tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44356045648307164842024-03-18T20:01:45.805-07:00Grant W. RayThe Uncanny ImaginationGrant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-32242402618015285642011-07-11T16:38:00.000-07:002011-07-11T16:39:16.835-07:00Hinge ExhibitionAm I am pleased to announce I will be exhibiting work at Hinge gallery’s inaugural opening. The main exhibition will <br />present the work of Tom Burtonwood and Scott Ashley as well as gallery artist Cole Pierce, Jeffery Forsythe, Ryan <br />Richey, Rusty Shackleford, and Grant W. Ray. <br /><br />Hope to see you there.<br /><br />Hinge Gallery<br />Grand Opening July 14<br />6:00 – 9:00<br /><br />Exhibition Dates: July 14th – September 4, 2011<br /><br />Hinge Gallery<br />1955 W. Chicago Avenue<br />Chicago, IL 60622<br /><br />hingegallery.com<br />info@hingegallery.comAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314633230025910912noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-9938294433679703422011-03-16T22:39:00.000-07:002011-03-16T22:59:27.477-07:00SPE<span class="Apple-style-span" >One of the many great things about SPE is meeting people whose work inspires and enlightens.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lorihepner.com/">Lori Hepner</a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://www.lorihepner.com/"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">Status Symbols: A Study in Tweets</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.skarbakka.com/">Kerry Skarbakka</a> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Constructed Visions<br /><br /><a href="http://www.askew-view.com/">Stephen Chalmers</a> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Dump Sites<br /><br /><a href="http://www.melissafleming.com/">Melissa Fleming</a> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><a href="http://www.catherinewagner.org/">Catherine Wagner</a> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Trilogy: Reflections on Frankenstein, the Arctic Circle and the History of Science</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><a href="http://www.magyaradam.com/">Adam Magyar </a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Urban Flow series.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.stephaniedean.com/">Stephanie Dean</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Modern Groceries<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bethanysouza.com/">Bethany Souza</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Sunshine State<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sarahbaranski.com/">Sarah Baranzki</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://www.jenniferlitterer.com/index.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Jennifer Litterer</span></a><br /><br /><br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314633230025910912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-27931336082403414272011-03-06T19:29:00.000-08:002011-03-06T19:52:22.971-08:00ACRE Projects: Two-person show by Grant Ray and Becket Flannery<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9yOeEVp7YCs98bDaQlAI6mFMpxJgngsbxWcTdK6tswQCssmJyAmTxwkQL_jKLYn-xBb4tYd9dAFd5a481onSl3WHgrym8Gn4t3DRSZeBhLZGLqC0E5H0KVTlZ4uUnGygMr6kTKGpSVw8/s1600/GWR_BMF+1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 203px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9yOeEVp7YCs98bDaQlAI6mFMpxJgngsbxWcTdK6tswQCssmJyAmTxwkQL_jKLYn-xBb4tYd9dAFd5a481onSl3WHgrym8Gn4t3DRSZeBhLZGLqC0E5H0KVTlZ4uUnGygMr6kTKGpSVw8/s320/GWR_BMF+1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581180316795185682" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Top: Grant W. Ray "Steuben, Wisconsin: Triangulum Constellation"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Bottom: Becket Flannery "Debbies's Ruler"</span></div></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;">ACRE Projects</div><div style="text-align: center;">1913 W 17th St</div><div style="text-align: center;">Chicago, IL</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Opening:</div><div style="text-align: center;">Sunday, March 13th · 4:00pm - 8:00pm</div><br /><br />Mr. Ray continues his experiment-based practice of documenting photographically the pseudo scientific investigations into unexpected forms of communication from unexpected places. For this latest set of photographs, Mr. Ray returns to the wooded rural areas of North America to get closer to an unblemished natural landscape in humorous exploration to locate marks, traces, or signs that could be construed as natures attempt at communication.<br /><br />Becket Flannery’s exploration began with Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan; prior even to the text, a frontispiece depicts the new “artificial man” whose body is the people and whose soul is sovereignty. This cryptic image introduces and also summarizes Hobbes’ thought. The frontispiece was not simply a decoration, it was a way of reconciling political thought with the sensible – i.e. the creation of political vision. Lately, the rupture between vision and thought has been too severe to repair so easily. One of the most recent political manifestos is written by a committee that proclaims itself to be invisible; and what use does the image-driven political simulacrum have for text beyond the purely tactical?<br /><br />Rather than the strict correlation of image and text, the intention of the collages in Frontispiece is different. Rather than focusing on the loaded image-symbols, those privileged nodes of interpretation, they play with the forms that frame and suggest this referentiality. These cues to the civic still linger, as we are constantly asked to engage with our political images, without being troubled with what they might mean. These text-less frontispieces then imply new ideas and social visions; they are images looking for authors."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314633230025910912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-16065626673398767952011-02-12T18:10:00.000-08:002011-02-12T18:33:06.248-08:00Nina Beier and Marie Lund<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TQMvmaf35d173-SAv63Q4AQnn7kFSL6sS-df2TCxg5jWSVW5W_XSmw4Xe-5wB3qSA3hBSZ-r-2eB8TFuDxVrNBWAvjC68FTQYgvAjhvD6n_ikfY_nKR6X1aBKvs5SZjkhQfWN10s99w/s320/Beier_Lund_a.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572993109109062642" />"London-based Danish artist Marie Lund and Berlin-based Nina Beier work individually but have maintained a collaborative practice since 2003. With staged events as well as videos, photographs and sculptures, Beier and Lund tinker with social hierarchies and group dynamics. Together they have created performances, objects, and ethereal interventions, often rooted in the history of materials, context, and social space. Exploring the conditions of conception, perception, and interpretation, Beier and Lund test the boundaries of communication while introducing subtle shifts within institutional and behavioral structures."<div><br /><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaE_BWoWO-iZiX4LqR024sR9k5Yj4QLhgftLBoBDLuwzm3UmkS99H-HFFzjTpBloOGvFh-ZCKMHHe3qRg718E7x1Ii9aS9phxEAJuQpakMi4hHTTrnLpKCGCDTDGe1JYnE3CINnbiOng/s1600/Beier+Lund.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaE_BWoWO-iZiX4LqR024sR9k5Yj4QLhgftLBoBDLuwzm3UmkS99H-HFFzjTpBloOGvFh-ZCKMHHe3qRg718E7x1Ii9aS9phxEAJuQpakMi4hHTTrnLpKCGCDTDGe1JYnE3CINnbiOng/s320/Beier+Lund.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572993527014474690" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Nina Beier Marie Lund</div><div style="text-align: center;">"<i>A sensed perturbation</i>" 2008</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkr9U9AwTDBhzbjdmzIbIXILHP2o0QkKsZ_FzBDvkRwZ0Xo1M8xCF4TXXkAYx6ymGh9EDYmjlWDi6ZoDsawwQTh8zjEYASggiu0NNls5jzIz63-xiekONYHP3JIyiWpeZ7a8vAzI1Q6D8/s1600/Beier_Lund.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkr9U9AwTDBhzbjdmzIbIXILHP2o0QkKsZ_FzBDvkRwZ0Xo1M8xCF4TXXkAYx6ymGh9EDYmjlWDi6ZoDsawwQTh8zjEYASggiu0NNls5jzIz63-xiekONYHP3JIyiWpeZ7a8vAzI1Q6D8/s320/Beier_Lund.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572994420010269234" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Nina Beier Marie Lund</div><div style="text-align: center;">"<i>The Home and the Backdoor</i>"</div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03314633230025910912noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-48031642012916112482011-01-24T20:28:00.000-08:002011-01-26T11:50:39.708-08:00Remember Then: An Exhibition on the Photography of Memory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6I-IoXNXVq53t5IrQhJBvy5OdzQMoWsaGEv2vQVhOVpGV_K5h6KWbRbRmDEW3ITEC1vAlBcK3tSQ-zOjRQyMsiD2M8SLBsnDYZvgTeZpmngq_gsh38nY4SdlktW8jPhquyzfd3iyrGw/s1600/Front_Remember+Then_Postcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6I-IoXNXVq53t5IrQhJBvy5OdzQMoWsaGEv2vQVhOVpGV_K5h6KWbRbRmDEW3ITEC1vAlBcK3tSQ-zOjRQyMsiD2M8SLBsnDYZvgTeZpmngq_gsh38nY4SdlktW8jPhquyzfd3iyrGw/s320/Front_Remember+Then_Postcard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I am pleased to announce the inclusion of my photographs in the upcoming exhibition “<i>Remember Then: An Exhibition on the Photography of Memory</i>” being held at Concourse Gallery at Harvard University and co-curated by <a href="http://reginamamou.com/home.html">Regina Mamou</a> and <a href="http://scottpatrickwiener.com/home.html">Scott Patrick Wiener</a>.<br />
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“<i>Remember Then: An Exhibition on the Photography of Memor</i>y is based on a simple premise that photographs are used as tools by our culture to recall the past. The artists in Remember Then set out to interrogate this proposition, and memories are used as source material for recreating images in the present, systematically and through various methodologies. How a viewer understands and receives this new memory is the catalyst for each image.”<br />
(<i><a href="http://www.grantray.com/Remember%20Then.pdf">For the full press release please follow the link.</a></i>)<br />
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It is truly an honor to be featured along side such extremely talented artist.<br />
<i>Jesse Avina</i><br />
<i>Carrick Bell</i><br />
<i>Wafaa Bilal</i><br />
<i>Kevin Buzzell</i><br />
<i>Helen Maurene Cooper</i><br />
<i>Jill Frank</i><br />
<i>Eiko Grimberg</i><br />
<i>Sharon Harper</i><br />
<i>Julia Hechtman</i><br />
<i>David Hilliard</i><br />
<i>Chelsea Knight</i><br />
<i>John Merrill</i><br />
<i>Daniel Poller</i><br />
<i>Arne Reimer</i><br />
<i>Irina Rozovsky</i><br />
<i>Michael Ruglio-Misurell</i><br />
<i>Jayanti Seiler</i><br />
<i>Kurt von Stetten</i><br />
<i>Nicole White</i><br />
<br />
Concourse Gallery<br />
CGIS Harvard University<br />
1739 Cambridge Street<br />
Cambridge MA, 02138<br />
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Opening: February 3rd 6-9pm<br />
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</div>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-70193345532359659562011-01-04T15:19:00.000-08:002011-01-04T15:19:00.310-08:00Stan Douglas - Television Spots/MonodramasA few years back I had the opportunity to see <a href="http://www.ubu.com/film/douglas_television.html">Stan Douglas's</a> Monodramas at the Guggenheim in New York. At the time I was studying photography at the School of Visual Arts, my Junior year, and was working on a photographic project entitled Story Telling. I know, very original and unique right. It was a project in which I was plumbing the possibility for photographs to be structured as ambiguous open ended narratives that would invite viewer interaction/interpretation. Initially what drew my interest to Douglas's Monodramas was biased. I neglected to understand the conceptual complexity of Douglas's work and instead focused on his process of creating ambiguous narratives open for interpretation. How ever Douglas's work is far more complex than creating simple dramas.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkLcbAGDyjz7jmMrlOUybH9xCgi1LyUfIF-kzHXcaTR-mTF6wLw6v4QVl-YZGyl48WRNz5VSA32fZSaxhJuF9QHuhkRgbav67jQOLBn8pE6raAhiMI3KHN_rc7R0n3LAuexCsrM8Hg8Y/s1600/Stan_Douglas_Mono.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkLcbAGDyjz7jmMrlOUybH9xCgi1LyUfIF-kzHXcaTR-mTF6wLw6v4QVl-YZGyl48WRNz5VSA32fZSaxhJuF9QHuhkRgbav67jQOLBn8pE6raAhiMI3KHN_rc7R0n3LAuexCsrM8Hg8Y/s1600/Stan_Douglas_Mono.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stan Douglas_Monodrama_1991_"Don't Call Me Gary"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://www.ubu.com/film/douglas_television.html">Douglas's Television Spots/Monodramas</a> were made at the hight of post modern art practice. The short videos explore the hallmark trope that many artist were plumping in their work, namely the minutiae of everyday life. Douglas particular aesthetic, especially in the Monodramas, reflects the slick advertising technique found in the late 80's early 90's commercials. Unlike the average television ad the video pieces do not include those devices that anchor something specific and concrete. Namely narrator, text, product placement, narrative. These devices which normally help the viewer interpret the message, what to buy, etc, are absent. As the viewer of Television Spots/Monodramas we are set into the middle of an ambiguous setting without the narrative safety of beginning middle or end. We are left to interpret the video for what it is, and subsequently what it is not.<br />
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</div>Douglas's process reveals the empty shell of advertising through these absences while critiquing the function/spectacle/promise of advertising. In one of the Monodramas, personally the one I enjoy the most, the viewer is presented with three scenes involving a car. Instead of a car commercial presenting the viewer with the romantic trappings of travel on the open road, the promise of status and happiness, Douglas's commercial presents the everyday mundane reality that surrounds the culture of the automobile. Cars break down, cars drive on the highway in daily exercises of commuting, and every grand adventure in a car usually ends in the same non desrcript parking spot. <br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><embed id="player" allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="never" flashvars="file=http://ubu.artmob.ca/video/flash/Douglas-Stan_TelevisionSpotsANDMonodramas_1987-1991.flv" height="315" name="player" quality="high" src="http://ubu.artmob.ca/video/flash/player-viral.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="380" wmode="transparent"></embed> </div><div style="font-size: 0.9em;"><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://vodpod.com/watch/1504679-stan-douglas-television-spotsmonodramas">Stan Douglas - Television Spots/Monodramas </a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Watch more <a href="http://vodpod.com/">Videos</a> at Vodpod.</div></div><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">You can view a larger resolution below at Ubuweb's Stan Douglas site.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.ubu.com/film/douglas_television.html">Stan Douglas Television Spots/Melodramas</a></div>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-36315163819498665772010-11-15T21:18:00.000-08:002010-11-15T21:18:43.525-08:00latest updateIt has been slow going on the blogging front due to teaching two courses this semester. I am always amazed at just how much time teaching and all its prep work takes out of a day. How ever with the end of my courses approaching it has brought a bit more free time to look at other artist and their work.<br />
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Currently I am thoroughly enjoying the photographic works of <a href="http://www.emmawieslander.com/Site_7/index.html">Emma Wieslander</a>. In "Looking at the Sun" I was struck by the simplicity and minimal quality of the work and it conceptual richness. Wieslander's work operates on a metaphysical level inviting contemplation of the act of photographing the sun and the significance of such an act as performance. The artist choice in using text is similar to <a href="http://www.tarynsimon.com/">Taryn Simons</a> photographic project "An American Index of the Hidden and the Familiar". Both have successfully utilized text in a way that compliments, or anchors as Simon states, the content of their photographs away from ambiguity or absurd.Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-24934272796485474122010-08-16T07:48:00.000-07:002010-08-16T07:49:34.776-07:00Off to the WoodsHeading out to the <a href="http://acreresidency.wordpress.com/">ACRE</a> residency in Wisconsin today. Very much looking forward to eleven days of meeting new people, creating new work, and getting away from the smelly city. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnBzX5s2-6uYionXgGKn8JvxctgemUQgK84BP6bxPangwd4OP15eMOb47J6L41Ixuq8Qt0lORp3pP8hBdslQjdw8xSCLd0KOzOnWR3SkIMu4i9L5ynVptuE4HwwtPXOia1p4yAU-8tOo/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnBzX5s2-6uYionXgGKn8JvxctgemUQgK84BP6bxPangwd4OP15eMOb47J6L41Ixuq8Qt0lORp3pP8hBdslQjdw8xSCLd0KOzOnWR3SkIMu4i9L5ynVptuE4HwwtPXOia1p4yAU-8tOo/s320/Picture+1.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-37036149105260393972010-08-02T08:13:00.000-07:002010-08-02T08:13:38.361-07:00The Documentation of "If Nature Could Talk"<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></b><!--StartFragment--><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For those who did not get a chance to make it to the event/exhibition of If Nature Could Talk. Installation, details, and photographs follows. Click on images for larger views. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://spokechicago.blogspot.com/">Spoke Gallery</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">119 N. Peoria St.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3D</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Chicago, IL</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bZRrExWX1uwNqt98yn1cjNdoV_rrq8IlNMIe0F-d93hUnm4-18dxRCrEFuuoNS9KuiOmbkWV7crPeaIx12YCTTxOP0l9Vs8X_SoYiP11aEG0ZtFkuNwegM4SO6vTssY1J0oW5oezBJA/s1600/Install_Big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bZRrExWX1uwNqt98yn1cjNdoV_rrq8IlNMIe0F-d93hUnm4-18dxRCrEFuuoNS9KuiOmbkWV7crPeaIx12YCTTxOP0l9Vs8X_SoYiP11aEG0ZtFkuNwegM4SO6vTssY1J0oW5oezBJA/s320/Install_Big.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dr. Kerry Nixon’s invention introduces the cheap and effective means for everyday individuals to produce their own clean coal. Presented will be three samples of Nixon’s various means in producing clean coal. Coinciding with the presentation visitors will have the opportunity to try the simple means of Nixon’s clean coal invention. Accompanying the three samples visitors are invited to participate and experience the easy to use means of producing clean coal. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ronald Johnson invention is a plant translator designed to transmit electrical impulses of plant life into electrical signals. These signals are then translated into corresponding words. Viewers will get a chance to listen in on three separate plants internal dialog.</span></span></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jeanette Ambs invention introduces what could only be called a fortune tree. The tree was designed in Ambs Fenton based greenhouse through painstaking grafting techniques and splicing of several RNA strands from various trees. The unique tree is designed to bud on the full moon of every month producing several bulbs containing what Ambs states resemble small typed messages. The messages are usually composed of only a few words with content that resembles the tiny messages one finds in fortune cookies. Visitors will have the opportunity to pluck the uncanny fruit from the fortune tree.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><!--StartFragment--> <div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Prescott, New Mexico: Abitha Simon, Seed Bomb<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><!--EndFragment--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuIgVTQhGcjM0eOgE5FttPWypOQjIJj1nVj31yYCs2ITpEnf2nq_PLIS52F9-KkNrVYUk2Pf73rG2_ssPJ8qef4A4MtNbhuhTcmDMmLmTlSIsm3JmNJyYYqDVM4uWrnzicJ5LTU6BdwYM/s1600/Detail_Plant_Read.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuIgVTQhGcjM0eOgE5FttPWypOQjIJj1nVj31yYCs2ITpEnf2nq_PLIS52F9-KkNrVYUk2Pf73rG2_ssPJ8qef4A4MtNbhuhTcmDMmLmTlSIsm3JmNJyYYqDVM4uWrnzicJ5LTU6BdwYM/s320/Detail_Plant_Read.jpg" /></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Denise Brook’s invention couples psychologist Hermann Rorschach inkblot experiments, and three unique sources of light to deduce the characteristics or thought patterns of nature. A simple device projects light onto the plant casting its shadow onto a piece of paper. The user traces the shadow resulting in a kind of drawn shadowgram. Visitors will be allowed to project one of three light sources (tungsten, fluorescent, daylight balanced) towards a plant and trace the resulting shado</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">w. </span></div><!--EndFragment--> </div>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-59901339983106353192010-07-13T21:41:00.000-07:002010-07-13T21:41:53.022-07:00If Nature Could TalkI am pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition at Spoke gallery titled, If Nature Could Talk. The three-night event will feature photographs that document five new pseudo scientific inventions. Visitors are invited to come and encouraged to interact with the objects and their uncanny results.<br />
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<i>“If Nature Could Talk,” is an interactive event that explores the uncanny relationship between art, science, and nature. Based on the investigation of Human/Nature dynamics through marks, traces and symbols of pseudo- scientific experiments, the work suggests what nature might be thinking and feeling in an evidentiary context. Chicago based artist, Grant W. Ray has photographed these strange attempts at communicating with nature. He will be presenting this historic archive and five extraordinary inventions for two nights only at Spoke Gallery. Participants will be invited to interact with ordinary objects that have extraordinary functions such as, “Ronald Johnson’s Talking Plants,” which reportedly translates the thoughts of domesticated houseplants into a language you can understand.</i><br />
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<a href="http://spokechicago.blogspot.com/">Spoke</a><br />
119 Peoria<br />
3D<br />
Chicago, IL 60607<br />
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Opening Reception: July 23rd 6pm - 9pm<br />
Open hours July 24th, 25th 10am - 6pm<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzxgZwTyMn2L0-OMvpq2ZpyOfrfyyJHdpHfPwnlVUx2WR4Xck-nuKBVyXbkASot10ypdWefgpeu1iVhz-8IAFj86qnH6jYX4ldccARZ1MofOLu1a5_VK3v8Mp_8ZXtXQcURArIUhGc8g/s1600/PostCard.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzxgZwTyMn2L0-OMvpq2ZpyOfrfyyJHdpHfPwnlVUx2WR4Xck-nuKBVyXbkASot10ypdWefgpeu1iVhz-8IAFj86qnH6jYX4ldccARZ1MofOLu1a5_VK3v8Mp_8ZXtXQcURArIUhGc8g/s400/PostCard.png" width="400" /></a></div>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-87104149847552150872010-06-25T15:49:00.000-07:002010-06-25T15:57:22.493-07:00Upcoming Exhibit: In leaves no step had trodden black curated by Eric WeeksI am proud to announce the inclusion of two photographs from the Uncanny Imagination series for the upcoming exhibition at the Visual Arts Museum in New York "In leaves no step had trodden black" curated by <a href="http://www.ericweeksphoto.com/">Eric Weeks</a>. It is both an honor and a privilege to be showing alongside such talented photographers. <br />
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"Borrowing a line from the well-known Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken,” the title of the exhibition suggests the innumerable possibilities of implying narrative with photography, as well as the choices each exhibiting artist has made in their use of the medium. Implied narrative can be constructed, found or merely hinted at through the artist’s process."<br />
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Visual Arts Museum <br />
209 East 23 Street<br />
NY, NY 10010<br />
July 6th thru July 20th<br />
Reception July 6, 6pm - 8pm<br />
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Exhibiting Artist:<br />
<a href="http://www.tonkonow.com/baran.html">Tracy Baran</a><br />
<a href="http://tedbarron.com/">Ted Barron</a><br />
Monica Bradley<br />
Jesse Chan<br />
<a href="http://www.lisaelmaleh.com/">Lisa Elmaleh</a><br />
<a href="http://www.nicholasfevelo.com/">Nicholas Fevelo</a><br />
<a href="http://www.brianfinke.com/">Brian Finke</a><br />
<a href="http://www.laurenfleishman.com/">Lauren Fleishman</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ayalagazit.com/">Ayala Gazit</a><br />
<a href="http://seangutowskiphotography.com/">Sean Gutowski<br />
</a>Barclay Hughes<br />
Danny Kim<br />
<a href="http://www.mattkushan.com/">Matt Kushan</a><br />
<a href="http://www.gregmiller.com/galleries.cfm">Greg Miller</a><br />
<a href="http://www.katiemurray.com/">Katie Murray</a><br />
Orit Raff<br />
<a href="http://www.grantray.com">Grant W. Ray</a><br />
<a href="http://www.katienicolephoto.com/">Katie Nicole Smith</a><br />
Christina Thurston<br />
Corinne Wilber<br />
Richard WilliamsonGrant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-42080110654239718822010-05-09T20:48:00.000-07:002010-05-09T21:39:30.958-07:00artXposium Skie Mall (Sky Mall) curated by Anni HolmI am pleased to announce the inclusion of two of my photographs in <a href="http://artxposium.org/">Skie Mall</a> curated by Anni Holm. It will be an honor and privilege to exhibit work along side these fellow international and local artist <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"On May 15, 2010, in conjunction with the annual West Chicago Blooming Fest, the STUDIO, located at 203 Turner Court behind Main Street, will open its doors to the 4th biannual <a href="http://artxposium.org/">artXposium</a>. This multimedia art experience, organized by People Made Visible, Inc. featuring regional, national and international artists who will display a variety of art work inspired by the inflight SkyMall catalog.<br /><br />In addition to the <a href="http://artxposium.org/">SkieMall</a>, <a href="http://artxposium.org/">artXposium</a> events and exhibitions will take place in front of the 19th century CB&Q Depot, at the West Chicago City Museum and on Main Street. Saturday, May 15 the exhibition opens at 9am, with an artist reception from 6 to 9 pm which will feature a performance by Alison Rhoades along with food, drinks and a silent auction. (Full program available at artxposium.org.)<br /><br />New to the program this year is a tent among Blooming Fest vendors hosting the West Chicago International Artist in Residency Program featuring Gitte Bog’s project: Fusion Foods.<br /><br />Featured artists include: Claus Ankersen (DK), Lise Haller Baggesen (DK/NL/US), Tom Burtonwood (UK/US), Mario Contreras (US), Gemma Correll (UK), Diana Gabriel (US), Aron Gent (US), Richard Holland (US), Holly Holmes (US), Matt Logan (US), Mark Osterman (US), Sara Phalen (US), Grant Ray (US), Alison Rhoades (US), Andrew Rigsby (US), Steve Ruiz (US), Victor Yanez-Lazcano (US) and Matt Austin (US). This year's exhibition has been curated by Anni Holm.<br /><br /><a href="http://artxposium.org/">artXposium</a> Hours: Saturday 9am-9pm & Sunday 10am-2pm. This event is free and open to the public. (Suggested donation $2)."</span><br /><br />Start Time: Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 9:00am<br />End Time: Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 2:00pm<br />Location: 203 Turner Court, West Chicago, IL 60185Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-53892270092659319652010-05-07T14:47:00.000-07:002010-05-07T14:52:14.706-07:00A sample..."New York, New York: MTVs Top Ten Videos 1981, 1991, 2001", from the Uncanny Imagination series received a spot in Feature Shoot "singles" blog section.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-_kJzLFcei68CSCu4kgXvq-3o8OrEoSExX5O4Ty7ekiEcUUNo2wo59RNdB86M_ZxFVTNfthXxMF9rqMIxpO4W0rQkl8lJovjW73DQWcPTN5GvveYuGZowTNGaoOWlZUNvLEdsPY4QHbI/s1600/Grant_Ray_05.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 138px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-_kJzLFcei68CSCu4kgXvq-3o8OrEoSExX5O4Ty7ekiEcUUNo2wo59RNdB86M_ZxFVTNfthXxMF9rqMIxpO4W0rQkl8lJovjW73DQWcPTN5GvveYuGZowTNGaoOWlZUNvLEdsPY4QHbI/s320/Grant_Ray_05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468648978465274738" /></a><br />Feature Shoot "<a href="http://www.featureshoot.com/2010/05/singles-5/">Singles</a>" section.Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-57708232217096755832010-03-29T23:37:00.000-07:002010-03-29T23:54:49.570-07:00The Two Photography’sInteresting essay by Paul Graham titled <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.americansuburbx.com/2010/03/theory-paul-graham-unreasonable-apple.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Americansuburb+(AMERICANSUBURBX)">"the Unreasonable Apple"</a></span> about a quote from Michael Fried’s recent book <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Why-Photography-Matters-Never-Before/dp/0300136846/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269928307&sr=1-3">“Why Photography Matters as Art and Never Before”</a></span> <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Why-Photography-Matters-Never-Before/dp/0300136846/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269928307&sr=1-3">Carefully constructing his pictures as provocative often open ended vignettes, instead of just snapping his surroundings”</a></span> <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Michael Fried</span><br /><br />Graham’s essay <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.americansuburbx.com/2010/03/theory-paul-graham-unreasonable-apple.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Americansuburb+(AMERICANSUBURBX)">“the Unreasonable Apple”</a></span>, takes issue with Fried’s seemingly sophomoric malaise in referring to straight photography as that of merely “snapping pictures”. Graham sets out to establish that there is more happening in the work of “straight” photographers than merely “snapping pictures”. He posits the question what is that “something” that happens when photographers like Robert Adams, Stephen Shore, Diane Arbus took their photographs. The essay goes on to lament what Graham sees as the absence of “straight” photography from critical attention and ends with a mandate seeking photographers, writers, dealers, collectors, and curators, to write critically about what that “something” is. How ever noble the intent the essay inadvertently manages to establish a dialectic between what he sees as “straight” photographers and those photographers who make/synthesis their subject matter for the camera thus fracturing the photographic medium into two types of photography. One is a serious business with a practice and processes beyond Fried’s “snapping pictures” a point of Graham’s I strongly agree with. The other photography is made, synthesized, constructed, and easily explained to the buyers, collectors, dealers, and curators as simply stuff set up for the camera to be photographed. <br /><br />It is Graham’s choice of language that complicates his call to action. His style of writing, and structure hints at the old modes of modernist photography. There are ways to write about photographic practice in constructive and culturally relevant ways without the need to inadvertently or otherwise tear down other practices of photography. Sadly, especially given the context for this essay, Graham’s <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.americansuburbx.com/2010/03/theory-paul-graham-unreasonable-apple.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Americansuburb+(AMERICANSUBURBX)">"the Unreasonable Apple"</a></span> is not one of them. For that question to be fairly addressed we can be thankful for SFMOMA and their upcoming symposium <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.sfmoma.org/pages/research_projects_photography_over">"Is Photography Over"</a></span>.Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-36772049106447758292010-01-26T06:30:00.000-08:002010-01-26T08:34:14.970-08:00Four Faces - Review by Michael Weinstein in NewCityWrite up by Michael Weinstein on the "<a href="http://art.newcity.com/2010/01/25/review-four-namesbarbara-barbara-gallery/">Four Faces</a>" exhibit at Barbara & Barbara Gallery.<br /><br />"Drawn to the recesses of densely wooded public parks, Jennifer Ray seeks out evidence of male sexual encounters—a spent condom, a pair of briefs, a Styrofoam cup—and shoots the tell-tale details in color, so that they are small, yet obtrusive elements of the larger verdant scene. Eric Bessel takes color portraits of women posed in gestures and sporting expressions that betray distress, bitterness or hostility. Helen Maurene Cooper dolls women up in kitschy costumes, places them against decorative mannerist backgrounds, and snaps them in color as they vogue like fashion models, sometimes tough, sometimes dreamy. Grant Ray puts ordinary objects into compositions suggesting “pseudo-scientific experiments,” as when he goes into the wooded glen, plants an electrical gizmo there, and shoots the scene in color, proving that you can do other things in the park than have sex. You can read the artists’ statements if you want an overdose of cultural theory, but their work boils down to crossing the boundary from the illusory world of normal certitude to the wilderness of the seamy psycho-dramas that surround the islands of sanity that we so painfully attempt to construct. (Michael Weinstein)"<br /><br />Through February 18 at Barbara & Barbara Gallery, 1021 N. WesternGrant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-38070806766620619812010-01-19T08:49:00.000-08:002010-01-19T08:58:45.443-08:00Four Faces exhibition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapNBtTkz-GItaktZb824QLUOjPlZxVOfrffgyMteHgruXHIRJrTQM8j3GE94JI0-IhZU-1o3WufjfzdutIRJlsHM3gPKVBdXpqYX7ThwREhuPuAiZkae4EWWQyxmPPKG4TLsczM0MgbE/s1600-h/B_B.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapNBtTkz-GItaktZb824QLUOjPlZxVOfrffgyMteHgruXHIRJrTQM8j3GE94JI0-IhZU-1o3WufjfzdutIRJlsHM3gPKVBdXpqYX7ThwREhuPuAiZkae4EWWQyxmPPKG4TLsczM0MgbE/s320/B_B.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428495980249045010" /></a><br />I am pleased to announce the inclusion of my work for the exhibition “<span style="font-style:italic;">Four Names</span>” at the Barbara and Barbara Gallery. The opening reception is being held on Saturday, January 23rd from 7-11pm. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Four Names</span><br /><a href="http://www.grantray.com">Grant W. Ray</a><br /><a href="http://hmcooper.com/home.html">Helene Maurene Cooper</a><br /><a href="http://www.jenniferray.net/">Jennifer Ray</a><br /><a href="http://www.ericbessel.com/">Eric Bessel</a><br /><br />Opening Reception<br />Saturday, January 23, 7-11pm<br /><br />Barbara & Barbara Gallery<br />1021 North Western Ave.<br />Chicago, IllinoisGrant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-54624538495916393332009-11-02T15:06:00.000-08:002009-11-02T15:26:09.855-08:00Critical Encounters: Fact & Faith Photography Exhibition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0EwENKoZpcM2xeW6poAA_9erSAfTFOFSGS47tzesNlNMlafvyPPx7pzmROAcCVfLNXJ0glOQYzu3XLU7pzEXXxjafZuAToHXMaioDdlBwLIc3osYrzJs3PiCNV4JmkmlNCZmxVcAbwtI/s1600-h/FactandFaith-1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0EwENKoZpcM2xeW6poAA_9erSAfTFOFSGS47tzesNlNMlafvyPPx7pzmROAcCVfLNXJ0glOQYzu3XLU7pzEXXxjafZuAToHXMaioDdlBwLIc3osYrzJs3PiCNV4JmkmlNCZmxVcAbwtI/s320/FactandFaith-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399647563562304274" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzpd4mxVzVVwcCAblm0i2utefpSCy_0olpwumSuf_Lw1HJ9C1Pmrys5HPSX6CsJL0iH4kAkQvD-ui5PhNhnt8GskOhnbBs_6JwJdnn7Kvd59y1J0UJoW8ULk3tAXZHUDaL2nHqKTctV4/s1600-h/FactandFaith-2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzpd4mxVzVVwcCAblm0i2utefpSCy_0olpwumSuf_Lw1HJ9C1Pmrys5HPSX6CsJL0iH4kAkQvD-ui5PhNhnt8GskOhnbBs_6JwJdnn7Kvd59y1J0UJoW8ULk3tAXZHUDaL2nHqKTctV4/s320/FactandFaith-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399649828646499298" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Photograph on post card front by <a href="http://kwortendyke.blogspot.com/">Krista Wortendyke</a></span><br /><br />I am pleased to announce the inclusion of one of the photographs from the Uncanny Imagination series in Critical Encounters Fact and Faith Photography Exhibition at Columbia College Chicago Library. (Sadly due to a typo my name was printed as Grant Wray instead of Grant W. Ray.) The opening reception will be in the Weisman Reading Room, 2nd floor library, 624 S. Michigan Ave.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Sponsored by <a href="http://www.colum.edu/criticalencounters">Critical Encounters</a>, Center for Teaching Excellence and Alumni Relations. Students, Staff and Alumni were asked to respond to this year's focus, Fact & Faith, and submit images that explore the tension between the need to know and the need to believe. Join us at the reception and see how the artists personally interpreted this theme. <br /><a href="http://www.colum.edu/criticalencounters">Critical Encounters</a> is a college-wide initiative intended to synchronize conversations between the school and the community, in an ongoing dialogue, around a central, socially and culturally relevant issue each academic year." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jurors:</span><br />Jodi Adams, Photography Alumna and Staff<br />Stephen DeSantis, Interdisciplinary Arts/Book and<br />Paper Alumnus, Columbia College Chicago<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Show Hours:</span><br />Mon-Thurs 8:00am-10:00pm<br />Friday 8:00am-6:00pm<br />Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm<br />Sunday 12:00-5:00pmGrant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-79407724555746362012009-10-13T20:36:00.000-07:002009-10-13T21:01:06.233-07:00Harold Arts The Yield: 2009 Resident ExhibitionI am pleased to announce my participation in the <a href="http://www.haroldarts.org">Harold Arts</a> The Yield: 2009 Resident Exhibition. The exhibition will include two new photo works from the ongoing “If I Could Speak to Trees and If Trees Could Speak to Me” project that humorously and metaphorically addresses the complicated and nuanced roles humans play in the environment. The opening reception is being held at Heaven Gallery and Johalla Projects on Friday, October 23rd from 7-11pm. <br /><br />Friday, October 23, 7-11pm<br />Opening Reception<br /><a href="http://www.heavengallery.com/">Heaven Gallery</a> - 1550 N. Milwaukee<br />Johalla Projects - 1561 N. Milwaukee<br /><br />Saturday, October 24<br />Gallery open from 1-5pm<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhyA2vUGuSGr5MwYKyJpZ00fJINSKdC0d9bZiESOJz2QfTgOdq7YUq_Fp_UijJ6INhOmUPglgKjH3-L31KcUUDM8_TEWRdbTyrMqIXkMYvvzkHWuOeAONUGcveIWu-_i7DSDP555Nh3s/s1600-h/S_Tree_Shadow.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhyA2vUGuSGr5MwYKyJpZ00fJINSKdC0d9bZiESOJz2QfTgOdq7YUq_Fp_UijJ6INhOmUPglgKjH3-L31KcUUDM8_TEWRdbTyrMqIXkMYvvzkHWuOeAONUGcveIWu-_i7DSDP555Nh3s/s320/S_Tree_Shadow.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392295819484011474" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">"Athens, Ohio: Shadow of its Former Self. Electric Ouija Board for Trees"</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dLJCojGQm65Vfw8iRzI9C24ktKTIlvfcQBPVa5s4C09Jc4haFh8bXJD2SKGoSSLIkgk30FS5vOScYW-bT-FEiIJ_4sZeDTqn5nztJ87uXXLFrDPgX-i5mxhcc3XhyQ1J-4VIgRLneI4/s1600-h/S_Tree_Speak.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dLJCojGQm65Vfw8iRzI9C24ktKTIlvfcQBPVa5s4C09Jc4haFh8bXJD2SKGoSSLIkgk30FS5vOScYW-bT-FEiIJ_4sZeDTqn5nztJ87uXXLFrDPgX-i5mxhcc3XhyQ1J-4VIgRLneI4/s320/S_Tree_Speak.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392295826309687282" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">"Athens, Ohio: Manufactured Wind, Manufactured Communication"<br /></span>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-31318695619463572702009-08-13T13:11:00.000-07:002009-08-13T13:26:39.510-07:00Artist: Jason DodgeThe long pause. Some time has passed since my last update and for good reason. A few weeks back I returned from artist residency at the Harold Arts Residency where a new project was being conceived and born. Just as soon as I was back in Chicago it was off to Tampa Florida for some quality time with the parents, sand and surf, and what turned out to be a sad night at Tropicana Fields. But, here I am back again with no vacation or travels in the near future.<br /><br />It is great to see a fellow artist using text in a similar manner to my own work. Dodge's use of text for these small sculptural works provides the catalyst for interaction and theatricality. <br /><br />Artist: <a href="http://www.caseykaplangallery.com/artists/jason_dodge/04.html">Jason Dodge</a><br /><a href="http://www.caseykaplangallery.com/artists/jason_dodge/04.html"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4zcPBhAYYDi7x79oIPZfHE9wWOvSvXvvd-SuS3dozKTBC9KAcSQJG86tnAGqJfCGhXAkMCku-lprbcxuY_P_ckv0Trb2SaVExliCl9XlqYpaNaRiqNw_uLpIw3ccSgi7qqEPzNbUC40/s1600-h/04.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4zcPBhAYYDi7x79oIPZfHE9wWOvSvXvvd-SuS3dozKTBC9KAcSQJG86tnAGqJfCGhXAkMCku-lprbcxuY_P_ckv0Trb2SaVExliCl9XlqYpaNaRiqNw_uLpIw3ccSgi7qqEPzNbUC40/s320/04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369546383497518578" /></a></a>Title: "AMETHIST, GARNETS, SAPHIRES, AQUAMARINE, QUARTZ, TOPAZ, RUBIES<br />AND TURMALINE INSIDE OF AN OWL, 2007"Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-19773033993995471972009-07-13T19:06:00.000-07:002009-07-13T19:20:34.775-07:00"Telephones...a new art show in the theme of...Telephone."I am pleased to announce that two photographs from the "uncanny imagination" series will be included in the Telephones group exhibition with thirteen other talented artist at the <a href="http://barbaraandbarbaraloveyou.com/home.html">Barbara and Barbara gallery</a>. Stop by and check it out. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDwjOkY2alkykZB8aoQUj0SbLlHoYrQ4fLkXQm09PI7GRq7feDGJP6l6wnV2VaPhA6DyxjJqUNF37JKBl7Ww0xKNtFCNtirAdcdAxW400lJ-I0ECwHe7o6o2fzThbWC3d1l2S3BUJTLgE/s1600-h/telephone+copy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 157px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDwjOkY2alkykZB8aoQUj0SbLlHoYrQ4fLkXQm09PI7GRq7feDGJP6l6wnV2VaPhA6DyxjJqUNF37JKBl7Ww0xKNtFCNtirAdcdAxW400lJ-I0ECwHe7o6o2fzThbWC3d1l2S3BUJTLgE/s320/telephone+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358134944942788802" /></a><br />Barbara and Barbara Gallery<br />July 25th <br />6:00pm - 10:00pm<br />barbara&barbara@ the retro wash <br />1021 N. Western ave. <br />Chicago, ILGrant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-22051960606480366362009-06-30T20:18:00.001-07:002009-06-30T20:37:15.313-07:00Hin Chua "After the Fall" (review)<a href="http://www.hinius.net/index.html">Hin Chua's</a> photographic project “After the Fall” successfully navigates the often complex conversation surrounding the spaces where human made and the natural intersect. In most cases contemporary landscape photography has an axe to grind, playing heavily to one political side or the other reducing the complexity of environmental issues into a dialectic between utopia/dystopia. Granted <a href="http://www.hinius.net/index.html">Chua's</a> photographs rely on certain visual tropes normally associated within the visual rhetoric of utopic/dystopic, but it is his perfect balancing of the two, manufactured being dystopic, and nature being utopic, that provides for an engagement with the subject matter rather than a statement or matter of fact lecture.<br /><a href="http://www.hinius.net/index.html">Chua's</a> compositions create a visual rhetoric and sophistication presenting a standard of viewing similar to the early works of dadaist photographers and the new phenomenology whom worked to push for a unique photographic language to encompass the dynamic and oft complex relationships in their time period. <a href="http://www.hinius.net/index.html">Chua</a> deftly finds spaces where nature and the manufactured meet not in contrast but in perverse blends of the utopic/dystopic. In the images below a band of brown and dried weeds resemble/mimic the structure of high gain power lines set against a clear blue sky.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hinius.net/after_the_fall_statement.html"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUNSDpta17NgBmrc9gjWe5UP2gQjK-zOOdZwXJ-Dd3LmnFgvB7XrGDe77ubHQIJRFfBIwnMTIfWV0EMtcu4cKTHT3mYIz1GBD7zJo8TKY4Y5_BarRZyNMyTJ7OQGc0JRTZX4kv4sKwck/s1600-h/1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUNSDpta17NgBmrc9gjWe5UP2gQjK-zOOdZwXJ-Dd3LmnFgvB7XrGDe77ubHQIJRFfBIwnMTIfWV0EMtcu4cKTHT3mYIz1GBD7zJo8TKY4Y5_BarRZyNMyTJ7OQGc0JRTZX4kv4sKwck/s320/1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353325952883061858" border="0" /></a>In another photograph power lines cut across and grid the sky into square sections above nature and organic shapes and colours. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.hinius.net/after_the_fall_statement.html"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7_fNayQQqTlIgDHUOx8J69_85xNHonSibhrK-4sV_MkkdH4pBmuktmjXFE51OwnVLKXeppmFbVkohvKOOx_aiIQLu21c4YBNtVVsGV8V59HxH0ZmFnSY91Fiuvn9eIxb7tX5Yums-hc/s1600-h/2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7_fNayQQqTlIgDHUOx8J69_85xNHonSibhrK-4sV_MkkdH4pBmuktmjXFE51OwnVLKXeppmFbVkohvKOOx_aiIQLu21c4YBNtVVsGV8V59HxH0ZmFnSY91Fiuvn9eIxb7tX5Yums-hc/s320/2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353326703632471042" border="0" /></a>In other photographs <a href="http://www.hinius.net/index.html">Chua</a> folds his trope and sticks it on its head. An other wise barren landscape of grassy hills and plains are transformed into the surreal nightmare of multi colour plastic bags presenting a hellish uncanny version of flowers in a meadow.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hinius.net/after_the_fall_statement.html"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwx7ccJuoqRZedrtXDdmWOLtOlEvhQLoQc07hPNNPzal9wQxLRiVf9-GLZcjNI37CG1ROMGfVgUkiyElsL95FaQh8jRe5L7BfcnaLh_b0s7H_eGRJfOC-zzjhjsHbnlr8gJyelldG6FnQ/s1600-h/3.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwx7ccJuoqRZedrtXDdmWOLtOlEvhQLoQc07hPNNPzal9wQxLRiVf9-GLZcjNI37CG1ROMGfVgUkiyElsL95FaQh8jRe5L7BfcnaLh_b0s7H_eGRJfOC-zzjhjsHbnlr8gJyelldG6FnQ/s320/3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353326993869059826" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.hinius.net/after_the_fall_statement.html"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmwnCoSBSnoaAGoiH_lWrRPnmjBR07IajxV_ewZBGc0pLGbJpS72Jg6TX9ec-fTz0hlLwqTwqAe8H1CNRUoyod7WY7SgiKmFm7vJLAuckofmueBGtFRPlsqxyrwr_nGMzi8o11Bfv-xSY/s1600-h/4.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmwnCoSBSnoaAGoiH_lWrRPnmjBR07IajxV_ewZBGc0pLGbJpS72Jg6TX9ec-fTz0hlLwqTwqAe8H1CNRUoyod7WY7SgiKmFm7vJLAuckofmueBGtFRPlsqxyrwr_nGMzi8o11Bfv-xSY/s320/4.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353327197080218482" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.hinius.net/index.html">Chua</a> ask his viewers to contemplate the idea and definition of nature and human made. For one side of the environmental political equation this people are boating in a toxic mess masked by the oft invisible poison of toxic waste. The other side, the PR blitz of clean green industry existing side by side with green spaces across the globe.Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-38932509280574759922009-06-22T14:49:00.000-07:002009-06-22T14:55:40.190-07:00Photographer photographsFellow colleague and friend <a href="http://www.alyssamarzolf.com/default4.asp">Alyssa Marzolf</a> just posted some new work on her website. Check it out.<br /> <br /><a href="http://www.alyssamarzolf.com/default4.asp"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51JEMX3L7a3v5_PxNCU_pzWAxsA-8WJFZjGzDLfAGK17gTCTx1-s8DR523B7fMONKsiD68VGzccorI8oPK1yqqzqQtHRj3bBui2SVNkjgE6FLpTGE0KXvvyLka4rgHZXrcAZEwkgWSCU/s1600-h/Alyssa_Marzolf.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51JEMX3L7a3v5_PxNCU_pzWAxsA-8WJFZjGzDLfAGK17gTCTx1-s8DR523B7fMONKsiD68VGzccorI8oPK1yqqzqQtHRj3bBui2SVNkjgE6FLpTGE0KXvvyLka4rgHZXrcAZEwkgWSCU/s320/Alyssa_Marzolf.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350273630694087906" /></a><br /></a>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-5687027633001666252009-06-17T19:31:00.000-07:002009-06-17T21:13:45.510-07:00Things that don't belong - Patrick BernatchezThe odd juxtaposition where nature reasserts itself in post-apocalyptic fashion resulting in chaos and destruction. The mundane safe unsuspecting ubiquitous places such as the office, or the interior of a car (chrysler) is turned upon its head. This technique is similar and in line with the reemergence of surrealist techniques such as <span style="font-style:italic;">depaysement</span> or making strange through the juxtaposition of unlikely objects and events. Where the surrealist often failed to move beyond the ostranenie <a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com ">Patrick Bernatchez</a> pushes forward, utilizing the surrealist technique as both a device for an uncanny investigation into site specific spaces, as well as the oft complicated relationship between nature and man. <br /><br /><a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtcrQiwcDJI0sbypEHqVY-_z_zNH_Waz6l_sTKSJCS8m_gbuXrnnBFYuGssfGs8t8Ex5ApWVOxsLZYUr_afTC28thfYtLiYy-Y6fhIN7xWl4gb9wvnNfhzjHOz1H7FmaRd6Dbj5chtsz4/s1600-h/2007ifeelcoldtoday03.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtcrQiwcDJI0sbypEHqVY-_z_zNH_Waz6l_sTKSJCS8m_gbuXrnnBFYuGssfGs8t8Ex5ApWVOxsLZYUr_afTC28thfYtLiYy-Y6fhIN7xWl4gb9wvnNfhzjHOz1H7FmaRd6Dbj5chtsz4/s320/2007ifeelcoldtoday03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348490087539722594" /></a></a><br />In the video stills from the short film “<a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com ">I feel cold today</a>” a metaphoric richness comes through in the multi layered concept <a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com ">Bernatchez</a> has put forth for the viewer in the staged set. We are presented with both the psychological affect of the ubiquitous layout of the office space, and its affect on the psychology of the worker. The office as the site of continual fluctuation between the tedium of work and the grand myth of the capitalistic system. The pale colors, cheap office furniture, the visual white screech of fluorescent lights. Buried beneath the snow one can see <a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com ">Bernatchez</a> second punch, his environmental angle. How readily to we forget the destructive and power of mother nature to reassert itself into the man made world. Here, lest we forget, is the uncanny future and reality of our daily world. We hold mother nature off with cheap walls and pumped in heat and artificial light, but when given the chance she will take it all back. Are we witnessing a cubical workers fantasy, or a eco-political gesture lest we forget the awesome power just outside the walls of our cubicles and cars.<br /><br /><a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJfakTt15Q0YMiAdtaP-BQhsMxartdsfHVEgKVoEHn1aYCFRM0niTnGf7NowTErfp46SsPRaCJVnbr_H205YpDzdvEmVlUQFXo4gAhrfGGY2ScoNOiCBglCVQN8XE3YxOfed5F1fQKVZo/s1600-h/2008chrysalide.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJfakTt15Q0YMiAdtaP-BQhsMxartdsfHVEgKVoEHn1aYCFRM0niTnGf7NowTErfp46SsPRaCJVnbr_H205YpDzdvEmVlUQFXo4gAhrfGGY2ScoNOiCBglCVQN8XE3YxOfed5F1fQKVZo/s320/2008chrysalide.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348490307946282514" /></a></a><br />Unlike “I feel cold today” the process and production of Chrysalide is made more apparent. Through the obvious placement of the lights, and the semi commercial quality of the lighting <a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com ">Bernatchez</a> ramps up the fetishistic quality that the car has become in society. The performative act of the two hoses pushing gallons upon gallons of water into the car only to sit back and watch is a kind of sacrilege that breaks down the relationship and aura we have to the automobile. This breaking down and then revealing recontexualizes the car as a claustrophobic and isolating structure. As we speed by the world outside the windows of the car, tuned into radio stations, texting, cell phone calls, all the while speeding past everything in a disconnected manner. Car as insulated fishbowl, so why not treat the inside of the car as such. And what better car model to use than a Chrysler. <br /><a href="www.patrickbernatchez.com "></a>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-5366399965821388492009-06-13T10:48:00.000-07:002009-06-13T10:57:15.071-07:00"we may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoycing."Was just reading over fellow artist, collegue, and friend <a href="http://herzausglas.blogspot.com/">Kim Neudorf's</a> blog and discovered this serious yet humorous image by <a href="http://www.sonjavordermaier.com/">Sonja Vordmaier</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bxOzLDfPWRS0en8WDSDM24SIebgCicPNZ10o2lqfv_MF-UKDGdzRuh7NeLYpn7JmQBlhpemnLjxkZhXu73mBYmGZEcuveH4bLnrOVevoFGxESbIWwWedvfOJdj58JggbKgvw8mejfmg/s1600-h/sonja-vordermaier-tea-fountain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bxOzLDfPWRS0en8WDSDM24SIebgCicPNZ10o2lqfv_MF-UKDGdzRuh7NeLYpn7JmQBlhpemnLjxkZhXu73mBYmGZEcuveH4bLnrOVevoFGxESbIWwWedvfOJdj58JggbKgvw8mejfmg/s320/sonja-vordermaier-tea-fountain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346872320160748866" border="0" /></a>Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435604564830716484.post-64153947136761207052009-06-06T15:10:00.000-07:002009-06-06T16:53:21.726-07:00Debord's "Derive" and "Pyschogeography"<a href="http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/debord.html">Guy Debord and Situationist</a> the <a href="http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm">Theory of the Derive</a>, and Pyschogeography. I recently came across the essay "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Documents-Contemporary-Art/dp/0262600749/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244330281&sr=1-1">The Poetics of the Derive</a>" written by Vincent Kaufmann. Not being that familiar with Debord's Derive, and only slightly informed of its predecessor from the Surrealist <a href="http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/abreton.htm">Andre Breton</a> and his walks through Paris, it quickly raised many questions to tackle. Most specifically the idea of looking at the early photographic works of <a href="http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/atget_eugene.html">Eugene Atget</a>, and his systematic walks through Paris cataloging the ephemeral Paris of his time. One which was being demolished to make way for the Modern streets and boulevards that Debord and the Situationist would later lament in the same manner Atget did before. Yet, how might this theoretical construct of the Derive apply to the large amount of contemporary urbanscape photography found in the United States. And even more interesting the actual activity the photographer performs in order to find these locations.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/screen/atget/atget_cour.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 368px; height: 275px;" src="http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/screen/atget/atget_cour.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Debord's Derive is not simple a walk through the streets of the city, of chance encounters. Instead one must move rapidly and decisively through the urban space, with intention. When possible the practice should not be done alone, but in groups of two or three. They should be aware of their surroundings, of the <span style="font-style: italic;">"...ecological analysis of the absolute or relative character of fissures in the urban network, of the role of microclimates, of distinct neighborhoods with no relation to administrative boundaries, and above all of the dominating action of centers of attraction..."</span> <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">(link to essay)</span></a> Thus the most talented photographers who's oeuvre includes the investigation of the urbanscape. The walk itself, the interaction of operator, camera, and site breaks down the normal relationship we have with public urban spaces. Their activity alone is the Derive.<br /><br />Breaking the rules of theory to return to Eugen Atget melancholic catalog of a ghostly Paris that is no longer. His photographs present to us the sites slated to be demolished, of the concrete reality of the demolition not just of squares and houses, but of the intricate means and subtle variations of the daily social realities created and maintained through public works and layout.<br /><br />The pyschogeography. Atget's photographs of a forgotten urbanscapes now stand like so many rectangular ghost, an archive of ephemera, of power structures that have morphed, shifted, become temporal and translucent. They function as nostalgic tombstones, racked nicely in a file, viewed sequentially, ordered and precise. Are Atget's photographs any less powerful than they were in his time period? Or does the contemporary viewer see them only as quaint post cards, a romantic bygone era of a dirtier, grimmer, Paris leaving out the pychogeography of that site and the site that will replace it?<br /><br />If Atget's photographs have lost their power to be anything more than romantic nostalgic post cards and coffee table books, then what of the contemporary photographers working within the urbanscape. Their photographs present tangible realities, visual stand ins of the power structures, specifically in the United States. Yet is the mere representation of these sites enough, does it go far enough to instigate more than just chance encounters for the viewer looking at the photographs. And what of the Modernist aesthetic formal qualities laid over these sites. Atget's Paris is grimy, dark, moody. Contemporary urbanscape photographs are made to be as beautiful as they are not in reality. The photographers activity of finding these sites is the derive, the photograph itself is the pyschogeography, the questioning. But unlike the gritty ghost of Atget's Paris, their contemporary formal presentation, high gloss, bright colours, fends off the questions raised by their derive. Instead the viewer is left with one word, nostalgia. The photograph becomes a representation of the United States political landscape and the power structures in play as it slowly turns and morphs. Instead of critical action and engagement, we mourn. The United States is changing and morphing its political and social power structures while its identity as super power declines. Its intial status symbols and sturctures that came to represent power have shifted, take on new meaning. Like so many tombstones the contemporary photographic formal aesthetic and their beautiful rendering of the dynamic and shifting urbanscape moots any possible critical interaction. Instead we are presented with lovely nostalgia, and pretty memento mori.Grant W. Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882517347413655880noreply@blogger.com71