23 epiphanies: Ramblings on artistic influences
My presentation at last week's Mono Lake Night Photography Festival was about the value of cultivating a diverse set of artistic influences. You are already doing this informally. The idea is to talk or write about your artistic input, as a playground for better understanding how these things are influencing your artistic output.
I had 45 minutes to talk, and spent just under 2 minutes talking about how each of these artists has influenced my night photography. As the presentation was both fast and media intensive, I've reproduced the list of artists below for those who attended the conference.
I encourage you to make your own list of influences. This could be a desert island list of your favorite films, photography books, novels, museum exhibits, dance performances -- whatever you're into. Making a list is the first step -- the epiphanies are born out of process of articulating why you love this work, and how the work has influenced you. The writing doesn't have to be lengthy -- start with one sentence for the why, and one for the how. Have fun, and feel free to share your list.
- Gordon Matta-Clark: Conical Intersect [video on UbuWeb] [photos & bio on artnet]
- John Divola: Vandalism Series [photos on divola.com]
- Roger Ballen: Outland | Shadow Chamber | Boarding House
- John Pfahl: Altered Landscapes
- Draw on your image: To be discussed in a future blog post
- Gaspar Noe: Enter the Void [Netflix]
- Matthew Barney: Cremaster Cycle
- Werner Herzog: Of Walking In Ice
- Mark Rothko: Rothko's Rooms[Netflix]
- William Vollmann: Imperial
- Michelangelo Antonioni: Red Desert [Netflix]
- David T. Hanson: Waste Land
- Flotation Tanks
- Haruki Murakami: A Wild Sheep Chase
- Ikeda Carlotta: Butoh Dance
- Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story [Netflix]
- Master Musicians of Jajouka: Apocalypse Across the Sky | Pipes of Pan
- Lotte Reiniger: The Adventures of Prince Achmed [Netflix]
- Caspar David Friedrich [friendsofart.net]
- John Hind: Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight
- Chris Verene: Family | Chris Verene
- Jacques Tati: Playtime
- Erik Kessels: In Almost Every Picture #9 Black Dog
Note: Book and movie links go to Amazon, and help put a few extra pennies into the epiphany research jar.