Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman 1958-1981

        I've held off on writing about Francesca Woodman because she's probably my favorite photographer, and I've already written about her a good deal in essays, so my thoughts on her are numerous and somewhat non-linear. But at its base this blog is for tracking and organizing my inspirations, so I think it's time that I added her to the list.
        I was told my freshman year in college during a critique to look at her work. Somehow she had not been on my radar before then. I immediately fell in love with her highly poetic self-portraits. I scoured the internet for images, and read quite a few essays on her. Eventually I broke down and bought this book by Chris Townsend, which has 250 of her photographs (I bought it at the MFA bookstore for MUCH less, I'm not sure why it's so expensive on Amazon). I could pour over it a million times and still find a new photograph that I think is the most beautiful.
        Not only did Woodman have a natural eye for composition and make incredibly intelligent photographs (she references art history, literature), but her work made me for the first time consider photography as performance. Woodman was putting herself on display, not just her body but everything that was inside her, as she was working it out (her work was made from ages 13-22, when she died). Her haunting work explores the space between childhood and adulthood, femininity, sex, invisibility, reality, life, death.

The best online gallery I could find of her images is here.




images: heenan.net/woodman

Dan Estabrook

        As promised in my brass tea news years resolution; a contemporary male artist I had not previously heard of. Admittedly the tip came from yesterday's Morbid Anatomy snippet, but having just completed an early photo history course, this was just too much to pass up.
        Dan Estabrook uses only 19th century processes to create his intimate and surreal photographs. He is "working [my] way backwords through photo history to learn how to draw again".
        He got into photography through magazines for punk-rock and skateboarding culture, went on to do his undergrad at Harvard and MFA at UNI Urbana-Champaign, and now lives/works in Brooklyn. (His professor at Harvard was internationally known alternative process photographer Christopher James - who I've been dying to work with since high school, but he now works at the Art Institute of Boston where I'd be locked into only photography, something I'm unwilling to corner myself into).
        Estabrook says that he wants to "marry the image-making with the process so much so that they can't be separated", that is, to make images that don't depend on the method to be interesting, but that only make sense printed in their historic method. His methods are certainly difficult to overpower, whether or not the viewer has knowledge of the specific process, they are all recognizable as early photographic techniques, and with that comes a certain level of intrigue. There are plenty of artists using these techniques, he notes, and that he does not want to be one whose images only interest is that they were made a certain way.
        In my opinion they are successful in this, for not only would his images and compositions be interesting in another media (though admittedly possibly less-so), but what he is really driving at, his themes, are those which have transcended time and affected people always; love, life, sex, death. By using various early processes and placing them in a modern context he is immediately speaking about this.

        If you're really interested and want to know more about what actually drives his work, there's a $40 documentary dvd on him, which you can purchase here (there's also a good 5min preview you can watch, from which I got the quotes I've used here).


Estabrook's site
short bio on Estabrook




images: pathetica.net/artwork

Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith 1954-

        I meant to write about Kiki Smith around the time of SMFA's InsideOut sale (as she had a piece in it; Born last image - one of her many depictions of the red riding hood tale) but somehow I managed not to do so.
        Kiki Smith is one of those artists where I've had an impossible time choosing images to put up here. This is not only because I love her work so much (definitely one of the artists I aspire to be like), but also because she works across so many mediums that it's absolutely impossible to give any kind of window into the breadth of her work. Nevertheless, I have chosen some of my favorites, and tried to give a small taste of what she's about.
        Smith has said that she strongly identifies with her gender, and it is definitely clear in her work, which re-contextualizes and reconstructs stories, myths, and histories; through her female eye. The two sites I've included here have way more information about her than I could possibly share or even summarize, so I suggest you take a look at one or both.

-awesome MoMA interactive site from their 2003 show Kiki Smith: Prints, Books & Things with lots of her work and lots of info.
-Art:21 on Kiki Smith (in the "Stories" episode)






images: pbs.org & moma.org

Denise Grünstein

(*you'll probably want to click to view these images larger)

        Denise Grünstein has been getting a bit of internet attention lately because of a series of photographs she's taken of Sandra Backlund's knitwear (see second image). I thought they were pretty cool (very creepy and surreal, which in this specific case is admittedly largely due to Backlund's strange fashions), so I did a bit of looking at Grünstein's other stuff.
        I went through her site in order, which goes editorial - advertising - exhibition - flowers (i'll be honest i spent very little time looking at the flower pictures, beautiful but not nearly as interesting). I was really interested in her editorial and advertising work, they're as I mentioned, very surreal and quirky. They definitely have a bit of that commercial vibe to them though (not that there's anything wrong with this, it's just recognizable). I was then even more excited to see her "exhibition" section, which pushes out of the safe zone and really makes you wonder what the hell is going on. In "Figure in Landscape" (images 1&4) a woman carries out some questionable activities (dragging a pink garbage bag through a park?) in what seem to be varying emotional states, and in different levels of visibility. In "Malplacé" (3rd image) it becomes difficult to determine how many women are in the images, which are paired in diptychs, most of which with just one woman, until suddenly she finds herself back to back with her doppelgänger. The series are bizarre to say the least, and I love the feeling of not really knowing what is going on, but that something is not quite right. Definitely worth taking a look.

Grünstein's website




images: cameralink.com/photographers/denise-grunstein

2009 wrap-up

        In case you haven't been following my every move this year, here are my top ten favorite discoveries (all are artists that I had not known of before this year, since I sometimes write about long-time influences of mine):

April 18th : Bianca Casady (knew of her before 2009, but not her artwork)
April 29th : Jan Švankmajer
June 5th : Nadine Byrne
June 7th : Miwa Yanagi
July 24th : Compagnia della Fortezza
July 29th : Andrea Marshall
August 12th : Ali Scarpulla
September 23rd : Bert & Bertie
October 9th : Susanna Majuri
December 21st : Miru Kim




        I realize that the majority of this list is women, and while this did not surprise me (I tend to seek out female artists), I was slightly surprised after a bit of investigation, that the reasoning for this is also partially that the male artists that I've written about this past year are almost entirely artists I had prior knowledge of (and therefor did not include). This coming year I'll try to find some guys who are new to me.

images (top to bottom): Miwa Yanagi, Bert & Bertie, Andrea Marshall & Susanna Majuri

Zephyrance Lou

Zephyrance Lou 1989-

        A few other times I have posted photographers using flickr as their main web presence, and after stumbling upon Zephyrance Lou I felt she was more than worthy of a mention. I did a quick google search and she's been getting a lot of blog attention lately, (probably in part because the ever-popular "booooooom!" did a post on her) but it is well deserved, her most recent photographs are really great.
        While her older work is lovely it's not particularly stand-out, but her most recent photographs, specifically the set "[Extra Scenes]" are more realized, and strangely beautiful. ([Extra Scenes], she notes, are photographs taken but not being used for a larger project - which I hope she eventually posts if these are just the runoff) She maintains the beautiful lighting of her other photographs but there is more of a sense that something else is going on. Someone asked in a comment what they are about and she responded in Chinese, but a rough translation came out to them being about dreams, which definitely makes sense, and that the series should be done by April. Hopefully I'll be able to find out more soon. I'm really curious to see what the photographs she is choosing look like... I'll definitely be keeping an eye out.

Lou's flickr
post on booooooom!




images: flickr.com/photos/zephyrance

Bill Durgin

        You wouldn't typically expect to use the words "alarming" and "charming" (excuse the rhyme) to describe the same photograph, but that's what Bill Durgin's work does. I first came across his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, for the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Traveling Scholar's show in 2008 (he graduated from the school in '95). The photographs shown were from his series of figure studies, awkwardly positioned bodies where limbs and heads often appear non-existent. They are almost a little disturbing at first, certainly enough to make you look again, but the level of humor and play in them is all too obvious. In one description he uses the word "uncanny"; perfect.
        I happened upon his work again yesterday, which I had not investigated further since seeing it at the MFA, and it prompted me to find my way to his website. There I found his series nudes & still lifes which juxtaposes his photographs of human forms with still lifes, which "riff on classical painting genres ... composed to unsettle the relative size of each subject by presenting them on a similar scale ... reverberating between ideas of attraction and abjection". The series (four diptychs) is not only visually stunning but very clever. His other series have an equal level of intrigue, discomfort, and humor.

Durgin's website




images: billdurgin.com/

Gertrude Käsebier

Gertrude Käsebier 1852-1934

        Following the new format, today's post will be a shorter one (a sip!).
        Though some sources claim Gertrude Käsebier to be one of the most influential early American photographers, I had not heard of her until my 20th century photo history class this past semester, and I am in my fifth year of photography courses. I am not sure if this points to gaps in my education or a gap in general "history". While her place in photo history is no doubt worth knowing, particularly as a woman, I was less interested in it than I was absolutely taken with a single photograph of hers; her self portrait as a gargoyle. It is not only a stunning photograph, but clever and daring. It seems to capture everything that she was as a woman, and the energy of the image is just so strong. Really inspiring in my opinion.

image: ngv.vic.gov.au

Iris Schieferstein

Iris Schieferstein 1966-

        I am admittedly somewhat confused by Iris Schieferstein, and it is perhaps because of minor language issues or the simple fact that her work is absolutely bizarre. The latter also happens to be the reason that I like her.
        I stumbled across her website (which is in German and roughly translated to English) after seeing pictures on google images of hoof high heels that she made (I was looking to see if A. McQueen's shoes would come up, or what else would... just a little insight into the weird ways I come across things...) I was intrigued so I ended up at her website.
        It's difficult to figure exactly what she typically does, other than that it involves dead animals. On her website I found a menagerie of photographs and sculpture, both revolving around taxidermy. The image on the main page of her website is a Vincent Price-esque photograph of what I presume is the artist, standing over a severed sheep's head a and a glass of wine, wielding a pair of scissors. Again, not sure what to think. The description underneath makes her out to be some sort of Frankenstein, stating that she "...has worked with dead animals as raw material for her pieces of art. She joins the fragments together to new creatures and thus gives a new face to death. No matter, if her arrangements follow paintings of the great masters of art or if the joined objects turn out to be whole words - her work always gives evidence of aesthetic intutition and her inclination to subtle entertainment." -the last part of which can be seen in her taxidermy sculpture works which spell out words and phrases such as "life can be so nice" and "elvis". Her photographs (look at the series Fotoplastiken) would also suggest that she is possibly somewhat of a feminist.

If anyone knows more about her, definitely share!
Schieferstein's website
Breakthrough : show at HP Garcia Gallery NYC which is up until TOMORROW (sorry!)




images: iris-schieferstein.de & hpgarciagallery.com

Miru Kim

Miru Kim: 1981-

        Not to suggest that I am not always excited about the artists I write about, but Miru Kim was a particularly exciting discovery for me. I really admire her work and think that it is very interesting. I was waltzing around youtube, watching videos of TED Conference speeches when I stumbled upon Miru Kim's (from 2008). While it was a little difficult to sit through (15min and her speaking is a bit monotonous), she had some pretty interesting things to say, and I was really taken by her art, which I had never seen before. She addresses her personal history, what attracts her to these spaces, the way she works, and discusses a bunch of individual photographs (specifically from her main series, Naked City Spleen).
        Kim initially came to NYC in 1999 (she was born in MA and raised in Seoul, Korea) to become a doctor, because she was really interested in biology. She found herself instead taken by the "biology of the city" and exploring or "dissecting" the unseen layers. Starting by following the rats, creatures she felt a particular connection to because of their use in medical science and the way that we tend to view them, placing them on sort of the fringe. From abandoned tunnels, hospitals and factories she has graduated to locations as famed and loaded as the catacombs in France.
        By photographing herself naked in these spaces, a decision she has made to make them seem both timeless and feral, Kim activates abandoned space in a really powerful way. They remind me a little bit of Francesca Woodman's work, but they are still entirely different. They seem less femininely poetic and sad than Woodman's self portraits, something that I really like about Kim's photographs (and this being said Woodman is one of my favorite artists). Perhaps it is the scale of the spaces or the fact that they are in color, but I imagine it has something more-so to do with intent and the fact that at the base of it, they are self portraits, and entirely different women.
        In any case the photographs are absolutely stunning, and worth admiring.

video of 2008 TED talk
Kim's website
Naked City Arts - Kim's not-for-profit art space for young artists (loc. in Lower Manhattan)




images: mirukim.com

Reed + Rader

Back to normal posting from my 2 week hiatus! Midterms are over and I am ready to go.

        And of course I am back with something bizarre and fascinating. I usually try not to post more than four images, but since these were just so amazing, and because I've been gone for two weeks, I possibly went a little overboard. But I'm not apologizing, because as I said, the images are amazing.
        Reed + Rader is made up of fashion (photography/ video/ installation/ graphics) duo Pamela Reed and Matther Rader. What initially attracted me to their work was the strange feel and unconventional look. Two minutes into their website I was hooked.
        I can not tell you much about the artists themselves, other than that they are 26 and live in New York. Their website also states that they "enjoy cats, stuffed animals, nintendo, pizza, robots, deli sandwiches and computing on the internet". I imagine that they are fun to be around. What I can speak to is their work.
        While all of their work is very different, it is all distinctively theirs. Looking through their website, I began to notice that images were moving (a startling discovery at first), sometimes animated very subtly (a blink or breath). While many of their photographs and videos are simply set up to be strange and other-worldly, many of them have also had some sort of outside intervention, whether that be drawing strange sci-fi additions over the photos, collage, photo manipulations, and animation. While I am always excited to see anything different going on in fashion advertisement, their work is particularly interesting because it also speaks to other things, such as technology, medium and contemporary culture. Their work very successfully resides in both the worlds of fashion and art, and comments on both.

I know I always say this, but you really, seriously, need to look at their website. I couldn't post the moving images or their videos here, and there is just so much more on the website that I wish I could've posted. All of it really.

their website -so many amazing things here
their blog meowzas -has a complete list of their other projects and sites (flickr, youtube etc) on the links page






images: reedandrader.com
(last one is a video still)

Wild Things' Forts

        This past Tuesday I wrote a lesson plan about forts (for my cultural/developmental art ed class) so when I saw these I knew I absolutely had to post them. I'm not 100% on the concept of the project, which is supposedly Where the Wild Things Are inspired (all this extra nonsense is starting to be overload and taking away from the actual movie a little for me, but I guess it's to be expected with such an adored story). Anyway, the project seems to have been inspired by a similar project Kelly Burgess did, where she asked people to build forts and fill them with what they love, then photographed them.
        The project itself is a collaboration between the "booooooom" arts blog, and "We Love You So", Spike Jonze and Co.'s blog. (And because of their involvement the prize for the winner of the project was a "bus shelter sized" Where the Wild Things Are poster! not bad...) Basically booooooom told their readers to build forts and send them a picture.
        I won't get too into depth regarding what I think fort-building is about visually and artistically, since I just basically wrote a paper on it, but I will say that the seemingly universal desire to create these spaces is very interesting... Not surprisingly my favorites were the ones with really beautiful lighting, but all of the different fabrics and materials used are really great. Looking through the eight pages (!) of forts really made me want to make one of my own. I might have to in these coming winter months.

Forts 1, Forts 2, Forts 3, Forts 4, Forts 5, Forts 6, Forts 7, Forts 8
booooooom blog
We love you so blog
Kelly Burgess' website




images: booooooom.com