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EPF 2010 Finalist
Kate Stone
At the Seams
In “At the Seams” I used photographs of domestic interiors and common architecture to construct impossible, uncanny spaces that evoke a feeling of hesitant curiosity, a nervous desire to explore the room, to peek around the bend or to see what lies behind the door at the end of the hall. Our acceptance of photography as reality makes these images hard to understand, especially for those who know the original place. At first glance the rooms and buildings in these photographs appear real. Upon closer examination, however, something is clearly wrong. Doorways are misplaced and once rigid walls are twisted and torn. Distorted perspective creates incongruent angles and improbable shadows. These spaces are literally falling apart at the seams.
Bio
Kate Stone received her BA in photography from Bard College in 2009 and currently lives and works in Chicago. She was recently a recipient of the Tierney Fellowship and her work has been shown by The Center for Photography at Woodstock, The Photo Review, ARTribe NY and Eleni Koroneou Gallery.
Related links
oh about the essay?
well..you all know what am i gonna say, i suppose…
Its like reading someones diary (well the first pages at least…;)
It excites me..i wanna see more but they left Freud outside im afraid..
Well…we got used to pj style horror, full of blood essays out there..
we got a little addicted to violence, brutality..we are so numb and we need to wake up..
we need excitement..extreme sports, extreme tv, drugs, shock value is a “must”
in our western “world”…
I can totally see why for many here it sounds like the title should be “much ado about nothing”..
but again, all i could say to the photog, thank u for “opening the door”..
Some of us(like me, for sure) want to “see” more, and some of us not..
Either way, you decide…
big hug
Kate, congratulations on your presence one of the EPF finalists.
This is actually the story I was most eager to see after the quick preview of the finalists we had when the award was presented. And I have to say I am not disappointed.
If I am correct, it seems that the images of this story are re-photographed photographs, with the added distortion of folds, cuts and perspective manipulation. None of these are new or ground-breaking techniques but the result is certainly very original. Haunting, ambiguous and at the same time beautiful they can be interpreted on many levels while still retaining their mystery.
The “captions” are indeed very cryptic and I have nothing against it. Even if they are the product of a highly self-conscious conceptual approach, I think they do not hinder (nor add much to- frankly) the work whatsoever.
Finally the discussion of whether this is photography or illustration. Even in documentary photography, found photographs (sometimes re-photographed), text and artifacts, defacing and collage, any technique has been already used and is perfectly valid. No photograph is truer or more honest than any other just because it was made this or that way. In fact I find that no photograph is truer or more honest or more important than any other, period. The context is what gives any work it’s weight. And in this case I think the whole work is solid. No for all tastes, but nevertheless solid.
Congratulations again Kate.
Some may remember when this technology was new
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425969930/139233/yasumasa-morimura-self-portrait-actress-red-marilyn.html
and
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425524586/909/yasumasa-morimura-a-requiem-vietnam-war-1968—1991.html
“Morimura, Yasumasa (b. 1951), Japanese contemporary artist, born and resident in Osaka. Morimura’s appropriation of well-known Western masterpieces began with self-portraits as Van Gogh.. A master of costume, painting, cosmetics, and computer manipulation, he pays homage to and refashions icons of the Western canon. Not limiting himself to painted masterpieces, he has recreated well-known photographs by Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol and, in his Actress (1997-8) series, publicity portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot amongst others, mimicking their gestures down to the curled toes. He works not only with photography but with moving images and installations.”
before” playstation” for photographers it was a whole different game
Thanks for the links Imants, loved Marilyn, disturbed to see the Eddie Adams re-creation, but I suppose that was the idea, right? It’s amazing to see how some photographs become popular icons that are recognised far beyond the photographic community. The Che photo by Alberto Corda and, perhaps to a lesser extent, the photo by Susan Meiselas of the Nicaraguan man throwing a petrol bomb. Also helps to see where you are coming from.
Mike.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein
Hi Kate,
I saw an inquiry underway with a touch of mystery which was great as a concept but the overall content – and the compositions in particular – leave me flat. I feel this is coming too much from your head and not enough from your heart.
Wishing you joyous times in Chicago – I hope you like the quote!
Jenny
Yea Mike what I tried to focus on was to show how the media has changed over the last decade in photo/digital technology. The question that arises is how do we utilise it without being overawed. Last year’s winner can be synthesised in photoshop and one can go well beyond into a bigger playground.
This work can also come back and bite itself if she lets it become a formula……….
Kate, thanks for posting a reply. Now I get the captions. Also, like much fine art, I’m sure that your original work looks good at 40″ x 50″.
best wishes,
Mike.
As an aside, I like to check the composition of my photographs using the thumbnails in Aperture or Lightroom as the small size just seems to allow this for me, but I’ve learned to see a photograph large before deciding if it makes the cut or gets deleted. I usually just run a quick slideshow.
JIM …JOE…STOOP…
damn!! all three of you back …welcome home!! yea, i know you will all go for each others throats and most probably mine too, but i am pleased honestly to see all three of you here again….and all three of you know that i mean it…
cheers, david
KATE STONE…
you are indeed a class act with your response to your critics….however are you really a “black sheep”? is Burn really a mostly photojournalism environment? yes, still probably leans in that direction, but i am trying constantly to create a better balance… look carefully at the 13 finalists….i think you will see only one or two of them that totally represent what any old style photojournalist would call photojournalism…yes, a straight photojournalist did get the grant this year, but i think that might also have to do with financing a continuing project that needs financing…i do not know….however i do hope that the old fashioned and by now need a breath of fresh air a, b, c, photojournalism is on its way out out out and that the evolution of even “straight” documentary photography will be of a more subjective authored nature….the basic integrity of journalism, at least as it is supposed to be, is a good thing…but the freedom of artistic flight takes us into new worlds…and most exciting i think will be the upcoming artists who also choose to take on issues and blend their personalities and visions with an honest documentation…
in any case, i do look forward to whatever you decide to do next….
cheers, david
Kate,
‘craptions’ was just a throw-in to,maybe,lighten the mood for some as it was looking like
the thread was starting to head down the nasty path.
Your captions actually reminded me of the style that Andrew Wyeth used for many of his works.
Hi David!
Perhaps “photojournalistic” is the wrong word – maybe an environment of mostly straight photography and also photography that is focused on social commentary? I definitely wouldn’t say that about Burn Magazine as a whole but among the finalists it does seem that I stick out like a sore thumb. My critics or the people whose “bag” my work is not, maybe weren’t expecting to see work like mine here. But I’m proud of that. Besides, if my work isn’t making somebody angry then I’m doing something wrong. Thank you, David, for this opportunity! It’s all very exciting!
Best,
Kate
if my work isn’t making somebody angry then I’m doing something wrong
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ha ha…exactly….i would never wanna be Ansel Adams..or bob hope…scary ;)
Kate!
I glimpsed your work sandwiched in and among the grainy, the gritty, the grimy, the loooongdrawnout melodramas of the combined work of the finalists. And they were all good. No doubt about it. But that little glimpse of your essay was like someone threw open the Burn window and let in some air..a crisp but silky ocean-bearing bite of fresh artistic ideas..nipped my imagination, thrilled me that little peek did. So i’ve been waiting for the full Monty and here it is.
Your fun-house rooms are, well fun..they’re also mind bending, delectable alice-in-wonderland playgrounds of impossible angles and proportions, shift shaping reality defying idea-fying netherlands..mmm..or neitherland perhaps. Your sense of aesthetics is very artistic, sculptural, 3D, ephemeral expression of the permanent as paper-doll. Hate to say i have a fave but #10 is so scrupulously clean that i want it hanging on my own wall of disordered dissatisfied chaos.
Only thing..sorry, maybe it’s not my night for captions because that was my primary nit-pick in “When the Spirit Moves”..but your captions are distracting and superfluous..far from poetic, they seem snide to me, inferring that we won’t get it, can’t get it and even if we did, what would we get? My advice? lose ‘em.
Congrats..nice, and well worth the wait to see the whole thing. Good luck with your career!
Best
Kathleen
Sometimes it’s so exciting being human.
KATE…
i would not say your work “sticks out like a sore thumb”…how about simply “unique”? however, i think when you see the full play of some of the other finalists coming up, you might just change your mind…
in any case, as you say, gotta make somebody upset or there is no “edge” and , yes, it is all very exciting…
cheers, david
Brilliant work.
Why a series of photographs which play around with the supposed reality of the photograph is not seen as being relevant to a forum of people who try and document ‘fact’ is quite beyond me. Ironies abound.
Really inspiring stuff Kate; obviously you know this!
All the best for the future,
Max