Logorama

This great animated piece from French design studio, H5 is one of the best examples of fair use of copyrighted matearial I have seen in some time.

Via Amy Stein Photo via Next Nature.

On Originality...

Penelope Umbrico, 4,786,139 Suns from Flickr (Partial) 1/14/09 2007-2009 4 x 6 inch machine prints (detail).

Every artist has to grapple with the question: Is your work original? Some say that no artwork is original. This statement is a cop out. Originality still exists and flourishes. A lot of original art grows out of looking at other works and reacting to it. The danger is when the artist finishes a project and knowingly or not comes up with work that is too derivative or even plagiarized from others.

Last week at a talk benefitting the Camera Club of New York, artist Penelope Umbrico talked about her work to a packed house at SVA. Her art is a remixing of photographic media into a dialogue about the larger culture of photographic consumption. For her project, Suns from Flickr, she utilized the abundance of sunset images uploaded to the popular photo sharing site, Flickr. Through a careful cropping and arrangement, she remixed their original purpose, transforming them into a random wallpaper of candy-colored sunsets.

When her exhibited work was uploaded back to Flickr, some viewers were offended by the appropriation (remixing), thus missing the point of the project. Umbrico's Suns has a very different intent from those who uploaded their pictures to Flickr. The art is not simply the imagery; it is the sum of the parts used to illustrate an idea. There might be artistry to mixing a tube of paint, but I have never heard a paint manufacturer claim that an artwork was partly theirs, since they formulated the paint.


Richard Prince, "Untitled (Cowboy)."

Another case is the appropriation of photography by Richard Prince of Cowboy images from Marlboro ads. Recently, A Photo Editor interviewed one of the photographers, Jim Krantz about Richard Prince. If you have not read the interview, check it out here. While I appreciate Jim's work, Prince has appropriated it differently than the work for which Krantz was commissioned. These images began as an advertisement for cigarettes. Marlboro used Krantz's fantastic images of the American cowboy to sell a product that has killed thousands of people. Marlboro combined these images with their logo to sell the idea that smoking their brand of cigarette was a classic American thing to do. The freedom of the American West was equated to the act of smoking. Thus, these images were no longer about anything but the lowest form of propaganda. They were selling death, plain and simple.


Jim Krantz's "Calf Rescue" (1998), taken on assignment for Marlboro.

Richard Prince's re-photography of these advertisements significantly shifts their meaning. In Prince's Cowboys, the work begs the question, What is real? Prince peers into the American veneer of the cowboy and calls it fake. In his new work, the viewer can identify the copied surface in the pattern from the advertisement. Logos have been removed. All that is left is the idea of the American cowboy. His new work is about questioning the authenticity of both the myth of the cowboy and the honesty of that idea.

In A Photo Editor's Interview:

APE: But, that's the irony isn't it. Someone steals a photograph and suddenly your work is important to the art community. That's what it took.

It's amazing to me that the curators at the Guggenheim would bring this work in without acknowledging the source or giving the viewers the opportunity to see what motivates and inspires a person. You need a footnote in a paper but there's no source recognized here.

As a photographer I understand the desire for credit. I have certainly felt the sting from not getting credit for something. But we need to remember there was no byline in the ad. Marlboro paid thoroughly for these ads. It's difficult to feel for the photographer who became part of the cancer stick propaganda machine. He sold out his images literally and complained when they were used as paint for someone else's artistic expression. If anything, Krantz is lucky. His images could have easily been forgotten, lost to the void of time. Because of this controversy he has gained recognition, the chance to make some work express his artistic intentions, and receive a wider audience than he might have received without this experience.

Recently, another controversy over originality has been getting attention. This is a case among fine art photographers. The playing field is a bit different. Jorg Colberg has written a lot about this in his blog, specifically in the posts "On Plagiarism and Similarities" (2006) and recently "When does similar become too similar?" and "Way too similar?" In his last post, he explains the current controversy of David Burdeny and his project "Sacred & Secular." When comparing this project to the work of Elger Esser, and particularly with the work of Sze Tsung Leong's project "Horizons" troubling similarities occur. This story was first discussed in the blog photo muse in this post and recently PDN magazine has posted a story "Copycat or Not? Photographer Challenged Over Look-Alike Work."

This comparison is more direct since we are looking at two photographers. At first, I thought this might simply be a case of two artists working on common themes. A while back, I wrote about artists making images that shared the theme of falling. Each image depicts falling people, but the artists go about making the images from different approaches. The more I look at Burdeny's work, the more I start to think that it is just too close to Sze Tsung Leong. Not only is the subject and angle of the shot similar, but Burdeny also utilizes Leong's method of hanging the show. If I were a curator, I wouldn't want to show art this unoriginal. Even if it doesn't meet the legal definition of plagiarism, it meets the artistic definition of unoriginal.


David Burdeny, Grand Canal II, Venezia Italy, 2009


Sze Tsung Leong, From the Horizons Series, Canale della Giudecca I, Venezia. C-Print 2007


David Burdeny, Sacred & Secular, Installation view


Sze Tsung Leong, Horizons, installation view

As you can see from the above examples the intention of the work is extremely suspect. As a community of artists we need to be aware of others' work and ideas. As an artist brainstorms for new ideas and an interesting thought bubbles up they need to be careful. You can use ideas and art from the past to inform and inspire your work but you always need to be aware of what has been done so that the finished piece is your original concept.

In David Burdeny case, is there something that we are missing from viewing the project on the web only? Because unlike the differences in the first two examples of artists remixing another person's work, Burdeny's similarities include not only the content, but the intent of his art. What do you think? Is it too close?

--
Further reading, Todd Walker, aka Ocular Octopus weighs in on this topic in his post "Plagiarism in Photography Is Impossible"

This will be the topic of this week's #photoartchat Tweetchat. Tomorrow, Tuesday Feb 23rd at 9 pm EST, we will be hosting David Bram, photographer and publisher of Fraction Magazine.

The Rube Goldberg of Art and Advertising.

Rube Goldberg born in 1883 and lived through December, 1970 and his influence is still being absorbed and celebrated today. A few days ago I came across this advert for Google's Chrome browser made in the UK. I'm really digging their creativity and use of different angles and mediums like mercury to make their Rube Goldburg like effect look great.



Peter Fischli and David Weiss made this piece over 20 years ago based on this principle called the Way Things Go or Der Lauf der Dinge in German.



Some credit Peter Fischli and David Weiss with the inspiration for the advertisers including this famous Honda Cog ad:



There is also this popular Japanese children's show called ピタゴラ装置 pronounced Pitagora Suichi or Pythagoras Switch.



Also fun to watch is this baking of video for Google chrome:

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Continuing the conversation: Is Photography is in its death-throes?

Last Week's Tweet chat we discussed photography by starting with a comment left on Amy Stein's Facebook status by New York Art Critic Jerry Saltz:

I do not think that the word "emerging" is the problem; it merely denotes a phase of one's exhibiting career. I think that the lurking problematic term is, ah, "photographer!"

Photography is clearly going through simultaneous death-throes, transformation, rebirth, and other out-of-medium experinces.

That is what you should be thinking about. That's where the real THRILL will be.

This past week he dropped that comment into his own Facebook page and began a flood of over 300 comments. After his reposting Saltz also posed this question

Let's learn. Define the word "Postmodernism" (in art ONLY). Your definition CANNOT BE MORE THAN 2 or 3 SIMPLE sentences.

I responded:

Postmodernism in photography is photography that is meta aware. That is aware of its histories, truths, construction and realities and then communicates through that awareness.

In addition to the artist I mentioned last week I want to add a show I saw this past week "Lunch Break" by Sharon Lockhart at Gladstone Gallery.


Outside AB Tool Crib: Matt, Mike, Carey, Steven, John, Mel and Karl, 2008 Chromogenic print; 49 x 68 1/2 inches (124.7 x 174.2 cm) framed

That's where we will begin again for tonight using that quote as a starting point for our weekly photo art chat.

• where is art photography NOW? dead/alive/rebirth?
• what is transforming, rebirthing into
• how do the practices of documentary live along side the conceptual, constructed, abstract and appropriation?
• art art photographer's artists or art artist art photographers? does it even matter?

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Is Photography is in its death-throes?

A few days ago photographer and blogger, Amy Stein broadcasted via her Facebook status a complaint about the definition of "emerging photographer":

Amy Stein: Can we please come up with a better benchmark for "emerging photographer" than age!?! Unrepresented? No solo exhibitions? Something?

Her status update set off a first storm of over 55 comments from a variety of perspectives. Much of the conversation centered around what the term means and how even today age is used as a factor for eligibility as an "emerging photographer." This is of course a silly factor to weather an artist is coming onto their own. Especially considering the recent New York Times article on a 94 year old painter emerged onto the art scene. Much of the conversation floated between the frustration in the looseness of the "emerging" definition and the problem with age discrimination until New York Art Critic dropped by to add his thoughts:

Jerry Saltz: I do not think that the word "emerging" is the problem; it merely denotes a phase of one's exhibiting career. I think that the lurking problematic term is, ah, "photographer!"

Photography is clearly going through simultaneous death-throes, transformation, rebirth, and other out-of-medium experinces.

That is what you should be thinking about. That's where the real THRILL will be.

That's where we will begin our chat for tonight using that quote as a starting point for our weekly photo art chat.

Ofer Wolberger has an interesting related post on his blog horses think here:

I obviously don't think that photography is dead but it's definitely due for some re-invention and I don't mean the digital kind.

Lately, I've been excited by some photographers who seem to have found a natural way out of the medium. That's not to say that they give up on making photographs. On the contrary, they continue to make photographic work but they are also beginning to engage in other art making practices. The freedom to begin exploring visual ideas through other mediums seems to lead to a re-freshed perspective when it comes back to photography.

Wolberger then points to several photographers who are pushing outside of their photograph to express themselves. His list includes:


Brian Ulrich, City Life, 2008-2009


from Christian Patterson's Out There


submitted jpeg from Jason Lazarus' Try Harder


Sam Falls, Figure Drawing (girls like us), 2009

A few artists I would like to add:


Wolfgang Tillmans and the sculptural photography he loops into his exhibitions.


Simen Johan for mixing in his sculptures with photograph in his series "Until the Kingdom Comes"


Phillip Toledano from his "America the Gift Shop" series.

And recently Alec Soth's web project:

Las Vegas Birthday Slideshow from Little Brown Mushroom on Vimeo.

Alec Soth celebrates his 40th birthday in Las Vegas by making a slideshow.

For more information, go here: http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/?page_id=894

I'm sure there are many others I will add them as they come up.

So...

• where is art photography NOW? dead/alive/rebirth?
• what is transforming, rebirthing into
• how do the practices of documentary live along side the conceptual, constructed, abstract and appropriation?
• art art photographer's artists or art artist art photographers? does it even matter?

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Looking back on 2009

Tonight 9-10 pm EST we continue our weekly Photo Art Tweet chat. Last week we had a very successful conversation with first guest tweeter, Darius Himes, an acquiring editor at Radius Books. Thanks everyone for joining in the conversation and thanks again to Darius Himes for taking the time to join us. You can get more info and a transcript here: http://wthashtag.com/Photoartchat

This weeks topic will be looking back on the past year. What are the things about 2009 that stick out in your memory about Art Photography? We will cover areas such as the best museum show, gallery show, photobook, new photographer? And other relevant topics that made art in 2009 stimulating.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tuesday's Art Photo Tweetchat - continuing the discussion on the Photobook. UPDATE

UPDATE: I'm pleased to announce that tonight's #PhotoArtChat we will be graced with our very first guest tweeter, Darius Himes. We are very lucky to be joined by an expert in the field of fine are photography books as well an a great thinker on photography. Please read his bio below and follow along or join us as we talk more about the current and future of the photobook.

Himes' bio:
Darius Himes is an acquiring editor at Radius Books, a non-profit publisher founded in 2007 that publishes books on the visual arts and photography. Prior to that he was the founding editor of photo-eye Booklist, a quarterly magazine devoted to photography books, from 2002–2007. He is also a lecturer, consultant, educator and writer, having contributed to Aperture, Blind Spot, Bookforum, BOMB, PDN, and American Photo. He earned his BFA in Photography from Arizona State University and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. In 2008, he was named by PDN as one of fifteen of the most influential people in photo book publishing.

--
Tonight, Tuesday, December 22, 2009 9-10 PM EST we will be continuing last weeks successful tweet chat on the Future of the Photobook. Last weeks chat went really well with a number of people joining in and adding in their perspective into the mix. We began by discussing the Future of the photobook from a technological perspective and then we began to discuss content. Tonight we will continue to discuss the photobook but this with our guest tweeter publisher Darius Himes. We'll be talking with him about how he see the future of the photobook especially as it pertains to subjects and content.

A few interesting posts have been written since last week.
Catch up with this round up on Livebooks Blog:
12 Hot Thoughts on the Future of Photobooks | RESOLVE - the liveBooks photo blog

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Thinking about the future of the Photobook.

Paul Graham's 12 book called "a shimmer of possibility"

I've been thinking a lot about the future of the photobook lately. Tonight there is going to be a online chat through Twitter. More info on that here: http://www.harlanerskine.com/blog/2009/12/first-art-photography-tweetchat-future.html

There is also an interesting experiment in blogging on the subject on the Livebooks blog, RESOLVE. Their crowd sourced blog collects all the recent posts into one big page. Lots to check out and think over.

All these discussions are an interesting contrast to the Aperture Foundation hosted talk I attended few months ago. The talk featured many different voices. Some of the names on the panel included:

Charlotte Cotton, curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, LACMA, will moderate a discussion with panelists Alex Klein, artist and Curatorial Fellow in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, LACMA; Matt Keegan, artist and editor of North Drive Press; David Reinfurt, graphic designer and co-founder of Dexter Sinister; and Denise Wolff, Aperture Editor. Other special guests include special guests Paul Graham, Darius Himes, and Laurel Ptak.

Sadly, the panel never quite got to the meat of a real discussion. After each panelist gave an introduction there wasn't much time left. Maybe this is where a Twitter based chat can work better? We'll see.


NDP #4 (ed. 1000)

I did manage to learn about some interesting work from the panelists - especially, artist and publisher Matt Keegan's North Drive Press. Their hybrid publishing of magazine / book / art object in limited edition batches is an example of where creative art books are headed. As production gets cheaper, artists are more easily able to produce their own larger edition artworks.

In preparation for tonight's first art photo chat, Todd Walker reminded me of this Words Without Pictures piece by Darius Himes and it's a great starting point for thinking about the photobook going forward from 2010. Darius Himes also wrote a post contribution that's worth checking out.

There are two parts to the future of the photobook; one part is technical and the other is creative. New technologies in printing and reading are emerging. How will they change the way we consume photography? What new creative trends will emerge through these technologies developments as well those through developments in art production? These two areas are interdependent and will change as the other does.

Photobooks, and particularly art photobooks, are unlike their book cousin the novel which may suffer massive declines in paperback book sales because of reading devices like Amazon's Kindle. The enjoyment of the novel, and especially a paperback doesn't greatly diminish when consumed on such a device. Many readers swear by them. I have to agree with Darius Himes when he writes in his essay, "Who Cares About Books?":

And while the sensual experience of receiving and holding a Mac AirBook borders on the rapturous (I almost feel like I'm dissimulating when I enter the Apple shrines scattered around the country), it is still not something I want to read a book on-even if it is something I want to use to send an email about a book I just read.

Books are so archetypal for the modern wo/man that we form nearly permanent bonds with them as teenagers and adults. They are the security blankets and teddy bears of the adult world. Most of us cart our books from state to state, from college dorm to rented apartment to newly purchased home, and lovingly set them up on our shelves as reminders of knowledge acquired and courses and degrees completed, and as familiar companions.

I enjoy books for many reasons and the little subjective memories they pick up along the way is certainly one of them. There are two recent books that might be interesting to discuss.

While the consumption of an artistically produced book would lose much of its presence on a downloaded format, there probably will be rare cases where the end design is for electronic consumption. One particular piece I recently came across is made by Eve Susman and the Rufus Cooperation. It's produced by a new publisher started by Schroeder Romero and Winkleman Gallery called Compound Editions called White on White. The edition is sold as a 6-minute video installed on ARCHOS 5 media tablet.


Eve Sussman & Rufus Corporation
A COUNTRY ROAD. A TREE. EVENING. 2009
Original music by Lumendog
Geoff Gersh - guitar and electronics
Adam Kendall - keyboards & electronics
Christof Knoche - bass clarinet & electronics
Bradford Reed - pencilina
6-minute video installed on ARCHOS 5 media tablet
5" x 0.5" x 3.1"
Edition of 100, plus 10 APs
$450.00 for numbers 1-50; SOLD OUT
$600 for numbers 51-100.

While we can't say for certain what the future is of the photobook will be, it's exciting to see artists stretching the boundaries.

SELF PROMO ALERT: While you're thinking about photobooks be sure to check out my artist published photobook:

ten convenient stores
I made the 7 x 7 inch booklet with laser paper on a high end xerox laser printer. It is packaged in various convenient store bags. Produced in an artist edition of 20 in 2005 and a bigger edition of 100 in 2005.

Looking forward to tonight's experiment.

First art photography tweetchat: The Future of the Photobook.

Tomorrow evening, December 15th, I'll be moderating and chatting with Todd Walker for a chat about the future of the photobook. We'll be online to talk the future of the photobook from 9-10 pm Eastern / 6-7 pm Pacific.

This will be the first in a series of regular Tuesday night tweetchats. Since this is the first time we've tried something like this it's going to be experimental. I have borrowed this idea from the book / literature community, which holds weekly tweetchats. To see what they are talking about twitter search #litchat #yalitchat #kidlitchat and you'll get and idea. I hope to get the entire photographic community involved with these tweetchats. The amazing part is the way the literature community has embraced this forum. Everyone from literary agents to authors to editors and readers and fans are able to join in to the conversations.

For our art photography chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2010 Shortlist Announced

The Photography Prize Shortlist is always one to watch. Each year they call attention to the best of photography. Many times I know the photography but just as often the work is new to me. So, I get to learn about new and exciting image makers working on thought provoking art. This year is no exception and interestingly dominated by strong woman photographers. A welcome change. Take a look -

Anna Fox (b.1961, UK) is nominated for her exhibition, Cockroach Diary & Other Stories at Ffotogallery, Cardiff (28 July - 10 October 09), initiated by Impressions Gallery, Bradford.

Gallery site: ffoto gallery: Anna Fox – Cockroach Diary and Other Stories

Zoe Leonard (b.1961, USA) is nominated for her retrospective exhibition, ZOE LEONARD: Photographs, at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (1 April - 5 July 09), initiated by Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Watch Zoe Leonard. Photographs / Retrospective at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich | VernissageTV art tv

Sophie Ristelhueber (b.1949, France) is nominated for her retrospective, Sophie Ristelhueber at the Jeu de Paume, Paris (20 January - 22 March 2009).

slide show: Sophie Ristelhueber photographs at the Jeu de Paume | World news | guardian.co.uk


Donovan Wylie (b.1971, UK) is nominated for his exhibition MAZE 2007/8 at Belfast Exposed (27 March - 1 May 2009).

Check out more info on this work here: Belfast Exposed: Exhibitions

The annual award of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution, in exhibition or publication format, to the medium of photography in Europe between 1 October 2008 and 30 September 2009.

This year's Jury is: Olivia Maria Rubio (Director of Exhibitions, La Fabrica, Spain); Gilane Tawadros (Chief Executive, Design Artists Copyright Society, curator and writer); James Welling (artist, USA); and Anne-Marie Beckmann (Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Borse, Germany). Brett Rogers, Director of The Photographers' Gallery, is the non-voting Chair.

Another Harlan Speaks the truth

Will Steacy, staring down the...

This might be a little old but I just found these videos. Kinda fun and they remind me of school cititque to some degree.Will Steacy and hisStare Down vs. Sarah Small. I'm not sure if these videos ends up being good for the photographic dialogue or what but maybe they will get the swing of things. Seems like they should be longer? and less like a quick fire challenge.






Viewfinders | Zoom In

What is Zoom in you ask? well according to them it is:

Zoom In Online (ZIO) is an award winning online video network. ZIO covers the best in pop-culture, providing visitors with the latest happenings in arts, entertainment, culture and technology with four online communities: Film & TV, Music, Photography and Design. Each community is updated daily with professionally produced video shows, podcasts, news stories and blog posts.

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We want you to be inspired, to discover new things. We want you to be informed, and to inform us with your opinions. We want you to be "in the know" on the most useful technology, the most engaging entertainment.

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Ruins of the Second Gilded Age or Ruins of Bad Retouching

Photo: Edgar Martins for The New York Times

I recently came across a New York Times Magazine picture essay by photographer Edgar Martins published in the Time's Architecture Issue called "Ruins of the Second Gilded Age." I have always been interested in the built environment, especially in relation to suburbia. For too long now America has over-relied on designing cities for cars and not people. This design practice has led to an unsustainable housing dream.

The New York Times story featured quiet pictures of abandoned construction sites. Overzealous devolopers had left these building projects in this economic downturn and turned them into ghost houses. When the 5th image loaded (see above) I was struck by the aesthetic similarity to my own project, affordable homes (see below image).


©2004 harlan erskine, '#14967 B 26/58', c-print, 20 x 25 inches from the triptych affordable homes

My image was taken as the real estate market was heating up in Miami. Developers were building huge clusters of McHomes closer and closer to the everglades and in areas that used to be farmland. The homes have been finished by now. At least one resident has occupied them since their completion. I made the images out of frustration with the banality and cheapness of their design, construction and planning. How can we look at these creations as Americans and not ask: is the future we want? Building homes in this manner is unsustainable--a fact that we are only beginning to digest as a nation. The results of these careless choices will reverberate through our economy for generations.

The images by Edgar Martins warranted a blog posting. I pasted the links into Blogger with a quick outline and saved it for a later posting. I experienced all these images on the small screen and have yet to see the printed version. If that was the end of this story, this post would end here. Tonight as I revisited the links, I loaded the Time's webpage and found a note from their editors.

Editors' Note: July 8, 2009

A picture essay in The Times Magazine on Sunday and an expanded slide show on NYTimes.com entitled "Ruins of the Second Gilded Age" showed large housing construction projects across the United States that came to a halt, often half-finished, when the housing market collapsed. The introduction said that the photographer, a freelancer based in Bedford, England, "creates his images with long exposures but without digital manipulation."

A reader, however, discovered on close examination that one of the pictures was digitally altered, apparently for aesthetic reasons. Editors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show. Had the editors known that the photographs had been digitally manipulated, they would not have published the picture essay, which has been removed from NYTimes.com.

The photography blogosphere has eaten this story up. PDN Pulse has a long post will several updates running down when the issue was discovered and outlining the offending retouching in a print version of the story. Other photography / art bloggers a photo editor, Gallery Hopper, the online photographer, art most fierce, Joerg Colberg and industry pub Editor and Publisher all have good coverage mixed with their thoughts about this controversy. And now the big bloggers have weighed in with posts from Talking Points Memo, a political blog, Gawker and even the New York Times photography blog, Lens writing about the story from the inside out. (damage control?).


from the PDN Pulse.

With countless more blogs weighing in I figured I would give my two cents.

First, I could care less that an aesthetically manipulated image is illustrating a magazine article. As long as the image is truthful, the alterations don't detract from the article. The photographer has been quoted in many of the above posts as saying, "When I photograph, I don't do any post production to the images, either in the darkroom or digitally, because it erodes the process. So I respect the essence of these spaces."

Why mention it at all? I don't see Gursky or Burtynsky making a big deal about their retouching. Why should anyone? Unless the artist made inept use of Photoshop, there is no problem. Sure, it's not as bad as Iran's retouching missiles or the offenders in this Gawker post, but who really cares? This type of retouching wouldn't fly with any creative director in the advertising business. The art world would laugh at it.

The sad thing is this story is now lost. Before this controversy was discovered by a few Metafilter watchdogs, people were discussing the content of the article. Has this "Second Gilded Age" ended? These discussions were getting some coverage with sites like Tree Hugger and the Times' dot earth. I find it sad that something like this happens and immediately hundreds of commentators flood the blogosphere. Why weren't we discussing it on this level before? What's a more important issue--the economy and the environment or bad retouching by an artist wearing a journalist's hat?

To bring it back to those thoughts, I will point you to a quote posted in the tree hugger blog:

Andy Revkin, who asks:

Are these portraits, perhaps, of the end of the age of unfettered consumption, simply a short pause before human communities resume their 150-years-and-counting fossil-fueled sprint, or a foretaste of Alan Weisman's 2007 thought experiment, "The World Without Us"?

If you want to see the images, the Times still has them up on their site without captions. Just go to this url and change the ending number to access each image.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/30/magazine/05gilded.1.jpg

Graduation! and tips on how to launch your careers...

Graduation is tomorrow. I can't believe it. what a whirl wind it has been. I will be posting more about the experience but for now I have a few links that see really useful for everyone graduating their MFA and entering the creative class. So, If your not going to date your art star professor then there are other avenues to finding your way.

Mrs. Deane has a nice post "susanne ludwig & how photographers launch their careers"

Blogger and gallerist Edward Winkleman of the Winkleman Gallery. Has an ongoing series of useful smart posts on Getting a Gallery
How to Do Your Homework, Part I
How to Do Your Homework, Part II
Baseline Issues for the "How to Get a Gallery" Question
Advice for Artists Seeking Gallery Representation
One More Time, With Feeling (seriously)

I'll update this post with more links as I come across them. Send me links if you have any suggestions.

i heart photograph, too

i heart photograph, too.


Black Sun 0006, c-print on diasec in wood frame, 48" x 64"

Thanks to for the posting my Black Sun Project. I have been reading i heart photograph for a while now maybe I'll run into you durring the NYPF this year, I see you'll be doing another panel on the state of the blog.

i heart photograph: harlan erskine

Editing Memory

From the NY Times,Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory. Quite startling new research being done on memory, which could change the way we deal with traumatic events. The drug allowing the editing of these memories may only be a few years away but what are the implications? if we experience something and it makes us who we are but that experience is taken away aren't we changing who we are?

best quote from the article comes at the end:

Yet as scientists begin to climb out of the dark foothills and into the dim light, they are now poised to alter the understanding of human nature in ways artists and writers have not.

Which also brings up the question are memories reliable enough to be edited in the first place? Recent research indicates that memory is more slippery that we would like to believe. In a study I am reading for research into a new project written by New Zealand researchers, Maryanne Garry, Matthew P. Gerrie titled, When Photographs Create False Memories they argue that memory itself can be fabricated. So, how will these new drugs know whet they are deleting 'real' memories or faked or fantasy memories? and what of these memories contribute to who you are?

New images of the aftermath of assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr found.

Photo: Henry Groskinsky./Time & Life Pictures, Apr 04, 1968
Caption: Bill Campbell, alone on the motel balcony, gazing out into the night. "This photograph was probably made almost as soon as we got there, because there were a lot of people milling about in the dark, and then all of a sudden it cleared up. When I saw him standing there, alone, I thought to myself, 'Wow.' This isn't a posed picture. He's in deep pain, standing there by himself, as if asking, 'My God, what has happened here?'"

In an astonishing find, newly discovered historical photographs of the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr have recently resurfaced and published on Life magazine's new online archive.

The iconic image below is all that used to represent the history of that day. Now there is a little more of what happened from another LIFE photographer. I'm taken with the mood of Groskinsky's night images, the solemn images of the Lorraine Motel a quiet meeting taking place inside while a lone motel worker does the dirty work and cleans up the blood of the fallen hero.

Dr. Martin Luther King assassination, Memphis,Tenn., April 4, 1968; Photograph by Joseph Louw

This revealing of history through photography is discussed in one of that many essays on the new The Smithsonian Photography Initiative website: click! Photography Changes Everything, which is amassing quite a strong collection of thought on photography. This particular essay, PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES OUR PERSPECTIVE ON HISTORICAL EVENTS was written about the 1925 Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial.

The 2009 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize goes to Paul Graham

©Paul Graham, Untitled (Pittsburgh 1), From the series "a shimmer of possibility," 2004, Pigment ink print

I think The Photographers' Gallery made the right choice here. I like all the nominees this year but British/American Photographer Paul Graham's "a shimmer of possibility" is just a bit more successful for me and a bit more current / new. A few nights ago Paul Graham was awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and the £30K that accompanies it.

From the press release (PDF):

Paul Graham (b. 1956, UK), has been awarded the 2009 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize.

The Award was presented at a special evening ceremony on Wednesday 25 March 2009. Jefferson Hack, co-founder of Dazed & Confused, presented the £30,000 award.

The Prize is presented by The Photographers' Gallery and sponsored by Deutsche Borse group.

Paul Graham was selected by the Jury for his publication, a shimmer of possibility (steidlMACK, October 2007).

Now in its thirteenth year, this annual Prize of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe, through either an exhibition or publication, over the past year.

The other shortlisted artists in this year's Prize, each awarded £3,000, are:

Emily Jacir (b.1970, Palestine) nominated for her installation, Material for a Film, presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale (7 June - 21 November 2007).

Tod Papageorge (b.1940, USA) nominated for the exhibition Passing Through Eden - Photographs of Central Park at Michael Hoppen Gallery, London (7 March - 12 April 2008).

Taryn Simon (b.1975, USA) nominated for her exhibition An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar at The Photographers' Gallery, London (13 September -11 November 2007).

The Jury this year: David Campany (writer/lecturer, University of Westminster, UK); David Goldblatt (photographer, South Africa); Chus Martinez (Chief Curator, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain); and Anne-Marie Beckmann (Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Borse, Germany). The Director of The Photographers' Gallery, Brett Rogers is the non-voting Chair.

© Paul Graham, Untitled (New York/North Dakota), From the series "a shimmer of possibility," 2005, Pigment ink prints, 15 pieces, Edition of 5 + 2 a.p.


© Paul Graham, "a shimmer of possibility," 2005

I like how the book and the photography installation work with each other. Each is similar but changes to fit the ideal conditions for viewing. The 12 Book collection (photo-eye was too expensive for me but there is a compiled version on its way in April.

This is quite a year for Graham with solo shows at MoMA, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany Greenberg Van Doren Gallery and Salon94 currently up, and now this award.

Check out this interview with Paul Graham and PDN here. There is also an article in the Telegraph

Does "The Minnesota Declaration" also apply to still images production?

In this video clip (found via Screenlabs) filmmaker Werner Herzog sits down and discusses his idea of ecstatic truth and the The Minnesota Declaration with Henry Rollins. The key part of the interview begins 1 minute into it when they begin a discussion:

Henry Rollins: Lets talk about your documentary film making, which to me is I've never seen anything like your documentaries. Can you explain the idea of “ecstatic truth”?

Werner Herzog: I think at the moment there is a major tectonic shift going on. We have virtual reality, in the Internet we have reality TV we have got digital effects, we got Photoshop we got everything is pointing towards a redefinition of reality. We have to start seeing and working and explaining and articulating reality in movies in a different way.

Cinema Verité was the answer of the 60s. Today is something else out there and I've always said sure reality has to be seen in a new way but its that is not so much the interesting part of it the interesting side of it is where is truth in all this? Cinema Verité is the accountant's truth. As I keep saying I have insulted many with that but I've always been after what I call an ecstatic truth, an ecstasy of truth.

HR: And so you would say that with all the new technology truth has not changed but now that there's different methods to get to it they should be employed to reach that–that ecstatic truth?

WH: And facts will not create truth. Facts create norms but they do not create an illumination.

HR: Do you think people who are seeking to make documentaries today are somehow limiting themselves by going back to the ideas of cinema Verité and limiting themselves by those confines?

WH: They will find there way themselves but there has to be a major shift in dealing with reality. Its as simple as that and in my documentaries they are always very close to feature films and I often stage and rehearse and repeat like in a feature film. And the feature films that I've made have some sort of a common border line with documentaries anyway when you look at Fitzcarraldo it's a film where I hoisted a steamboat over a mountain a couple of hundred tons heavy. And I keep saying that this is my best documentary.

Is Cinema Verité the equivalent to documentary photography in still image making? I'm starting to think the answer is yes.

Herzog argues for an ecstatic truth for cinema. So far, only some of Jeff Wall's work, maybe the new Stan Douglas' images and possibly Taryn Simon and Paul Graham. They all seem to be approaching an ecstatic truth in photography because of how they approach the documentary image by utilizing the tools of fictional image production.

Anyone have any other artists they can think of?

I am trying to work in this way for my thesis project in school. I hope to be approaching this illusive ecstatic truth as closely as I can. Either way, that moving away from a "photographie verité," which seems to be one of the most popular forms of image making, would be good for the art of contemporary image making. I believe there can be an ecstatic truth in art where art provides a greater illumination than just straight facts or ambiguous images of the world.


Thanks to Ruba Katrib and her curated show now up at Dumbo Arts Center - Jannicke Laker and Julika Rudelius, Ecstatic Truth for pointing me in the direction of the The Minnesota Declaration and the Herzog's idea of ecstatic truth.

RODCHENKO art school

natalia ulianova, from the series "receipts"

Last semester during my class with Lyle Rexer we had an interesting guest lecture from Vladimir Kupriyanov a Russian Photographer and Lecturer at RODCHENKO art school. Although we we following along through a translator the lecture let us hear a first hand account of Russian photo history from an active participant. The RODCHENKO art school is only a few years old but it seems that it is still one of the few artistic focuses photography schools in contemporary Russia.

I have been wanting to link to the site he showed us for some time.I had forgotten about it until yesterday when I was looking through it again and found natalia ulianova. I find it interesting how much it reminds me of the early work of Brian Ulrich.

Check out Vladimir Kupriyanov's work here:
short bio, CV and some work at Moscow House of Photography > Vladimir Kupriyanov, About the eightieth [1980-1989]

Shepard Fairey Copyright Battle

There has been a lot of talk online about the now infamous Shepard Fairey Obama poster that was produced with the help of a picture made by former AP Photographer Mannie Garcia. While I have held back from posting anything on this debate I think Stephen Colbert moderates a debate between David Ross, the former head of the Whitney Museum and founder of Artist Pension Trust and Ed Colbert, Stephen's lawyer brother. I am not sure where the legal case is with this issue I did notice that on Mannie Garcia's Hope Page he states:

In a telephone conversation on the 17th of February, Shepard Fairey acknowledged that my photograph was used and that credit should have been given as such.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Obama Poster Debate - David Ross and Ed Colbert

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via wooster collective

Another solarized sun discovery.

Hans-Christian Schink, 2/23/2006 4:04 pm - 5:04 pm N: 34° 03.712' W: 118° 20.979', 2006, Silbergelatine-Abzug, Auflage 5+3

Amazing how the internet has brought work together that was made around the same time. Just ten years ago it would have been very hard to find other artists working with similar themes around the world. Maybe because of this there are also more artists working today? just a theory.

So, I was looking through Mrs Deane a blog about photography run by Beierle + Keijser and I came across this post: congratulations hans christian schink! Hans Christian Schink, represented by ACE gallery in America and GALERIE ROTHAMEL in Europe. He recently won the newly created "REAL Photography Award" brought to you by ING Real Estate. The award was announced in March of 2008 so the sustainability of this award is certainly in question considering the current state of financial markets and especially real estate. But all economic worries aside I am quite interested in Schink's project and the parallels between it, Chris McCaw's Sunburn project and my Black Sun Project. I wonder how many from the Award show's jury were aware of McCaw's work which is quite similar? And, if they were what were their thoughts on them and why one is more worthy of the award that the other project.

Make Me a Real Man

nice clip on Current tv from by filmmaker Stuart Kershaw.
from the pod info:

What makes a man? How do we come of age in the 21st century? In a world where you can still be a boy at thirty, One young-ish filmmaker sets out on a belated quest for manhood.

With a little internet digging I noticed this history of this quote. Originally written by Wilhelm Stekel who was then quoted in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as saying, "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one" (p.188). This quote is also used in the anime Ghost in the Shell.

I also enjoy the pod's discussion of the roll of war, the warrior and how the military can act as a coming of age. As these topics relate to my final project in school and I am still working them out for myself. Holden Caulfield's musings of what the world means are not that far off from this film maker's. As society moves further away from Caulfield's era will we develop new rites of passage into maturity? Or are these very rites passe and the sequence itself flawed?

Another Emerging Photographers Auction

Sarah Palmer, Smog, South Mountain, 2008 E1DA

Daniel Cooney Fine Art is staging their second Emerging Photographers Auction via iGavel. The bidding began on January 2nd and will end on 21st. It's interesting to see the online space for 'art' photography grow. I don't think ultimately this will be the new way that people buy art. It seems like it might be degrading the value of art and moving it more into commerce. Sure its easier, more accessible to a wider audience and as convent as buying on eBay but when you think about it isn't is a bit odd to buy at auction a piece in an edition that's not sold out? How can value be determined when there are still 5 or more prints unsold? I'm all for selling art prints online in the right way with open and set prices. It just seems a little ahead of the game to auction an editioned print before the edition is sold out.

Either way there are a bunch of good pictures included from a large group of Photographers:
Juliana Beasley, Timothy Briner, Nina Buesing, Tom Chambers, Megan Cump, Clayton Cotterell, Adrienne De Boer, Matt Eich, Sam Falls, Jon Feinstein, Mark William Fernandes, Amy Finkelstein, Lucas Foglia, Kyle Ford, Chuck Hemard, Oded Hirsch, Whitney Hubbs, Michael Itkoff, Dave Jordano, Christopher La Marca, Nyra Lang, Shane Lavalette, Pixy Liao, Walter Lockwood, Jennifer Loeber, Oz Lubling, Sara Macel, Jay Matthews, John Mann, Eri Morita, Carolyn Monastra, Nik Mirus, Sarah Palmer, Lydia Panas, Toni Pepe, Bradley Peters, Jeffrey Rich, Nadine Rovner, Noel Rodo Vankeulen, Shen Wei

You can bid on the Auction or just browse and watch the spectacle/experiment(?) of the commerce of emerging art.

Godfrey Reggio - "Evidence"

Check out this clip by "Koyaanisqatsi" Director Godfrey Reggio. It is really erie how your gaze is challenged by the child's looking back. It makes you more conscious of the act of viewing the video and your resulting expressions-like looking at a mirror of your younger self.

via Robbie Cooper's Immersion Blog.

Back from Miami Basel

© 2008 Harlan Erskine. Scope Art Fair Life is Beautiful by Mr. Brainwash.

I'll have to wait to write a longer post until tomorrow but I just got back from Miami Basel on Monday and I have to say it was tons of fun. I thought there was a chance this year would be a bust because of or economic condition but I don't think it was. Sure it wasn't completely without fault-I missed the pulse fair this year and waisted my time at Photo Miami which was by far the most depressing fair I attended by far.

Video Gamers as Subjects

Robbie Cooper for The New York Times, “Name Alexander Kinch Age 12 Location Grimsby, England Game Call of Duty 4”

Last weekend's New York Times Sunday Magazine had a video piece made by Robbie Cooper that captured my attention. I was first drawn into the article through the stark images of the video gamers staring straight back at me. Then I fount the Immersion piece and was struck with the video more then the stills. While the stills are dramatic and leave a fair amount of ambiguity for the viewer to figure out the video adds the sequence of expressions that build into a more interesting piece on video games. I could see a little snippet of the player's personality in a more dramatic, unexpected and natural way then when it was a frozen moment.

The subject and viewer's gaze were a critical component to this project's success. Cooper utilized an Errol Morris technique of filming that Morris' wife termed the Interrotron. This method allows the subject to stare straight into the camera's lens wile being distracted by viewing the interviewer in front of the camera (diagram). In this case, Cooper has placed the video game screen in place of the interviewer.

Jorg Colberg has almost the complete opposite view, arguing this is a case where photography is superior to video. This depends upon the intentions of the artist. Ultimately the success of the project depends on the right selection of media, an interesting expression and a skilled and appropriate technical application. In this case I am more interested in the moving images of the video gamers as opposed to the static images made from the video. I appreciate ambiguity in the stack images in this case but I'm more drawn to the emotion (or lack thereof) expressed in the moving images.


Shauna Frischkorn“Robert (Playing Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory),” C-Print, 40x30 inches

Jorg also pointed out that Shauna Frischkorn deals this the same subject–video games–but due to her use of stills, he preferred her images. I took a long look at her images of gamers. They didn't work for me. Maybe it’s the was they are reprinted on the internet. I am trying to imaging what they would look like at 30x40 sized on the wall, assuming they will hold up to the enlargement. Maybe this is a situation where the print is vastly better then the net? Still, the subject's gaze above the viewer isn't as strong as the direct gaze of Cooper's images.


Phillip Toledano, “Video Gamers”

While I was researching Shauna Frischkorn's work, I noticed she was a Fall 2007 Hey Hot Shot Winner. In the comments section of the announcement post I was pointed to Phil Toledano Gamers series, which have the opposite gaze of Frishkorn's subjects. Toledano's Gamers are looking downward toward the screen with extremely expressive faces subtly shifting the gaze and the viewer’s reaction to them.

All of the photographers mentioned above have taken slightly different topological approaches to the same subject of video gamers. Which brings me to the work of Todd Deutsch.


Todd Deutsch, “Gamers”

Deutsch's approach builds a story of gamers. The image above also fits into a similar category as the other images do, but he also takes a variety of other images: Landscapes of computer chaos, still life images of gamer trash and portraits from varying distances. I'm still digesting which approach is the best one here but its really interesting to see one contemporary subject from four (any more out there?) perspectives.

In the end who wins? The artist who first thinks of the project, the artist who executes it the best or something else I am not thinking of?

Guggenheim Fellowships in Photography, 2008

Builder Levy, Bushwick, Brooklyn 1987

After yesterday's Thanksgivingness today I have been on a bit of a web photography research bender. Among the millions of places that prove useful to look at once a year would be the winners of the Guggenheim Fellowships in Photography. I found the original article from Artnet. The finalists are listed on the Guggenheim Foundation's new fellows listing page.

Although this is kind of old news, maybe like me you missed it. The selection was announced in April.
The 2008 Fellows in Photography are:


Michael P. Berman
Elijah Gowin
Builder Levy
Fredrik Marsh
Greg Miller
Ardine Nelson
David J. Taylor

I also appreciate how this list of photographers can be looked at as an anti-Chelsea and anti-internet popularity selection of artists. Most of these photographers have never shown in New York. I wonder what their projects will look like now that they have a nice cash infusion? who is your favorite?

John Berger's groundbreaking TV documentary WAYS OF SEEING (first episode)

Watch along with me...

I found these great BBC documentaries by John Berger via Brian Ulrich's blog - NOTIFBUTWHEN.

WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 1/4


WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 2/4


WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 3/4


WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 4/4



One of Berger's points that i find particularly interesting (at least right now) is how images get modified by what's around them - weather its music, noise or other images. This gets me thinking about comparing the art fair experience with the museum experience. I feel as though to some extent it is an argument for a curated art experience but at the same time I feel the Art fair uncurated experience can have a valid experience of a chaos curated landscape of the art.

its amazing how at an art fair you not only loose your experience of order between the images but you loose your direction and bearings very often. What effect does this have on our art experience? And what does it have when you introduce an untrained eye to this experience as their first form of viewing an artwork rather then a contemplative curated experience in a cold Chelsea Gallery or large important museum? What does John Berger think of the Art Fair experience of viewing art?

And finally where has the smart TV gone? This documentary was made in the early 1970s and it seems just as fresh today. Could a program like this ever be aired in America? Its funny to think about a show like this with ads around the segments.if there were would you look at the ads differently?

Ryan Trecartin vs Lucas Cruikshank aka Fred Figglehorn

Last year one of the most memorable shows was Ryan Trecartin's "I-BE AREA" solo show at Elizabeth Dee Gallery. One of my professors made it a required assignment to see that show and watch the entire 1 hour 48 minute video. I don't think many students in the class would have noticed the show or given the video much of their time with out the professor's encouragement. I have to say I am glad to have experienced it in the gallery and it obviously had some affect on me because I am still contemplating the videos over a year later.

Trecartin deploys an onslaught high paced editing, colorful "public access" style effects, mashed up story-lines and a slew of references to convey an experience that sticks with you. I remember leaving the gallery feeling really strange and a bit freaked. Later that term I was able to sneak into his talk at the New Museum and got a slightly clearer understanding of some of those references. Particularly interesting was the discussion of identities with in the works and how people have several identities, online, real, imagined and on line imagined identities like Avatars.

Recently, I stumbled upon a weekly YouTube series called "Fred". Created by a 15 year old Nebraskan Lucas Cruikshank (IMDB) Fred follows a 6 year old hyper active kid in mini web episodes doing thinks like sneaking into his crush's trailer home.

I like to think of "Fred" as the G rated version of a NC-17 Ryan Trecartin video. you can check out them both below.

enjoy.


Ryan Trecartin, "I-BE AREA (A SAlly Man Now)" (clip) 2007



Lucas Cruikshank, "Fred" YouTube series above "Fred Loses His Meds" 2008