Struth and Gursky and Horenstein

Like Struth, in his Museum series, I'm looking at a specific group of people (the pet owner) who come to places (pet expos, bark parks, pet adoption days) to view a specific thing (animals). His work is referential to large-scale historical paintings. I'm looking for similar gestures between pet owners.
I've been looking at Gursky for his size. I am going to do some test prints around 3ft wide. I need to see if size will hurt or help my photographs. Will the images still be sharp or will they lose integrity with scale? Gurksy's large images let you walk into the photographs without sacrificing extreme detail.
Henry Horenstein's work "Creatures" and "Honky Tonk" are a perfect combo for my work. Animal portraits and a portraits of country music. Country Music? Why? It shows many venues, the music and its patrons. I'm looking at businesses geared towards pets and their owners, the pets themselves and the pet owners and business owners. Its a window into a world most don't have access to.

New Work

Pet Expo




Paws To Swim (a dog health pool)

Faithful Friends pet cemetery
Richmond Animal League (cat adoptions)

Loving Pets crematory
All Dog Play Skool (dog daycare)
Bark Park

Animal Psychic's house
Diamond Dog daycare
Dude Ranch for dogs

I still don't quite know how to use this blogger thingamabobber. I don't know how to label or arrange photos on here. errr....

here are a few things i've shot this semester....

Thursday Blog

• Did anyone critique your work this week? If so, what were their impressions?

not as of yet. but at 1pm today i'm having a casual crit with at least stephanie.

• What was the most motivational or creative moment of the past week?

My hamsters got into a fight, pikelet bit the crap out of waffles which left a chunk of fur and blood. sad news, waffles has a scab, good news, i have more fur for my sculpture. word.

• What do you want to achieve in next week's studio practice?

more prints, keep shooting, finish the letter to prospective subjects.

• What did you achieve in your studio this past week?

prints!!!

• What was the most profound thought in relation to your practice this week?

i'm worried of becoming self righteous about my position on animals and animal rights. how concerned should i be? will this help or hurt me in the long run? will this make the work less accessible?

Monday Blog

Taryn Simon

http://www.tarynsimon.com/#

Bio: http://www.gagosian.com/artists/taryn-simon/

Series: "An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar"

Quote: "The process earns her trust and access. "I can't be sneaky," she says. The result of that openness is frank pictures, straightforwardly taken--and as a consequence, startlingly revealing."
from: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810304,00.htm

Gallery: http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/beverly-hills-2008-09-taryn-simon/

Thursday Blog

• Did anyone critique your work this week? If so, what were their impressions?

yes, Heide did. "content is everything." I need more information in the photos. Plus, stronger compositions.

• What was the most motivational or creative moment of the past week?

the fur sculpture is (hopefully) going to rock your socks off!

• What do you want to achieve in next week's studio practice?

improve writing skills for letters to gain access into more locations.

• What did you achieve in your studio this past week?

access into the dog exercise pool.

• What was the most profound thought in relation to your practice this week?

my candidacy show could rock or it could suck. i've got to nail this shite!

Monday Blog

Highlight an artist of interest that relates to your work. Provide the following information:

Lewis Baltz

- Artist Biography and brief explanation of work (can use quotes from critics or galleries)

BORN
1945
Newport Beach, CA

EDUCATION
1971
M.F.A., Claremont Graduate School

1969
B.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

More info on Baltz: http://www.wirtzgallery.com/bios/bio_baltz.html

- a link to an interview with the artist or a review: http://www.mediamente.rai.it/mmold/english/bibliote/intervis/b/baltz.htm

- link to gallery representing artist: http://www.geh.org/ar/strip87/htmlsrc2/baltz_sld00002.html

- link to artist website: http://www.geh.org/ar/strip87/htmlsrc2/baltz_sld00002.html

Thursday Blog

• Did anyone critique your work this week? If so, what were their impressions?

No! The piece of crap external hard drive screwed me over!

• What was the most motivational or creative moment of the past week?

My meeting with Paul Shambroom. He gave some great, useful criticism and ideas.

• What do you want to achieve in next week's studio practice?

print

• What did you achieve in your studio this past week?

expanding my search for pet businesses to the state of VA. I found a great pet cemetery already.

• What was the most profound thought in relation to your practice this week?

the pet cemetery made me cry when I drove up to it. I wasn't expecting to react in such a way but it was awesome to be in the midst of animals that were loved so much that their owners saved their ashes from the 60s and waited for a pet cemetery to open up so they could properly bury them. It blew me away!