Pictures of Things. Landscape/Still Life with a will to/towards Art
[Consider WAP readings, PACA Ch3 Deadpan, Ch4 Something and Nothing, and the New Topographics article]
At least 5 good prints. Hand in 5+3 total.
Note that there is only one printer server. If you do things the last min, and if your print is not
finished by the time of critique, you will be asked to stop working and come to the critique. I ask you come in during DML hours to make your first prints so that there are no technical difficulties. Once you have experience, you may print on your own.
As a starting point for this project, I want you all to think about
what it means to make landscape or still-life (and these categories
can be very much open to interpretation what it is) responding to the
things you read about, most specifically but not limited to chapters 3
and 4 of PACA and the New Topographics article.
I ask you to think and make explicit where the will towards
art is. (eg. Why is it art? Why is it worth showing to others?)
At this point, basic issues such as print quality or camera operation (out of focus) should not
be an issue
Some thoughts:
We've been looking at and reading about what
people think is good within the art discourse. So I want you to
consider that. And make a case for why your art work
worth our attention.
A good way to approach this is to make work
informed by the current discourses and precedents set by other
artists. Take a position - you could resist or push forward the
legacy, for example of the new topogoraphics. Do you like or dislike
their work? If so why? And then think how it could be responded in the
work. Make sure you are responding with intent at every stage of the process (taking, printing).
One method I suggest is to start by copying a style/position of an artist you like. The reality is that you won't be able to make an exact copy but inevitably you will contribute your mark on it. Think about what you have contributed.
Make the work relevant for you, your time, and your place.