












photography blog
Before the 1990s, Gursky did not digitally manipulate his images. In the years since, Gursky has been frank about his reliance on computers to edit and enhance his pictures, creating an art of spaces larger than the subjects photographed. Writing in the new yourk magazine magazine, the critic Peter Schjeldahl these pictures "vast," "splashy," "entertaining," and "literally unbelievable." In the same publication, critic Calvin Tomkins described Gursky as one of the "two masters" of the "Düsseldorf" school. In 2001, Tomkins described the experience of confronting one of Gursky's large works.
Gursky's huge, panoramic color prints—some of them up to six feet high by ten feet long—had the presence, the formal power, and in several cases the majestic aura of nineteenth-century landscape paintings, without losing any of their meticulously detailed immediacy as photographs. Their subject matter was the contemporary world, seen dispassionately and from a distance.
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TWtlhApag0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWaIFOSKKgE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Gursky
Blog:
http://anaba.blogspot.com/2005/12/abmb-legend-of-gursky-as-told-by-man.html
http://niporlaveredaniporlautopista.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html
http://www.postmedia.net/999/gursky.htm
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2001/gursky/
http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/01/theory-andreas-gursky-making-things.html
http://metroartwork.com/andreas-gursky-biography-artwork-m-87.html
Practices of looking
Slinkachu has attracted a cult audience for his photographs of tiny, hand-painted figures in unlikely urban settings. The street artist’s tiny world exists for a brief moment before it is washed away, eaten by animals or trodden underfoot by the unsuspecting public. These tiny narratives are then photographed by the artist, providing evidence of their brief “lives”. Slinkachu’s recent book, Little People in the City (with an introduction by Will Self), has become a best seller.
Slinkachu leaving his usual urban setting for the first time and his photographs will show tiny day-trippers facing everyday dramas within the grounds of Belsay.
The “little people” project has seen dozens of the tiny characters left around the city in a variety of poses, with begging for coins twice their size, being senless by mini-muggers.
Slinkachu has inspired by graffiti artist Banksi and wants to hide his identity. Only admitting to being a 26 years old Londoner.
A lot of recent miniature-model-photography work that is similar to Slinkachu work done in the '80s and '90s, but Slinkachu had steps further and his work is really clever and fun.
Slinkachu work reminds me of the Italian artist Olivo Barbieri a photographer of urban environments .He is recognized for his innovative technique creating a miniature still photgrphy from actule landscape by simulating shallow depth of filed via the use of the til-shft lens photography.
Is one of my favorite photographers the way he planned his scene and how he choose the perfect time to creat the magical moment in the image. Every detail of these images is meticulously planned and staged, in particular the lighting. In some instances, extra lighting and special effects such as artificial rain or dry ice are used to enhance a natural moment of twilight. In others, the effect of twilight is entirely artificially created.
All the images propose twilight as a poetic condition. It is a metaphor for, and backdrop to, uncanny events that momentarily transport actors from the homeliness and security of their suburban context. Crewdson has drawn inspiration from the town of Lee, Massachusetts, where his family has a cabin: it was the setting for his Natural Wonder series (1992-97), which fused the natural and domestic worlds in surreal, vividly colorful images.
In some of my I images I have taken in the twilight I achieved in some of my images without a crew it’s by me and my camera, its not easy to capture what I really want to be in my frame because its not been planned like Gregory Crewdson but I’m trying to capture the best twilight moment that I’m looking for to be in my frame.
“I think I always have been drawn to photography because I want to construct a perfect world. I want to try to create this moment that is separate from the chaos of my life, and to do that I think I create enormous disorder. And I like that craziness because I think that it creates almost a sort of neurotic energy on the set, and through that there is a moment of transportation. And in all my pictures what I am ultimately interested in is that moment of transcendence or transportation, where one is transported into another place, into a perfect, still world. Despite my compulsion to create this still world, it always meets up against the impossibility of doing so. So, I like the collision between this need for order and perfection and how it collides with a sense of the impossible. I like where possibility and impossibly meet.”
Gregory Crewdson, from an interview on Egg (pbs.org)
Saudi feminism, a hotel for women only
The Luthan hotel in the north of Riyadh will try to put an end to the problems of Saudi women who travel and work in the country, and who always need special authorization to reserve a room in 'mixed' hotels. The rhythm of a woman's life in Saudi Arabia is marked by the permits that male figures of reference must approve before she can do anything, from driving a car to reserving a hotel room to working. The Luthan spa is a hotel for women only, the first of its kind in the Gulf and the only one where no special permissions will be necessary. The hotel emerged from the idea of a group of businesswomen who wanted to resolve some of the difficulties that Saudi women face. The chairperson of the board of partners is Princess Madawi Bint Mohammad Bin Abdullah, who says they have obtained approval from Sultan Bin Salman, secretary general of the Saudi tourism commission.
The current laws in Saudi Arabia do not allow 'mixing' among the sexes, and businesswomen who travel for their work often find themselves in unpleasant situations when the moment arrives to check in to a hotel. The hotels of the kingdom will accommodate only women who are accompanied by a male family member, or in possession of a written permit granted by a manager at their workplace, or by the police.
I really like the idea and it’s just a start of women’s problems issues with the special authorization like traveling as a women alone its must have an authorization from a father or brother, life women in Saudi Arabia is changing to the Good with King Abulla applauded a statement that women they will drive cars someday. Women then called for a dialogue to convince opponents of female driving to change their mis-conceptions. that the issue required patience, and he would not impose it against the will of the people. He noted that women drive on the kingdom's deserts and in rural areas. "I believe strongly in the rights of women", he said during his first TV interview adding: "I believe the day will come when women drive. In time, I believe it will be possible. And I believe patience is a virtue.
Women life in Saudi Arabia lives changing for the better in Saudi Arabia but slowly. The Ladies Kingdom has given several women the chance to start their own businesses, including an artist who has a small gallery. Women entrepreneurs will be able to rent office space in a soon toopen business center.
The geographical region of the Arab land has frame the cultural background of the country relates to modernism of Arab world. The Arab world includes Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and spreads over the Middle East (or the Eastern Mediterranean. Most Arab countries gained their independence from British and French colonial rule between the end of World War II and the mid 1950s.
Example is The King Fahd Causeway is multiple dikes - bridge combination connecting Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and the island of Kingdom of Bahrain.1982
Example of a modernist building in Saudi Arabia is the Department of defence
Postmodernism: The modern is always historically at war with what comes immediately before it in this same sense, modern is always post-something. Postmodernism deals with the idea that if something is meaningless that it is not important to focus on finding meaning like how some gallerys end up in burnes empty rooms, it’s about having fun with creating it . Edge of Arabia, which opened on October 16th at the Brunei Gallery, school of Oriental and Africa Studies (SOAS) of the University of London, offers a unique opportunity to see the work of 17 contemporary artists from Saudi Arabia.
The Choice photograph by Manal Al Dowayan
Lionel Mill's film has unique access to Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen, one of the rulers of the rich, powerful and secretive Saudi royal family. This is a fascinating insight into the conflicts between tradition and modernity in one of the world's most conservative and autocratic countries.
References
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fh52m
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk_mvSp1xmA
http://worldslongestbridges.blogspot.com/2009/12/worlds-longest-bridges.html
http://susieofarabia.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/larger-than-life-bicycle-sculpture/
http://susieofarabia.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/skywatch-jeddah-sculpture/
http://www.saudiarabian.tv/?p=1140
http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/5101-expressionism-saudi-fine-arts-its-time-document
http://www.thegarretboys.com/news/saudinews.htm
http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2003/modern_art_from_the_arab_world
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/saudi_arabia_modern_architecture.htm
http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2008/edge_of_arabia
http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2008/edge_of_arabia/photos/08_manal_al_dowayan
http://www.djibnet.com/photo/saudi+arabia/kingdom-tower-1145676387.html
Introducing Postmodernism", by Richard Appignanesi (Author), Chris Garratt