Nate Mathews

Vandilism of Art

2010-02-24T16:40:00.000-06:00

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?

2010-02-22T19:02:00.000-06:00

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?

2010-02-21T09:00:00.002-06:00

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2010-02-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

Eye-Fi

2010-02-18T23:30:00.000-06:00

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).

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A minor site update

2010-02-13T08:30:00.000-06:00

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.

2009-12-22T14:57:00.002-06:00

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My Office

2009-12-06T23:58:00.001-06:00

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.

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