Inspire: Richard Avedon

 Added to September 5, 2017
Sep 052017
 

Richard Avedon, “Beekeeper”, 1981

Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer with a huge collection of work. Many images we may have seen but didn’t know he took them. The famous Simon and Garfunkel album cover, a young Bob Dylan, Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Buster Keaton and many more… The New York Times spoke of him saying “his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America’s image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century”… Here we see a beekeeper with his bees, simple and surreal. I recall hearing that Avedon would set up a white backdrop so that many photos could be taken outside using the sun. He also has left in the strange border markings that tell the viewer a large format film camera was used. See more at http://www.richardavedon.com/.

Inspire: Kahn & Selesnick

 Added to August 8, 2017
Aug 082017
 

Kahn & Selesnick, “Constellation Matrix”, 2011

Nicholas Kahn from London and Richard Selesnick from New York are collaborative artists working with photography and installation art. Their images feel like fictitious histories set in both the past and future. Their work blends surreal storytelling with almost alien-like or fantasy worlds.. Many of the images really push the boundaries of the standard size with frames that stretch out very long. Others are a blending of many exposures, some taken by the NASA mission to Mars. See more at http://www.kahnselesnick.com/

Inspire: Kenneth Josephson

 Added to July 11, 2017
Jul 112017
 

Kenneth Josephson, Chicago, 1973

Josephson is a very early influential practitioner of conceptual photography. He studied with Minor White at RIT and was later inspired by Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan. His work uses various techniques such as double exposures, holding objects into the scene, combining photographic prints within the exposure itself, and so on – speaking about the process and ideas relating to the medium itself.

Inspire: William Henry Fox Talbot

 Added to June 20, 2017
Jun 202017
 

William Henry Fox Talbot, “The Open Door”, 1844

Talbot was the “second” inventor of photography, an early pioneer who invented the Calotype process. The method before him (Daguerreotype) created only one single image, whereas Talbot’s Calotype used a paper negative which could be used to create multiple copies – much like today’s film… Since the process was now reproducible, Talbot came up with the idea to create the first ever photography book he titled “The Pencil Of Nature”, which included 22 handmade prints alongside writings about the medium and its possibilities. In his book, next to this image, he wrote:

“We have sufficient authority in the Dutch school of art, for taking as subjects of representation scenes of daily and familiar occurrence. A painter’s eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable.”

Inspire: Abelardo Morell

 Added to June 1, 2017
Jun 012017
 

Abelardo Morell, “View Of Central Park Looking North, Fall”, 2008

Morell is a Cuban born Boston based photographer working with the earliest fundamentals of photography: The Camera Obscura. What you see here is not a double exposure or digital trickery, but rather a simple projection of light onto an interior room. When a room is sealed off and a hole is made in the window, the light from outside is projected inside the room… Morell explored the idea of turning spaces all around the world into camera obscuras, and then documented the space. Sometimes he would use a lens to get a sharper image, sometimes a prism to flip the projection right-side-up… I did this to a room of mine back in college and watched upside down people walk across my ceiling. It is quite amusing. See more at http://www.abelardomorell.net/

Inspire: Nick Brandt

 Added to May 9, 2017
May 092017
 

Nick Brandt, “Wasteland With Elephant”, 2015

Brandt is an English photographer who photographs exclusively in the African continent. In “Inherit the Dust” (available in book form) he has set up gigantic photographs of animals that should be roaming that specific area, but are no longer due to human activity. The panoramas containing pictures inside of them serve as a reminder of the powerful impact we have on our surroundings. See more at http://www.nickbrandt.com/

Inspire: Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

 Added to March 3, 2017
Mar 032017
 

Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison, “The Source”, 2004

Many who know me know that my all time favorite photographers are the ParkeHarrison’s. They inspired me to create my early works and continue to blow my mind… This husband and wife duo doesn’t simply TAKE photographs – anyone can do that – instead they create scenes that tell surreal narratives through a combination of sculpture, performance, and using each other as models. Much of their work, especially earlier like in the series Architect’s Brother, seems to do with man interacting and working with his landscape. A character is cleaning up nature, fixing things, and exploring his desolate surroundings. Their new work is quite different and quite mesmerizing as well. Colorful, mysterious, with a hint of confusion or dismay. They create true visual poetry. See more at http://www.parkeharrison.com/

Inspire: Harry Callahan

 Added to February 14, 2017
Feb 142017
 

Harry Callahan, Unknown Title, 1953

Since today is valentine’s day, my artist’s theme is love. One photographer quickly came to mind because of his love and obsession with his wife Eleanor. Many times an artist gains creative energy and drive because of a muse, and many times that muse is also their lover… Beyond city photographs and double exposures, Harry was most known for his wide range of creative portraits of his wife and daughter, in almost every scenario, clothed and nude, and every pose. He also established a photography program at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1961 (where I attended and took many photography courses, great art school).

Inspire: Gerhard Richter

 Added to January 13, 2017
Jan 132017
 

Gerhard Richter, “Muot Selvas. Piz Güz, Piz Lad”, 1992

Gerhard Richter is a very well known German artist works with painting, photography, and even glass. I love his body of work where he adds paint directly over photographs, especially when he matches colors within the image or contrasts them with something very vibrant and different. The combinations of mediums is very hard to do and I think he has found a way to do so flawlessly and elegantly… In this piece he is painting with oils directly onto photographs, smearing them, creating a split reality, both ordinary and abstract. Of course, given some of my latest works, I take interest in his photo paintings. See more at https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/art/

Inspire: Eadweard Muybridge

 Added to December 9, 2016
Dec 092016
 

Eadweard Muybridge, (unknown title & date), late 1800s.

Muybridge is most known for his photographic studies of motion, using various animals but also many human nudes in the 1870’s. As a fun side note: He shot and killed his wife’s lover but was acquitted in a jury trial on the grounds of justifiable homicide, but that’s a whole other story… Muybridge utilized a series of cameras and trip wires in order to capture the moments in-between locomotion. He also created the Zoopraxiscope, a device for viewing motion picture which pre-dated perforated film strip used in cinematography today. See more at http://www.muybridge.org/

The Dreaming State