Aaron Hobson 'Cinemascapes'

Aaron Hobson is the star of his own hauntingly beautiful photos. His different take on traditional panoramic photography is something I would like to try. Our focal planes are shifted, and there is more than the eye can see.
There is also an open-ended narrative that provokes us to ask- what exactly is going on here?
I almost see Hobson's work as resting in the space between Sam Taylor-Wood's Revolutionary Seconds, and Gregory Crewdson's Twilight or Beneath the Roses.


'a decisive moment'


'visitors'


'answer the fucking phone'


...and a photograph from his new work-in-progress series 'Femme verite' which continues to follow Hobson's personal narrative through self-portraiture while introducing a female alter.


'complacent'

*They even have the black bars to emphasize the cinematic feeling!*

Amy Bennett 'Neighbors'

wooooah, these are actually really awesome. I have to admit, I'm a bit of a photography snob, and I. don't. like. painting.... not very much anyway. Probably because the best paintings were the ones I did when I was about 3 or 4 of the 'Dangerous 'O' Houses' series, and the only things I've tried to paint at art school have failed miserably. Anyway, I'm usually more drawn to cool bright sparkley paintings-Ruben Patterson, Sara Hughes etc.. or old dramatically dark staged ones which remind me of narrative photography. But I'm learning..

Amy Bennett's series 'Neighbors' are studies of small models which she has constructed herself.

Losing It, oil on panel,2006

Someday You'll Long for This, oil on canvas,2006

We Can Never Go Home Again, oil on panel, 2006

They're kind of reminiscent of Gregory Crewdson, in the way they're little staged urbanscapes,
or the photos I took of the Pegasus model...

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled from the series 'Twilight', 2001

Jad Oakes 'Preserving Time'

"If we were able to condense, or squeeze a period of time in to a single static image, what would it look like? Compressing and layering seconds, a sequence of events, or movements in chronological order giving a static image a journey. These are moments preserved of a point in time, that take place over a period of time. Preserving an existence or a memory." - Jad Oakes



This is good to look at as an example of a way in which linear time can be interpreted through a static medium and works in contrast with the time-based work of Hiroshi Sugimoto. Sugimoto's long exposures of theatres and seascapes appear fluid and transcendent, rather than layered actions like Oakes'.

When reflecting on some of the experiements I did last year, I was working in a similar way to Oakes, layering action upon action in attempt to build a narrative story and simultaneously show the development of time.

Yves Medam

"Art is a lie that permits us to unveil the truth." -Yves Medam


Yves Medam, L'aube, 2005, Impression jet d'encre / Inkjet print


Yves Medam, Louvre 2, 2005, Impression jet d'encre / Inkjet print


Yves Medam, Regards, 2005, Impression jet d'encre / Inkjet print


Medam seems to illustrate time passing through the construction of a 'scene' from images of the same place, but from various angles.

AES+F // Last Riot

"In this new world, real war looks like a virtual-reality game, and prison torture appears as the sadistic exercises of modern valkyries. Technologies and materials transform the artificial environment into a fantasy landscape of the new age. This paradise is also a mutated world where time is frozen, where all past epochs neighbour the future, where inhabitants lose their sex and become closer to angels – a world where the most severe, vague or erotic imagination is natural in the fake, unsteady 3D perspective." -from artist statement



Last week Dr. Erika Wolf presented the single channel digital video work 'Last Riot' by Russian artists AES+F. Their work is something I have looked to for inspiration many times, but until now I have only viewed and understood them as still photographic works. Seeing them now as moving images they become something completely different.
A few key things to recognize from the presentation:

-The work is not just a simple continuous video. It utilizes a program which morphs still photographs into one another, making the work appear as though it is stopping and starting, or moving backwards at times.

-The disjointed flow narrative does not progress, and moves in circles in a way. There is this constant anticipation of action, and you can’t help but wish that there was some kind of impact or resolve.

-“Group isolation” of subjects and actors. Interplay between people is somehow strained and unnatural, there's almost moments of contact, but not quite.

-“Movie Realism” plays on concept of violence, though there is no impact, no blood. Reminiscent of the virtual gaming world.

-Post, post photography and a return to academic painting techniques (Baroque painting, Caravaggio, Michaelangelo).

YooouuuTuuube: Alice in 36 rows, 36 columns

This is crazy. You can upload any video of your choice from You Tube and watch multiple frames at one time.
Transform vids here

For The Love Of Wispa

Following a huge public driven fanbase via Facebook, Cadbury recently decided to reinstate their famous Wispa chocolate bar which was popular back in the 80s. The enthusiasm was so great, that an ad campaign was launched to promote this, asking fans to pledge or 'donate themselves' to the cause.

There was an overwhelming response of 2,281 pledges by fans of the chocolate bar, and a few were selected to star in the final TV advertisment which aired only once on public television.

The result? A massive choreographed montage of fans, hundreds of simultaneous actions, and a wee film filled full of love. awww....

the making is also worth looking at...

Serial Cut//Pop-up

There's something fascinating about pop up books. I don't know what it is, but I've always found them exciting. When I think about it, perhaps it's the 2D representaion of a 3D situation (a photograph) which is then arranged to provide an imitation of 3D depth. Or the faceted image which may be a 3D object, but only readable from a 2D perspective. And then what if the pop up image is then re-photographed?

I found these works, which are actually advertisments by Serial Cut for the Renfe train service in Spain...

Wolf and Pig

Carousel: A Cinema 21:9 Production

Rachel showed us this advertisment for Phillips' new 21:9 television yesterday, The ratio 21:9 is common of many films seen in theatres nowdays. So in tune with the idea of being a cinematic tv, Adam Berg (Stink Digital) wanted to create something which reflected this idea. In 'Carousel' I think there is a strong sense of distortion of time... It deals with a narrative story whose motion is frozen into stillness, then layers movement on top as we as viewers are propelled through and around this stillness. Kind of like moving through a three dimensional photograph of a captured action. If that makes sense.
It is also mentioned in behind-the-scenes that the 21:9 ratio works with your peripheral vision, so we get the whole story.

When you watch it here at the Phillips website it becomes an interactive experience.
You can move through the looped sequence at your own speed, stopping at embedded hotspots to see a bit of behind-the-scenes stuff. You can also watch the beginning credits which are quite Sin City-ish...
aaaand you can see for yourself whether or not real people are used!! So so awesome.