Hisae Imai: Open Air Creatures

A very erie, touchy, and emotion-provoking photograph.  From this image I get a strong sense of death- but in relation to life.  It seems as though her body is sinking into the ground becoming part of the soil under the leaves.  The image has a dreamy quality like Arthur Tress’s work, however there is more of a nightmare being portrayed here.  A child’s death gives nature life- disturbing but truthful and photographed very well.

Warren M. Hill: Compartmental Series

This image speaks to me in a way that relates to accepting death.  The two ghostly bodies on the side convey some kind of drowning or suicide, and the woman in the middle seems pretty calm and passive.  She seems at peace with what could possibly be her death.  I also think this photograph is a tribute or reference to another painting that deals with sacrifice to Gods.  Either way this image seems to be conveying a way out or a liberating experience through death.  

Kunie Sugiura-  All three of these photograms were made by the same artist however they touch on very different themes.  The all have similar compositional elements, but very different  whole compositions.  The flowers touch on a beauty theme becuase of the arrangement and choice of flowers.  The squids touch on a very different more organic sponaneous theme and they are beautiful in a different way than the flowers.  And the boxer is an action packed documentational image with a slightly humorous side.  I chose these three images becuase I wanted to convey the versatility of this artist.  Suguira uses the photogram technique but not always in a straight forward traditional way.  What I admire most is that she never stops exploring her medium or her subject matter- constant experimentation that brings positive and beautiful results. 

In comparison this is more of what I like from Flomen.  It is what drew me to research him in the first place and it is what is inspiring me to do more with my photograms.  This image was made with lightning bugs water some weeds or long grass and moonlight.  Very natural elements that I can imagine are very complex to work with.  It seems that Flomen has embraced his subject matter to the fullest letting nature have some control in the outcome of his photograph.

DcadPhoto 2

I chose this image by Michael Flomen because it is different from the ones that I am drawn to.  It has much more of a lunar landscape quality than a abstract quality and I don't like it as much but it still reels me in.  It is possible that this is too minimal for me but it is also possible that I just don't like the lunar aspect of it.  For whatever reason that the image rubs me wrongly I also like it simaltaneously.  

Under the Cover of Darkness, The work of Michael Flomen - La nuit est ma...

Dcad Photo 2

Micheal Flomen: Being-  All these photos are large gelatin prints from an artist who I found when looking through a gallery website.  I found a lot of the work interesting but these 3 photographs were especially striking.  What grabs my attention immediately is the chiarrascurro effect- the lights emerging from the dark.  Then abstract qualities definitely keep my maintain my attention becuase that is the type of art I am most interested in.  What is being depicted here is of no importance to me becuase of the quality and the beautiful shapes of light vs. the dark background.  Clearly Flomen doesn't settle with average print quality and I admire that a lot as well as his eye for abstraction.

Eclipse: Another Flomen gelatin print with very beautiful abstract organic shapes.  Although the lighting is not as ambiguous as the previous image it is still effective.  What works best in this photo is the tonal range and the composition.  Flomen works these two things together to bring out the abstract quality which is almost paradoxical becuase he is showing us the image very clearly but it unidentifyable. 

Contact:  More similar to the first one the lighting is very ambiguous and the chiarroschurro effect is very high.  Here it seems like Flomen gives us a little more of a landscape which seems to go with the title.  There is a very organic flow to the photo where your eye basically follows the lights in a curvy zigzag.  But the jaggedness contrasts the organicness and creates variety through the photo.  Overall I think these are 3 very succesful and mindblowing photographs.