Oktapodi

Oktapodi is a short film created at Gobleins school in France. It has been nominated for a bunch of awards including Best Animated Short. Take a look it is only 2 mins long. I laughed out loud. And watch out Pixar, this is great!

Counterpoint

I was just looking at the ParkeHarrison's website. They have some really great images. Take a look.

Being Like

I went to Yancy Richardson today to see David Hilliard's show 'Being Like.' I love David Hilliard, however, I must say that I was a bit disappointed with this show. First off, I think Yancy is a great space but there are never enough images to satisfy my want to see and Hilliard's work being large takes up a lot of real estate. In total there were only about 7 or so images. That being said they were all new images that I had not seen before and I found that very enjoyable.

The work kept with Hilliard's exploration of what is considered masculine, but I felt while all of the image were beautiful and done in his signature style, some had a more contrived feeling that I am not used to seeing in Hilliard's work.

Bleeder

This image, Bleeder is just such an example. While I like the image and I think it does raise questions about what a adolescent boy might struggle with when faced with conflicting ideas of masculinity, it lacked that subtlety of some Hilliard's earlier images.

Boys Tethered

The show didn't totally have this feeling of over contrived images. Boys Tethered and Letting go of the Day had that feeling of Hilliard walking in on a moment that his earlier images of his father have. While I will say that Boys Tethered is contrived, it to me doesn't have the same push over the top as Bleeder does.

Letting go of the Day

What I did noticed about the work is Hilliard has really expanded his pallet since his book in 2005. While many of those images were of young boys and men, these images had children and in once case Of a Certain Temperance a heterosexual couple in a sexual situation.

Of a Certain Temperance

And he is expanding his format. One image, Ransom Turned Around, was in the for of a cross, not the typical panoramic 3 frame format Hilliard is know for.

In all I did really enjoy the show, it was a great opportunity to see one of my favorite artist's work up close and personal. To see how someone chooses to mount and frame their images is always interesting. I look forward to seeing more new work from Hilliard and do hope he comes out with another book. There are many great image on his website that I would like to see in print, since I can't see them all on a wall at once.

Lobster Dog

So not keeping up so much with the new plan. We will be getting Internet soon so that will help. In the meantime here are a few photos of Chloe and her first experience with a lobster.



It got her!

New Year, New Plan

In looking at the blog of my good friend Katie Wright, who posts often, I have decided that I need to update more. I know I won't be able to post one a day, due to the no Internet status of our apartment at the moment. However, I should be able to do one a week. This will force me to show some of the images I have taken and keep me accountable for going to see shows at the many museums and galleries that New York has to offer. Or at least comment on music or current events. This is something I want to make time for and I hope will both allow me to think more critically about things and force me to be more creative. Two skills that have, I feel, slipped in the last few months.

I am currently working on images of my extended family, specifically my cousins, our get togethers and lives. I have a statement for this work but I don't feel it is quite ready for eyes other then my own. That being said, here is an image from our Christmas party.

This is my cousin Kirsten and her father my Uncle Red. She, who really hates it when I take her photo, is the third and youngest girl in a family of four, three girls and one boy who is the youngest of the four. Kirsten's two older sisters, Shannon and Taren, are both married, one with a small child. Uncle Red will be very sad to give away his last daughter. In a side note, Kirsten looks very much like her mother, Anne, here.

Here is an image from our New Years Hootennanny.

This is from the left, Dan, Sean's back, Sheila, Taren, and Shannon. Dan is Shannon's husband and some will say, very much like her father, Red. This was right before midnight and everyone was getting ready.

My cousins have got to the point where, while they still notice me taking photos, they don't mind as much. I try not to show any of them in a bad light and try to just take snap shot, slice of life, photos. I plan to take what I have shot over the last 6 months and see what jumps out and work from there.

Thought on Opie

Untitled (Pearls)

One of the things I did think when seeing the Opie show, epically the mentioned Polaroids, was should children be seeing this? I didn't see any signs anywhere saying anything about the graphic nature of the images. Then it occurred to me that maybe there didn't need to be signs.

In looking up some stuff for the previous post I came across this, an article on how there was no X rating for this show.

I don't really think there should be. While I do think some people got 'more then they paid for' in then they didn't know what they were going to see when then went to the Gugg, I don't think the above mentioned article holds much water either. Yes, some will argue that some of the images are not far from porn, but I still think they are valid and do deserve to hang in the Gugg, a federally funded privet museum on the upper East Side.

And I think, and Shana may or may not agree with me, that the above images was the most sexual image of the Polaroids.


What do you guys thing?

Catherine Opie at the Guggenheim

Shana and I went to see 'Catherine Opie: American Photographer' at the Guggenheim this past weekend. It was really amazing, not only the work but to see someone who is an out and proud 'queer woman' as she puts it, have a major show there. This above images is of her son Oliver. It is from a series about home life and the life of her town and how the media is part of all that.

The work span many of here series from the very famous images of her with Pervert written on her chest to her Ice Houses and Surfers series. There two series, both 14 images were show across a hall-like room from one another. It was a great way to view them, and according to the audio tour, how she always imagined they should be viewed.

However, I think some of the most powerful pieces in the show were the larger-then-life Polaroids. They were images of a performance artist with AIDS named Ron Athey. There was a lot of body modifications in the images including tattoos and different kind of needles. They were very moving and almost intimidating because of their size and confrontation. These images were not something one could casually glance at. They needed to be seen but cause they were 'yelling' and they needed time to be contemplated.

This is Mitch. He is part of the portrait series Opie did of her friend within the community. There was a great verity of people in these images, most of who would be considered part of a sub-culture. I found these images inspiring. They were taking quite a while ago and granted it was on the west cost, these people were living life they way they wanted despite what the main stream though.

All in all it was a great show. I am very glad we braved the freezing cold and wind to go. It was great to see some of Opie's work that is not the really "out there" stuff that she is know for and to see how her work as evolved from that of a passionate advocate to a family woman with children.