brianmc Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 @intelly: I like your work. Some of them are very amusing and made me laugh (in a good way). Your prints look really nice too. Where are you applying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intelly Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 @intelly: I like your work. Some of them are very amusing and made me laugh (in a good way). Your prints look really nice too. Where are you applying? Thanks! So far I've been rejected from UTA and Indiana University-not really shocked since they're such competitive schools and I'm fairly young compared to more establish applicants. I'm also applying to: CCA University of Washington University of New Mexico Ferris State (Kendall College of Art) Northern Illinois University Pacific Northwest College or Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathancotephoto Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Hey all, Im just wrapping up this project. I was hoping to get some opinions or criticism on it. My link Its the first project ive completed since school that wasnt photo based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmc Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Hey all, Im just wrapping up this project. I was hoping to get some opinions or criticism on it. My link Its the first project ive completed since school that wasnt photo based. Nathan, It took me a minute to decipher the image underneath, but that's good, it kept me looking. How would you display this if not with photo documentation? I think it's an interesting piece, it could be very powerful if the circumstances around it are just right, which they pretty much are, but the balance of public opinion needs to not be so balanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmc Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Do you still have the piece? Take a ton of pics. Maybe climb up on a latter and shoot straight down filling the frame, not so much to compose a photograph, but to document it as an art piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathancotephoto Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 I am hoping to bring the piece to the gallery that displays my photographic work. If they accept it I will be photographing it there. It will be hung or bolted to the wall(which shows the rigidity of the flag:having the appearance of being in a liquid state or flowing). I just wanted to get the image out to get some opinions(maybe a little insecure about my first non photo piece in a couple years). Thats a good idea brian. Im going to have to try to find a ladder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmc Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 I am hoping to bring the piece to the gallery that displays my photographic work. If they accept it I will be photographing it there. It will be hung or bolted to the wall(which shows the rigidity of the flag:having the appearance of being in a liquid state or flowing). I just wanted to get the image out to get some opinions(maybe a little insecure about my first non photo piece in a couple years). Thats a good idea brian. Im going to have to try to find a ladder. My bad. I was under the impression that it was wet, thinking that you couldn't hang it. I still think it would make a cool limited edition print too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelwebster Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 Hey all, Im just wrapping up this project. I was hoping to get some opinions or criticism on it. My link Its the first project ive completed since school that wasnt photo based. I believe its a little too easy to decipher, its an american flag, a machine gun, and you get american aggression in foreign policy (or some slightly different interpretation). The way that the gun is portrayed by the flag being cast around it is more poetic than having a gun on top of the flag, or a gun embroidered in the flag, but its still too one dimensional to affect the viewer. Direct political statements reaffirm the viewpoint of people that agree with you, and simply anger people who dont agree with you, without giving them any reason to see another side of the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlenova Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) @nathancontephoto: There is no question that you have a great deal of technical ability. Just curious...Where do you live? Because, I think your rodeo images or some of the North Dakota images have a stronger political voice than the terrorist portraits or gun-under-the-flag type stuff. Images like the target practice and carnival are exciting to me, because I am so far removed from that way of life...and they don't look like you are trying to make a statement. It's effortless and real...with the right editing, you can make a real statement about what you care about. This is an article you might find interesting... http://whitehotmagaz...is-now-ps1/1602 Echoing Michaelwebster's comments...The flag is this loaded thing....I actually just heard a lecture about this recently. It's difficult to use these loaded symbols when you are trying to say something new. Edited March 1, 2010 by littlenova Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathancotephoto Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I agree with you both. Its like a one liner. I feel like its a starting point to work from and create more 3 dimensional work. More personal. I felt driven to make it so there it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rama Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 @michaelwebster Thank you for your comments. I don't know this artist, will look him up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelwebster Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 I agree with you both. Its like a one liner. I feel like its a starting point to work from and create more 3 dimensional work. More personal. I felt driven to make it so there it is. I think your work could definitely expand in interesting directions with more 3-d stuff; this piece just didnt feel like yours, it doesnt feel like an expansion of what you are already doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmc Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I think your work could definitely expand in interesting directions with more 3-d stuff; this piece just didnt feel like yours, it doesnt feel like an expansion of what you are already doing. Nathan, I think the piece would benefit from anonymity. It could definitely be read many different ways. I see it as sort of being patriotic, but I would understand if the family members of someone overseas in uniform saw it differently. I don't think it is necessarily a one liner. I think it's better than Piss Christ. I think it would be fun to debate the meaning and intention with someone while viewing it in a gallery. I agree with those who say that it doesn't feel like your other work, but you are also pretty diverse in your image making. I really like your images like The Source and The Fire, but I absolutely love your landscapes too, especially when they have big dramatic cloud formations stealing the show. Your cityscapes are quite beautiful too. Even when there is seemingly nothing there of great interest to look at you capture beautiful compositions and create space that I can get lost in. And the roadkill are great too. You have several really great portfolios. I definitely think you should get a couple of offers for grad school. With that being said, I don't know the first thing about photography or what they are looking for. I think a lot of us have a tendency to want to get political in our work right now. I know I do. I'm fighting the urge to let it take over my work, but I'm losing the battle in a lot of my paintings. I'm trying to suppress it, but I'm not sure how successful I have been. I would love my work to raise questions in the viewers mind and make them think about issues without really shoving my opinion down their throats. I guess I would like to be poetic and not preachy. I have a little bit of a sarcastic personality and I love satire, which makes it harder to be a poet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathancotephoto Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Thanks brian. The flag...now titled as "Section 8a" Which is the federal code meaning: "The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property". I may have jumped to a conclusion as well by calling it a one liner. I worked on it a little more, getting it ready to hang last night and found it still impacted me, standing before it. One thing that tends to pain me as an artist is that I am expected to follow a narrow conceptual path in my work. I love damien hurst's early work and some of the various skull projects he has composed but...i get tired of it. I thought his early piece, i think titled something like "For the love of..." which was a diamond and platinum skull was masterful and anything after that just seemed to repeat. Similar to pop music, once they have a hit just keep repackaging the same thing and the public will buy it. Anyway, rant over, with a little understanding i think "Section 8a" can be taken differently from different people and i felt a bit patriotic by making it. I know that right now I am being influenced by the books i read. One of them being The peoples history of the United states by Howard Zin. Although the city scapes and Roadkill projects seem to stand in contrast with one another they both deal with time and exploring my own finite state of mind. I just watched a discussion on Richard Prince. The speaker was great, she discussed the similarities and concerns through out his work. The Nurse paintings look nothing like the Marlboro men riding across the west, which look nothing like his girlfiend series(motorcycle babes ) but they all share similar concerns. Im not sure if I see that yet in my work...but maybe in 20 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlenova Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 (edited) @nathancotephoto & brianmc: I don't think it's about suppressing the urge to make politcial statements in your work. I think it's about adding something NEW to the conversation. We have seen the flag manipulated...Are there any other new ways to say "America" besides touching a flag? If you can mimic a master in sculpture or painting or photography...That is amazing. But, where is your voice in that? It separates the artist from the technician. Nathan:When you say "finite state of mind"...what do you mean? That means your mind has limitations. When you say time...What does that mean? These are super important questions. I think you have a fascinating source of material in where you live. (Based on our other conversations...) Defining America, defining North Dakota and Defining yourself in proximity to both of those looks like where you are headed. That's something that is uniquely yours. You know I am a fan, but I tell it like it is, bro...hahahaha p.s. Anything is better than Piss Christ. hahahaha I liked that btw. Edited March 2, 2010 by littlenova Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathancotephoto Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Littlenova, I definitely agree that the work should add the the conversation. It may not now but Im sure this piece is more of a stepping stone to another that may. It all takes time and critical discussion. Both of which Im hoping to find in a MFA program! I really appreciate your honest comments brian, michael and littlenova, it leads to progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelwebster Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 @nathancotephoto & brianmc: I don't think it's about suppressing the urge to make politcial statements in your work. I think it's about adding something NEW to the conversation. We have seen the flag manipulated...Are there any other new ways to say "America" besides touching a flag? If you can mimic a master in sculpture or painting or photography...That is amazing. But, where is your voice in that? It separates the artist from the technician. Nathan:When you say "finite state of mind"...what do you mean? That means your mind has limitations. When you say time...What does that mean? These are super important questions. I think you have a fascinating source of material in where you live. (Based on our other conversations...) Defining America, defining North Dakota and Defining yourself in proximity to both of those looks like where you are headed. That's something that is uniquely yours. You know I am a fan, but I tell it like it is, bro...hahahaha p.s. Anything is better than Piss Christ. hahahaha I liked that btw. I dont think its about taking the political out of your work either. One way or another your work will be political, if its an abstract painting or your photos of dead roadkill or your new piece with the flag, all art is political. The question is how to use the political in your work consciously and in a subtle way that will show the viewer something they were unaware of. That doesnt mean that you have to uncover the watergate scandal and photograph it, but use your visual tools you have been trained with to uncover something dealing with the politics of imagery as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbadger Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I have a friend who is doing somewhat similar work. He got a bunch of military stuff -some from older wars (grenades, bullets, gas masks, rifles etc.) And he used fleece and stretched it over the objects and used some sort of hardener and made imprints of the objects on the fleece and then suspended the fleece onto to a wooden stretcher with grommets and twine. Sometimes the pressed images started to lose a little bit of their easily recognized nature and became sort of humanoid. He used almost but slightly off military colors of material but then painted on top of the fleece with really candy "pop" colors. It was really subtle and at the same time bold and sort of made a conversation out of the two approaches. I think it's a really interesting idea process wise and formally speaking (the sort of ghost images of objects through impressions). I think using subtlety and playing with the ability to distinguish (or not distinguish) the objects/patterns/ associations is what will make it work when you pursue it further. And I think you are right Nathan. It's one of those things that is interesting in itself but more importantly brings you to a bunch of different places where you can develop it and live with it a while before it becomes exactly what it has the potential to be. But again, I do enjoy the work, I just think you can push it more and bring it somewhere even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riskynostalgia Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I pretty much meant anything representational. With conceptual backing or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandini Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 http://www.joshuakarjala.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwen Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 here is my website http://www.mnartists.org/Gwendolyn_Daly_Comings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meich Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 www.meichenwaxer.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlenova Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 @meich: Those hair images are kind of amazing! Film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meich Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 @meich: Those hair images are kind of amazing! Film? Thanks! The photos of myself with the hair are taken on film, with my trusty hassy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlenova Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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