A recent submission of work from Xingyang Cai has such a unique and interesting contemporary feeling to it. The surreal use of color and lighting is half unsettling, half soothing. There is a subtle sensuality that also seemingly borders on the pornographic. In other words, I look at these images with a sense of uncertainty and my reaction may depend on my mood or emotions. I see an almost Ikebana sculptural quality to these images.They capture momentary slices of the cycles of impermanence, as well as nature's war between perceived beauty and the grotesque.Sculpture acting as metaphor to our own particular sensitivities. A metaphor from the soul, resonating within.
Xingyang CaiStill Life series (2014)
I asked Xingyang Cai to send me a brief statement about this series using his native language...
自从波普艺术流行以来，人民看待身边事物的眼光也发生了变化。物质世界的一切仿佛被赋予了第二种身份，某种象征性的隐喻。这种现象让我非常着迷，我试图去发现物体的颜色，质地和形状可以给人带来的某种暗示。就像有些材质和颜色总能激发人的性幻想，而有些颜色和结构会显得冷酷和遥不可及。而特定的事物往往可以给人更加直接的感受，他们可能是某种特定品牌的商品或是某种食物。他们就像被定义了某种生活的态度或是文化因素。我在拍摄这组静物的时候非常注意颜色的搭配，包括背景和色光的选用。每次会尝试多种搭配的方式，最后挑选让我满意的效果。 English translation- "Pop Art remains popular as people look at things through evolving eyes. All the material world seems to have been given a second identity, some symbolic metaphor. I was very fascinated by this phenomenon, I tried to find the color of objects, textures and shapes that can bring some kind of hint. Like some of the material and color can always inspire people's sexual fantasies, and some color and structure will become cold and distant. And certain things can often give a more direct experience, they may be a particular brand of product or some food. They are defined as the attitude of some of life or cultural factors. I pay attention to the color mix in this group still life when shooting, including choice of background and shade. Each tries to match a variety of ways, and finally let me pick satisfactory results".
"Xingyang Cai (born in Yangzhou, China) is a student at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa. He is a freelance photographer specializing in portraiture and still life work."
Michael Snow: Photo-Centric
February 1- April 27, 2014
Philadelphia Museum of Art
"My paintings are done by a filmmaker, sculpture by a musician,films by a painter, music by a filmmaker, paintings by a sculptor, sculpture by a filmmaker, films by a musician, music by a sculptor... sometimes they all work together. Also, many of my paintings have been done by a painter, sculpture by a sculptor, films by a filmmaker, music by a musician". -Michael Snow (1967)
Michael Snow (2014)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents the photographic work of Canadian filmmaker, painter, sculptor,composer, writer, visual artist, & musician Michael Snow (b. 1928), the first United States exhibition of Snow's work in over four decades. This is a brilliantly presented collection of work curated by Adelina Vlas, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at PMA. This is the first major exhibit curated by Vlas, and it is solid in every way. If you are not familiar with the photography of Michael Snow, join the club. The only previous exhibition of Snow's work was a 1976 Museum of Modern Art showing of ten pieces in Projects: Michael Snow- Photographs. Despite the fact that Snow's 1967 film Wavelength is often cited as one of the greatest underground and art house films ever made, his work has received almost no critical attention in the United States. Wavelength might be the best place to start if you want to explore Snow's work. It is a 45 minute zoom-in. Excruciatingly structural, with no apparent plot, there is no turning back once you have engaged with this film. See for yourself, love it or hate it...
Several visual elements from Wavelength make appearances in the current PMA exhibit. Snow's first photographic work, Four to Five (1962) consists of 16 silver prints all including the same cardboard silhouette of a walking woman placed in various outdoor environments. Atlantic (1967) is a grid of thirty metallic open ended boxes, each containing a photograph of choppy surface water. If you took the time to watch Wavelength to completion, you will notice the silhouetted walking woman and the water image as the film reaches its final frames.
Michael Snow: Photo-Centric
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Virtually every piece in this exhibit engages the viewer. Cerebral and puzzling conceptual work mixes well with lighthearted and outright funny work. Several works require physical movement in order to be fully appreciated. Atlantic (1967) becomes a performing sculpture as the viewer moves about the room. Crouch, Leap, Land (1970) offers up a unique surprise to those willing and able to crouch low enough to peek underneath these hanging images. In Medias Res (1998), among the most enjoyable works in this exhibit, is a floor mounted image that must be walked around to completely appreciate, and Powers of Two (2003) is a large four panel transparency suspended from the ceiling that is meant to be viewed from both sides as a cohesive single image. The exhibit is spaciously displayed with a very contemporary feel. The vibe I got was as if walking into a street level gallery in Chelsea rather than the usual stodginess of a museum.
Michael Snow: Photo-Centric
Philadelphia Museum of Art
At a time when major institutions are exploring photography's identity crisis and still (yawn) asking "What is a Photograph?", it is refreshing beyond words to experience first hand the mature confidence of an artist who has quietly engaged in the dialogues of modern and conceptual art, moving 'art' into photography, without the slightest sense of genre specific insecurity. Snow bridges all the gaps, both representational and generational. There is deep wisdom and intelligence to be found in every corner of this show that opens on February 1st and runs until April 27th. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that this is the most important photography exhibit you should see in 2014.
The exhibition catalog is only $20 and is a big help in understanding the context of each piece. Signed copies are available at no extra cost.
My five favorite books of 2013... and this was a year that I did some solid collecting... Holy Bible, PIGS, Iris Garden, and all three LBM Dispatches (Three Valleys, Colorado, Texas Triangle) to name drop a few. I liked them all but these were my top five. Click the photo captions for book details.
The Surreal Illusionism exhibition at the Finnish Museum of Photography features nearly 500 photographic postcards that offer a surprising wealth of pictorial ideas, high artistic quality and photographic allure. Surreal fantasies, mysterious dreams, role-play, glamorous divas and irony are running wild in the postcards. All these will transport viewers into the fascinating, forgotten golden era of industrial photography in the early 20th century and the early history of modern photographic art.
The late 1890s saw the emergence of a number of factories in Europe that were involved in the creation of a new art form. Photographs were not printed on the cards, like today, but, instead, real photographs were produced by using mechanised exposures and development processes. The production of photographic postcards, also known as "real photo postcards", became a sizable industry, and the end products were distributed as far away as South America and Australia. The phenomenon only lasted for two decades but resulted in millions of photographs. Today, these cards are coveted collector's items.
From today's perspective, photographic postcards are fascinating particularly because of the photomontage techniques used. The combination of images and drawings, and multiple exposure were some of the methods used in industrial photography a hundred years before "photoshopping". Because industrial colour photography was yet to be invented, the cards were coloured by hand. It is the craft that makes these mass-produced images unique. The synthetic world of colours further increases the mystery of the images.
The golden age of photographic postcards drew on the urban popular culture that began to emerge in the early 20th century. The rise of the cinema, the modern culture of sun-bathing, eroticism, circus and variety shows inspired the imagery of the cards. Technical innovations, such as the aeroplane, stimulated the imagination.
The heyday of postcards began to wane after the First World War. The various innovations, however, lingered on. Artistic ideas such as synthetic cubism and collage are based on expressive techniques that were used in the postcards as early as the beginning of the 20th century.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a group of avant-garde artists and poets began to draw inspiration from dreams, fantasy and the depths of the unconscious. An art movement known as surrealism emerged. The photographic postcards presented at the exhibition were "surrealist" before the word was even invented!
The exhibition also includes an installation created specifically by artist Jouko Korkeasaari for this show.
The curator of the exhibition is art researcher, docent Harri Kalha. Kalha's book Ihme ja kumma: surrealismia ja silmänlumetta 1900-luvun alun postikorttitaiteessa (WSOY 2012) serves as a good companion to the exhibition.
The exhibition is part of the 2013 Helsinki Festival.
Further information on workshops, guided tours and public program: Head of education and public programmes Erja Salo, +358 44 2706216, erja.salo@fmp.fi
Exhibition hours Tue–Sun, 11–18 Wed, 11–20. Admission fees 8 / 6 euros, under-18’s free. The Finnish Museum of Photography, Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1 G, 00180 Helsinki tel. +358 9 6866 3621 / fmp@fmp.fi / www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi/en
I received some mail art today! A nice abstract painted over recycled concert promo mailer from Arcadia University. I love the way the text from the original mailer shows ever so slightly through Claudia's applied paint. You can see more of Claudia McGill's mail artistry here.
