/  by Claudia Phares

jennilee: BOB NICKAS: Critics often ask, “What does the photographer bring to the picture? What personal history, what politics, biases, or obsessions?” The abstract photos raise another question entirely, although I think it’s true of all your …

jennilee:

BOB NICKAS: Critics often ask, “What does the photographer bring to the picture? What personal history, what politics, biases, or obsessions?” The abstract photos raise another question entirely, although I think it’s true of all your work. We ask: “What do we, the viewers, bring to the picture?”

WOLFGANG TILLMANS: That is a challenge I’ve always taken. I want the pictures to be working in both directions. I accept that they speak about me, and yet at the same time, I want and expect them to function in terms of the viewer and their experience. With these abstract pictures, although the eye recognizes them as photographic rather than painted, the eye also tries to connect them to reality. There’s always this association machine working in the brain, and that is why it is important to me that they are actually photographic and not painted.

NICKAS: I see you as someone who is always thinking in the abstract. Whether it’s a person in front of you or chemicals in a darkroom, you’re looking at color, form, pattern, and visual coincidences. This is important to the way that you put a picture together—whatever the subject of that picture is.

TILLMANS: That’s very true. There is this looking at the world as shapes and patterns and colors that have meaning, and you can’t deny the superficial because the superficial is what meets the eye. The content can never be disconnected from the surface, and this active interest in surface can never be disregarded from the good art that we admire.

via Wolfgang Tillmans - Interview Magazine (2011)

Parastou Forouhar: Art, Life and Death in Iran /  by Claudia Phares

Parastou Forouhar reminds me of the graphic artist Marjane Sartrapi who made the animated film and graphic novel Persepolis. Both of  these women were born in Iran and had been affected by the Iranian revolution. Like Sartrapi, Forouhar used art to channel her grief.  At first glance, Forouhar’s drawings look like beautiful arrangements of stylised pastel-coloured shapes. A closer look makes you realise some of these drawings depict torture scenes. London-based writer and curator, Rose Issa edited Parastou Forouhar: Art, Life, and Death in Iran, a collection of the artist’s work exhibited in Germany. I’m currently writing a paper on feminist art and I’m glad to have stumbled onto Forouhar, who visibly succeeded in speaking up against the Iranian revolution.

via brainpickings

/  by Claudia Phares

I finally went to see the movie Pina by Wim Wenders, on the German choreographer Pina Bausch. It was both amazed and enraptured. Watching it in 3D added another level of experience. It flowed well and wasn’t distracting at all. I’ve never heard of Bausch before until the movie came out. I love her expressionist style of dance; you could truly feel the emotions in the body language. Being interested in using the body in my projects, this movie was definitely an inspiration.

/  by Claudia Phares

Related studies project week #7: Find it in text. Rule: Bring the Age ‘Green Guide’ to class Another Rule: No scissors allowed One more rule: Frame it. This problem set was one of the hardest so far. The challenge lied in the lack of b…

Related studies project week #7: Find it in text.

  • Rule: Bring the Age ‘Green Guide’ to class
  • Another Rule: No scissors allowed
  • One more rule: Frame it.

This problem set was one of the hardest so far. The challenge lied in the lack of boundaries where thousands of interpretations could have been extrapolated. I admittedly struggled. At the last minute, I  found ‘it’ in the text Desiderata. I defined ‘it’ as a guide or reference. I chose to copy a paragraph on ‘how not to compare yourself’, something familiar to all.

The way I assembled the work using a photo of a male figure with the text glued onto his chest raised a few questions during the review. The imposing male figure made it look like it was a fatherly advice. I didn’t realise it until it was pointed out. I chose this image because I liked the posture and used it to project the quote coming from within. My oversight proved that every element in a final work counts so, these elements need to be selected carefully.  I don’t think the intended message came across as desired. Nonetheless, it was an interesting exercise. 


'An emergency in slow motion' - A psychobiography on Diane Arbus /  by Claudia Phares

'An emergency in slow motion' - A psychobiography on Diane Arbus

This book sounds good and is written by Todd Shultz, a psychologist, who knew Arbus’ therapist. He also based his book on some recently released writings of Arbus’. If you’re interested in Diane Arbus’ story, I’d recommend reading the biography written by Patricia Botsworth. A movie, ‘Fur’, was adapted from the book in an interesting manner. It features Nicole Kidman as Arbus.

/  by Claudia Phares

Related studies project week #6: Make it move.  Rule: Don’t stop. I had originally made a short video which I thought was too much of a literal interpretation of the assignment. Instead, I moved on from the short film to making a sculpture. I…

Related studies project week #6: Make it move. 

Rule: Don’t stop.

I had originally made a short video which I thought was too much of a literal interpretation of the assignment. Instead, I moved on from the short film to making a sculpture. I chose to create something that would encourage the viewer to participate in performing something repetitive. This useless spinning wheel was my answer to this problem set.

The 5 elements I considered in making this project:

  1. to have instructions to follow
  2. to challenge the perception of the familiar
  3. to create an object whose image would suffice to understand its meaning
  4. to allude to perpetuity
  5. to evoke the absurdity, like Magritte did

Patricia Piccinini @ CCP /  by Claudia Phares

Yesterday, my friend and I went to check out Patricia Piccinini’s exhibition ‘Fitzroy series’ at the CCP. I’m glad I didn’t miss it - it was the show’s last day. There was a video, prints, sculptures, and space featuring the artist’s main inspirations. I was particularly impressed with the display of Piccinini’s source material (see image): I’m always intrigued with the process behind the scenes. Biological and anatomical illustrations are an important source of reference for Piccinini. It makes sense when you look at the creatures she creates. It’s not easy to create hybrid imaginary creatures and to then insert them in familiar settings all while making it aesthetically pleasing. Somehow, Piccinini succeeds in assembling it seamlessly. Overall, the images were beautifully printed and the way the exhibition was set up cohesively made it even more interesting. 

/  by Claudia Phares

What woman essentially lacks today for doing great things is forgetfulness of herself; but to forget oneself it is first of all necessary to be firmly assured that now and for the future one has found oneself.

The second sex, by Simone de Beauvoir

My review of 'Auto-focus' by Susan Bright /  by Claudia Phares

I finished reading ‘Auto focus: the self-portrait in contemporary photography’ by Susan Bright, published in 2010 by Thames & Hudson. Bright, a writer and a curator, is a Faculty member at The School of Visual Arts. One can truly appreciate her experience in the field of contemporary photography. This book is probably the best-illustrated collection of contemporary photography dedicated to self-portraiture. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary self-portraiture.

There are 75 photographers covered in this 225-page book. The selected photographers are from around the world and have been organized in the book around 5 themes: autobiography, body, masquerade, studio and album, and performance. There are 332 illustrations, 288 in colour. The photos are printed in a decent size given book’s dimensions (24x28cm). The last chapter contains notes that I consider of value for further knowledge on the topic of portraiture and self-portraiture

Bright, who is a writer and a curator, delivers the content in a concise manner while using an intermediate level jargon. In the introduction, Bright covers the practice of self-portraiture from the time photography was invented until the mid-2000s. Several artists are mentioned, some of which are accompanied with an illustration.  Previous knowledge of some of the past and current photographers who dedicated their body of work to self-portraiture may help to appreciate the introduction, such as Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, Nikki S. Lee, & Li Wei.

Featured in the autobiography chapter, is My Little Dead Dick which was an online collaboration where 2 skilled photographers, Patrick Tsai and Madi Ju, created a website documenting their lives together. What I find interesting in this book is the presence of photographers who gained recognition via the internet.  The project attracted a large online audience. Online presence appears to be the fastest tool to promote your work.

There are many ways to portray the self. I believe this book is a good compilation of artists who explored their sexuality, identity, ethnicity, and other life challenges with great imagination and artistic flair. Masquerade would be my favourite chapter. I particularly like the works of Janieta Eyre and Tomoko Sawada. Since I’ve been interested in ethnicity, identity, and gender I found out with Bright’s book about photographers who focused on these concepts whom I’ve never heard before.

Self-portraiture is definitely a particular genre of photography. Bright managed to amalgamate a comprehensive guide of some of the most interesting leading photographers in the field of self-portraiture.