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Sunday 1st August 2010
On a recent visit to Lowe Art Museum we discovered these great prints by American artist and photographer Frank Paulin. In the mid-forties he developed his documentary style by photographing wartime devastation of German cities. On his return to the US he continued working in Chicago and NYC. Remember there are still a few days left of Miami Museum Month so get down to the Lowe and see for yourselves.
Following on from our portraits of Edwin Land – founder of Polaroid – this is an amazing film by Charles and Ray Eames about the SX-70 Land camera. A folding SLR and the first to use Polaroid’s automatic format integral film, which didn’t need to be separated from its back after being removed from the camera. Incredible.
Dan Weiner (1919-1959) was born in New York City. He was drafted into World War II and worked as a photography instructor in the Air Force until the end of the war. He discovered the versatility of the 35mm camera and began to use it regularly. Following the war, he pursued work as a photojournalist, refining his belief that the photographer has a moral responsibility to illuminate social ills and to comment on significant events in history. He stated “my generation is probably the first in history to become conscious of the great forces that are at work in our society through the visual media — the magazine, the newsreel, television — rather than the written word.” Weiner’s life was tragically ended by a plane crash while he was on assignment in 1959.
In the studio we are shocked and saddened to hear that after a health battle surrounded by chaotic publicity and rumors, Guru, the legendary member of iconic hip hop group GangStarr, has died.
Albanian born Gjon Mili arrived in the United States in 1923. Fifteen years later, he was a photographer for Life (a relationship that continued until his death in 1984). Working with Harold Eugene Edgerton of MIT, Gjon Mili was a pioneer since the 1930s in the use of photoflash to capture a sequence of actions in one photograph. Trained as an engineer and self-taught in photography, Gjon Mili was the first to use electronic flash and stroboscopic light to create photographs that had more than scientific interest. Since the late 1930s, his groundbreaking pictures of dance, athletics, and musical and theatrical performances revealed the beautiful intricacy and graceful flow of movement too rapid or too complex for the eye to discern. Here are just a few images, well worth a google though to see some amazing shots.
NB Adult language; just in case the kids are around.
For all the branding fans out there, well,anyone for that matter this short film is a real treat. Meticulously thought through and beautifully executed the famous brands and logos of the world are brought to life as a city and zoo. The film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short. It was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. Keep an eye out for the cameos!
We are saddened to hear that Malcolm McLaren has died in New York, aged 64. The ex-partner of designer Vivienne Westwood also managed a number of other bands, including the New York Dolls and Bow Wow Wow before producing his own records including the much-sampled tracks Buffalo Gals and Double Dutch from the 1983 album Duck Rock. McLaren emerged from art school in London in the 1960s and with Westwood, set up Let It Rock - a fashion store specialising in rubber and leather fetish gear. It was later, infamously, renamed “Sex”. He went on to manage the Sex Pistols, who spearheaded the British punk rock scene. McLaren along with Westwood and graphic designer Jamie Reid were responsible for what is now thought of as the visual vernacular of punk music.