Help. The Little Bacterium Are Eating My Face!

Microbe Portraits Capture The Gorgeous Interaction Of Photography And Bacteria

By: Katherine Brooks

Source: Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/25/seung-hwan-oh_n_5877124.html?utm_hp_ref=arts

           

Seung-Hwan Oh, an artist based in South Korea, presents the interaction of bacteria and film in his art, one of few artistic concepts that can truly be considered “new” rather than “a form of something else”. To accomplish this task, Oh submerges developed film into water, adding into it several microbes. It takes months to even years, as the microbes go to work eating away at light-sensitive chemicals on the photographs. This allows for rather unrecognizable portraits of people whose faces no longer show, as they appear fairly rearranged, similar to the combination of water and fire on a large, fresh blob of ink. The act of artistic destruction is somewhat transient, as the bacteria often acts so aggressively, leaving only the slightest edge bearing hope of strength within the fragility of the film, barely allowing it to be digitized before it fully disintegrates. The pictures below present a collection of images from his work fittingly titled “Impermanence”.

            Through the windows of advancing technology and unrealistic perceptions of life as a result of it, emotionless robots take away from the wonder of the handmade unrealistic depictions of life, which are clearly unrealistic, replacing them with distortions done so perfectly, that confusion and meaning is lost and a sense of emptiness conveys the so-called art. With the use of organic matter (bacteria) to create such distortions in otherwise ordinary portraits, the viewer of such altered realism remains curious on the means of the creation, rather than emotionless at the unquestionable ability of technology if it were the producer. Through Oh’s artwork, the true ability of single-celled organisms, seemingly harmless and treated rather indifferently, is exposed. “Subjects blur into negative space, creating a sort of dystopian nightmare, in which the material world is slowly being consumed by tiny single-celled organisms (Brooks, 1). The areas of the photographs remaining visible, present the ability to speak even louder through concealed identity, than if completely exposed to the naked eye, depicting the characters of the people, rather than the people themselves.

It's Pink, It Must Be Good.

     Amongst a world of hipster, organic, artisan ice cream shops and $1000 ice creams, sometimes the best, as my great aunt's neighbor's best friend's cousin's mother-in-law used to say, are the cheapest. This is beautifully evident in the nostalgic ice cream brand, Thrifty's. As a (smaller) child, Thrifty's ice cream (specifically from the Rite Aid in Hollywood), made up the larger aspect of my pleasurable soul. And as I grew and became a (larger) child, my soul remains the same. With my first visit back to Thrifty's in the Hollywood Rite Aid, I was fortunate enough to encounter, behind the wonderfully shiny (and slightly stained) glass covering the ice cream, Thrifty's feature flavor, Circus Animal Cracker ice cream. Feature flavor; it even sounds exciting! With a double scoop (the other flavor of which I shall not name as to not take away from the feature flavor's glory) I felt as if my childhood, frolicking through a field of daffodils and other select varieties of flowers (but mainly daffodils), began to slowly speed up, as it abruptly hit my in the lower right of my stomach and knocked me down into a pit of unconsciousness. Once I awoke, I felt a bit dizzy, with a sharp pain near my head. Ignoring that, I began to eat the ice cream, some of which had melted away, forming a delicious glove around my hand. Now, Circus Animal Crackers fall under a profoundly specific, profoundly exclusive category titled "Processed, artificially flavored, non-organic foods which my healthy self refuses to refrain from". Mixing that into a beautifully sweet (and I need sweet), creamy, wonderfully pink colored ice cream completes a part of the category of my dreams titled "Ice cream and childhood". I will be frank, however, and say that this is not the best tasting ice cream I have ever had. Yet I so rarely find it possible to describe any one item as being "the best" or standing out merely due to a sole determining factor such as taste, appearance, or content alone. This ice cream is not the best due to its taste, its content, the memories it evokes. It is the best because of a combination of all, intermingling in a way that elicits all emotions, truly allowing it to be "the best".

or maybe...

That Looks NOTHING Like Me!

Artist Enters Trancelike State To Create Brutally Honest Portraits
By: Priscilla Frank
Source: Huffington Post  
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/guillaume-bruere_n_5800882.html?utm_hp_ref=arts
   
     The general concept of portraiture is simple; the more realistic it is of the person, the better of a portrait it seems to be. However, this method of portraiture "mimics a photograph of the person, but not the person (Frank, 1). And this concept is pleasantly and paradoxically questioned in the art of Guillaume Bruere (as seen in his exhibition at Nahmad Contemporary), who perceives a rather unique, quant understanding of what he believes to be "honest portraiture" (Frank, 1). Bruere does what portraits quite often fail to do; he does not show the person through his work, but rather the character within them. The current generalized concept of "abstract art" has become a system of sorts, where spontaneity and momentous wonder have failed to gain a position. As such systematic approaches to the otherwise seemingly strange abstract aspect of art have managed to drown within them all unforced unpredictability, it is the rather traditional portraiture aspect of art that has become anomalous. Within his pieces, Bruere uses oil pastel, watercolor, acrylic, and graphite. What he manages to do with his application of the colors leaves an infinite end to the imagination of the observer. His works of a coworker, seen below, rather unexpectedly depict the single being, unimaginable with the actual observation of the distinctions amongst his pieces. This differentiation, he says, however, "speaks to the complexity of human beings" (Frank, 1). And it is often, when hesitation leads to an infinite pause within the artist, a moment of emptiness, blankness, leading the mind to abolish its pure and unbiased first perception of a human being, adding onto it prejudice and tendency. In order to abstain from this natural restrictiveness of human nature, Bruere attempts "to work faster than the pace of his own consciousness, creating art rapidly, in a trance-like state" (Frank, 1). He rids his subjects of all they are perceived to be, therefore creating a depiction of what he sees as "human-to-human encounter as it exists in the moment" (Frank, 1).
     Amongst everything in existence that could have possibly been restricted, art has ironically become a member of that list. It is upsetting, hopeless that the thought process of human nature leads them to a  system for doing any task. Bruere's work speaks through this concept, presenting the slightest inkling of hope towards unpredictability and a lack of inner inhibition. Art is moving away, quite possibly, from a sense of realism, as photography has taken that role. Art is leaning towards abstraction, amongst which there has wrongly been placed upon a process. Bruere addresses both aspects, creating, in a world of expectancy, an unrealistic field of portraiture, within which realism was never supposed to be intended; and which he has managed to understand.

selfportrait with dirty hairs

Portrait Vanilla 1

Mixed media on paper

Portrait Vanilla 7

A Prison Worker in Givenchy

 Finding Grace Where It’s Not ‘Supposed’ to Be

By: Aisha Harris

Source: Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/05/kehinde-wiley_n_5774678.html?utm_hp_ref=arts

           

It is quite often in society, when things are “supposed to be” or not. Not as often, however, do people choose to act against that. In his documentary titled An Economy of Grace, Kehindle Wiley depicts portraits of everyday, real-life women in scenes where they are not “supposed to be”. Exploring through the streets of downtown Brooklyn, Wiley finds African American women who “span a panoply of backgrounds and looks” (Harris, 1), including a prison worker, a skeptic tattoo extremist, and one enthusiastic women agreeing to pose to increase representation of woman of color. Wiley, using these women as his muses, represents them in quite a paradoxical sense; one in which they would not see themselves as. The prison worker is depicted in a custom made Givenchy gown. Yet the models themselves perceive a bit of hopelessness in Wiley’s works. “Yeah, there’s a change, and then tomorrow, it’s back to work” (Harris, 1) says the prison worker. The portraits are honest, while at the same time not being real. And the women themselves are fully aware of this. Everyone, rather, is aware, that the women in those portraits are not “supposed” to be in those portraits. Yet all skepticism aside, a rather unexplainable confusion is felt within the women as they view their portraits for the first time and feel a sense, although temporary, of self satisfaction, self worth, stillness. And Wiley’s inspiration does stem from this “lack of visibility and desire to be seen” (Harris, 1).

Not much is seen in life past what is visibly present; rather restricting, it seems. And it often leads to people finding it difficult to perceive a different persona of themselves, stuck in existence and failing to look past it. Yet what Wiley has managed to do presents much needed impact with the slightest hint of confusion and lack of understanding. Even if falling to convince the women of complete self acceptance, Wiley’s works manage to evoke an unexpected sense of irony; one that carries with it impact and curiosity. Whether skeptical or eager, the women gain the opportunity of seeing themselves in quite a rare form; one in which they are not “supposed” to be.

            

Prison worker in Givenchy.

A Minor Glimpse of Life

‘Boyhood’ movie review: Richard Linklater’s emotional epic is a 12-years-in-the-making masterpiece

By: Mike Scott

Source: Nola.com

http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2014/08/boyhood_movie_review_richard_l.html

The review speaks of the movie Boyhood, a unique story of the progression of time seen in the eyes of a boy, Mason, filmed throughout the course of twelve years. Ethos may be seen within the author’s significant knowledge on the filmmaker, his style, his past works, and the current storyline. By this, the reader understands that the author of this review is a credible source of information, even if it is opinion. The review forms claims of fact by stating the true amazement of the movie to not be due to “some plot twist or third-act reveal” (Scott, 1), but rather its simplicity. This statement is arguable, but can be backed up with evidence of the actual plot, which, objectively, is, in its entirety, as simple as “a boy grows up” (Scott, 1). It is actually backed up within the review with a concise summary of the plot including main scene concepts such as the characters going to school, complaining about moving, going to a baseball game (Scott, 1). This information is a loose example of logos (as reviews are often subjective and not based on hard evidence), but allows the reader to get a glimpse into the main storyline, therefore forming an opinion of their own. Claims of value are also seen throughout the review, evident in the line describing Linklater’s (the filmmaker) ability to create “something so compelling out of events that seem so insignificant” (Scott, 1). By adding this onto his statement of the movie’s plot being simple, Scott manages to rid readers of the natural generalization that the movie would therefore be boring, and instilling in them the idea that the film is rather captivating and emotion evoking in a powerful way. Scott also presents a claim of value by categorizing Boyhood in his list of “greatest movies” (Scott, 1), stating them as being “those that hold up a mirror to the human condition and reflect something back at us that we too often manage to overlook” (Scott, 1). Through this subjective perception, Scott manages to instill a sense of connection between the movie and human nature, provoking a natural desire to viewit. These claims prominently appeal to one’s emotions using pathos, as they emit a paradoxical sense of intricacy within a simplistic concept of life, a strong emotional connection with both the characters and storyline, and the wonder of insignificance. To justify his review, the reviewer uses such strategies as stating that to appreciate the movie “you just have to be human” (Scott, 1), supporting his idea of the film as relatable and connection building. By clarifying his criteria for which movies he believes stand out more than others, he provides a clear justification as to why he believes Boyhood is one of them. He incorporates counterarguments such as the possibility of the film being rather boring, while at the same time stating such values within the film that appeal to human nature as a whole.