Visiting Artist Lecture: Alec Soth

Quinn 2007
Sydney, Tallahassee, Florida, 2004
Stacey, South Plains, Texas, 2004
Andy Goldsworthy, Ithaca, New York, 2004
Untitled 29 DOG DAYS BOGOTA

Untitled 26, DOG DAYS BOGOTA

Untitled 49, DOG DAYS BOGOTA

Crystal, Easter, New Orleans, Louisiana 2002 SLEEPING BY THE MISSISSIPPI
Joshua, Angola State Prison, Louisiana 2002 SLEEPING BY THE MISSISSIPPI






http://www.alecsoth.com/
The first photography dept lecture of 2010 was Alec Soth on Jan 27th.
We were all at the lecture, so i am not gonna talk about it.
Soth talked mostly of how his thoughts, ideas, photographs, and images were all connected through tangents which led from one moment to the next. By connecting each image inside his photographic books through sidenotes on tangentry , Soth created maps which told a story documenting each experience through which each viewer of his books of photography:
SLEEPING BY THE MISSISSIPPI, 2000
DOG DAYS, BOGOTA
NIAGARA
...could follow a story

This way, Soth not only tells a story within a singular photograph, but tells an entire novella romanticizing his mediocre experiences of everyday life as he travels forward in time. Soth's work is honest in depicting the itty gritty truth of the world, which is refreshing. Soth mentioned "photographic overload" brought on by our generations ability to constantly photograph each instant. I feel that in the world of digital photography I am being constantly lied to because of photoshop, lighting, set design, studios, make up, digital color corrections, flashes, and millions of other ways technology allows an image to lie, yet Soth remains and strives for honesty.
Soth's portraiture is what really speaks to me. Each portrait has a balance/harmony between the person/people/subject(s) and with the background/landscape/space. This allows for narrative. I know that these portraits tell the truth about the people in them and that most of them were strangers that Soth met along the way. Soth's images/portraits are powerful because he introduces the viewer to the World which he, himself encountered.
Thank You, Alec Soth, for showing me a true photograph[story].

Soth has a style very similar to the one that I strive for. His works really make me jealous because I love his photographs, but his style is exactly like that of my own and I now fear that everyone is going to think of me as "trying to be Alec Soth"
Oh well.

Greatest Weakness

Dearest Blog Readers,

My greatest weakness is grammar. Please bear with me. Thank You.

PS-If you would like to edit what I wrote, I would appreciate it.

Artist: P. Buckley Moss

http://www.pbuckleymoss.com/

Artist P. Buckley Moss is known for her paintings of Shenandoah Valley landscapes and illustrations of the Olde Order Mennonites and Amish. Moss is from Waynesboro, VA and her museum is ten minutes from my parents house. Every office, waiting room, cafe, lobby, nursery, hospital, library, public building, school, etc in Augusta County, VA has one of her prints on it's wall. She is a town Icon.
I have truly grown up inside of a Moss painting. Her illustrative style uses calligraphic trees, and simple 2D perspective mirroring the simple livelihood of the subjects which gives her works a folk art (Grandma Moses) feeling.

Often when standing at the crest of hill and gazing out upon the rolling hills of the Shenandoah with her Blue Ridge Mountains rising off to the side, it all looks as if a two-dimensional painting flat upon the horizon.
In my opinion, which I am a local "Shenandoan", Moss really does translate the soul of the landscape in each work.

Artists: Romare Bearden & Grandma Moses

I am aware that we are supposed to be looking at Working Artists Today, however this entry is focused upon to Artists from the past which are strong influential Icons of the Art World Today. *Google them both

I was looking at the Artworks of Romare Bearden and Grandma Moses since I was little. They are very strong influences to the work I have been making this semester. Bearden was the first collage artist introduced to me in middle school and I consider him the "Grandather" of collage.

Moses was a self-taught folk artist and her paintings remind me so much of the Shenandoah Valley.
I have a much older cousin, of whom I've never met, who was a self taught artist that painted landscapes in the Rockfish Valley of Nelson County, VA.





Romare Bearden (1911-1988)





Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses (1860-1961)

New Work

Revearsal James GRIFFINDREWDAVIS.2009


As a proud Virginian I feel that no other river epitomizes Virginia and it's cultural history more than the James River. I have been following the James from the Allegheny Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. It saddens me greatly to see nature ruined by Man however the river is doing a lot better because of efforts to stop pollution are stronger than ever, yet it seems to me almost near impossible to fix now after near 200 years of continuous growth since the Industrial Revolution. All We can do is our best to keep things clean and hopefully in time nature will fix itself. A lot of Cities were built on top of naturally special places that are now ruined probably permanently...

This piece represents for me a progression through reversal. It is possible to travel through time in our dreams and sometimes to move forward you need to go backwards.

The waters of the James ran backwards until all of the Ocean was swallowed up by the Mountains. As the River ran backwards in time it took with it all the blasphemies of Man in order to restore Order. Finally the floodgates were released and all the Waters of the World flowed back down the James to the Sea.

New Work

LONGO GRIFFINDREWDAVIS.2009

Over the summer, I had read Lewis Carroll'sAlice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. I was recommended them by Tom Adair whom informed me of the nature of the books being a "play on words" and becoming aware of the "Language Games" within. *Lewis Carroll was also an established photographer

Working with notions of dreams, psychology, language, and being influenced by reading Carroll's literary works, I wanted to create a piece inspired by Alice's decent down the Rabbit Hole. I have been shooting with my Holga to create photographic dream-based narratives.

LONGOis 8"x60"(5ft long)

Unsure of how to mount/frame/present this yet.

IDEA: Collaborative Tarot

Amber O'Hara and I have been talking of doing a collaborative piece/project for awhile now. Amber is really into Tarot and other forms of spirituality and since we live together we influence each other. Thus I have been introduced to Tarot. In the classic Rider-Waite deck each card is chock full of symbolism. The main aspect of Tarot is not fortune telling but communication with the subconscious through symbolism and meditation. The cards are supposed to help you realize what you already know.

Over Thanksgiving I was at the Farm and found an old book Dogma and Morals of the Freemasons it was published in 1919. Freemasonry is wrought full of symbolism and code which is meant to make sense only to those who know what the symbols mean, however, the more I read the more I became aware that numerous symbols of the freemasons were present on the Tarot Cards of the classic Rider-Waite deck. I chose some cards^^^whith which incorporate strong symbolism. Dogma and Morals
was hard to read and understand because symbolism is used as a code which I am still investigating.

I wonder if there is a code within the Tarot ?

Amber and I were standing beneath the Carillon in Byrd Park and was looking up. I was reminded of The TOWER card and thought we should create our own Tarot Deck. There are hundreds of different versions of artistic Tarot decks. I had been thinking of making a photographic based Tarot, but with 78 cards it would be too much. I figure Amber and I could divide and conquer to create a Tarot deck using photography, collage, painting, drawing, etc to create our own Tarot that we could maybe one day publish and sell. Who knows? an IDEA.