All posts by @vossbrink

Splitting time between Princeton NJ and the San Francisco Bay Area. Photography at vossbrink.net, kensabe.tumblr.com, and vossbrink.exposure.co. Blogging at njwv.wordpress.com. Tweeting from @vossbrink.

museums, thinking about photographs

Production Line of Happiness

November 20, 2014 @vossbrink

Note: This originally posted in a slightly different form on NJWV.

I had a mixed response to the Christopher Williams show at MoMA. On one hand, it was a bit of a fuck you to the audience since a lot of it felt like an in-joke that most people won’t get.* At the same time for me it felt like an exhibition which worked really well with Gober. Many of the photos were a little bit surreal or odd. And the whole show played with converting non-art objects to art objects.

*Not the biggest fuck you I’ve received in a Museum exhibition. That honor is still held by Santiago Sierra who, while I get what he was doing, still produced an exhibition that blew off anyone who attended it in favor of the statement that he was making.

In Williams’s case, he’s playing with the concepts behind stock and “professional” photography—bringing photographic muzak into the museum by suggesting alternate readings of the image and revealing some of the artifice in how it was produced. The alternate readings are obscure and stretched and, to my mind, not even that important. I’ve worked in printing, production, and design long enough to understand how everyone includes in-jokes in the process—the more obscure the joke the better so as no one else will notice. That we know he’s winking or enjoying a self-satisfied giggle here is enough for me even though I can totally understand how other people would be upset by this.

Revealing the artifice behind the stock photos is more interesting to me anyway. That so many of them feel a little off makes us question our expectations and points out how much of this photographic language we’ve absorbed even though this kind of photography is universally unmemorable.* Getting into and figuring out why they feel off though is almost impossible. They’re not off in a bad or incompetent way, they’re just somehow less commercial than we expect even while looking completely professional. Some of this is definitely because they’re in a museum rather than a magazine ad. But a lot of it is based on our collective snap judgements against a standard of professionalism that we can’t even articulate.

*It’s interesting to compare Williams to what people are currently calling Hipster Photography. Hipster photography appears to ape the unmemorable product consumption images only without being about the product. Williams makes the product more explicit but tweaks the delivery so it isn’t as unmemorable.

This isn’t “that’s not art” kind of art because it’s giant or made from expensive materials or being trangressive and saying “yes this is art.” Instead Williams directly triggers our “that’s not art” reflex only to have us immediately realize that we may jumped to that conclusion too quickly. I love this kind of category blurring.

I also love all his photos which intentionally include production elements in the frame. I’m a backstager by heart who tends to sympathize with all the unseen stuff that goes into making anything. It’s very easy to forget or be ignorant about all that process so any artist who tweaks the ideas of what belongs offstage* is okay by me.

*For example, Baz Luhrmann’s stage direction.

Lebgaa Fanana, 42 years old. Timimoun, Algeria. Chicken and vegetables CuosCous.

photo series

Delicatessen With Love

Gallery November 4, 2014 @vossbrink

Gabriele travelled around the world and, next to thousands of other adventures, turned into a curious and hungry grandson for the grannies of all the countries he visited. Appealing to their natural cooking care and their inevitable pride in their best recipe, common factors to all grandmothers in the world, Gabriele persuaded them to do their best in the kitchen.

—Arianna Rinaldo

Pan Guang Mei, 62 years old. Chongqing, China. Hui Guo Rou (twice-cooked pork with vegetables). — Pan Guang Mei, 62 years old. Chongqing, China.
Hui Guo Rou (twice-cooked pork with vegetables).

Laura Ronz Herrera, 81 years old. Veracruz, Mexico. Vegetarian Tamal. — Laura Ronz Herrera, 81 years old. Veracruz, Mexico.
Vegetarian Tamal.

Grace Estibero, 82 years old. Mumbai, India. Chicken vindaloo. — Grace Estibero, 82 years old. Mumbai, India.
Chicken vindaloo.

Fernanda De Guia, 71 years old. Manila, Philippines. Sinigang (tamarind soup with pork and vegetables). — Fernanda De Guia, 71 years old. Manila, Philippines.
Sinigang (tamarind soup with pork and vegetables).

Melanie Hill , 50 years old. American Fork, Utah, U.S.A. Chocolate Toffee Trifle. — Melanie Hill , 50 years old. American Fork, Utah, U.S.A.
Chocolate Toffee Trifle.

Serette Charles, 63 years old. Saint-Jean du Sud, Haiti. Lambi in creole sauce. — Serette Charles, 63 years old. Saint-Jean du Sud, Haiti.
Lambi in creole sauce.

Regina Lifumbo, 53 years old. Mchinji, Malawi. Finkubala (Caterpillar in tomato sauce). — Regina Lifumbo, 53 years old. Mchinji, Malawi.
Finkubala (Caterpillar in tomato sauce).

Julia Enaigua, 71 years old. La Paz, Bolivia. Queso Humacha (vegetables and fresh cheese soup). — Julia Enaigua, 71 years old. La Paz, Bolivia.
Queso Humacha (vegetables and fresh cheese soup).

Ana Lucia Souza Pascoal, 53 years old. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fejoada light. — Ana Lucia Souza Pascoal, 53 years old. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Fejoada light.

Normita Sambu Arap, 65 years old. Oltepessi (masaai mara) Kenya. Mboga and orgali (white corn polenta with vegetables and goat).

Miraji Mussa Kheir, 56 years old. Bububu, Zanzibar. Wali, mchuzina mbogamboga (rice, fish and vegetables in green mango sauce). — Miraji Mussa Kheir, 56 years old. Bububu, Zanzibar.
Wali, mchuzina mbogamboga (rice, fish and vegetables in green mango sauce).

Wadad Achi, 66 years old. Beirut, Lebanon. Mjadara (rice and lentils cream). — Wadad Achi, 66 years old. Beirut, Lebanon.
Mjadara (rice and lentils cream).

Marisa Batini, 80 years old. Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Swiss chard and ricotta Ravioli with meat sauce. — Marisa Batini, 80 years old. Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy.
Swiss chard and ricotta Ravioli with meat sauce.

Brigitta Fransson, 70 years old. Stockholm, Sweden. Inkokt Lax (poached cold salmon and vegetables). — Brigitta Fransson, 70 years old. Stockholm, Sweden.
Inkokt Lax (poached cold salmon and vegetables).

Valagerdur Olafsdòttir, 63 years old. Reykjavìk, Iceland. Kjotsùpa (lamb and vegetables soup). — Valagerdur Olafsdòttir, 63 years old. Reykjavìk, Iceland.
Kjotsùpa (lamb and vegetables soup).

Inara Runtule, 68 years old. Kekava, Latvia. Silke (herring with potatoes and cottage cheese). — Inara Runtule, 68 years old. Kekava, Latvia.
Silke (herring with potatoes and cottage cheese).

Aside from the fact that this series is limited to the families who can afford to host a traveler. And with the awareness that what host families feed their guests isn’t always what they actually eat every day.* I really like these. A very simple idea but one which I think works really well here.

*My wife and sister both have travel stories about how relieved their hosts were to find out they were vegetarian and didn’t impress their guests with meat. At the same time, there’s also something nice about seeing pictures of food which directly contradicts the stereotypes we have of these places in the west.

I always like watching experts work on things that they can do in their sleep but which they take immense pride in doing well. This is especially true of tasks which are often overlooked or taken for granted. Food preparation is one such task. It’s clear looking at these photos that every woman here is pleased to be recognized for this skill and proud of her creation.*

*One of the things that’s bothered me about the celebrity chef stuff (and a lot of foodie culture in general) is how male-dominated it is since, rightly or wrongly, domestic food prep is usually performed by women. Only glorifying the male celebrity version of cooking gets the essence of food wrong as well in addition to suggesting that the everyday essential food prep that women worldwide are doing isn’t worth celebrating.

There’s also something nice about how so many of the meals seem to match the rooms and the way the women are dressed. I’m curious whether this is intentional or if it’s an organic function of putting together a household and letting everything sort of grow together so nothing feels out of place.

Lastly, I really really appreciate how global this series is. Are there missing areas? Of course. But when picking the images for this post I found myself noticing that there are plenty of examples from all continents to the point where I don’t feel like anyplace is really being slighted. And that’s a rare thing nowadays.

Tatsumi Orimoto. Small Mama & Big Shoes.

photo series

Art Mama + Son

Gallery October 28, 2014 @vossbrink

Tatsumi Orimoto. Breadman Son + Alzheimer Mama. — Breadman Son + Alzheimer Mama

Tatsumi Orimoto. Tire Tube Communication: Mama and Neighbours. — Tire Tube Communication: Mama and Neighbours

Not a new series but I had long forgotten about Tatsumi Orimoto’s work—heck, I’d forgotten his name even—until one of his photos came across my Tumblr feed. Not much to say about these except that, as sort of mean as these are, I find them funny and they remind me of my grandmother.*

*My grandmother got dementia before she died. As tragic is it was to see her decline, we often couldn’t help but laugh at how she dealt with things. And it was always especially amusing to see her routine get shaken up and her not really notice at all.

Edward Steichen, “In Chateau Thierry Sector showing service bridges destroyed by retreating enemy forces”

photographers

Edward Steichen’s War Years

Gallery October 21, 2014 @vossbrink

Steichen began to value photography’s capacity to transmit and encode information, and he soon proved his savvy as a collaborator and producer rather than a solitary auteur—new skills that enabled his subsequent groundbreaking career in magazines.

—Sharp, Clear Pictures: Edward Steichen’s World War I

Edward Steichen, “Untitled (Vaux)” — Untitled (Vaux)

Edward Steichen, “Concrete landing platform for airplanes at Puxieux (each strip about 50 ft. wide by 250 ft long), crescent shape mass was formed by the pile of broken concrete when the platform was removed, altitude 15,000 ft.” — Concrete landing platform for airplanes at Puxieux (each strip about 50 ft. wide by 250 ft long), crescent shape mass was formed by the pile of broken concrete when the platform was removed, altitude 15,000 ft.

Edward Steichen, “Bomb Dropped From Airplane” — Bomb Dropped From Airplane

These have been sitting in the write-somthing-about-this queue for a few months. Kukkurovaca’s most-recent Minor White post however reminded me of them. It’s not just that these are interesting technologically* and biographically,** they’re also worth thinking about as communication.

*Adding photography to the list of aerial advancements made during World War 1.

**Marking a key moment in Steichen’s development as a photographer

In their execution, they remind me of the scientific photographs—micrography, aerial surveys, etc.—that found their way into the early attempts at photographic abstraction, except that in White’s case, they are not valuable purely for their aesthetics but for their potential to transmit an understanding that could not be put into words.

—kukkurovaca on Minor White

This is especially interesting given how I was looking at Doc Edgerton last week and feeling like all those stop-motion photographs felt more gimmicky than anything else. I think the main difference here is that many of the stop motion photos don’t really communicate much beyond “this looks cool”* whereas aerial photos do. It’s not just “I can see my house from here” but the kind of thing that invites us to think about our interactions with the land from a different perspective.

*The best Edgerton photos actually tend to go beyond that and reveal interesting things about the way objects behave— e.g. how the milk coronet elegantly shows fluid dynamics.

We already know how maps are so different than directions in terms of explaining a place and how to navigate it. Aerial photos take the sense of a map but invite us to really think about the real world implications of what’s depicted. At the same time, like with maps (and any other kind of photography), they’re an obviously abstracted version of the world.

Harold Edgerton. Cutting the Card Quickly.

gear and technology, photographers, thinking about photographs

Doc Edgerton

Gallery October 14, 2014 @vossbrink 1 Comment

Harold Edgerton. Bullet Through Apple. — Bullet Through Apple

Harold Edgerton. Football kick – Wesley E. Fesler. — Football kick – Wesley E. Fesler

Harold Edgerton. Milk Drop Coronet. — Milk Drop Coronet

Harold Edgerton. Tennis Back-Hand Drive. — Tennis Back-Hand Drive

Nothing really new here. One of his photos came across Tumblr and reminded me of how often Doc Edgerton is on my mind nowadays. He’s one of those photographers whose name you’re supposed to know but, at the same time, feels like someone of technical rather than artistic importance. I’m not sure exactly where that line is but I’m pretty sure both Muybridge and Edgerton are straddling it.

In any case, he’s on my mind so much because every few months another photoseries goes viral* which is pretty much straight out of the Doc Edgerton handbook of using strobes to freeze action and capture the subject in a shape which we never see them in. I’m not knocking the concept. I’m just intrigued at how much interest it still holds.

*e.g. dogs shaking themselves or water wigs.

Edgerton’s photos were pushing the limits of flash and strobes in their time. We didn’t know stuff like this could be done. Now? Besides the photoseries, we see these effects in sports broadcasts all the time. And they still fascinate us.

Part of me thinks this is because the frozen-in-motion effect helps us buy into the photography-as-truth thing in showing us things that are TRUE yet which we have never seen before.* This is still the goal that many photographers want to achieve.

*Even though it’s actually true that these ultra-short exposures are inherently unreal and nothing ever looks like these.

At the same time, I can’t help wondering how, despite the way we constantly get new viral series along these lines, this kind of thing doesn’t feel like art to me. Is it in the framing of the photos? So many of these are in the “look what happens when” camp where the content of the image is seemingly much more important than the photo itself. There’s obviously more to these photos than just the content but the framing suggests that we ignore that aspect. Or is it the fact that Edgerton’s work itself is held by MIT and feels more like evidence from science experiments rather an artist’s explorations.

I’ve no good answers yet here.

Hairy Beast