Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary art and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Steven Powers, Malcom T. Liepke, James Ettelson, Remy Soubanere, Sebas Velasco, Travis Collinson, Saba Ghole and Shilo Shiv Suleman, Hopare, and a short video by Will Farrell featuring Edourd Martinet’s whose “art will make you reimagine the insect world. The Frenchman’s sculptures are distinctly creepy, true to nature, and full of life. His medium is piles of bent metals and cast-off bits and pieces with shapes that appeal to him: bike parts, kitchen spatulas, trumpet parts, umbrella ribs—anything can be of use.” (via YouTube)
Paul Strand: 1890 – 1976
Born on October 16, 1890, in New York City, Paul Strand was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century.
Strand studied with documentary photographer Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York. By 1909, he had set up his own commercial studio and also did work on the side in a pictorialist style that was exhibited at the New York Camera Club. In the early 1920s, Strand’s work experimented with formal abstraction and also reflected his interest in social reform. He was one of the founders of the Photo League, an association of photographers who advocated using their art to promote social and political causes.
“Strand visited New Mexico in 1926 and, beginning in 1930, returned for three consecutive summers, making portraits of artist friends and acquaintances. It was there, amidst a community of visual artists and writers, that Strand began to develop his belief in the humanistic value of portraiture.”
Strand traveled to Mexico again in 1934 where he photographed the landscape, architecture, folk art, and people and produced a film about fishermen for the Mexican government. He returned to New York late in 1934 and devoted his time to theater and filmmaking cooperatives.
In 1943, Strand resumed his still photography, focusing on the people and surroundings of New England. In June 1949, he left the United States to present Native Land at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czechoslovakia. This marked the beginning of Strand’s long absence from the United States due to McCarthyism. “Although he was never officially a member of the Communist Party, many of Strand’s collaborators were either Party members or were prominent socialist writers and activists. Many of his friends were also Communists or were suspected of being so. Strand was also closely involved with Frontier Films, one of more than twenty organizations that were branded as ‘subversive’ and ‘un-American’ by the U.S. Attorney General.”
“The remaining 27 years of Strand’s life were spent in Orgeval, France. In the early 1950s, he spent six weeks in the northern Italian agrarian community of Luzzara and later travelled to the Outer Hebrides, islands off the northwest coast of Scotland. He also travelled and photographed in North and West Africa in the 1960s.”
Paul Strand died on March 31, 1976 at his home in France.
About the short film above: In 1920 Paul Strand and artist Charles Sheeler collaborated on Manhatta, a short silent film that presents a day in the life of lower Manhattan. Inspired by Walt Whitman’s book Leaves of Grass, the film includes multiple segments that express the character of New York. The sequences display a similar approach to the still photography of both artists. Attracted by the cityscape and its visual design, Strand and Sheeler favored extreme camera angles to capture New York’s dynamic qualities. Although influenced by Romanticism in its view of the urban environment, Manhatta is considered the first American avant-garde film.
Sources: Wikipedia, Getty Museum, Lee Gallery
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 176
Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary art and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Kate MccGuire, Herakut, David Alexander, Gonzalo Garcia Calvo, Jessica Eve Rattner, Rick Berry, Sergey Kalinin, Zemer Peled and a video with Greg “Craola” Simkins painting his piece “When Life Give’s Lemons”.
Annie Leibovitz: Photography
Born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut, Annie Leibovitz has been documenting American popular culture since the 1970s and is one of the most sought-after portrait photographers today.
The Leibovitz family moved frequently with her father’s duty assignments in the U.S. Air Force and Annie took her first photos when they were stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Leibovitz studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute and after a summer trip to Japan with her mother, she began taking night classes in photography and developed her skills as a photographer. Early influences include Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
In 1970, Leibovitz approached the editor of the recently launched Rolling Stone Magazine for employment. Her first assignment was a photo shoot with John Lennon and her photo appeared on the January 1971 issue. Leibovitz was named chief photographer two years later.
In 1980, Leibovitz was sent to photograph John Lennon and Yoko Ono and created the now-famous Lennon nude curled around a fully clothed Ono. Several hours after the photo shoot, Lennon was shot and killed. The photograph ran on the cover of Rolling Stone Lennon commemorative issue and in 2005 was named best magazine cover from the past 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
In 1983, Leibovitz became a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine and became known for her provocative celebrity portraits including Whoopie Goldberg, Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres, Queen Elizabeth II, and countless others. Her portraits have also been featured in national media including Vogue, The New York Times, The New Yorker, as well as media ads for American Express, the Gap, and the Milk Board.
Leibovitz began a long-term romantic relationship with writer Susan Sontag in 1989. Sontag had a strong influence on her work including her photos documenting the Balkan war in Sarajevo and Women, a book they published together in 2000. The couple lived apart but maintained a close relationship until Sontag’s death in 2004.
Leibovitz has received numerous awards including a Commandeur des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government as well as designation as a living legend by the Library of Congress. In 1991, she had her first museum show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. – a show that toured internationally for six years.
With several book publications under her belt, Leibovitz’s most recent book A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005 features her trademark celebrity portraits as well as personal photographs from her own life.
Leibovitz has three children, Sarah Cameron who was born when Leibovitz was 51 years old, and twins Susan and Samuelle who were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.
To see more of Annie Leibovitz’s photographs visit Contact Press. There is also a PBS documentary called Annie Leibovitz, Life Through a Lens that features interviews from celebrities and with the photographer about the her work over the last few decades.
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 175
Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary artworks and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Michael Adamson, Bordalo II, Guennadi Kalinine, Christina Mrozik, Derick Melander, Molly Wood, Oleg Oprisco, Nicole Watt and a video on the installation “Narcissism : Dazzle room” by Shigeki Matsuyama. This installation is one of a series of dazzle camouflage themed works the artist has been creating since 2013.
Dazzle camouflage was a type of ship camouflage used during World War I. As its name suggests, it was meant to dazzle and confuse the human eye. In an era where radar technology did not exist, an enemy vessel’s range and heading needed to be visually identified for targeting. The complex black and white patterns painted on ships with dazzle camouflage made it difficult to ascertain whether a target was moving closer or farther away and prevented accurate firing.
The person in the room covered with dazzle camouflage uploads selfies to social media while surrounded by a larger self representing narcissism. In an era where much communication occurs over social media, metrics such as likes and follows fulfill our desire for recognition; however, the ease of which we can obtain validation from others leads to the growth of this desire, and we attempt to satiate it using our self-image or “larger self.” The boundary between self and self-image is unconsciously blurred by dazzle camouflage, and as a result, we ourselves cease to recognize our own boundaries. (via vimeo)
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 174
Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary artworks and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Carlos Garaicoa, Dan Tirels, Eric Esterle, Michaël Husser, Gilles Bensimon, Kiki Xue, Linda Jacobson, Shai Yossef and a video from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Human Interest: Martha Wilson on John Coplans, artist Martha Wilson discusses honesty in John Coplans’s portrait Frieze, No. 2, Four Panels, 1994 and her own.
If you would like your work featured in the Weekly Mixx, visit the Submissions page for information on how to apply.
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 173
Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary artworks and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Alexandre Alonso, Dan May, Donald Martiny, Firelei Baez, Francis Krieg, Isabelle Wenzel, Yh Lee, Marta Spendows, and Henrique Oliveira.
If you would like your work featured in the weekly mixx, visit the Submissions page for information on how to apply.
Lisa Kristine: Enslaved – A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery
I’d certainly known it (slavery) existed in the world, but not to such a degree. I felt so horrible and honestly ashamed of my own lack of knowledge of this attrocity in my own lifetime. And I thought, if I don’t know, how many other people don’t know.”
—Lisa Kristine, Humanitarian Photographer
Humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine uses her powerful images and intimate portrayals to elevate awareness of social causes such as modern slavery. The United Nations estimates there are approximately 27 to 30 million individuals caught in the slave trade industry today.
In furthering its mission to advance freedom and combat slavery and human trafficking, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center recently invited Lisa Kristine to Cincinnati to open her exhibit, ENSLAVED: A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery, which was on display at the Freedom Center through August 31, 2016.
About the exhibition: “ENSLAVED, A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery documents the lives endured by slaves and celebrates the freedom they never dreamed possible. ENSLAVED is a powerful statement about one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. The images capture the experience of a moment lived in slavery, allowing the viewer to peek into the lives of those who are ENSLAVED. What we see are two undeniable truths – the extreme brutality of the situation, and the resilience of the human spirit. The exhibition portrays survivors who are now rebuilding their lives and helping others to freedom.” (via enslavedexhibitions.com)
About Lisa Kristine: “Humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine creates more than images, she inspires change. A master storyteller, Lisa documents indigenous cultures in more than 100 countries on six continents, instinctively identifying the universal human dignity in all of us. Awakening compassion and igniting action in a worldwide audience with powerful, broad-sweeping images of courage and tender, intimate portrayals, Lisa elevates significant social causes—such as the elimination of human slavery and the unification of humanity—to missions. Her work resonates in the heart and moves us to act. Best known for her evocative and saturated use of color, her fine art prints are among the most sought after and collected in the world.”
To learn more, visit LisaKristine.com. Prints of Lisa’s photos can be purchased and portion of the sales are directed toward fighting slavery through Free the Slaves organization.
Learn the stories behind the photos below by visiting enslavedexhibitions.com.
All images copyright © Lisa Kristine.
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 172
Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary artworks and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Gemmy Woud-Binnedjik, Brad Jesson, Iva Gueorguieva, Rachel Ducker, Warren King, Coroso Zundert, Gemma Capdevila, and short video Aether – a spatial audio-visual collaboration between musician Max Cooper and architects Satyajit Das and Regan Appleton. It plays on the beauty of fundamental natural forms – waves, surfaces, symmetries and surreal landscapes, as the building blocks and underlying structure of the world around us – a modern interpretation of the luminiferous aether.
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 171
Your Weekly Mixx! DAF’s Weekly Mixx is a selection of contemporary artworks and/or art related videos chosen from artist and gallery submissions and from our own search for new and interesting works. This week, we feature the work of Antony Gormley, Flora Borsi, Herakut, Kyle Stewart, Max Serradifalco, Murray Mcculloch, Scott Marr, Tony Cragg and a video by More Than who recently commissioned a unique art exhibition for dogs from British artist and inventor Dominic Wilcox. Wilcox’s interactive exhibits include ‘Cruising Canines’ – an open car window simulator, ‘Dinnertime Dreams’ – an oversized 10 foot dog bowl filled to the brim with hundreds of play balls to look like dog food, and ‘Watery Wonder’ – a series of dancing water jets that jump from one dog bowl to the next for dogs to chase. A selection of paintings and drawings created in a dog’s colour spectrum are also on display at the exhibition for the visiting dogs to enjoy.
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