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November, 2007 Archive

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Timothy Archibald - Multiples, Choices
Davin — November 11th, 2007

Copyright 2007 Timothy ArchibaldProbably best known for his Sex Machines work, Timothy Archibald is also a successful editorial photographer. Archibald is also a father and recently he has been blogging a series of mixed media images and groupings that explore the ephemeral world of youth. More interesting is that Archibald has also been asking for open critiques and suggestions via his comments.

Images ©2007 Copyright Timothy Archibald.

Posted in People, Websites — Comment
Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project
Davin — November 10th, 2007

Tierney Gearon: The Mother ProjectI recently watched the DVD release of Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project a documentary by Jack Youngelson and Peter Sutherland.

The documentary follows Tierney over the course of three years as she assembles her new body of work, a project that promises to be even more provocative than the photos that originally made her career.

The film documents an incredibly tumultuous period in Tierney’s life, from her move from London to Los Angeles to having a third child at age 41. Tierney is famously reclusive and has always wanted her work to speak for itself, for her audience not to have any preconceived ideas about what motivates the photographs. As Tierney says, all of her photographs are portraits of herself.

— Press Kit, Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project

Gearon’s mother — diagnosed as manic-depressive, schizophrenic — became the primary subject of her personal work after a period where she became notorious for her photos of her young children. She has been challenged on the validity of both projects and labeled by some an opportunist, exploiter, and very nearly a child pornographer. Gearon’s images are very often intense but also infused with the brightness and warmth of saturated commercial images.

Their relationship is complicated – her mother has suffered from mental illness for much of her adult life. Through the process of making these photographs, Tierney has struggled to understand how her mother lives now, as well as coming to grips with how her illness effected Tierney as a young girl. By extension, the process of taking the photographs also reflects Tierney’s struggle to be a good parent to her own children. Tierney describes her pictures as a form of therapy – a means of healing herself. The truth is never what it seems in Tierney’s world, however; the eerie tableaus at the heart of her work always hide a deeper meaning just beyond the edges of the photographs.

The documentary addresses the questions that have long been associated with Tierney’s controversial work, and by extension, questions that face all artists who draw on their family for inspiration. Are the photographs as therapeutic for her subjects as they are for her? Is the camera Tierney’s way of communicating with her family, or is it a protective shield?

— Press Kit, Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project

The documentary has been superficially compared to Albert and David Maysles’s 1976 documentary Grey Gardens. Similarities are drawn between Gearon’s mother and Grey Gardens’ subject “Little” Edie Beale. The more valid comparison seems to be the working style of the filmmakers; in each case they have maintained a long-term intimate relationship with their subjects while managing to portray them naturally. Their presence is felt but doesn’t seem to alter the relationships of the subjects radically.

This film was powerful for me for personal reasons but it is also a very effective document of an artist at work — both quite in control of her intent and vision and also struggling with its effect on her and her family.

Posted in Books, Video, Websites — Comment
Christian Patterson - Neu!
Davin — November 10th, 2007

Christian has redesigned and updated his portfolio site with recent work from Germany and a different take on displaying set of images. Some of the images are presented at almost thumbnail size within wide collaged groupings of frames.

Posted in Websites — Comment
SOLO — Sannah Kvist
Davin — November 9th, 2007

thumbThis week’s SOLO feature is Sannah Kvist: “Untitled.

Swedish photographer Sannah Kvist’s work pulls back and forth between warm and cold, organic and stark. Much of her work is portrait and self-portrait based balanced by interior and exterior still life both of which are often lit with a flash burst. Kvist’s photos veer from mundane to mysterious with rapid stylistic turns. Some of her series and portfolio edits can be seen at sannahkvist.se and her blog She Broke My Heart So I Broke Her Face catalogues the daily turns of style.

Posted in SOLO — 1 Comment
Pause, to begin
Davin — November 6th, 2007

Pause, to begin is a photographically driven publication with an emphasis on the process of making work.

This new initiative is interesting for a couple of reasons: one because it’s mission seems to be quite in line with ours here at MR and two because it reminded me somewhat of the recently started Fjord project in that it’s purpose is to use the web as a means towards making a print project. I suppose what I find missing in both is context — I’m not entirely sure what the form or intent of these print projects is. In the case of Pause, to begin, those interested in being a part of the project can pay $25 to have their work reviewed by a panel while Fjord’s large group have been personally selected. I think I’d just like to know more about these projects since each of them are rather sparing in what they disclose.

Posted in Books, Websites — 3 Comments
SOLO — Michael Julius
Davin — November 1st, 2007

thumbThis week’s SOLO feature is Michael Julius: “Supervisor.”

Much of Michael Julius’s work centers around his work as a Florida Paramedic. Often working with mobile phone cameras as a tool, he picks up upon the simple beauties and suggested narratives of his work and environment. His on-going series “Rescuing Putnam” is part document, part expression. Julius has kept a frequently updated photo journal since 2003 at myopic.us and you can see a portfolio of the “rescuing Putnam” work at mjulius.com.

Posted in SOLO — Comment
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