This week, let’s visit the dream state again. This time, we’ll focus on the feverish dreams. The ones in which people and places are continually morphing into new things and half-things; a parade of random objects and mismatched parts. And there’s nothing like some trippy photomontages from the ’30s to help put us in the mood.
Man Ray, (Électricité) la Ville, 1931. Photogravure. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Hannah Höch, Sea Serpent, 1937. Photomontage. Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany.
Claude Cahun, Aveux non avenues, planche III, 1929-30. Gelatin silver print photomontage. Private collection.
Here in Minnesota, we have a lot of lakes. I know, I know, who would have guessed? It’s true, though. And in the summer, Minnesotans go… to the lake (a lake, any lake). We spend all fall, winter, and early spring fantasizing about the day it will be warm enough to go to the lake without piling on a million layers of clothing.
As that day draws near, let’s write those fantasies down, shall we?
Harry Callahan, Lake Michigan, 1953. Photograph. Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL.
Alex Colville, Dog and Priest, 1978. Acrylic polymer emulsion on hardboard. National Gallery of Canada.
Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek, from The World We Live In series. www.gebhart.dk
A certain three-year old woke up this morning with an impressive foot-high nest of hair atop her head. It inspired me, which hopefully will in turn inspire you. Hair is something we can all relate to (even if only through the lack of it). Care to write about it?
Claude Cahun, Self-portrait, 1914. Photograph.
Ellen Gallagher, from DeLuxe series, 2004-2005. 60 works on paper, etching, screenprint, lithograph with plasticine, velvet, toy eyeballs and coconut oil. Tate Collection, London.
Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen, from Eyes as Big as Plates series, May 2011–ongoing. Photograph. www.karolinehjorth.wordpress.com, www.riittaikonen.com
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It’s Online Open Mic week this week! Submit your work-in-progress prose or poetry piece today and tomorrow, and then return on Wednesday for 24-hours of wild workshopping!
In the grand scheme of things, the camera has only been around for a short time — the first mass-market camera was made available at the end of the 19th century. Fast-forward to today, and suddenly everyone has a camera in their pocket, each taking (at least) dozens of photographs every day.
This week let’s write about this curious object. On which side of the camera will your subject find him- or herself?
Cynthia Greig, camera, from Life – Size series, 2001. Photograph. www.cynthiagreig.com
Francis Picabia, Here, This Is Stieglitz Here, 1915. Pen, brush and ink, and cut and pasted printed papers on paperboard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Laurie Simmons, Walking Camera II (Jimmy the Camera), 1987. Photograph. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.
