Week 4
This week photographer Dan Powell stopped by to give us a little visit and show us some of his portfolio. I was happy to see some photos because photography is more traditional than some of the other works we have seen in class. I found Dan’s works stunning but also very powerful as he sticks to the conventional black and white film. Many of his pictures were taken decades ago but remain timeless as if they were shot yesterday. His first works were set-up shots of collaged objects. Dan said he would find objects and use them as devices then through layering capture the image on the wall. I also enjoyed how Dan’s different series evolved and showed the growth of his work. He tried different things but conflicted between traditional styles and manipulating pictures. As an artist, old ex-graffiti writer, and an emcee, I love to see text in artwork. I think it adds ideas and elements to the work that could not be established through anything else besides writing. In Dan’s studio C series he played around with text and lettering and I think it added an urban feel making this work very ahead of it time. Some of Dan’s pieces changed over time and evolved, He went into a surrealist phase, which gave the pictures an eerie feel. Dan photography is visually corresponsive and shows beauty, two things I think he really stresses when taking photos. I found it interesting how he started out shooting photos of layered materials and then overtime started taking pictures of nature. It seemed to me like his later works were more traditional than what he started with. I believe photograph is like hip-hop because Dan even said photograph is sampling something and making it your own. Dan uses his lens to capture a moment in time through his own eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gpKYnRdf0A
After listening to Dan and viewing his beautiful photograph I read the chapter that interviewed James Hillman a confrontational theorist against psychotherapy. Hillman believes psychotherapy only adds my stress to the problem. Hillman talks about reasoning and why people do things as a service. An artist cleaned a river and some people look at this a service to the environment others look at this cleaning as an art piece. The interview talks about an artist’s relation to their artwork. What really is the difference between an artist working at a river and an artist and their canvas? One is unconventional but still they are both art? Right. Hillman on page 195 says, “Doesn’t she remain in the literal world? And, as such, it’s not art? She’s literally cleaning the river!” She is just cleaning the river but she is doing a beautifully service. Whether this is art or not who knows but I did find this portion of the reading interesting. I agree with the interviewer Suzi Gablik, whether or not people think the river piece is art it pushes boundries and makes people think. It makes people ask questions just like Ty has been saying. Art makes you question.
The next reading was an environmental historian named Carolyn Merchant who believes civilization has advanced beyond the rate of nature. Carolyn believes people have put themselves in front of nature and it is becoming dangerous to our existence. I think Merchant would respect the river cleaner in the Hillman interview. I feel like as a civilization we can take art and make changes through art in the ways we live our everyday lives.
