Issue 1
3 Ideas for the Creative Mind
1.
One should never underestimate the value of a library card. You will be astonished how much you can learn by spending an evening in the company of great photographers or artists who are pushing today’s boundaries. My (current) favourite photo books are:
- Uncommon Places by
- Stephen Shore
- Scrapbook by Henri
- Cartier Bresson
- Record by Daido
- Moriyama
- Diane Arbus by Aperture
- Edgar Degas by Bernd Growe
- The Negative by Ansel Adams
- Deus Ex Machina by Ralph Gibson
- The Art Spirit by Robert Henri
- The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum
2.
Building a body of work takes time. The content for Stephen Shore’s ‘Uncommon Places’ was shot between 1973 and 1979. He took more than a year to refine his process. In 1974 he switched from 35mm to a plate camera: first a 4×5 and then an 8×10 view camera. This happened after a conversation with John Szarkowski, the photography curator of the New York Museum of Modern Art, who asked how the viewfinder of the Rollei 35 worked.
Each change affected his work resulting in images that were less snapshots and more detailed. Eventually Shore’s skill grew to the point where he was able to depict movement through time and space.
3.
The cost of distractions compound over time and can cripple an artist’s output. Susan Sontag was a prolific essay writer because she felt called upon to improve the world. And she did. Whilst the clarity of her essays impacted the thinking of a generation, writing them took precious time away from writing the creative fiction she loved.
One or two Quotes
1.
I’m interested in conventions. Why are there certain conventions? What happens if you don’t follow a certain convention? Sometimes my reactions are not a radical departure, but a reactionary departure. So if everyone is doing colour I think there’s nothing wrong with black and white, you know?
2.
"... as she grew sicker, she spoke with leaden sadness of time wasted," taken from the Forward to Susan Sontag's 'At the Same Time'.
In the Spotlight
Untitled, 1985 by Maria Bartuszová.
Maria was Eastern European sculptor whose delicate plaster sculptures explored the relationship between people, nature, matter and form. She is known for her innovative casting methods using balloons and sheets that allowed her to cast natural and human shaped forms. She continually developed her process during her thirty-year career until she was able to layer these shells inside one another producing delicate sculptures such as this ‘Nest’ like structure.
(Apologies for the shadows in this image. There was no way the Tate would allow me to use a fill light!)
That’s it – thanks for reading! As always, please feel free to hit reply and exchange your thoughts or to just say “hi”.
Johan du Preez
Photographer