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.