It's hard to find a review of a prominent photographer that doesn't include "and the artists depiction of early dutch rennaissance painters is very well presented by his/her use of the lighting and colors reflective of..." blah blah blah. I didn't think anyone could make a name for himself/herself without this line of tripe inserted into their artist statement or bio.
The one artist that really inspired me to keep on keepin' on was Mike Brodie (aka The Polaroid Kid). No formal training, just an sx-70 and a bunch of stolen (yes, stolen) time zero film, and leaving the nest at 18 to train hop with friends around the country. No ambition of making the "big leagues" of photography and I wonder if he ever even thought about photography more than just documented his travels?
His level of straightforwardness is great as evidenced in this outtake of comments on a blog about his work where he (the artist himself) chimed in to argue his case to a non-fan of his work. How do you think the art world felt about that? But Brodie doesn't give a shit and that's fucking great! (pardon the language, but I assume most of my readers are over 15 years of age)...
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For some reason.....This annoys me and kind of makes me angry. Im not sure how to sort it out yet. Maybe......it's because all of this is self imposed. Like self imposed "look at me and how rough I have it." Maybe not. Maybe its anger at the way things are in this country that makes people have to go find some life like this just to feel like they have a war of their very own. I'm not really "trying" to pass judgement, it's just something that seems strange to me. Someone who actually grew up in poverty and busted ass to get out of that. Great Photos.
-The Hyena
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HYENA
I feel what yer saying - it obviously comes from your gut. Since im not the most educated person its kind of a way i deal with shit, from the gut. But given the context that these photos are presented in theres ALOT of room for misconceptions to be made. Notice not ones have i ever metnioned poverty, the poor, hobos, bums, struggle, etc. those are in the comments. Art is wierd that way, think of music, half of the songs i hear i cant even understand the lyrics to and when i can i dont even get them usually, i just apply them to my own life as i see fit, i make shit up. I guess some types of photography have less room for that kind of interpretation, especially when its photos of a culture thats percieved as "sacred" or something. People think of freight trains and they want to think of the depressions years, but fact is- it went on and on and on, train riding that is. None of my friends ride trains because they cant afford a plane ticket, they just like the way Mt. Shasta looks at 7am with the cold air blowing against their face, or shitting in the woods, or eating out of cans. I think its just the stares that giving people the ideas of destitution. So yeah, truth is, this is ALL very strange.
brodiebike
3 comments:
theres one thing i find odd about the "oh fuck it " attitude.its win win,
if hes not making it, well ,he can talk shit about how he doesnt care,because he doesnt have anything to lose,
and once he "arrives" he can talk about how he doesnt care, because he's already there.
it might not be so in this particular case, but, im sure you see what i mean..
if he talked about how he was going to be famous, and never arrived, well then.....
never trust a guy that says he doesnt care about "making it"
i still blame the media
oh yeah i forgot to say...
that shit is dope
you ever try to use that sx 70
hard times
Sir Knuckles.
I know what you're saying and I've sent an email to Mr. Brodie in hopes of asking him a few questions that I will share with all of you if I can get a hold of him.
oh, and I never got to use an sx-70, but I remember my dad used to do a lot of editorial shoots using one for food photography. He loved to manipulate that emulsion that only can be done with time zero film.
check out a few of those shots here
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