Richard Wathen

Richard Wathen on linen, on aluminium, (diptych), 230 x 180 cm (each panel). www.maxwigram.com

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

Book of Life (2000) by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

Marie Sauvaitre

Marie Sauvaitre, Slab City, USA, 2005
Reflecting on globalization, mobility and the new roles of borders, ERRANCES - French term for something between exile and wandering - explores and pays homage to nomads home through color landscape photographs.

Megan Lowney

"My first successful 4x5 negative of senior year"  
Megan Lowney, NHIA (smart phone image}

Walker Evans

This entry was posted by Ted Barron

Urs Fischer

Urs Fischer, Untitled, 2011, wax, pigments, wicks, steel.  On view in the 2011 Venice Biennale Read More

Ester Bubley

April 1943. Washington, D.C. "Girl sitting alone in the Sea Grill waiting for a pickup. 'I come in here pretty often, sometimes alone, mostly with another girl, we drink beer, and talk, and of course we keep our eyes open -- you'd be surprised at how often nice lonesome soldiers ask Sue, the waitress, to introduce them to us.' " Medium-format nitrate negative by Esther Bubley for the OWI.  (note face in window above woman's head)

8"X10" VIEW

The Power of the 8-by-10 Film Camera

In this weekend’s magazine, Lizzy Goodman writes about Gaslight Anthem, a band from New Jersey, on the occasion of its new release this week. To illustrate Goodman’s story, George Tice photographed the band using a large-format, 8-by-10 film camera. Tice speaks about his love for his camera, which he bought new in 1969, in a video on our Web site.

Chris McCaw

Chris McCaw
Sunburned GSP#123 (Tahoe/expanding), 2007
also here

Julee Holcombe

"Among the River of Ghosts"

Made in Chimerica*,  August 3 - August 24, 2012
Collaged Photographs by Julee Holcombe

The Parlor at Planspoke
18 Sheefe Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801

*Must see!

Daniel Kukla

Driving in the desert inspired Daniel Kukla to haul enormous mirrors into Joshua Tree National Park and photograph contrasts of landscape and sky.

"Life on the Desert’s Edge" New York Times by JESSE NEWMAN

Sixth Finch

Sixth Finch is an online journal of poetry and art, founded in 2008 and updated quarterly. We are committed to bringing the best in contemporary art and poetry to our readers at no cost.  
Cover art:  "Cluster" by Jeremy Gedes

Flakphoto.com

The Collection

Sophie T. Lvoff

Carrollton Avenue , New Orleans, 2011
From the Hell’s Bells / Sulfur / Honey series
Website - SophieLvoff.com

House 18

2011, I love ice cream     

王建揚CHIEN-YANG WANG

 

 

SHOTS Magazine

JULIE MERIDIAN,  Holding Time
appearing in SHOTS magazine

Lu Cong

Lu Cong was born in Shanghai, in February 1978.  He immigrated to the United States in 1989 at the age of 11.  After graduating from the University of Iowa with degrees in Biology and Art in 2000, Lu chose to pursue portrait art over medicine.  His early works were large and sensational, though they were painted with exaggerated melodrama and pathos, his keen insight and sensitivity towards his subjects were nonetheless evident.  Between 2003 and 2007, Lu was recognized by a number of art publications as a notable emerging artist.  Since then, Lu has developed a distinctive look that many has regarded as an original approach to figurative realism.  His portraits do not simply capture the physical or emotional likeness of the subject, rather they beckon to establish an authentic engagement - interaction that ensues when one comes face to face with the sensual, the inexplicable, and the unsettling.

Jon Rafman

Pieces by Jon Rafman
Title: From Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Wilson

St. Dennistoun Mortuary

"St. Dennistoun Mortuary" Coin-Operated Automaton, Attributed to Leonard Lee, c. 1900, Skinner Auctioneers, June 2, 2012 via Morbid Anatomy

Trash Art by Meika Jensen

Trash Takes Museums by Storm

Meika Jensen

Sustainability haunts every classroom in this country. Everyone, from those in accredited masters degree programs to kindergarten students, are discussing the issue and making changes both lifestyle and policy changes. The art community is no different.  Charged with showing the world a picture of itself, capturing the very essence of life, in a day and age plagued by waste and plastic it is no wonder that artists are turning to trash for inspiration.

A shiny chandelier is constructed of worn out kitchen pipes.  Children inspect sculptures of mythological horses crafted from plastic bottles. Disco balls made entirely of metal cans and shreds of paper towels.  All of these bits and scraps of trash and rubbish represent faces of a new movement that is taking place in at the forefront of the art world. The movement originates from deep inside the plastic arts community and is all about taking regular recyclable materials, as well as those that are reusable not but exactly recyclable, and turning them into functional everyday reproducible objects.

Stepping away from the idea that art should be made for art’s sake, these artists are spreading a greater global message - the ability to turn weaknesses into strengths by changing the aesthetics of ugly. The current driving idea in eco-art is that of transformation of trash into something functional as well as visually stunning.

Using trash in the material for art was a launch pad for the new artists. Today, people are not as shocked at this trend as they were at the beginning; artists have succeeded in incorporating repurposed materials into the acceptable realm of materials and concepts. Whether they are making a house out of bottles or calling a urinal a fountain, yesterday’s waste is tomorrow masters degree program fodder.   

More and more artists are preoccupied by the ecological impact of waste and the significance of a throw away culture. Artistic manifestos seem to make their way into the woods as well; since Thoreau wrote Walden and Native art broke into mainstream museums, artists have kept it on their radar.

The answer of the artistic community to the new wave of trash-art is a rather warm one. There are some traditional painters who cannot accept that a tree made of plastic has the same artistic value as a tree painted by Rembrandt, Degas, Monet or Mondrian. However, most artists themselves recognize the fact that today’s over-consumption model is not viable and needs a major redesign, continuing the tradition of portraiture and consumption wouldn’t be breaking any norms.

The future will probably see the most compelling pieces exposed somewhere in a museum buried in a landfill. Projects of this kind are already in place in San Diego, according to the University of California’s Institute of Research in the Arts. Other projects will probably be formatted as creative workshops and short-term expositions moving from one part of the country to another. The public seems to be the winner, as the new generation of artists who believe in recycling can serve as a moral model to the even younger generations who are sure to follow.

However, if art ever repeats itself, it is only in the sense that norms will be broken. Once trash art is ubiquitous, it will go the way of marble sculptures.