half awake and half asleep in the water (photography)
- Asako Narahashi
Nazraeli Press, 2007
Partly submerged photos, slightly surreal, both peaceful and tense, suffocating and liberating. This duality intrigues me; my viewing isn't passive. I hope to spark that relationship with my viewers. Execution feels unsafe, and totally committed. No way to partially jump in the water with a camera.
Mark Rothko in New York (painting)
- Diane Waldman
Guggenheim Museum Publications, 1994
I feel my seascapes what the lovechild of Hiroshi Sugitomo and Mark Rothko would look like. But without the suicide. I'm not a fan of his earlier work, but his untitled color fields really get me. What he does with paint, i want to do with light on film. Lay upon compounding layer. And having his own chapel! Awesome. I love his persona, even telling viewers how far to view his paintings from - 18" away to be fully enveloped, and refusing sales because he felt the buyer was insensitive.
"A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer. It dies by the same token. It is therefore a risky and unfeeling act to send it out into the world. How often it must be permanently impaired by the eyes of the vulgar and the cruelty of the impotent who would extend the affliction universally!"
— Mark Rothko
Bill Viola THE PASSIONS (video)
-John Walsh, editor
Getty Publications, 2003
5 Angels for the Millineum is the Viola piece that really speaks to me. I've never had the pleasure of seeing it in person, but the clips and stills i have seen make me wish I had. Super slow motion, giving me the time to see and soak in all the tiny tiny details. I think that's what photography is for me. Using a device to allow me to see differently than what my eyes can see. That's why i enjoy taking long exposures in the middle of the night. The image returns completely different from how i experienced it while taking it. Indeed, impossibly different. There's no need to resort to super slow speed, or long exposures even. The photograph is an unnatural record; it amazes me every time i see one, much like this Viola piece is an unnatrual recording. I am interested in the stories told in the passing of time.
Erwin Wurm, I love my time I don't like my time (sculpture)
-Berin Golonu, editor
Hatje Cantz, 2004
I love the humor that graces these pieces, and i love even more that these aren't just silly pranks or goof-offs, but well thought out pieces with intent and communication. Work that can be chuckled at, but that gives the viewer pause to ask themselves, "Now, what the heck am i looking at?" The absurdity, irony and wit hold the viewer. The sculptures of people holding objects have so much energy to them. This is an artist i'd like to imitate to learn from.
Intersections between Feminist and Queer Theory (non-fiction)
-Richardson, McLaughlin, Casey, editors
Palgrave Macmillan, 2006
Gender and identity politics have recently been introduced to me, and I find that i'm very interested. I also find that I'm pretty "late in the game" as these were HUGE issues in the 50-80s. I do believe that they are still pressing issues, but perhaps for a different reason, and I also think that every generation will have to wrestle with gender and identity in its own way. I'm interested in understanding more and historical and contemporary feminist theory, as well as queer theory. This book seems to address both, as well as where they meet. An aside- have straight white males become marginalized?
Also, I skimmed through the book; no pictures?!
The Mezzanine (fiction)
-Nicholson Baker
Vintage Contemporaries, 1990
I LOVE stories, especially those that detail the mundane. I like photos that do that as well... spinning grand stories out of vivid minutiae. This book comes highly recommended, both from friends and from reviewers. The bulk of the story takes place on an escalator in an office building. That caught me. I'm so interested in the wealth of detail and material A place can hold, and how often most of it is overlooked and easily passed by. I hope that my photos celebrate the place, and the value of being carefully aware, sensitive. I hope to experience more, to notice more; I hope that my work encourages that.
