Sametime 1:04

I think that because the Sametime 1:04 project is too directly inspired by it’s main influence, it’s overall concept is repetitive and it’s purpose is incoherent to me. Just because the time in which the photographs were collected is different doesn’t give the project enough significance in the conceptual differences. In my opinion, when projects are re-created or re-interpreted it is important for the difference between interpretations have conceptually different goals to achieve. There are plenty of different ways to have re-created the Sametime 7:15 idea into a new realm of observation. The photographs themselves are pure documentation, which I find personally boring because it’s too closely related to my own day to day life. I also find it annoyingly exhausting that the documentation is daily and the participants lives’ intertwine so connectively that the randomness of the documentation is dry. Basically, I feel it is a tedious project that may only be respected because of the dedication and not scrutinized for it’s lack of imagination.

First Friday 3/6

Although I was not able to attend the First Friday festivities, I visited a couple of galleries the previous day. The quirk gallery had a very interesting display of fashion cut out arms and legs that were arranged into various pieces of art. I preferred the larger paintings over the more sculptural pieces, although the model of all the legs in a sort of wiggly circle was very well constructed for using paper as a medium. At first when I viewed it I thought about how much more tedious it would have been to have cut out those legs in metal instead of paper. It could have been because there were fashion sketches involved, but the entire show felt like a sketch within itself. I feel like the concept could have produced something much more substantial. Individually I think each piece of artwork would be graphically interesting to stand on it’s own, but I really enjoyed the show in it’s collaborative entirety.

Amy Stein Lecture

I attended the Amy Stein Lecture and felt a mixture of feelings towards the artwork she had to present. First, I have to admit was a little baffled at the way she decided to be a photographer and I feel as though her artwork would be more defined if she had been active in the arts in her developing ages. In general, I found her imagery and compositions to be wonky in a sense, also that they rely heavily on an explanation for the concept to be understood. This sort of "documentary" photography is hard to stand alone and conceptually without the stories behind the photographs, I haven't decided whether or not this is a good thing, but it certainly makes photography more complicated when you have to listen to a story for each photograph. Her domesticated series was the most interesting to me because I enjoyed the compositions and sort of estranged characterizations between humans and animals. I could relate to her astonishment of wild animals in small towns because I traveled from the Washington D.C. area to Vermont a lot as a child, and the small town experience in Vermont is quite similar to her experiences.
Stein's Stranded series wasn't my particular favorite, although I respect her dedication to the project and all the hard work she put into it, I feel as though the experience is more to talk about than the photographs themselves.