So the show is up! And will be coming down tomorrow. It's a bit bittersweet. I'm happy it's done and over but it's a depressing that it's over.

Overall I think my installation was pretty successful. If I could do it over I would get non-reflective frames because that was the biggest criticism I've received. However, I did like the idea that you can almost be placed within the picture. I would also include a bit more lighting in the overall install. It was a bit annoying those who worked in the gallery would alter the lighting every time I would come in. So there was no set lighting. I also would have asked my dad to help me install. Just to have everything be a little more perfect. He would have helped me with the painting and etc. I wish I spent more time focused on the smaller details that seemed less important in the overall installation.

But, as I said before I think overall it was a really successful installation and I loved seeing people slowly start to get the message I was trying to convey.

I had a crit. I installed some work into the project space on the second floor. Though I'm not completely happy with how it turned out, it is half way there. Overall the criticism was pretty positive. A lot of the comments were on small things like lighting, color of the walls, furniture and of course whether or not I should create a clean "sterile" living room or a used living room. It's coming down to the wire now so I'm not sure which exact images to include the sizing of them and of course the small details that were already discussed.

I'm not sure if I should stick with this 11x14 size, the framing what kind of frames (antique looking frames or just plain black or white frames). I do have a lot of small details to figure out and the crit definitely helped with that. I decided to go with a darker deeper red for the walls and for the furniture to keep this formal living room element.

This past Friday I had my first thesis critique for the spring semester. I’m going with the same idea I used last semester. The play on isolation and intimacy and which finally led me to name my series “It’s Not You, It’s Me.” This clique break up line plays with my overall theme of isolation and intimacy sort of promoting my problems with my family and saying “No, it’s not you that has the problem; I’m the one who does.”

My critique was really informative and helped push me along, encouraging I continue doing what I’m doing and questioning the necessity of a self portrait (which was something I was playing with). This self portrait idea was said to be somewhat repetitive because I am the photographer and though there is some aspects of my things in the images it is not so obvious. The inclusion of a self portrait might make it perhaps far too obvious.

Another good feedback I received is that maybe the whole installation piece is not necessary because the images are strong enough to stand on their own. Though the images are strong enough on their own, they were photographed months ago. I would not be pushing myself as an artist much less photographer if I just use them and not consider something bigger than that. The installation piece would ideally create an environment for the viewer to step into and get that home/living room environment which further evokes that “intimacy” feeling. I’m playing with a few ideas on how to further achieve the isolation feeling but creating an environment creates that intimacy and the images, themselves are foreign to the viewer which forces a distance between the image and the viewer.
Overall I would say the crit was very helpful but I do have a lot of other things to consider and I can’t wait to start forming it more along.

Studio Journal #8

Phillip Toledano's "Days with my father" is the saddest series I've ever seen. His series is a journal of his relationship with the photographer and his father. Phillip's mother passed away and his father suffers from short term memory loss so at first Phillip constantly reminded his father of his mother's death but it became too much of a burden and eventually came up with an elaborate story about his mother's absence.

Studio Journal #7

elinor carucci's "Closer" series has a sense of vulnerability that is only accessible through years of knowing another, that sense of comfort.

Studio Journal #6

Amy Elkins concept of Family and the isolation that one feels when they have a type of "long distance relationship" with them. Her portraits of her family members are straight on and she combines landscapes with people something I've experimented on in the past and something I may dabble in the future. Each image is paired with text which I'm not a fan of. I believe that the images should speak for themselves.

She has a blog: http://amyelkins.blogspot.com/


I'm having problems uploading her photos so visit her website: http://amyelkins.com/home.html

Studio Journal #5

I'm slowly collecting more and more ideas and objects for my final thesis. As mentioned in the last post, I'm ending the decay series and picking up the family series I did before. I was planning on doing a mixed media piece, combining installation and photography. I finally found the wallpaper I want to use I hope I can have the same luck with buying it.