Artist Lecture: Alexandre Singh

I have to say it was great to see Alexandre Singh in action. When I tried to look up his work before the lecture I didn't really understand what he was doing. The idea of using a lecture format for artwork is interesting. It kind of turns the idea that art should speak through it's content without needing to be explained on it's head. The entire presentation is an explanation but it's the the artwork. During the presentation I kept thinking of how his performance was almost like a film. The images of the projections functioned almost like a montage.

The piece that I was most interested in after hearing him talk about it was "The Marque of the Third Stripe." Again this was a project that I didn't really understand from trying to look it up, but I think it is amazing. I love his ideas of writing an alternate history and creating his own pictorial language for that world.

Three Words: Meticulous, Energetic, Storytelling

Questions:

1) How did you come to storytelling as an artform?
It seems like it was just what he ended up doing. He is a tremendous speaker.

2) In trying to guide your audience do you try to leave room for their interpretations or is it more rigid than that?
I feel like his presentations and narratives are fairly rigid but with the lectures he builds his ideas up at a pace that you can't help but be pulled into it.

Competition Entries.

So far I have entered two competitions this semester.



The Center on Contemporary Art Seattle 2010 Annual.


The VMFA Fellowship Grant.

Artist: Shane Lavalette

With the shift in focus for my project I have been trying to find artists that have work that deals specifically with place. I think Shane Lavalette's New England series are a brilliant example of a body of work that deals with a regional aesthetic. Eventually I would like my project to encompass more than just Virginia or the south but for the time being I'm striving to create a feel for place such as Lavalette achieves with this work.






Bio:
Shane Lavalette (b. 1987, Burlington, VT) currently lives and works in Somerville, MA. He received his BFA from Tufts University in partnership with The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Lavalette's photographs have been exhibited widely, including recent exhibitions at Montserrat College of Art Gallery, The Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University, The Center for Photography at Woodstock and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2009, he was awarded the Yousuf Karsh Prize in Photography. His editorial work has been published in various magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, Vice and SLASH. Lavalette is also the Publisher and Editor of Lay Flat.

Selected Exhibitions
2010 reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France, July 3–13, 2010
reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, June 19 – Sept. 26, 2010
One Hour Photo, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC, May 8 – June 6, 2010
SRAUNUS, One Evening Exhibition of Projected Photographs, Vilnius, Lithuania, May 5, 2010
America Now, Montserrat Gallery, Beverly, MA, Feb. 5 – April 10, 2010
Getting Acquainted, Johalla Projects, Chicago, IL, Jan. 8 – 24, 2010
2009 Blind Spot Benefit Auction 2009, X INITIATIVE, New York, NY, Dec. 15, 2009
InsideOut: The Museum School Art Sale, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Nov. 18–22, 2009
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Nov. 2 – 29, 2009
Simply the Best, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA, August 5 – October 18, 2009
Liar, Liar, Liars!, PENNBRICK Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, July 31, 2009
Photography Now 2009, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Juror: Charlotte Cotton, June 13 – July 26, 2009
Graduating Students Exhibition, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, May 17 – June 5, 2009
Senior Projects, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, May 14–21, 2009
Emerging Photographers Auction, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York, NY, Jan. 2–21, 2009
2008 The Troposphere, The Hampshire House, New York, NY, Dec. 11, 2008 – Jan. 4, 2009
InsideOut: The Museum School Art Sale, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Nov. 19–23, 2008
Unseen Slideshow Night, Backlit Gallery & Studios, Nottingham, England, Nov. 21, 2008
Meet Waradise: Fjord, Meet Waradise, New York, NY, Nov. 19, 2008
Fabric of Reality, William Morris Hunt Library, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Nov. 5, 2008 – Feb. 15, 2009
Lions Never Sleep, Champions Never Cry, SATIN SATAN Gallery, Chicago, IL, March 29 – April 25, 2008
Slideluck Potshow XI, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, March 29, 2008
2007 A Field Guide to the North American Family: The Exhibition, Gallery Bar, New York, NY, Dec. 6, 2007 – Jan. 2, 2008
Take Us Anywhere, But Take Us Now, Warehouse Gallery, Washington, DC, May 12–31, 2007
Instant Nostalgia, Bear Gallery, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA, April 6 – 20, 2007
Student Annual Exhibition, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Feb. 27 – March 14, 2007
Hijacking the Future: Hugs and Kisses, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Feb. 22 – March 22, 2007
2006 Photography Now, Juror: Henry Horenstein, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA, Sept. 8 – Oct. 22, 2006

Awards / Grants
2010 Nominee, The Baum Award, Baum Foundation, 2010
Nominee, The Infinity Award, International Center of Photography (ICP), 2010
2009 Silver Eye Center for Photography Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2009
Artist Grant, Puffin Foundation, Ltd., 2009
Yousuf Karsh Prize in Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2009
Travel Grant, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2009
2008 PDN Photography Annual 2008, Winner, 2008
Project Grant, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2008
2007 Travel Grant, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2007
2006 Bob East Photojournalism Scholarship, NPPF, Winner, 2006
NFFA Arts, Merit Award in Photography, 2006


Artist Website: http://www.shanelavalette.com/

Artist Lecture: Sally Mann

One of the things that I found really interesting were her ideas about workflow and why it's necessary for her. She talked about always having to have at least two or three different projects going before ever beginning to show a finished series of work. The reason behind this for her was that she has a really hard time with self confidence and she said if she finishes one work and it's going well she has the tendency to feel like it's the last good thing she'll ever do. But, by keeping busy with a multitude of projects she can bounce from one to another and never really get to feeling down about a particular one. I thought it was amazing to hear such an amazingly successful artist confront this so candidly.

Three Words: Antiquated, Ambiguous, and Daring.



Questions:

1) What does working with an antiquated process do for your work? How is it more than a gimmick? She spoke to this directly by saying that she chooses each specific process for each project and that the process then relates to the work. Such as using ambrotypes involving these fragile glass plates on projects dealing with the vulnerabilities of human life.

2) Your images seem to impart a sense of "aloneness" or isolation. How do you deal with that as a theme within your work, and is it something you strive for? I think that maybe what I was seeing was more of a sense that nothing else in the world matters at that moment except what's in the photograph. There is a great amount of focus or singularity within her work.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the work from the proud flesh series of work after hearing the lecture. The her idea of the feminine gaze is intriguing, and the work is just amazing. As a man there is usually something slightly awkward about viewing male nudes, but I didn't encounter that with this work. I think it was the idea of knowing that a woman took these photographs and knowing that in a way I was seeing things from her perspective.

Idea: Exploration

As I have continued to look back into my past for inspiration for my project I have become drawn to the idea of exploration. However, I'm interested in finding not only the new but also finding the familiar in new places. I think I see this as the way for my project to move forward but still include the work that has already been done.

Quotes:

For three hundred years we have had our focus on the individual. We have distinguished him from the objective world as the Middle Ages did not think of doing. We have given him the world and the universe as a playground for exploration and discovery. ~ John Grierson

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. ~Ansel Adams

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. ~T.S. Eliot

Text:
Fleming, Fergus. Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration. 1st ed. New York, NY: Grove Press, 2004. Print.

Grad School: Arizona State University: Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Interest:
The ASU program seems to be really good. It looks like they have a number of faculty that have experience in different types of photography. It sounds like the program really strives to be a community experience not just an academic one. I think the location would be a big plus for me.

Their facilities sound great, for example:

Photography Labs

The digital-photography facilities in the ASU Herberger Institute School of Art have been upgraded to include 27 Mac Pro computers, three 44" printers, 12 13" printers, a 17” printer, scanners for every format and a sophisticated network/server system. Six computers are designated for graduate-use only. Each computer is fully loaded with the most current software, including Final Cut Pro, the Adobe Creative Suite, Maya, Aperture and a variety of color management tools.

For analog processes, the program maintains several color darkrooms with a 24“ Cryonite color processor for analog color print materials, a black and white gang darkroom with film loading and processing rooms for the introductory level course, as well as an advanced black and white darkroom for upper division undergraduate students. The facility can accommodate graduate students using wet processes with a small personal darkroom. We also maintain a black and white mural darkroom with horizontal projection.

The facility, for teaching non-silver, alternative processes and late 19th-century printing processes, is comprised of a separate two-enlarger station darkroom, a chemical mixing and wet processing room with three large stainless steel sinks, an exposure room with one metal halide flip-top exposure unit and two fluorescent units with vacuum frames. There is a Vandercook Universal III proof press used for collotype printing and an etching press located in the printmaking area of the Art Building used for teaching copperplate photogravure.

Additional photography facilities include a small lighting studio as well as 16 mm motion picture film equipment shared collaboratively with other areas within the school.

Graduate Studios

Photography graduate students in the ASU Herberger Institute School of Art have a dedicated shared work space measuring 2,500 square feet within easy walking distance to campus. Each student gets a key to the common space with a relatively open floor plan and has a designated small personal studio space within, redivided each term based on the number of students. The building has a telephone, wireless internet and is available for your use 24 hours a day. You can use this space for various reasons, including test installations and sequences, to make work and assemble finished pieces. The photographic seminar often convenes in the graduate studios to discuss artwork in progress.

Faculty of Interest: Mark Klett




Mark Klett photographs the intersection of cultures, landscapes and time. His background includes working as a geologist before turning to photography. Klett has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Buhl Foundation, and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. His work has been exhibited and published both nationally and internationally for over 30 years, and his work is held in over 80 museum collections worldwide. He is the author of thirteen books including Saguaros (Radius Press and DAP, 2007), After the Ruins (University of California Press 2006), Yosemite in Time (Trinity University Press, 2005), and Third Views, Second Sights (Museum of New Mexico Press 2004). Mark Klett is Regents’ Professor of Art at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.


Grad Student of Interest: Angela Franks Wells





Solo Exhibitions:
2010
Instantaneous. 515arts, Phoenix, AZ.
Works from parts & labor. University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI (Fall)
2009
Happy Hour 9-5: new works from parts & labor. Tilt Gallery, Phoenix, AZ.
2008
Somewhere. 515arts, Phoenix, AZ.
2007
Brown Bagger, 515 arts, Phoenix, AZ.
Parts & Labor, Tilt gallery, Phoenix, AZ.
2006
Parts & Labor, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Harry Wood Gallery, Arizona State University.

Artist Lecture: Simon Tarr

Interesting Quote: "This is probably my most successful work, but I just like it because it reminds me of Japan and how I want to be back there."

Three Words: Technological, Jarring, Experimental

I learned that he is very into technology and software programs and how they can be used to further his work. Such as using an Ipad as a remote controller to mix video on the fly in what he termed a VJ Performance piece. I thought this was really innovative and a good example of technology being used to build upon what the artist is doing as opposed to just being used for the novelty.

Questions:

1) In your creation of mixed media projects do you let the media influence you or do you know beforehand what the project requires? I think he definitely allows the media to influence his work. He described himself as a hunter gatherer of content as opposed to using a direct approach to create an already concrete project idea. And the performance piece Tia Mak is a great example of letting the content speak in different ways with each performance.

2) How immersive do you think an experimental film should be especially in regards to your piece FUD? He didn't touch on this but I thought that seeing this piece through large scale projection was amazing. It made it so much more than what it is on a tiny web-video.

I thought FUD was extremely powerful in person. I had the feeling it would be more interesting large scale but I had no idea. It became an almost hypnotic experience.