kayl parker

hellen van meene’s beautiful and unapologetically tableau photographs explore the ephemeral and fragility of youth, as well as the awkwardness that accompanies it. through each portrait, the viewer is given an entire history of narrative qualities with which they are allowed to fashion their own meanings and stories. in each photograph, van meene succeeds in condensing an entire character within a single moment while also allowing an adjusted amount of ambiguity to subtly draw away from cognitive ultimatums. they contain eerie and funereal connotations that keep them from falling into a strict photographic category, such as portraiture, instead encouraging the viewer to contemplate one image as opposed to fitting this image into a stereotypical role.

some work from ryan kellman

untitled #1, archival pigment print, 16x20”

this is a sampling of my final for both my reverse photo and black and white classes. it originated from the earlier work i did last semester, as well as drawing ideas from the gouache paintings of my family portraits. as of now, the series is still not finished; i feel as if it is a wonderful start, but i am excited to see where this body of work takes me. yesterday, i mailed a submission to the philadelphia photo arts center for their upcoming exhibition for new artists. the first five photos (in this order) were submitted for consideration. scroll down for artist’s statement. at the moment, each of the five exist as an edition of five and are selling at $200 a piece.

untitled #2 (real woman), archival silver gelatin print, 11x14”

untitled #3, archival pigment print, 16x20”

untitled #4, archival pigment print, 16x20

HOW DO WE MAP MEMORY, A THING THAT IS ALWAYS INEVITABLY OBSCURED? HOW DO WE CLASSIFY WHICH IMAGES ARE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO STORE AS MEMORIES? HOW SO WE TREAT MEMORIES THAT ARE OURS COMPARED TO HOW WE TREAT THOSE THAT BELONG(ED) TO OTHERS? HOW DO WE PERCEIVE THEM? OR HOW DOES OUR PERCEPTION CHANGE WITH TIME? HOW DO THESE IMAGES EXIST AS OBJECTS?

I AM HIGHLY ATTRACTED TO THE IDEA OF SENTIMENTAL MEMORY AND THE STORIES IT HOLDS OF FAMILY, HOUSES AND THE IDEA OF HOME. THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY, I HAVE THE ABILITY TO FORM MEMORY INTO TEMPORARY TANGIBLE SCULPTURES AND DOCUMENT THEM. BY CREATING THESE PHOTOGRAPHS, I CREATE AN ARCHIVE, ONE LESS FLEETING THAN MEMORY ITSELF.

untitled #5, archival silver gelatin print, 11x14”

other photographs not included in final selection:

untitled #6, archival pigment print, 16x20”

untitled #7 (found), archival silver gelatin print, 11x14”

untitled #8 (disconnect), archival silver gelatin print, 11x14”

untitled #9 (let’s sleep on it), archival pigment print, 22x22”

kp

i am in love with ali bosworth’s body of work; the color palette, the content, the re-occurrences, the oddities.

everything about his work is mundane, all of it, which may be what makes these images so appealing. the color palette is cold as water but as warm as skin; the consistent tonal quality carried throughout his entire portfolio gives the viewer a sudden calm, as if they’ve stepped out of reality and in to this smooth pink world created for us by bosworth.

obviously, there are repeating subjects throughout his work, which sometimes overlap to create references and metaphysical nods towards images already viewed. the most apparent repeat is the young lady bosworth continuously photographs making us wonder who she is. what is their relationship? where is she going? is she real? perhaps not; perhaps she exists within the photograph for that singular moment captured. i like to go on believing this theory; the girl is too floored to exist outside the portraits. i feel the same way about some of his other imagery, that it shouldn’t exist in this world or reality, only in this body of work. the boarded up house, the painted cat, the exploding cave all seem too ephemeral to remain here for long. we would destroy these things as quickly as we could, but in bosworth’s photographs, they exist forever, in the surreal landscaped world he’s created for himself and his characters.

make fun of me all you want, but i’m retaking color photo next semester because jason lazarus is the professor. he’s famous. and sooooooooo good. (above: 10 matchbox cars, 7 packages of crayons, 10 shimmer pens, 24 band bracelets, 2 multi-colored big scratchpad notebooks, 24 oz tootsie roll, 1 lb. of pat’s beef jerky, 24x30”, archival inkjet print, 2010.)

above sigmund freud’s couch, 40x50”, archival inkjet print, 2008

blake frogging, 11x14”, archival inkjet print, 2006

untitled, 30x36”, archival inkjet print, 2006

kashmir and lindsey (easter), 11x14”, archival inkjet print, 2006

looking at the back of at ad reinhardt, 40x50”, archival pigment print, 2007

i coley brown may be the next ryan mcginley.

going back to the body of work i attempted through black and white, in which i tried to find sculptural accidents within chicago, my professor brought to mine richard wentworth (whose work i posted months and months ago). he is a sculptor who works with things within the urban environment whose definition changes when it is being used for a different purpose than intended. a cup is no longer a cup, it is a prop for the window. it’s function and purpose accidentally changes; wentworth finds these instances and records them through his shutter.

examples of my secondhand sculptures mentioned above: