News ( with Misti )

Presently there are fourteen different species of the Pixelateron flying loose on the Adirondack plains. The NCHD (Northeastern Coalition for Heron De-pixelation) recently announced a ten dollar ($10.00 USD) reward for all herons sharpened.


Fifteen bear cubs filed for divorce from their parents last week after the courts found the parents guilty of neglect. The decision came after the cubs complained that they had been forced to steal from innocent humans at Yosemite park. Prosecutors charged that the parent bears had been using their cubs to carry out their dirty work for them.

© James Michael Starr
via strange form of life

A related side note:

Eldon Garnet

© Eldon Garnet

There is a lot of collage on the (collage) blog Strange Form of Life.
(Collage blog.)

Ian Van Coller

From artist's statement: "The institution of domestic service, so ingrained in South African culture, is a complex arena of interaction that brings individuals together who would otherwise stand on opposite sides of an enormous gulf in ethnicity, culture, education and poverty into an intensely intimate, personal and sometimes awkward interdependence." (Additional statement here.)

Interior Relations is Ian Van Coller's portrait series of South Africa's domestic workers. The portraits are taken in the domestic setting, where cultural identity is typically left behind. The photographer asked them to wear their preferred clothing, giving them a cultural voice in the very place where identity is restricted for them daily.

Rebecca Horne's images have a voyeuristic quality that I really enjoy. Reading her statement confirmed my feelings about her use of household objects to symbolically represent intimate relationships; not remnants of an intimate encounter between humans, but the objects themselves becoming medium to emotional tensions. The images that really grab me are the ones that let the viewer bear witness to something that feels slightly inappropriate. The one with a slice of bread under a table makes me feel guilty, an ordinary event turned into a peep show of sorts.

Alex MacLean's aerial photographs portray a history of human intervention with the landscape, the interaction of natural and constructed environments. One of the first things that comes to mind when I look at his images is the extent to which we have shaped our environment, and the effects of growing industries and population. There are many images on his site that are elegant studies from this unique perspective, showing us that human activities can seem harmless and stunning from above and even symbols of our destructive industrial past can be made beautiful by a skilled artist.

Frisell, Keaton

Another Gugenheim recipitant, Fredrik Marsh, from the "The Dresden Project: Chapter IV / Color Interiors (2006)".

Greg Miller is one of seven photographers recently awarded a Gugenheim, and some of his new work from "Nashville" is up on his site.

Jeff Brouws

Jeff Brouw's body of work forms a meditation on the changing American landscape. His views of America transition chronologically from quirky and nostalgic typologies (freshly painted houses, road-side '40's and '50's signage) to images with the ability to induce a more critical view on contemporary iconography (strip malls, fast food). His most recent work, The Discarded Landscape, contains lots of nice post-industrial scenery.

Dave Jordano

I just found out about Dave Jordano. His documentary project, "Articles of Faith", is a mixture of portraits and environment photos made in African-American storefront churches. An interview with Dave Jordano about himself and the project can be found here. Be sure to check out the series "Prairyland" as well.

Bruce Davidson

"...the subway could be excruciatingly beautiful. It could be the sexiest environment I’ve ever been in; we can’t go into details but the subway can really be sexy. At that time, about 1980, the trains were running poorly. They were very unsafe, there were a lot of muggers, there was graffiti written all over the place. I think the city was in default at that time, also. It was a chaotic, neurotic, pathetic time."

Davidson was eventually mugged while making this series riding the subway with all his equipment throughout the night. He describes the graffiti surrounding many of his subjects as "the hieroglyphics of anxiety, of anger, of frustration." Check out the entire series, it's very intense.