Another Show Coming Up
May 27th, 2013
Just as I was leaving to go to the Kinsey Institute for the opening of their juried show, I received a message from Veronika at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago asking if I’d like to participate in a group show at her gallery in June. Of course I said yes. Veronika has a great gallery and she puts on wonderful shows. I’ve shown my work there before.
But the problem is the short amount of time I have to prepare my work for the show. I’ll have 10 photos in the gallery. I’ve gotten them all printed now and I’m waiting for the frames and mattes to be ready. They are promised for Wednesday…so that will give me enough time to get everything framed and ready to deliver to the gallery on Sunday. All large prints, on archival paper printed with my Epson 4900, which is working perfectly these days.
I’m so pleased to be in Gallery Provocateur again. I’ll be there for the opening on June 15. Most, if not all, of the models who were my muses for the photos in the show will also be there for the opening. If you are in the Chicago area I hope I’ll see you there too.
More Fame, Still No Fortune
May 16th, 2013
Tomorrow is the opening of the Kinsey Institute juried show in Bloomington, Indiana. I’ll be there for the opening reception and other festivities. The student newspaper at Indiana University interviewed me for a story about the show. That story was published today.
Kelsey at A Favorite Place
May 13th, 2013
I thought it was about time to get back to posting a few nudes on here. I’ve been photographing in a very special place for me, a place near where I grew up that I used to go to when I was young. It’s beautiful and a perfect setting for nudes, but until recently I had never photographed nudes there. I decided to change that and take my favorite models there to make some photos. You’ve seen some of the results of those shoots here before.
Last summer I was able to visit this special place again with one of my favorite models, Kelsey Dylan. Kelsey did a fantastic job and the light was being good to us most of the time we were there, so I got quite a few “keepers” out of this shoot.
Because the shoot was so successful you can expect to be seeing photos from it for the next few posts. I’m sure I won’t be getting a lot of complaints about having lots of photos of Kelsey on here.
The Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show 2013
May 11th, 2013
I’m quite proud to have a photograph in this year’s Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show. This is a very exclusive show and this is only the second time I’ve had my work accepted for it, and the first time since the show has been moved to the lovely Grunwald Gallery. Here is the information on the opening activities next weekend. I plan to be there for the opening reception. I hope to see you there. Here’s a link to the Kinsey Institute’s post on facebook featuring my photo from the show.
Events
Opening Reception Friday, May17, 6:00-‐8:00pm Grunwald Gallery
Kinsey Institute Open House Saturday, May 18, 11:00am-‐2:00pm The Kinsey Institute
Panel Discussion with Artists Saturday, May 18, 2:30-‐4:30pm Morrison Hall 007
And here is the press release with more detailed information:
The Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University is pleased to announce The Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show 2013. This exhibition will open Friday, May 17 and continue through Saturday, July 13. An opening reception for the Juried Art Show will be held on Friday, May 17, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Grunwald Gallery. All events are free and open to the public. On Saturday, The Kinsey Institute will hold an open house from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, followed by a panel discussion with the artists from 2:30 to 4:30 pm in Morrison Hall, Room 007.
This contemporary art exhibition features paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics, wearable art, metalwork, sculpture, fiber art, and video installations by a mix of local, national, and international artists. The artworks explore themes related to sex, gender, eroticism, reproduction, sexuality, romantic relationships, the politics of sex and gender, and the human figure. The jurors for the 2013 competition were Betsy Stirratt, Director of the Grunwald Gallery of Art, Catherine Johnson-Roehr, Curator of Art, Artifacts and Photographs at The Kinsey Institute and Nanette Brewer, the Lucienne M. Glaubinger Curator of Works on Paper at the IU Art Museum.
Although this is the eighth annual Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show, the exhibition is marking its fifth year with the Grunwald Gallery. “The Kinsey Institute is so pleased to have this opportunity to collaborate with the Grunwald Gallery each year,” says Garry Milius, Associate Curator at The Kinsey Institute and organizer of the juried show, “as it enables us to accept more artworks and a wider range of media for the exhibition.”
Two awards will be given to artists in the exhibit, a $300 cash prize for “Best in Show”, selected by the jurors, and a $200 award for “Gallery Visitors Choice”, which will be voted on by visitors during the opening reception.
The Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show 2013 is part of the 113 Days of Art, a summer long festival in Bloomington, that features visual arts, music, and cinema events on the Indiana University campus.
For further information, please contact the Grunwald Gallery at (812)-855-8490 or grunwald@indiana.edu. We invite you to visit our website at http://www.indiana.edu/~grunwald/. The Grunwald Gallery is accessible to people with disabilities. To learn more about this year’s exhibition and previous juried art shows, visit The Kinsey Institute website at http://www.kinseyinstitute.org. The Grunwald Gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday, noon – 4:00 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. All events are free and open to the public.
My Pinhole Day Photo
April 28th, 2013
Here’s the photo I sent to Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. It’ll show up on their site soon. Nothing special this time. I had hoped to get out and do something more special, but I’m still recovering from the cold that has had me sick for more than a week now, so I just went out in the backyard and did some photos of the dandelions that are trying to take over the lawn. A little bit of hauling the camera and tripod around the yard and I was winded and worn out and ready to come back inside. That’s what this miserable cold virus does to you. Maybe next year I’ll be able to put a little more effort into it. At least I got something that demonstrates with infinite depth of (un)focus provided by a pinhole.
Worldwide Pinhole Day – Sunday April 28, 2013
April 27th, 2013
I’ve been intending to get back to posting nude work from last year, but life keeps getting in the way. For the past week I have been down with a very nasty cold that has simply put me on my back and made it impossible to get anything done. Today it feels like I may be coming out of it. Still feeling rotten, but I didn’t want to let this annual event go by without talking about it here and participating. I hope I’ll be back on my feet in a day or two and I’ll get back to posting my usual things here.
Yes, tomorrow, April 28, is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. Don’t miss it. Have some fun and take some pinhole photos. Pick one you like and upload it to the website. That’s all there is to it.
Don’t have a pinhole camera? Well, you have plenty of time to make one. There are instructions for a variety of pinhole cameras linked on the website.
I’ve participated in Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day many times. I’ve used a wide variety of cameras. I’ve punched a pinhole in a piece of soft metal and duct taped it to the front of my Speed Graphic and shot with the Polaroid back. One of my favorite methods was to take an old T-mount lens adapter and stick a hunk of sheet metal into it with a pinhole. By pushing it to clear to the back of the lens adapter I could get close to a normal lens focal length.
Another time I got fancy with that same approach and put a piece of foam core with a small hole into the T-mount adapter. Then I taped a commercially made, laser-drilled “pinhole” to the back (camera) side of the foam core. Frankly, I didn’t see a lot of difference between the pinhole I made with a pin and the fancy one made with a laser. YMMV.
One of the fun things about a pinhole is, although they are seldom very sharp (after all there is a reason we use lenses for most of our work) they are equally (un)sharp no matter the distance of the subject from the camera. You don’t need to focus a pinhole camera…everything from a millimeter in front of the pinhole to infinity will be equally (un)sharp. Knowing that can help you also understand that the “focal length” of a pinhole is solely determined by the distance from the pinhole to the film or sensor. So, the closer the pinhole to where the image is formed and recorded, the wider an angle will be taken in. And, of course, the further you place the pinhole from where the image is recorded, the more of a telephoto effect you will have.
In general a wide-angle view tends to be preferred since it can better show off the unique infinite depth of focus that pinholes provide. The problem with using pinholes on SLR or DSLR cameras, as I have in the past, is that the action of the mirror in the camera limits how close the pinhole can be placed to the sensor or film.
I’ve lived with that limitation in the past, but this year is different thanks to my little Olympus E-PL1. Because this is a mirrorless camera, the pinhole can be placed deep inside the camera body, creating a wide-angle effect. Wanderlust makes the Pinwide pinhole that does this this. So, that’s the set up I’m using this year.
Here’s the camera with the pinhole mounted:
And here’s a test photo I just took of a couple gone-by tulips in the living room. A six-second exposure at ISO 400 at whatever aperture this pinhole may be. Not too sharp, but that’s what you get with a pinhole:
I’ll play with my pinhole more tomorrow if I’m not feeling too under the weather. I hope you will too. Pinhole cameras have been around longer than photography. Anybody can make one and take photos with it at very little cost. Give it a try.
Judy Dater – No BS
April 13th, 2013
Yesterday I drove over to the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington to attend a lecture by Judy Dater. There’s not much on her Wiki page and as far as I can tell she doesn’t have a website, so you’ll have to do your own research if you don’t know who she is. She is a famous photographer, but as I like to say, one of the good things about being a famous photographer is that you are not famous.
But she’s an important photographer who has been doing wonderful work for nearly 50 years. I’m not going to show you her most famous photo of Imogen Cunningham peeking around a tree at a nude model…but you can probably already see it in your mind. I don’t think the photo Dater is known for is really indicative of most of her work, although she did make a case during her talk that it relates to a series of other photos she has done and that those photos relate to a theme that has occurred in art over centuries.
If you don’t know who Imogen Cunningham is, shame on you. One of the best sources of information about Cunningham, a wonderful photographer and a truly unique person, is the book Dater wrote about her, Imogen Cunningham, a portrait. It’s out of print now, but worth reading if you can find a copy. Dater and Cunningham were friends and it’s because of her connection to Imogen that I became aware of Judy.
Here’s one of my favorites of Dater’s self-portraits, just to give you a taste of her work:
But she’s also known for her remarkable portraits, particularly of women:
So, now that you have some idea who Judy Dater is, let me tell you a bit about my day going to hear her talk.
I got to the building on campus a bit early because I wasn’t sure where I was going, I always get lost on that campus, and I didn’t want to be late. It was in the IU Fine Arts Building, so I wandered through their gallery for a while and then ran into Catherine from the Kinsey Institute who was on her way to set up for the talk. I walked with her to the auditorium where Dater would speak.
Judy Dater is old-school. She had a carousel tray of slides to accompany her talk. There was supposed to be a Kodak projector in the projection room at the back of the auditorium, but it wasn’t there. I stood guard over the tray of slides while Catherine went in search of a projector. She found one, but it didn’t have the right lens for the distance from the booth to the front of the room. So, with some help from the crew that was there to do video, I managed to jury rig a setup down in the auditorium that got the projector close enough to show the photos without cutting them off at top and bottom.
When I go to things like this I never really know what to expect from the photographer who is speaking. Some photographers are great speakers. Some are not. Some have a very hard time talking about their work. Some wander into metaphysics so extensively that I can’t hear them because of the loud noise my bull shit detector is making. I know the sound because I tend to hear it every time I start trying to write something about my own work.
Well, I am very pleased to report that Judy Dater can talk about her work quite entertainingly and she was able to do it without once setting off the bull shit detector. She first showed us a video that she has recently made about her life. It was amusing, revealing, and overall quite enjoyable. Then she got down to the slide show. She simply went through the slides and talked about how it was that these particular photos were made. And this was no BS. Just the facts. And they were real facts…not the sort of thing some of us (don’t look at me) like to make up about all the deep thoughts we were having when we shot something.
Yes, there is deep meaning in Judy Dater’s photographs. But you need to find it yourself. She put it there…possibly without even knowing for sure what the meaning was at the time. For example, someone in the audience asked about an object in one of Dater’s self-portraits. Dater explained that it was the head of a sheep. “I got it at the butcher’s with the idea of using it in a photo,” she said. “It was in the refrigerator and had been there several days. It was starting to smell. So I needed to go ahead and use it and this is what happened.” Yep, that’s kind of how it works around my studio too. I admire her honesty, in her work, in her life, and in how she talked about her work.
So, her talk was a photographer’s talk. “Here are these photos I made. Here’s what was going on when I was making them. This is what I saw that made me want to take this photo. This is what the subject was like. This is the story of what became of the subject.” Entertaining, informative facts that deepened my appreciation of each photograph.
For the camera snobs out there, I have to report that someone in the audience asked the inevitable question, What camera do you use? “Most of my work has been done with a 4×5 Deardorff,” she answered. “I have a Hasselblad but I have never been comfortable with the square format. But I don’t shoot film anymore and now I just use a digital point and shoot.” There’s that honesty again. As always, it’s the vision that matters, not the tool used to capture it.
There was a reception at the Kinsey Institute following the lecture and I was happy to get a few minutes to talk with Judy. She was quite gracious and charming as we had that awkward “We’re strangers, but we’re talking with each other anyway” conversation. I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet this remarkable woman.
After her talk I walked to the reception back at the Kinsey Institute with Dater and several others. We took a detour to view the wonderful murals by Thomas Hart Benton in the IU Auditorium. Judy was trying to take some photos of the murals with her point and shoot Canon camera, but had some difficulty getting the flash to turn off. I was able to show her how to do it. That was the high point of the day for me. Now that will go on my resume as, “Photo Assistant to Judy Dater.”
But first I have to get this damn bull shit alarm to turn off.
Time’s Up
April 7th, 2013
Sometimes I feel the need to wade out over my head in the deep end of the pool, get on my soapbox and spout off. So, here goes a rant that’s been building up for a while. We’ll get back to the irregularly scheduled nudity soon. I’m sticking a bunch of Wikipedia links in this post to get you started if you want to look into the things I’ll mention. Please don’t assume that Wikipedia has everything you need to know about any of these subjects or artists.
Dada is my favorite period of art. Dada was a reaction to the horrors of World War I. That’s one of my favorite pieces of Dada art up above, “Indestructible Object” by Man Ray. It’s a reproduction Man Ray made of his earlier piece, “Object To Be Destroyed” which was destroyed by a group of protesting art students, much to the delight of some of the original Dadaists.
This quote is in the linked Wikipedia entry for Dada:
“Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration of antiart to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in the 1960s and the movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism.”
That’s a quote from Marc Lowenthal, translator’s introduction to Francis Picabia‘s I Am a Beautiful Monster: Poetry, Prose, And Provocation
I would go even further and say that everything that has happened in art since Dada has been a continuation of Dada, a commentary on Dada, or a reaction to Dada.
And the basic message of Dada is, “Screw the Academy.” Dada rejected everything in the world, including the world of art, that lead the world to the disaster that was the First World War.
Jackson Pollock’s paintings are certainly the obvious, inevitable result of the thinking begun by Dada. It presents the same message in more specific form: “Screw Painting.” Painting has yet to recover from Pollock.
No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock
As the quote above indicates, Andy Warhol is just restating Dada. Tilda sleeping in a box presents the same “Screw The Academy” artistic statement as Duchamp’s urinal.
“Fountaine” by Marcel Duchamp
Well, here’s the problem with this century of artists delivering the message, “Screw The Academy”: They have become The Academy. It seems all that can be said now in The Academy is “Screw The Academy.” Kinda funny, actually.
A friend said a few years ago, “Isn’t it time someone took Postmodernism out in a field and put a bullet in its head?” Well, Post-postmodernism hasn’t really caught on. I don’t think the art world can really figure out what’s next because The Academy is all caught up in saying, “Screw The Academy.”
I love Dada. But, really folks, it was a century ago. Really, it’s been done. It’s over. Let’s get on with making some art.
So, what next? I don’t know. I actually don’t really care. Well, it would be nice if we went back to something like Romanticism with a 21st Century perspective, since I think my work tends to fall within that tradition. Maybe, heaven forbid, artists could be allowed to make art that is beautiful again. That’s what I like to do, but The Academy hates beauty. Well, you know what I say to that:
Screw The Academy.
Kinsey
April 5th, 2013
I received notice today that this photo of Kat taken at South Coyote Buttes has been accepted for the annual juried show at the Kinsey Institute.
I’m very pleased to be in the show this year. I love the Kinsey Institute and think their work is very important. And it’s hard to get in this show. I enter it every year, but this is only the second time I’ve had a photo accepted.
And, of course, I’m also quite pleased that my lovely friend Kat is the subject of the photo. Thank you Kat!
The show will open May 17 and run through July 13 at the Grunwald Gallery of Art on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. I plan to attend the opening.
2257 Lawsuit Update
April 2nd, 2013
As many of you may already know, I am one of the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to have the laws commonly known as 2257 and 2257A declared to be unconstitutional. The suit was filed against the Attorney General of the United States in 2009.
Well, we finally have a trial date. That will be June 3 in Federal Court in Philadelphia.
As part of the preparation for the trial, I recently gave a deposition to a government lawyer in Cleveland. That was a 6-hour ordeal, but it is over now. Next will be the trip to Philadelphia where I’ll be able to testify about why this law violates my (and possibly your) First and Fourth Amendment rights and makes it impossible for me to create completely legal photographs which are protected free speech under our constitution.
