Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a theoretical movement it is said to be one of the most “unstable” terms within philosophy because of how much the usage of the term varies. Postmodernism is anti-foundationalist; this means that it rejects the scientific truths which make sense of society, history and science. It is concerned with aesthetics; it has had an influence on many aesthetic elements of culture such as architecture, literature, music, art and design.
Postmodernism is a response to Modernism which was a movement within culture and the arts which questioned traditional ways of thinking and traditional forms of art and music etc. it also rejected established and accepted philosophies.
Post-modernism then is constantly focused on the future, post-modern art takes traditional ideas and uses contemporary methods or vice versa to create a piece of art. Post-modern music may bring back an old genre but make significant changes to make it more interesting and accepted in today’s society. The idea is that there is no one objective truth but we are each free to determine our own after considering the facts and interpreting ideas.

- ‘Megawords’ by Richard Osbourne
- ‘Communication, Cultural and Media Studies’ by John Hartley

William Eggleston

William Eggleston is a photographer whom I have only recently become familiar with however I did recognize a number of his photographs as they seem to have become iconic images. I think that his work is relatively similar to Nan Goldin in that they both have a similar photographic style and they both photograph directly from life. However, Egglestone’s images don’t grab me like Goldin’s do; I find that there are a few interesting images throughout his books but that they don’t seem to work so well as a body of work like Goldin’s do. I think that she takes what she saw as banal images as they depicted her everyday life but she made these images extraordinary in the way that she photographed herself and the people around her; also the pictures were the medium by which she let people see her extraordinary life and discover things about her. However I find Egglestone’s work to be not only banal to him but banal to me as well. He doesn’t seem to have a relationship with anything that he photographs and he doesn’t seem to be searching for anything or studying or observing. The images seem to have been taken at random which is good because they are honest photographs depicting genuine moments in time but the thing is that nothing much seems to be happening; they are not remarkable moments. Also I feel that photography is a means to an end whether it be discovering something as a photographer or teaching the viewer something and making them think and interpreting things in different ways and I don’t feel that Egglestone’s photography does this for me.

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs, Signs which appear everyday in contemporary society. Semiotics relate primarily to language and the way that we understand things through relating words with concepts. For instance if an object is mentioned in conversation one will always associate the word with an image of the object mentally. This is how language works as if we all had different words for the same object we would not be able to communicate.
One example of the use of semiotic signs in art is in Rene Magritte’s painting (seen above). The caption below the image reads ‘Ceci nes pas une Pipe’ or ‘This is not a Pipe’. This makes the viewer think about the image in a different way; his point is that it is not a pipe but that it is a painting of a pipe it is a representation of an object but not the object itself. On looking at the image the viewer is thinking “it’s a pipe” but on reading the caption (providing they understood it) would think again, question their own ideas, work the idea out or simply reinterpret the message completely. This makes for a very god piece of art as it has made the viewer stop and think about what they have seen. I also think that this painting raises questions about the values we bestow to inanimate objects in order to make them more human, more understandable and less cold and lifeless.

Feminism

Feminism is something that I have only recently been exposed to and have begun to understand. I have never before felt affected by patriarchy but I have recently ascertained that there most certainly is need for feminism in our society which is something that may not be widely agreed with. Women are still being oppressed and belittled in today’s society though it often goes unnoticed. For instance there is an advert running on channel 4 at the moment which I find to be very sexist. The advert for Strongbow cider depicts a hall full of men who are being accredited for having credible jobs however there is not one woman in sight until the end when a woman serves each of three men a pint of cider. I find this distasteful as I don’t think that it is fair to assume that women a) are less likely to drink cider and b) to have jobs such as burglar alarm fitters and pork pie fillers. Also I think that the worst thing about this advert was the fact that the only woman featured is serving the men. This represents a now seemingly old fashioned stereotype which has taken a lot of hard work to attempt to eliminate. There is a lot of sexism within the world of advertising with sexualisation and female stereotyping but I thought that this, in particular was especially remarkable.

David Hancock

David Hancock is a realist painter from Manchester. He is one of my favourite artists as I love his painting style, I think that he is extraordinarily talented, you have to look closely to realize the images are paintings rather than photographs. I think that it is clear that he likes to use his own friends as models and paints them in surroundings that have been personalized by the subject such as their own bedroom or kitchen. This is effective because the viewer really gets an insight into the model’s personality. I have been inspired by Hancock in the past in my own work as I did a project on my friends using their own bedrooms as backdrops to really get a feeling for their personal space and how they have incorporated their personality into the way that they decorated their room.
I think that it’s hard for photographers and painters to get inspiration from one another because with painting it takes so much skill and patience to create a good image that it renders the subject matter less important to some extent. A photograph of a person that has been captured well may not necessarily be remarkable but the same image when painted then becomes more impressive because more skill and effort has been exercised. It is easier to draw inspiration from Hancock as a photographer because the paintings are so photo-realistic so the skills required are easier to re-contextualise into the field of photography, than say, a more abstract piece of art.



Image: http://www.david-hancock.com

Black and White vs. Colour

It is easy to take colour for granted as it features in our everyday lives. However within the context of photography, along with lighting and subject matter it becomes a key component of a photograph and often what makes an image effective. A good digital photographer will know as soon as they take a picture whether or not they want to put it in black and white because they will know what effect they want the image to achieve. Colour can be used in fashion and advertising to make a product seem more attractive but in fine art photography colour can often completely dominate and therefore define an image. Recently as digital photography has become more accessible we can manipulate photographs and therefore choose exactly how we want the colours in the images to look.
De-saturation can be used to change an image entirely; it can be used to add depth and mood and some may argue that it makes the image look more “stylish”. Black and white is also used in fashion and advertising to emphasize a romantic or classic theme in the photographs. I like black and white for a number of reasons. I like the fact that photography began in black and white and therefore this effect will make an image look classic and elegant. This comes through in a lot of my work as a lot of the artists that I am inspired by work in black and white. I like the idea of taking their ideas and developing them in my own way in order to pursue a more modern approach and I think that this helps my own photographic style to develop. I find it fascinating that an image can be made up of an endless amount of shades of one colour and how this contrasts with colour photography. colour is the medium through which everybody sees the world and this cannot be changed; black and white can only be seen through photography and film which I think makes the process singularly captivating.

Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2010

When I went to see the exhibition I was interested to see what kind of portraits were being exhibited as I hope to enter similar competitions one day. I find portrait photography very interesting and most of my work centres on this genre.
When I saw the winning image I was surprised that it had won; I wasn’t particularly impressed by it and I felt that there was nothing particularly extraordinary or distinctive about it. However, I later realised that because it featured a potential Olympian it was associated with the 2012 Olympic Games and that this was probably one of the reasons why it had been chosen as the winner. Considering this I thought it was unfair that the other photographers who were more deserving of the prize in terms of the aesthetic quality of their photographs had been discarded. Many of my peers agreed with me that it wasn’t the best of the collection and although art is subjective and it is not likely that everyone will agree what is “good” and what isn’t I was dismayed to find that the winner was determined due to a reason other than it was simply beautiful, thought provoking or emotionally inspiring.
Another thing I’ve noticed about this kind of prize exhibition is that they don’t use the winning photograph to advertise the show; they usually use another image in the collection. Usually it is a stronger image and I feel that if I were to enter and it was my shots that were used on posters and leaflets I would be happier with this outcome. Your work is more widely received and advertised which I would personally have preferred to winning.


Image: http://www.photographsdonotbend.co.uk/2009/09/taylor-wessing-photographic-portrait-prize-2009.html

Heroin Chic

This image by Corinne Day sparked the “heroin chic” fashion trend of which model Kate Moss became a leading light. Heroin chic was a look popularized in mid-1990’s fashion and was characterized by pale skinned models with dark circles under their eyes and jutting bones. This waifish, emaciated and drug-addicted look was the basis of the 1993 advertising campaign for Calvin Klein clothing which featured Kate Moss. Film director and actor Vincent Gallo contributed to the development of this style through his Calvin Klein fashion shoots. The trend eventually faded, it is suspected to be partly due to the death of one of the forerunning fashion photographers of the genre David Sorrenti who died of a drug overdose.
Corinne Day was one of the first photographer’s to bring this kind of style into the world of fashion. Drug addiction was something that had been touched upon by photographers such as Larry Clark and Nan Goldin but they were documenting real life as fine art documentary photographers. Many would argue that it was wrong for these images to be transferred into the fashion world as it is likely that young people will be encouraged to take drugs to look like their model idols and follow the fashion. Others would argue that people are not so easily influenced and although the images suggest that the models are drug addicts the drugs are not explicitly referenced.



-http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-her1.htm
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davide_Sorrenti
Image: http://www.channel4.com/news/media/2006/11/week_2/09_moss_by_day_gl.jpg

Digital vs. Film

Digital photography has changed the world of photography dramatically. Photography has become cheaper and easier and therefore accessible to everyone. Some would see this as beneficial but others would say that it has diminished the art of photography. It detracts from the craft of creating photographs; in the way that an artist would create a painting or sculpture. It has become so universal that cameras have become a ubiquitous item rather than a treasured possession.
It used to be that you would take a set of photographs and have to wait for them to be processed and the feeling of getting them back and looking through them is something that will not be experienced by future generations. The novelty of having physical photographs to put in a box or an album to hand down through generations has been lost. “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it” this quote from Susan Sontag’s On Photography supports the idea of photographs being mementoes, she believes that the photograph acts like a slice of history that you are allowed to keep. I agree with this; I believe that without the physicality of the photograph we do not appreciate it as much because as an image on a computer screen it is less meaningful.
To conclude I believe that despite the recent technological advancements analogue photography remains the truest and most fulfilling form of photography.


-‘On Photography’ - S. Sontag

Nan Goldin

In Goldin’s book ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ she explores the idea of sexuality as an addiction; her photographs can be used to observe the ways in which people form relationships, different aspects of relationships and differences between intimacy and primal sexual desire. Her images depict a range of scenes from relationships between friends to explicitly sexual photographs all of which are genuine and unadulterated. It is clear that this was one of Goldin’s main aims as she says that she wanted to “make the record of (her) life” (Goldin, N. (1989), p.145) however rather than have a diary or account that someone would be able to re-tell or edit she wanted “a record of what things really looked like and felt like.” (Goldin, N. (1989), p.145)
All of Goldin’s work can be interpreted to have subtle messages and metaphors hidden within them to make the viewer think; whether she meant these messages to come through or not is irrelevant as her work has just the desired level of ambiguity to make the images fascinating and enjoyable to examine. Dramatic lighting, colour, composition and body language are all used as devices to inflict a strong impact on the viewer and at the same time the scenes are very meaningful and intensely emotional giving them a sense of depth. All of these photographs are very controversial and of acquired taste which is something that makes Goldin very interesting as an artist as she took pictures of her day to day life and she took them for her own enjoyment rather than to please her audience. These photographs could be seen as an invasion of privacy but equally an insight into an artist’s life and her relationships with her friends and with her boyfriend that otherwise would not be seen. Goldin has captured reality at its most interesting, passionate and unnerving yet beautiful to create thought provoking images.


-‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependancy’ – N. Goldin

Robert Frank

Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ is a book which records America through the eyes of an outsider. It documents the country entirely impartially and without judgement or criticism, Frank merely observes, collecting moments which capture the banality of life in an extraordinary way. We are drawn to the small details highlighted by his photographs, things we may not otherwise have noticed.
He observes American patriotism; flags, a portrait of an ex-president etc. he then juxtaposes these with images of racial and class segregation inexplicitly leading the viewer to question just how egalitarian a place America really is.
There is a lot of religious imagery which shows the importance of religion in American society. By featuring this imagery, Frank is bringing to the fore American religious practice, this is remarkable because Frank was probably comparing this to the religious practices of his own people and society and moreover by publishing the photos he is allowing others to do the same.

One thing that I noticed about the book was that until the final image there are no images of Frank himself or his family as he travelled. I think that this shows how he wanted to show the Americans’ experience of America and not his own.
Although there are many images of people in this book there are also those in which there is a noticeable absence of people; he goes from the cities’ crowded streets to a seemingly infinite stretch of road, a deserted petrol station or an empty table. Places where one would expect to see human presence are made all the more poignant by their desolation. The black and white alone accentuates this but also Frank deliberately intensifies the contrast, making the light starker and the shadows deeper. This is something which I feel is a signature trait within his work, I believe that black and white images resonate deeper than those taken on colour film as they reduce the photo to it’s most prominent features thus fixing the viewers attention more immediately.


-‘The Americans’ – R. Frank
Image:http://www.lipsticktracez.com/reggie/2009/07/20/robert-frank_parade_hoboken.jpg

Sexualisation of Women in Art

It is obvious that women have been used as nude models more than men have; perhaps because of the male domination in the art world but it should not be assumed that men are prefer to use women as models for fine art portrait photography. So why else would this be the case? Perhaps the female form is considered more beautiful. Maybe the idea that femininity adds a sense of delicateness and subtlety makes for a better photograph. Women have always been sexualised in the media; could it be that art does the same? There is a definite sexual element to some of these images but are they being used as a way to celebrate the female form to admire and revere women rather than to threaten their dignity. Does calling it “art” make it dignified or is it exploitation in disguise?

The Guerrilla Girls are an activist group of feminist artists who challenge the ways in which female artists are treated within institutions of art. They have enlightened people of the sexist and racist discrimination in the art world.
“We’re the disloyal opposition that bangs people over the head and reminds them that art world’s not this great liberal bastion of aesthetic quality, that it’s subject to the same forces as everyone else and every other institution in society.” This is a quote from Guerrilla Girl Käthe Kollwitz and backs up the argument that the art world could indeed be sexualising women just as the media does.
However it could be argued that there is a broader scope of thought in the art world because with media there is an ulterior motive such as advertising companies using sexual imagery to sell products. Also media is always conscious of their audience where as this is not necessarily true with art; the artist is often experimenting with different ways of expressing themselves and doesn’t necessarily have a thought for how their work will be received.


-‘Photography and the Body’ - J. Pultz
-‘Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls’ - The Guerrilla Girls
Image: http://theycallmeal.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/guerrilla.jpg