Tony Matelli: Lecture Question/Response

Q: Some of your best known work (“Old Enemy; New Victim”, “Josh”, and “Sleepwalker”, for example) share elements of hyper-realism. Do you think these pieces would have been as successful if you approached them in a less representational manner, as you did in work like “Double Meat Head” and “Double Veg. Man”?

Q: Can you explain how you handle creating conceptual pieces like “Fuck It, Free Yourself!” and “The Idiot”? It seems like you must approach them with a completely different studio practice. 

• Matelli was a really interesting speaker. He opened up his lecture with some thoughts on sculpture. He explained that sculpture “takes our place”. It holds a presence unlike any other art form because it shares the same plane as us. After thinking about what he said, I definitely think it holds true, and it may even explain why I have always been a bit averted by the medium.

Three words that define Matelli’s practice and artwork:

• Opposite: as seen in “Couple”. The idea of romantic love is juxtaposed with a starving couple.

• Empty: Matelli explores the idea of emptiness through “The Idiot” (exploring the idea of how alcohol is a way to temporarily empty your mind) and “Josh”

• Vulnerability: as seen in “Stray Dog”. Matelli states that it was “not like any other public art work” because the subject was lost, vulnerable, weak. “Sleepwalk” conveys the same message.

Later in the lecture, Matelli was telling a story about a colleague of his in undergrad. One day his friend came up to him and said, “Tony, you know, you’re such an interesting guy, but your work, it’s just… so… dry. So dull”. Matelli admitted that after this was revealed to him, he completely switched gears and experimented with different subject matter until he found something that was right for him. It was pretty inspirational to hear a world renowned artist admit that at one point, he was less than mediocre. It was a relief to hear that at any point, you can change the direction of your work. It is evident that Matelli still takes what his friend said to heart. Towards the end of his lecture, he told us that he is interested in his work “losing its focus”. 

I don’t believe that “Ideal Woman” is Matelli’s most compelling piece, however, after hearing him talk about it, my opinion changed greatly. I had somewhat of an idea about what the piece was communicating. The Hustler “blow job machine” can be seen easily. It was really interesting to hear the conceptualization behind it. “Exploring the elasticity of a relationship” didn’t cross my mind until he revealed the meaning during the lecture. It seems like modeling the sculpture after his girlfriend would inherently test such elasticity.

Idea: Infrared Photography

Quotes

“Hot spots and focusing are the two challenging problems in IR digital photography. Without returning to the issue of focusing, let us just remind ourselves that a camera will be optimized for one or two lenses, others will suffer from some degree of front- or back-focus and/or from hot spots. Note that also those lenses — like the ones in Canon’s L series — that do have a red sign on the barrel for focus correction in the IR range do so for some specific wavelength: in the case of Canon around 800nm. This choice is obviously not an accident: most commercial IR films tend to be sensitive around this wavelength and lose their sensitivity shortly afterwards.” Annaratone, Marco, and Claudio Ruscello. "Infrared Photography Part II." Infrared Photography. July 2010. Web. 28 Sep 2011. <http://www.infraredphoto.eu/Site/GentleIntro2.html>.

“A blue sky will appear black, or very dark, while foliage will get a distinct white color. This creates amazing contrast in the image that makes the photo ‘pop’. Due to the long exposure time, portraits and other non-static sceneries can be hard to capture, this is one of the reasons why most IR photographs are landscape shots.
First of all you need to have a D-SLR camera with a lens that can use filters. Then you need to purchase an IR-filter, there are a few out there and the main difference (assuming we’re looking at the same brand) is the range of wavelengths that the filter lets through.
The IR filter I use is the Hoya R72, all the IR photographs in this article are taken using that filter. I’m very happy with this filter, but since it’s the only one I’ve tried I can’t recommend it above any other one.”  Silverglimth, Fredrik. "Getting Started with Infrared Photography." Tutorial 9.  05 June 2008. Web. 28 Sep 2011. <http://www.tutorial9.net/tutorials/photography-tutorials/infrared-photography/>.
 

Bibliography

Annaratone, Marco, and Claudio Ruscello. "Infrared Photography Part II." Infrared Photography. July 2010. Web. 28 Sep 2011. <http://www.infraredphoto.eu/Site/GentleIntro2.html>.

Annaratone and Ruscello explore the issues with hotspots and focusing in IR digital photography. They do an in-depth of analysis between several different lenses, including both Canon and Nikon brands. They used a Nikon lens on their Canon Rebel XT via a Nikon-to-Canon mount adapter. Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses should be avoided because of hotspots. The authors, however, claimed that these hotspots do not happen every time, so it may be possible to still use these lenses. Through a series of sample photographs, they show how important IR compensation can be, especially with the focus of a lens. The article explains that autofocus should be used with caution, because “it may not be able to deliver an ultra-sharp image, but it seems to deliver the best possible focusing”. In conclusion, Annaratone and Ruscello decide “we should not forget that the lenses we use are conventional lenses with some degree of correction that make them usable in the near IR range. These are not specialized tools for IR imaging. That means that, in spite of all our effort for achieving precise focusing, avoiding hot spots, etc some residual aberrations may still be there and create some ‘haze’ effect”. 

Summary

I’m still not sure if I would like to use infrared photography in my work. I think that I would experiment with a DSLR, just because the film is so expensive and finicky. I also would need to look into developing infrared film, because I’m not sure if I have the chemicals or possibility to do it myself. In regards to the articles I read, I had no idea that certain lenses won’t work because they create hot spots. I also didn’t know that you could use a Nikon lens on a Canon body.  The use of infrared photography is definitely a possibility in my work – it could do some really interesting things with my landscapes. At the same time, though, it could present itself as a mere novelty and lessen my photographs.

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RSHClT0SY  

 

 

Artist Entry: Daniel Shea

"Chesire, Ohio" Part of the Plume series. 2009-2010.

"Sunday Morning" Part of the Removing Mountains series, 2007.

"Kudzu" Part of the Removing Mountains series, 2007.

"Larry Gibson's Chair" Part of the Removing Mountains series, 2007.

"Slurry Impoundment" Part of the Removing Mountains series, 2007.

"Old Coal Supports" Part of the Plume series. 2009-2010.

*no size or image details listed*

I found Daniel Shea’s work on The Photography Post Blog. It was particularly interesting to me because it reminded me of my first self-assigned photographic project. In 2007, I drove from the beginning of route 250 (also known as Broad Street), to the end. The road starts in Church Hill and ends at the edge of Lake Eerie in Ohio. 250 took us deep through Appalachia, passing through abandoned coal mining towns as well as obviously economically devastated communities. I’ve always been interested in photographing rural communities and their residents. Shea’s work explores these locales through two projects; Removing Mountains “which focused on mountaintop removal, a particularly pervasive form of coal mining” as well as Plume, which “tracks this coal up river to Ohio, where it is being burned to generate electricity”. I think that Shea approached his subjects and subject matter in a tactful and respectful way. I don't get the sense of exploitation in the portraits of the residents, and his political slant isn't too overwhelming. "Plume, 2009-2010." Daniel Shea. Web. 25 Sep 2011. <http://www.danielpshea.com/projects/plume/>.

Biography:

Daniel Shea graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in 2007. He is anticipating on graduating with an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2013. He has had three artist residencies, two during 2010 at Acre Residency and Harold Arts Residency, as well as Kelly Kacyznski’s Unnamed Future Space in 2011. His partial client and publication list includes TIME, Nylon, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, and National Public Radio.

Quotes:

You temporarily moved to and lived in a mountain town in Appalachia for 3 months in order to complete this project, how did you approach what you were doing with other members of the home you lived in?

"I approached the situation with sincere and 100% genuine reverence. I’ve learned so much from listening to other people over the years, especially in the context of struggle. Coming to this region as a complete outsider was something I was constantly aware of. I reconciled my position of privilege only by gradually increasing my place in the community from passive witness to an involved artist. That being said, again, I had to maintain the perception of neutrality, so I was clearly not in the region as an activist (despite living with some of the most amazing activists I have ever met). I expected my transition into the community to be slow, however the people I lived with, and the folks involved in the fight against MTR were exceedingly warm and welcoming and made my stay there feel like home.” Bakacs, Andrea. "Interview with Daniel Shea." Photography for a Greener Planet.  Web. 25 Sep 2011. <http://photographyforagreenerplanet.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/interview-with-daniel-shea/>.

“Appalachian culture is historically defined through coal practices and popularly defined by an unfair misconception about its people and the conditions in which they live. In reality, I found communities sustaining culturally rich legacies while maintaining a cautious distance to outsiders (like myself). These photographs represent not only the process of following an industry’s production start to finish, but also spending time with locals as they sometimes struggled to deal with the realities of living in coal country.” "Removing Mountains, 2007." Daniel Shea. Web. 25 Sep 2011. <http://www.danielpshea.com/projects/removing-moutains/>.

Interview: http://photographyforagreenerplanet.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/interview-with-daniel-shea/

Gallery: Shea isn’t affiliated with one particular gallery. However, he has been partaking in one-and –two person exhibitions as well as group exhibitions since 2005. Some of these galleries include Festival Alt + 1000 in Switzerland, The Center for Art and Culture in Aix-en-Provence, France, Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, IL, and Stripeman Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.  You can find a more complete list of this exhibitions here: http://www.danielpshea.com/cv/ .

Artist Website: http://www.danielpshea.com/

Artist Entry: Daniel Shea

Artist Entry: Dalton Rooney

Forked path, Lloyd Harbor, New York, 2010

Along the Belt Parkway near Canarsie Pier. Queens, New York, 2009

Looking west toward Jamaica Bay. Queens, New York, 2009

Near the West Pond, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Queens, New York, 2009

Near Hidden Pond, Hauppauge, New York, 2010.
*all images are part of the "Outer Lands" series, no sizes or print details are listed, nor could I find them anywhere*

I chose to learn more about this artist because of his interview on Joerg Colberg’s blog, Conscientious. I am primarily a landscape photographer myself, and it was interesting to learn what originally attracted him to the genre and what exactly he is trying to portray in his images. There is something about his landscapes in the series “Outer Lands” that make me slow down – I feel as though I spend much more time with these than most photographs I see. Perhaps the reason why is because they each seem to have a little “Easter Egg” in them. If you take the time to look, you’ll see the rusted chain link fence, the man behind the trees, the piece of wood that has washed up onto the shore. As far as my own studio practice, his opinion of large format cameras and the methodological approach required when using them, really makes me want to go back to film and slow things down in my own work. Also, Rooney is inspiring in the fact that he seems to be a newly emerged artist; his CV dates back to 2007 and he only has a combination of ten publications and exhibitions listed.

Biography


Dalton Rooney is a photographer from Brooklyn, New York. He is currently working on a long-term project on the landscape of Long Island, entitled “Outer Lands”. He first started out creating urban landscape shots, but moved into more traditional landscapes when he first noticed the wetlands at the far end of Brooklyn on the way to the airport. A series of trips and explorations led him to the point of “Outer Lands”. "About." Dalton Rooney. Web. 17 Sep 2011. .

Quotes

“Many of the ideas that make up the series have been around since those early walks, but I had trouble clarifying and organizing them. I think it took a long time for me to find a clear voice in my pictures, and I experimented with a lot of different styles and techniques over the years. It was a struggle to pin down exactly what it was about the landscape that I found so interesting, and to capture that in a way that I felt was honest.”

“Well, using a large format camera is a slower, more methodical way to work than with a pocket camera or eve medium format. I know that probably drives some people crazy, but for me it’s a benefit rather than a drawback. A field camera is a very economical device - there are no electronics to fiddle with, no zoom lenses, and I am limited to how much film I can carry. I find that those limitations actually help me focus my attention in a way I can’t with an SLR — I feel more deeply involved in the process of image-making. I read Eugen Herrigel’s Zen In The Art of Archery last year, and it changed how I think about the tools I use. One of the lessons I took away from that book is that technical proficiency is tied to intimate familiarity with your tools. Technical proficiency is important because it allows you to think less about the technical aspects of what you’re doing and just get on with actually doing it.This all sounds kind of obvious in retrospect, but it can be hard to suppress the desire to constantly be fidgeting with equipment. The mechanical nature of the camera inspires intimate familiarity, in my experience. My proficiency has finally gotten to the point where the equipment fades away while I’m working, and I am simply making pictures.”
Dalton , Rooney. "A Conversation with CPC 2010 Winner Dalton Rooney." Conscientious. Interview by Joerg Colberg. 06 October 2010. Web.





Interview
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/a_conversation_with_cpc_2010_winner_dalton_rooney/

Gallery
Dalton Rooney is not affiliated with any physical galleries, however, he has gathered quite an amount of recognition via the contemporary internet scene. His work has been featured on Joerg Colberg’s Conscientious, in Humble Arts Foundation’s group show, on booooooom, Flak Photo, and many other websites.




Artist Website
http://daltonrooney.com/