Dick Blau:
Blau creates a relationship between photo, film, and through trust/familiarity and interactions with his subjects, while blending form and content. The first film he showed was extremely powerful, moving, and at times poignant. He creates something so meaningful without it being a total self-conscious gesture. The warmth and character expression that came through in this piece was very unique and the way the camera follows the subject as well as his use of music throughout really adds variety while at the same time not taking away from the images we are viewing. Blau certainly emphasizes and draws out the connections he’s made without it being obvious or feeling staged, but instead feels very natural and we feel a deep closeness with the subjects and the person behind the camera (Dick). We can see the importance of the music which accentuates the movement and soul of the moment. The combination of his backgrounds which include theater, English, and anthropology come through in his work, in relation to his books, still photography and film. I loved the way he finds the camera and goes about filming everything in a limitless way, wanting to experience all kinds of film and form and at the same time presenting content that is passionate and interesting without feeling transparent or immature. His polka photographs are extremely lively and capture the joy and ecstasy of the moment. Blau’s “Walk in the Woods” fairy tale film was my favorite work. I loved the combination and piecing together of the narrative that wasn’t straightforward, but rather, whimsical, sporadic, and magical. The bells and whistling along with the masks, costumes and the woods create the feeling of childhood comedy and playfulness. The way Blau follows the children in a shaky and flowing way mirrors the acts of the children and we become lost in this whirlwind of imagination and in the movement of subject and camera. The ‘Wandering Jew’ was a more political and charged film that explored issues and struggles Jewish people face and also Blau explores his own technique and different styles of filming. His use of the color yellow throughout was striking and inspiring and captured important historical moments and milieu. In this work Blau questions identity and the ways the camera can identify with both the subjects and the audience. His Easter work and pictures to me were somewhat boring, in that they felt too similar and were too time consuming without being interesting, as in, too much of the same thing. However, I could feel the sacred aspect with the combination of song and spoken elements which made it feel real and crucial for Blau to explore. His living, breathing, imperfections especially come through in the hospital photograph. While there is only one photograph, it remains interesting with the audio, social context, and shifting perspectives. I felt the experience of the hospital while listening to and viewing this work. The audio added more feeling and depth and created a space to enjoy and investigate and tune in and out of the photo while being touched by the experiences of sounds.
Joseph Mougel: Still moving
Blau creates a relationship between photo, film, and through trust/familiarity and interactions with his subjects, while blending form and content. The first film he showed was extremely powerful, moving, and at times poignant. He creates something so meaningful without it being a total self-conscious gesture. The warmth and character expression that came through in this piece was very unique and the way the camera follows the subject as well as his use of music throughout really adds variety while at the same time not taking away from the images we are viewing. Blau certainly emphasizes and draws out the connections he’s made without it being obvious or feeling staged, but instead feels very natural and we feel a deep closeness with the subjects and the person behind the camera (Dick). We can see the importance of the music which accentuates the movement and soul of the moment. The combination of his backgrounds which include theater, English, and anthropology come through in his work, in relation to his books, still photography and film. I loved the way he finds the camera and goes about filming everything in a limitless way, wanting to experience all kinds of film and form and at the same time presenting content that is passionate and interesting without feeling transparent or immature. His polka photographs are extremely lively and capture the joy and ecstasy of the moment. Blau’s “Walk in the Woods” fairy tale film was my favorite work. I loved the combination and piecing together of the narrative that wasn’t straightforward, but rather, whimsical, sporadic, and magical. The bells and whistling along with the masks, costumes and the woods create the feeling of childhood comedy and playfulness. The way Blau follows the children in a shaky and flowing way mirrors the acts of the children and we become lost in this whirlwind of imagination and in the movement of subject and camera. The ‘Wandering Jew’ was a more political and charged film that explored issues and struggles Jewish people face and also Blau explores his own technique and different styles of filming. His use of the color yellow throughout was striking and inspiring and captured important historical moments and milieu. In this work Blau questions identity and the ways the camera can identify with both the subjects and the audience. His Easter work and pictures to me were somewhat boring, in that they felt too similar and were too time consuming without being interesting, as in, too much of the same thing. However, I could feel the sacred aspect with the combination of song and spoken elements which made it feel real and crucial for Blau to explore. His living, breathing, imperfections especially come through in the hospital photograph. While there is only one photograph, it remains interesting with the audio, social context, and shifting perspectives. I felt the experience of the hospital while listening to and viewing this work. The audio added more feeling and depth and created a space to enjoy and investigate and tune in and out of the photo while being touched by the experiences of sounds.
Joseph Mougel: Still moving
Mougel brings the influences of his life into his work such
as his time as a Marine and his passion for living, progressing and transforming. As a Marine he would dig holes
and this experience is one which he takes into his video photography and the performance
role. He is so keen to the “termination of life” that he wants to create this continuous
way of being/living through his video projects. The image outlives the physical
and is saved and processed repeatedly for us. The holes he digs become a part
of him, in that as he is watching the earth change he is also able to
physically enter that realm and become part of the dirt and the nature he is
changing to allow for a kind of intimacy and retreat. He unearths his necessary
solitude and exposes for us the nature of motion and the essence of the
conception of reality. He creates a world through his documentation of
performances-- whether digging holes, clearing a snowy pond, or painting
individuals with uniforms, that communicates a kind of vigor and continuity so
vital for being. Mougel represents the performative spectacle and transports us
beyond the reality into this space of visual impact. Through discovering this process of video recreation,
execution and fulfillment he branches into a documentary of the self and the
earth as we exist together and alter each other. His scenery and performance make
us question the malleability of a thing and the act of substituting one thing
for another as it changes and articulates its own meaning. Mougel’s consuming
video evolves and displaces original constructs through manipulation. He explores
the habitual through his own use, comfortability and implementation of the
uniform (a kind of costume) and through the reoccurring and episodic frames. These
events, lived experiences and presentations all contribute to the perceptual intrigue
his work arouses.
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