Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky is a highly respected photography who has had exhibits in over 50 museums.  His work focuses on large format industrial landscape photographs.  His early image of industry came from the General Motors Plant where his father worked in his hometown of Ontario, Canada.  His images depict the relationship between industry and nature.  He uses elements of mining, quarrying, manufacturing, shipping, oil production, demolition and recycling in his art.  His photos are extremely detailed and are a cross between fine art and commercial photography. 

The subjects of his photo are very unusual.  He takes objects or sites that are not considered normally beautiful and makes them into extraordinary art.  The sites are common objects that contribute to our daily lives but things we would rather hide away for plain view such as a quarrying, refineries and recycling yards.  He gives these objects new meaning by turning them from unpleasant to stunning images. 

His photographs show the dependence on humans in their quest for a good life on nature.  However through the photos we can see how we are destroying the one thing we are most dependent on.  His works include portfolios on mines, quarries, ship, oil, China, Australia and water.  My favorite of these is Mine and Water.  The water portfolio has a sub-section on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. 

In 2006, a documentary film, Manufactured Landscapes, was made about Edward Burtynsky.  It featured his photographs of landscapes that were affected by human intervention. 

Oil Spill #13,
Mississippi Delta, Gulf of Mexico, June 24, 2010

Oil Spill #2,
Discoverer Enterprise, Gulf of Mexico, May 11, 2010

Mines #15
Inco Tailings Pond, Sudbury, Ontario 1985

Mines #17
Lornex Open Pit Copper Mine. Highland Valley, British Columbia 1985

“Burtynsky calls his images ‘a second look at the scale of what we call progress,’ and hopes that [they] acquaint viewers with the ramifications of our lifestyle.” -Washington Post

http://www.edwardburtynsky.com

Archiving, Saving

In New York, Beside Itself, by Johanna Burton, she discusses the attempts to capture the past, present and future through works of several artists.  I believe to understand this particular reading, it is clearer to start at the end.  Burton tells of a conversation she had with Sharon Hayes.  In the discussion, they discussed Jean-Luc Nancy’s distinction between “common being” and “being-in-common”.  Common being is desire to be an organized whole or entity.  Nancy states this is impossible to achieve.  However, she believes that individuals in a common being or body can shared the feeling of being-in-common.  It does not require the whole common being to be in agreement with one common idea but rather individuals coming together to share their bond of being uncommon.  Sound confusing?  It makes a lot of sense when you think about it.  We tend to group together with people who we have a common idea that is uncommon to others.  For example:  I follow the group, STS9.  They are not a well-known group as for as mainstay music is considered however their followers are extremely loyal and share a common love for their music.  So while STS9 is uncommon to the average music listener, they have a group of followers are in common with each other. 

Similar to the contrast of common being and being-in-common, Johanna Burton discusses the term, “being with.”  Andrea Geyer’s Interim (2002) follows her as she navigates through New York City.  It demonstrates the feeling of being isolated while being “with” public space.   Burton then discusses Sedgwick’s beside.  Try picturing a city with its past, present and future beside each other.  Sedgwick recounts her experience of walking through New York City after September 11, 2001.  She explains how she cannot stop herself from looking over her shoulder to see if she sees the World Trade Center Towers.  You can almost imagine her closing her eyes and openings them to see if they will reappear.  She is viewing the present but hoping for the past.  As Sigmund Freud states in Civilization and Its Discontents, nothing “in mental life…which has once been formed can perish.”  Sedgwick refers to New York City as an “old friend.”  This brings us to Burton’s thought of cities being living objects.  In Elizabeth Grosz’s “Bodies-Cities”, she discusses the relationship between bodies and cities and how the two move together and apart in their daily interactions. 

In Joan Jonas’s 1972 performance, Delay Delay, a woman stares on a scene in Manhattan directing the viewer to see what she sees.  Burton states how Jonas’ work stood as her reference of New York City.  In this, we see how little difference there is in our mind of an actual experience or implied experience based on an image.  As artist’s we study other artist’s work and use their techniques and images to help us create our original art.  Our experiences are often based on other’s experiences. 

As we have seen with several other works, Emily Roysdon’s work at Christopher Street piers, Talk Is Territorial, and her Untitled work on David Wojnarowicz seeks to claim the past.  There is a direct correlation between her work and Wojnarowicz’s work on Arthur Rimbaud.  In our attempts to connect with the past, does the past become part of us or do we become part of the past?  As Burton points out not all artists have firsthand experience of history.  However, our need to understand the present and the future often starts with the past. 

Emily Roysdon / David Wojnarowicz

 Emily Roysdon / David Wojnarowicz

David Wojnarowicz / Arthur Rimbaud

David Wojnarowicz / Arthur Rimbaud

 
Sharon Hayes’, In the Near Future, brings us back to being a common being or being-in-common.  Hayes took to nine locations in New York City with signs with various signs such as “I Am A Man” and “Nothing Will Be as Before.”  Although Hayes stands as a lone demonstrator in these images which makes her uncommon on the streets, the messages are common to the community. 

As always, I try to relate the reading to me personally.  In doing so, I thought about my mother’s parents.  They died long before I was born however I have a special connection with my grandfather.  I have been often told that I look like him and have many of his mannerisms and likes/dislikes.  I carry a symbol of him with my always.  I do not understand the connection however I know it exists.  As John Searle states “I know it, but I don’t know how” and I do not feel puzzled but reassured by this behavior. 

China’s Global Megalopolises

Videos:

BBC News - June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre

Tiananmen Square Mini Documentary

China's Ghost Cities and Malls

In the Tiananmen Square videos, we are shown the events of June 4-5, 1989.    The BBC News reports from Tiananmen Square as the People's Liberation Army moved into the streets of Beijing with armed troops and tanks.  They were under orders to clear the Square by any means necessary.  Unfortunately in this incident, they choose to open fire on students, innocent bystanders, and basically anything that moved.  The video shows the panic and shock for the people who had gathered for a peaceful, non-violent protest seeking political and economic reform.  Despite their cries for the Army to stop the killings and allow help to the wounded, the Army continued to fire upon the people of their own country.  The mini documentary by Anthony Thomas, reports on the aftermath of the massacre.  From his hotel room balcony above Tiananmen Square, he captures the celebratory dance of the Army’s tanks.  A man, later to be known as “tank man” singly stands unarmed before the lead tank in defiance of their actions.  He does not move despite the slow movement towards him.  Eventually he climbs the tank and speaks to the tank operator.  The lead tank’s motor is turned off.  This is followed by the shutting down of the remaining tanks.  We do not see what happens to “tank man” however in some research I found he was pulled off the street by a group of people.  It is unclear if the people are from the government or fellow supporters.  However, it is believed he was captured and executed in the days following his stand. 

In the documentary, Thomas states that Tiananmen Square is the largest public space in the world.  It has large-scale government buildings at its edges.  The elements of the Square show the insignificance of the individual against the “mights” of the State.  I believe there is a parallel to this statement in the actions of the Tank Man.  Through his actions, he is showing the strong will of the individual against the State.  He is the one who is significant in his actions. 


I found an article on 10 Revolutionary Acts of Courage by Ordinary People. The list includes:
1. Lt. Ehren Watada Refusing The Iraq War
2. The Unknown Rebel at the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests
3. Gandhi’s Salt March to Dandi
4. Rosa Parks’ Sit Down for Civil Rights
5. Aung San Suu Kyi and Freedom From Fear
6. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-In for Peace
7. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” Speech
8. Ahmad Batebi, Iran’s Happenstance Hero
9. Nelson Mandela’s Dedication To Justice
10. Thich Quang Duc’s Self-Immolation


http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/2008/09/15/10-revolutionary-acts-of-courage-by-ordinary-people/

 The final video was on China’s Ghost Cities and Malls.  Two signs of economic growth for a country are new construction and low unemployment.  In China, by constructing many high rise condo buildings and malls, the employment rate is 4.10% (4^th quarter 2010).  This is considerably lower than the United States at 9.20%.  However, these two factors as deceiving.  The new construction sites remain unoccupied and due to the high costs of real estate basically uninhabitable.  One scene showed a realtor showing a condo to a prospective buyer.  The condo cost was $300,000 but it required 50% down and the remainder to be paid within 3 years.  The upside of this is that there are no credit issues in China because the average citizens cannot purchase real estate on their $6,000 a year income.  Unless the government chooses to change its course, it will be impossible for a common worker in China to buy a home even though his home will be eventually demolished for new construction. 


Edward Burtynsky’s photographs shows depictions of global industrial landscapes including China.  The following three images are from his China – Urban Renewal work. In his statement about the photographs, he notes that the Chinese Government owns all the land in China. 

www.edwardburtynsky.com

Readings:
 Reversed Images: Representations of Shanghai and its Contemporary Material Culture, Made in China
Excerpts from Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents: pp. 205-8, 217-19

In Reversed Images: Representationsof Shanghai and its Contemporary Material Culture, focus is on the cultural and environmental transformation of Shanghai through three themes.  The first theme is based on the romance of the city.  Shi Guorul’s work includes large-scale panoramic camera obscura image of Shanghai’s past as well it move into the future. In Upside Down/Progressing, Xu Xixian photographed Shanghai in the 70s and 80s brining his son along for the shoots.  Twenty years later his son, Xu Jianrong, photographed the same locations to document their changes.  Together, father and son, were able to put together a before and after portrait of the city.  Works by Olivo Barbieri, Isidor Blasco, and Zhou Xishu are also included in this theme of Shanghai’s expansion and modernization.  The final theme is Glorifying the City which focuses on the present and the future of Shanghai.  Liu Gang’s Paper Dreams relates to the advertising to the new generation of Chinese.  In this work, the attention is on how this new need to keep up with your neighbor socially and materially is creating anxiety in the culture.  3-D was a format used by Cao Fel in Second Life.  In this work, participants are able to live out their dreams. 

The reading, Urban Destruction and Construction, starts with a description of Huang Yan’s work. He completed rubbings of building that were going to be demolished. He did this in three stages: before the building was demolished; during the process and finally after the building was demolished. Yan spent 10 years doing his work. The second work described is by Zhan Wang. He would clean and paint a remaining door frame or floor of a half demolished building. His work was photograph prior to the building being torn down completely later in the day. Rockery Remolding Plan by Wang, used stainless steel plates to create artificial mountains. Through the modernization of China, there was a need to still connect to nature. In Wang’s work he used stainless steel because of the nature of the metal. It does not rust. It reflects colors in the environment. Images are somewhat distorted in the reflection. He hoped this would inspire the viewer’s dreams and hopes. More importantly, stainless steel will not change even though it is in a constant environment of change.

The final piece was written by Chen Shaoxiong. In the piece, Shaoxiong explains the value of a photograph. It is a moment in time and has no relation to the past or the future. A single photograph captures on scene. You do not see what is to the left or the right of the image. In the work, Shaoxiong created a collage of images of the streets of Guanghou. By placing a series of photographs together, a complete picture will emerge. The problem was the streets constantly changed therefore the work could never be completed.

Performance & Intervention II

The Urban Event: Spectacle Resistance and Hegemony by Karen Jones starts with a comparison of the similarities between a potlatch and a riot.  The similarities are based on shared community interests.  A potlatch is a Native American practice where one tribal chief offers gifts in response to the offering of a gift from another tribal chief.   The process is considered a communal social exchange however it can escalate to the extent of property destruction.  On the other hand, a riot is also based on a common response to an action, policy or social event.  Similar to a potlatch, a riot can also escalate to property destruction and loss of lives.  The two sides of a riot are the common people and the Repressive State Apparatus (RSA).  The RSA consists of the government, army, police and any other federal or state appointed authority. 

Graffiti is a type of riot in an art form.  In the 70s and early 80s, the urban youth literally took to the streets, subways, and other public spaces to express their ideas on changes in their community.  They considered these areas as public space therefore open to their expressions.  The RSA had other ideas and tried to stop graffiti from spreading.  However as we know today, graffiti is still alive and well in our communities  Several of the graffiti artist became known through their tags such as Crash, Daze, Futura 2000, and Lady Pink.  Graffiti techniques and vocabulary lead to artists such as Jean-Michael Basquiat and Al Diaz. 

Daze, 1977

Futura

Banksy

Andy Warhol captured an image of the Birmingham Race Riot in 1964.  The image appeared in Life magazine.  The mass production of the mechanically produced image shows the clash between police, their attack dogs and the non-aggressive demonstrators.  Warhol accomplished several things with Birmingham Race Riot.  First the image reached the fine art culture and then through publishing it reached the common people.  And last it got the World to see firsthand the destruction and barbarity produced by the RSA. 

When you first imagine a riot, you see visions of disorder, screaming people with police in riot gear confronting them.  This is what the media and government would like us to think of when we hear riot.  However, Karen Jones describes a riot as an “uprising, event, rebellion, or revolutionary movement.”  I think this definition gives a riot meaning and honor.  It is standing up for your beliefs not standing against other’s beliefs.  A riot begins with a peaceful belief in a movement.  Very rarely is a riot the first stage of a demonstration.  It is only when the two conflicting sides lash out at each other that a riot ensues.  I have to wonder what is in for the government (police) to start an aggressive movement towards peaceful demonstrators.  Are they trying to silence the demonstrations?  Are they are trying to scare them?  Or are they simply trying to make the demonstrators appear to be the aggressors therefore have the spectators side with the police? 

One example of a police ensued riot is The Tompkins Square Riot on August 6, 1988 which began with about 100 people who oppose the 1a.m. curfew order to clear the homeless from public places.  The peaceful organized group was met with police aggression.  The police caused panic throughout the community. 

Several art installations address the issues of homelessness due to urban development.  Wodiczko’s New York City Tableaux: Tompkins Square depicts military equipment superimposed over photos of the homeless.  Cold Shoulders by David Hammons shows three ice blocks wrapped in overcoats.  The melting ice block refers to the freezing of the homeless in streets and parks. 

Two-Way Street by Lydia Yee discusses two approaches to street-based photography.  The first example is time exposure used by Eugene Atget.  The second is “a la savette” or on the run used by Henri Cartier-Bresson.  Yee states that these two types of photography, "the archive and the event remained distinct until the 1960s". Two exhibits at Museum of Modern Art in New York are New Documents (1967) and Information (1970). New Documents focused on three photographers, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry S Winogrand.  They were a new generation of photographers who wanted to be part of life not reform it.  Information included works from Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Bruce Nauman, Adrian Piper, Edward Ruscha and Robert Smithson. 

Yee writes about David Wojnarwicz who photographs various locations in New York City while wearing a mask of French poet, Arthur Rimbaud.  Wojnarwicz relates to Rimbaud’s rebellious nature.  Wojnarwicz states “I’ve always treated the camera as a journalistic devise but at the same time, for years and years I’ve taken pictures of things because they were psychologically loaded…photographs were like words in a sentence…what I try to do is to construct paragraphs out of the multiple images.” 

Finally Yee writes about Nikki S. Lee’s images.  Lee put herself in various scenes and photographed herself in them.  The street is important in her photographs.  These photographs are self-portraits as well documenting the culture surrounding Lee. 

As mentioned in last week’s blog, “our physical, mental and artistic world is always changing.”  The same came be said about the streets.  It provides an ever-changing canvas for art. 

Performance & Intervention I

The Powers of Removal: Interventions in the Name of the City, by Lytle Shaw, starts with Henry James’ return to Manhattan, the place of his childhood.  It reminds me of the saying “you can never go home again.”  As James realized things had changed since his childhood years in Manhattan.  He discovers even scared symbols as churches or his childhood home have not escaped the development of the City.  If these symbols are still present, they are small, insignificant next to the tall buildings surrounding them.  Is it the actual buildings that James is mourning or the feeling that came from the structures?  Perhaps as Shaw suggests, it is the passing of a familiar idea replaced by moving on and letting go.  One thing we know for sure is that things are constantly changing whether we want them to or not. 

How does art play into these changes?  In James Nares’, Pendulum, he captures the constant changing swing of a wrecking ball.  The sequences vary so that the viewer is entranced in the motion allowing them to forget the true purpose wrecking ball.  The change of the wrecking ball’s swing reflects the change in the development of the City.  Pendulum is art imitating life. 

William Cullen Bryant’s “The Prairies”, makes us realize how long the struggle over change has taken place in our country.  Written in 1832, the poem, tells of the Native American’s struggle to overcome changes from American Settlers.  Matthew Buckingham also reflects on this in his film, Muhheakantuck-Everything Has a Name.   Buckingham shoots footage of the Hudson River from a helicopter.  The title of the film comes from the original name of the river, Muhheakntuck, which means river that flows in two directions.  Buckingham touches on how the past shapes the future.  Manhattan, a great present day city on the Hudson was initially explored in 1609 by Henry Hudson.  He states how “the significance of past events appears in the ordinary moments and people.” 

Where stood their swarming cities. All is gone --
All -- save the piles of earth that hold their bones --
The platforms where they worshipped unknown gods --
The barriers which they builded from the soil

From “The Prairies” by William Cullen Bryant

(Illustration for "The Prairies" from Poems, 1876 edition)

Jimbo Blachy’s About 86 Springs, documents the current conditions of the path of James Reuel Smith followed almost 100 years ago.  However the two paths are extremely different.  Blachy encounters fast food restaurants, fenced offed courtyards, office buildings and sewage drains where once was rich wooden areas with clear streams. 

Our physical landscape is constantly changing.  Our mental landscape keeps the history of our environment intact.  Modernization will continue for generations and generations.  Things we take for granted today will someday be obsolete and dispose of by future generations. 

In the reading, Shifting Ground: Street Art of the 1960’s and 70’s, Frazer Ward discusses the protest culture of the 1960s and 1970s.  This is an era marked by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, Women and Gay Rights Movement.  These protest often played out in the streets.  Art was a very important vehicle in the protest culture.  Artists such as Jacques de la Village and Claus Oldenburg used elements from the streets to create their art.  Fluxus performance art such as Street Cleaning Event and Touch Cinema literally used the street as a stage.  . Yoko Ono’s Rape and Vito Acconci’s Following used the street as a character in their respective films.  Instead of using a studio or a film stage, they created their art on the street and the street became part of the final result. 

Photograph of Hi Red Center performing their Street Cleaning Event,
taken June, 1966 at Grand Army Plaza (58th Street and 5th Avenue), New York City.

Photograph of Hi Red Center performing their Street Cleaning Event,
taken June, 1966 at Grand Army Plaza (58th Street and 5th Avenue), New York City.

The two readings tie together in the fact that our physical, mental and artistic world is always changing.  We can choose to be part of the change or not.  We can choose to create our art in spite of the changes or we can choose to have our art be a part of the changes.  Neither is a wrong decision, just a personal decision. 

Example of how change is constant in all cultures 

Some Native American groups are protesting the development of sacred

 land for solar energy projects.

Chicago In The 60’s & 70’s.

There are two main themes in this week’s readings and film viewing.  First is the political climate in Chicago during the 60s and 70s.  Second, is the development and destruction of the Chicago landscape during the same time. 

Dominic Pacyga’s biography of Chicago gives a history of Richard J. Daley Sr.’s rule over Chicago.  His desire for power and recognition resulted in both tragedy and triumph for Chicago.  Chicago had not seen much growth since the Great Depression.  One of Daley’s first accomplishments was building the Prudential Building in the 1955.  This mark a new reform in downtown Chicago.  Over 7,000 people held jobs in the building.  It was a major attraction for people visiting the loop.  Next on Daley’s agenda was public housing and expressways.  Daley along with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), developed housing in three stages.  The stages included 3-4 story walk-ups and two-story row-house projects, townhouses for war veterans and finally high-rise public housing.  Access to the city was a high priority for Daley.  Automobiles had become the main source of transportation.  The Congress Expressway was construction to provide easy access from the north side of the City to the south side.  Congress Expressway was followed by the Dan Ryan and the Kennedy Expressways. 

Jacob Burck’s carton on June 23, 1960, in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Daley Sr. was a powerful figure in the Democratic Party.  He was considered highly influential in getting John F. Kennedy elected as the 35^th President of the United States in 1960.  However, back in Chicago, his influence was being questioned by African American leaders.  After his 1963 re-election, Daley experience clashes between his white and black supporters.  School integration was a major source of concern for both sides.  Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago in 1966 in hopes of bringing attention of the Civil Rights Movement to the North.  Unfortunately, Daley needed support from both white and black supporters and did not want to side with one or the other.  Daley’s lack of commitment did not help the Civil Rights Movement or King.  King left Chicago without the success he needed to move forward in Chicago.  Daley only alienated both sides of his supporters by not taking a stand for either side.  As for King, he was tragically shot by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.  Riots broke out across the country including Chicago’s West Side.  Daley’s mishandling of the riots marked one of the worse mistakes of his life.  While white supporters backed him, he completely lost credibility with his African American supporters. 

Recognizing the need for positive attention to Chicago (and himself), Daley convinced President Johnson and the Democratic Party to hold the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.  Unfortunately for Daley and Chicago, the attention that was given to the City was not the one desired.  The nation was in a crisis.  The assignations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. along with the Vietnam War created strong feelings of dissatisfaction with the US Government.  Protestors set out to use the 1968 Democratic Convention as a way to have their voices heard.  The first confrontation between protestors and the police came on August 25^th in Lincoln Park.  The next day the confrontation became more violent when the 2 groups meet again in Grant Park.  The unusual police force against the protestors was televised for the world to see by networks there to cover the convention.  Daley’s and Chicago’s reputation again was tarnished.  In 1972, Daley was not allowed into the Democratic Convention.  His status and power had taken a serious beating. 

“The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder.”
Richard J. Daley after the 1968 Democratic Convention. 

He often confused words when he spoke.

The 1968 Democratic Convention is the backdrop for the film Medium Cool.  The film is part fiction and documentary.  The main theme of the film is whether the media is there to become part of the news or just to document it.  I am taking an Ethnographic Film class this semester and this same topic comes up repeatedly.  In documentary films, the question that is always asked is “whether the art of the film or the facts recorded  are the most important aspects of the film’s final cut?”  While, Medium Cool, is a fictional movie, the main character, cameraman Joe Cassellis, struggles with simply reporting news or injecting himself in his stories.  Cassellis appears unaffected by his stories until he realizes the TV station he works for is using his footage to assist the FBI.  It is then he realizes his footage serves a role greater than reporting a story.  He does not like the fact that he has been used by the TV station.  It is at this point, that he meets a woman and her son who have moved from West Virginia to Chicago.  The three of them grow close especially the boy, Harold and Cassellis.  Harold  wonders off to Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention.  While his mother frantically looks for him she is caught in the crowds and the police.  At the end of the film, she meets up with Cassellis and they start driving to find Harold.  In a scene reflective of the first scene of the movie, Joe and Eileen are in a car accident.  A cameraman is close by but only captures the scene on film and does not call for help or stop to assist them.  The unrest in the City causes pain and loss of life.  The protestors and police both take a stand for what they believe is right but does either side take it too far?  Is this not unlike the riots we are seeing today in Libya and Egypt?  We have to stand up for what we believe but how and why the government reacts can cause more problems than the initial issues. 

 When viewing this film, I had to think about the scenes in Grant Park in 1968 and then in 2008 when President Obama spoke after being elected President. 

1968 Photo of Grant Park

2008 Photo of Grant Park

On a side note:  I kept thinking about how far we have come in technology.  I kept thinking how much a cell phone could have been used to help respond to the accident or in the search for Harold. 

The final reading was To Collect Photographs is to Collect the World, Chapter 6, which centers on Richard Nickel.  Nickel was a photographer who preserve Chicago’s architecture at a time when many buildings were being demolished for parking lots or new housing.  He believe that photography was a way of saving the buildings for future generations.  His main concentration was on architect Louis Sullivan.  He try to capture what the average pedestrian would not see.  The details of the building such as the sweep of a staircase, the marquee of a theater or the detail in the walls were captured in his photographs.  Nickel strongly opposed the demolished of the buildings.  He protested the destruction of what he saw as important history of Chicago.  However, his photographs are not harsh.   They treat the buildings like a family taking a photograph in a studio.  You can almost feel that Nickel had a friendship with some of the buildings.  He cared deeply for them. 

On June 8, 1960, Nickel organized a sidewalk protest in front of the Garrick.  (right) 
Richard Nickel Photograph inside the Garrick.  (left)

A lot has changed in Chicago since the 1960s, some things are better and some are worse. 

Los Angeles In The 60’s & 70’s.

Ed Ruscha’s art took on two aspects in the 60’s and 70’s.  First was his work in the early 60’s of large scale work such as Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights (5ft. 6 ¾ in X 11ft. 1 ¼ in.),  Actual Size (71 X 67 in.), and Flash, L.A. Times (72in X 67in.).  Another feature of Ruscha’s large scale work was the use of space on the canvas.  He addresses this as the   pictorial, the mental, and the actual space of works of art.  Ruscha moved to Los Angles in 1956 to study commercial art.  Influenced by Jasper John, Robert Rauschenberg, and Robert Frank, he began to paint his large scale paintings and focused on fine art instead of commercial art.  New Painting of Common Objects was his first show.  Ruscha referred to these large scale paintings as characters.  He kept the canvases at a size that he could easily move them, which he did often.  The canvases become companions to him in his studio.  These pieces would encourage viewing from two different points: one close up and the other at a distance.  It seems as if the viewer reference to the painting is as important to the actual art to Ruscha.  He did not want the viewer to look at his paintings and just walk away.  He wanted them to study it.  He wanted them to see the dimensions of it outside of being on a flat canvas.  On the painting, Flash, L.A. Times, the newspaper is upside down to the word flash on the top.  The newspaper itself is drawn with layers w itha written comic strip.  The viewer would need to turn their head upside down to view the bottom portion of the painting.  In Actual Size, the viewer must get up close to see the detail in the can of Spam.  His large scale work uses both small detail as well as large text. 

The second aspect of Ed Ruscha’s work was mass produced photography books.  From 1963 to 1978, he produced 16 artist's books.  He stated that the books are “the toughest part of my art.”  These books include Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1965), A Few Palm Trees (1971), and Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles (1967).  Ruscha was not interested in creating fine art books but he wanted a mass-produced photography book.  He viewed this as a piece of art itself.  The books illustrated the urban landscape of Southern California.  Twentysix Gasoline Stations, published in 1962, was the model for most of his subsequent books. It contains black and white photographs of gasoline stations in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and  Texas.  Every Building on the Sunset Strip is Ruscha’s most famous book.  It is an accordion-fold book that is 25 feet in length.  It contains photographs of buildings from Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Cory Avenue.  The viewpoint is from a car driving along the street.  I did some research on the current day value of Ruscha’s books.  A signed first edition of Twentysix Gasoline Stations was recently auctioned for $35,000.  A first edition, unsigned copy of Every Building on the Sunset Strip is valued at $7,500.

http://www.manhattanrarebooks-art.com/ruscha.htm

The significance of the car culture in 60’s and 70’s influenced artists such as Ed Ruscha, Judy Chicago and Edward Kienholz.  Whether painting on a car, taking photographs of cars or taking them from inside cars looking out, the art of the time reflected a bond with the car.   This bond resulted in exploration of the urban landscape of Los Angeles. As the city rapidly changed, the opportunity to photograph a time or place in a moment became a real mission for artist of the time.  Ruscha’s books captured the city from the driver’s seat.  While capturing the perfections of the commercial landscape, Ruscha also captures the imperfections.  Both are then frozen in time.

Taking photographs from my car has always interested me.  I have never really thought of this technique being a part of the history of photography.