Silk

BATS

I drew some bats:

Malick Sidibe

I just recently discovered this Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, and am particularly inspired by his photographs of people and their bikes. I thought some of his work looked familiar and I realized that he recently did this photoshoot for the New York Times. I adore the styling in the shoot. You can see more of his work here.

Icecream

James Turrell at PS1

James Turrell at PS1 from Elizabeth Fodde on Vimeo.

Every single time that I have been to PS1 I either go too early or too late to see the Turrell room. Last month I was finally fortunate to be there at the right time and the right season to view the room. I realize that art historians are not supposed to talk about how the art makes them feel, instead we talk about metaphors, analysis, contextualization, formalism, theories. Even when art historians try to talk about emotions, it's hidden behind theories of the sublime. We're supposed to remain objective so that you can take what we say with seriousness. Well you know what? I'm not an art historian with a PhD, so I'm just going to come out and say it: The Turrell room moved me.

The work consists of a square room with benches around the perimeter, and a square opening in the ceiling. The light that day made the work feel at once two dimensional and also very real. The video that I took does not really capture it very well. His works have to do with illusionism, light, and opticality. It is simultaneously about the beauty of nature and controlling and manipulating nature. The installations make you aware of the act of looking, and aware of spatial manipulation. People around me were chatting, but at one point things became subdued and hushed.

If you are interested, read this interview with Turrell, where he talks about his views on light, art, and also, his way of life.

David Bowie Mugshot

Not sure if this is a true story or not but this was taken in Rochester, New York 1976 after an arrest for possession of marijuana. I think he was arrested with Iggy Pop too. Love that photo.

Hole-On Ex Pin Hole Camera Review

My sister got me this pin hole camera kit as a belated birthday gift because she knows how much I love putting things together. Plus it looks cute! It's a pinhole shaped like a camera! It came in all these separate parts and you had to glue it together. The instructions said it would take two hours to put it together--it took me four. The instructions sucked so I had to use common sense to fit it together. In fact, they were so bad that one piece was not even in the instructions! WHERE DOES IT GO? I don't know so I left it out.



Aside from the missing piece, there was one fatal flaw to this product. Pinholes don't have mechanical shutters that open and close, hence the need for a cap to control the exposure time. There was no cap. No cap at all. What the hell!!!!! So I made one, ghetto style.



The final thing that happened is that the "lens" popped off when I put it into my bag, and so did the viewfinder, primarily because the paper they used is not glue friendly because it has a slick surface. So, I made it even MORE ghetto by making a cardboard cap/flap thing. I had no clue how much to wind the film because they don't tell you. Nor did they devise a way to rewind the film so I ended up doing it by hand in the closet. Overall, there were many many problems with this product which could have been simply fixed if they had actually tested the thing before sending it out in the world.

I'll get the film developed and see if anything even came out.