William S. Burrough's trilogy – Reinventing the Wester genre

To continue the notion of postmodernist and modernist work I would like to make a post on one of my most admired writers William S. Burroughs with emphasis on his famous trilogy: City of Red Nights, The Place of Dead Roads and Western Lands. With these books the writer reinvents the cult genres: western, science fiction, detective and a lesser degree of gangster and spy stories to create a deadly concoction. Combining experimental textual techniques, cinematic and literal tropes, science fictional considerations and array of mythological and cultural references the author pushes his work out of the limits of conventional genres and styles. Although there are no illusions of the skeptic views Burroughs has of the overpowering political system, which stems in the very core of the society he lives in, his work is engulfed in the revolutionary idealism and plans for worldwide changes. No wonder the writer has been often compared as Moses for the No Wave and Punk Movement that has been emerging in New York at that time. What is more, his work has been repeatedly put on trial for censorship because of his the extremely liberal views of homosexuality and drug use. Nevertheless, the emphasis in his work remains on the desperate seek for revolutionary liberation and reform and the renunciation of the illusionary cultural and conservative values, criticizing our very basic imposed societal and physical limitations.

Bibliography:

• Michael J. P (2011)  "The Master Film is a Western : The Mythology of the American West in the Cities of the Red Night Trilogy", European journal of American studies [Online], document 3, Online since 03 November 2011, connection on 26 April 2012. URL : http://ejas.revues.org/9412

Tome Duarte’s Photobook – The Russians Are Coming 2

With reference to the lecture on Postmodernism I’m going to write about the recently self-published photobook of Tome Duarte, which I consider both a dear friend and a like-minded photographer. His newest book titled “The Russian Are Coming 2” is a series of paired black and white images of Russian vintage matchboxes facing stills from a vhs pseudo-russian porn movie. Such and unusual choice of pairing up archival-type looking images with an amateur vintage pornography stills not only questions the very basic purpose of erotic images but also the general meaning and associations that wraps us in our daily lives. It also questions the general terms of sexuality dictated in the current art world. To add to all of this the images features a hardly recognizable remake and coded captions of scribbled Kirilica (Russian alphabet). Such attempts to create new meanings in words and calligraphy however are not rare in recent postmodernist work. For this I would like to refer to the series of Clare Strand “Signs of Struggle” in which she puts tags and codes made of letters and numbers on her photographs to create an archival feeling. Even though Tome’s inspirations can clearly be distinguished as reminiscence from the past, I still feel they contain enough power to evoke real emotional reaction and leave you appreciating his quest into the unmarked territories of photography. I believe his approach is best described by the caption he has written to this photobook: “owing its existence to a set of coincidences and epiphanies that precipitated my New Approach to Everything which consists of a mix of subjective idealism and the monistic methaphysical doctrine of “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK” (Duarte, 2012).

Bibliography:

• Duarte, T (2012) "Russians NEW" Web blog post. TOMÉ DUARTE. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://tomeduarte.com/RUSSIANS-ARE-COMING-2>.

Biographies - Daido Moriyama – Japanes post-war modernist photography

The revolutionary movements that started with the post-war generation has certainly have not been without trace in what is now one of world's leading cultural capitals - Japan. A sub-culture of youths called taiyozoku or "sun tribe" has dictated the new modernist values in the post-imperial country braking from and rejecting the old traditions. Mostly affected by the western nihilist and beat movement the “sun tribe” was seen as a careless and even violent movement. However, it has produced it’s own generation of modernist photographer and filmmaker that forever revolutionized the art form. From great many I would like to talk about the photographer Daido Moriyama. He started taking photographs shortly after arriving in Tokyo in 1961. Roaming through a war devastated streets in the economic and commercial centre of Shinjuku, the photographer used his intuitive vision to capture the energy and visual history of the landscapes and people in their most vulnerable state. Moriyama frequently called as the master of imperfections has managed to create a completely new photographic approach of intentional misuse of the camera and films. His high contrast, frequently overexposed or unfocused images in some mysterious ways managed to capture the very essence of the subjects and the intensity and energy of the moment that revolutionized the stagnated approaches to street photography, revealing its original the beauty and captivation. Daido Moriyama can still be seen to this day walking around the district of Shinjuku with his 35mm camera continuing his quest to record the visual history of the people who live there. 

Bibliography:

• Skipworth, H (2008). "Learn From the Masters: Daido Moriyama, the Master of Imperfection." Japanorama. Alfie Goodrich, 1 Nov. 2008. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. http://japanorama.co.uk/2008/11/01/learn-from-the-masters-daido-moriyama-the-master-of-imperfection/.
• Celii, A (2012). "Daido Moriyama And the Cultural Landscape of Post-War Japan." TimeLightbox. 6 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://lightbox.time.com/2012/04/06/daido-moriyama/>.

Underground Exhibition @ Print Space

One of my recent exhibitions that I have visited was held at the Print Space print-shop titled “Undergroung”. It featured work of three photographers: Dylan Thomas, David Solomons and Gesche Würfel.

The title under which the photographs were exhibited featured images made in basements, cellars and underground trains. Another thing that I thought connected the works were the dark and eerie atmosphere visible in their work. Despite all work being unique and original in their themes and subject matter, the ones that stuck in my memory was Dylan Thomas’ images. They featured hardly recognizable objects in strange and dark surroundings most of them illuminated by light, leaving the viewer questioning the nature and purpose of these strange objects. It was only later, during one of my tutorials, discussing this particular exhibition with my tutor, I’ve discovered that the objects were nothing but large mats located in almost every pub or bar for loading beer kegs and boxes. This again showed me the kind of power photography has for object transformation and diminishing the lines between the obvious and the unnatural, showing its full ability for capturing the subjective vision and creativity of the artist.

Bibliography:

• Anon (2012) "An Underground Exhibition." Web blog post. The Print Space. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.theprintspace.co.uk/blog/underground-gallery-exhibition-2012/>.