PHOTO RELATED

New Site

2011-12-31T06:52:00.000+11:00

This blog has moved to:

http://www.emidiopuglielli.com/blog.html

Making the Invisible Visible

2011-12-15T16:38:00.001+11:00

Gottfried Jäger

2011-12-03T07:09:00.004+11:00

Gottfried Jäger: Photo 111110.4, 2011

Gottfried Jäger: "Photographismen"
digital works 2008- 2011

3.12. - 28.1.2012

PHOTO EDITION BERLIN
Galerie und Verlag für Fotografie

Ystaderstr.14a
D - 10437 Berlin

Tel: +49 (0) 30 41717831
Fax: +49 (0) 30 70244049

e-mail: contact(at)photo-edition-berlin.com

Artist statement:

Photographisms

My early photographic works were guided by the empiric experimental method of ‘trial and error’. In this, I followed the German experimental photographer Heinz Hajek-Halke (1893–1983). From the mid 1960s on, and under the influence of philosopher Max Bense’s (1910–1990) ‘generative aesthetics’, logical sequences of images began to develop, which consequently led to the introduction of the term ‘generative photography’ as a title for an exhibition with fellow artists at Kunsthaus Bielefeld in 1968. The program based on the idea of an ‚image-given’ (not ‚image-taken’) photography, rests upon a systematic constructivist notion. This has been dominating my work until this day– even though I have gradually extended its margins. Starting in 1983, ‘photomaterialistic works‘, photo objects, photo assemblages, photo installations, were created. With these I study the fundamental photographic elements light and light sensitivity in materials with regard to their qualities in the imaging procedure. The project is still being continued. Since the early 1990s, I have been involving digital methods and the computer in the generative program. Hereby, the ‘emanation of light‘ (Franz Roh) is no longer the central issue but serves as a reference for my interest in its simulation.

Thus, the ‘photo’ series – which started with first works in 2004 – is based on the implementation of the customized computer image processing application Adobe Photoshop™. However, it is not used for its original purpose – to process a photograph. Instead, the program produces its own images, pure syntax and form. One could say the program plays with itself whereby its syntactic qualities feature perceivably, as there is no pictorial motive that interferes or ‘disrupts’ its self reference. Merely the formal structure of the program is made visible, its degrees of brightness, contrasts, colors, textures, etc. This does not result in depictions (icons) or ideograms (symbols), but solely in formal images (symptoms) – formalisms. One can also call this ‘photographisms’ (J.A. Schmoll aka Eisenwerth), as they refer to the photographic canon of form. They become the objects in our observation.

Gottfried Jäger, July 2011

Stills Gallery - Robyn Stacey

2011-11-27T20:09:00.001+11:00

Stills Gallery - Robyn Stacey

This has always been one of my favorite images - it's very large & it's impact is substantial. It reminds me of Goya.

Grant Beran

2011-11-19T12:18:00.003+11:00

Went to see this show in Wellington NZ. I liked it alot.

Go to the gallery website to view a little blurb about it - painting with photographic chemicals.

www.bowengalleries.co.nz

FRESH 11

2011-11-19T11:52:00.000+11:00

Great Photographers

2011-10-22T14:34:00.002+11:00

In fact, for a long time photographers had exasperated Jed, especially the great photographers, with their claim to reveal in their snapshots the truth of their models; they didn't reveal anything at all, they just placed themselves in front of you and switched on the motor of their camera to take at random hundreds of snapshots while chuckling, and later chose the least bad of the lot; that's how they proceeded, without exception, all those so-called great photographers.

From The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq.

Photo Sculptures

2011-09-29T11:59:00.002+10:00

Very interesting mix of sculpture and photography by Gwon Osang

All the Photos

2011-09-23T09:43:00.002+10:00

According to Popbitch Facebook now hosts 140 billion photos.
Roughly 4% of all the photos ever taken.

Details

2011-08-31T15:55:00.001+10:00

Best Before

2011-08-24T08:18:00.004+10:00

If you want to experience diverse approaches to photography I recommend you pop into fortyfive downstairs to see the works of Luke Hardy and Sarina Lirosi.

The large space is full of dark and beautiful prints by Luke Hardy - Yuki Onna & Dragonfly.

The small space houses a series of work by Lirosi which will intrigue, compel and possibly repulse you. BEST BEFORE by Lirosi is also a beautiful show, however the materials used in the work may cause some anxiety. The process involves lifting photographic images of body parts onto used and discarded soap - the little pieces you can't satisfactorily use any longer.

Image: Sarina Lirosi, BEST BEFORE 07/11/2010, 2011 Polaroid film on used soap, 5.5 x 5.5cm.

A quote about BEST BEFORE by Sarina Lirosi:

This project has emanated from personal experiences with death and illness and is ultimately about the dysfunctional and unpredictable nature of the body. It is about expendable and expired body parts, and the horror associated with being forced to come to terms with ones mortality. In this context, it also explores notions of repulsion and wretchedness.

The Team

2011-08-20T06:40:00.000+10:00

Photo Sale

2011-08-14T18:44:00.003+10:00

If you're interested in old photographs The Vintage Element is selling a whole lot of my collection (I'm making room for more!).

Dog Pushing Pram

2011-08-13T05:26:00.000+10:00

Boy And His... Chicken

2011-08-06T17:38:00.000+10:00

Floating

2011-07-30T06:18:00.001+10:00

Nice Hair

2011-07-23T06:13:00.000+10:00

Day Out

2011-07-16T06:08:00.000+10:00

Standing On A Horse

2011-07-09T06:45:00.000+10:00

Mark Rose

2011-07-02T06:24:00.006+10:00

I've posted about Mark's work before here.
I want to take the opportunity to show you some more of his paintings as I've coerced him into showing his work in The Vintage Element.
I've talked about looking for the photographic in his work, but there's also a vintage-ness about it that I like too.

Pedestal

2011-06-25T05:47:00.003+10:00

Big & Little

2011-06-18T06:24:00.000+10:00

Hanging Man

2011-06-11T05:39:00.000+10:00

Magic

2011-06-04T06:42:00.000+10:00

Special

2011-05-28T06:47:00.000+10:00

Modern Types

2011-05-21T06:23:00.001+10:00

Young Me Now Me

2011-05-14T06:07:00.004+10:00

The team at zefrank have a project where people send in photos of themselves - an old photo plus a restaged new one. You can see the original project here or their blog of favourites, here. You can submit your own too.

Big Bow & Sharp Hair

2011-05-07T06:21:00.000+10:00

Restaging The Past

2011-04-30T08:05:00.003+10:00

September 20th, 1985

Trish Morrissey restages photographs from her childhood.
See the Seven Years series on her site.

Seven Years (2001-2004) aims to deconstruct the trope of family photography by meticulously mimicking it. In the series, the title of which refers to the age gap between the artist and her elder sister, Morrissey functions as director, author and actor, staging herself and her sibling in tightly controlled, fictional mis en scene based on the conventions of family snapshots.

In order to construct images that appear to be authentic family photographs from the 1970s and 1980s, Morrissey uses period clothing and props, both her own and others, and the setting of her family's house in Dublin. They assume different characters and roles in each image, utilizing body language to reveal the subtext of psychological tensions inherent in all family relations. The resulting photographs isolate telling moments in which the unconscious leaks out from behind the façade of the face and into the minute gestures of the body.

Old & New

2011-04-27T09:05:00.003+10:00

PANCHO IN 1983 & 2010, Buenos Aires by Irina Werning.

Irina restages old photographs using the original subject - check out the Back to the Future series on her website.

Reclining

2011-04-23T06:33:00.000+10:00

Big Reflection

2011-04-16T09:00:00.000+10:00

Top Heavy

2011-04-09T07:06:00.000+10:00

In The Tube

2011-04-02T07:27:00.000+11:00

Overdressed

2011-03-26T06:46:00.001+11:00

Mina Sono come tu mi vuoi (1967)

2011-03-20T13:17:00.002+11:00

There's something mesmerising about the staging of this performance.

Bobbing

2011-03-19T06:17:00.000+11:00

Animal Hat

2011-03-11T06:49:00.000+11:00

Oh Yeah

2011-03-05T07:08:00.001+11:00

This has got nothing to do with nothing, but I want to go to this party.

Lab Logo

2011-02-26T10:11:00.003+11:00

You may know that I have an interest in the back of photographs.
These are some Lab stamps I quite like.

Impossibly Manly

2011-02-22T20:53:00.001+11:00

No one in life, not the wartiest old dame in Arles, not the wrinkledest, stoopingest Cossack, not the pony-tailedest, venerablest old Mandarin in China, not Methuselah himself, will ever be older than a group of seniors at school. They are like Victorian photographs of sporting teams. No matter how much more advanced in years you are now than the age of those in the photograph, they will always look a world older, always seem more capable of growing a bigger moustache and holding more alcohol. The sophistication with which they sit and the air of maturity they give off is unmatchable by you. Ever.

From Moab is My Washpot by Stephen Fry

Fancy

2011-02-19T15:06:00.000+11:00

Fake Lashes

2011-02-12T05:29:00.000+11:00

Snapshots In Time

2011-02-06T17:19:00.005+11:00

Now that the show I'm in is up and running, it's time to look forward to an exhibition by one of my favorite painters - Mark Rose. He paints from photos and press clippings. I love the way they still look like photographs. Where does the photo end and the painting begin? I try to isolate the photographic in the paintings....

New Show

2011-01-21T09:13:00.005+11:00

I'm part of a group show coming up at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery. I'll be showing work from my THROUGH series that hasn't been exhibited in Melbourne before. Hope you can make it.

Tidal

2011-01-19T06:22:00.006+11:00

It's the last week of the Devonport Regional Gallery Tidal Award.

This is my entry:

I look at old photographs and wonder about the details of the day depicted. Memories of those days are erased and replaced by a photograph I cannot recall being taken. A generic feeling of sunny happiness replaces specific details. This photograph assures me we had a nice time at the beach.

You can have a look at the others here.

I was shortlisted for the Bowness award last year too and there's a really interesting article about it and the pitfalls of awards in general at ArtInfo.com.au

Lost Then Found

2011-01-14T06:57:00.001+11:00

Forgotten Old Photos is an intriguing blog where old photographs are reunited with their families. The sleuthing is amazing.

Machine To Kill Bad People

2011-01-04T07:00:00.000+11:00

Recently I revisited Roberto Rossellini’s film La macchina ammazzacattivi (Machine to kill bad people) 1952.

It is said that some people believe a camera can steal your soul, well in this film it can kill you (is that the same thing?).

Celestino (Gennaro Pisano),a photographer, is visited by a demon that enables his camera to kill. By rephotographing a photograph of the “bad” person, he freezes them dead in the position assumed in the photograph. He begins to sort out the town by killing the corrupt wealthy, but soon realises that determining who is bad and who is good is difficult.

Read an article about the film by Constantin Parvulescu at Senses of Cinema.

A Job Well Done

2011-01-02T15:53:00.004+11:00

A bitumen layer was proud of his work. I stumbled across the signed tarmac in 2005.

Passing Time

2010-12-25T19:14:00.012+11:00

At this time of year we reflect on the passing of time, which got me thinking about how photographs capture time passing.

Photographs are time capsules presenting past events to contemporary eyes. It’s interesting to see how artists represent elapsing time with photography. Here are some approaches.

Classic: Eadweard Muybridge’s research into movement uses sequential photographs to capture a short time span in detail.

Piecing things together: This is a nice site by Lorenzo Fonda et al, verging on filmic it’s like a million photographs taped together. http://www.theircircularlife.it/

Partial erasure: Philip King's photographs of a walking track capture traces of people’s trajectories, extending our experience of their walk.

Same Space 2009

Total annihilation: Salvatore Panatteri’s spectacularly long exposures (10 hours +) capture every movement in front of the specially designed lens. The process turns on itself erasing every movement presenting empty spaces – abstractions of reality – a bit apocalyptic.

Untitled (Neutral Density / Abstract Realities) 2003

Stern

2010-12-11T05:35:00.000+11:00

Fading

2010-12-04T05:25:00.003+11:00

Some very interesting work by Jayne Wallace about memory loss. A fading locket. It's analogous to memory, but if you knew a photograph had a set amount of viewings, when would you look at it?
http://homepage.mac.com/wallacejayne/CraftCube%3ALocket.html

Thanks Soph for the tip.

Ruckus

2010-11-27T07:47:00.001+11:00

Along the Bottom

2010-11-20T06:09:00.000+11:00

Mourning Thought

2010-11-13T05:45:00.000+11:00

Fresh 10

2010-11-10T15:34:00.002+11:00

I've been working with some of the students at the Photography Studies College. It's their graduate show, there will be some great work.

Military Loss

2010-11-06T06:23:00.002+11:00

China Cabinet & Seated Woman

2010-10-30T06:09:00.000+11:00

Mug Shot

2010-10-23T05:35:00.004+11:00

When I get a photograph with an address on the back I use Google Maps to see if the building is still there - this house seems in original condition.

XXX

2010-10-16T07:18:00.000+11:00

Kid Line

2010-10-09T07:00:00.000+11:00

POW

2010-10-02T06:42:00.001+10:00

Ad Shot

2010-09-25T06:50:00.000+10:00

Big Jab

2010-09-18T06:32:00.000+10:00

THROUGH

2010-09-15T15:59:00.002+10:00

THROUGH is available online, just click SHOP, left, to buy a copy.

Anna Magnani

2010-09-11T06:49:00.001+10:00

THROUGH

2010-09-08T16:22:00.005+10:00

My series of work THROUGH has been turned into a little limited edition book.

It is available now at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery Melbourne and soon online and elsewhere - I'll keep you posted.

This is the cover and here are some pages.

There are almost 50 images and a little essay.

Plucker

2010-09-05T18:16:00.001+10:00

Perspective with Bowl Cut

2010-08-28T18:30:00.000+10:00

Family in Arms

2010-08-21T06:59:00.002+10:00

Playing Family

2010-08-14T06:35:00.001+10:00

Infinite

2010-08-11T12:23:00.003+10:00

The camera is programmed to produce photographs, and every photograph is a realization of one of the possibilities contained within the program of the camera. The number of such possibilities is large, but it is nevertheless finite: It is the sum of all those photographs that can be taken by a camera.

With every... photograph, the photographic program becomes poorer by one possibility while the photographic universe becomes richer by one realization.

Vilem Flusser

In The Void

2010-08-07T12:17:00.000+10:00

Photographs within Photographs

2010-07-31T06:11:00.003+10:00

This photograph was taken in 1895 in the studios of Charles Spence in Dunbar, Scotland. It is a carte-de-visite (calling card) and shows a woman holding a photograph. It was common at this time to be photographed with a photograph of a deceased or missing loved one. The person in the photograph in her hands maybe her husband, but on closer inspection the figure’s stance indicates it is a child.

Geoffrey Batchen talks about such a mourning card in Dreams of ordinary life:

‘Cartes-de-visite are often about their reception, as if to underline the psychological or emotional experience that their viewing entails. Many pictures show people holding open photograph albums or simply feature people looking at another carte. It is a reminder that cartes were scaled to be viewed in the hand rather than on a wall; they were meant to be touched as well as seen… She poses for the camera to make visible an otherwise abstract experience, the pang of longing, the act of remembrance, the stretching of the imagination. It is as though she wants to draw our attention, not just to the particular image she holds, but to the comforting solidarity of photography’s contiguous memorial function. In touching her photograph she recalls that it too was touched, by that umbilical cord of light that once caressed her loved one and then this image in her hand. In touching it now, she returns the photographic experience to the realm of the body and to the intimacy of reverie’.

The reference to the umbilical cord comes from Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida:
‘The photograph is literally an emanation of the referent. From a real body, which was there, proceed radiations which ultimately touch me, who am here...a sort of umbilical cord links the body of the photographed thing to my gaze’.

Bathing Suit

2010-07-24T06:40:00.000+10:00

Beach Face

2010-07-17T07:04:00.000+10:00

Rolling Pin

2010-07-10T07:38:00.000+10:00

Hat?

2010-07-03T06:16:00.000+10:00

Cute Kid

2010-06-26T07:26:00.000+10:00

Window

2010-06-19T06:48:00.000+10:00

Sea Side Man

2010-06-12T07:10:00.000+10:00

Foto Titi

2010-06-05T06:53:00.000+10:00

Oct 66

2010-05-29T07:20:00.000+10:00

Women with Cocktails

2010-05-22T06:58:00.000+10:00

Treasure

2010-05-15T07:24:00.000+10:00

Pumpkin Smile

2010-05-08T06:56:00.000+10:00

Ride

2010-05-01T07:00:00.000+10:00

On The Road

2010-04-24T06:25:00.000+10:00

Skirt

2010-04-17T06:32:00.000+10:00

High Pants

2010-04-10T06:36:00.000+10:00

Bus Tour Group

2010-04-03T07:47:00.000+11:00

Boy In Pram

2010-03-27T07:26:00.000+11:00

Substitutes

2010-03-24T17:57:00.005+11:00

- The Pope has given his blessing to photography. A maiden can send her photograph to her swain and thus spare herself the indecency of a personal encounter. You can go to the photographer's studio and choose a picture that most resembles your son who has gone to the front and have a likeness to put on his grave when the government sends his body home on the railway.

From The Invention of Photography in Toledo by Guy Davenport

Blurred Face

2010-03-20T07:10:00.002+11:00

By The Lake

2010-03-13T06:40:00.000+11:00

Diagonals

2010-03-06T05:34:00.001+11:00

My Shopping Is Easier

2010-02-27T06:10:00.001+11:00

Man In Enclosure

2010-02-20T06:51:00.000+11:00

Yes Sir

2010-02-13T07:28:00.000+11:00

Man On Boat On Sand

2010-02-06T08:42:00.000+11:00