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Thread: Exhibition help

  1. #1

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    Exhibition help

    Next spring I am having an exhibition, and unlike others I have had I am having trouble with the thought process in terms of putting a name on it. The same exhibit will take place later in the year in a second location. The photos to be shown will be landscapes (commericial/natural) and street portraits. I only use B/W film. The brochure is being prepared now, hence the gallery wants a brief statement and a photo. My photo philosophy has never been formalized, although I think I agree with a Manuel Alvarez Bravo statement I recently read which downplayed the strategic philosophy involved in taking specific photos.

    I have been relying too much on LFers on this site and am hesitant in making this post due to the vagaries involved.

    Moderator: Not sure if this is the right place for this post?

    Thanks once again.


  2. #2
    ROL's Avatar
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    Re: Exhibition help

    Why did you make the photographs?

    What is your through–line?

    The exhibitor must have had something in mind when they agreed to show your work. Ask them if all else fails you. Frankly, and I don't intend this to be snarky, but I don't understand how anyone could take you on unless at least they saw the "message" of your work.

  3. #3

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    Re: Exhibition help

    No worries about being snarky, I have a thick skin or I wouldn't have made the post. The exhibitor has seen my other work, wherein I could expound a bit on the why I do it. I guess maybe I just need to spend a little more time wordsmithing down what I have done B4.

  4. #4
    Format Omnivore Brian C. Miller's Avatar
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    Re: Exhibition help

    Artist's statement:

    Why are you reading this when you could just ask me? I'm standing right behind you.

    Buy my pictures! Buy more of my pictures! I just hate living under your porch, I want my own apartment, and you don't keep enough food in your refrigerator.

    Yes, I took these pictures. I took them off someone's living room wall. Yours, maybe?

    The lens! The lens! The LENS! Aaaiiiiiggghh!

    Did anybody see where I put my HE? No, I don't mean HIE, I mean HE. No, one is Kodak film, the other is explosives. ... Why are you running away?

    I made these photographs with hammer and chisel. I sweated hard over the forge, driving each little silver particle into place, one by one.

    All of what you see here is fictional. Except for the mugshot of Bob, who is over at your house right now. Maybe you should see what he's up to...

    I made these photographs while I was wandering around stark naked for hours, and setting things on fire. By the way, how are your pets and children recovering?

    I use a 20x24 camera because it fits nicely in the palm of my hand. I like miniature camera formats like that. Oh, and I'm sorry about stepping on your car.

  5. #5

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    Re: Exhibition help

    ok guys my apologies for putting this post up!

  6. #6
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: Exhibition help

    This forum is sooooo helpful sometimes.......

    I think it is a valid and serious question-a question I struggle with continually even after 80+ shows.

    IMO it should be short and something that is both descriptive of the work and will pique the interest of the target audience. I'm in a show that opens this weekend at the New Mexico History Museum entitled "The Contemplative Landscape" (I didn't think up the name) which is a good example of what I mean.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  7. #7
    Format Omnivore Brian C. Miller's Avatar
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    Re: Exhibition help

    Quote Originally Posted by Manuel Álvarez Bravo
    When I work it's by impulse. Not in the sense of planning a photograph in advance. I work by impulse. No philosophy. No ideas. Not by the head but by the eyes. Eventually inspiration comes. Instinct is the same as inspiration, and eventually it comes.
    You can think of the artist's statement as a form of advertising. One "statement" I read had this long, drawn-out, essay about photographing and not photographing, and finally photographing some cala lilies. Photographs: cala lilies on a black background. Pony up the pocketbook.

    Did van Gogh write an artist's statement? Did Rembrandt? Or did they make statements, and people quoted them? That is the truest statement.

    This is the one I like: "God licked my brain!" -- graffiti on a wall, Portland, OR. I forget which street.

  8. #8

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    Re: Exhibition help

    When I work it´s by impulse. Not in the sense of planning a photograph in advance. I work by impulse. No philosophy. No ideas. Not by the head but by the eyes. Eventually inspiration comes. Instinct is the same as inspiration, and eventually it comes.

    Manuel Alvarez Bravo

  9. #9

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    Re: Exhibition help

    I hate 'artist statements'


    oh man do I hate them

    they are either pretentious or obvious...mostly pretentious


    as for names..


    I think my friend finds more joy in the double entendes and bad puns he comes up for the titles of his shows, than he does in the taking of the pix

    myself..I tend to go with something like: some pix, some pix II, some pix III - like that

  10. #10
    Format Omnivore Brian C. Miller's Avatar
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    Re: Exhibition help

    Why not get a writer to write the artist's statement? There are plenty of people who are adept at creative writing. How about taking a look at a poetry forum?

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