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Friday Exhibitions

Feng Li: Many of his photographs are very intense in both their subject matter and the way the artist took the photo. They give you up close shots that transform the space feel like you are experiencing Asia in a very different way than most would assume, in a way different than what his photojournalism job would create. The photograph of the man lighting a cigarette with a bloody hand and missing fingertips creates this idea in the viewers’s minds of what happened to him. I think its interesting that the artist used pretty much only individual shots in his work. He does a great job capturing the realty. I like how expressive and different each photograph is from one another. Many of his photographs are very different from the photos he would make for his job so it is interesting to see the balance between his art and his daily life. 

Remi Fernandez: I like the way Remi has a lot of images from regular paper cut up and displayed on a table. This gives a more intimate approach to the exhibition because you have to rummage through all of his work and you can interact with it. All of his images seem very casual. Some of this has to do with the fact that he did not use expensive printing paper, but rather normal paper. I think by using this paper, it makes sense for the exhibition because it is very casual and it matches the photographs he makes.

Yingguang Guo: I think it was interesting that the artist tacked the subject of arranged marriages in China and their distant coexistences in their relationships. I liked how the artist used photography and mixed media along with her book to address these issues. The use of paper and string in her work and photography, to me, shows that they are not bound together, much like these people in these situations. When you fall in love, they can be woven together to create something new but since these people are distant, they are separate items. I liked the very abstract way that she conveys her work. 

Prune Phi: I liked this artist’s use of using only black and white with red accents as the colors used for this exhibition. Without clear context as to what this exhibit is addressing, it is interesting to have it be open to interpretation. I would like to know why there was a portrait of a woman buy her eyes are covered along with a photograph of teeth and a stapled wound and an image of a black hole all lined up vertically. Some of the images and paintings are more abstract which I like because they are open to interpretation. 

Victor Jaget: I thought this artist did a great job with his use of color. I loved the blue walls that surrounded all of the images. It really made the color from both the wall and the photographs pop. The vibrant colors in all of his images such as the pink show against the pink background of the image and the photograph of the orange really stood out to me with the saturation of colors. 

Pasha Rafiy and Laurianne Bixhain: This two-artist exhibition brought to mind this idea of power. In today’s world, I thought it was cool how different these artists were from one another. I loved Laurianne Bixhain’s One the Other End project and this was very different from the rest of the exhibition. It was black and white and carried a delicate feeling. While the rest of the exhibition gave the viewers the sense of a power structure. I thought it was interesting that the artist statement referenced Trump before you walked in and I definitely felt this sense of power in the photographs, especially after reading the prompt. 

Marina Losada: Marina’s photographs were absolutely beautiful. I loved her landscape photos and I thought that each one was taken in amazing ways. Her Urban Love project was really cool because it grasped the concept of love without showing people. Her photographs of hearts was enough to get the message across. What was really cool about this exhibition was that it was in our hostel and in the dining area so we could look around everyday at breakfast and really take in her work. The opening reception was really cool for this exhibition because it was different than I was aspecting. It was very relaxed, especially since we were staying there and it was casual to just walk around looking at her work. 

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Thursday Exhibitions

Todd Hido: I really enjoyed Todd Hido’s portraits and pictures of landscapes in his exhibit. His portraits were stunning and I loved his concept for his work. A few of the portraits were of peoples’s backs and you could still figure out the person’s identity and personality. I liked how he set up some of the portraits where they were paired with a landscape. I thought this gave the exhibit more dimension rather than just portraits. I thought the landscapes that he chose matched each individual really well.   

Patrick Willicq: It was cool how the video that was playing when you first walked in had a lot of people and each person had a short clip about their story. I liked this format because you were able to see a lot of peoples’s stories in a short time. Patrick creates a strong sense of hope through his photographs and images of people from the video and the exhibition. For his installation piece of life vests, it was incredibly powerful to have the large number of actual life vests people used to migrate. It makes these events seem more real to those who have never experienced anything like this. In his photographs of all of the migrants together, I liked the vibrant colors he used to create this sense feeling in his images. 

Rene Burri:I liked that he incorporated a lot of different ideas and concepts in his work. Some of the sketches of Egypt are quick, some works are collages, and the others, photographs. I liked how he varied his work. One of the first pieces in his exhibition was a mathematic sketch of pyramids and I thought this was a cool image to start with because it makes you think about how complex and amazing it was that people were able to these in Egypt so long ago. He brings you into their culture through his street photography and portraits of people. Some of the sketches are colorful and with detail while others took only a couple seconds to make. I liked seeing the variation and different aspects in his work. 

Jonas Bendiksen: Jonas’s work photographing seven men who claim to be the returned messiah is very interesting. The images are very powerful and convey a lot of emotions from the viewers. As a religious person, it is interesting to see multiple people who think they are the son of God. Each of their lifestyles are different which makes you wonder what Jesus was actually like two thousand years ago. Some of the “Jesuses” were a little more elaborate than others which calls to mind whether they are just doing this as an act or if they really believe they are Jesus. I think it was great that Jonas was able to capture this in his photography. I liked how Jonas was able to capture the personality of each individual and you can get an idea of how they convince others that they are Jesus. I also liked the videos of these individuals and the place where they chose to place this exhibition suits Jonas’s work well since it is inside a church-like building. 

William Wegman: I like his idea that the dog is actually us and are the dog and this calls to mind the idea of being human. I love the way the dog poses in elaborate outfits. His use of color in his photos is great too because the dog is one solid color, so the background really pops. The close up detail shots make this idea of becoming human more impactful because in some of the photographs, you can’t tell it is a picture of a dog at first glance. I had to wonder how William was able to pose his dog so well and I wondered how long the process of photographic each sense and outfit took. The portrait shots give the dog a new personality in each picture. I loved his work with cubism in some of his portraits because it gave a dimensional aspect to the photographs and it was fun to look at how the dog interacted with them. 

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Tuesday Exhibitions

Tuesday Exhibitions

Wiktoria Wojciechowska: It was really amazing that we got the chance to talk to Wiktoria about her work in person. This group time with her gave a very personal edge to the exhibition rather than just reading from a page about the work that was shown. She was also able to give important information about the work that was not expressed in the excerpt that was on the wall at the entrance of the exhibition. I thought her portraits of all of the soldiers was very powerful. The photograph that was the most striking was the photograph of all of the soldiers with the soldiers who lost their lives covered in gold leaves. This image was great for Wiktoria to have in her show because it perfectly demonstrated the consequences of war. 

Anne Golaz: The quote from the beginning of Anne’s exhibition about how “photography’s dramatic force is to be found in its irreversibility” is a perfect way to describe her work. The photographs of her childhood home create a permanent documentation of her early life and is a way of her to remember her family. The video of the man walking and interacting with the landscape around the home almost made you feel like you were immersed in the environment because the projection was life-size and the man was walking towards you in one of the clips. Anna photographed mundane details that made you feel like you were getting an inside glimpse into her family’s life. I liked how she had people in the some of her photographs rather than just showing the environment because it gave a more personal touch to her work. 

Anton Roland Laub: Anton’s use of photography to capture what might have been forgotten about his city was great. I loved the use of the map of the city as the background for one of the walls of the exhibit. It made the space feel more personal. The religious churches he photographs bring to light the idea of people trying to hide religious ideology. I liked his concept for the exhibition because I would have never guessed that government buildings would try to overtake areas where old churches are located. 

Pauline Olthelten: Pauline’s use of taking the ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary and relating that to people’s everyday lives calls to my mind the idea of creating art from anything. I appreciated the video and slideshow she made to capture this idea because it shows people who are unaware of her presence and just minding their own business. It was really cool that the place she chose to take these photos was at La Defense in Paris. I could relate to this exhibition and Pauline’s work because we were just there and I also took pictures outside where her photographs were taken. I was focused on photographing smokers in this area and I thought it was interesting that my photographs were similar to hers in that we both took photos of people who were just living their normal lives in a public space. 

Monica Alcazar-Duarte: Monica’s work was interesting because it brought the idea of humans embracing the artificial to the forefront. I thought it was interesting that she used human’s desire to learn about space as the way to tie this idea of artificial together. The new space race and the need to explore the universe was a topic I never thought of having as a piece of photography. In today’s world, math and science, along with learning about space, is seen as completely separate from the art world. It was cool to see these to concepts interweaving with one another through Monica’s work. The black walls of the exhibition create this space-like environment where you feel you have been transported outside of the exhibition in Arles. The use of hanging circular images dangling from the ceiling and the way they are lit makes them seem like planets and stars. Monica’s exhibition brings to mind the human nature of curiosity.