Eames Stamps Now On Sale
“Padded cushions add the ‘warm, receptive look of a well-used first basemen’s mitt’ that Charles Eames was trying to achieve.”
from the back of the USPS’s Charles and Ray Eames Stamp Sheet
July Sixteenth Is A Special Day
Stephen Shore took this photograph thirty-eight years ago today at the Lookout Hotel in Ogunquit, Maine.
Marine Wedding Portrait Couple Divorce
An inevitable “where are they now” at the intersection of art photography vs. photojournalism, propaganda vs. document: Ty Ziegel and Renee Kline, the couple featured in Nina Berman’s powerful portrait “Marine Wedding”, were divorced in January, according to a recent article in the Times Online (UK).
A little over a year ago, I posted my thoughts on the portrait. I grumbled about those who would use it as propaganda, I was even more dismayed that people would see any trace of a “truth” within it’s frame, be it pro-war, anti-war, etc. I saw an amazing photograph, but - like most photographs - an inaccurate document.
The Times piece is in-depth, and it treats their situation with dignity. In short, it is a powerful salve against the stinging emotional reaction that the photograph invites.
Those two reactions (emotional sting and intellectual reflection) are, of course, worth having. It’s what each one offers us as “truth” that I find highly tricky to discern and well worth considering.
Your Favorite Thing In New York City
Jason Polan (of The Every Piece of Art in the Museum of Modern Art Book fame) is looking for submissions for a project he’s doing for the always-amazing ESOPUS magazine.
He wants to know your favorite thing in New York City. According to Jason:
… It can be the lions in front of the library or the drinking fountain at the Strand bookstore. It can be something that a lot of people might like, or a secret thing that you are wiling to share.
Whatever you suggest, he’s going to try to draw it. All of the drawings willt appear in ESOPUS 11, coming this Fall. You’ve got until tomorrow (7/15) to send in your suggestion.
Mine? I’m going for the little cellophane packages that hold the delicious roasted nuts available from street corner vendors throughout the city (I usually get mine on Broadway in SoHo when I’m in town). The nuts (I prefer cashews) are insanely good, but there is something just as memorable about the bag’s crinkly texture, the bold NUTS 4 NUTS logo, and the tightly twisted ends at the top of the bag that complete a tactile / taste sensory circuit.
via the 20×200 blog, photo © Robert Yee
He’s Mr. November, He Won’t …
I won’t fuck us over, I’m Mr. November,
I’m Mr. November, I won’t fuck us over.
from “Mr. November” by The National
One of my favorite bands goes to the mat for Barack Obama, with a t-shirt design (all proceeds will go to the Obama campaign) pairing the Illinois Senator with an intense song of churning confusion and regret.
An odd pairing for sure; let’s hope the song’s cloudy verses clear away for our next president, and the above-quoted chorus becomes a legacy.
Somewhere, Walter Benjamin Is Smiling
Check out this brilliant, smart, clever, clean, effective design for the cover (yes, that’s the cover image) of a new edition of Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Having read this many, many times at a few different schools, it’s fantastic to see a fresh, visually informative take on the cover of this oft-assigned text.
Schjedahl on Koons
Peter Schjedahl on a perfect moment where art’s real function intersects with an attempt at analysis. Of course, Schjedahl knows exactly what to do:
I remember my first encounter, in Germany, in 1992, with Koons’s famous “Puppy,” the forty-three-foot-high Scottie dog enveloped in living flowers. As I was judiciously taking descriptive and analytical notes, a bus arrived bearing a group of severely disabled children in wheelchairs. They went wild with delight. Abruptly feeling absurd, I shut my notebook and took instruction from the kids’ unequivocal verdict.
from Funhouse: A Jeff Koons Retrospective, The New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2008
Photos From Oxford Occasional, Edition IV
This past weekend I was the “artist in residence” at the home of my good friends Willie and Angela, hosts of the Oxford Occasional. The monthly p(art)y get-together takes place at their Philadelphia home and invites artist friends to use their spare room as an installation / performance / gallery space.
It was a perfect venue for camera obscura prints and projections. The view from the back window features a foreground of angular shapes (fences, rooftops, and powerlines) along with the Center City skyline in the far distance.
I created a unique paper negative by tiling paper (the entire piece is 130″ x 34″) and also used a movie screen of Willie’s to create a live projection. You can see more images of the installation at my website: Oxford Occasional @ lensless.net
Thanks to Willie and Angela, and to all the people who came out to see the work!
Oxford Occasional This Weekend
I’ll be in Philadelphia this coming weekend to participate in Edition IV of Oxford Occasional, a monthly arts get-together at the home of my friends Willie and Angela:
Oxford Occasional: edition iv features a site-specific installation in our very own home by photographer Luke Strosnider whose camera-obscura projections will grace our walls. Witness the impermanence of fleeting moments and revel in the act of seeing without recording. Arrive before sunset (8:17 pm) to experience the full glory of the work and stay into the darkness to enjoy drinks, good company and a secret revealed. Bring a friend and join us!
For more info (past editions, how to get there, etc.), visit oxfordoccasional.wordpress.com.
Elinor Carucci in New York Times Magazine
I was surprised to see how similar Elinor Carucci’s photographs of blogger Emily Gould (Exposed, May 28, 2008) were to images from Carucci’s 2002 book Closer.
The style is amazingly similar in lighting, composition, color, and detail - right down to the orange peels!
(More photos and comment on Carucci’s artwork versus her editorial work on the Photoshelter blog.)