THE STERLING & FRANCINE CLARK MUSEUM, WILLIAMSTOWN, M.A., 8.30.14

© Ber Murphy 2014

ISTANBUL,TÜRKIYE,11.26.12.

SULEMANIYE MOSQUE

MOSQUE SULTAN AHMET (BLUE MOSQUE)

HAGGIA SOFIA

MOSQUE SULTAN AHMET (BLUE MOSQUE)

SULEMANIYE MOSQUE
MOSQUE SULTAN AHMET (BLUE MOSQUE)

SULEMANIYE MOSQUE
© Ber Murphy 2012

YES MASTER

Very excited this week as we have two nights to catch the Master, Richard Misrach himself, appearing on the East coast. His new book is out, ON THE BEACH, signing at the Strand book store on Broadway and 12th street and then Pace/MacGill has an opening for the very same, the next night. Everyone has one of those photographers that when you see their work for the first time you go, aaah yeah, THATS what I've been trying to do. Misrach is one of those for me. After getting out of school it was great to see someone who was actually alive using an 8x10. Misrach is one of the Large Formatists who continued the view camera tradition long after it was out of vogue in the late 70's & early 80's. He was able to combine a modern social ethos with an archaic tool and create a new photographic palate. His Desert Cantos work shot him out of the mainly photographic world and on to the art stage itself. He worked solidly through the 90s culminating with two books in 2000 & 2001 Golden Gate and The Sky Book. Golden Gate blew me away when I saw the work at the opening. Such breadth and dept of color from our natural landscape, amazing. But like all idolatry, there comes a time for a let down and I think it maybe tomorrow night. Just like the team that breaks your heart by not making the playoffs on the last game of the season ON THE BEACH may be that defining moment for me. I can't wait for the prints, excited about the book but in all honesty I'm just not that crazy about the subject matter. Maybe seeing it all together will be the answer. If you have a chance try to get to one of the events, do, he doesn't show up that much on the East coast, and see what all the fuss is about, it should be worth it.

PROJECT DIVERSITY

This is the Queens Council for the Arts in NYC, new project. Going on all through September and November at a gallery near you.

SHE WALKED THROUGH THE FAIR

If you are in NYC this weekend make sure to pop by both these events. Arts Under The Bridge, is Dumbo Art Center's 11th annual art fair. On the West Side is The NY Art Book Fair, where art books, art catalogues etc are for sale. Book Fair first, then train to Dumbo late afternoon, plenty of high jinks till the wee hours. Of course call into my friends Steve West's "Jay Street" bar on Jay Street. It will be jammers, usually live music and tons of fun.

THE WEEKENDER / SPENCERTOWN

The Weekender Spent this Saturday with the great people who run Spencertown Academy. This arts run center is based in Upstate NY and has an arts-in-education program, musical events and a terrific gallery among many other assets. Right now it is showing Graduate work form the Cornell University Studios. Pretty interesting. It was time for their annual Fall Book Festival and and my wife and I were happy to help out in the fund raiser, the culmination of the weekends festivities being the Harvest Dinner. This was held at the farm of Karen and George Jahn with Columbia County and the Berkshires getting ready to blaze with Autumn, Spectacular. Of course a photograph of this would tie all this together but no such luck. Guests, Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet magazine, John Orloff, screenwriter of the Mariann Pearl story A Mighty Heart, Peter Biskind, writer of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, were in attendance. At our table were author/artist Marc Rosenthal, his beautiful book PHOOEY is now out, and his wife Eileen. Also photographer/mixed media artist Linda Soberman and her husband Carlos. Dinner was veg corn chowder, followed by butterflied leg o lamb and everything was harvested with twenty miles of the academy. Boggle Merlot went down very easily as all our table can attested to, by sending me off to procure another bottle before they shut the barn down. Many thanks to board member Al Vink, who got us involved in the academy.

THE SWIMMING VISIONARY?

Nice piece in PDN this month about Gregory Crewdson. Go here for an equally compelling Q&A on NPR . Very candid in his answers about his process. This guy is another one, who like Gursky, elicits a lot of chatter. Of course I feel camaraderie for the paysan because of his affinity for 8x10, but I have had some people ask me " how is he a photographer anymore". I suppose I could have told them to go listen to the NPR piece but then we wouldn't have any thing to write about. Anyway, I'm sure most people ask the above question in the true sense of the word, - see the image - shoot the scene - print the picture. Of course our business is ever changing and that model seems quite quaint in comparison to what in fact is the reality of most peoples photography today, no matter what their process is. Instead of is he a photographer?, maybe the question really is, what is a photographer today? With the advent of digital, Flickr etc just about everyone can be and seems to be a photographer. Martin Parr's story about Bruce Davidson losing out on a rather large job to a Flickrite, being an example. If you can point it, shoot it and you get some work then where does that place someone like Crewdson, in photographic terms. You really can't say he just takes a photograph. The production alone would make Walker Evans, one of his original inspirations, turn in his grave. Imagining the Mis-en-scene is so complex, putting a six figure photo shoot is immense, that work alone could kill ya. But.... in reality he doesn't light the scene himself, doesn't do any of the digital work himself, which seems like a monumental part of the job, doesn't proof his prints, doesn't print the finished product. These are all things we loved about being photographers right? I would have my minions do all that kind of drudgery also. So what exactly does he do? "Acctionn" Click.He has a crew of 70 people to run the whole schebang. I know that's pretty simplistic, in view of the huge production but... photographically? How much of the work do you have to do yourself to be still considered a photographer, in the old sense of the word. For all intense and purposes he is a director but he doesn't have to illicit the range of emotions all directors have to get from their actors. I think the cobbling together of the images and director of photography he uses, seem to be the sticking points for a lot of people also. So is there another newer, more modern name for Mr Crewdson and his ilk, image director, photo imager, image creator, or just Visionary. I know other photographers have left some of less glamorous photographic work behind them along time ago, advertising and Fine Art guys in particular but I wonder if Crewdson did much more of the process in camera, would that quell some of the questions?. He says he has never used strobe but considering he doesn't do it himself anyway, why not. I'm sure someone out there would be willing to take on the challenge of one of his lighting scenarios. Find some old Stacked Ascors, they will give you F32 in hurry. Before the advent of the new technology this was one of the great challenges posed to many an advertising photographer, "I want all that in the frame and I will pay you to do it". No Photoshop, figure it out. And how is that different from the galleries funding Crewdson's work so they can all make profit from the final image. Is that really a fine art or a pure money making venture for Crewdson and the galleries?, not unlike making a film for a studio. Certainly artistic with great vision but there is a bottom line, somebody will want a return on their money. Nothing wrong with any of this, we are all looking for funding in some way or other.
Now lets get this straight the finished product is terrific. What he creates in one image can sometimes be mesmerising but these are many of the questions being raised with the advent of digital and how one implements it in ones work. The other is whether Mr Crewdson could give a rats ass what he is called. And will that word photographer, as we once knew it, be obsolete sometime soon?