This N' That: Keep Up With The Know In Photography News
By Ashley Yu
Image courtesy of Pace Gallery
Legendary Artist Robert Ryman Dies at Age 88
Renown for his white-on-white canvases, Robert Ryman passed away at the age of 88 in New York on February 8, 2019. No cause has yet to be released of his death. He is survived by three sons.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Ryman studied at the Tennessee Polytechnic Institute and at the George Peabody College for Teachers. He also enlisted to be in the army reserve corps during the Korean War. He arrived in New York to kickstart his career as a jazz musician in 1953.
Ryman’s artistic legacy began after working as a security guard for the Museum of Modern Art. Though he is a self-proclaimed ‘realist’, many refer to him as a ‘minimalist’ that challenged the limitations of abstract-expressionist painting, experimenting more with textures and varied compositional techniques. He later shaped the idea of conceptual art and many future elements of the Post-Minimalist era.
It was Ryman who famously stated that “there is never any question of what to paint only how to paint.” He was inspired by many 20th-century abstract artists, including Mark Rothko, Barnett Newmann, and Piet Mondrian. In 1972, Ryman held his first exhibition at the Guggenheim and would later hold over 100 international solo exhibitions during his lifetime. You can look at some of his works at MoMa.
© Joseph Akel
Havana Biennial to Protest Censorial Laws in Cuba
A group of influential Cuban artists has issued a letter regarding the upcoming Havana Biennial, protesting the censorial Decree 349, that essentially restricts artistic freedom of expression in the country. In their statement, many artists, such as Tania Bruguera and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, protest that “this law has criminalized independent artistic activity” and thus, subjecting the artistic community to unreasonable and unexplained mistreatment.
In April 2018, the newly-stated President Díaz-Canel mandated Decree 349: a law that prohibited all artists from performing publicly or privately without the approval of the Ministry of Culture. Under this new restriction, authorities have the power to enforce arbitrary sanctions and detainments, particularly in artworks that are too vulgar, politically inflammatory, and opposes “the normal development of [Cuban] society” (Article 3g).
The 13th Havana Biennial has already been postponed indefinitely twice in the past 3 years. The same organizers of this protest that attempted to create an alternative, known as #00 Biennial, were defamed as “distorting Cuba’s cultural policy” by the government. Such vilification of the Cuban art scene only serves to empower these artists to make art an unstoppable force of change. Read more about the Biennial here.
Liu Zheng (Chinese, born 1969), Nightclub Dancers, Beijing, printed 2006. Gelatin silver print, image: 14 3/4 x 14 3/4 inches. Collection of Lois and Dr. Barry Ramer © Liu Zheng
International Street Photography Exhibition Opens in Sacramento
Having had its opening yesterday, The Roaming Eye: International Street Photography from the Ramer Collection at the Crocker Art Museum will be displaying an immense collection of stunning street photography by at least 40 artists until May 12, 2019. From Thomas Annan’s pebbled streets of Scotland to Liu Zheng’s club girls in Beijing, the collection celebrates the phenomenon of photography as it enraptured the art world, as well as the charm of photographing the subjects in public spaces.
Most of the photographs are monochromatic, yet no less spectacular in their candid depictions of human beings on streets, in parks, concerts, beaches--places where we gather at ease in our natural element. Some photographs rejoice in our shared humanity, like kids in New York sprinting around a sprinkling fire-hydrant. Others are quietly subversive, as in Bodine’s photo of an old man hiding behind the American flag.
As an exploration of shared and unshared humanity, The Roaming Eye examines how our private lives seep into public spaces, captured surreptitiously by the photographer’s shrewd eye. Learn more about the exhibition here.
Image courtesy of Canon
New Canon EOS RP Leaked
Take a sneak peek at the second full-frame mirrorless camera--the new Canon EOS RP that features a DIGIC 8 image processor, a flip-out LCD and electronic viewfinder, as well as a 26.2 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor. Though Canon is not rejoicing at this information leak, this new model boasts an ISO range of 100 to 400,000 and the ability to capture 5 frames per second.
Not too savvy about camera lingo? Not to worry. All you need to know is that the camera is supposed to be lighter in your hands and on your wallet. The new camera is now available via Canon.
Image courtesy of i-D UK
Oscars Academy Awards Disses with Ad Breaks
For the first time in cinematic history, the phrase “...and the Oscar for Best Cinematography goes to…” will be left behind the scenes. The awards for Best Editing, Cinematography, Makeup/Hair, and Live Action Short will be announced during commercial breaks for the many of us bearing witness to the iconic awards show through a TV or laptop screen.
Unsurprisingly, the film industry, backed by the likes of Spike Lee and Guillermo Del Toro, has lashed out in fury against the Academy’s swift and unforeseen dismissal of such crucial contributions to the art of film-making. Though behind-the-scenes ways of productions have made leaps and bounds with technology, this should not mean an outright disregard for the hours, weeks, and months of labor. Look at the makeup of Oscar-nominated The Favourite, or the editing behind BlacKkKlansman. Many are seeing this decision as an ominous sign for the film industry.
Balenciaga Releases Summer ‘19 Campaign Looking Like the Matrix
Created by digital artist Jon Rafman in collaboration with Balenciaga, the new campaign video for Summer ‘19 is a 2-minute amalgamation of aesthetics from The Matrix and high fashion. As an extension of their equally surreal and cybermatic runway show in Paris, the creative director Demna Gvasalia described their latest collection as “neo-tailoring, a new glamour for a new generation that haven’t grown up with it.”
Ironically reminiscent of low-budget sci-fi movies of eons past, the video features a roller-skating model in black blazer dresses leaving a blazing trail of CGI fire, another woman in a tailored trench coat being kidnapped via a neon green portal, and a fight between incredibly fashionable men shooting red laser-beams out of their hands in front of a green screen. The campaign is Balenciaga’s unique and amusing adaptation of The Matrix to advertise the return of the 90s aesthetic that we all know and love.
