Artist Lecture: Alec Soth

Alec Soth is a photographer born in 1969, who is based out of Minnesota, and has been recently established after publishing a few different books of his work. A few different series of his stood out to me in his presentation, including his most noticed, Sleeping By the Mississippi. This series of his work established a long series connection with photographs all somehow relates to each. The connection between each of his photographs is not necessarily pictured in the photograph, but is contextualized through interpreting the imagery. Here is an example from his series:

Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross, Wickliffe, Kentucky 2002

Charles, Vasa, Minnesota 2002

This body of work made me question exactly why we connect photographs in the way we do, and if we really think through all of the photography we create as to how it relates to the rest of a particular body of work. In the above example his connection between the two photographs was the second man from the left in the first image wanted to have his own flying school, and the planes in the second photograph suffice the connection. This connection would not have been known by the viewer just visually looking, which made Alec think about how work connects with each other, and how important the story behind the image is. I looked at my own work, starting to think about how i am connecting and drawing lines in my own work. His pieces made me realize the importance of how, and what kind of a connection is made between pieces of art, and how that might affect the piece.

He went on, discussing how this pondering of connecting stories and themes reminds him of a story that gets told within imagery. Alec started to focus on a desire for narrative in his pieces to tie them together. This discovery led him to two different pieces, both narrative in nature, one being The Most Beautiful Woman in Georgia, and The Loneliest Man in Missouri. Both pieces interested me because i felt, especially with The Loneliest Man in Missouri, a strong connection to my own work, and how i am making a narrative in my own pieces, where i am "the loneliest man" only in identity rather than meer physically. I feel that his pieces cross much deeper past his titles as well, where the viewer has to really dig for the meaning in the titles given because there is a hidden meaning relating back to the narrative in the piece. I feel that he also has given me a new found respect for titles of pieces, and i will think about how to approach my own piece and title.

http://www.alecsoth.com/

Artist Blog: Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna is a recent artist i discovered while revamping myself into the work i will continue to do this semester. He is a British born Photographer who attended numerous schools in England to pursue his photography. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington, in the States. His work, after closely examining it, is extremely similar in emotion i get from my own pieces. His are purely landscape photography, and beautiful black and white prints, however, his pieces speak to the story behind the image. Each shot seems to tell a puzzle of the piece, or leave the viewer questioning the meaning behind the piece. The photographs tell of a place, and then hints at an underlying story within the piece. Originally, I saw very little connection between his and mine, however, as I kept staring, and taking in the images, i realized that without any human imagery in the pieces, he still conveyed the feeling similar to what I try to give off in my own imagery. The difference between the imagery is that my photography and concept benefits more with my own person in the images, whereas Michael Kenna's focuses on the landscape only to tell the story.

Here are two images that I find relevant to my own images.

Ponte dei Sospiri, Venice, Italy, 1987 Gondola Ferro, Venice, Italy, 2006

These pieces also have given me thoughts of toiling with film and black and white imagery. I feel that the manipulated color in the photographs I took for last semester worked to a degree, however, with slight variations in tone quality, it would be hard to reproduce for so many photographs. I think color is something i need to focus on, however, I am still unsure how to approach the issue, and will continue to contemplate various possibilities.

www.michaelkenna.net