Idea Blog: Finalized

In my final images, i have been rephotographing the actual first prints of the pictures that you have seen on my blog before, and at the same time, incorporating dirt into the imagery. I will be taking dirt that i have collected over this semester and using it to outline the photograph, and creep into the image in parts. I want there to be a sense of misplacement within the imagery. My final pieces will not be something easily understood by all viewers, partially because the concept still has more work to be continued with and altered slightly, however, i will hope that the feeling I portray through the images create a sense, a feeling within each person about their past, and feelings related to similar ideas, even if those feelings are hard to describe.
My final ten pieces each have a main point that i took the photograph about. The ten aspects are:
Location
School
Family
Friends
Home
Travel
Shopping
City Business
Food
Wealthiness
The pieces remind me of what i feel each look like, and are not necessary to understand the pieces. The whole piece emphasises my misplacement here, and in these ten different characteristics are my experiences here. The dirt, color correction, and my presence and aura given off in the imagery is my hidden identity telling me that there is something missing. I thought about posting images, however, i will on my final blog post, after the assignment is due.
Good luck to everyone!

Artist: Chuck Close

Chuck Close, born in 1940, is an American photorealist that paints with the finest air brush style, and creates magnanimous head portraits and self portraits. By looking at his work, i have noticed that his images deal with identity and issues focusing around people and their perspectives of others.
Here are a few examples:
These photographs are each individual and unique, and to me it speaks towards a different side that i see of that specific person in the photograph. The photographs are each focused in a very small and detailed area at a time, in a type of unique and abstract painterly style.
His photorealistic style of imagery is almost covered in a 'truth veil' giving the image of what would be a normal portrait, a type of filter that shows a kind of imaginary truth that is revealed from the original person .

Two Art shows applied for:

The first one i applied for, as i told Paul, I sent in to the VMFA, however, the return postcard was lost.

The second show i applied for was from www.winterfood.org. The winterfood project was about awakening people in the community about the produce that the greater richmond farms produce during the winter. The below is the photograph i submitted.

I am constantly looking for more art shows to apply for.

Idea Blog: Recent updates

I have continued to work with large images of things that inherently remind me of America, and a notion of the developed world here, using imagery such as malls, buildings, and large landscapes with buildings surrounding. I am in the picture as well, though i am represented as something missing, being disconnected and overwhelmed by the massiveness of the developed and uncommon imagery. Some photographs are numerous images put together, and add to the intensity that makes me as somewhat unnecessary and very small.

These following images are representative of what i have most recently done.

I plan to take these images with some sort of interaction with dirt, as being a symbol of something there that people have to look through and look past, with the dirt, without them realizing, actually holding worth and value within the composition. I plan to photograph on other imagery that i find that resonates with different aspects of life, such as Family, Student, Place, Wealth, etc. and have decided that using ten images that each represent one of these core values, as the imagery i show for my final.
I am still thinking about the usage of dirt, especially because my piece will not be experienced by other classmates, and only submitted as prints. I also need to think about the aspects of life that i have, and how they resonate with me, and have meaning within my life.
The whole plan is to have these images of values of human life, with me in the images, as expressing something that is missing from the values, and that missing emotion, feeling, or concept is representative of my past thoughts from Kenya.

Artist Blog: Alexandra Catiere

Alexandra Catiere is a Russian-born artist who lives in New York mainly focusing in fine art photographs. She has focused more recently in fashion photography, and the colors, textures, and physical attributes affect a photograph, however, it is her older work that i am mainly intrigued by. Her older photographs in a series titled 'Behind the Glass' is my main interest, especially being that my work has now pushed itself to incorporate glass. I figured that i could possibly draw some insight on how i could use glass in my own photographs.
Here are some of her images. She took these photographs in the city of Minsk, where she was raised, and said that their focus was about a disengagement of the glass on a bus window, and how the glass framed the faces behind it, almost taking them out of the real life context. To me they tell a story, and i really enjoy how the glass becomes a part of the piece. I want the glass in my own work to be a part of the piece, however, establishing and connecting them will be difficult. I do like the thought of window after window, like a bus would have, however, i am then not sure as to how the dirt that is incorporated into the piece will be so tactile and interactive. I do plan to hang my photographs behind glass, or with glass ontop, however, how will the sand become part of the piece? Should i even have sand? Maybe a faint photograph printed on the glass would be more beneficial. WHat should the picture on the glass be of? I had originally thought of the glass photograph as being one from Kenya, however, i am not sure if such a direct route is neccessary. I have thought of printing on the glass a replacement of what the picture might look like in Kenya, for example, instead of a parking lot full of cars, a dirt wasteland. Things i am still debating now, that i need to finalize.

http://alexandracatiere.com/

Sorry its Late: Idea Blog

Recently, i have been continuing with issues to do with my identity and this world. I am still struggling with issues to do with exactly how to depict this idea, however, i finally think that i have found a way to successfully do this, and i think it has been the best idea yet.
What i am focusing on are some relatively large pictures focusing things that ar, to me, inherently American. In the photographs, i am also shown standing looking at a construction or scenario that says 'America' to me. With these photographs, i alter the color scheme to match what looks inherently Kenyan in color and placement of color. The photographs then will somehow have an overlay of something like dirt on glass, that sits in front of the photograph. The viewer will interact with the dirt, and move it, pushing it away to see the image behind the photograph. In doing this however, the viewer is interacting with what matters in the piece to get to the imagery that doesn't matter in my concept.
I also have had thoughts of printing very vague images onto the glass as well, of something that is Kenyan and reminds me of Kenya, therefore the viewer is looking through the important to get to the normal and unimportant.
The photograph above shows what one of the photographs might look like. I am standing facing this huge monumentous imagery of America, and over this photograph, there would be glass, possibly with a photograph lightly printed onto it, or some dirt that the viewer has to react with, or both.

Artist Blog: Edith Lechtape

Edith Lechtape was born in 1921 in Herne, Germany, and started out her career as an actress under Heinz Moog. She then went to work for a few different theater houses around in Germany, for a number of years. She did this for almost twenty years, until she came into contact with Antoine Weber, who had been immersed in Photography for about twenty yeard by then. He encouraged Edith to explore the photographic realm as method for expression. She mainly focused on pieces involving photographs, painting, and drawing in pieces.This idea of layering goes with my main focus in my own work. My work has recently delved into issues about layering, and this type of work was what immediately attracted me to any thoughts that i had for my pieces. A mixture of resources and materials layered onto surfaces ontop of my photographs is my main focus for the rest of the year. I will continue to search for artists with this type of style, hoping to find some more techniques and thoughts of how to layer.

http://www.kulleraugen-verlag.de/elaw_2.jpg
http://www.allein-fuer-dich.de/gossenportraits.jpg

Idea Blog: Kenyan Items

I recently rethought my concept, partially because of issues with me constructing multiple objects that remind me of Kenya. I have really struggled in constructing objects, being that they both take so much time, as well as the thought that the construction of the objects moves the concept away from what i want. Even though it is my own construction, i feel that it cannot be seen through the photograph, without videotaping it, and then, i feel i cannot portray the item properly. Recently, with photographing backgrounds, i have gone home, and looked for things that i and my parents brought back from Kenya, and am currently photographing myself using them in everyday use. For example, i am using a pot with a spoon on the stove, rather than a regular pot and spoon. I have lost my inspiration in doing this, and i am not sure how much i like doing what i am doing. I have been thinking and shooting, trying to find a better way to portray my concept, unfortunately, i do not feel inspired to continue this concept. My photographs are turning almost to comical antics, showing different characteristics and sides of different lifestyles. I am not sure if this is good or not, however, i feel different to how i started at the beginning of my concept.

These are photographs of some of the objects that i am currently using.

I will just continue to photograph. If there is one thing i have learned, is that taking photographs is the best way to solve any problems.

Artist Lecture: Shimon Attie

Shimon Attie was born in California, and lived there for his childhood. He originally started studying psychology, however, moved towards photography and art after a short period. He graduated from San Fransisco State University in 1991 with his MFA. Shimon has some Jewish heritage in himself, and because of that, he first started his focus in Germany, and Europe, thinking of the Holocaust, as well as much more recently, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. He moved to Germany to work on these concepts and thoughts he had in his mind. His first series focused on what was in Germany, mainly East Germany, after the wall was torn down. His piece focused alot on the issues of pre-World War 2 history, as well as the dark years after the war. There are remeniscents in his pieces, as well as from reactions of people around the area towards his work when he had it. His experience was truely unique in this project, and his use of sometimes multiple projectors and historic imagery really played well together. His pieces remind me of issues in my own work, and the thoughts of the past and how it is different now to the present. This work i most connected to, and i actually would like to try using projectors in similar ways that he did in his imagery.


His later work dealt with pieces of time, the first being in Aberfan, and the second being about a raceway here in the U.S.A. His work dealt alot with movement, in being that the characters in the video stayed still for a few minutes, while the platform they were on moved. This was a video, and he did not use stills to benefit his work. I found less of a connection between this work and my own, however, his work did open my eyes to the numerous tools and techniques that an artist can use time to affect both the viewer and the piece itself.

http://www.matthewlangley.com/blog/uploaded_image/Shimon_Attie_Untitled_Video_Still_Racing_Clocks_Run_Slow_Archeo_1221_73-742525.jpg

Idea Blog: Projectors, Layers

I recently came into contact with an artist that came to visit VCU, and he has given me some ideas on how i can keep developing my project this year. His name is Shimon Attie. His earlier work has alot to do with projectors and this idea of projecting something into and on a space, which has significance within the space, as well as dealing with the past, present, and future. I have started to think of similar ideas that i could construct myself in the pictures i create. I thought of putting up a landscape like that of Kenya onto a building, while i react in some situations with the constructions i have been making. I have thought of putting up photographs, making them into slides, or transparencies, and then putting those up on walls for people to see. These are just beginning stages of thoughts, however, i really like how overlays can construct a story for the viewer within an image.eally like the idea of layers onto one thing.
So the idea of projectors come into play, some being slide, some being transparency, and others that are extremely high tech. These objects symbolize to me and my work, as a 'portal of truth imagery', meaning, showing somebody's wishes and hopes, their true past, what they wish for, and so on. These will normally not mean more than one of these things, partially because they would run over into other categories that might confuse the viewer.
The image itself that is portrayed through the machine is the truth, the past, the future, the persons hopes and dreams, the inevitable, and so on. I really like the idea of portraying things onto myself that remind me of Kenya. The identity issues are still very strong in my work, however, i feel that i want to test out this theory of projecting things onto myself, and other things. It sounds interesting, and could be a branch of my artwork for anothe time.

http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/uploads/Attie2002_180-thumb.jpg

Artist Blog: Manfred Leve

Manfred Leve was born in Trier, Germany, he grew up in Dusseldorf where he studied law, middle eastern cultures, art history, and philosophy at select universities in Germany. Since his graduation, his focus field has been in working as a lawyer. He currently works for the Federal Institute of Labor in Nuremburg.
His inspiration and love in the arts had him jumping in the art scene at a young age, in his schoolboy days. This was where he first started using a camera, mainly for documenting and recording events in the art world. While still relatively young, he became introduced to Sigmar Polke, and started shooting him, both his life and his work.
I have found Manfred Leve's work to be very story driven, even if the photographs are of people looking at art and people admiring art. His work i feel has much more of a hidden meaning. They all seem to have their own story in each one, as if from a film still, where the viewer gets caught in a moment of sheer excitement and tension, yet do not know what or how the story will play out. I feel that Manfred Leve knew this about his work and he was able to carefully frame and 'catch' people in the moment, creating a story from one photograph that the viewer takes in and tries to understand.
This type of storyline photography is partially what i find interesting, and want a similar storyline. I feel that i will physically have to find someone else to take the photographs for me, because it is the only way i can act natural, as well as having the best chance to portray this same emotion coming out of Manfred Leve's work as well.

These pictures are of cut glass that has been cemented into the top of walls, mainly used as a deterrent for people from breaking into the houses inside of the fence. I find these cut shards of glass as very important and visually interesting pieces of my childhood that i remember. These pieces of chipped bottles, and smashed glass remind me alot of the dangers of where i lived, and the situation we lived in, in relation to a wall, cut glass, and electric fencing. We also had a guard that watched the gate 24 hours of the day, which i found very interesting, and yet we still had our houses broken into. Safety there is a whole issue there, because of protection, and safety of your own life. There is no place where you are safe, even the police there are drunk most of the time, while they are working, and will try and pull people over to get them to give them money for them (the police) to buy more alcohol.
The situation there was terrible, and trying to connect it to a physical presence i feel requires me again to construct the cut glass in cement. The Rungu, which i am still working on (believe me, it takes a long time and quite a bit of effort to construct an object such as that) and the cut glass in cement, will both be in the photographs as well, in context as to which they would play in everyday life in Kenya.
My newest thoughts on these constructed pieces involve me taking photographs of me interacting with only one of these objects at a time, such as suggested during mid-term critique. An example of what i mean would be playing soccer with the plastic bag ball that i constructed earlier in the year. These shots would be in the moment, and i would want to be the one playing with the object, so i might get someone to take these photographs for me.
I thought of some of the objects in their context to life here: the dirt would be on the road, like pavement, the rungu would be in court/at a courthouse, and the plastic bag soccer ball would be on a field, and this is the direction i feel most drawn towards.

Artist Blog: Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist, photographer, and environmentalist sculptor that lives in Scotland. He studied at the Bradford College of Art in fine art, who was born in Leeds in 1956. His work is heavily nature based, and his pieces often involve time in almost unrealistic scenes, and outstanding outcomes. His pieces remind me of the almost vulnerable nature, in which we enact and react with in a constant basis. His pieces often do not last very long at all, because nature breaks down the pieces. His pieces are of nature, made from nature, and are destroyed and deconstructed by nature.
Here are some pieces that i find extremely inspirational and even though his pieces do not directly relate to my pieces, i still see similarities in between my work and his.
His pieces are heavily focused on nature and its presence on work. Whereas in my work, i also show heavy influence on presence in the world, yet instead of nature and its fleeting way, mine is focused more on the fleeting of me and my identity.
I watched a documentary on Andy Goldsworthy, and just a visual viewing of him and his artwork really inspires me to pursue what i want to do in my own work. I find his pieces also very emotionally reactive, and when i see a piece melt, or change color because of its exposure to sun, i almost breakdown, because of his hidden meaning in the fleeting of nature in our world. This reaction is very similar, i feel, to what i want to react from my artwork, and i urge everybody to pay attention to Andy's work. I find his work somehow inspirational for everybody, and i urge you also to watch documentaries on his work, because of his outlook on life, and nature.

http://www.woostercollective.com/images2/gold_treesoul.jpg
http://classes.design.ucla.edu/Winter09/9-1/blog/b/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/andy_goldsworthy_rowan_leaves_with_hole.jpg

Idea Blog: Background Hunting

One of the biggest humps i need to address in my photographs is an issue of background. People said that the background was too distant from the action occurring in front of the background. I still want to show the idea of separation between the 'developed' and American background, but also has color, shades, and textures of those that remind me of Kenya. Here are a few test shots that i took, while i was searching. I feel these might function much better together with the concept and still resemble the imagery of a bustling and busy 'developed world' background.

These photographs i took quickly as i was exploring, and they feel like they would work much better in my concept than the ones used right in the city. I will continually search for more locations, and edit them, changing their colors in photoshop to match colors and tints that remind me of Kenya.
Some key pieces in here that are characteristics important in the background are broken, and cut down fences, splitting and neglected pavement and dirt, and an overall yellowy tint to the trees and grass.
I don't mind the blue sky because i feel like that resemble the city in the background.
I will continue to shoot and search for locations.

Artist Blog: Peter Keetman

Peter Keetman is an Artist i have recently discovered, who was born in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Germany in 1916. He started attending the Bavarian State Educational Institute for Photography in Munich. In 1937, he recieved his diploma, and after that, he started working as an industrial photographer. During World War 2, he became injured and was unable to work, however, he continued to work, creating photographic imagery especially focusing on experimental work.
One piece i find very visually creative, as well as somewhat related to my work is this following piece.
This piece is a photograph of a man, through i wire mesh window covering, something that might keep the mosquitoes out, but let air in. The interesting thing about this piece is its duality in its function.
Firstly, if you look at the piece from afar, you can clearly see the man's face, without even focusing on the water droplets that have fallen into some of the wire mesh squares. it is a very interesting piece, that could possibly mention something about this man, feeling as if he is being separated from us, or something on the other side. The barrier in this case would be the wire mesh.
However, once you look much closer at the piece, you notice that each of the water droplets that have placed themselves uniquely in some of the wire mesh squares are a completely unique and new portrait of the 'man behind the mesh'. This brings into play thoughts of identity crisis, roles and people you 'act out', or 'play as' in reference to different groups of people that you hang out with, and even thoughts of different parts of your life could possibly be trapped in the 'wire mesh' of time and place.
This lovely flip-flop play between the two sides of the story is something that i am tempted to try and include, without losing the idea or concept of my piece, and hopefully some tips on brainstorming and word splitting will help me find a way to incorporate this idea.

Idea Blog:

Right now, i am at the stage where i need to keep finding other things i can construct that remind me of Kenya. So far, i have had 3 and am working on a fourth. The three are a tire sandal, a plastic bag soccer ball, and dirt that follows me. The fourth that i am working and debating on, is the clothing. Right now, as you will see in my photographs, i have been using old and ripped clothing, that i have, however, i am debating whether i should wear the traditional clothing from Kenya, the ripped clothing, or even just regular clothing i have had from here. All three work in a different way, and have benefits. The traditional clothing reminds me of Kenya very much, but it might speak too much towards the concept, as in over-emphasis. The ripped clothing shows what other memories of Kenya remind me of, such as the slums, where so much of the population live in poverty. The American clothing could help to emphasize the location i am in now, in America. They all have benefits and i am not sure which one works better.
A new item i am beginning to construct is a Rungu. This item of power reminds me of more than just this stick of leadership, though that is its function; here are a few pictures of different looks.

These Rungu's symbolize the person carrying it has power, and a leader in his tribe or group of people, with importance, and should be treated with respect. However, to me, this represents corruption, cheatery and lies, partially because the rungu reminds me of the government, and the corrupt and selfish ways it functions. Here we have one plain, one of everyday life, whereas the one decorated with beads resembles one that one of the original Masaai tribesman would have, and the President of Kenya has a gold one. I would only construct mine simply, as the basic one looks like. I own one already, however, so much of this project is in the actual construction of these things that remind me so much of Kenya. This is the next object i am looking at to construct.
With this object, i will also be thinking of constructing a plastic bottle sandal, something that probably wont take as long, and that i have pictured before. These two objects will be the focus of my next individual project.

artist blog: Robert Hausser

Robert Hausser is an artist that was born in Stuttgart in 1924, grew up there and he studied at the College of Graphic Design in Stuttgart. After graduating, he joined the army, and fought in World War 2. After the war, he married, had a daughter, and then started to take his first portraits. From there he went back to study photography in more detail. With that he joined the the German Society of Photographers (GDL), and established a studio in Mannheim. With this in mind, he has created some photographs that i find very influential. The following photograph i find very interesting, and feel that it is influential in my own work. The uniqueness of each formation in the photograph creates a very influential composition, and i want to somehow incorporate the uniqueness and novel compositions of each into my own work.
I feel that i could keep each photograph in similar ideas and thought processes, just like each door and windowframe are similar, yet each is unique and related to the other. This i would like to keep the same in each photograph.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/9/13928051_18c3db9436.jpg

Artist Lecture:Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich, a famous modern photographer, and 2009 Guggenheim Winner, came to VCU recently, and talked about his work. He shared four main components or series that he really felt he enjoyed, and was successful, and his main motto or heading for his work was 'Not if but when'. He, however, started off with a sound piece, of clippings of his discussion with a security guard at a dead mall, where all the stores except for one or two had been closed. This got me thinking about other senses as well in my work. I thought of noise clippings from Kenya, that i might have in some older cassettes on some of my home videos. What if i ran them in the background with my work? Interesting... Once he delved into his work, he focused on four main series, starting off with what he considered 'street work' and 'Warzone Shopping'. I found both names interesting, thinking about how the camera interacts with the image, and how to control that aspect, as well as the subjects in the photograph interacting with the photographer. The ideas in these images were about how we as a nation consider shopping as a mechanized action, and being ordered by the government to spend, to help this economic struggle we are in now to pass. One piece that really stood out to me, as both very strong conceptually and artistically is the following image, which i felt very interesting, this idea of shopping controlling our governments outlook on the threat level. His second type of work was 'Thrift', in which he captured a completely different type of people group, who were rummiaging through all sorts of junk. These photographs are similar in dealing with the idea of controlling shopping, but focuses more on people's search for something they want, but can possibly not afford. Brian Ulrich also discussed work dealing with City Life, where people interact in malls, walking, and shopping, in which i feel he is trying to play with physical interaction with the setting around the person. The work i find most interesting, however, is the work that focuses on 'dead malls', otherwise known as closed down malls, with nothing in them. These malls intrigue me because some of them are kept well maintained, some with security guards still, and yet there is nobody walking around. These pieces are fascinating because they show a very void and empty space in which we almost have to be. We are expected to be shopping at Walmart in to the wee hours of the morning. There is never nobody in a huge mall, or store, while the mall is open, or during the day, and these are almost shots of the world void of people. They fascinate me to know end. Here is one example i particularly enjoy.

Idea Blog. Continuous construction

Now that i have a direction that i can head towards, i am starting to think about other things that i can construct that remind me of Kenya. My goal in the end is to have photographs of me in an 'Americanized' environment with these things that remind me of Kenya. Some of them such as potholes and dirt can be originally photographed, and kept in an image, whereas other things i will need to construct. Then other things are more of mental ideas and concepts, and i am having a hard time trying to figure out how to incorporate them into the photograph. Some ideas i want to almost 'follow' me around, much like the physical rain in a music video called This Year's Love by David Gray. Here is The link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo-tp0JZvUA
In this video, there is rain that physically follows this man around, as if a burden, or as if the rain is implying a mental connection to something personal. I have been thinking that for some of these things, i would like that idea of something being burdened as well. For example, i thought of, in the photograph, me standing in some dirt, where everywhere else around me is pavement. This picture on the right is partially what i mean, however, the dirt pile will not really be a mound, instead it will be just where my feet are, and it will be a small layering. The idea is that this dirt follows me wherever i walk, and where i stand it will be under me.

Also, i have a bunch of tribesmen garments that i brought from Kenya, that represents the culture there. I thought of including such things on my person as well, however, as long as it does not overpower the rest of the stuff.
I want this picture to be mainly full of stuff i construct with my own hands, therefore creating a much more personal interaction between the work and the pieces itself.

Artist Blog: Barbara Klemm

Barbara Klemm is an artist born in 1939 in Munster, and received her photography training privately through a photographic studio in Karlsruhe. After education she first was employed by a company called Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), and she worked as an engraver. After a while, she moved on to working as a photographer on the editorial staff, which focused on politics and features.
Her photographs are seen more as cutouts of time, being that her pieces are heavily based on documenting daily events in economics, politics, and culture. Her pieces capture the mood of the incident that is affecting the world, and are therefore very powerful in my opinion.
One of her pieces, the one on the right, he depicts the opposite of two people, being that one is heavily burdened, struggling, and to emphasize the point, walking up hill. Then you have the opposite, who seems comfortable, wealthy, and is walking downhill. I especially what the picture says just by looking at the road, and how each are affected by the environment. The uphill climb represents the struggle the poorer man is having not only physically, but mentally too, and it speaks so strongly. The same is true for the opposing wealthy man, easily strolling downhill. This piece depicts the two sides of my identity, and i really like this thought of the two opposing sides confronting each other and dealing with the other in a specific environment.
This piece really flies far for me, because, with the work of construction that i have been doing about the dual construction, and identity, i have thoughts of creating two of me in every composition, each dealing with the same thing, such as shoes, and the benefit one gets, compared to the other. I really like this piece for that reason, and want to pursue the possibility of doing what Barbara Klemm has done in this piece. I feel like it will work very well with the work i am doing now, and incorporates both the identity issues that i was dealing with in photographs, and the dual construction i was playing with in physical things that mean "Kenya" to me.

http://www.actuphoto.com/imagew.php?image=files/news_11935_0.jpg&dst_w=260

Idea Blog: Shoe and Ladder

Right now, i have been thinking of what means Kenya to me, and i have been thinking of physical things that remind me of differences between Kenya and the U.S. in reference to physical construction of things and objects. The first idea that came to my mind was a thought of a ladder, and its two separate construction types. In Kenya, we still used wooden ladders, and had nothing that is manufactured and processed by a machine, like what the U.S has. Here, ladders are made from metal frames, and are much more sturdy, trustworthy, and reliable, compared to what we had in Kenya.
These differences made me start thinking of other things that are unique to Kenya, that i miss, and remind me of what 'Kenya' is. One thing that is very different between the two cultures is the subject of shoes. Here in the United States people never not wear shoes. From wake to sleep, slippers, socks and shoes, sandals, work boots, etc always fit on feet. The difference in Kenya that even established wealth was if you had nice shoes, or shoes at all. In Kenya i used to never wear shoes and run around outside, inside, and everywhere just on my bare feet, which is a very interesting concept and difference.
How does this pertain to construction? Well, in Kenya, they had what was considered 'poor man's' shoes, called tire sandals. And yes, they were created from parts of used tires, with straps of rubber, and actual slabs of tire for the base. I have these shoes here with me, and it constantly reminds me of Kenya.
I think where i need to start heading is actually constructing something like this, physically, of something that reminds me of Kenya, and sets the U.S apart from Kenya. I will start constructing them, then purchasing the equivalent here in the U.S. and just stay in that environment for a while. From there, i might move onto objects that combine both elements into one, as if they were trying to co-exist with each other, like i am with these two identities.

I even found this photograph of sandals made out of ripped cloth and old plastic soda bottles. This really hits home, and i am looking forward to what i will come up with.


http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2006-07/water-bottle-sandal.jpg

http://www.alternativeconsumer.com/wp-content/uploads/Ross/ROSS_JUNE/Silangsandal_1.JPG

http://www.thriftyfun.com/images/articles27/tire_sandals300x187.jpg

Artist Blog: Otto Steinert

Otto Steinert is a German photographer, born in Saarbracken in 1915 and is most famously known for his outstanding personality of German post-war photography. He started, however, as a physician, and graduated with a medicine degree in 1939. After the war, he started taking photographs on the side of his regular job and eventually gave up his profession to follow his pasion for photography. Here is one of his ppieces i have found most interesting and inspirational in reference to my own work. It is titled simply "Pedestrians Foot" and is a silver gelating print created in 1950. This piece represents to me the feeling of displacement and this belending of two identities. The full foot form would represent my original and hidden identity, the blending is the part of me trying to co-exist with the world around me, a completely different lifestyle and way of thinking. The key for this piece is that it embodies and resembles my own work , and being that i am focusing back to the idea of constrcting something and trying to find what "Kenya" is to me, what is that object or idea, it give me thoughts of what i thought was a blessing to have, an object so simple, yet said too much in its owning, and that is shoes. Shoes are just one of the objects that i feel separated my childhood and Kenya from here.
Everything here is "shirt and shoes required" here, whereas in Kenya, even being more filthy, dangerous, and painful to walk on with bare feet, i rarely wore shoes outside of school, and the rest of the time i hwas barefoot. I could even go into stores with bare feet, whith no issue or second thought from anyone. Every once in a while i would walk without shoes on here, and people would flip out, and go crazy. This separation between the two highly contrasting positions bring about good thoughts and i look forward to finding more deep objects that resemble differences and contrasts throughout life.

http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/reviews/rosa/Images/rosa6-15-3.jpg

Artist Blog: Ernst Haas

Ernst Haas is another recent artist that i just discovered that i feel is relative to the work i am creating now. Ernst was born in 1921 in Vienna. His passion for photography started when he was just a child, and his first real work was photographing very emotional compositions of prisoners from the war returning in 1950. From then on, he started focusing more on color and the explosion of mixtures between color and composition.
His artwork, like these two pieces, resemble my new exploration with color, and what it represents and resembles through my own artwork. The color is helping me look more at my pieces in association with what i remember and miss from Kenya. The lower photograph reminds me of the beauty, color, and wildness that Kenya reminds me of. This piece was also taken by Ernst Haas, and it reactivates my love with the work i am doing.
Things that i need to draw out from this artist that i feel resemble and will help me in my own work are the vivid, full, and rich color, and the subject matter in relation to what i am going to show in my art.
The color is extremely important because beauty and color in these images give me feelings of what i remember from my childhood. Kenya, in places were dirty, dusty, and unpleasant. However, in some ways, i find those things beautiful, even though physically, it does not resemble anything that someone would want to look at. This idea of 'beauty' is because i grew up in a place that i found beautiful, even if it physically was disgusting. There is also the physically pleasing beauty, such as the above photograph, which reminds me so much of the trips and travels we made, all over the country.
Secondly, the actual subject matter is in itself beautiful, and that is crucial to my imagery as well. Beautiful to me would mean the above definition of what i find beautiful is, the subject matter might not be physically beautiful, but it means something to me, and therefore has 'beauty'.
The next step is to find what i find is the central aspect of my thoughts on beauty in Kenya, because i feel that it would be directly related to the 'thing' that i feel is 'Kenya' to me.

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Artist Blog: Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander was born on July 14th 1934, and studied at the Art Center College of Design located in Pasadena, California. After finishing school Lee explored with his photographs for the next thirty years, and his work varied thoroughly. He started by photographing musicians for their covers and went on to take nude photographs of Madonna. During his career, he also published a couple of books, including a book on self portraits.

In his self-portrait book, Lee Friedlander, he has a quote that i find very interesting about what he feels about a self-portrait, and a face. Quoting him, he says "TO KNOW ONE'S OWN STATE IS NOT A SIMPLE MATTER. ONE CANNOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT ONE'S OWN FACE WITH ONES OWN EYES, FOR EXAMPLE. ONE HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO LOOK AT ONE'S REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR. THROUGH EXPERIENCE, WE WILL COME TO BELIEVE THAT THE IMAGE IS CORRECT, BUT THAT IS ALL .

I interpret this as meaning how we can never really see our own face. We have to use other tools that are outside of our human anatomy to visualize what we might look like. His photographs in his book also resemble his work. The examples above show similarities in my own work. My previous work resembles the first photograph, only a shadow of the man, whereas the second reminds me of the work i am constructing now. With this second photograph, it reminds me of my own blending and opposing identities in concept. He has quite a few more of these portraits of identity, which i am continually looking at.

http://graememitchell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/friedlander_nyc_1966.jpg
http://images.publicradio.org/content/2008/06/27/20080627_california_33.jpg

Artist Lecture: Spencer Finch

To me, Spencer Finch creates work that is heavily based in a combination of scientific elements, technical savvy, and color infusion. His work involves quite a bit of color exploration and measurement, focusing a lot on changing the color that the sun shines through windows to depict a different color or time period. For example, he created one piece recently by measuring the light that the moon gives off, outside a building, and with the use of layering color filters in window panes, changes the light given off by the sun in the daytime inside of the building to the same measurement of the night sky.

His work really forced and challenged me to look much more into color related to my own work. His work seemed to show me how important color and light can change an art piece. Before going to this artist lecture, i found myself focusing much more on concept in my own pieces, without taking into consideration the color and light inside of the photograph, other than exposure. Afterwards, though, i can see that i should pay more attention to color and light in my own work to emphasize the concept, instead of being oblivious.

Another piece of Spencer's that i found to be very influential and somewhat related to my own work was a piece he constructed out of studio lighting gels. My artwork is partially about this internal struggle for identity between two differing and opposite identities. This piece of Spencer's really depicts what i feel inside of me constantly; this sort of explosive and violently raging 'thing', probably an identity. He captures what i feel might be an 'identity' in its violent and explosive nature, as if being confronted by an opposing identity. This piece really stands out to me, and has helped me think of expanding much more of my work into a physical construction rather than photography.




http://www.spencerfinch.com/project.php?project=moonlight

http://www.spencerfinch.com/project.php?project=sunlight_in_an_empty_room

Idea Blog: Dual identity Construction

Dual identity construction is a phrase that i came along in the book Ideology, Identity, and Assumptions written by Howard Dodson. After reading and meditating what this phrase could possibly mean, i came up with a concept of physical construction that i could 'build' that possibly represents the two different sides of me that i struggle with. For example, i used a ladder, and i discussed to Jeff what i meant. My ideas of constructing a ladder, half made from materials that would seem natural to Kenya, representing that part of my identity, and then, the other half representing the 'developed world' idea, with their advanced technology. With the two halves i would assemble them together, then try and use its function to accomplish some sort of goal. The reason why i used the ladder example, is because i thought of its function, and how it relies on complete faith by the user that it will support its weight, and function as supposed to. With the physical construction i would build, i would try and use its function, but would feel that it would not work, giving light to my struggle within, and between the two.
I started searching the internet for this idea of dual identity construction, and came up with a few interesting photographs. These photographs just give me ideas of where i can travel. I like the idea of the sign and how it gives direction to people of where to go, but is in the perspective of two different opposing thought processes. I really like the sound of that. I can even use the sign in my photographs. The other artpiece reinforces my thoughts of my dual identity, and looking at both sides in the same piece, which i intend to do. I am thinking of combining a physical structure with my photography pieces that i discussed in my last post, but for now, i will work on both as individual pieces.