Response to Vic Muniz

I really enjoyed the work of Vic Muniz and the powerful impact he had in the documentary. I think it’s very cool and unique to use food as a template for an outline of people and pictures used for photography. It is a very creative way to come full circle with the trash workers to build their outlines with recyclable objects. I thought it was very interesting to see the positive attitudes and outlooks in the personalities in the workers. Most people had a smile on their face, despite their job and he various hardships in their lives. I’m glad that Vic was able to document them and make a big impact in their lives by showing them how important they are. I especially liked when Vic used the bottle caps and various smaller objects to show texture in the faces. Vic’s wife brings up a valid point, however, with psychologically affecting the workers and taking them out of their “bubble.” I definitely feel that the workers were living in a bubble, but a lot of people all over the world do, especially when they live in rural areas. When someone lives in an area and has a certain way of life for so long, even their whole life, they often don’t know any better and only know things that learn about from others. They often don’t experience things for themselves, but Vic was able to give them that rare opportunity. Although there was a risk of the psychological health of the workers to change negatively, I think it was worth the risk for Vic to do this project. 

Notes 1/25/16

-content and concepts are more important
-photography for conceptual art is perfect since it's based on looking
- labels on works of art make you understand its meaning and look at it again
-photography is based on nature of representation
-Ken Josephson says there is always an illusion and you're looking at a picture of reality
-John Pfahl alters space and landscape to show dimension
-we assume the farther the objects are, they are the same size,but appear smaller
-the sense of space is being altered in Pfahl's photos
-Zeke Berman, a sculptor, saw photographs changed the way his objects were created
-Georges Rousse painted the walls to change the way his architecture designs were viewed
-David Hockney was the first to show collage art  in photographs
-his photographs look like lots of little frames with movement
-Vic Muniz works with no conventional materials in his photographs, like food
-if you pay attention to the food in his photos, you don't see the photograph
-photography's biggest job is to persuade, over an other medium

Response to Cindy Sherman video

In Nobody’s Here but Me, Cindy Sherman does a great job of depicting postmodernism through her photography. Most of the women in her photos demonstrate what we talked about in class, that are not just selling a product or an image, they are selling a lifestyle. However, I do believe that Cindy Sherman is trying to develop a deeper meaning than that. She takes a concept, such as female vulnerability, for example, and really highlights that emotion in her subjects’ faces, like the woman that appeared to be covering most of her face under the covers. I really liked what Jamie Lee Curtis said about Cindy Sherman not trying to be a feminist, but really showing those qualities, and I’d have to agree with her. She depicts some serious feminist issues in her work, including the male gaze. For example, when the woman was leaning on the front door in the hallway, was she rejected by the man of the house because he was no longer interested in her for an insane reason like not being beautiful or young enough anymore? Another thing I really loved was when she used the medical dolls in place of actual people so she could still shoot some naked body photos after profanity was more regulated in the industry. I love artists who find their way around certain regulations and I believe Cindy Sherman did it in a very interesting and creative way. Although I’m not a big fan of her later work, just because of the blood and it being less realistic, I do think she does well to send a very powerful message in her work. 

Notes 1/13/16

- understanding of history and reality has been through the photograph
- "we start to believe a photograph more than reality"
- life is presented by a series of images
- concept and context become much more important
- crossing over  of ideas and styles is encouraged and expected
- modernism was objective and documentary
- postmodernism was subjective and fabricated photos were common
- documentary photographs in the 60's, for example, were supposed to be truthful
- pop art uses old photographs and uses a twist of their own personality
- Frank Majore was an important postmodernist
- it is less of a product ad, and more selling a lifestyle
-postmodernism means everything is an image
- Sherrie Levine was an appropriationist
-she was saying there is nothing left for an artist to do but copy
- it is a representation of an reproduction of an object
- Cindy Sherman is one of the most celebrated postmodernist photographers