Topic Entry #6

2-26-09

Snapshot

“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.” - Eudora Welty



Garrett, Craig; "Snapshot photography's subjective objectivity"; http://www.papercoffin.com/writing/articles/coerced.html

This article talks about the transition from modern art photography being very structured, technical, posed imagery to this snapshot aesthetic that captured very real moments without that structure. It talks about how this movement shows a very real, raw moments, often very voyueristic and sexual.

The snapshot aesthetic is something I used to hate when I first learned of it. I thought of it as an easy way out, to shoot without any technique or skills. However, the more I saw, the more I began to love it. Snapshot images are usually very intimate imagery, and though it is less technically sound, it is very raw and honest. I think this aesthetic works well with a subject matter like mine, studying a culture.

Artist Entry #6

2-23-09

Sergey Bratkov






Sergey is a painter turned photographer born in 1960 in Kharviv, Ukraine. He is well known for documenting the constantly changing modern Russian society. His documentary, straight forward style can probably be attributed to his childhood growing up in Kharviv, an industrial town in Ukraine, with the hard reality of Soviet life.

Artist Gallery
http://www.deweerartgallery.com/artists/26

Artist Review
http://artkrush.com/171452

Artist Website
http://www.lipanjepuntin.com/desc.php?id_autore=49

Topic Entry #5

2-18-09

Tradition

"Tradition in the illusion of permanance" - Woody Allen



Williams, Wendi; "the Importance of Tradition"; http://www.aces.edu/urban/metronews/vol1no2/tradition.html

This article explains the importance of traditions, and them being passed down within families. It also discusses the passing of formal traditions into modern societies.
It is the traditions remembered from life in home countries that immigrants hang onto when they pack up their lives and move to America. However simple or extravagent they may be, they're definitely special and important in the lives of immigrants.

Artist Entry #5

2-16-09

Yana Payusova






Yana Payusova was born in 1970 in Leningrad in the former USSR. She later immigrated to the United States and received her MFA at the University of Colorado. Her work is shown around the world. Her paintings show inside the life and fears of former USSR. She painted her figures like cartoons, only instead of showing fun childlike images, they show dark images of the life she remembers as a child growing up in the USSR. The paintings prove to be somewhat autobiographical and many showcase different memories she had growing up. The images use a combination of russian icons, comics and illistrations.





Artist Website
http://payusova.com/

Artist Gallery
http://www.howardyezerskigallery.com/artists.html

Artist Review
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/07/06/from_russia_with_talent/

Lecture #2

Paul Shambroom







This lecture was one of the more enjoyable and insightful lectures for me this year. I really admire and respect photographers and artists who stop at nothing to get the images they want to produce. Shambroom must have had a very hard time getting into most of the places he wanted to shoot; top secret missile compounds and the insides of major factories. Though I really respect and was interested in his concepts behind his series on factories and homeland security, I felt the images were very drab and not as interesting as the concepts they were trying to hold up. I was most drawn to his series on meetings.

His original intent was to get in on the major meetings between high officials in the government and internal affairs. After not being able to gain access to such meetings, he's settled for small town meetings in the south for random groups. These images were all shot at around the same distance, and each of the meetings show a group of the stereotypical older, many overweight generation of America. It's really interesting to view the images of these people and try to figure out what part of America they are from and what they are having a meeting for.

Topic Entry #4

2-12-09

Family

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. - Johann Schiller



"Family Dynamics" Veronica Hoskings, http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=13472

This article is a women's personal experience. Simply brings up the idea of how we have family that we did not choose, and unlike friends, we can't get rid of our family. How when we are hurt by family and yet can't stop loving them, can't turn our backs on them.
I also find it interesting when people not in the actual bloodline become like family. Where is that line drawn? From family to friend. I've noticed with the different groups of immigrants I've met over the past years, they've made family like bonds with those from the same countries/cities as them. Walking through random concerts, and running into someone who happened to be from the same small town in Ukraine, and automatically they are hugging, talking, laughing and joking as if they have known eachother for years. I think the bond between immigrants who have moved here is very special, and very much like that of families.

Complete

Paul Thulin has read your blog up to this point/entry. Your blog is currently up to date and complete.

Artist Entry #4

2-09-09

Bertien Van Manen






Bertien van Manen is a dutch photographer. Her work has been published and shown around the world. Her work for "a Hundred Summers, a Hundred Winters" showed images of her travels through post-communist Sibera, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. The images are very much the snapshot aesthetic, and show a range of people and spaces. These images inspired me a lot with my current work. Her images show these people as being so comfortable in their spaces and yet the viewer feels as if they might not be supposed to be in on them. I want to, with my work, showcase the immigrants I'm around in a similar way. Showing how comfortable they are in their lifestyle, but that the viewer is not entitled to be fully let in.

Artist Gallery
http://www.yanceyrichardson.com/artists/bertien-van-manen/index.html?page=1&work_id=360

Artist Review
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_8_44/ai_n18764259/pg_1

Artist Website
http://www.bertienvanmanen.nl/index.html

Topic Entry #3

2-5-09

Citizenship

“The best principles of our republic secure to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights.” - Thomas Jefferson



Lifson, Thomas "Citizenship: The Precious Legacy", RealClearPolitics, http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/03/citizenship_the_precious_legac.html

This article talks about how prestigious it is to be an American citizen. How our society has prevailed where many others have failed. He talks about what it is to be an American citzen and why citizenship in our country is so coveted among so many. Also how it is turning into simply long lived green cards, people having permission to live in a country without changing or even learning the language, and yet also acknowledges that our country is made up of immigrants, that that's what we are all about.
Citizenship is something given so easily to some and is so out of reach for others. It is a battle to achieve among so many immigrants flocking to the United States in hopes of better lives. I feel like our citizenship is taken for granted, when looking at those who are trying so hard to have what we are given at birth. It's very interesting to hear about why people from around the world view American citizenship as such a prized possession, and to hear the tremendous efforts and steps they go through to achieve it.

Artist Entry #3

1-02-09

Robert Adams






Robert Adams was born in 1937. He is famous for his landscapes of the American West. These images show the impact human activity has had on the land. His images usually don't have any human subjects, but they are surrounded with the touch of humans, empty fairs and gas stations. The high contrast and use of light makes the images strikingly beautiful.

Artist Gallery
http://www.fraenkelgallery.com/

Artist Interview
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/adams/clip1.html

Artist Website
http://www.artnet.com/artist/1251/robert-adams.html