Artist - John Stezaker

Friedrich Petzel Gallery

http://www.petzel.com/artists/

John Stezaker doesn’t seem to have his own homepage, yet his work can be found at:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/john-stezaker/

http://www.theapproach.co.uk/artists/stezaker/

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/john-stezaker

BIOGRAPHY

John Stezaker (British, b.1949) is one of the leading artists in modern photographic collage and appropriation. Employing vintage photographs, old Hollywood film stills, travel postcards and other printed matter, Stezaker creates seductive and fascinating small-format collages that bear qualities of Surrealism, Dada, and found art. Indeed, in referring to the large compendium of images he has collected, Stezaker asserts that the images “find him”, not the other way around. With surgical-like precision, Stezaker excises, overlays and conjoins distinct images to create new personalities, landscapes and scenes. 

John Stezaker studied at the Slade School of Art, and currently teaches Critical and Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Stezaker’s work has been exhibited internationally since the 1990’s and has been adopted in renowned museum collections around the world such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Saatchi Collection, London, and the Tate Modern, London.

http://www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/john-stezaker/

INTERVIEW

Recorded interview for the Tate Triennial 2006

this video can be found at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/triennial/video.shtm

QUOTES [on collage]

“It’s a way of looking at actually what you’re consuming at all times, in everyday life, through all these juxtapositions of images which occur that you’re oblivious to because you pigeonhole things in different ways. But if you look at the naked lunch of perception, of what’s there in front of your eyes, you are looking at collage. And… it’s a way of recognizing a space that we all live in, but we kind of don’t accept we live in, I suppose.”

John Stezaker in: Tate Britain. Video Interview: with John Stezaker. Tate Britatin. Tate, 6 Feb.

     2006. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/

     triennial/video.shtm>.

“[Collage] allows an opening up of the unconscious in a way that’s very direct.”

John Stezaker in: Tate Britain. Video Interview: with John Stezaker. Tate Britatin. Tate, 6 Feb.

     2006. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/

     triennial/video.shtm>.

John Stezaker's work encompasses precisely what my entry about coexistence described last week.  There are different time periods, people, genders, scences, etc, living together, creating one seamless image that still makes sense to the human brain.  I am very intrigued by his work, and it was difficult to choose only 4 images to post.  I think that the variety chosen speaks to different ways of combining photographs.  Although, Stezaker uses found images, and I am dealing with family images.  Hearing him speak makes me wonder if it would be easier to work in his way. Found images are everywhere.  The possibilities are endless.  And yet, using only "my" images creates a much smaller scope that I can work in.  But, it could be interesting because I can create things from what was and make something that I want.  Whatever I want.  I will definitely continue to use Stezaker as inspiration for the duration of this project.

Christ's Entry into Bergen, 2006

Collage

9 x 8 inches

22.9 x 20.3 cm

Three Questions, 2008

Collage, in three parts

10 5/8 x 8 1/8 inches each, approx.

27 x 20.6 cm each, approx.

Mask XXIX

2006
Collage

23.5 x 19 cm

Untitled

2006
Collage

28x22.5 cm

Idea - Coexist/Coincide

COINCIDE

–verb (used without object), -cid·ed, -cid·ing.

1. to occupy the same place in space, the same point or period in time, or the same relative position: The centers of concentric circles coincide. Our vacations coincided this year.

2. to correspond exactly, as in nature, character, etc.: His vocation coincides with his avocation.

3. to agree or concur, as in thought or opinion: Their opinions always coincide.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coincide

co·ex·ist  (kg-zst)

intr.v. co·ex·ist·ed, co·ex·ist·ing, co·ex·ists

1. To exist together, at the same time, or in the same place.

2. To live in peace with another or others despite differences, especially as a matter of policy:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/coexist

ARTICLE

http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/coexistence/

This article, by 

Angela Nyawira Khaminwa, explains the term coexistence and it's different meanings and applications.

Khaminwa, Angela Nyawira. "Coexistence." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2003 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/coexistence/>.

QUOTES

"A lady is nothing very specific. One man's lady is another man's woman; sometimes, one man's lady is another man's wife. Definitions overlap but they almost never coincide."

Russel Lynes

"If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy - and without consciousness."

Gunther Grass

"The best compliment to a child or a friend is the feeling you give him that he has been set free to make his own inquiries, to come to conclusions that are right for him, whether or not they coincide with your own."

Alistair Cooke

“When appearance and reality coincide, philosophy and literary criticism find themselves with nothing to say.”

-Mason Cooley

(b. 1927), U.S. aphorist. City Aphorisms, Fourth Selection, New York (1987).

“Idea and experience will never coincide in the center; only through art and action are they united.”

-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

(1749–1832), German poet, dramatist. Letter, January 28, 1816, to Arthur Schopenhauer.

The idea of coexistence or things coinciding interests me in the sense of materials and time periods existing together seamlessly.  Although the terms are synonyms, I feel as if their supporting language is slightly different, so I included them both.  For the next step in my project, I have been considering layering my etched metals over prints.  The etched metal would entail photographs of family members from the past, events that have already happened.  Their etched intensity will vary depending on level of separation.  The more etch, the more distant the connection is.  The idea of my new photographs being seen through the permanent past will hopefully allow a sense of coexistence.

http://www.ddmcd.com/managing-technology/overlapping-and-evolving-online-communities-are-becoming-the.html

Artist - Cornelia Hediger

http://corneliahediger.com/

Klompching Gallery

http://klompching.com/

INTERVIEW

http://ishotmyselftheydidtoo.blogspot.com/2008/09/cornelia-hediger-interviewed-by.html

BIOGRAPHY AND ARTIST STATEMENT

Cornelia Hediger was born in Switzerland and lives and works in NYC. She earned her BA and MA in Fine Art from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Her work has been displayed in exhibitions at PS122 Gallery in NYC, the International Center of Photography in NYC, Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and the Massachusetts College of Art. Hediger has also shown her work abroad at the Gallery Del Mese-Fischer in Switzerland and Limilight9 Gallery in Halifax, Canada.

“Fear, hope, joy, despair, and destruction are some of the emotions and feelings I explore with photography. The pictures address an internal dialog and communicate the struggle between the conscious and the unconscious. The topics, often heavy and complex, are presented in rich and lush colors, with flower patterns and polka dots, allowing in humor.

These photographic assemblages are made up of six to nine images, which allow me to exaggerate and emphasize certain areas. I am the photographer and the model, acting out several characters within one set. The characters that represent hope and despair, good and bad, past and present, are facing each other, watching each other, and wondering if the other is trustworthy. This particular way of photographing allows me to look over my own shoulder and act out my internal struggle in the external world.”

QUOTES

“Creating these images, to me, is a very personal act and I prefer working on my own…These sets not only take a long time to photograph (an assistant would most likely walk off the set in disgust since it's taking so long) but also I go into characters when I work and I'm not sure how comfortable I would be having someone around.”

From interview at http://ishotmyselftheydidtoo.blogspot.com/2008/09/cornelia-hediger-interviewed-by.html

“Personally I'm more interested in a silent scream than having blood gushing all over the place. I do realize, however, that I'm walking a fine line and some of my images might be a bit over the top like the fish image (Doppelgänger 4-01-07). There is nothing subtle about this image and I can see how this would be a criticism. Some of the other images are more quiet and not as obvious and therefore perhaps more effective. I'm aware of the problems in each image, I spend a lot of time with them, and yet I decided to let the fish image live because it was honest at the moment when I created it.”

From interview at http://ishotmyselftheydidtoo.blogspot.com/2008/09/cornelia-hediger-interviewed-by.html

“The characters that represent hope and despair, good and bad, past and present, are facing each other, watching each other, and wondering if the other is trustworthy. This particular way of photographing allows me to look over my own shoulder and act out my internal struggle in the external world.”

From Artist Statement

http://corneliahediger.com/

Cornelia Hediger's ability to create multiple characters within herself interests me.  She does it flawlessly, allowing herself to interact with herself on a level that allows the viewer to be a part of the situation at hand.  I love the distortions in some of the images, and the "cut up" look in general.  The elongated bodies, some parts not quite attaching appropriately, while another part of the image matches up just fine.  A lot of these remind me of good and evil, or maybe all of the parts of your subconscious are fighting and speaking at on.  Id, ego, and superego all battling in one image.  I do love her presentation, yet I am still leaning towards printing on alternative surfaces and doing long exposure to obscure myself.  I do not yet have the guts to present myself like Hediger does, but I find her quote on working alone to be very interesting.  I feel the same way, yet many times it is difficult to work alone, but easier to present touchy subjects in visual form in their completion.  I will be looking to Hediger for her multiple characters, light distortion, and grid formation for inspiration.

03.06.08 Set 2 (2008)

Chromogenic Print
Signed, Titled & Numbered Verso
20” x 24”

Edition of 15, 2 AP's

02.23.08 Set 1 (2008)

Chromogenic Print
Signed, Titled & Numbered Verso
20” x 30 ”

Edition of 15, 2 AP's

06.24.07 (2007)

Chromogenic Print
Signed, Titled & Numbered Verso
20” x 24 ”

Edition of 15, 2 AP's

06.21.07 (2007)

Chromogenic Print
Signed, Titled & Numbered Verso
20” x 24 ”

Edition of 15, 2 AP's

08.22.06 (2006)

Chromogenic Print
Signed, Titled & Numbered Verso
20” x 30 ”

Edition of 15, 2 AP's

Idea - Glitch Art

GLITCH

"A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system.  It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot.  The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, and in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems including human organizations and nature.  The term derives from the German glitschig, meaning 'slippery', possibly entering English through the Yiddish term glitsh."

GLITCH ART

"Glitch art is the aestheticization of digital or analog errors, such as artifacts and other “bugs”, by either corrupting digital code/data or by physically manipulating electronic devices (for example by circuit bending).

Glitches are mostly a result of miscommunication or mistranslation when transferring data from one environment to another. They occur in computers due to bugs in software or hardware. In Iman Moradi’s dissertation, Glitch Aesthetics, he divides the glitch into two categories. The first is the pure glitch which is the result of a Malfunction or Error, an unpremeditated digital artifact, which may or may not have its own aesthetic merits. The second is the glitch-alike which is the result of an intentional decision on the user side. Glitch artists either synthesize glitches in non-digital mediums, or produce and create the environment that is required to invoke a glitch and anticipate one. A glitch-alike then is a collection of digital artifacts that resemble visual aspects of real glitches found in their original habitat.

Glitching is a process of creating work that raises awareness of the means by which we communicate and ultimately exteriorize thought. It is an attempt to integrate the nebula of video with a concrete process of interpretation and injunction, thereby incorporating the properties of a medium into the narrative of its content. At very least, glitch-art functions as a reminder that the technology of digital production and information theory remains as an inexorable collaborator in all works of digital propagation and therefore should be treated as significant."

wikipedia.org

You can read:

Glitch Aesthetics by Iman Moradi

Glitch: Designing Imperfection by Iman Moradi, Ant Scott, Joe Gilmore, and Christopher Murphy

“Glitch captures the fact that no one can deliberately make a mistake, although mistakes are often the greatest sources of inspiration.”

http://markbattypublisher.com/books/glitch/

“Glitches are mostly a result of miscommunication or mistranslation when transferring data from one environment to another.”

“This symptomatic lack of function or unwanted function in society, gives the glitch its unique status in art.”

http://newgenres-vcu.com/wordpress/?page_id=38

I have grasped the idea of glitch art after experimenting with long exposure self portraits, and come across several "glitches" that were a result of refracted light.  I don't necessarily agree with the idea of messing with the printer or the computer controls to create a "glitch," but I do like the idea of creating the look just by manipulating light.  What you see in my photographs are real, and they portray an extended period of time.  I am inspired by the surrealist look of some of the glitch art, like the second picture below, and also the bright colors of the first picture.  The idea that “glitches are mostly a result of miscommunication or mistranslation when transferring data from one environment to another,” interests me, especially since it is named "environment."

http://www.coolhunting.com/design/glitch-designin.php

http://www.coolhunting.com/design/glitch-designin.php

Artist - Starn Brothers

STARN BROTHERS

http://www.starnstudio.com/

Stephen Wirtz Gallery

http://www.wirtzgallery.com/main.html

BIOGRAPHY

http://www.starnstudio.com/media/PDF/DM_carrer_narrative-21-2009.pdf

INTERVIEW on Big Bambu, You Can’t, You Won’t, You Don’t Stop

http://www.metmuseum.org/podcast/detail.asp?read=all&eid={9C6923D2-D348-4761-BEB3-A943934068D2}

REVIEW

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/arts/design/23bambu.html

“The totality of the Starns' new work is a sight to see. Actually, it's quite a range of sights: film, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts and photographic works scaled from palm-size to monumental and realized in an almost dizzying array of media, from prints on the highest-tech aluminum to 50-foot Shoji screens of translucent paper that might have been rescued from an ancient temple.”

“But the metaphors expressed in their materials and the physical presence of these works blend science, spirituality, the laying of memory and the passage of time into an ambitious project that the Starns call--with an ironic jab at the pseudo-certainties we use to try to contain and describe essential mysteries--The Structure of Thought.”

Healy, Tom. "Artists on Artists: Tom Healy on Doug and Mike Starn." Bomb 88

     (Summer 2004): 8-9. Art Full Text. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.

Tom introduced me to the Starn Brother's work in an individual meeting.  I mentioned how I wanted to use floor boards as a conceptual element in my work and he immediately brought out his Starn Brother's book.  Unfortunately, that book has far better and more intriguing images than the internet does.  There are certain pictures from the book that I specifically wanted to use on here, but they don't seem to be available online.  Although, I chose these images for their printing processes and mixed media uses.  I love the combination of overlapping pictures with different printing processes or finishes.  I have been dealing with how to combine different types of printing, and the Starns do it beautifully, and roughly.  I don't know if I would personally present my work that rough, with items like scotch tape, as I am pretty anal about my work, yet am open to purposeful connections and manipulations.  I really enjoy how a lot of their work is small images making a whole.  Since I am dealing with photo etching, and a limited amount of space to put the metal into chemicals, the idea of breaking up an image has become of interest. This may even allow me to combine the metal, wood, and paper images together more seamlessly.  I really wanted to find images of their make shift frames, sort of like the last image, but with ribbon and other materials.  They also use frames without glass, and allow things to pop up and out.  I like the idea of purposeful "mistakes."

Tree2 Bipdem

2010

Undefined size

Archival inkjet prints with wax, encaustic and varnish

BB August 13^th

2009

Archival inkjet print on gelatin coated zerkall

Double Rembrandt with Steps

1987-88

108 x 108 inches

Toned gelatin silver print, toned ortho film, wood, plexiglass, glue

Triple Christ

1985-1986

toned silver print with scotch tape, aluminum, wood, glue, and glass

65 x 65 inches

Idea - Body Language

"Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals subconsciously.

John Borg attests that human communication consists of 93 percent body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves; however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings.  Others assert that "Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior."

Body language may provide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure, amusement, and intoxication, among many other cues."

Definition from wikipedia.org

“When a frightening event occurs, there might not be time to look for the fearful contortions in an individual’s face, but a quick glance at the body may tell us all we need to know.”

“Human and non-human primates are especially sensitive to the gestural signals made by other primates, and use these signals as guides for their own behaviour.  Fearful faces signal a threat, but do not provide information about either the source of the threat or the best way to deal with it.”

De Gelder, Beatrice. "Towards the neurobiology of emotional body language."

     Nature Reviews Neuroscience 7.3 (2006): 242-249. Academic Search

     Complete. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.

Abstract from above article:

 “People’s faces show fear in many different circumstances.  However, when people are terrified, as well as showing emotion, they run for cover.  When we see a bodily expression of emotion, we immediately know what specific action is associated with a particular emotion, leaving little need for interpretation of the signal, as is the case for facial expressions.  Research on emotional body language is rapidly emerging as a new field in cognitive and affective neuroscience.  This article reviews how whole-body signals are automatically perceived and understood, and their role in emotional communication and decision-making.”

other helpful websites:

http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/body_language.htm

http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/psychology/body-language/body-gestures.asp

http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/speak-english-with-body-language.html

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Van_Marwijk.html

The idea of body language became of interest to me after being introduced to Laurence Demaison's work.  Since all of her work is composed of distorted and abstracted self portraits, her body plays the most important role in each photograph.  As I stated before, her pictures are beautiful, sad, frightening, etc., all depending on the composition and lighting effect.  If effective enough, portraying a certain emotion through body language could potentially also affect the viewer, which is what I hope to get across.  I have been experimenting with long exposure self portraits including objects with history, and am continuing to look back to my Concepts project from a few years ago with the different situations, text, and mirrors. 

http://www.positivepersonality.blogspot.com/

Artist - Laurence Demaison

http://www.laurencedemaison.com

Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

http://www.ewgalerie.com/

REVIEW OF WORK

http://www.galeriebmg.com/revdemaison.html

BIOGRAPHY

These wonderfully quirky and artful photographs are not made with digital tricks. Laurence Demaison plays — delightfully — with film photography and with the idea of photography. Taking full advantage of showing what the camera sees (sometimes over long periods of exposure) compared to what the human eye cannot or does not see, she pre-visualizes each photograph up to a certain degree, and then lets chance and intuitive performance intervene.

As a result, her photographs seem to bend light and time, distort the appearance of her own human body, and hold secret coded messages in their multiple reflections, refractions, visual repetitions, and semaphore-like gestures that become smears of light in darkness.

Her technical virtuosity leads us to art that revels in the extremes of visual  perception. Demaison’s photographs remind me of the distortions of Kertesz, the inventive playfulness of Man Ray and Moholy-Nagy, and the multiple perspectives of the Cubists — but her work is clearly her own.

-Jim Casper, lensculture.com

QUOTES

“Through the various series, she tries out the means which photography offers to dissimulate, to transform, to deteriorate her own image. There is in her work, a sensitive and singular course, almost obsessional. And her steps are perhaps a lucid and reflected search for identity whose complexity is only a sequence of questions, which Laurence Demaison is asking herself. She maintains an attraction-repulsion to her own body, which generates a strange fascination in the spectator. “

From a Press release, by Robert Delpire

http://www.ewgalerie.com/+TEXTS/PRESSE/Demaison_en.pdf

“The Indian saint Ramana Maharshi achieved enlightenment by asking “Who am I?” over and over. Demaison asks the same question, but not in words. Meanwhile, her body changes and ages. Her photographs become a journal of inquiry.”

Sparrow. "Damsel in Distress." Chronogram Magazine. Luminary Publishing Inc., 30

     Apr. 2009. Web. 8 Feb. 2011.

Originally, Demaison worked with a model, but she eventually began taking photos only of herself, partly to limit expenses. "She doesn't feel that they're self-portraits at all," notes Bernard Gerson, director of Galerie BMG. "They're not about her. She's using the reflecting and distorting qualities of the water or the glossy paper to make phantoms, ghosts of herself. She disappears from the image."

Sparrow. "Damsel in Distress." Chronogram Magazine. Luminary Publishing Inc., 30

     Apr. 2009. Web. 8 Feb. 2011.

The complexity and ambiguity of Laurence Demaison's work intrigues me.  Her work is made up of self portraits, all of which her identity is stripped.  She tells stories, evokes emotion, and forms an image of a being that is distorted, beautiful, repulsed, praised, and everything in between.  She has the ability to make many out of one form, which is an idea I would like to continue with.  A lot of the ideas that I wish to work with are personal, and yet I have not been able to find a way to make it objective.  Demaison has successfully removed her personal identity from her work, while still allowing her ideas to flow through. Some of her work is beautiful, while other pieces are frightful, and evocative. I would like to experiment with creating images in a way that Demaison does, and possibly solidifying them on metal to tell a story that what has been done cannot be changed, yet all emotions and events create the being that you are today.

Aqua bon – 2006-2007

Images seules

43 x 58 cm

Saute d’humeur, la sequence – 2004

4 x 20 x 30 cm

Petites bulles - 1998

Series of 16 images

16 x 8 x 8 cm

Les eautres - 1998

90 images

8 x 9.5 cm

Idea - Photographs in Enamel

ARTICLE

James Doran’s article discusses the emergence of the enamel process in the middle of the nineteenth century, and how it was quickly replaced by snapshot cameras and prints on paper. He explains the invention of the process and also how to make the prints.

Doran, James. "Fused Photographs in Enamel." Glass on Metal. Thompson Enamel

     Inc., Apr. 1994. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://www.glass-on-metal.com/

     pastart/photographic-doran.htm>.

QUOTES 

“Then, as if to answer some Bourgeois cry for enamel miniatures, a process emerged whereby photographic portraits of loved ones could be immortalized in enamel.  These were not fuzzy reproductions like those seen in old newspapers, but were exquisitely detailed, subtly shaded, genuine photographic prints fused permanently onto enamel (or onto porcelain and glass, for that matter).”

Doran, James. "Fused Photographs in Enamel." Glass on Metal. Thompson Enamel

     Inc., Apr. 1994. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://www.glass-on-metal.com/

     pastart/photographic-doran.htm>.

“Thousands of portraits on enamel for home viewing were made well into the beginning of the previous century. Perhaps 99% of the enamel photographs made today are displayed as memorials on cemetery monuments.”

"Enamel Photography." Enamellers - Beschrijving van diverse technieken. N.p.,

     1985. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://www.enamellers.nl/

     tech42.php?a=enamel_photography>.

Sealing photographs in enamel is yet another way of solidifying an image.  It seems as if this technique requires a more exact concentration on each step than photo etching does.  After researching the topic, I have found that I am currently more interested in the photo etching.  This process is a more exact representation of the photograph, it is just covered with a solid case.  Although, I am intrigued by the idea that these photographs that are made today are mainly used as memorials on cemetery monuments, especially since I have been working with old family photographs.  Yet, I still really like the idea of the process of etched metal, although I would still like to experiment in order to get an actual, educated opinion.

http://www.enamellers.nl/tech42.php?a=enamel_photography