent bikes, The Netherlands has many stations with a bike rental kiosk as well. Parking bikes in NYC and other major American cities has proven difficult at times too. Though, the congestion is on the sidewalks rather than the streets. People are trying to become less dependent on their cars and more self dependent these days and the cities that they inhabit should change accordingly as well. But, i don't see the cities changing their tune, until more and more people start becoming more self dependent and trying to make a change in their communities.

Zevs

Zevs is an anonymous French street artist who was very much influenced by the early street and graffiti culture of the 1990s. He was only 12 when he began making graffiti on the walls of his neighborhood. He started creating because of what he perceived as a coercive oversaturation of advertisements in the world/streets. He claims that the streets are is "studio" referencing to the thoughts of Daniel Buren in the 1960s. His work is very underground and addresses pop culture, cinema, anti-authoritarian culture, painting, and art history. His work is very anti capitalist and i feel that this work plays into the culture of which i am speaking of when i photograph "bike culture." Although, this doesn't speak for all of bike culture, i feel that it talks about the counter culture of the bikers instead. The people that are activists and bikers, rather than just bikers.

Gallery

no website

interview

(Urban) Renewal

"Cities are not defined by buildings alone; they are made up of an intricate web of relationships- physical, social, economic, cultural- that are rooted to places."
-- Alex Marshall

Marshall, Alex. "When the New Urbanism Meets an Old Neighborhood." Metropolis Magazine May 1995. Metropolis Magazine. Web. 2 Sept. 2009. .

I chose this article because of, first, its close relationship to our current area of RVA, but also because it's talking about the problems that new urbanism is hitting. Is it better for communities to tear down and rebuild? or is it better for them to just improve areas with minor bulldozing? Norfolk, was doing the first option, tearing down and rebuilding, while residents were being "asked" to leave.

This topic relates to my work, because my work kind of parallels this topic, among others. I feel that the idea of "Bike Culture" has its roots in the ideas of urban renewal and new urbanism, along with sentiments of a Grassroots America. People going back to being a simpler notion of being self sustaining. With new infrastructure playing a major roll in the development of their mentalities.