Portrait work by Avedon

Okay, One more entry on Richard Avedon before its seems like I'm president of his fan club.

Like I mentioned earlier, Avedon was a successful fashion / commercial photographer but wanted to be considered an 'art' photographer as well. So besides doing beautiful images of beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes, he also concentrated on making strong compelling portraits of famous people as a means to earn a certain kind of respect in that field (An interesting side note: his equally successful contemporary in the fashion photography world, Irving Penn, chose the genre of the still life instead).

Avedon's quest led him to take on an ambitious project when he traveled through the western United States and photographed regular people that caught his attention, this work culminated in an exhibition and book titled 'In the American West'. Both the book and exhibition were successful commercially and critically although it has been critically panned as well (more on why below) and helped further establish him as a household name.

Probably to differentiate his portrait work from his fashion work, Richard Avedon is known to have established a particular mode operandi to get the image that he wanted from his subject.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Waldorf Astoria, suite 28A, New York, April 16, 1957

The story goes that for the image above, Richard Avedon was telling the Duke and Duchess of an incident in which he saw a dog being hit by a car while he was heading over to the shoot. Knowing that the Duke and Duchess were avid dog-lovers, he was expecting them to have an adverse reaction to the story, making them lower their guard (the one everyone puts up when they know they are being photographed) and capture them with this look. What comes through is not one that contains the shield of a smile but one that is more raw and realistic and exposes the inner self.

Marilyn Monroe, actor, New York, May 6, 1957

We can assume that a similar thing happened here.  This is not the Marilyn Monroe persona Ms. Baker tried so hard to foster, but one in which shows her vulnerability as much as her cleavage. Gone is the tilted head thrown back with slightly opened lips and lowered eyelids that Ms. Baker used to suggest as a post-coitally satiated presence, instead we see her with slumped shoulders and lost in introspection. She appears diminutive and overpowered by the emptiness around her.

Maria Callas, coloratura soprano, New York, February 10, 1970

And here is Maria Callas. The look on her face does not feel like it comes from acting but rather from hurt and candor.

Don't get me wrong, I think these are wonderful images, some of my favorite actually, but I just can't help but wonder what the subject's reaction was to them. Here is a person about to be photographed by a photographer who makes utterly beautiful images working with the most beautiful models of the time and he makes you look sad and pitiful.  I can't imagine Monroe being happy with her image depicting her like that during the height of her fame, nor the Duchess of Windsor content with her depiction showing all the wrinkles of time and tears written across her face.

Avedon is definitely not the only photographer to resort to 'tricks' to get the portrait they want, and you have to do what you have to do to get the image you want to get.  Many portrait photographers use 'tricks' to get their subjects to relax or at least put down their guard. Some even resort to not even putting film in the camera during the first 'rolls' of shooting. These first 'rolls' of shooting exhausts the subject and allows the best images to be created during the final rolls when the subject has lost their self-consciousness.

But it was this 'rawness' which created most of the critique directed at what is perhaps his magnus opus 'In the American West.' For this ambitious project, Avedon photographed thousands of images using several assistants, an 8X10 large format camera with his signature white backdrop and had them printed larger-than-life for exhibition purposes.

Hansel Nicholas Burum, coal miner, Somerset, Colorado, December 17, 1979

He abandoned photographing celebrities and models and instead concentrated on everyday working class people as his subject and the critique comes because of this.

Juan Patricio Lobato, Carney, Rocky Ford, Colorado, August 23. 1980

Here is a well-established fashion photographer, who has worked with some of the most famous people of the time, comes in with a crew, lighting and an 8X10 camera (which can be very intimidating) and sets up a background which strips a person of their surroundings (and therefore some identity) to photograph people who are not in the habit of being photographed at this level. 

Needless to say, the structure of power is all in the hands of the photographer and the process can, and has been, seen as exploitative. The blank background (and large scale) encourages the viewer to scrutinize the subject being depicted.

Some would argue that this is also how Avedon depicted celebrities, but we must consider for a moment how one views the images of the rich and famous being depicted as vulnerable, it somehow humanizes their stature, as opposed to viewing someone of lesser means depicted in the same manner, it instead opens them up to pity.

Petra Alvarado, on her birthday, factory worker, El Paso, Texas, April 22, 1982

Avedon Group Portrait

Daughters of the American Revolution, 1963 by Richard Avedon

His signature use of a white background flattens the visual depth of the image while the tight crop emphasizes a cramped space. This candid shot is taken while the subjects are in preparation for a formally-posed portrait session. It's unexpected capture displays each sitter's individual personality and their dynamic within a group, while the compact composition underscores their communal relationship.

La Lupe....

aka............La Yiyiyi!

A CRAZY-GOOD Afro-Cuban singer who was somewhat controversial for Cuban television because of her unmistakeable style and I would suspect she would have raised eyebrows everywhere else as well, specially during the late 1950's when this performance was transmitted). The trajectory of her career was cut short because of the Revolution although she enjoyed moderate success in exile. Anyone who knows her work would agree....definitely a LEGEND!

Ahi na' ma!

The Infinite Space of the Possible

The Artist Studios Building (ASB) at the Boston Center for the Arts houses over forty artists working in a broad range of media and subject matter. Commonly shared is the value of workspace and a creative community within which to stimulate and exchange ideas.

The Infinite Space of the Possible, curated by Lynne Cooney, features seven artists with studios in the ASB. In this exhibition, through collaborative dialogue, the participating artists push the boundaries of their artmaking – either by materializing a previously unrealized project, forging current work into new territory or considering their work in an expanded context.

The Infinite Space of the Possible features work by Leika Akiyama, Jon Amburg, Aileen O. Erickson, Rebecca Rose Greene, Kathleen A. Kneeland, Lazaro Montano and Victor Ortale.

As an added bonus, a detail of my work was used for the invitations and PR for the show.

65 Degrees of Encaustic Art

I was lucky enough to be included in this exhibit on encaustic art. The title 65degrees refers to the temperature in which wax melts in Celsius degrees thereby allowing for encaustic work to be done. The curator for the show is my good friend Leika Akiyama, who trusted me enough to include me in the show despite me not having done much of encaustic work before. I was quite enjoyable to do, as it is when you are learning a new medium.

Movie Review: Where the Wild Things Are

The review below was originally written 4/2011.

Slight disclaimer. I had no idea what this movie was about before I started watching it. I knew it was based on a children's book and contained a fantastical storyline but I never read nor grew up with the book therefore I have no nostalgic pining for its story.

What was that? Granted, I never read the book nor knew of its plot but this movie left me thoroughly confused. That could be a good thing for a movie to do sometimes especially if you are left to ponder on it for days only to discover its subtle meaning and redeeming quality, but alas, this was not the case with Where The Wild Things Are.

The acting was good and the costumes, setting and effects were well done. You can tell that this was a movie the director (Spike Jonz) cared very much about by the detail that is employed onto it. Plus Catherine Keener is always a pleasure to watch deliver believability with her understated acting. However the only thing I walked away from with this movie was praying I never have to confront another precocious child again lest I take out my wild beast frustrations on him. Those monsters should have eaten that kid from the get-go.

The Queen of Versailles

This is a must-see documentary by Lauren Greenfield, a documentary photography who tends to focus on girl culture. Here she documents the real life accounts of the Siegels and their attempt at building the largest single family home in America.

I originally wrote this review on November 2013.

All that glitters is not gold. 

You can now add the addendum to the age old adage, "Money can't buy happiness" to also include "it can't buy taste...nor self-respect....nor even a clue". The fact that someone would model a home after Versailles should have been foreshadowing enough. Yes, the real Versailles is a beautiful architectural masterpiece but its opulence eventually led to the demise of the French monarchy and quite ironically is almost lead to this family's as well. This documentary should be a must watch for people struggling with money, you will simultaneously be infuriated by and feel pity for these people. Anger because they don't realize what they have nor need (they have lots of crap, they need substance) and pity because despite all the money and wealth they probably live a poorer life than yourself. The fact that you would step on dog shit inside your million-dollar mansion's bedroom because you have no clue what to do with a dog is mind-boggling. Didn't anyone think of hiring a dog-trainer to train the dogs? Or perhaps they just rely on their indentured servants to tell them what to do. If it wasn't for the help, these people would be eating the crap on the floor. You can take the people out of the trailer part, but not the trailer park out of the people.