Upcoming Photo Opportunities

I am in the middle of conceptualizing several different photo sessions specifically working with two different families. I've also had contact with the director of the Eastern Idaho Down Syndrome Family Family Connect organization about creating an image for some families or possibly the organization itself. 

https://www.easternidahodownsyndrome.org/

The beginning of conceptualizing new pieces is always a bit of a photographer's block for me.  I think about new images and feel like my brain is a box of old art supplies and nothing new!  It helps to get to know the families and children and browse similar artworks and eventually inspiration hits.  I hope!

Featured

I was featured by Healing Images in a welcome post. You can see it 

here: http://www.healingimages.org/article/2019/02/11/healing-images-welcomes-bren-blade

Healing images is a not-for-profit that will represent my work to hospitals and other facilities world wide.  This will help my art reach new audiences as well as get my images to those that can benefit most.  

Jorge Cocco Santangelo

I had the opportunity to go to the opening and meet and greet for the gallery show featuring Jorge Cocco Santangelo.  It was one of the largest turn outs I have been a part of thus far at the Jacob Spori Gallery as Mr. Santangelo is very well know for his unique capture of Christian based art.
Santangelo uses shapes and forms to reduce detail and capture the essence of the subjects.  His intent is to get beyond the story to what he calls a 'second interpretation' individual to each viewer.  He also uses the symbolic separation of light and dark. His style is deemed 'Sacrocubism.'

It was fun to see him in person (although he didn't speak english and had a translator).  His show had some interesting interactive elements such as a puzzle station, a video showing his processes, and a magnet board with prints and emotions viewers could physically mix and match.  Everything was presented beautifully (even the magnet prints were professional looking and printed on fine-art paper) and I enjoyed getting some ideas if I decide to do a gallery show. 

You can see more of his work here: https://jorgecocco.com/

Week 11: Video Presentations and Feedback

It always makes me nervous to introduce my work to the others in the program.  But I recognize it is so helpful in my progression so I sort of hold my breath while I hit that 'post' button.  Here is the link to my video presented this week:


Informing Context Video Here

I was pleased with the responses (posted with permission):

I also viewed the work of two different colleagues. I am continually impressed with the scope and variety of talented photographers in the program.  I found Dominic Price's work with stained glass informative and actually quite fascinating.  His end results were beautiful and I recognized the lack of well-done stained glass photography and the recognition of stained glass as an art itself being lost.  I was interesting to see how his project has developed and transformed through out the program.

I also viewed Bekcy Moyce's video and again surprised by the variety and scope of the projects in this program.  Consumerism and the decrease in happiness is an interesting and difficult topic to represent and she had some great ideas.  Loved her work with 'Affluenza.'

All in all I think it was a worthy exercise and should increase the flow and context of my final Critical review. 

Interdisciplinary Gala

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend this even in Southeastern Idaho:

Fig 1. Slade 2019. Gala Advertisement 2019.

It was an excellent display of interdisciplinary arts.  A capstone event where floral designers combined with artists, fashion designers and culinary people to create an event stimulating to variety of senses.
The entire event was filled with over the top floral arrangements, including non-typical accessories that accompanied the runway models and the fashion designs (my personal favorites were the floral umbrellas and oversized head pieces).  Tables were laid out with aesthetically pleasing selections of food for sampling and the walls leading into the event were lined with artists renditions of the fashion designs.  A nice example of collaboration and support between mediums. 

I was also excited to see that I was invited to an opening reception and meet/greet at a nearby gallery featuring the well known Christian artist Orge Cocco Santangelo.

Santangelo is known for capturing the life and events of the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth in a unique modern style.

Fig. 2: Partial screenshot of invitation [screenshot 2019 by author]


I love in Santangelo's work the background becomes a character in the depicted image.  Alive and non-static.  After so many religious artists he was still able to create an amazing style of his own.


You can see his works here:https://jorgecocco.com/

Figure 1. Slade 2019. Gala Advertisement 2019. 
Figure 2. Partial screenshot of invitation [screenshot 2019 by author]

In Which I Simplify

Sometimes my backgrounds are distracting.  That is one of my intents actually.  Some of my intended audience will be people in hospital and one of the strengths of my images is the ability to distract the viewer.  To take them out of their current state of mind for a moment or longer.  But strengths can also be weaknesses. Sometimes my images go too far and the viewer experiences forced exploration, which is much less effective. This is some of the feedback I have received in the webinars. 

So for this image I tried to cut back the background and simplify the image.  It was HARD but I tried to be very selective in its creation. I feel I succeeded and didn't succeed at the same time, as it definitely has less background elements but still has some. I also feel like it is still an escape into the unknown but there is something more mature about it.  It's a refining process that is not complete yet.

Fig. 1: Slade 2019. Pink. 

Figure 1. Slade, Bren. 2019. Pink. Available at www.BrenSlade.com.

Week 10- Fontcuberta Where Have You Been...

Fig. 1: Fontcuberta Sirens [screenshot by author]

Fontcuberta, where have you been all my life?
As my 4 year old would say, "What in the whole wide world?!"
I'm not sure why up until this point I haven't heard of Fontcuberta's work (although I recognize his images of 'Sirens' from social media).  But I love his audacity already.  Who would do such a thing, and with such skill pull it off!  If this was social media I would insert three super heart emoji's here.  Big fan.  Big fan.

I was not surprised to see his background was in advertising (Schwenderner 2013). So he has skills and experience in deceiving and manipulating the general public (that is the skill of successful advertising right?) but this is so much more fun.

Is photography and or photographs just a convention?

Are we willing to suspend our beliefs and enjoy the journey of Fontcuberta?

Fig. 2: Slade 2019. Pink

Fontcuberta and I are kin in the fact that we ask for people to somewhat suspend their beliefs of reality to enjoy the journey of our images, and we both find it important to use text to complete the concept of our work; to unify the perception and interpretation (Bal 1993:379). Fontcuberta, in the Latin names of the creations in his images, and mine with the backstory of the children involved.

What ideas and theories am I exploring in my practice?  What am I trying to say, and how am I trying to say it? How do I want my reader to respond?

Life is beautiful.
ALL life is beautiful.
I try to express that through photographic art whose main elements encourage light, beauty and hope.

"People relate to photographs by looking through them, at what's in them, not at them, as pictures," (Wall 2015).

"Every photograph is the result of a physical imprint transferred by light reflections onto a sensitive surface. The photograph is thus a type of icon, or visual likeness, which bears an indexical relationship to its object," (Krauss 1977:75).

"In photography I can never deny the thing has been there," (Barthes 1993:76).

It has been there, but I like to ask in my images, "Where is it going?"



Figure 1. FONTCUBERTA, Joan. Stranger Than Fiction: Sirens on Vimeo.  Available at: https://vimeo.com/101076313 [accessed April 1 2019]
Figure 2. SLADE, Bren. 2019. Pink. Available at www.BrenSlade.com
BAL, Mieke. 1993. 'His Masters Eye.' in LEVIN, David (ed). 1993. Modernity and the Hegemony of Vision. Berkeley: University of California Press.
KRAUSS, Rosalind. 1977. 'Notes on the Index; Seventies Art in America.' October (vol.3).
SCHWENDERNER, M. 2013. Fontcuberta, Joan, Oxford University Press.
WALL, Jeff. 2015. Pictures Like Poems. Museum of Modern Art. V&A [online] available at: https://vimeo.com/123074890 [accessed April 1, 2019].

Charlotte Cotton

I have studied Charlotte Cotton previously as her narration on the Tableau and Tableau-vivant as well as her storytelling in a single frame has direct correlation to my own artworks and their narratives.  But I also love what she has to say about the "most prominent and probably most frequently used" image style; the 'deadpan' aesthetic (2014:81).

Fig. 1:Van Mene Untitled (#0390)

The  cool and detached look of the deadpan takes photography outside of the sentimental and the subjective with seeming neutrality.  The image is now outside the hyperbolic, and may still engage us with emotion based subjects, but the sense of the photographers emotions on the subject are less clear (Cotton, 2014).

The deadpan well done, can be both rich and commanding, and frequents the gallery walls, such as with the works of Andreas Gursky (Cotton 2014:83).

Fig. 2: Gursky 1999. 99 Cent

In my photography, the deadpan is far removed from my intent and processes.  I love the land of hyperbolic images.  My art strives to increase sentiments and open up the subjective. I absolutely avoid the catatonic and expressionless.  My images are the antithesis of static, but instead are engaged, responsive, alive and animated.

In images regarding young people I see the 'most frequent' comment from Cotton come to life.  MANY photographers represent these youth in this detached way.  And while deadpan is certainly intriguing and can be amazing, it is surely not the only way to be represented or to represent. I feel like the deadpan has been done to death (pun and all). I am ready for something new, and I believe others are as well. The audience that appreciates my animated illustrations will be a different sort perhaps, but I do believe there is an audience for it.


Figure 1. VAN MENE, Helen. V&A [online] available at: http://hellenvanmeene.com/photos [accessed March 26 2019]
Figure 2. GURSKY, Andreas. V&A [online] available at:https://www.artsy.net/artwork/andreas-gursky-99-cent
COTTON, C. 2014. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. Third edn. Thames & Hudson, New York, NY.

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Week 9- Is Photography Art?

Fig. 1: Slade 2019 The Rehearsal

"Photography is not Art.  It is not even an Art. Art is the expression of the conception of the idea. Photography is the plastic verification of a fact" (De Zayas, 1913, p125)

Baudelaire chastises photography and likens it to shorthand or print, which replicates only but neither creates nor supplements literature (1859).

Print and short hand are created by humans, using characterized symbols, the very same symbols with which the very same humans do supplement and create literature (sorry-not-sorry Baudelaire).

Photography may be a plastic replica (if shot with a very unbiased photographer, er... maybe a robot?) but otherwise the human element creates the conception.  Words are both replicas and literature.  Photography is both a trace and an ART.

The definition of ART mentions something about the creation of beauty, and the requirements of fine skill (Merriam-Webster 2019).  If photography is not art, then ice-cream is not a food.

If some one stops to look a little further, if they are distracted or engrossed even for a moment- then the piece of art has done its job.  In this way, photography is as much art as any other medium.





Figure 1. SLADE, Bren. 2019. The Rehearsal. Available at: www.brenslade.com
BAUDELAIR, Charles. 1859. On Photography- From the Salon of 1859. V&A [online] available at: https://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art109/readings/11%20baudelaire%20photography.htm accessed [March 26 2019].
DE ZAYAS, Marius. 1913. 'Photography' in Trachtenburg in Alan 1980. Classic Essays on Photography. New Haven. Leete's Island Books.
MERRIAM-WEBSTER 2019. Definition of Fine Art. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fine%20arts [accessed March 26 2019].

Diane Arbus

Historically, disability has been portrayed in a variety of ways, though typically, “in specialized forms" (Morris 1991: 85). Diane Arbus in the 1960’s was not afraid to capture her subjects “with no pity,” with a straight, head-on view (Palumbo 2018).

    Arbus was both criticized and celebrated for her bold gaze and made no distinction between her subjects (Palumbo 2018).  

Fig.     Arbus 1970-71. Untitled

“What is normal, anyway? Arbus asked that question through each of her photographs” (Palumbo 2018)

    Fig.  Slade 2019. Tiny Dancer

    Some of the children I feature could have easily been one of Arbus’ ‘freaks’ of her time. The tiny ballerina (featured above) most likely would have lived life-long as institutionalized and medicated. Today she continues to defy many medical diagnosis, and her mother declares, “The only person that can give me a glimpse into Aspyn’s future, is her.”   

    Luckily society today has made great progress in understanding and including both children and adults with physical or mental irregularities.  

MORRIS, Jenny. 1991.  Pride Against Prejudice London: Women's Press.

PALUMBO, Jacqui 2018. Revisiting Diane Arbus’s Final and Most Controversial Series. Visual Culture.  Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-revisiting-diane-arbuss-final-controversial-series. [accessed 20 March 2019].

Week 8: Do We Have to Change the World?

Fig. 1: Salgado 1944.

After this weeks studies I am left wondering.  Do we have to change the world?  Or can we create beauty just for its existence alone.


I am reminded of this quote in, A Room With A View, by E. M. Forster:

"We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won’t do harm — yes, choose a place where you won’t do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine" (1955).

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• Figure 1. Sebastiao SALGADO. 1944. V&A [online] Available at: http://www.cornettedesaintcyr.fr/html/fiche.jsp?id=6470554&np=&lng=en&npp=150&ordre=&aff=&r= 
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• FORSTER, E.M. 1955, A room with a view, Penguin, London.