need a comment of about 200 words for each Close reading papers.
kevinca2013
materials.zipCloseReading_2.pdf
Close Reading Paper Jiaxi Wang
Matt Eich’s Floodwaters from The Seven Cities
• Genre: mainly documentary combined with landscape • Shutter Speed: high • Aperture: large • ISO: high • Composition: Usage of color to emphasize implied meaning
• Audience: almost everyone grew up in community • Meaning: evoke common memory • Meaning: Sense of family, community, and memory • Connection to the larger world: protect the environment
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CloseReading_1.pdf
Paul Cupido Mukayu, 2019 Anthony Bryce Grubbs
CORE CONCEPTS
Cupido is heavily influenced by Zen Buddhist philosophy and centers his practice around the concept of Mu which roughly translates to “does not have”. Here are a few more guiding concepts:
ephemeral moments
transience of life
the void
TECHNIQUE
Cupido works with different camera, scales, and paper types to make his work, which sometimes makes it difficult to decipher how his work is made.
BREAKING DOWN MUKAYU, 2019
Mukayu translates to richness without emptiness
Immediately your hit with ideas like…
Silence Peace Depth Void
BREAKING DOWN MUKAYU, 2019
It’s the simplicity of composition and color and really leap out at a first glance.
The figure appears to be floating in the void under a branch of a golden-yellow glow. The strong presence of black brings the image into sharp focus. Because of all of these elements I’m inclined to say this piece is more experimental.
BREAKING DOWN MUKAYU, 2019 Cupido’s piece is reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints although there are stylistic differences, the carry a similar energy ...
Japanese Woodblock Print, Wild Sea Breaking on the Rocks, 1856
BREAKING DOWN MUKAYU, 2019 How the image might have been made: ● (potentially) A long exposure, low ISO, and wide
aperture because of the strong blacks in the image (also Cupido stated in interview that he would often go shot at night, which would require longer exposures to capture night time scenes)
● I’m currently leaning to the image being captured via analog means, with some sort of post processing to create the unique characteristics of the figure
BREAKING DOWN MUKAYU, 2019 How the image might have been made (cont ): ● I’m unsure if the tree and the figure were captured simultaneously. I
see scenarios in which they were combined as well as taken together. The tree is captured in impressive detail (especially when you look at the original image). However, only a single section of the tree is captured, which leads me to think that made a lens with a smaller angle of view so that it could capture that section of the tree in more detail. The figure is interesting because of it’s textures, holes, and erosions. I lean to some sort of post processing technique, because the figure doesn’t seem to be in motion while it is being captured (don’t see any motion trails or marks)
PARTING THOUGHTS..
I’d be reminisce if I didn’t bring up the discussion of cultural appropriation here. In the case of Cupido (Dutch) I believe that he has been influenced by the Zen Buddhist tradition due to life events which pushed him to learning about Zen Buddhism, and the work that has come out of this education is maybe a way of sharing what he’s learned. Nevertheless, I think it is important to think about how to respectfully glean from other cultures while making work.
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idea-for-comment.pdf
CLOSE READING
THE ASSIGNMENT
A one to two page “close reading” paper of a photography-based artwork by an artist featured in a current or recent art exhibition at a art gallery, museum, artist-run space that is featured online. You may briefly touch on the background of the artist, but you should focus on a single or pair of photographs, and give a “close reading” of a selected work discussing the technical, compositional, genre, and subject-matter presented. How do the creative and technical choices made help build the meaning of the individual work and their project overall? Provide evidence by pointing to specific details in the photograph, and stating other social, cultural, or political context relevant to interpretation.
You must include the Photograph along with Artist, Title and Date. The image should be a resolution large enough for your TA to view (no thumbnails) and list the publication or exhibition in which the work was presented. Social Media posts do not qualify.
VISUAL LITERACY
Form + Content + Context = Meaning
Visual Literacy includes the ability to describe, analyze, and critique meaning in the following:
• Connotative and Denotative aspects in the picture
• Technical execution of the photograph
• Creative and Artistic Gestures used by the Photographer
• How is the photograph in conversation with the larger world?
ASK YOURSELF
What is going on in this picture?
What do you see that makes you say that? Find details to support your interpretation
On second and third look, what more can you find?
What prior cultural knowledge do you rely upon in order to understand the Photograph?
GENRES
What combination of Genres is your photograph? Some genres, or styles, may be :
Landscape, Portrait, Action, Architectural, Environmental, Still-life, Event, Family, Posed,
Candid, Documentary, Self-portrait, Abstraction, Performance, etc…
The Genre of photograph provide context for which Technical and Creative and Compositional
decisions went into the making of your Photograph, and criteria for evaluating how “successful”
the type.
TECHNIQUE
Put what you have learned from your Technical Exercises to use:
How are elements of Exposure used in the Photograph? Is a fast or slow Shutter Speed
apparent, or perhaps the grain of a high ISO or smoothness of low ISO and what may be behind
that decision? How is Depth of Field considered?
Is the Photograph in Color or Black and White? How does that affect the picture, and why might
that choice have been made?
COMPOSITION
How is the subject or scene framed? What is depicted and what aspect are we shown - full or
partial, and what may be excluded from the frame?
Are there major compositional elements in the Photograph? Do these involve scale? Light and
shadow?
TIME
How is the Technique of the Photograph used to place the picture within Time ?
Are we looking at a fleeting moment? Do we contemplate something that may have existed
long before the Photographer came across the scene, and will endure?
Does the Photograph interrupt or extend the flow of time?
Does the Photograph preserve a moment for us to remember?
AUDIENCE
Does the Photograph address us, and how so, or not?
Does it show us something unexpected? Does is tell us that something is important that we may
have overlooked or forgotten?
Does it ask us to feel emotion, or take a stand, or call us to action?
TITLES
What is the title of your Photograph, if it has a title, and what kind of title is it?
Titles might provide information in a straight-forward manner, they may add to or confuse
meaning. Titles may be poetic or not. Titles may be metaphors. Titles may provide information
that makes legible the denotative or connotative aspects.
What kind of meaning does the title make?
PROJECT, ARTIST, CONTEXT
Your Photograph may be part of a larger project by the Artist/Photographer. If so, what is the larger
project about, what are the aims of the Artist, and how does the Photograph make sense within the
series?
Who is the Artist and where in the world, socially and culturally, does the work come from?
What else is happening at this time that might be helpful to understand? Is there a topical or current
issue? Is there a political argument at stake? How does the Artist make use of this context, or not?
THE UNEXPECTED
Is there unanticipated meaning in the Photograph that you find and can support through
evidence, that might have not been planned by the Artist?
JEFF WALL - Search of Premises (2009)
EVELYN HANG YIN - Dear Ancestors, (2018-19)
DAWOUD BEY - Untitled #20 (Farmhouse and Picket Fence I), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2017)
CRISTINA VELÁSQUEZ
FISCHLI & WEISS - Equilibres (1986)
LEE FRIEDLANDER - New York City (1966)
SAKIKO NOMURA -
MARTINE GUTIERREZ - Demons, Xochipilli ‘The Flower Prince,’ p91 from Indigenous Woman, 2018. C-print mounted on Sintra. 36 x 24 inches
