Archive for August, 2012
How Eryk Fitkau started
How do photographers get their start? The late Eryk Fitkau was one of this country’s most successful advertising & fashion photographers. He told a story about how he and his partner Tomyk Sikora got their break, after migrating from Poland. It’s a lesson to us all … “One day we got a call to come […]
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Tags: Australian advertising photographers, costing photo jobs, Eryk Fitkau, how to price photographic jobs, photo of octopus, Polish photographer, The late Eryk Fitkau, Tomek and Eryk, Tomyk Sikora
Kanazawa Study
Rohan Hutchinson, from Kanazawa Study Kanazawa Study is a series of large digital collages by Rohan Hutchinson. He uses a 10×8 inch view camera to capture details and textures of architectural surfaces in a historic locality in Japan. The images have a Zen quality, very cool and detached. They are assembled with great precision to contrast texture, […]
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Tags: Colour Factory Gallery, digital collage of buildings, Kanazawa Study, photographs of Japanese architecture, Rohan Hutchinson, virtual architectural realms
Kelli Connell’s proof
Kelli Connell, paste-up for The Valley, 2006 Kelli Connell‘s intimate portraits of a loving couple have made a strong impact over recent years. They appear to chronicle the relationship of a lesbian couple until you realise that both women are the same person. The photographs have been Photoshopped to create two characters out of one, with […]
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Tags: Catherine Edelman Gallery, Contact sheet exhibition, Kelli Connell, Kelli Connell technique, Kelli Connell The Valley, Kelli Connell working method, photographs of doppelgänger, photographs of gay couple, Proof at Catherine Edelman Gallery, Proofsheet exhibition
Cyr’s trays
John Cyr, Sally Mann’s Developing Tray, 2011 John Cyr is a New York photographer who runs a darkroom printing service, making black & white prints with traditional silver-based materials. In his unique exhibition project called Developer Trays, he has photographed dozens of darkroom trays used by well known photographers. I am photographing available developer trays […]
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Tags: darkroom magic, darkrooms of famous photographers, John Cyr, John Cyr Developer Trays, New York darkroom printing, silver deposit in photography, the developing process
Nix pix & boox
Lori Nix, Circulation Desk, 2012 Lori Nix imagines the future collapse of civilization. She builds small models of disaster scenes out of cardboard, foam and glue, then photographs them using a large 8×10 camera. The intricate dioramas have astonishing detail and convincingly depict scenes of urban collapse after some future apocalypse. At first sight, they […]
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Tags: Blurb book Lori Nix, Blurb book of The City, Blurb The City, collapse of civilization, futuristic destruction, images of future destruction, images of urban destruction, Lori Nix, Lori Nix The City, photographs of ruins
On Robert Hughes
Tom and Chrissie Hughes during Malcolm Turnbull’s speech Isn’t this priceless? Like emperors at the Coliseum. Following the recent death of the art critic Robert Hughes, his brother Tom and wife listen to the tribute in Federal parliament. Malcolm Turnbull gave a remarkable speech on Hughes, deeply felt, funny, and in it’s way worthy of […]
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Tags: art critic Robert Hughes, Malcolm Turnbull on Robert Hughes, Malcolm Turnbull speech, Turnbull on Hughes
Dan in the sky
Greg Neville, Dan falling from the sky, 1982 When my son Dan was born, it seemed like he had fallen from heaven. One day as he crawled along the carpet below me, he reached up as I took a Polaroid of him. Later, I cut the print open and removed some of the carpet, then […]
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Tags: Dan Neville, Daniel falling from the sky, Daniel Neville, manipulated Polaroid, Nev
I could’ve done that #1
Greg Neville: Donald Judd, untitled (1975), Art Gallery of NSW There is a T-shirt going around that takes the old philistine exclamation about modern art “I could have done that” and answers it with “Yeah but you didn’t”. The sentiment might apply to these images I took recently in Sydney. Above, the orderly row of […]
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Tags: found art, Donald Judd untitled (1975), Donald Judd Art Gallery of NSW, I could have done that - yeah but you didn't, found object, art trouvé, Judd box
Catherine Nelson’s planets
The Gallerysmith stall at the Melbourne Art Fair featured the work of photo media artist Catherine Nelson. Her large images of planet-like globes are very striking, as you can see. Nelson trained as a painter before working for years as visual effects designer for films such as Moulin Rouge and Harry Potter. She now works […]
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Tags: Australian wilderness photos, Catherine Nelson, fisheye landscapes, Gallerysmith, natural habitat photos, planet earth photos
The Living and the Dead
Andrew Hazewinkel, Portrait of the Living and the Dead #2, 2010. The Centre for Contemporary Photography stall at the Melbourne Art Fair featured some very un-photographic work by Andrew Hazewinkel. Composed of aluminium leaf on sandpaper, they are ghostly phantasms of the human face, very primitive and strange. Hazewinkel is a Melbourne artists who works […]
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Tags: Andrew Hazewinkel, CCP at Melbourne Art Fair, phantasms of the human face, Portrait of the Living and the Dead
William Kentridge’s Nose
William Kentridge, ensemble (Variation) Costume maquettes for The Nose, 2011 When I approached the William Kentridge stand at the Melbourne Art Fair, I thought “he’s merchandising. Maybe I can afford one of these maquettes!” No such luck, it’s a complete set of 34 for $88000. Kentridge routinely thrills me, it’s almost boring. It is hard […]
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Tags: Costume maquettes for The Nose, William Kentridge The Melbourne Art Fair, William Kentridge The Nose
The Wave
Sarah Vanagt & Katrien Vermeire, The Wave, 2012 In 2011, Belgian artists Sarah Vanagt & Katrien Vermeirea photographed the opening of a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). Nine victims had been buried after their execution by Franco’s supporters in June 1939. After a machine had removed the topsoil, archaeologists came across a skull […]
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Tags: Katrien Vermeire, photography Sydney Biennale, Sarah Vanagt, Sarah Vanagt & Katrien Vermeire The Wave, Spanish Civil War mass grave, The Wave Sydney Biennale
Binh Danh’s Immortality
Binh Danh: Immortality: The Remnants of the Vietnam and American War’ The Sydney Biennale is showing a series by the artist Binh Danh, chlorophyll prints made on leaves from Vietnam. Photographs from the Vietnam War were placed on tropical leaves and left in the sun, which creates an image on the leaf through photosynthesis. Later […]
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Tags: Binh Danh, Binh Danh Sydney Biennale, Binh Danh: Immortality, chlorophyll prints
The Astor saved
Great news today that The Astor cinema in St Kilda has been saved by white knight Ralph Taranto, who plans to restore and preserve the wonderful Art Deco theatre. The Astor is the last single-screen picture palace left in Melbourne, and one of the few in the southern hemisphere. It is without question the best […]
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Tags: Art Deco cinema, Art Deco cinema Melbourne, Astor cinema saved, Barco 4K 32B projector, Ralph Taranto, single-screen picture palace, The Astor cinema St Kilda