Sabine Korth - Diary and Inspiration

Piombino - Laboratorio di Collage e Rappresentazione dei Propri Sogni

2009-10-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

A Novembre partono i Laboratori del APP...

COLLAGEMUSEUM

2009-06-02T04:13:00.001-07:00

http://collagemuseum.com/Bakers/bakers13/exhibit.html

Brett Kaufman

2009-06-02T04:04:00.000-07:00

www.brettkaufman.com/

Michael Hughes - Souvenirs

2009-05-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_hughes/sets/346406/

Malekeh Nayiny - Updating a family album

2009-05-11T04:38:00.000-07:00

Here they are, to start with, in black and white, staring rather self-consciously into the camera. My Mother not yet in her teens but already sporting a chador with her little cousin in a frilly dress. Great aunt and great uncle, both known for their impish pranks, standing hand in hand and looking as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. My three paternal aunts, dressed in their sunday best and very proud of their stylish hairdos. Granfather and friends seated around a table against a panoramic backdrop. The two young physicians ( my father and his brother) just back from Europe and on their way to play tennis. And lastly, my parents-to-be forming a glamorous couple on their wedding day.

I have used computer technology as a kind of time machine to update my family album, to lend it more color and life, to renovate and revive it.

By the use of anachronisms such as collaging modern stamps on the clothes of some of my ancestors, and by inventing backgrounds that are obviously out of context with them, my aim was to see them in a new light and to transplant them into a different time, a different place.
http://www.malekeh.com/

Maggie Taylor Photomontage

2009-04-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

statement: For more than eight years now I have been using a flatbed scanner instead of a traditional camera to record and interpret the objects I collect. I frequent flea markets and search on Ebay for old tintypes and toys that seem to have a story to tell. Then in my studio I make small pastel drawings as backgrounds and scan each element into my computer separately. Using Photoshop I am able to arrange and play with these layers in much the same way that I worked with objects in my studio for a still life photograph. I work very spontaneously and intuitively, trying to come up with images that have a resonance and a somewhat mysterious narrative content. There is no one meaning for any of the images, rather they exist as a kind of visual riddle or open-ended poem, meant to be both playful and provocative.

Although my images are not traditional photographs, I definitely think of my scanner as a light-sensitive recording device. And there is a camera involved in making most of the images…it just happens that the camera was used over 100 years ago by a photographer who remains anonymous.

There is a book about my images available, written by Amy Standen, called Maggie Taylor's Landscape of Dreams. It is published by Peachpit Press.

Maggie Taylor in Zonezero
http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/taylorm/

Mario Cresci - Il taccuino, un problema di libertà individuale

2009-04-21T04:22:00.000-07:00

...Perché far coincidere la ricerca e la rappresentazione di ciò che noi siamo e di ciò che desideriamo comunicare è uno dei problemi di fondo del sistema dell’arte e l’uso del taccuino ne evidenzia sempre i passaggi, i risultati e i dati temporali dei processi visivi e testuali raccolti in esso.
Per chi usa il mezzo fotografico le pagine del Moleskine diventano anche lo spazio di contenimento di uno dei principali requisiti linguistici della Fotografia: quello narrativo, costituito da immagini fisse che raccontano in sequenza, microstorie personali, appunti visivi, idee, progetti e scritture minime che sono alla base di ogni costruzione di senso.
Nel taccuino la sequenza delle fotografie si integra con le parole scritte perché l’oggetto consente e facilita l’idea di un racconto di azioni, percorsi di vita, situazioni sociali, in costante rapporto tra realtà e immaginazione anche da parte di coloro che non sono abituati ad usare la fotografia come mezzo primario...senza nessun impedimento di natura tecnica se non quello di effettuare un preciso collage delle fotografie sul supporto cartaceo.
Nello spazio minimo delle pagine del taccuino così convivono in libertà le immagini e i testi, le emozioni e le regole del fare, tra l’acutezza dello sguardo e il senso di partecipazione dell’individuo alle cose e alle persone che lo circondano. In questo senso il Moleskine rappresenta un oggetto, un contenitore e forse un modo per raccontare se stessi e comunicare agli altri la propria libertà di pensiero e di azione.

Nel progetto “Immagini in tasca” la fotografia è principalmente intesa come
pretesto rivolto al vedere la realtà prima con la mente e poi con il mezzo,
analogico o digitale che esso sia. In questo senso ogni studente si sente libero di muoversi in relazione con se stesso e con la propria condizione di vita
e in rapporto a una percezione personale del tempo e dello spazio.
E’ la prima fase esplorativa della libertà all’interno di un Modus vivendi che
Zygmunt Bauman definisce come “utopia del mondo liquido” in un contesto sociale dove non sono rimasti molti terreni solidi su cui gli individui possano
edificare le loro speranze di salvezza”.
La paura di non poter esprimere liberamente le proprie idee attraverso concreti progetti d’arte nella società è ciò che avvolge spesso negativamente il pensiero dei giovani, che non intravedono alternative, non solo di carattere economico, al loro futuro.
“Immagini in tasca” sono microstorie che sviluppano temi molto diversi tra loro, che in gran parte corrispondono anche a ciò che pensava Bruno Munari e che a livello didattico abbiamo più volte indicato come atti di libertà e che ogni cosa individuata anche con la Fotografia ne rimanda ad altre e così all’infinito in una sequenza di situazioni che sono il risultato dei processi ideativi che assumono forme visive di un pensiero complesso sempre aperto e predisposto “A mettere al mondo il mondo”, come scriveva Alighiero Boetti...
Inoltre, la Fotografia usata dagli artisti prende sempre le distanze dal concetto storico di rappresentazione veritiera del reale che ha ritardato e segnato ancora oggi in negativo il suo stato di diritto di appartenenza ai linguaggi costitutivi dell’arte.
In questo senso le storie raccolte nei Moleskine non hanno inizio e non hanno fine proprio come nei taccuini di appunti: piccoli ma importanti produzioni di “opere aperte” intese come sguardi sul mondo, forse una sana utopia da continuare nella ricerca di una risposta che coinvolge non solo i giovani ma anche noi stessi che dobbiamo ricominciare a pensare all’arte “con il piacere di sorprenderci e di sorprendere”.
da: Savignano immagini http://www.savignanoimmagini.it/mostre3.php?IDMostra=1

Ada Ascari - Le Note .... come una coperta fatta di ritagli

2009-04-21T00:36:00.000-07:00

2 marzo 2009

"... come una coperta fatta di ritagli",
abbiamo detto un giorno, "di quelle che cucivano
le nostre nonne. Ogni pezza ci lasciava immaginare
la storia di una vita differente.
Ma unita alle altre per quell'arte di donne
ci serviva da riparo e da memoria.
Quelle coperte racchiudevano la storia
di tutta una famiglia..."

tratto da "cuore nella scrittura" poesie e racconti del Laboratorio di scrittura delle Madres di Plaza de Mayo

- Paul Klee - Suono antico - 1925 -

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=73772043411&h=lt5vz&u=3CYzU&ref=mf

Bruno Munari

2009-04-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

Bruno Munari wrote in 1961... The biggest hindrance to understanding a work of art is wanting to understand.

Bruno Munari, Definizioni, Venezia 1992, Una lezione all'Università

http://www.wikio.it/video/904789

http://www.munart.org/

test zuio

2008-11-04T07:53:00.001-08:00

test tst

Luis Gonzalez Palma – “ Kodalith, gold leaf, red paper, all embedded in resin “

2008-03-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Luis Gonzalez Palma has turned his lens away from the Maya descendants of his native Guatemala to explore people and places in his new home in Argentina.
Palma's process, new to the works on view ( 2004), heightens the solemn mood. The images, printed on clear ortho film, are laid over a deep red board covered with sheets of gold leaf, the whole encased in resin. Each crack and seam in the gold allows the rich color to show through; the materials become integral components of the piece, adding depth to the works without obscuring the photographic image. The crinkles in the gold leaf highlight the delicate texture of lace, the mottled surface of a pine plank table, or the peeling walls. The resin adds a slightly murky sepia tone that gives the work an antique look. The pieces were displayed on shelves, propped against the wall, emphasizing their three-dimensionality.
Palma's portraits suggest a state of resignation, while the empty chairs and dilapidated architecture allude obliquely to Argentina's political history. As in the best of his work, these images evoke questions without giving any answers.
Rebecca Dimling Cochran http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_9_92/ai_n6240886

http://www.gonzalezpalma.com/

Samsara - Zone 6 - Doris Lessing

2008-02-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

"...can you please explain how zone six in Shikasta is related
to zones three, four and five in the marriage

… I belive one analogy is the "zones" in the Hindu/Buddhist
construction of samsara - that more evolved souls "spend time "
in more evolved realms - Zone 6 being furthest away from
moksha, Zone 1 being closest. This is not a purely derivative
allegory, as Lessing is also influenced by Sufis who themselves
show evidence of being influenced by Greek philosophy and the
Hindu Vedas. If you accept this analogy, then Zone 6 is the
perimeter zone for "atmans" (souls) to renenter incarnate..."

From the Doris Lessing Discussion Group :

http://listserv.uc.edu/archives/DORIS-LESSING.html

The Sweetest Strawberry the World Has Ever Known - Sufistories

2007-09-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

I would like to tell you about the time I went to see my friend Tekka. I met Tekka when he was a young man, but that is another story altogether. So I was here, and Tekka was in his home village, and all that lay between us was a desert and a jungle.
The desert was easy. Twelve days under the burning sun...no sweat. Well, not exactly, but to return to the story, I came to the jungle. If you have ever seen a jungle, you know that it is big, and dark, and very green. The trees are tall, the bushes are thick, and there are lots of little animals moving about, making you think they are big animals!
Well, the path was narrow, and the jungle on either side was thick and noisy, and closed over the path in a way that made me a little nervous. But I love my friend Tekka, so I said to myself, "Nasruddin, you are a stalwart soul, and you must go through this jungle in order to see Tekka. Just think of it as taking a walk through the jungle!" I tried to argue with myself, but it was no use. I had to go.
So I started off through the jungle, and the path was not so bad when my eyes got used to the gloom. I was walking happily along, when I heard a noise behind me: "hhahh... hhahh... hhahh." I looked over my shoulder, and saw, to my surprise, a tiger was also taking a walk through the jungle!
"Ah," I said to myself, which was the best I could do in the circumstances. Then I had a thought, which was fortunate. "It is never too late to begin an exercise regimen. Why not start with jogging, for your health, that is." I agreed, and began at once. There I was, jogging through the jungle, enjoying what remained to me of my health, when I heard a sound behind me: "hhahh...hhahh...hhahh." I looked over my shoulder, and – what do you know!– the tiger had also taken up jogging! Although I think the tiger was less interested in excersise, and more interested in nutrition!
Due to the beneficial effects of exercise, my brain was functioning more efficiently. "If you can jog, surely you can run," I told myself. "Why not try for a world record?" It's amazing how quickly you can come to an agreement with yourself. I began immediately to see if I could set a new world record for land speed running. I tore through that jungle as if the path were a highway.
I am certain a world record was within my grasp, if only a judge with a stopwatch had been there. And when I heard a familiar sound behind me, which I probably don't have to explain sounded like "hhahh-hhahh-hhahh," I didn't even have to stop and look to know the tiger was also bent on setting a world record.
So there we were, the two athletes running like the wind through the jungle! It was thrilling! It was exciting! It was terrifying! Suddenly, there was no jungle!
There was no path either, only the blue sky, and a cliff, and me, Nasruddin, falling down it. I said to myself, "Aaauughh!!" but it did no good. So I grabbed onto a bush.
(Did you ever notice, every single time you fall down a cliff, there's a bush to grab onto. Check it out for yourself!)
So I grabbed this bush, and held on for dear life. I clung to it with all my strength, which I needed, because there was the tiger looking down at me, saying "hhahh...hhahh...hhahh." "Don't you know any other words?" I said. Apparently not, because the tiger continued to say the same thing over and over. I looked desperately about me for a way out, and could find none. Then I noticed the roots of the bush begin to pull out of the cliff, one by one.
"Nasruddin," I said, and I have a little song I sing to myself when I am in trouble, which seems to be more and more often these days, "Nasruddin, you have been/ in better sit-u-a-tions." It's a nice little song, very comforting. It certainly helped at that moment.
Then I heard a sound behind and below me that sounded strangely familiar: "hhahh...hhahh...hhahh."
"Wait!" I said to myself, "I thought I left that sound safely up above!" I looked down, and saw that the bad always comes with the good. Why is that, do you think? The good was that the cliff was not very high, and I would not be hurt if I fell. The bad was the other tiger standing below me, looking up!
There I was, hanging on the face of a cliff from a bush whose roots were pulling out, with a tiger above me and a tiger below me. I thought it was a good moment for my little song, so I sang again, "Nasruddin, you have been/ in better sit-u-a-tions." It had its effect – my head was clear, and I cast about desperately for a way out of my predicament. I assure you I didn't think of the word predicament at the time.
I looked on both sides, and suddenly spied a little green bush, with a single red berry. It was a wild strawberry! Now, my philosophy is always to enjoy yourself to the fullest, wherever you are. So I got a good grip with my toes, which are considerable, and held the bush with one hand, and reached out, risking all, and picked that strawberry.
And did I eat it? Oh, yes, my beloveds, I did. And I am here to tell you that if you are hanging on a cliff from a bush that is pulling out by the roots, and there is a tiger above you and a tiger below you, and you find a strawberry and you eat it, that will be the sweetest strawberry the world has ever known!
* * *
But wait...what about the tigers, and the cliff? How am I here to tell the tale? Well, here it is: they were nearsighted tigers, and when they got a close look at me, they lost their appetites.
(retold by Nasruddin - Idries Shaw )

http://www.nasruddin.org/pages/storylist.html

Walter Schels – Animalische Schichtungen

2007-09-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

"Walter Schels, a passionate portraitist and photographic researcher of the human physiognomy, was driven by his interest in all creation, his delight in rendering essence and personality visible in a photograph. He has photographed the animals like great portraitists photograph people: mostly using a large-format camera, sometimes in his studio, often outside pens or cages, with great earnestness and a deep desire to capture the very essence of what he is portraying. He has thus achieved something unique in animal photography: astonished and strangely touched, we find ourselves confronted with an animal face that reminds us of human features. The decadence in the face of the cat, the melancholy in the eyes of the monkey, the attentiveness in the gaze of the elephant. The links we make are reminiscent of the dialectics of essence and appearance anticipated in the case of humans by 18th century physiognomists. Walter Schels' black-and-white animal photographs are unique and incomparable."…the publisher in “ Animal Portraits” Edition Stemmle/verlag Photograph, Switzerland

Perfect Worlds - Doerte Eissfeldt - Montagen

2007-09-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

You might think that every picture contains a piece of a world that has ist source in the artist`s fantasy and imagination.But – and this is the fascinating thing about photography – a picture also exists thanks to fragments of reality and of our lived lives which are collected, chosen, interpreted and presented according to the parameters and necessities of the work itself.Our perception is very limited, it is full of mistakes and gaps and different for each individual.The same goes for the work with photographs.The observer sees what he wants to see and there is always a part of the picture, too.In it, we can find our complete history, our experiences, our knowledge and, therefore, the picture is different for everybody in every situation.www.doerte-eissfeldt.de/

Dieter Zinn - Arcadia - Arkadien 1998

2007-09-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

Et in Arcadia Ego - Firenze "Arkadien, Fremde und Sehnsucht"
Der Titel entspricht dem historischen Begriff und beschreibt die
melancholische Sehnsucht nach Schönheit und Liebe.
Das Ziel ist nicht der Ort und nicht der Weg.Die Magie des Augenblicks findet sich unterwegs und im Willen zum Glück.
Dem der sie findet, vergegenwärtigt sie, was bleibt .
Dieter Zinn 1998

Keba Konte - Photomontage on Wood

2007-09-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Konte transfers the photographs onto a flat piece of wood using a chemical process that, for proprietary reasons, he does not talk about in detail. Once the image is on the wood, Konte adorns it with anything that suits him - oil paint, gold leaf, nails and rope. Sometimes he blackens parts of the image with a blow torch or inlays a small print photograph onto the surface.He likes to work with discarded stuff, like old headboards, broken pieces of dresser drawers and especially old wood ironing boards. "What I really like is wood that has had a previous life. If I use an ironing board that is 50 years old, everyone will bring a little something different to that. Maybe that's what they learned to iron on, or it makes them feel kind of nostalgic," he said. (Photo Finish - Anne Burke )Konte’s works refer directly to humanity - the body and community - particularly the fragile state of urban living. He layers memory and metaphor as he inscribes social conditions, emphasizing love, vulnerability, decay and loss. A passage written by Keba in his artist’s statement elucidates his connections:“If I had to describe my work in three words, I would say ‘social, beautiful and pure’. There is beauty in even the most ordinary act. I want people who see my work to know it’s true, it’s sincere and it’s coming from my heart.”http://www.kebakonte.com/http://www.tilfordartgroup.com/konte.html

Making Memories Matter – Erinnerungen Raum geben

2007-09-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

More than 100 elders in seven European countries created individual Memory Boxes with the help of local artists. They formed an exhibition that toured 13,000 kilometres across Europe as a lively expression of cultural heritage of the last 80 years.

…unternehmen es ältere Menschen in Tschechien, Spanien, Rumänien, Polen, Finnland, Deutschland und England, das kulturelle Erbe Europas auf besondere Weise darzustellen: Sie füllten 120 ausrangierte Munitionskisten mit den Geschichten ihres Lebens.Stationen der Ausstellung waren u. a. Posen, Prag Cluj-Napoca, Kotka, London, Barcelona, Berlin, München und Brüssel.Über 20.000 Besucher in 16 Städten ließen sich inzwischen von diesem Mosaik europäischer Zeitgeschichte anrühren und bewegen. Den Kistenbauern war kein Thema vorgegeben, doch zeigen sich Verbindungslinien: An glückliche und idyllische Kindheiten der Zwischenkriegszeit wird ebenso erinnert, wie an dramatische Bomben-, Flucht- und Internierungserfahrungen.Über Sprach-, Kultur- und Generationsgrenzen hinweg vermitteln sich so die Geschichten individuellen Erlebens von Glück und Leid, vor allem aber von der Leistung der älteren Menschen in einem zusammenwachsenden Europa.
http://www.makingmemoriesmatter.org/

Grete Stern - Suenos - Galerie 213 - Paris

2007-09-07T04:23:00.000-07:00

… While the pattern is typical of the '30s Weimar diaspora from Nazi Germany, Stern's long years in Argentina set her apart. And indeed, the remarkable group of works that made up the centerpiece of this show, forty-six photomontages known as the "Suenos" (Dreams, 1948-51), demonstrated the singularity of this encounter between the culture of the Bauhaus and the country of Borges. These small black-and-white images convey a world in which, to paraphrase Goya, the dreams of women produce monsters. The dreamers themselves, portrayed as the model housewives of Argentina's middle class or their younger sisters, thus find themselves in nightmarish situations--confinement, loss of control, physical danger, domination, lack of identity--evoked through the magic realism of the photomontage, with its composite figures and backgrounds, its manipulations of scale, perspective, and lighting.

from " Grete Stern - Galerie 213 - Paris "
ArtForum, March, 2002 by Miriam Rosen

Robert Frank - Im Draussen das Drinnen

2007-09-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

"Ich mache immer wieder dieselben Bilder.

Ich versuche immer, im Draussen das Drinnen zu sehen.

Ich versuche, etwas zu sagen, das wahr ist.“

http://www.art-tv.ch/frank.html

The Book of Disquiet – Fernando Pessoa

2007-09-07T02:14:00.000-07:00

23.5.1932 Das Buch der Unruhe

Ich weiß nicht, was die Zeit ist. Ich weiß nicht, welches ihr wahres Maß ist, falls sie überhaupt eines hat. Ich weiß, daß die Uhrzeit falsch ist: sie unterteilt die Zeit räumlich, von außen. Die gefühlte Zeit, weiß ich, ist ebenfalls falsch: sie unterteilt nicht die Zeit, sondern unsere Empfindung von der Zeit. Die Zeit der Träume ist gleichfalls falsch; in ihnen streifen wir das eine Mal eine verlängerte, das andere Mal eine verkürzte Zeit und, was wir erleben, ist übereilig oder langsam infolge irgendeines Vorgangs beim Verfließen der Zeit, dessen Natur ich nicht kenne.Zuweilen meine ich, alles sei falsch, und die Zeit sei nur ein Rahmen,um das einzufassen, was ihr fremd ist. In der Erinnerung an mein vergangenes Leben sind die Zeiten auf sinnlosen Ebenen angeordnet, und ich bin bei einer bestimmten Begebenheit meiner feierlichen fünfzehn Lebensjahre jünger als bei einem anderen Vorkommnis meiner unter Spielzeugen sitzenden Kindheit.Das Bewußtsein verwirrt sich mir, wenn ich an diese Dinge denke. Ich ahne einen Irrtum in alledem; ich weiß jedoch nicht, auf welcher Seite er steckt. Es ist, als wohnte ich einer Art Zauberkunststück'bei, bei dem ich mich, weil es ein solches ist, betrogen fühle, aber dennoch nicht herausbringen kann, worin Technik oder Mechanik des Betruges bestanden haben.Dann überkommen mich absurde Gedanken, die ich jedoch nicht als vollkommen absurd abweisen kann... Ich überlege mir, ob die Bewegungen wirklich synchron sind, die die gleiche Zeit beanspruchen, in denen ich eine Zigarette rauche, diesen Abschnitt niederschreibe und auf dunkle Weise nachdenke.Von zwei Rädern an derselben Achse können wir uns vorstellen, daß immer eines weiter vorn rollt, auch wenn es sich nur um Bruchteile von Millimetern handelt... Sind das unnütze Betrachtungen? Ich weiß es wohl. Sind es Illusionen der Betrachtung? Das räume ich ein. Was ist das aber für ein Ding, das uns mißt ohne Maß und uns tötet, ohne zu sein? Und in diesen Augenblicken, in denen ich nicht einmal weiß, ob die Zeit existiert, fühle ich sie wie eine Person und habe Lust einzuschlafen.

Ghosts of the past - Gerald Slota

2007-09-07T02:01:00.000-07:00

Ghosts of the past - Gerald Slota practices a unique darkroom alchemy
By Mimi Fronczak Rogers For The Prague PostOctober 12th, 2005
For traditional photographers, the negative is sacrosanct. They would no more dream of mucking up a negative than would most printmakers think of ruining a copper plate. Gerald Slota isn't a traditional photographer, though…
…his latest series, "Found," is a stark departure. While in the past he has worked from altered negatives of his own staged photography, this new series has as its starting point anonymous negatives of old family photographs that the artist discovered at estate sales. All of his mark-making and manipulation is done during exposure and development of the positive image.
Like much of his earlier work, the "Found" series is characterized by a strong sense of narrative. But Slota only hints at elements of the story line, requiring viewers to fill in the rest. From the old negatives, most of which he reckons are from the first part of the 20th century, the artist wanted to "re-create another truth."Slota created the narratives in the darkroom, layering on the photo emulsion or smearing it on with his hands in uneven swathes, as with fingerpaints. He marks out compositional elements with pencil or chalk, or "draws" with a pen flashlight during exposure, leaving black lines on the finished image.
He sometimes crops out or obfuscates heads, limbs or other parts of the original picture and then adds back the "missing" elements, occasionally extending appendages beyond the frame. Here and there the ethereal outline of the artist's hand is visible as a faint photogram left in place as he worked on the image.
…There is always a bit of happenstance and the possibility that a particular mark will lead the artist in an unexpected direction. In one, he added the outline of a gun to the hand of a prim young woman in ankle socks but wasn't pleased with the result. An inspired scattering of pencil shavings turned the image into a keeper, creating the sense of explosion he was aiming for.
Along with an overall aesthetic of studied chaos, each of the individual images has its own story and mood. Some are utterly playful, with the artist's smeary, scrawled marks resembling those of an uninhibited child. Other times the scene is menacing, with firearms appearing more than once. Relationships between the subjects are thrown into question with diagrammatic lines. Sometimes Slota finds an amusing detail that he decides to emphasize, as when he frames a group of women holding their purses in the same way within the drawn outline of a handbag.He often vignettes these scenes with a scalloped edging reminiscent of old photographic scrapbooks. Slota has used this device in previous work, notably in his "Fable" series, which explored the sinister side of fairy tales. The frames within a frame work on an architectonic level, their curlicues like an ornate mantelpiece or a Chippendale bureau.
Slota says he sometimes feels as if he's channeling sprits in the darkroom. As in a seance, he is hoping the subjects will reveal the secrets they may have concealed beneath decorum and stiff poses — or at least those he's imagined for them…
Slota seems driven to continually shore up the collective unconscious, as found not only in fairy tales and myths but also in family lore, and to reexamine it through a contemporary lens. His darkroom alchemy is heir to the automatic writing and chance operations of the surrealists. In a sense the images in his "Found" series are the descendants of their exquisite corpses, creatures born of collaboration that combine archetypes and dark peril with unbridled fantasy.

http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2005/10/12/ghosts-of-the-past.php

Hannah Hoech

2007-09-07T01:49:00.000-07:00

Photomontage in the german Dada movement in the twenties...