Doug and Mike Starn

The Starns were both born in 1961, they are identical twins and hail from the state of New Jersey. They both have been collaborating together on photography/art since they were at the young age of thirteen and haven't looked back. They work in photography, video, installation, painting and sculpture. The Starns went to school at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. There work has an abstract aesthetic that comes with it. In some of their works from the carbon printing process, they use pushpins and stick the work directly to the well, commenting on what mint condition is and saying if art needs to be in perfect shape. Their work has been exhibited worldwide from the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Maison Européenne de la
Photographie (Paris, France), the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia), the National Museum
of Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea), and pretty much anywhere else. Their work has also been critically acclaimed by many reputable sources including The New York Times, ArtForum, Flashart and others.

What really interested me in their work was first, that they are identical twins and that's cool, but also because of their massive montages of their photographs. They have done it with mostly their carbon prints and have scotch taped and pinned most of them together. They have done it with their work on Buddhist monks, trees, leaves, and much of their work.

Website: http://www.starnstudio.com/
Gallery: http://www.lisasettegallery.com/artistsP-Z/starn.htm
Interview: Exposure Magazine, Spring 2008. Volume 41: 1 (I'll put in mailbox)

Week In Review

Yes, my work was critiqued this week, by our visiting artist Simen Johan. He thought that my work was alright, but that it was too obvious. That it didn't let the viewer be able to ask questions about the work. It was too obvious, and it needs more ambiguity and mystery to the work. Oh, and by the way this is for my murder portraits series. He also said that it would be better if i didn't use red blood, but another color and just referenced blood, but made the color like a baby blue or black or something like that. I thought that was a really good idea though, just reference blood and challenge that viewer to try and understand a reference to blood and violence when presenting something completely different. He also said about my murder portrait series that i should pull back some more and shoot more of a scene instead of a portrait. Which is okay to me, i rather liked shooting the portraits rather than crime scenes, but he said that because he wanted more mystery and more of a challenge to the viewer.

About my self-portraits he said that there was potential and that i need to keep shooting more. I told him that my portraits were being messed up and fractioned but being in a state of balance. To that he said, that i need to break up the photos on my head more, because that's where one will be divided and fractured. Which is completely true and I will do more on that. He also said just keep shooting more and do tons of these self-portraits.

The most motivational thing that happened to me this week will be this fall break that is coming up. It will give me time to do everything and catch up on work that needs to be caught up on. It gives me some free time that i can work during, so technically it's not that free, but that's alright, it's fall break.

What needs to be achieved in next weeks studio practice is a critique on my behalf (as well as Cindy and Alma). So that means make prints or a good way to present all of my work. Write down all that I have been reading on self portraits and defend my ass as best as I can. That's what needs to be accomplished, as well as shooting about 7 more photographs, yeah...that's a good number.

We didn't have studio this week, there was Simen Johan here. But, in that time, I did some homework and shot some photographs.

Artistic Failure? Hmm. Well, I shot this one hockney style portrait of myself, but nothing really matched up and it didn't look good at all. I just needed more shots and try to shoot from the same distance each time.

My most profound thought was that I am going to print these hockney style portraits out life size. I feel that the presence created by the size and subject will be very strong and be able to fill a gallery very well and will show what i really want to present to the viewers.

Yes we did have a visiting artist this week, Simen Johan. I thought his work was really good. I liked the found imagery and all the digital manipulations that he put into his work. They were very creative and I understand why he said what he said to me during my critique. I like the use of imagination in his work, it definitely required a lot of it. His recent work with animals and his sculptures were what i liked the most, and seemed to be the most imaginative in my opinion. Those two series of work were my favorites, but it's not like i didn't like his other work though, it was all good. In relation to my work, like i said, i understand why he critiqued my work like he did. He said I needed more mystery and that i needed to challenge the viewer more, and stop giving up all of the information in my photographs. I must really start to challenge, and I will try.

David Hockney

David Hockney was born on July 9, 1937 in Bradford, England. He is a painter, photographer, printmaker, and all around artist. He attended school at the Bradford School of Art and then at the Royal College of Art in London. While attending school at The Royal College of Art, he was exhibited in a show named "Young Contemporaries" which is said to have brought the onset of British Pop Art to the art community. Hockney has been described as one of the leading artists of the Pop Art movement because of his paintings color scheme and topics of interest. He has also referenced his homosexuality in many of his works as well. He traveled to America where he met a high profile art dealer named John Kasmin and soon met up with Andy Warhol while he was in New York. He traveled to California and discovered a place of incredible interest to him and he soon moved there. But, while he was there he became inspired by the many different types of swimming pools that littered the West Coast and soon started up a series on swimming pools.

Although, the works that I am interested in from his are his photo collages, where he put together many polaroids and created scenes with them. He photographed many highways, people, spaces, and random objects and put together many collages. He called this series of photomontages "Joiners". He worked on this work from the 1970-1986, not exclusively, but he did concentrate a lot on this series of photographs. He loved the way they looked and the grid patterns that formed from them. He was a lover of Cubism and it shows in this work. He saw photographers in the 60s start shooting with wide angles lenses and disliked the distortion that they created, so he created this technique and aesthetic to show a better perspective in these photographs.

I enjoy his work and it now goes along with what I am trying to do. I am creating almost life size self portraits with this cut and pasted style. I want to make them life size, because I am life size and the art will bring a stronger presence in my opinion when displayed at life size. They will consist of many photographs and won't always be symmetrical. The sides might of the photograph won't always match up is what i am trying to get at. Hopefully, I can take this very far and will be able to create huge images that will intimidate and require people to think.

Websites:

Website: http://www.hockneypictures.com/home.php
Gallery: http://www.saltsmill.org.uk/
Interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/hockney_transcript.shtml

Week in review

To answer your first question, nobody has critiqued my work this week...yet, just wait until noon tomorrow, then Sonali will be able to make a comment.

The most motivational moment of the week?
...let me think? It would definitely have to be when my girlfriend and I broke up. Yeah this shit just happened not six days ago. Bummer, i know, but i am strong. Shit fucking happens, and i can deal with it. Long distance is just shitty, as i would think that at least most people would know. It's tricky to pull off, and I failed, or we failed. But, this is for the better. Now i am no longer attached to a girl in the midwest, and not constantly talking all the time on the phone. I guess my phone bill will be cheaper, at least. But, this will motivate me to create and use my emotions for myself and...just help.

I want to achieve, in next week's studio practice...ummmm i don't have studio next week. But, I'm going to shoot my ass off, and that's what I want to accomplish! I just want to continue to shoot, and next week, during the break I will get my time in don't you worry a thing.

My achievement this week in studio was to critique Lauren and Stephanie's work. I still need to post on blackboard for it, but that was about it. I shot and developed film too.

Well, my artistic failure would be that I wanted to shoot some photographs with my girlfriend, and currently that is impossible. It may be a shitty answer, but I was supposed to see her this weekend, but shit fell through and whatever happened happened, so fuck it. That's what happened and now i cannot do it. So it is a failure in my books.

The most profound thought in relation to my work is what I want to do for this really big piece I have in mind. I want to use 13 photographs, and have 12 of them create a border to the main and most important 13th piece of work. I want the border to be photographs of my past self. I.e. me with long hair and a different mentality and outlook on life. And by outlook and mentality that refers to again, and i am sorry, my girlfriend. So, this week was a tough one it sounds. But, this thought is really what i want to do, and i feel it will be super strong. It will be at least 60 x 60.

No visiting artist this week, you'll have to wait a week for this information to be released.

Lying and Photography

Are photoshop and staged photography on the same level as each other?

Well, I would have to say yes and no. In this article, it continues to debate about Robert Capa's photograph of the soldier dying in the Spanish Civil war, "Death of a Loyalist Soldier". There has been much debate about this photograph and there will continue to be for many years to come, probably because they cannot find the negatives to this event in time. But, i feel that another point should be brought up and that is the use of photoshop these days. Now, Capa, definitly could have staged the photograph, and he could have actually took it as is. But in the use of photojournalism, photography now is so corrupted with the lies of the digital age. Now, i know that this article is kind of outta where I may supposed to be going with my photography, but I still feel the same theory holds true for me. In my photography, if i were to use photoshop to create, edit, distort and etc. does that make the photograph even a photograph anymore, or just digital art? This is the new Robert Capa, photoshop and authenticity.

I am taking self portraits, and if i use photoshop to manipulate the image of myself, does that still make a a true self portrait?

I don't really know about this one. I've been told to believe that a true portrait is one that captures the essence and soul of an individual through the click of a shutter, with minimal editing (i.e. color correction). But, that was from a professor at SIU, who was really a purist in every form in photography. Basically, that means he never shot digital, he shot medium format or better, and one time he told that 5 x 7 is his medium format. But, i digress, Isn't a self portrait, honestly, just a photograph of yourself completely un-manipulated, so it is just you, the latent image, and the grain of the film (or digital pixels)? I cannot really give you an answer on that, only that it does make sense that a true self portrait (in photography) is completely real without manipulation. Now, I'm not saying that I am going to refuse to use photoshop while shooting self portraits, but this just gave me this idea to ponder for a while. Am i really taking a self portrait of myself anymore?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/27/photography.pressandpublishing

Thomas Ruff

So Thomas Ruff is a photographer from Dusseldorf, and comes from the same school of photography as some heavy hitters such as Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Candida Hofer, and the Becher's. He's a conceptual serial photographer and he uses flat lighting to photograph his models to show a sense of surveillance. His subjects tend to be emotionless and have an almost passport photography look to them. For a long time he shot German interiors, which were portraits of rooms and details of design in the architecture. Ruff says that he wants his work to mimic police observation work in his lifeless photographs, to create a very deadpan style and aura to his photographs. He uses digital manipulations to remove unneeded things from the frame and now has beginning to reference internet pornography and obscure the images and digitally process them. His series is called "Nudes" and has text written by French author Michel Houellebecq.

I can relate this to my work because i really enjoy the look and feel of his photographic nudes. although, i do not plan on referencing internet pornography, the serial and surveillance style is very intriguing. I also like the emotionless figures and the fragility of his subjects that he depicts.

Interview: http://www.jca-online.com/ruff.html

Gallery: http://www.davidzwirner.com/

website: i couldn't find an official website

Week in Review

Did anyone critique my work?
No.

Most motivational or creative moment of the week?
Well, to be honest, one of the most motivational moments of the week was when the White Sox were playing this week. The last three games they had to play were against three different teams. First they had to beat the Indians, and they did. Then they had to play a make up game against Detroit, and they won. And after that win against Detroit, they forced a 1 game playoff against the Minnesota Twins. They played that last night, and played an awesome game, it was a pitchers duel. The game ended on a diving catch to center field, and the White Sox won the American League Central Division and are in the post season right now. They will be playing against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday and I cannot wait. Although, this isn't artistic in the least, it was a motivational experience for me, and it is a part of my self identity as well. I grew up playing baseball and being a huge White Sox fan. This is just some self identity for me.

What do you want to achieve in Studio?
I really want to keep shooting more and more and more. I was shooting an upside downs series of self portraits, but they seemed to be unsuccessful. I want to keep using studio lighting, i haven't looked at these photographs that i posted for a little while and actually thought they were pretty good looking. I want to use more lights, but in different locations. Maybe I will be able to convince someone that I will be a good responsible student and that I can go on location with certain light, who knows, it's a thought. But, i just need to keep shooting and keep on trucking through my work, because apparently, we may have a show during the early or middle part of November and that means I need way more photographs.

What did I achieve in studio this week?
In class, we critiqued Nia and Jennida's work, but I shot a few rolls of film and scanned them in. They were mediocre.

Artistic Failure?
My failure this week was my upside down self portraits of where ever I was going. I shot some on the bus as I was coming to a from school. I shot some while I was just sitting around. I shot some while I was smoking a cigarette, etc. The problem was that they my face in these photographs were too dark. That the background and all that was coming out well, but my face was in shadows and way too flat. I didn't like them at all.

Most profound thought relating to my studio practice?
I guess that would be the use of using multiples of me, in my photographs. Where I shoot in the studio, and have myself move around in different frames of the roll and then mask them together making many multiples of me. I want to give this a shot at one point.

Visiting Artist?
No.