Vandilism of Art

Monday morning this graffiti showed up on the side wall of the modern wing of the Art Institute and this really makes me mad.   Art the same time I wish I had been able to photograph it before they power washed it because this side wall of the museum is rather foreboding with the 10 foot tall limestone wall. The vandals, which I suspect may be the student inhabitants of the institute, clearly thought it needed something a little more colorful.  Maybe it was meant as a statement about art or the architecture of the building, or maybe just a way for some punk to get some publicity for what he considers art.  HOW DARE YOU! I must mention that the School of the Art Institute is offering a class on Graffiti Art this semester, coincidence?

I wonder what Renzo Piano would think of what they did to his artwork?  I imagine he would expect this type of vandalism to his Pompidou Center in France, but perhaps the building already has a bit too much color.

With some artwork vandalism is expected or even encouraged.  If you walk just a half block east of the new modern wing you will find Chicago's only large scale sculpture by Richard Serra over in grant park.  Compared to recent works the sculpture I am referring to is actually rather small. This 32-ton and 17 foot high Reading Cones sculpture, named for Reading, Pennsylvania where it was made, creates a very odd private space in the middle of the park.  The foreboding scale of the sculpture combined with other factors such as the distance the sculpture is placed from other activities within the park, the private space inside the sculpture, and the industrial oxidized material of the sculpture invites graffiti. 

At one of the schools I teach at there has been some recent theft and vandalism of student work displayed in the main corridor of our building. One student had a drawing stolen that took about 50 hours to complete, and another had multiple pastel paintings tagged.  Again, HOW DARE YOU!  In the case of the art institute the wall can at least be power washed, but what type of person tags a work of art rather than the wall behind it or says "Hey, that would look good on my living room wall" and steals work.

I don't worry as much about my students work being stolen because (aside from a couple of my advanced students) we photographers work with negatives and can therefore make a new version with only a small financial cost and time in the darkroom or at the computer.  But still, HOW DARE YOU!

What is the soundtrack to your work?

In a recent conversation with some of my students I was asking them to describe the mood of their work.  I wanted them to not only describe the mood they felt when making the work, but also the mood they feel when looking at the work, and the mood they want the audience to feel.

An analogy of a soundtrack was refereed to during our conversation.  a soundtrack like a recipe of multiple moods and images.  One student described their work in reference to exact songs that have the same emotions as the images he/she makes.   The final body of images becomes an album rather than a single greatest hit that is more powerful because of the variety of emotion being mixed into the greater set of images. 

I often listen to music while making work and I have come to realize how much music can affect my process of shooting, productivity, and my ability to think/process a space (My best images are made when listening to music with similar mood to my images ).

While I often listen to a lot of punk while making work, I think that a lot of music by these artists would be in the soundtrack to my work:  Cat Stevens, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Tracy Chapman, and a lot of Smashing Pumpkins.

What is your soundtrack?

Eye-Fi

I learned about a great new piece of technology for photographers today called Eye-Fi.  Eye-Fi are new wireless transmitting SD media cards that allow you to automatically upload your photos to your computer through the internet.  The cards come in sizes of 2-8 gb and price between $50-$150.  The top of the line model will transmit RAW files at class 6 speeds and can be set to automatically backup or automatically delete files once they have been safely downloaded to your specified folder on your computer (or one of 25 photo sharing or social networking sites).  For the real nerd you can also use it for geotagging images.

This is one of the things that makes me really drool over the new 18 megapixel Canon Rebel T2i (less than $800 for the body).

A minor site update

The past month I have been real busy and forgot to blog.  One of the things I was working on was a little update to my site.  I made my images a little larger and have added a few more.  I am currently working on choosing the proper edit but there is lots of variety for now.  If you have any suggestions or see any problems please let me know. 

My Office

So here is my office over at Northeastern.  While I don't think this is the right image of this space, it has sparked a new interest in a different kind of institutional space.  This image is from shortly after I inherited it and I have since done my best to liven up and personalize the space (the speakers and mac were my first steps in the process).

If you have an office in some way shape or form and would be willing to have it photographed, please send me an e-mail and let me know by clicking HERE.  While I am most interested in bland or personalized offices in institutions like mine, it need not be a formal office at your place of work (maybe a home office, studio, or dining room table that you work at?).  I appreciate any suggestions.

UIC Show Opening Thursday Night November 5th 4-7pm!

Please join me for the opening of my new show at UIC Thursday evening 4-7pm. The Address is: Art Lounge, UIC Student Center West, 828 South Wolcott Ave. This is the west end of the UIC campus near Damen so you could take a Damen bus south to Polk and go one block east, or take the pink line to polk and walk two blocks west. There is also plenty of metered parking within a block or two walk. The space is in the south east corner of the building so enter from the south doors (near the center of the block) and turn right. The gallery is next to the bookstore in the corner past the stairs. Cheers, Nate

Late Nights in Michigan

Over the summer I spent a good amount of time photographing in Michigan. This is one of my favorites for the vibrant colors. This was about 20 minutes for the exposure because it was inside of a parking garage at about 11pm. Unlike most of the rest of my recent images it has a slight angle rather than the the strait on deadpan mirror symmetry and the window opens up the flat plane in an odd way showing that we are standing inside looking out rather than the opposite (my typical viewpoint).

Solo Exhibition at University of Illinois at Chicago

Thursday November 5th is the opening of my new solo show in the Art Lounge of the UIC Student Center West. The show is up through December 4th and includes 17 works.

Here is information on the exhibition and opening reception:
Ersatz
Monday, November, 2 2009 to Friday, December 4, 2009
Opening reception
Thursday, November 5, 2009 4:00 - 7:00 pm

Information on the gallery:

Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Art Lounge
Student Center West,
828 South Wolcott Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60612

I hope to see you there.
Nate

I need your office for a new project

With the new school year I thought it might be a good time to start working on a new project that has been floating around in my head for a few months. The project will be photographs of your office. So if you have an office either in the place you wok or at home I would like to photograph it. I'll just leave it at that for now because I don't want to put any constraints on the project at this stage. Let me know if you can help.

artXposium

On September 19, 2009, the West Chicago City Museum, located at 132 Main Street in West Chicago, will open its doors to the third annual artXposium, a multimedia art experience, in collaboration with People Made Visible, Inc. Local, national and international artists will come together to display a variety of art work ranging from traditional media, to interactive and multimedia installations.

Friday, September 18:
7pm Meet the Artists Potluck - Museum
8pm Reach the Rock Film Screening - Museum

Saturday, September 19:
11am - 10pm artXposium exhibition on view
5pm Closing Reception - Museum
6pm Artist Talk by Danish Artist in Residence: Berit Nørgaard - Museum
6pm Sound Palette - Gallery 200
7pm Core Project - Museum 2nd Floor

This is a cant miss one of a kind show so make it out to the west suburbs friday night or saturday afternoon to see over 25 exhibiting artists (including me). If you are in Chicago without a car transportation is easy, take the Union Pacific West Line from Ogilvie to West Chicago (the museum is a three block walk west of the station).

F-Stop Magazine Group Show

I have an image in this months F-Stop Magazine group show "Amusement". This is a rather old image but I think you can see connections to my current work.

Artist talks at Catherine Edelman Gallery

Catherine Edelman Gallery has posted Video's of the Artist Talks for those included in the current Chicago project III Exhibition. See my good friend and fellow photographer Bill Guy talk about his work Here.

For more about the show or other artists videos on the Catherine Edelman Gallery site click here. Artists include Shannon Benine, Philip Dembinski, Bill Guy, Eric Holubow, Julie Meridian, Jason Robinette, James Rotz, David Schalliol, Daniel Shea, Sarah Stonefoot, Leasha Overturf and Alan Thomas.

I am loving Photoshop CS4!!! Just upgraded this week and the retouching previews are amazing! It also seems to be running faster and smoother with my large files.

Something New

I have been spending considerable time lately re-examining the spaces that I have photographed in the past. I have found many things that have significantly changed in the time of a year, different season, even from one day to another, or things that were overlooked such as the interior of a structure.

Women Imaging Women

This past Thursday evening I went to see the work up at a new show in The State Street Gallery of Robert Morris College (401 South State Street). With art historical tradition in mind, “Women Imaging Women: A Study of Female Portraiture“ examines how contemporary artists depict either themselves or other women.
Angela in the Garden by Lily Mayfield

Kiara by Sarah Baranski

The show runs through September 13.