Visiting Artist: Anthony Goicolea

Pile, Photograph, Anthony Goicolea

Anthony Goicolea is a photographer, painter, and video installation artist. His work focuses on subjects and themes such as Romanticism, masculinity, adolescence, mythology, personal identity, ritual and obsession. Goicolea received his BA in art history and a BFA in painting at the University of Georgia and and MFA from Pratt. His work is featured in a number of prestigious museums including the MoMA and the Guggenheim.

Goicolea describes his work in the series You and What Army as being informed or inspired by works of Henry Darger. Goicolea strives for a uniformity in his work and addresses such topics boyhood maturation and demarcation; at what point does a boy transition into a man? His army of "little Anthonies" thematically references Darger's repetitious cut-outs of little girls in cinematic landscapes in a seemingly dystopian society. His image titled "Pile" shows young boys playing what appears to be childhood games. This is image is playful in this aspect, however the coldness of the children's surroundings and the wall's seemingly endless height visually reference images from the Holocaust. In a separate series called The Detention Series, Goicolea focuses on child labor and the ideas of procession, ritualism and of futile, Sisyphean tasks.

As my work deals a lot with adolescence, I am attracted to this idea in Goicolea's work about transitioning from boy to man and what demarcates that transition in a male. I use my sister as a surrogate for my own wishes because she is yet at that age where it is yet required of her to accept responsibility; it is still socially acceptable for her to act like a child. However, when considering Goicolea's argument about what event(s) demarcate a boy's transition into adulthood, Goicolea explains that a girl becomes a woman when she has her first period. In the case of my sister, I completely disagree with this point of view. A girl's first period is a physical attribute that is out of her control and is determined by an internal clock. However, I think the mind acts separately from the body; the body may be maturing, but the mind could potentially be lagging behind. If the mind is not mature could you really argue that the person (though physically changing) has matured? I think a person's maturation (boy or girl) is determined by their acceptance of responsibility and an awareness of who they are in and out of their environment. Does that make any sense? Interesting conversation, I think.

Artist Website

(Note: I was unable to make it to my last 2 lectures and am referencing older visiting artist lectures through podcasts. )

Contest Entry

These were entered to the Photographer's Forum (and SIGMA) 30th Annual Spring Photography Contest

Idea Blog for 04/08

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Storyboards for my film in Digital Film. Given this comes out well, I'd like to ask Tom about including it in the senior show. It follows the same concept as my work in senior portfolio but has a more definitive end.

Here is the script:

1. Outdoors (field), daytime, early-mid afternoon:

Hayley (wearing a white dress and a pristine orange paper crown) is lying on her back in the grass with Charlie nestled in the crook of her arm. She is quietly looking around, running her hand over the grass. She stops what she’s doing and turns her head to the left in the direction of the woods as if she’s heard something. Quickly, she sits up and looks around. Seeing and hearing nothing, Hayley lowers her head and talks to Charlie as she pets her. She rests her head in her hand and stares off into the distance. Relaxing, Hayley lies back down on her back and rolls over to her side and closes her eyes. Charlie has wandered off. Hayley pats the grass searching for her. Noticing her absence, she pats the grass as she calls for her. Charlie does not return. Hayley opens her eyes and slightly raises her head and continues to call for her. Still no response. Hayley then rolls onto her back and calls again for Charlie. She continues to lie there and wait impatiently. Charlie does not return. Hayley sits up lazily and pulls on her boots. She stands up and looks around for her on the spot. She walks to the left out of frame.

Hayley beings walking, then skipping, and then running through the field as she calls out to Charlie.

HAYLEY:

Charlie where are you? I’ll find you, little girl.

Hayley begins stomping around like a giant. She continues to frolic through the field, seemingly forgetting about Charlie. As she comes to the threshold of the woods she pauses, brings her hands to her mouth, and calls for Charlie. Waiting for only a brief moment, she beings to walk into woods, picking up speed as she gets closer, as though to break through the threshold into another world.

2. Outdoors (woods), daytime; early-mid afternoon:

As she enters the woods she slows to a walk and calls for Charlie. Hayley continues talking herself through a story, making it up as she crosses logs, creeks and rounds large trees. After much walking and playing and talking to herself, she finds Charlie sniffing around by a creek.

HAYLEY:

There you are! I told you I’d find you, Charlie-girl.

She goes to pick up Charlie. She turns and begins to walk up path that leads out of the woods, carrying Charlie over her shoulder. She hears something and quickly snaps her head around to look behind her. She nervously beings talking to Charlie to fill the silence, eyes closed. She hears the noise again and looks up, panicky. She slowly backs up, turns around and hurries up the path. As she’s walking she hears the noise once again. She puts Charlie down and begins running out of woods. Charlie follows.

Hayley looks behind her, calling for Charlie as she emerges from the woods. Upon turning around (to face the camera) she gasps and comes to a sudden stop. She has come face-to-face with what she’s been hearing in the woods. She slowly closes her eyes as she continues to stand, frozen on the spot.

Screen fades to white.

3. Indoors (bedroom), daytime, mid-late afternoon:

Hayley (now wearing a dark-blue top) rolls over in her bed onto her side, her orange crown-now crumpled-rests on its side on the bed behind her. The audience can now hear what Hayley has been running from. Strained voices can be heard outside her door. She closes her eyes.

Screen fades to white.

4. Outdoors (field), daytime, late afternoon/evening:

Hayley walks away from camera (into the sun), holding Charlie over her shoulder. Camera continues to follow her as she walks, slowly panning up. Hayley’s crown bobs slowly as she walks before it disappears out of frame.

Screen fades to white.

THE END!!!!!!!!!!

The whole thing will be shot in one day with the help of Patrick, who has very graciously offered to drive up to Fairfax for the day on Sunday to help me out. I'd like most of it to take place in the late afternoon so that I can shoot into the sun while still getting a soft, but colorful light. The dialog in the script is rough. I would rather have her talking to herself quietly without the audience really being able to hear what she's saying, but understanding that she's talking herself through these adventures while trying to find her dog.

I'm also shooting a wedding this weekend, so I've been full of nerves this week. Wish me luck! I have a very busy weekend ahead of me!

Artist Blog for 04/05

Children of Men promotional poster, Jaap Buitendijk

Children of Men production image, Jaap Buitendijk

Gladiator, Jaap Buitendijk

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Jaap Buitendijk

Even though shooting specifically for my portfolio has slowed, I have to restrain my temptation to rent Where the Wild Things Are for fear that having seen it; I will subconsciously alter something in my work thus far so as to mimic a shot that happened in the film. I am deathly afraid of this. I understand there’s nothing wrong with inspiration, but I don’t trust myself enough to catch unintentional copy work before someone else does. I am, however, interested in how my images may relate to film stills.

Jaap Buitendijk is a film still photographer originally from Holland. After much traveling in his early twenties (where he first picked up a camera and discovered his passion for photography) that he attended Newport School of Art where he studied documentary photography. Buitendijk explored the “apparent contradiction of using documentary skills to record an artificial reality; that of films.” He has worked on numerous big-name films such as Harry Potter and Blood Diamond, as well as smaller production films like The Constant Gardener and Girl With A Pearl Earring.

Buitendijk does a wonderful and effective job capturing the mood of his subjects and seems to do so in his own style; one alternative to how the film itself was shot for theaters. I feel his images are more personal and perhaps less mainstream and therefore can be accepted as a legitimate type of art photography. Or I could just be hoping that the products of one of my dream jobs of being a film still photographer could breach the fine art world. Nonetheless, Buitendijk strongly composes his images, communicating a clear message and garnering a direct response from the audience. I also very much admire his use of light.

While my images aren’t taken on large-production sets, I would consider them to be theatrical and could alternatively be attached to some sort of movie as film stills. Technically, I do not think they are up to par as far as composition and use of focus goes, though, I think my concept is communicated clearly and effectively.

Jaap Buitendijk website

Idea Blog for 04/01

Untitled, Photograph, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Untitled II, Photograph, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Untitled III, Photograph, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

I had another fashion shoot for Ink last week. This spread focused on clothes designed by fashion majors at VCU, which I wish I had the chance to shoot more often. I think it's wonderful that Ink has chosen to work with these designers and uses resources at VCU instead of the surrounding area. There are plenty of incredibly talented people here! Anyway, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed working with each person on set. There were about 9 of us total (including models). We took these specific shots at the farmer's market but also moved to the slip for a wardrobe change. As I've said before, it's nice to be able to get away from mostly photographing for school work; it's always very refreshing.

For some reason I thought I was supposed to have my meeting with Tom on Tuesday, so this weekend I mostly prepared my binder as well as any questions I had about panel portfolio review and what needed to happen with my work over the rest of the semester. Tomorrow we go to the exhibition space so I'm hoping we'll have time to address such questions there. Anyway, I haven't done much post-production work as I wanted to discuss a few points brought up in my midterm critique, mainly the one about elevating my work out of the "good work" category and what that might entail (the moths, I'm afraid). Part of me really wants to fight my decision not to include them, but as time passes I'm slowly starting to wonder about the possibilities the moths could open up. We'll see. I still feel very strongly about not including them, but perhaps Tom and I can reach a compromise. I'd really hate to feel like I'm being cornered into something. But that all depends on how our discussion goes.

Time is flying by and I'm really starting to anticipate everything we have to do in the next few weeks. I'm really excited to start organizing the show and my final portfolio for review...I really just want to start tying up loose ends! My meeting with Tom cannot come soon enough!

Artist Blog for 03/29

Samuel From Behind, Photograph, Year/Size unknown, Rodney Smith

The Grass is Greener, Photograph, Year/Size unknown, Rodney Smith

Ocean, Photograph, Year/Size unknown, Rodney Smith

Haystacks, Photograph, Year/Size unknown, Rodney Smith

Rodney Smith studied photography at Yale under Walker Evans before receiving a fellowship, which allowed him to travel to Jerusalem. After publishing a book compiled of images from this journey called “The Land of Light,” Smith was asked to lecture at many prestigious universities, all of which he declined. Instead, Smith found himself “riding slow trains in India, bicycling through the Camarque, strolling the streets of Paris.” Eventually, Smith returned to Yale to earn a degree in Divinity (of all things).

“Today, Rodney is a celebrated photographer with a wonderful breadth of subject matter and feeling. He’s had dozens of shows. Won 75 awards. Is collected by Carnegies, Whitneys and Rockefellars, plus, scads of orchestra and museum patrons and a few enlightened rock stars…His work is represented in every important gallery across the globe…”

There is great mystery about Rodney Smith that one could argue he reveals-and at the same time conceals-in his photography. I enjoy following his hatted friend(s) through woods, fields, over fences and up tall trees-though-I have no idea what he’s up to and how he got there. The narrative and escapist qualities of his work along with the repetition of a man and his hat lead me to believe that this obscure figure is how Smith perceives himself. Or the man he wishes he could be.

I don’t know how I didn’t come across Smith’s work earlier. The parallels that I enjoy drawing between my work and Smith’s is that there is a considerable amount of mystery in our images that both reveal and conceal our intentions or concept not only as photographers and artists, but as who we are mentally and emotionally. Unfortunately, it would’ve been more helpful earlier in the semester to view his work, as I was heavily considering how to vary my own while using the same subject matter repeatedly. Though, fortunately, I am still inspired by his work and can apply to my own in other areas such as composition, lighting, and posing.

I have not mentioned the fashion-esque aspects of Smith’s work; at first fashion was something I was inclined to incorporate into my images, but over time that slowly started to dissolve. Having not considered it in a while, I decided that that wasn’t something I wanted to include in my images. However, I’ve now realized that it is part of my style and I do it somewhat subconsciously. Smith’s work seems much the same. Looking at his work that follows around the man with the hat next to his fashion photography, I can easily observe similarities between the two in much of the same areas as listed above. And, at points, these two bodies of work appear to slip into each other: a clever facet of Smith’s portfolio.

Rodney Smith Portfolio

Rodney Smith Bio

Artnet: Rodney Smith

Idea Blog for 03/25

Hayley 14, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 19, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 20, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 21, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 22, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 23, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 24, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

Hayley 25, Kerry McDonnell, 2010

So-the very first thing I did the day I got home for spring break was take pictures of my sister! I think it was Arlie that suggested I try photographing in the rain, so that's just what I did! I do like the larger group of images taken in the creek but I'm not sure how they'll function with the rest of my portfolio because the colors and light are much more harsh, as opposed to the atmospheric, diffused light and presence of snow in the majority of my others. Actually, the reason why I included the 3rd to last image was because the white foam in the bottom right looks a lot like snow and I'm considering putting it in another image. That particular image I'm not too crazy about, generally. The first image I think will replace the other like it where she's sitting; I like the language in this one more as I think it has a more specific message.

The 2nd image was taken just before driving back to school. My sister was in the WORST mood that day, and-fortunately for me-it contributed wonderfully to the image. During my midterm critique Chris pointed out that the reason why the snow mound photo was so successful was because the snow acted as something other than itself; it became more than just a snow mound. I tried to achieve that in this image (and I think I did so effectively) with the tree branch and the way the light functions. I guess I kind of see the branch as this claw (masked by the beauty of the sunlight) that is reaching out to steal her away back home. I'm also concerned this photo may be too different from my other images and not fit into my final portfolio.

Anyway, my main concerns at this point are post-production and organization. I have a couple questions that I want to discuss with Tom about what can be-or needs to be- included in our final portfolio as well as artist statements, as I have two different ones for fall and spring. Also, I'm unsure about combining last semester's work with this semester's into one portfolio for panel review.