More Holiday Postcards

Here's a few more of the postcards I made while visiting family over the holidays.


Don't read too much into them, they were done quickly without any pre-planning or much thought.

The Zombie JPG

It looks like JPG magazine might be back from the dead (more accurately saved from impending death, but I really wanted to title this post "The Zombie JPG"). After my previous post, my friend Brady sent me an email with some interesting information: Apparently, the news on JPG's impending demise generated enough interest that some interested buyers came forward. According to the JPG blog, which you can access on their site, they "are hopeful that something can be worked out with a number of potential last minute acquirers who want to help the JPG community live on...The good news is that this interest has bought us a little more time, so we are now looking to keep the site open at least through next week".

If you're interested in following this more closely, a new blog, Save JPG, has just opened.

Meanwhile, I've found another photo blog that has the potential to be interesting. Aiming to combat the widespread belief that all emerging artists are young and fresh out of art school, Expiration Notice will showcase work by photographers worldwide over age 35 and with no current gallery representation. There's nothing up on their site at the moment, they are currently taking submissions for the first edition which will go live in February. I've submitted some work, specifically images from a series of cyanotypes made a couple of years ago of photos of architectural models (one of them is at the top of this post). I'll be sure to let you know if they use them.

Goodbye JPG

I received an e-mail yesterday informing me that JPG magazine is ceasing publication and shutting down it’s website effective 1/5/09. They cite the current economic mess as their reason.

What I admired about JPG is also what drove me nuts about it: As a site dedicated to creative photography where anyone could join and post their photos, it leveled the playing field by avoiding distinctions between professionals and amateurs, commercial and fine art photographers, etc. Unfortunately, that philosophy resulted in an incredible number of trite, unoriginal photos being submitted.

I had some disagreements with JPG’s curatorial choices. While they claimed to be looking for unique and creative work, much of what was chosen for publication seemed pretty tame and expected to me. Also, they were capricious at best with how they enforced their policy banning digital manipulation. That said, I saw a great deal of really good work by unknown photographers on that site, and it will be missed.

Luckily, online photo sites appear to be on the increase. I’ve found several over the past few months that I like. None of these sites allow unmoderated uploading of images, and so are not as egalitarian as JPG, although several are dedicated to showing emerging artists. Having a more active curatorial role seems to largely eliminate the trite, uninteresting work that made up so much of what was found on JPG.

Fraction is a bi-monthly online photo magazine that shows work from established and emerging artists side by side. They also publish a blog.

F-Stop is also an online bi-monthly photography magazine featuring contemporary photography from established and emerging photographers from around the world.

Shots Magazine is an independent, reader-supported, quarterly journal of fine art photography, which presents work by a variety of photographers from around the world. Published online as well as in paper form.

Lenscratch is an interesting blog showcasing contemporary photography and photographers.

Notpaper is a blog about collage. Lots of interesting collage work, both digital and traditional, is featured.

New Postcards

I’ve just returned to Chicago after visiting family in Michigan for a few days. Rural mid-Michigan isn’t the most exciting place, so while I was there, my sister and I entertained ourselves by making collaged postcards. Armed with several old magazines, we worked without any goal besides making something.


We made these postcards intending to use them for Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a project where you send and recieve postcards from random people around the world. I’ve been doing it for several months, and my sister and mother have done it as well.


Afer making several poscards, my mother joined in. Her contribution was to supply us with bits of text, which then became the theme of a postcard.


What started as a way to pass time resulted in some interesting work. Some of the cards came out pretty well. I’ve scanned some of my favorites, and may clean them up and list them as prints on my Etsy page.

My Top Five

My friend Brady recently posted an interesting challenge to “artists and artist wannabes” on his blog. He asks “If you were to go through your work from the last year, could you identify five that, for one reason or another, you like best?”
I love that question. I personally find that in my studio work, I tend to move from one idea or project to another, without much reflection on what I’ve accomplished. Looking back at what I’ve made over the past year is probably a good exercise for that very reason.

2008 was kind of an odd year for me, art-wise. It started at the tail end of my sabbatical, as I was working feverishly in the studio exploring alternative photographic processes. After my post-sabbatical exhibit opened in the spring, my studio work slowed to a trickle as I concentrated on teaching duties. The summer wasn’t as productive as it should have been. I shot a lot of random photos, but a large, stressful, remodeling project (with long delays-the 2 1/2 week estimate turned out to be an 8 week project) kept me from the basement workspace I used for making prints. The remodeling finally was completed (and I got a new darkroom as part of it), but by then I was back in school, and my attention and energy were focused elsewhere.

So, here are my picks. It was difficult narrowing it down to five, but ranking them was even more difficult. I’m not sure the order would stay the same if I rethought it, but what’s most important is that these are my five favorite pieces made this year.

#5

This past summer, I started making cyanotype bookmarks as a way to use up some scrap paper and keep busy in the studio between projects. I ended up designing and printing over twenty different bookmarks. They were a lot of fun, and some of them came out pretty well. This one’s one of my favorites. It’s a little surreal, but more fun than weird. I’m currently relisting this one and my other bookmarks for sale on my Etsy page. I'm also listing a larger version, approx. 3.5" X 18.25“ in a limited print run.

#4

This cyanotype print is made from a Holga photo shot in San Francisco’s Japantown in October , 2007. The print was made sometime late last winter. I love the composition in this image, and the prominent use of negative space. It didn’t fit well with the other work I made at the same time (much of which was in my post-sabbatical exhibition last spring), and as a result hasn’t been seen publicly aside from this blog.

#3


In my original post for this piece, I wrote that it looks like a still from a Guy Maddin film. It’s a duotone gum bichromate print, and it really should be printed a couple more times (gum bichromate prints are made by printing a series of layers of different colors. The more layers, the more intense the colors become). I stopped here because I really liked the gray and light yellow in the print. I made a second version of this print which I exhibited in my show last spring. That version was made with metallic gold acrylic instead of the standard watercolor paints used to make gum prints. It turned out much darker, and has a slight metallic sheen. I still like the faded look of this one, however. The photo was shot in Chicago’s Chinatown with my Holga camera.

#2

My most recent piece, currently hanging in the gallery at Moraine Valley Community College as part of the faculty exhibit. Scroll down a couple of posts to get the full story. This shot, quickly snapped after pinning the piece up to my studio wall, really does not do the piece justice. It looks much better in person.

#1

This gum bichromate print was actually finished in the afternoon last December 30. Close enough to be considered work I made this year. The photo was taken in Chinatown here in Chicago on the day after Thanksgiving. I like this piece for a number of reasons. The photo itself is interesting, I like the subject matter (knickknacks in a shop window) and the use of short depth of field. The print came out really well. It was the second ‘real’ gum print I made after several weeks of running tests to control exposure and color balance in a notoriously picky printing process. I was really happy with the color I got here, and it encouraged me to go further with gum printing.

San Fran Polaroid Tran

I made this Polaroid transfer last week while demonstrating the process to some of my students. I like how it came out, and decided to post it here. The image this transfer was made from was created in a Photoshop class I took a couple of years ago as a refresher. It started as a photo of brightly painted houses in San Francisco. I manipulated that photo, adding the paisley to the sky and changing the color. I had taken a slide of that image last year, but didn't do anything with it until now. I like how it came out, even if it is backwards. I could flip it easily, but it really doesn't matter in this case.

Self Portrait as a Drowned Man (After Bayard)

Here’s my latest piece. I finished the last bit of work on it a few days ago. I made this piece specifically for this year’s annual exhibit of faculty work at Moraine Valley Community College, where I teach, although I’ve had the idea for this piece for several years. It was one of those ideas that was too good not to pursue, and with the theme of this year’s faculty exhibit being self portrait and autobiographical work, the time seemed right.

The piece is made of twelve cyanotype prints. The prints are made on copies of rejection letters I’ve received from various galleries. Here's a close-up of the piece so you can see the letters the piece is printed on (click on the photo to see a larger version).


This piece is based on a well known historical photograph by Hippolyte Bayard. Bayard was one of the first inventors of photography, but was given duplicitous advice which allowed Louis Daguerre to receive the French patent for the invention of photography (that’s why you’ve heard of daguerreotypes, but not bayardotypes). Bayard’s response was to pose as a corpse, an apparent suicide due to the injustice and lack of recognition for his invention. Ironically, the image became famous as the first staged photograph, and can be found in nearly every book on photographic history. Here’s the original Bayard photograph I based my piece on:


I originally wanted to print directly onto the actual rejection letters, but that proved to be unworkable. Many papers use bleach in the manufacturing process, and residual bleach in the paper bleached the cyanotype prints. I made several test prints that looked great when first developed, but when dry, had bleached so much that the image was very pale.

I wanted the piece to look as much like it was printed on the actual rejection letters as possible. After trying a few experiments, I arrived at a solution that worked (for the most part). I scanned all the rejection letters, and printed them on a matte surface Epson inkjet paper. I generally like Epson papers, and was very surprised that the ink held up to the cyanotype process. These prints were washed in a tray of water for about 20 minutes, and the ink did not run at all. Epson claims their ultrachrome inks (the type my printer uses) are water resistant, but I never expected that I could expose them to this much water without the ink running. There was one drawback to using the Epson paper, however. The cyanotype solution stained the white areas of the prints yellow, and no amount of washing would remove that color. I decided I could live with it.

This work is obviously a self portrait, but it is autobiographical as well. By printing the piece on rejection letters I’ve received from galleries, I’m not just referencing the rejection Hippolyte Bayard felt when he lost the patent. I’m commenting on my (lack of) success in the world of commercial galleries (in a lighthearted way). I have an ambivalent relationship with commercial galleries. While exhibits in commercial galleries are often considered the primary goal of the working artist, I just do not enjoy the smoozing and ass kissing that often accompanies them. I also know firsthand (I worked briefly in a gallery when I first moved to Chicago) that decisions in these galleries are made based on commerce, not artistic merit. I’ve done really well at academic galleries, non profit spaces, etc., but my work doesn’t have seem to have much commercial appeal. I’m comfortable with that, although I still dutifully leave discs of my work at galleries whenever I finish a new body of work. At least, my efforts have provided me with the letters used to make this piece!

innerview
Autobiographical works and self-portraits by Moraine Valley faculty
Nov. 17-Jan. 8
Reception: Thursday, Dec. 4, 2-4 p.m.

Robert F. DeCaprio Art Gallery
Fine and Performing Arts Center
Moraine Valley Community College
9000 W. College Pkwy.
Palos Hills, IL