[LargeFormat] sternfeld, shore, baltz, misrach

Fri Jan 11 02:24:52 2002

hi marco

thanks for the response.

i am working on an exhibition called 'nothing in the particular' which, in
many respects, is most like the work of stephen shore and has elements of
the others' styles. its all about ordinary things and may be construed as
being pretentious but i dont believe it is. i am fascinated by everyday
goings-on and so was keen to hear how other people reacted to quiet and
often seemingly empty shots.  epic shots of epic things impress me, but
apart from the surface of the print(which, mind you, can keep me going for
hours) they do not interest me very much. i think photographers who can
imbue ordinary events with gravitas are extraordinary. the grandeur of a
petrol bowser, to me, is far more difficult to extract than that of K2.

the fact that photography usually carries an overt message means that as
soon as a photograph does not have a story which comes bounding out of the
frame its regarded as empty. reportage and advertising and editorial
photography have imposed this expectation on the medium and i think it is
very interesting to work with an aesthetic which subverts this way of
telling stories.

what's interesting about shore's work for example, is that the sharpness of
the prints makes small areas of really uninteresting subject matter
fascinating in themselves because the resolution breathes life into
them(pumpkins become mountains of texture). ie. if shot on any other format
it would probably seem doubly banal. this is what i thought the group might
sense and react to. it is, however, difficult to understand this from from
jpegs on the net.

i think you are right about our times and the strange spirit which pervades
things. in south africa there has been a dense tradition of b/w
reportage/documentary and photography(for obvious reasons) has all been so
frought with political implications that anything quiet and normal seems out
of place; so when all my exhibition opens mid march in a large and important
gallery i will be exceedingly nervous.

interestingly a large number of fine photographers, who in the years of
institutionalised apartheid portrayed the beast in its awful heyday, have
been stranded without a subject. it has become far more insidious and
difficult to see.

enter doctor large-format and the ability to fix attention by detail. there
is a photographer in south africa called david goldblatt who has addressed
apartheid through structure. the regime is suggested by its effect on built
structures. brutal civic centres etc. his black and white photographs of
buildings speak volumes without saying much.

i think too much has been made of banal subject matter and i hope that my
series has a spark which a lot of contemporary photographic slosh lacks. if
anything my technique has become far better from association with this
invaluable cache of technical know how.

i think i will dust of my scanner and try and post a few oddities.

i could expound on these matters at length - its my job.

thanks for the response, its quite difficult to profer opinions in areas
whose answers cannot always be judged according to objective benchmarks.
good one.

i just checked out stuart davis's jazz paintings. i like the work called
'percolator' very much. are you american? you might like the work of edward
hopper, a painter, and the photographs of william eggleston who photographs
on 35mm(sshhhh)

i dont mean to clog the group with nebulous discussions about nothing, but i
think it's fascinating to not that without big negs and fine technique a
whole band of the fine-art spectrum would dissolve.

regards
dave

dave southwood
flat 1, coronation mansions
42 warren street
tamboerskloof
cape town
8001
south africa

+27 82 8543363 mobile
+27 21 4247992 home

----- Original Message -----
From: Marco Milazzo <mmilazz1@elp.rr.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] sternfeld, shore, baltz, misrach

> David,
>
> You asked what we thought.  As a newbie, I'm barely qualified to have an
> opinion , but nevertheless, here's mine:
>
> Neither the Mirsach nor the Sternfield are about photographic technique;
> they're primarily "about" the subject matter. Both seem to have a sense of
> detachment -- a kind of "ironic" stance that says "Here's a bit of
> reality -- strange isn't it?"  In a different context, both subjects might
> seem mundane.  Here they seem surreal and mysterious.   I make no value
> judgement about that.  It's in the spirit of the times we live in.
>
> I thought Stephen Shore took a different approach -- in a way, more
> familiar, because it's more about the formal elements like light/shade,
> color, pattern, etc.  It reminds me a lot of the work of the American
> painter, Stuart Davis' "jazz" paintings of the forties and early fifties.
> He also typically included words as a visual element.  Check that out and
> tell me your reaction.
>
> I write the above with a certain amount of self-consciousness.  It's safe
to
> talk about equipment, less so about aesthetics, but that's what we're
about,
> so thanks for intruducing us (me, at least) to three new aesthetic
visions.
> I'll seek out more of their owrk.
>
>
> Marco
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Southwood" <lava@mweb.co.za>
> To: <largeformat@f32.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 11:35 PM
> Subject: [LargeFormat] sternfeld, shore, baltz, misrach
>
>
> > i am a fan of the following american photographers; joel sternfeld,
lewis
> > baltz, stephen shore, and richard misrach, all of whom made very
> interesting
> > pictures of the american landscape in the 70's and 80's on large-format.
> > does anyone share an interest in their work?
> >
> > while the subject-matter does not fall within the normal ambit of this
> > group's discussable material, i reckon they might make interesting grist
> for
> > f32's enthusiastic mill. technically they are superior photographs, and
> they
> > are certainly often contentious in terms of what they portray
> >
> > and if on occasion the pictures seem empty, its probably because they
> > require you to think a little.
> >
> > richard misrach, desert cantos and the pit
> > http://www.mcachicago.org/MCA/exhibit/past/Misrach/
> >
> > joel sternfeld, american prospects
> > http://www.pdn-pix.com/inprint/strangerpassing.html ;
> > http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=005gZY
> >
> > stephen
> >
>
shore,http://www.mediamente.rai.it/mediamentetv/learning/ed_multimediale/eng
> > lish/bibliote/intervis/b/baltz.htm ;
> > http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/shore/shore_falls.html
> >
> > lewis baltz, you will have to look
> >
> >
> > here are some links as cues. what do you think?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > dave southwood
> > flat 1, coronation mansions
> > 42 warren street
> > tamboerskloof
> > cape town
> > 8001
> > south africa
> >
> > +27 82 8543363 mobile
> > +27 21 4247992 home
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > LargeFormat@f32.net
> > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/largeformat
> >
>
>
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