Critical Studies

[reisons-critical-studies]

Genres and Meaning

Looking at four Cindy Sherman Photos

Untitled Film Still #48

1979, reprinted 1998

Cindy Sherman

Image taken from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sherman-untitled-film-still-48-p11518

This photo is a 'candid' self portrait. This photograph doesn't really seem staged as it looks like the person (Cindy) in the photograph does not know that someone took the image, I believe what gives it away is the lighting as it seems that it was taken when it is going dark however Cindy is lit quite well, which was either flash from the camera or (most likely) headlights from a car. There is no title for this photograph which makes you want to know more as usually titles tend to add a lot more context to the images.

Untitled Film Still #21, 1978

Cindy Sherman

Photo taken from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jul/31/photographer-cindy-sherman-first-uk-retrospective

This image looks like a film still. This photograph looks a lot more staged than the first one as it looks like it's from a movie, it specifically reminds me of Audrey Hepburn movies. You don't feel like you need more context to the photo as it feels like you could easily make up a story due to all of the context clues from the buildings and clothing.

Untitled #224, 1990

Cindy Sherman

Photo taken from https://time.com/3786372/cindy-sherman-the-heroine-with-a-thousand-faces/

In this photograph Cindy is recreating a famous painting in a self portrait. This photo is very obviously staged as you can tell that everything in this is meticulously thought about.

Untitled #424, 2004

Cindy Sherman

Photo taken from https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2020/04/16/cindy-sherman-derek-blasberg-in-conversation/

This photo is a self portrait (although all her photos are, this one doesn't really have other genres). This photographed is just as staged as the one above, you can tell because they both look like they are in a studio and a lot more thought out then the first too (as they look a lot more candid).

The first two photographs look like they could be in the same series however the 3rd and 4th are quite a lot different due to the styles of the photographs, however they all do give off the vibe that they are Cindy Sherman photos (if you know her work well) as all of them are untitled and they all seem like they are telling some sort of story.

[reisons-critical-studies]

Genres and Meaning

Photography has so many genres and in these genres there are sub genres, however the main ones are:

-landscapes, can be both rural and urban

-portraiture, photographs of people or the representation of them, animals can be considered portraiture

-journalism, often documenting something for articles and newspapers

-street, linked to documentary, photographing daily life of people

-documentary, similar to journalism but tends to be on specific things

-nature, leaves and trees, etc

-wildlife, animals

-fine art, expressing an idea as an artist

-fashion, clothing and accessories

[reisons-critical-studies]

Essay Draft

Here's my essay draft and notes on both the official draft and in my notebook.

includes introduction, begging paragraph on Kensuke Koike, talking about curating and my idea

[reisons-critical-studies]

Ideas for essay

Here are my idea notes and sketches for my essay in my notebook, includes essay planning

[contemporaryartdaily]

Femke Herregraven at Westfälischer Kunstverein

[reisons-critical-studies]

Denotation and connotation

Denotation

Means what is literally in the image

Connotation

The meaning of the image

Context of the image- when was it taken? Any significant events at the time? Where was it taken? Is the an influence/reference?

Formal elements

Linguistic Message- what does the title mean? Is there writing on the photo? Is there a caption for the image?

Ideologically/Ethically- What do the subjects of the image mean? What do the poses/facial expressions convey?

Cognitive- What do you understand about the image? What does the factual (denotation) elements of the image tell you?

Perceptive- first impression and understanding of the image

[reisons-critical-studies]

Our Silver City, 2094

This exhibition is set in Nottingham in 2094, well previously known as Nottingham as there was a fire in 2068 and Ice-age in 2071.

The exhibition is separated into 5 sections; artefacts (East), space (South), temples (West), messages for the future and weather (North).

Section 1: East

The East is full of Artefacts ranging from c.1800s (A confirmed date for another piece is 1904)- 2021. These would all be created when the Silver City was called Nottingham.

Ciel

Nicola L, c.1976. Courtesy of Alison Jacques, London and Nicola L collection and Archive.

Made from ink, cotton and wood.

I really like this piece of work, it's quite quirky and draws a lot of attention as soon as you walk into the gallery even though it is all the way in the back slightly hidden by other works. I'm not sure why it stands out so much, perhaps it's because it gives a similar vibe to Cassandra from Doctor Who, or the fact that it gives the visceral feelings of either terror or wanting to wear it.

Nov. 8, 1989

On Kawara, 1989 (owned by a private collection in Derbyshire)

Liquitex on canvas

I don't like this. I just thinks it's very simple and can be made very easily over and over again. I decided to research the artist On Kawara where it seems that his date paintings often has some kind of significant date of history on the date however I couldn't find anything that happened in November and all the art looks the same.

Section 2: South

This part of the gallery is called 'Time to Understand'. This is featuring ways people work with textiles. In with coloursmiths in the '2070s' start experimenting with light and pigments thus creating new techniques. This gallery also features objects from another planet/solar system.

Reflective Aural Study

Céline Condorelli, 2021, Courtesy of the artist, commissioned by Nottingham Contemporay

Vegetable dye on Cotton

This was an interesting piece of work as when you walk into the gallery it is right above you head so you immediately notice it, although I suppose it does help as it is quite big. The pattern on the fabric looks like it is the surface of another planet (like Mars).

Air Rights 7

Agnieszka Kurant, Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (NY/LA)

Powered stone, foam, wood, electromagnets, custom plinth

This work was quite cool as it looks like a floating rock which you can even put your hand both below and above the 'rock'. This art piece was featured because of the slight space theme of this part of the gallery.

Section 3: West

'Time for Inner knowledge' is a temple part of the gallery where you have to take off your shoes to walk around.

The room is built to look like it's a temple with all the work display in a circular way in the room with bean bags in the middle.

More Matter, Less Art

Charlotte Johannesson, 2018, courtesy of the artist and Hollybush Gardens (London)

Acrylic on canvas with organic matter

I thought this was an interesting piece of work as it all one colour however organic objects are used and attached onto the canvas to create texture and shadows. I'm not really fond of the colour used however I think the colour makes this almost look like a clay slate sculpture.

Sheltering the Future

Armando D. Cosmos, 2019, courtesy of the artist

Woven tapestry

I like this artwork because it's showing a very futuristic looking design of architecture displayed on what is a generally old method of creating work, tapestry.

Section 4: North

This section is called 'Time to Transmit Wisdom' and is about predicting the weather. It has a lot of lines with symbols either end in which you put a stone and speakers covered in sticks which plays a pre-recorded voice of a children from Nottingham talking which is meant to be a radio playing.

Wet Spells

Femke Herregraven, 2021, courtesy of the artist, commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary with support of Mondriaan Fund

I like how this work is interactive in which you can kind of predict the future, however the idea behind this is quite confusing and hard to understand how it works.

Conclusion

I do quite like this exhibition. The concept behind it is really unique where you are basically seeing the future even though you are in the 'past'. My favourite section was the temple one as they built a whole set and made it so you had to take off your shoes thus creating a believable atmosphere and place where it really does come off as a temple. Another part I like which isn't included in the galleries is a massive wall in/next to the shop where you can add you own drawings, almost like creating a wall of messages towards the future (although most were memes and drawings) which shows what our culture is like at the moment.

[reisons-critical-studies]

Ontological Design and New Future (a mini essay)

In this current time everyone is hooked on the nostalgia wave, from Stranger Things (2016) to 1980s fashion becoming popular again, we can't stop thinking of the past and how we should bring back things from our childhood. However how much is nostalgia hindering our minds into creating new ideas?

Ontological design is quite similar in that aspect. It is the belief that whatever we create will affect us back in how we operate as human beings. This can be both in modern day and far, far, far back in the past. Even if the subject was forgotten about someone will bring it up and their will be a craze again, creating items to become collectors addictions, recreating movies and tv shows or even creating a massive amount of viral memes that are often shared around so much it's hard to find the person who original created it.

New future is the idea of creating how we believe the future will look like, mostly featuring such otherworldly machines that we think will be created and very accessible to the public thus creating a very different culture to what we see now, a good example of this is floating cars. The whole point of new future is to completely forget about what influences us in the present, whether that be the past or even extremely modern creations. A good example of this is Logan's Run (1976), even though this movie was made 46 years ago, it predicts what the future will be like in a utopian way where we have all these new technologies (that weren't really created) and how we deal with overpopulation.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Yxb8iTwLY

In 2022 not much work actually features new future as a lot of artwork featuring/referencing the past that many people experienced or would have liked to are often extremely popular as people are attached and have a soft spot for their memories of their childhood, especially the ones that helped them cope threw hard times. It seems that we are no longer caring about what the future could look like as it is always seen in such a dystopian way that we focus on 'the good old days', feeding on the blasts of nostalgia to escape our current day lives and fixate on our childhood.

[reisons-critical-studies]

Nadav Kander

'Tricky III, London, England, 2019' From series Tricky

Nadav has photographed many people throughout his photographic carrier and is still going strong. He states that any portrait session is a meeting that collaborates between him and his models, and loves to photograph people he doesn't like.

He believes that how you react to his work often relates to a parallel experience you have had yourself, especially if it challenges you as he doesn't want you to feel relaxed looking at his work.

Recently he has been having a low motivation and struggling with ideas, because of this he 'wants to found something that connects closely to himself that has a thin thread with his work'.

In the past he didn't like nature photography due to the sheer amount of people who does that genre of photos, however now he loves how beautiful nature is and is thinking ways to apply it to his work. He believes the new biggest type of work by artists being created will be on raising awareness to climate change and is very excited to see it.

'Elizabeth Colwell, 2015' From series Daily Presentations

Kander has been surrounded by art all his life, whether it be his sister, mother or even aunt, thus they have made him feel very comfortable within art (he especially loves expressionist paintings) and even referencing sculpture in his work.

When he was 13 he took his first photos however he got distracted by motorbikes and women for the next four years until he fell off his bike, thus propelling him into become obsessed with photography.

During his 20s and 30s he only thought about photography (to the point he never hung out with his friends), constantly printing film in both black and white and colour. When his photographs didn't go how he'd like he would he'll physically sick.

'Mirjam Finkelstein, 2011' From series Holocaust Survivors

We were luckily to have a digital tour of his studio in which we learned:

-That his material background is canvas

-Prefers gel lighting to lights that change colour

-He has quite a few baby doll heads

- Has an alphabetical bookshelf with books by people he loves

-Works in digital

-Uses photoshop like darkroom in a studio

'Wendy Whelan & Ed Watson V, 2015' From series Royal Opera House

In the future Nadav wants to show more of his work in museums and focus more on work for himself rather than commercial photography.

If he was looking for an assistant he would want to see that they would rather help doing anything than say that they want to learn.

All photos from Nadav Kander's official website: https://www.nadavkander.com/portraits

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Sabiha Çimen

In college, we were lucky to sit down and speak to Sabiha as a guest photographer. It was interesting to hear her life story and how much it has inspired her work.

Coming from an Iranian (also referred to as Persian) background Sabiha was born in 1986 in Istanbul, Turkey.

However in Turkey Khimars were banned for many, many years, it was radically implemented in 1997 and has only been lifted in 2013. This has affected many Muslim women's lives, including Sabiha, as it gave her major trauma.

The Banning of head scarves made it so many young women were not able to go threw education which made it so many of them became illiterate.

Sabiha was one of those women who had their education affected however she was fortunate to be able to get a masters in Cultural Studies, she chose this subject as she has always been interested in arts, history and sociology.

Using her canon film camera she took photos of Syrian refugee woman and wrote an entire thesis about it for her work in her masters degree.

After completing her masters, Çimen decided to create work that reflects herself so she took up a medium format camera and spent three years taking photographs Female Quran Schools (where girls memorize all 604 pages of the Guran) that she herself once attended with her twin sister.

Thus creating her book 'Hafiz, Guardians of the Quran'

Source: https://charcoalbookclub.com/products/hafiz?_pos=1&_sid=1653e478d&_ss=r

(The girl who drew this title page managed to go to painting school because Sabiha managed to convince her family to let her go and develop her skills).

Sabiha became great friends with all the girls ( or as she refers them to, her headscarf sisters) she photographed as she did many this with them, such as going on picnics, hanging out with them outside of the boarding school and even singing Kurdish songs.

Sources:

https://www.magnumphotos.com/theory-and-practice/hafiz-guardians-quran-sabiha-cimen/

https://www.1854.photography/2021/10/they-are-so-much-more-than-a-piece-of-fabric-sabiha-cimen-documents-the-nuances-of-muslim-girlhood/

https://www.1854.photography/2021/10/they-are-so-much-more-than-a-piece-of-fabric-sabiha-cimen-documents-the-nuances-of-muslim-girlhood/

Publishing this book was very hard as many of the fathers decided to not let the photos of their daughters being published as they were worried about a project between many girls.

However many agreed as they liked her idea of even though she was photographing others she said that this project is a self portrait of her own psychology and childhood. An act of revenge for not having a chance for education. Activision against extreme conservatives.

Source: https://charcoalbookclub.com/products/hafiz?_pos=1&_sid=1653e478d&_ss=r

The cover of her book was designed by local artists to look like, or at least inspired by, traditional Islamic artwork.

You can find more detailed information about her photos here:

https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2020/39633/27/Sabiha-Cimen-LTP-ABAD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqjIO4_7x4k&t=1s

https://www.instagram.com/sabakhayr/?hl=en