Movie Discussions

Movie 1 - Cindy Sherman - Nobody's Here But Me

Before watching this video I had heard Cindy Sherman's name but didn't know who exactly she was. After watching this documentary I have a new found respect for her and her work. I really enjoy the way she views photography as a whole. Using a camera as a tool like a paintbrush. I don't entirely agree with it but I do think it is an interesting way to look at it.

I also really enjoy how she uses herself as her subject matter, alternating light, angles, dress and make up to make herself appear as different people. As someone who has dabbled in costume and theater type make up it is a very impressive and interesting concept.

Before watching these videos in class I didn't realize how big of an issue AIDS really was during the post modern era. And more importantly how much it affected the artists of the time.

The way she looks at things as moments instead of the whole story is rather inspiring. It allows others to make up their own stories about them. I think this makes her work more relatable because we can fill in the gaps the way we see fit.

Movie 2 - Georges Rousse

I really love the symbolism behind Rousee's work and how all of his work is temporary and exists only in the moment of the photograph.  The most frustrating thing while watching this video was that I wanted to see his works from other angles to see how he accomplished some of the illusions. I enjoy that he was able to combine two of his loves in such an impactful way.

Movie 3 - Vic Muniz

This movie was all around inspiring. I love that Vic gave all of the profits from his work back to the people that they were about and throughout the movie said that 'They' did the piece not just him. I love the idea of making art out of stuff that people would otherwise have just discarded. I also appreciated the guy at the end correcting the tv show host that it wasn't garbage, it was recyclable materials. I love that these people look at these objects so differently than we do. To them its a lifestyle, a livelihood, food, shelter, all these things and to us its just trash.

Movie 4 - Jeff Wall

I've now watched this movie like 3 or 4 times. Lynn shows it most of her classes as well as in high school photo. I love the idea of the illuminated photographs as well as the large format presentation of them. I think they are breathtakingly stunning. His approach of looking at the excluded space as well as what is included is unique as well. Most of his work includes performers, so his photos show something happening not simply landscapes or portraits and things like that. This sort of action and tension makes what isn't in the frame very interesting. His 180 degree picture is really engaging because of all of the people in the shot interacting with things that are on the other side of the room right out of the frame in the other 180 degrees of the room.

Movie 5 - Hilla and Bernd Becher

I personally am not a huge fan of the Becher's work. I struggle with appreciating a lot of landscape like photography for a few reasons. As someone who works mostly with portraiture, anything else seems relatively easy after that. I also just don't really see anything special about the series they do overall. Though they are interesting there isn't much technically or conceptually that sets their work apart. Despite the overall indifference I have toward their work I do appreciate the grid format and the prep work that goes into their series. I found it very interesting how that putting the photos in a grid helps show all the little details that differ between different objects. Their objective 'it is what it is' sort of attitude toward photography is very odd to me as someone who works mostly with concept and symbolism.

Movie 6 - Cao Fei - Fantasy

Cao Fei's work was very interesting to me. I'm not necessarily a huge fan but I was definitely intrigued by it. I enjoyed the idea behind the work about the workers in the factory and their expressive self interacting with the environment around them. She managed to give a sort of individuality to these people that are often looked at as things like robots.

The work entitled "Second Life" to me was a stretch to call fine art. To me it was more of a social study than anything else. She simply played a game that is fairly popular around the world, and explained what she learned from it. Though interesting, I wouldn't exactly call it art. The city that she designed and built and uploaded to the game however was rather interesting. I think that the things she learned from this experiment, such as how people embody their characters and even fall in love in the game, could build unto more complex ideas.

Movie 7 -Walead Beshty

Beshty manages to take everyday items and make them into art with minimal effort. The objects and paper that he chooses have no rhyme or reason other than that they were near him at the time he decided to make a print. The final installation is stunning and over whelming at the same time. There are so many objects interacting and playing off of one another you never run out of things to look at. Personally, I hate when galleries leave all sorts of empty space that could be used for more works and Beshty's exhibit does the complete opposite of that. There is very little if any free space on that wall. This also hints at the mass amount of objects that we interact with in our every day lives and shows how we never have a time where there isn't one there.

Movie 8 - Penelope Umbrico

I thoroughly enjoy Umbrico's work. She takes all of these images from the internet and collages them together to describe a much bigger idea. I think that her work on the sunsets says a lot about how we photograph as humans and how we all look at the same things every day. I find it more interesting that through all of these images they are each different, and show a different second in time, from a different place, different angle, and I think that that is absolutely beautiful. I think that her emphasis that we aren't actually looking a sunset but at pictures of sunsets on a screen is also eye opening and makes you think a lot about how much of our information comes from a secondary or tertiary source and often times from a screen.

Movie 9 - Brian Bress

Brian Bress's work on the interaction between 2D and 3D as well as space and illusion was breathtaking. I felt like I couldn't remove my eyes from the screen because I might miss something. He forces you to examine all of the dimensions involved and makes you question yourself on what you perceive as well. The interaction between the people in the space and the 2D wall draws you in and refuses to let you leave. The eyes on the people were incredibly disturbing. His exhibition of the piece in stills is also interesting because it forces the whole thing back into a 2D piece.