A Day Out

It's been a while since I've been out solely to take photos for my own enjoyment. I spent the day with Renee and Ben running all over the place taking photos. We had lovely encounters with Charly and Maddie as well. It was wonderful and shall have to happen again.

Life is pretty swell. I'm going camping with a few of my closest friends tomorrow and spending the weekend with them (there will no doubt be many photos) and then next week I turn 18! So exciting!

Anna Bananna.

This is my dear friend Anna. If she is not an inspiration in my life then I don't know what is. She happens to also be going to Ghana soon to do some charity work because she is such a loving and caring person. I'll miss you terribly Anna but what you're doing is amazing.

Eyes

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand
And I come here to talk
I hope you understand

That green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you
And how could, anybody, deny you

I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter, now I’ve met you
And honey you should know, that I could never go on without you

Blue eyes

Honey you are the sea
Upon which I float
And I came here to talk
I think you should know

That brown eyes, you’re the one that I wanted to find
And anyone who, tried to deny you must be out of their mind

Cause I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter, since I met you
Honey you should know, that I could never go on without you

Green eyes
Green eyes

Ohohohohooooo
Ohohohohooooo

Ohohohohooooo
Ohohohohooooo

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand.

Bed.

I went to a party last night and had a ridiculous amount of fun. I let go, and it felt amazing. Then a few of us walked back to my house to crash.

This morning we woke up after a good night's rest. We all snuggled into my bed and just talked shit. We didn't talk about anything important or serious, we just talked about whatever came into our heads. I think that's pretty key to friendship, you don't have to censor what you're saying at all. Half the words we use are made up but we know what each other are taking about. The other half of the time we're paying each other out. It was the most fun I've had in a while. I don't think I've ever felt closer to these friends. These holidays are going to be fantastic.

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson creates through photography creepy, surreal, film-like images of American suburbia. He documents both the people and the space they are situated in creating painterly images filled with mystery. They often describe the precursors that lead to an event of some sort or the aftermath leaving a gap to be filled. These images tell a story but it is ultimately up to the viewer to decipher the narrative.

They suggest a dark undertone to the perfect surface of American society and lifestyle. This is thoroughly disconcerting as it raises questions in the mind of the viewer about their own lives and what lies beneath the thin top layer of perception.

This also begs the question 'what are the limitations of a photograph'? I know in my own practice that by using images solely from parties many have assumed that my friends and I do nothing but party. They have left a huge gap from my relationship with my friends. However I find this quite interesting. They say the camera never lies but it is rare that it tells the whole truth.






References

Crewdson, Gregory. 2008. Beneath the Roses. New York: Abrams.

White Cube Gallery. 2011. "White Cube- Gregory Crewdson" Accessed June 2, 2011. http://www.whitecube.com/artists/crewdson/

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was a photographer who primarily documented people. She was known for her black and white square photographs. She was also known for her photos of the 'freaks' in society, those who are marginalized by the community around them or those people who she felt has a 'surreal' kind of reality to them. She aimed to document people as they were, not as flattering reproductions. I think the honesty in her photography is what struck me. Yet there is a mystery to them as well. They lead you to want to know more about what is happening, find out the story behind the person. She obviously has a knack for finding intriguing characters in society.

When looking through her works it is obvious to me that she also had a fascination with relationships. Much of her work consists of pairs or groups of people. They also seem to focus on the similarities they have with each other. This leads to her fascination with twins and triplets also.

Her images which depict marginalized characters seem to aim to find the personality behind the attribute that makes them 'marginalized. The images of others however seem to satirize the society which creates marginalized groups. A lot of her images note the conformity of upper class society suggesting to me that Arbus valued the different and unique very much.

Through my work I aim to find the unique traits of the people around me while also documenting relationships and notions of 'the group'.






References

Arbus, Diane. "The Photography of Diane Arbus" Accessed June 2, 2011. http://diane-arbus-photography.com/

Bosworth, Patricia. 2005. Diane Arbus: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton.

Lee, Anthony W and John Pultz. 2003. Diane Arbus: Family Albums. Kansas: Yale University Press, in association with the Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art and the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas.

Experimenting With Text.

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin is a young British artist who has shocked the art world time and time again. Personally I think her work is simply brutally honest and many cannot deal with that. And why not? Humans don't tend to be the most truthful, forward or honest beings in my experience, it's a bit of a shock to the system.

I particularly like some of the works which she created in her performance piece "Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made" (1996) Emin locked herself in a room for a number of days and just painted, got all creative urges and emotions out of her system. The installation left behind included 14 paintings, 78 drawings, 5 body prints, various painted and personal items, furniture, CDs, newspapers, magazines, kitchen and food supplies. These works have nothing to do with technique, they're all about raw emotion and human longing.

I really like the fact that she has just allowed herself to flow into the artwork. She has physicalized her feelings. Through my text works (and all of my art I suppose) I hope to do exactly that; make my feelings, relationships and experiences a solid thing, make the intangible tangible. I think I would still have trouble making my private feelings so public with my named attached to it which I actually find kind of interesting. I mean I pride myself on being someone who really has no care in the world about what people think of what I do or who I am. I guess that's not the case.







I also like that she can go on British television drunk and take the piss out of the pretentious art world :) Oh Tracey, you're quite the character.



References

Emin, Tracey. 2009. One Thousand Drawings. New York: Rizzoli.

kamalika1234. 2008. "Tracey Emin on the loose" YouTube video, posted June 30. Accessed June 2, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKNr2LOkXYE&feature=channel_video_title

The Saatchi Gallery- London Contemporary Art Gallery. 2011. "Tracey Emin Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made- Contemporary" Accessed June 2, 2011. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/tracey_emin_exorcism1.htm.