Artist of the Week: Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle is a French photographer whose work investigates intimacy and identity. There is a voyeuristic nature to some of her images and it is said that she once followed a man from Paris to Venice photographing him without his knowledge all the while. She enjoys investigating the lives of others and turns herself into a private investigator to do this.

My favourite of Calle's work is the series 'The Hotel', where she obtains a job at a hotel in Venice and proceeds to photograph the contents of the room in between cleaning. She is giving a sense of identity to these people that even she has never met by exploring this deeply personal and intimate space of theirs. (All Photographs property of Sophie Calle)

Room 47

Room 28

Room 29

Room 44

And then of course there is the week she ate chromatic food each day, she was modeling herself after a character in a novel by Paul Auster, who was modeled after her.

Calle loves to experiment with her own life and the lives of others turning everything into art and I am left wondering what she will do next.

Liam Bailey

Well, with my parents in the country I find that I get a lot less done, it probably doesn't help that I haven't seen them in 1.5 years so time with them seems so much more important then anything else. While they're spending a few fabulous days in Melbourne I'll get on with some posting, or at least try to.

The good thing about trying to clean up my inbox this past week was that I got to rediscover all sorts of books, websites and artist that I had forgotten about. Liam Bailey, this weeks Artist of the Week, is one of those.

Below Liam does one of the things I love about photographer, he shows people the beauty in discarded objects. The first ___ photographs are balls that were found around London, you wouldn't normally look twice at these but Liam forces you to, and they're great once you look. They all have character to them that you never would have noticed if it wasn't for Liam. So enjoy, and check out some of his other work here.

All Photographs are property of Liam Bailey.

I couldn't resist adding these last two either, they are a collection of postage stamps that Liam found at flea markets and the like. His work has a distinct archival quality to it.

Dan Wilton

Dan Wilton is one of those artist of my age that I referred to a few posts ago that acts the way I think artist my age should act, it makes me a bit jealous of how I perceive his lifestyle to be (for all I know he spends his Saturday nights feeding his cats and reading on the couch sipping tea but somehow I don't think so). His work is part of this genre of raw, street/party photography and culture that has been present in artists since the 1960s. He hangs out with musicians, goes to festivals and explores weird and bizarre looks for his photographs, I can't help but love it.

Below are some of my, so far, favourite works that Wilton has done. All photographs are property of Dan Wilton, more wild adventures can be seen on his blog.

The photo above and the two below are some of Dan's photographs from Bestival

This one and the two below are from a project Dan did when the financial crisis hit the UK a few years ago

Rineke Dijkstra

I apologize for the delayed Artist of the Week but my mom arrived to visit me in Australia for the first time and I've been a bit distracted trying to get ready for her.

Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch photographer who takes mainly portraits against clean, simple backgrounds. What strikes me most about her work is the way she captures people on the edge of change. She photographs youth at the beach, awkward and shy, unsure of their bodies and themselves, or the women she photographs just after they have given birth, these women do not shy away with their bodies, they stand up taller and proud, holding on to their change and presenting it for all to see.

All photographs property of Rineke Dijkstra:

Corrine Day

“Photography is getting as close as you can to real life, showing us things we don’t normally see. These are people’s most intimate moments, and sometimes intimacy is sad.” – Corinne Day

I find Corrine Day to be one of the most inspirational photographers I have looked at. She had such drive, such force and creativity. It seemed as though she could go anywhere, do anything, she was a breakthrough artist, always striving. Her images are striking in so many ways, they are bold and direct, they are creative and mysterious, they all have her flair.

She is known as the person who discovered Kate Moss, the one who started drug/waif look. She was free, quick on her feet and it appeared always creating. When I think of how I want to be considered at the end of my career I know that I want to be like her, even if I don't make the impact she did I want to know that I tried.

From the shoot that started everything, one of the images from the Kate Moss shoot

Elliott Erwitt

I was introduced to Elliott Erwitt's work during my masters program, which is a shame because I should have known of him long before then. His images have a subtle, sometimes not so subtle, humour to them that makes them a pleasure to look at. He has been a member of Magnum since 1953 and has traveled the world over documenting what catches his eye, and what a great eye he has.

Here are a few of my favorites (All Photographs property of Elliott Erwitt):

Stanley Kubrick

Since my foray into circus life was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's work it seems only fitting that he is my Artist of the Week this week.

Most people know Kubrick for his eccentric lifestyle and his film work such as A Clockwork Orange, 2001 and The Shinning (my personal favourite). What most people don't realize is that Kubrick was also an incredibly talented photographer. I, in fact, did not realize this until a friend bought me a book of his photographs one Christmas.

Kubrick actually began his career as a photographer working for Look magazine before making movies. While there he spent a few years photography a family circus, it was these photographs that inspired me to photograph the traveling circus the other week. It's amazing to see the differences, not just the lack of animals but how much more glitz they've added to the show today and how much has been removed from the patrons.

I tried to find some other Kubrick photographs to share but they are very hard to come by, once I've located the book at my parent's house I'll do another post so you can see some of his other amazing work with jazz musicians and people on the subway, very inspiring stuff. For now, enjoy the show:

(All photographs property of Stanley Kubrick)