Yvette Meltzer and Old Folks

http://www.lenscratch.com/2012/02/yvette-meltzer.html


As Picasso said, “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” 


This quote that Yvette Meltzer uses in her post is perfect for her work. Laundry is something that can be as so plain and regular, the everyday ordinary (well, for those who actually wash their clothes). Yet, Yvette is able to capture some of the most interesting images of a shirt, some dirty underwear, and grandma's bedspread that I've yet to see. The way she has timed her photos is nearly perfect, as the viewer can pull out just enough crisp outline to form more than a swirl of colors, but images with borders, eyeballs of trapped boogymen, white roses. It's nice hearing from her about the process and challenges that she faced when undertaking this project, but then also including how it is that she overcame them! Very encouraging for someone like me who is always so apprehensive and looses the chance to create something new or beautiful but am too self conscious to often do. I really really dig this work, check it out if you haven't seen her works yet.




http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/meditations_on_photographs_jacob_israel_avedon_sarasota_florida_may_15_1971/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+jmcolberg%2Fextended+%28Conscientious+Extended%29


This article by conscientious extended is a fairly powerful piece, and I think it has a lot of truth to it. Before talking about the photographer Richard Avedon, the writer Joerg Colberg reflects on the idea and effect of photographing those of older generations, with wrinkles scribbled into their faces that have the power to tell stories with out the necessity of anything but their faces. I find this to be very true, as one thing I've often reflected on is the idea that out outside is essentially a dead reminiscence of what we've done, seen, experienced in our lives. For the elderly, this is very much the truth. Deep wrinkles in the forehead tells a different story than a saggy, waggly chin or intense cheekbones. Yet, as Jeorg notes, at least for those of us in American society, we tend to hide away and exclude the old folks, whether it be fear of our mortality, a lack of time to care for them, a lack of care to make time for them, whatever it be, we rarely encounter them on a regular basis. That's why for the photographer Richard Avedon, this is something to which he can relate. The photograph which they highlight is of his father, in a typical Avedon style the writter says, but Avedon often spends time with celebrities and younger peoples, who certainly act and react differently to the camera than one's own father. It makes me curious about why Richard would choose to show his father as so: is he telling a story about him in the photo? Is that how his father would normally dress? Does he always look so comfortably solemn? hmmmmm....