Slightly Lucid » Colour

Maurizio Strippoli – Inside

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:36:56 +0000

Italian photographer Maurizio Strippoli‘s series titled Inside captures a lush and crisp feeling of decadent interiors. This in-progress work reveals seemingly Victorian inspired spaces where patterned drapes are hung, vases and figurines placed on dressers, decorated chairs, with an overall pastel coloured palette. Although this antique feeling can be seen or felt through out the work, there is still a sense of contemporary life. The interiors become a sort of preservation of style, the emptiness in some of the images suggest the largeness of rooms and I start to question the interiors of where and what it really is. Is it one house, or different houses photographed similarly, or is it a hotel with long corridors?

Martin Cregg – The Photo Course

Aislinn Leggett — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:51:08 +0000

Martin Cregg‘s series The Photo Course is a great series. The content of the images and concept of the series is simple but what Cregg does with the stale environments makes for a visually beautiful voyage through these class rooms. The crumpled paper on the desk, the light on the chairs, the etching on desks can in some way recall anybody’s memory of long school days and uncomfortable chairs. These images don’t specifically attribute to photo programs but instead to any school day at any level. The images that do show the photography schooling evokes a form of syneasthesia. For me these images not only document the darkroom or studio but they also carry the smell of the chemicals and heated lightbulbs. Be it a nostalgia of being away from the darkroom or a need to go back in and print, for me these images ekove a lingering smell of fix, the white residue left on the table after a day of printing or developing and the feel and smell of fiber paper.

Darkrooms and the analog process’ are slowly disappearing and I think documenting the spaces and the objects and tools used in these spaces is very important. Doing it as well as Cregg makes it even more enjoyable to look at.

Matthew Swarts

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:34:51 +0000

Matthew Swarts produces some really interesting imagery. These images posted here are pulled from the series titled “portfolio one” on his site. Check out other art while visiting his site because there you will find some really strong work as well.

Carlos Chavarria – Dreamtown

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:17:08 +0000

Spanish photographer Carlos Chavarria explored and observed American cities for a couple of years, which resulted in this series titled Dreamtown. In his description, Chavarria explains “Dreamtown” is the area of the city, which has the main shops, offices and skyscrapers.He goes on to explain how he, through his images, explores feelings of hostility, isolation and individuality when photographing the people in this particular area.

To me it seems that the people are going nowhere, they seem stuck and left to wait. These images make me think of The Road or a similar end-of-the-world type story. The heavy shadows holds this ominous presence, while the light still gives some sort of hope.

Evangelia Voutsaki – Traces Within

Aislinn Leggett — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:59:08 +0000

Evangelia Voutsaki‘s series Traces Within is a diary type body of work. Voutsaki, a Greek photographer, describes her series as a personal one where she records the passing of time as she sees it. She captures some wonderful moments and quite eerie at times.

Zhao Renhui – Facings

Aislinn Leggett — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:39:30 +0000

I found Zhao Renhui‘s work through the Magenta Flash Forward winners. This series Facings on hyper-reality, is an ongoing series and there’s no statement, so I’m speculating, but I believe that all the images were taken in a zoo of some sort in Spain. This work is quite intriguing to me because typical zoo images show the animals within the caged space, with Renhui’s work he simply shows empty or animal-less environments. They become seemingly odd where they feel like they are half lived in or have some sort of presence but they still look very fake and uninviting.

Celia Perrin Sidarous – The Book of Things

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:30:04 +0000

This is Celia Perrin Sidarous‘ series The Book of Things. Sidarous is a Montreal photographer, who I have met only once or twice. From the Magenta Flash Forward winners list, announced yesterday, I saw that she was one of the many Montrealers that had been selected. I visited her site and was happy to discover some of her new work. Sidarous creates beautiful and sensitive imagery, be sure to check out more of her work.

Vidisha Saini – Pratibimb

Aislinn Leggett — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:05:28 +0000

There is something really interesting about Vidisha Saini‘s series Pratibimb. Saini explained her series through an email to me and I’m happy that I had this background information to properly grasp and appreciate her project. Here is an excerpt of Saini’s statement : ”‘Behrupiyas’ are costumed performers changing looks every forty-two days; and transforming their mannerism according to the garb and character they adorn. They are a cluster of lower caste communities in India who are nomadic in nature. Under the patronage of monarch they provided their services as messengers to another kingdom; today, they perform on streets, and collect alms door to door.”

I really enjoy how the people seem to be preforming for the camera and in turn lets us be the spectators.

Maury Gortemiller – All-Time Lotion

Aislinn Leggett — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:14:58 +0000

I recently received some work from Maury Gortemiller from his series All-Time Lotion. And as he writes in his statement, he is “interested in reinterpreting and altering the intentionality of spaces and found items”.

Gortemiller is based in North Carolina and with this series he captures the everyday, focuses on details and also conveys through this work a sort of organized randomness where the images really play off of one another. His images make me wonder what was happening right before the photograph was taken, what was happening in the rest of the space and what happened immediately after. I think one of the reasons why Gortemiller’s series intrigued me, was because of this questioning and how the images evoke the aspect of duration and time within the space photographed.

Jason Andrew – Abkhazia

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:14:46 +0000

I was introduced to Jason Andrew‘s work by a friend of mine and really enjoyed the social documentary stories he produces. Andrew, after studying documentary and photojournalism at the International Center of Photography, has created some interesting projects you can find on his website including this one shown here titled Abkhazia : 15 years of de-facto independence from Georgia.

Abkhazia is located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and for a long time has been subject to political instability and wars. I’m not certain of the exact year Andrew’s shot this series in but deciphering from his title and the brief history that I read, this series seems to record the celebration of the Abkhazia’s independence from Georgia and Russia formally recognizing their Independence since 2008. The series has some really strong imagery with vibrant colours, where the images capture glimpses of the everyday, the landscape and the celebration of a parade. (Thanks Iva)