Discreet Paintings: Sylvia Plimack Mangold and 70's Ambient (Part Three (original) (raw)

The shape of the pictorial in contemporary photography

Image [&] Narrative, 2009

Certain contemporary photographs, most prominently by Jeff Wall, are considered to bring to life the absorptive tradition of painting. Taking that finding as its starting point, this paper scrutinizes work by another photographer today, Allan Sekula. Although Sekula"s images visibly engage similar absorptive motives, his work is not championed by the defendants of the current revival of the tableau tradition. But nor does it testify to the ambition to do so. From a discussion of dramatic and compositional elements in images by Wall and Sekula, the essay finds that their work is marked by either a classical or a vernacular pictorial style. Stylistic differences account for diverging opinions concerning art"s function. Classical or neo-realist style stands for an ambition to create a pleasurable and peaceful moment to spend with the image presented as a singular artwork. Vernacular or critical realist style does not eschew caricature nor is it averse to provoking a physically strenuous experience of multi-image installations. These issues are traced back to paragon debates that emerged at the very origins of modern art itself, in the late 16 th Century. Résumé: Plusieurs photographies contemporaines, exemplairement celles de Jeff Wall, nourrissent l"ambition de redonner vie à la tradition de l"absorption picturale. C"est à la lumière de cette tendance que le présent article examine le travail d"un autre photographe d"aujourd"hui, Allan Sekula. Malgré la présence de nombreux thèmes empruntés à la tradition de l"absorption picturale, le travail de Sekula est plutôt ignoré par les défenseurs de la tradition du tableau. L"appartenance de l"artiste à cette tradition est du reste tout sauf évidente. Analysant les éléments de mise en scène et de composition dans des images de Wall et Sekula, l"article démontre que leur oeuvre se définit par un style pictural qui est ou bien classique (Wall) ou bien populaire (Sekula). Ces différences renvoient à des conceptions antagonistes sur la fonction de l"art. Le style classique ou néoréaliste cherche à susciter le plaisir du spectateur, seul face à l"oeuvre, présentée comme image isolée. Le style populaire ou critique ne recule pas devant la caricature, ni devant la confrontation souvent rude avec des installations multiimages. L"article se termine par une relecture de ces positions contemporaines à la lumière des débats sur les mérites respectifs des arts initiés au début de l"art moderne, c"est-à-dire à la fin du 16 e siècle.

Landscape, Nudes, Portraits, Surrealism, Light, Color, Line, Space and Abstraction

Los Modernos. México: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de Arte, Ediciones El Viso, 2015

Sidetracks: Painting in the Paramodern Continuum

In the book Watermark, a travel account of Venice, Joseph Brodsky describes human eyes as organs and instruments for perception. Everything flows into these biological organs; they do not filter anything out. While unceasingly taking everything in, they are also the means for expressing emotional reactions. Tears well up uncontrollably. The eyes are the place where involuntary perception interfaces with the unconscious and affective reactions to what we see.