Category: creativity

beyond the meta of esthetic inquiry. causes and

Rosalind & Joan

Posted on Posted in book shelf, creativity, studio tableTagged , , , ,

Is Rarity or scarcity of greater value . Is a topic Infrequently discussed. A topic with more power of attention. There are two loaded subjects: death and sex ..[topic point in EXS, 1974]. If we add aging, have we multiplied a value by its scarcity.

Most artists are interested in self as youth, after all, that is where and when they began . One of the most common pictures seen in freshman photography classes are self portraits from the women students — common trope is legs in tub; while the male students photograph themselves before a mirror holding a camera. The women have taken the picture from their eye view. Men and women place themselves into different environs, engaged in different actions. These transactional differences seem to apply universally across art schools.

One arc: FROM LOOKING AT OTHERS.. TO LOOKING.. looking to seeing?

Fox Solomon says she knew of only two photographers by name when she started making pictures: Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams.

–[At thirty-eight, while living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Rosalind Fox Solomon began a new life as a photographer. Studying with Lisette Model in the early 1970s, she honed the photographic voice which would define the prodigious half-century of work to follow. After moving to a loft in New York City in 1984, and travelling to Peru, India, South Africa, Cambodia, and beyond, she became renowned for her unflinching photography of everyday life around the world.

www.mackbooks.us/products/a-woman-i-once-knew-br-rosalind-fox-solomon

With Camera

–[ The With Camera series (2001—06) marked the first time Joan Semmel purposefully posed in front of the mirror with a camera. Like her earlier Locker-Roomworks (1988—91), these paintings celebrate the aging process through their accurate portrayal of the artist’s body. Semmel continued to develop these ideas in her Framed series (2005—2006), which presented images of her taking photographs framed inside a mirror

I want them to be more than they are… they serve as stand ins for something yet to be filled. My understanding is incomplete. They have a presence I failed. Of course, some of their standing is because of the “Big Empty;” things unexplored. Age happens to be the Box they are filling in. No matter how many items they put into it, it will never be filled.

They do what they do well. That they have done so for so long is sufficient reason for engaging their work.

>> Rosalind Fox Solomon (April 2, 1930 – June 23, 2025. In 2007, the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography acquired Solomon’s archive, which includes her photographic archive, books and video work

>> Joan Semmel (born October 19, 1932…Semmel states, “While my work developed through series, the connecting thread across decades is a single perspective: being inside the experience of femaleness and taking possession of it culturally.

  • Moreland, Quinn (2026-04-15). “‘I wanted my work to be shameless’: 93-year-old artist Joan Semmel on her trailblazing nudes”. The Guardian
  • Richard Meyer, “’Not Me:’ Joan Semmel’s Body of Painting,” in ‘’Solitaire: Lee Lozano, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Joan Semmel’’, edited by Helen Molesworth. (Wexner Center for the Arts, 2008).
  • “Joan Semmel Self-Portraits Offer Vibrant Affirmation of Aging”. Hamptons Art Hub. 2016-09-29
  • You Have to Get Past the Fear”: Joan Semmel on Painting Her Aging, Nude Body, Hyperallergic Magazine September 9, 2016

2s’Day — 3.3.26

Posted on Posted in art stuff, creativity, minimum daily requirement, Theory

in two parts– from the Hermitage, but not about it .

Béla Tarr (21 July 1955 – 6 January 2026, 70y). Tarr was a critic of nationalism. In a 2016 interview said, “Trump is the shame of the United States. Mr. Orbán is the shame of Hungary. Marine Le Pen is the shame of France. Et cetera.”[ — wikip.]

he said his films had been misunderstood: “My opinion is that we were doing comedies. You can laugh a lot.” He added that they were not pessimistic. “I only ask this – how did you feel when you came out of the movie theatre after watching my film? Did you feel stronger or weaker? That’s the main question. I want you to be stronger.” — guardian, 2024.

Tarr tempts me to open a roll of film… to modify my current table.. however, my self powered life demands I walk my path with sideward glances to others, many others.

There are several YTubes… this is one I saved —

https://youtu.be/ywrR1jLBZaU?si=dWJNXRZMieyRGmjn

or, more –=> https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVrCVhnuMcIF13XnjLDqylpbStRWAVVB9&si=CoJyPLyGSRM-SpVK

Notes about topics, timings, temptations... daily, I ask myself the simple question of why. It is answered but remains, recurs daily. As if the question is more important than any answer… any found answer. So to the curious, I will be marking posts as PHO or NOPH in the “excerpt” sent out into the netiverse. Also, some remarks on remakes, etc will have an image something like:

mw: sat 2,21

Posted on Posted in artgame, creativity, morning wood

永遠の今 eternal now. continuing from yesterday … words from a different language carry your thought in what seems a newer pocket– a better basket. Much like place changing. but, you are always within a now, one very long now.

what I had first thought to say was that changing a paper should be considered as ongoing. there has never been one perfect paper. flexibility has been granted, partially, with digital. Prints aren’t endpoints, they’re pause points in the process.

My pronouncements are meant for me. Upon my reflection .

As one thing comes into view… tools changing tools means making alters the maker. As I entered scanning, printing my early films, I was given poor advice by the ready to answer crowd. Those first efforts resulted in damaged film… so it goes. Many of those were favorites. Someday I may find a way to repair — reuse them.

Beware the advice given by the early hunters of the new bird. They can’t fly either.

komerebi

NB: I collect notes using a pad, often paper, backs of prints… but, write, post from a desktop. Differences in width and duration may appear as marks.

ps_- https://youtu.be/OwL3dsFBxpE

If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.’ — Sun Tzu