Busy month

Wow - I didn't even realise it's been more than a month since my last posting. Whoops. Busy bee. Here's what I've been up to:

1) Artomatic
I'm one of the two Steering Committee co-chairs (in other words, executive planning committee) for this year's event. We've got about 1100 visual artists and probably a good 500 or so performing artists participating in this year's 5 week event. It's been like having a second full-time job (and my paying job is very demanding) and I admit that it's been a balancing act, and one that has been challenging to manage at times.

I've learned a ton about arts events planning and management, artist management, working with arts organization executive leadership... from logistics to marketing to security to public art... These are experiences and lessons I'll absolutely carry with me for a long time.

I'm excited to be showing some new photographs (I have 8 in mind, but most likely will be showing 4 or 5) and hope to have a really cool looking exhibit. Check it out on the 7th floor!

2) artdc.org's 12' x 12' show
At the last minute I felt that I should participate in this quirky local exhibit. All artists could buy a foot of space in which to hang their artwork, which couldn't be any larger than 12' x 12'. I admit that I was in a bit of a panic, trying to find existing prints to exhibit, and then figure out how to frame them. I ended up buying Ikea frames that were 3" too small (did I mention I'm horrible with numbers), and then at the ring of the buzzer, got some discounted frames at Plaza Arts, who were really nice and totally hooked me up. I'm hanging two black and white prints that were made back in 2002, and are the first set of photos I took with my medium-format camera.

The show is up until June 6, and the main opening is on May 16 in conjunction with Hyattsville Arts Festival.

3) First gallery rejection
I'm usually very thin-skinned to the point where I don't always share my photographs even with my friends but earlier this year I submitted an RFP to Flashpoint Gallery in DC. I did it for the experience, I even went to the workshop, and of course hoped that my project would be accepted by the judging panel. Eh. Didn't quite pan out. I'm not really upset which was surprising. What I was surprised by was that my project revolved around DC's creative community, and Flashpoint's mission - and it's panel of locally based arts people (I'm not going to call them arts professionals because I have some reservations about some of their qualifications)I'll probably contact the gallery director to get feedback on my proposal, and I'm still going to pursue the project and see how it turns out.

On a related note, my favorite saying at the moment is quoted one by Steve Lazarides during an interview with The Art Newspaper:

It’s hard to know who the tastemakers are. Is it three people sitting in a room deciding what’s going to last a long time or is it the five million who go and look at a video online?

bananas = cleared debt?

This is so ridiculous and funny that I had to share... Tony Mendoza, faculty member of Ohio State University's MFA program, sent a contact strip of himself in response to creditor/debt collection letters. Consequently, Mendoza never heard from them again.

His series, Stories, is good fun. Particularly #11. Check it out here.

Image © Tony Mendoza

picturing the recession

The New York Times requests your deep and dirty photos of how the recession is affecting us folks. You can check it out here.

Just know that NYT reserves the right to "..use your submission in all manner and media of NYTimes.com and that we shall have the right to authorize third parties to do so".

quote of the day

quote of the day

“governments which support the arts on average see a return on investment of $7 in taxes for every $1 that the government appropriates.”

take that, republican haters.

source:
The Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help the arts, but more is still needed
By Robert Lynch
Posted online: 18.3.09 | From Issue 200 (March 2009)
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=17094

laughing my arse off...

Laughing my arse off at Leibovitz's spoof of her 2006 portrait of Tom Ford, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley.

Jonah Hill's expression is priceless.

All images by Annie Leibovitz.

Celebrity Photographer: Peggy Sirota

LA-based celebrity photographer Peggy Sirota, photographed a series of lifestyle portraits with the romantic leads from Lost (Evangeline Lily and Michael Fox), and Twilight (Robert Pattinson (swoon!) and Kristen Stewart). Lucky lady. For the record, I hope Kate chooses Sawyer, and it was bound to happen that I would dedicate a posting to my current obsessions with these series.

I came across the Lost photographs during my weekly Lost analysis reading session (I highly recommend The Washington Post’s Dueling Analysis, and EW’s Doc Jenson’s Analysis). As I clicked through the gallery, I quickly realized that these images looked a wee bit familiar, and very much like Vanity Fair's December 2008 spread on the Twilight cast.

These days, the photographer is as much a celebrity as the actor. Is Sirota capturing the relationship between the characters and/or the actors, or is this a statement about her own relationship with the subjects?

The similarities between both shoots are obvious: positioning within the frame, physical contact/interaction between the subjects, direct gazes into the camera, outdoor locations, wardrobe, and the emotional connection: tense, intimate, whimsical, etc. At the first wedding I assisted for, I was really nervous since it’s such an important day for the subjects and essentially I didn’t want to eff anything up for them. The photographer I was assisting noticed my jitters and explained that the easiest way to get through those sessions is to develop a formula, stick to the shots, and its basically an in and out thing from there. I was shocked, and I still personally ignore his advice. Photographers work a lifetime to develop and sustain personal style that allows them to stick out from the masses, but style is not synonymous with formula, and it’s evident that some still follow the formulaic route.

The differences are also clear. The location, obviously, but I find the weather conditions to be really interesting and potentially revealing – overcast and stormy versus bright and sun bleached – euphemisms for the subject’s on-screen relationship status, or just a cool idea for a shoot?

Finally, what is the message behind these images? I’m not sure that question is relevant since the images seem to follow a formula. If formula sells, then what does it say about us as consumers?

The conclusion I came to is that photographing the actors from Lost and Twilight has more to do with Sirota’s brand positioning than art. She’s a celebrity / lifestyle photographer, and Lost and Twilight both happen to be very popular series in current pop culture. These photographs have major exposure not just because of the popularity of the subjects, but because of the outlets in which they were released: Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair. It maintains her relevance in current celebrity portraiture. It’s a boost for the actors, their respective series, and Sirota herself.

Challenge: What does the "real DC" look like?

So I'm at work, searching through stock photos to find an interesting and fun image of DC that doesn't show a monument or the Capitol. I'm 100 images into my search and every single image has a national monument in it. No wonder people think DC is boring!

I know for a fact that there are a ton of stock shooters in DC, and I challenge them to diversify their portfolio and show real images of DC: U St, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, 9:30 Club, people running on Rock Creek Parkway, people running on the waterfront past the Kennedy Center, runners in general... Seriously, it's all people do here. George Clooney's character from Burn After Reading nailed it on the head when he repeatedly states "It's still early; I can fit in a run."

Submit your photos to tara.kocourek@gmail.com (keep em at 72dpi thanks!) so we can start a visual collection of true DC life. I'll post them all - credited to you of course - at the beginning of March.