Daily Archives: July 24, 2008

Yale MFA Photography @ 339 Gallery

stolfa

 The Yale MFA show at Gallery 339 is amazing, crystal clear imagery of manufactured reality, hyper-realism and narrative experience design. What is real and what is staged?  Which part is Photoshopped and which part is documentary?  Photography isn’t just a “snapshot” of a moment any longer, it may take as long to create a great photo as a great painting.  Sarah Stolfa’s photographs are cinematic in scope, packed with narrative creativity.  Stolfa’s goal was to make “…something, real and big.”  Glendale TX, a powerful image of a young man in jeans standing in a scorched field with a fire truck nearby is serene yet ambiguous, did this saint-like boy/man win or lose this battle against nature?  There’s a photo of logging that is so scary and brutal yet honest.

339’s Martin McNamara told DoN, “Yale offers reality versus fictional pictorial.”  Marley White has several large images depicting a reality which is so perfectly perfect that it looks impossible yet what DoN is seeing is so real, so detailed, so authentic – this image is a good example of how White interacts with emotional engrams; residual cuteness is creating “Aw!”-inspiring moments in art from photography to painting to constructions.Marley White @ Gallery 339.

Marley White @ Gallery 339.

Ed Bronstein & Martin McNamara

DoN chatted with artist Ed Bronstein whose “Old Dog” painting is featured on Twenty-Two Gallery’s art card for “To A Good Home: Animal Art“, a group show to benefit Main Line Animal Rescue.  Ed mentioned a plein air competition for next Spring.  Ed is a painter and DoN had been painting with Paul DuSold in Laurel Hill Cemetery that day, so our painterly eyes are most comfortable with the softer edges –  we both commented on the incredible detail of the photographs; the photo Mike, Del Reo, TX, 2008 by Jen Davis really feels like you’re being stared down by an urban cowboy. 

Thanks to Julia Koprack for introducing DoN around to the art stars, the evening was so exciting – the Yale MFA show is a great sampling of the future of photography and manufactured hyper-realism.  

All photography by DoNBrewerMultimedia Photography

LoVe DoN 

Second Thursday @ Crane Arts Center – The Gray Area

DoN posted a 30 second video on YouTube of the Super Mario Brothers music which is enchanting and magical; using the score from the video game soundtrack and sound effects from character/avatar interaction with puzzle elements in the game, the music is post-post-post modern.  The video is just part of the Golden Calf exhibit in the fabulously dark installation of paintings, photography and sculpture about decay, destruction, nausea and mysticism.  DoN found the art to be emotionally raw and psychologically dismal with elements of claustrophobia, isolation and estrangement; Hagit Barkai’s “Vomitous” is awesomely powerful, the paintings are Bacon-like in their facility, the subject charged with feelings of fear, powerlessness and despair, the paint application is expert.  The artists of Golden Calf are establishing New Philadelphia as the art center of the region, unafraid to tackle the more difficult apects of modern life.Brian Billingsley’s “Homage to Me” video and “Untitled (Saturn Devours His Son)” oil on canvas in the Golden Calf Show at Crane Art Center.

Brian Billingsley’s “Homage to Me” video and “Untitled (Saturn Devours His Son)” oil on canvas in the Golden Calf Show at Crane Art Center.

blobs

Weird little blobby things were all over the place.

Super Mario

Super Mario Music!!!