Daile Kaplan: The Soul
of the Image and Visual Literacy (2005)
An essay that appears to be intended for wide public
dissemination, such as a newspaper editorial, highlighting the importance of
visual literacy in shaping responsible citizenry. Briefly reviews the history of intellectual
and public policy efforts to raise awareness of visual literacy as well as
outlining a few current projects (in the U.S.), concluding with a call to
action from the reader.
Vilém Flusser - Towards a Philosophy of Photography (extract) (1984)
Minuscule extract in which the author argues that against the
developmental tide turning humans into products of their machines, or
apparatuses, photographers seem to have retained some degree of freedom on
their production of images. For the
photographer, freedom “equals
playing against the apparatus.” Must look into the full text of this one.
Peter Wollen
- Interview with Vera Lutter (2003)
Lutter works with a camera obscure made from a shipping
container, making exposures that can last days or months, and producing
wall-sized prints. Lutter began as a
sculptor and began her photography work via the obscure as a means of capturing
her living space in NYC. This was
conceived as a conceptual piece and her work continues in that vein. She notes being most interested in
documenting the passage of time, which in her slow exposures show up as trials
and ghosts. Her method involves choosing
a spot and seeing what develops. She
notes the difficultly and irony of working in places of high utility - shipping
docks, hangars, factories, airports - in order to make things that have no
clear utility.
“It’s
very hard for people to understand that somebody spends her time with something
that doesn’t reveal any meaning to them.”
David Shapiro - A Conversation with Jeff Wall (2000)
Wall's background includes painting, teaching, and writing about
aesthetics. The discussion turns on Charles Baudelaire's "painting
of modern life":
“This
was still somewhat new in his time [19th cent] because the predominant idea
about art was still that [it] was about treating time-honored themes in terms
of the decorum of the established aesthetic ideas. The painting of modem life
would be experimental, a clash between the very ancient standards of art and
the immediate experiences that people were having in the modem world.”
He expresses his regard for 19th century painting [unfortunately
without editorial explanation], which he sees as having
“such
a high level of pictorial invention, such an interesting take on the now. They
created something that is still very important to anyone concerned with
pictures .... We could say that, in many ways, we are still experiencing the
nineteenth century in art.”
And further elaborates:
“That
doesn’t mean that “painting
of modern life” means
just “scenes off
the street.” It
means phenomena of the now that are configured as pictures by means of this
accumulation of standards and skills and style and so on. That means that there
are no single themes, genres, or anything else that [could] be called “painting of modern life.” “Painting of modern
life” is an
attitude of looking, reflecting, and making.”
Wish there were more here on what he sees as the key elements of
19th cent painting.
Peter Galassi and Vic Muniz - Natura Pictrix (1997)
Vic Muniz is a
Brazilian artist who photographs his painting and sculpture.
“I
had a keen interest in art as a whole and not as a collection of independent
disciplines. Photography appeared initially as a tool for documenting this
confused array of experiences but, as I started to become conscious of its
power of synthesizing many elements into a single structure, it gradually
became the end result of most of my work. Once you photograph something you
make, you not only document it but also idealize it. You take the most stupid
snapshot and it will still be something that started in your mind. You make it
look more like that image in your mind that led you to create that object. That
somehow brings a sense of closure; an idea going full circle, a way to evidence
how your own imagination survives being digested by the material world.”
He seems most
interested in illusion, in fooling the viewer and making him or her look twice
to grasp what has really been seen. Much
of his work blends popular forms and content, such as photos of drawing made
from memory of famous Life photos, or photos of drawings or sculptures made
from pieces of wire, thread, or chocolate.
“I don’t
want the viewer to believe in my images; I want him or her to experience the
extent of his or her own belief in images—period.
That can only be done with images that can easily be taken for granted.”
On the
spontaneity of photography, he seems to hold a contrary opinion to those such
as Minor White, emphasising the deliberate nature of the process.
“Still,
I think that a photograph is always something that you made before you clicked
the shutter button. Perhaps the first photo ever taken, Niépce’s
view of rooftops over Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, was a truly pure photograph. The
second one he took, he was already comparing nature to the first photograph he
had taken. When the concept of improvement enters the observation of reality,
we can no longer separate mind from phenomenon, it all becomes a kind of
collaboration, a conversation, a judgment. It’s not that I don’t
believe in anything spontaneous about a photograph. I simply think that any good picture should
emphasize the photographic act as a part of its make-up.”
On what makes
good photographs:
“A
great picture describes an event while telling you how the artist felt and what
he or she was thinking while the event was recorded.”
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