Ryan McGinley

As I hinted at in my last post, today's post is about the photographer Ryan McGinley, if you didn't catch the hint, it was because he inspired and collaborated with Sigur Rós on the music video for Gobbledigook.  He is known for his dramatic yet fresh aesthetic and particularly his photos of naked people running around.  McGinley certainly isn't the first person to have nudes in his photographs, but the way he treats his nudes is truly, well, different.

But before I talk more about him I want to mention the other photographer whose name comes up everytime nudity and photography are discussed: Robert Mapplethorpe.  Mapplethorpe was known best for his controversial images (which in itself is sad, unless that's what he was going for).  They were homoerotic and shocking to many people: Google Images: Robert Mapplethorpe.  Beware NSFW! And you should probably un-filter your images because the important stuff is probably flagged as pornographic.

Usually when people talk about Mapplethorpe they discuss his homosexuality, or the line between pornography and art, or whether or not the government should fund controversial art, but what is interesting to me is the way that he deals with the nude body and what that might say about his relationship with it.  His photos are sexualized in a brutal way and his high-contrast aesthetic brings that out even more.  Personally, I find even his pictures of flowers too aggressive.  But that's an argument about the purpose of art.  What isn't arguable is that Ryan McGinley approaches nudity from a very different direction:

Running Fireworks, 2007

Blue, Moon, 2008/2009

Marcel, Ann & Coley, 2007

Cyclone, 2008/2009

Jonas (Disco Snow), 2008/2009

There is definitely a shocking element to these photos but the shock comes from the fact that the models don't seem to care that they're naked.  They just look like they're having so much fun!  I strongly suggest you look at the entire photographs series (same link as Ryan McGinley above) because every single image pulls its own weight.  And while nudity is certainly a big part of these photos, there are certainly other things (like bears!).  When it gets sexual it's not entirely heteronormative either, which is refreshing.  I really can't come up with anything bad to say about these photos.

If you look around more on his website you'll find some more marketable photos that manage retain his very distinct style: the Olympics, portraits of M.I.A. and some stills from a short film with Tilda Swinton which showcases Pringle of Scotland's spring 2010 line! This guy is doing stuff all over the place.  With his powerful sense of composition and color balance and life I have little doubt that Ryan McGinley will come to be known as one of the great photographers, dare I say artists, of our time.

So I got a little carried away there, if you can't tell I'm a little bit of a fan. This song is for driving at high speeds on warm summer nights with the top down and the music up, preferably on Walnut street.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros- Home

Let's Talk About Sex

I really want to talk about gender but that's a much catchier title.

So here's the deal.  This whole masculine/feminine gender dichotomy isn't really working for me (I'll talk about dualism later).  Maybe it's because I'm stubborn, but I don't particularly enjoy being told what I should and shouldn't like, what I should and shouldn't find attractive, or how to define myself in relation to other people.

I like poetry, I like art.  I use the word beautiful in everyday conversation.  I study french.  I like strong, intelligent women.  I'm not afraid to wear purple.  I'm not afraid to snuggle with my guy friends.

I promise this is related so just bear with me, but check out this comic from Hark, A Vagrant.

This has always kind of bugged me about Macbeth.  But what bugs me even more is when Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth's manhood when he seems a little hesitant about killing the king.  That was a low blow Lady Macbeth.  I have a feeling she might have noticed if Macbeth was a woman.  What Macbeth should have done was laugh in her face and go and have a nice sandwich.  My mother always told me never to decide to kill someone on an empty stomach.

Back to the point, Macbeth's ability to kill King Duncan had very little to do with Macbeth's status as a man, but for some reason it had a lot to do with his perceived status as man.  As A Tribe Called Quest would say: "You're not any less of a man if you don't pull the trigger, you're not necessarily a man if you do." [see Sucka Nigga, A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders—in fact, see that whole album, it's pretty dope.]


In other news I found a cool series of photographs by a French Canadian named Benoit Paillé.  He apparently just walked up to these people and asked to take their pictures.  I see some of them are in their houses, so I assume after the subjects agreed to model they scheduled dates to shoot but all of the photos maintain a certain distance and spontaneity.  I've always been terrible about approaching people on the street and it's a skill that most talented photographers have, so that's definitely something I'm going to have to work at.  I love when photography does stuff like this.  People are weird.

Check out more on his flickr.

That last one's really great.  There's an even cooler concept where a photographer gets two or more strangers to touch in his photos.  The results are interesting.

Unfortunately today's photos aren't particularly mind blowing, so I'll try to find some HIGH ART ones for next time.


I may have been a little bit of a tease with the title of this post so you get two songs today.  I feel like I owe you this one:
Salt-n-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

And here's a hint to the next post.  God this song just makes me wanna run around naked.
Sigur Rós-Gobbledigook

There's also an option to download these songs if you follow the link.

This is not a review of Mrs. Dalloway

I just read Mrs. Dalloway!

There's probably some sort of format that reviews are supposed to take and probably some well thought out and agreed upon goal as well, but I think a single finite end can reduce the meaning of words. So I aim to ramble, perhaps to bore.  Such is the predicament of ADHD.

The most striking thing about this book is the way the narrative is arranged. It is told in third person by some omniscient narrator who follows characters like a flea jumping between hosts. (That metaphor only works if you ignore all the negative connotations of a flea.)  It makes for seamless transitions once you get the hang of making the jump between central characters.  Actually, I never completely got a hang of it but it kept me on my toes.

Relevant or at least very poetic (important) descriptions. I don't care that there is triumphant military music in the streets but when that music bursts into a room where someone just died, then I care.  But there was never anything that was unnecessarily flowery or too detailed and I appreciated that.

So instead of inaccurately describing this book anymore I'm just going to give you some quotes which struck me:

1. "they had heaps of theories, always theories, as young people have. It was to explain the feeling they had of dissatisfaction; not knowing people; not being known. For how could they know each other? You met every day; then not for six months, or years. It was unsatisfactory, they agreed, how little one knew people."  (149)
2. "Having done things millions of times enriched them, though it might be said to take the surface off." (159)
3. "that very able fellow who should have made a name for himself but hadn't (always in difficulties with women)" (175)

So there's this guy named Arthur Tress:

This is from a series called "Theater of the Mind" and while it sounds pretentious, you should really check it out.  There's some really sweet stuff.

So no one ever really introduced me to Bob Dylan, so it wasn't until recently that I started listening to him.  By recently I mean around the beginning of this summer.  Blonde on Blonde is a pretty great album.
Here's the opening track.

Bob Dylan- Rainy Day Women nos 12 & 35

I'm up late writing poetry again

I saw a moon goddess I wanted
with skin that read: shake her well
after worship and
milk
& sweet time - GOD

a knife out and sweating in my hand
behind my cold monkey of a lie
was bare feet and falling.
I ask her: can you smile
like the sea in its juices?
can you remember that chant to
make mountains drool?

teach me something precious
so I can l(ea)ve you

she says: I am the wind, kid,
and this is the family you come from.




It's so great to be writing again.  I just sat down in front of my fridge and cranked this baby out.  My favorite way to write is with refrigerator magnets (this may have had something to do with the naming of this blog).  It's great because it forces me to find new things to do with words that should have been stale long ago but it also works as a very strict form to help guide my creative process.




3 recent photo pet peeves:

• Figurines. Just don't.
• Picture every day for X years. That first youtube video was pretty interesting, but I'm done.
• Your baby.  I don't care how cute it is.

I should be clear.  I mean specifically photography as an art form.  I won't criticize you for taking pictures of your baby.  If you don't want to take pictures of your baby there's probably something wrong with you.  With that said, you've got do a lot more than just take pictures of your baby and call it art.

I've been trying to use stumble upon to find good photographers but that hasn't been going so well recently so here are a few old favorites from deviantart:

These are by a user named ErosTurranos

©2009-2010 ~ErosTurranos

©2009-2010 ~ErosTurranos

This user is named Kimbell and while light painting is usally a big turn off for me, this guy is a pro.

©2010 ~Kimbell

Sorry I had to resort to back up photos, I wish stumbleupon would give me a little more to work with but there's a remarkable amount of bad photography out there on the internet.

But here's a great summer song to play us out.  FUCK IT WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

Jenny Owen Youngs- Hot In Herre

Sup.

I thought I'd start with a few things about myself.

I put two spaces after every sentence.  I think it lets a paragraph breathe nicely.

I love writing with refrigerator magnets.  It forces me to play with language and create a story or a scene or an emotion out of what is really just a clump of words.  I'll probably post some pieces of stuff up later.

I woke up this morning and I wanted to take a magical journey.  The kind after which the sun starts to set and you hear chatter in the warm breeze; it's surreal but you don't think to question it because your engine is revving in your chest and when the light turns green you're going to floor it just to feel the force on your body.

Comfortable underwear can be the foundation for a beautiful day.

I feel strongly about a lot of things and photography is one of them.  I'm not sure about its place as an art-form, but I do know that there is some major potential for expression.  Don't get me wrong there's some major potential for crap, but sometimes I see some things that really speak to me or at least things that catch my eye.  The only problem is that I am quite picky.

I think that a single photograph has a limited potential for expression and if you put that photograph into a series or a work of photographs, this potential is exponentially increased.  What's interesting here is that many of strongest photos might seem boring if viewed as a standalone, but the context of the other photos reveals the strength of this photographer's vision.  I like Been There and Getting Lost, but most of them are good.

Check this out.  I am a big fan of street photography and candid photographs.  A lot of people call it creepy, but I think that there is something to be revealed the expression of a person who is off in his or her own world.  Privacy is a really interesting concept anyway.  But most importantly it's a great sentiment.

Since this is my first post I figure I owe you some sort of explanation.

• rants
• ampersands
• poem fragments
• philosophy (more rants)
• lists
• assorted internet artifacts
• whims
• more whims

I'll leave you with this:

The Flaming Lips-It Overtakes Me/The Stars Are So Big, I Am So Small... Do I Stand A Chance?

I love the Flaming Lips because: a) they're wacky b) they're upfront about it c) they know how to have a good time.  Seriously, see them in concert.

Cheers,

Matt