Pakayla Biehn

Pakayla Biehn's paintings derived from double exposure photography. Check out her whimsical paintings from her site: http://www.youshouldtakecare.com/

Contemporary Photorealist: Natalia Fabia

Proud "Hooker" painter, Natalia Fabia presents her latest collection East Village Sparklers featured in gallery from April 17, 2012.

Past Artworks

Photography into Painting

  

Kim Jong-un, 39 pieces (each 8"x11"), mixed media, 2012. 

 

Kim Jong-un, 54'x60', mixed media, 2012

by jihae Park


In this semester, I tried to study screen print and digital print technique.
I believe my works are related with this class; Photography into Painting. People can easily notice about specific figure picture at my works even though it was destroyed and painted.
I used digital print, silk screen, transfer images with yupo paper, and then acrylic and oil paint on papers and canvases. I'd like to express about photography as a painting itself with my perspective. I transferred his photography found at online and then painted overlapped of photographs itself with my statement about work process.

When I went to the Art Institute of Chicago, I stuck by Andy Warhol's Mao. I'd wanted to reference from it and make mine with Kim Jong-un image because I have some personal experiences about North Korea that I never forget it.
When I was young, my grandmother talked to me about the war between North and South Korea.
Few years ago, I could travel Gaesung city which is second capital city of North Korea. That made me remind of Kim Jong-un. However, I do not focus on political issue for my work. I'd like to think about just as one man who is just four years older than me. 
Kim jong-un is the current Supreme leader of North korea. He is born 8.January 1983. I kept considering to express and imagining about his non political and his unknown personal life. His life could be really different from our lives. I am wondering and interested in  his unveiled life to my work.

From Sang Ha,

Why we prefer a photorealist painting over a photo

Psychologist Paul Bloom does a really interesting TED Talk about how our brains value something more or less based on our perception of its origins. He begins with a story about a Nazi officer who learns that his prized Vermeer painting is actually a very precise forgery, and commits suicide soon after.


This explains why someone might pass over as image they perceive as a photograph without a second glance, and look at it for hours if they later learn its really a painting. Though I feel that we've sort of resolved this issue in class already, Blooms does a very thorough job of explaining why our experience with an object is altered according to our perception of it's history. A Richter painting, for example, would be received very differently if it were a photograph. I'm totally guilty of this. I kept walking through the Richter room in AIC without a second glance at that painting of the yellow flowers, thinking absentmindedly that it was a photograph. Only upon learning that it was a painted image did I begin to grow a fondness for it. When we experience a painting, we imagine that it takes time and effort. We are dissatisfied with simply the image, and need illusions of labor and process in order to respect or appreciate it.


The video's kinda long, but Bloom is a really engaging speaker and I bet if you start watching that you won't stop until the end. 

Andy Warhol (Marilyn Monroe)

        Andy Warhol who is one of the most influential and well-known artists around the world. Having made multi productions on a same object, especially famous for paining Marilyn Monroe, he is a leading figure in pop art. Warhol started to paint famous objects or people: Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Dollar Signs, and Coca Cola Bottles, with the series of other paintings called “death and disaster.” However, Warhol painted Campbell’s Soup cans not because they were very special, but rather he painted them because he wanted to paint nothing. In most of Warhol’s work, he often based on the photographs, and he made mass-produced objects, drawing on his extensive advertising background. Most importantly, Warhol liked using Fauve colors, the non-representational colors of Pop Art, or better known as artificial or flash colors. However, he did not know which colors were the right colors when he was in a progress of painting. Warhol was very fascinated with morbid concepts, but his art works came out with very beautiful and brilliant colors, especially in the images of Marilyn Monroe.

        Warhol painted Untitled from Marilyn Monroe in 1967 after sudden death of Monroe. While at that time, Warhol was really into pop culture, obtaining a black-and white photo of Monroe, taken in 1953 for her film Niagara. Warhol used this photo to create multiple series of images, and he used dramatic colors and shadow. Warhol was able to produce this multi images in a fast rate due to printing technique and the help of his assistants. In addition, Marilyn is a good example of Warhol’s multi-production piece and process. I really like how he used different colors in each images of the Marilyn Monroe, and the idea of multi-producing the same image of the piece.

Robert Doisneau

Robert Doisneau was a French photographer. In the 1930s he used a Leica on the streets of Paris. He and Henri Cartier-Bresson were pioneers of photojournalism. He is renowned for his 1950 image Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Town Hall), a photograph of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris. Robert Doisneau was appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1984.

He worked at Renault before photographer career, but he soon got fired because of constant lateness. He first started his career as a postcard photographer, and he got fame because of his Le Baiser de L’hotel de Ville. He mostly took snapshots of paris living people. He was very skillful to take a picture of a moment. I really like his fun pictures.

Joel Meyerowitz

http://vimeo.com/38937942
An award-winning street photographer who has been creating memorable images in the great photojournalistic tradition since 1962, Joel Meyerowitz pioneered the use of color in this slice of life genre, and his classic book on Cape Cod, “Cape Light” was instrumental in changing the prevailing dismissive attitudes toward color photography. Within a few days of the 9/11 attacks on The World Trade Center, Meyerowitz began to create an archive of the destruction and recovery at Ground Zero that consists of over 8,000 images of the aftermath of the tragedy. In this latest Leica Portrait video, Joel shares the story of his transition from junior art director to legendary photographer.

Blind Man, Spain, 1967

The Twin Towers, 2001

Cypresses, Early Morning, Tuscany, 2002

Before being a photographer, he studied painting and medical illustration, and then worked as an art director some time. These experiences of wide range are core of his style of photography. In other words, he does not limit photography of means. His photography range is very broad: space, architect, portrait, and nature. He is one of pioneering color photography.

David Hockney by Kristy Chae

Though photography and paintings are similar in a way both of them can capture moments in time that are accurate, David Hockey, one of the famous leaders of the pop art movement, says, “Photography will never equal painting!” David Hockney is a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, and also, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century. In addition, Hockney is well known for taking detailed individual photographs and putting or compiling them together like a puzzle. During 1980’s, Hockney made lots of photo collages and photomontages.

Merced river, 1982

My mother

Noya and Bill Brandt

Pearl blossom highway

The Cubism and photography exists together in these works.  He used grids to show the multiple reference points into photography. I think it is really interesting to see how each images are put together to complete the work. I like the fact that while a single photograph only show one point of view and only need a small period of time to look at it, his works need several minutes to look at and the slight changes of light and composition into the next image are beautiful. Also, as one can see in “My mother”, I like how the composition of putting the images together, or the edges of the images, matches with the subject matter.

One can see the same idea of dividing them into grids in Hockney’s several paintings, especially in his swimming pool series.

A Large Diver  (Paper Pool 27), 1978
colored and pressed paper pulp, 72x171 in.

Schwimmbad Mitternacht  (Paper Pool 11), 1978
colored and pressed paper pulp, 72x85 1/2 in.

I like how he uses colors and the brushstrokes of the swimming pool. I also like how he painted the reflection inside the swimming pool.

Some great images of that tacky Marilyn Monroe statue coming down...

Richter movie playing again at siskel

Just wanted everyone to know that there are more opportunities at the end of May to see the Richter movie if you haven't already seen it....hooray!
http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/gerhardrichterpainting

Edgar Degas (Place de la Concorde or Vicomte Lepic & His Daughters) -Dana Kim

“Place de la Concorde” is an oil painting by Edgar Degas in the year 1875. This painting is also known under the title “Viconte Lepic and His Daughters.” The painting portrays cigar smoking Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic with his two daughters crossing the Place de la Concorde. I find this painting of Degas very interesting and appealing for its innovative composition, artistic drawing, and sharp analysis of movement. Degas followed the style of Impressionism. This painting of Degas is representational in form similar to his other works. It almost depicts what is there in reality. In “Place de la Concorde,” Degas pays utmost attention to the drawing of figures and faces in the picture. Apart from effectively using formal elements of art such as lights and colors, Degas skillfully captures his subjects. In this painting, Degas depicts movement in different directions. The lines and the high walls depict the theme of alienation in modern society. The contrast of light shades the center of the City Square and slightly darker shades toward the sides provides the painting a realistic touch. The way in which the subjects in the painting face different directions and the use of large amount of space shows that a photograph influences it. Thus, “Place de la Concorde” remains to be one of the best impressionist paintings with a perspective analysis of movement.

Thomas Eakins (The Swimming hole) -Dana Kim

“The Swimming Hole” is one of Thomas Eakins’ masterpieces and was painted in the year 1885. Eakins is known as one of the greatest American realists of the nineteenth century. In “The Swimming Hole,” Eakins portrays the male nude by painting himself and five other friends on a creek near Philadelphia. This painting can be considered one of the finest of Eakins’ outdoor pictures, as depicting the human body is known to be the most challenging subject in art. The reason I like this painting of Eakins’ is that it exhibits his mastery over painting the human form. “The Swimming Hole” accurately captures the movement and details of the subjects. Eakins has also made effective use of formal elements of art such as line, space, shape, color, texture, and perspective in this painting. The composition of “The Swimming Hole” is pyramidal in shape., which is the important aspect of the painting. The figure of the man reclining at the left leads to the one pointing his arm upward. This in turn leads to the man at the apex of the pyramid. The man in a diving position at the right leads to the figure of Eakins himself in a swimming position. From Eakins’ figure, the attention is driven back to the painting’s focal point. The uniqueness in the painting lies in the way male nudity is portrayed in outdoor setting. Eakins’ use of color is remarkable in this painting. He provides a dark background against the light skin tones of the swimmers. This helps in drawing attention to the focal point of the painting. Each figure in the painting is skillfully arranged to imply a continuous movement such as reclining, sitting, standing, diving, and swimming. Also, each of the figures is carefully positioned in such a way that their genitals are not exposed. Thus, the conventional aspects coupled with innovative elements make “The Swimming Hole” an interesting and lively painting. 

From Anna:


I found it interesting that photography has been playing such a major role in painting and continues to do so.  I never really gave it much thought, but after taking this class, I realized that most of contemporary painters are borrowing directly from photographic images and very few are actually studying the figure, the landscape, etc. by observation.  We live in an age when the romantic beauty of nature or human form is not such a cool thing to worship whether it is in painting, music or other form of art.  We are trying to distort it and find new unconventional beauty in everything that surrounds us.  Photography and Photoshop make it all so more tempting and inviting to take images apart and reassemble.  I am not an advocate for revival of the naturalist beauty aesthetic, but I am just curious when this era of ugly truth in art will be over.  What has been traditionally thought of as the ugly things in life that we currently see in art such as violence, pornography, and poverty are deemed beautiful and meaningful now and have been for a while.  I do feel that they are in a way more interesting and more beautiful than some of the straightforward, conventional types of beauty that we discard; yet, I think this is a social, economic and political issue.  The United States is a wealthy country and most artists here grow up in a somewhat predictably comfortable atmosphere.  Few are severely malnourished or physically and emotionally scarred by the societal problems.  In other countries, for example in India, that is not the case.  For instance, when "Slumdog Millionaire" won the Oscar prize in the States, very few people in India wanted to see this movie, because  it portrayed their bitter survival so vividly.  Most people in India want to see happiness and beauty in their art, not poverty and despair that surrounds them in daily life.  I just wanted to share this thought and observation and wondering what others think about such trends in art.

"Too Hard To Keep"

I recently ran across the blog of Jason Lazarus (SAIC photo faculty) "Too Hard To Keep":

http://toohardtokeep.blogspot.com/

This blog is requesting photos that are deemed "too hard to keep" by those who have come into their possession.  Lazarus only asks that after the photos are mailed to them, any existing digital copy be deleted.  The blog speaks to the changes that the photographic medium is going through as appropriated images gain a new kind of force and the meanings of individual photographs shift with their shifting owners.  As Elizabeth Parker from the Times points out in her article also posted on the blog,  "The photos expose the pain and ecstasy of everyday people.  It's a public partnership to create art".  I'd recommend checking it out.  It will be interesting to watch this project unfold.

Art as Sign Post

I'm not sure if anyone has yet been to see Parcours in the Modern wing but if you are a Modernism nerd you def need to check it out.  Works by Liz Deschenes and Florian Pumhösl.

Parcours takes inspiration from an unrealized 1930s exhibition proposal by Austrian-born Bauhaus designer Herbert Bayer. Bayer conceived of a gallery space configured into a maze, with text and the works of art serving as a guiding thread for visitors. Expanding on this premise, Deschenes and Pumhösl selected photographs from the permanent collection of the Art Institute, such as Florence Henri’s Self-Portrait (1928), and László Moholy-Nagy’s Untitled (c.1923/25), and placed them like route markers on temporary walls modified expressly for this show. The artists’ own works–a set of specially tempered glass panels by Pumhösl and lustrous photograms by Deschenes–will reflect these works and the surrounding space.


http://arttattler.com/archiveparcours.html

Another post from Daniel...

Daniel Granitto
Blog Entry One

When looking at the work of Luc Tuymans in class, it reminded me of my
experience with his paintings at the MCA. I had virtually no background knowledge
on his life and how it informed his work. In fact, I hadn’t even seen his paintings
until I stepped into the gallery last year. I remember feeling disinterested, and
somewhat confused as I slowly made my way through the first room. I
thought, “Okay, so I ‘m looking at yet another contemporary painter who just isn’t
very good at painting.” I became more interested as I made my way deeper into the
show, but I do not think I realized that his work was so politically informed until I
got to the image of Condoleezza Rice. But even in front of this painting, I was not too
engaged with the political content and back-story. Instead, I began to appreciate
Tuyman’s style of painting. I was drawn to the speed of the painting, as it appeared
that it might all be applied in one layer somewhat like a puzzle of shapes and tones. I
was later informed that most of his pieces are completed within a day. I was also
suddenly quite drawn to his color palette. The tones of the face were chalky, hazy
and subtle. There was something very quiet; yet powerful in the way he was
presenting color. I left the show with almost a complete change of heart and I now
find his work quite engaging and exciting.
All of this to say, that I was not interested in the political content, though I
know that it is important to his practice. Ultimately, I still ended up appreciating
these works simply for their formal qualities. This is encouraging to me because it
suggests that perhaps people need not know the complete background to an image
in order to enjoy it or at least find it interesting.

Photography become 3D

Photography now expressed different way using technology as an art method. Here is interesting program and application I found, both are make 3D model from 2D photography. 

There is application for mobile that ‘Photosynth’ which combine all hundred picture to make virtual specific scene as a three dimensional image.

http://photosynth.net

Also the program ‘123D catch’ is making three-dimensional sculpture combined two-dimensional images.

http://www.123dapp.com/catch

It is interesting to look at and try it.The virtual technology as a media art field is become larger as broad way; artist cannot ignore that even if they want.

Henry Peach Robinson's A Merry Tale (1882)_Emily Song

While having much interest in Henry Peach Robinson’s staged photography, I though “A merry Tale” (1882) is a good example to show his process in making photographs. As a well-known pictorialist photographer, Henry Peach Robinson always encouraged photographers to learn and show artistic thoughts in their work. Interestingly, Robinson used his sketch to carefully arrange details for the upcoming shoots. He would select the theme or the scene in his mind and draw the figures in details with different prompts and settings. I was surprised how meticulous he was in arranging each figure in the scene.

When looking at the sketch, it is clear that Robinson had considered costumes, the light and shade of the figures, and also different accessories that would enhance the mood of the scene. Although his sketch and the photograph are somewhat different in terms of location, each model’s gestures and their positions in the scene are very similar in comparison, except the figure on the second left. As Robinson always thought carefully about arranging his figures and gestures in landscape, this is well shown in his Merry Tale. When looking at each figure, women models all seem to be listening to the woman on the very right. However, the gestures and feelings expressed by each model are different. Interestingly, although the photograph is to some extent, an artificial scene, each model seems to be very real in terms of their gestures and looks. Robinson’s rule in dresses was that clothes worn by models should not be new, clean clothes because he stressed the importance of capturing the characteristics of the country. In this way, his work shows how Robinson highlighted the importance of relating country activities and harmonies.

Easy Pictorialism Photo

Instead of posting a blog about a contemporary artist, I thought it would be interesting to talk about Instagram. And I am sure everyone is familiar with Instagram, a photo-sharing program. It is very popular where people share their digitally filtered photos with their friends (I use this too!) Recently, Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion! This shows that Instagram is just as popular as Facebook! I thought Instagram would be an interesting topic to discuss in this blog because it is photography-based program. However, this program uses filtering program like Photoshop, but creates ‘vintage’ touch for a nice quality touch. As I was taking this class, it reminded me of Alfred Stieglitz’s photographs. As we have already discussed in class and museum, Stieglitz’s filtered photographs are cropped images with ambience with painterly aesthetics. His photographs fall into the Pictorialism movement by manipulating the photo. Now, in the 21st century, with the advanced technology and Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the founders of Instagram, everyone can create personalized Pictorialism photo.

When I use one photo from my iPhone to create an Instagram phto, there is one process where the users ‘move and scale’ the image, which is relevant to cropping the image. This simple process is reminiscient of cropping the image we have discussed in class. To me, I have mixed feelings about Instagram. Since anybody with smart phone can create a pictorialism photo, the value of Stieglitz’s work goes down and people would not be able to appreciate Pictorialism photographs. And now, Instagram creates a

Tehching Hsieh

This has nothing to do with painting. :)

 I accompanied a friend to the Tehching Hsieh lecture a couple of days ago, being only vaguely familiar with his art beforehand. In case you don't know, Hsieh's body of work is mostly comprised of year-long performance pieces, spanning from the late seventies to the year 1999. These include: locking himself in a jail cell in his studio for one year and depriving himself of human interaction (a friend brought him meals and cleaned up after him, but they weren't allowed to speak), tying himself to another artist with a five-foot rope for one year but not allowing them to make physical contact, living on the streets for a year without being able to go inside any buildings, not being able to talk about, write about, or make any art for a year, and making art for thirteen years, but not talking about it or showing it to anyone.

The Rope Piece

 In order to verify the authenticity of these feats, Hsieh's work relies on a couple of things: a signed legal document stating that a lawyer was present/documentary evidence hasn't been tampered with, etc., and often, photography to document the process. I'm thinking, in particular, of a work he completed in '80-'81 called the "Time Clock Piece" in which he punches a time clock in his studio every hour for a year. He wears a laborer's outfit, and photographs himself immediately after punching the clock. In the lecture we viewed a video that had complied all of the photos. I believe it was about five or six minutes long, but it felt like an inffffinityyyy.

The Time Clock installation

I found a little chunk of the photo-compilation here:
 http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/one-year-performance/video/1/

Charles Sheeler's Flower Forms _Emily Song

Charles Sheeler’s Flower forms (former title) Forms-Flowers

Oil on canvas

Known as one of his series of botanical studies, Flower Forms is an oil painting done by Charles Sheeler in the year of 1919. Although few colors are used in this painting, the painting still shows dynamic energy that artist owns. Thus, the dramatic lighting and absurd curves of the forms clearly show Sheeler’s interest in abstraction and modernism. Furthermore, this painting is actually meant to be an extreme close up of a lily, although the painting lacks details about the subject. These arbitrary colors and shapes show his ways of looking at nature and how he applied cubistic ideas. As Sheeler avoided to comment on the direction of source of light on the objects, I love how the shapes and forms are lighted in various directions, as if they are displayed in a dark studio with hard lights.

On the other hand, while the subject was a lily, this painting was actually inspired by one of his nude photographs he had done in the same year, which was 1919. While we all know that Sheeler worked with photography as a source for his paintings, the model was actually his wife. After doing some research about this work, I started to view this more as a woman’s body. The big curves on each side seemed to represent woman’s body parts.  It seemed to me that this painting really becomes the artist’s portrayal of beauty. Overall, the abstracted forms and color really guide viewers to fantasize about different ideas and definitely serve the artist’s purpose.

Sophie kahn

Sophie kahn

‘Sophie Kahn’ used high-end 3d scanners, and uses the data to create analog outputs: digital prints photography. Her background is photography, and developed the application of new imaging technologies to the body. The idea of her work is making the image as trace; the residue trailed by a body or place as it moves through time.

The precisely engineered 3d laser scanners she uses were never designed to represent the body, which is always in flux. When confronted with a moving figure, they receive conflicting spatial coordinates and generate fragmentary results: a 3d ‘motion blur’.

Her work is good way to show how scientific image and technology cooperated and represented into created their own art. Her works are shows explore the impossibility of capturing as a new media of art more than a trace of the past usually photography did. As virtual image of her work, it represented human’s body into digital space, no matter time and light. Using human body, not only observing body shape, but also use organic object as subject and expressed abstract illustration to trace not only human’s body but also other nature object as her subject.

Artist Recreates 15th Century Portraits in Airplane Lavatory

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/photography/sa-flemish.php


This artist found an inventive way to make art while in an airplane restroom. Obviously her means were limited by her situation, making the camera the most practical tool for creating these images. The huge disparity between the time periods and the means of production of the centuries old form of painting/portraiture she's emulating only adds to the project's totally delightful weirdness..I'm especially impressed with the creative and totally effective use of the flotation device.  From her website:

While in the lavatory on a domestic flight in March 2010, I spontaneously put a tissue paper toilet cover seat cover over my head and took a picture in the mirror. The image evoked 15th-century Flemish portraiture. I decided to add more images made in this mode and planned to take advantage of a long-haul flight from San Francisco to Auckland, guessing that there were likely to be long periods of time when no one was using the lavatory on the 14-hour flight. I made several forays to the bathroom from my aisle seat, and by the time we landed I had a large group of new photographs entitled Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style. I was wearing a thin black scarf that I sometimes hung up on the wall behind me to create the deep black ground that is typical of these portraits. There is no special illumination in use other than the lavatory's own lights and all the images are shot hand-held with the camera phone. At the Dunedin Public Art gallery, the photos were framed in faux-historical frames and hung on a deep red wall reminiscent of the painting galleries in museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art.