Casting

The Frieze Art Fair 2007 recently opened in London.

Untitled (Original), by Richard Prince, commissioned by the Frieze Foundation, is arguably the centerpiece of the fair.

The work is an installation, consisting of a custom-made muscle car, displayed on a circular plinth, with a young female model, dressed in a light blue denim jacket, a fuschia bikini top, dark blue denim cut-off shorts, black army boots, and long black socks.

The work brilliantly comes together because the model is exceptionally well cast and costumed. She appears to be a typical Prince model, if there ever was one. She not only suits the aims of the installation, which intentionally references visual arts commerce, she also functions as a counterpoint to the kinds of models who appear in auto industry trade shows and custom car shows.

Who's the girl?

On artforum.com's Scene and Herd, she is identified as Karley Sciortino, a writer for Dazed and Confused.

I don't know how Prince found this model, but he's remarkably fortunate to have identified someone who is from upstate New York and living in London. According to her myspace page, Sciortino is originally from Highland, New York, and she is residing in South London.

To most art fair visitors, Sciortino simply plays the role quite well. (According to the web site of a community theater in Wappingers Falls, New York, she has some acting experience). However, it would be fair to say that Prince has been able to cast a "found model," one who comes from "Richard Prince Country," lives locally to the art fair, and writes for a contemporary culture publication, and he's recontexualized her within a particular work of art.

Powerful Images

Some remarkable images prompt memories of others.

Top: Helen Mirren, as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison.

Bottom: University student Benno Ohnesorg, shortly after being shot at a demonstration in Berlin, June 2, 1967.

Linked: The Dead Toreador, by Edouard Manet.

Composing Figures Within an Interior

Sometimes I find interesting compositions in art auction catalogues.

There is a charming work on paper, titled, "Syskon," by Carl Larsson, being offered in the upcoming Sotheby's London sale of Scandinavian art on June 27, 2007.

The work depicts two of the artist's children--a more-or-less frontal view of one of the artist's daughters seated and a more-or-less profile view of her brother standing--in the drawing room of the artist's home.

The lot number for this work is 358.

Composing Figures Within a Landscape

I don't seek out potential pictorial compositions in real life, but I try to stay alert for unexpected situations that look interesting.

The most intriguing situations usually suggest compositions that may or may not be applicable to the kinds of work that I do. The task of adapting them to the kinds of subject matter I prefer to depict is often quite challenging.

The photo below depicts a scene from a polo match in Bethpage State Park, Farmingdale, New York. Clearly, my work primarily depicts human adult females, but I find it engaging to examine the arrangements of different views of human bipeds and equine quadrupeds when I'm at a polo match. On another blog, I'd posted another photo that I find intriguing; however, it is much more difficult to contend with, as it depicts a group of canine quadrupeds.

Stacking I

Some found stacked objects are inexplicably appealing. Some stacks resemble sculpture.

Here are two views of a stack of lumber in South America.

The Studio Wall

It's great to evaluate images on a computer screen, but it's sometimes necessary to see images in hard copy format on the studio wall.

Here are different proofs drawn from the same image. (Some postage stamps are here, too. Sometimes it's easiest to find them when they are taped to the middle of the wall!)

The image is a self-portrait of a model based in the United Kingdom. I'd commissioned her to take photos of herself, holding up the front page of her local newspaper in her apartment on a particular day in late 2004, as a part of a series, titled, Proof Of Life.

Precisionism Vs. Expressionism

While visiting Milan in 2005, I came across the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera and briefly wandered its hallways. I found these two contrasting displays, a bulletin board and a schedule of classes.

Scribbling

When I buy an unpackaged pen, I usually scribble on a notepad to see if it works.

I'm sort of scribbling here to see if this blog is functioning.

The photo posted above is being used for a series I'm working on. It is a custom-made stock photo, a self-portrait of a model based in Maine. I'd commissioned her to take photos of herself in this particular pose, using a digital camera that has a self-timer. This photograph and a few others are being used as props, photographs taped or pinned onto a wall in the background of works from a series in-progress.

I commissioned a model in Arkansas to produce stock photographs of herself for this series, as well.



Above:
Rani (In the Studio), 2007, c-print, 11 x 14 inches (27.9 x 35.6 cm.), edition of 9

Before commissioning these particular self-portraits, I used photographed that I'd taken, depicting a model posing in Central Park. Here is a depiction of one of these photographs being taped onto a wall in the In the Studio series.