Comments on: alberto lizaralde – frail

By: billy_mac

billy_mac — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:24:59 +0000

Hi Alberto, thanks for submitting these for us.

I definitely enjoyed some of these images, with no’s 2,8 and 16 grabbing my attention.
There seemed to be a quiet, considered poetry in there somewhere that I liked. Shades of Alec Soth perhaps? (gasp!)

Having said that, I found the thin captions and personal statement a bit frustrating. I wanted more information.. a denser, more rounded package. (Maybe that’s a bit old-school but hey.)

Either way, the project made me think.

BURN: Keep chucking in the curve-balls guys.. very good to see.

By: robert blu

robert blu — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:46:52 +0000

I found the artist statement interesting. Than I looked at the photo. But I did not see so much correlation with the statement. There are a few photos i like and can correlate somehow (1-2-7-11), a few I like but find difficult to correlate (4-6-10), others where I have doubts (frailty and doubts are correlated!) and a few one I do not understand in respect of the Artist statement (8-11-14). It is possible my limited knowledge of english language drove me in a wrong direction or my “visual understanding” is limited as well. It is anyway interesting to be confronted with something we, me in this case, do not fully understand.
robert
PD: @ john, beautiful walls, paintings and photos…

By: Carlo

Carlo — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:04:35 +0000

Eva,

I feel almost the same way as you. Just pointed out the interview because it gave me more insight than what its written here. I thought people will find it useful as well.

Gordon,

Congratulations for what?!?!?! :)

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:03:41 +0000

Sometimes it ain’t to bad to be underrated, unknown, forgotten. It usually keeps a sense of authenticity to the work and nice and out of the reach of the mediocre blood sucking fans and managers.

By: Frostfrog

Frostfrog — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:46:32 +0000

John – I had to look at your walls video twice. I watched it silent the first time and thought silent was how supposed to be. I did not realize that my black, who has been lounging on or very near to my keyboard since I sat down, had muted the sound. It was quite effective silent.

Then I saw the references to the sound track, so I went back and watched it again.

It was effective with the sound track – and yes, I, an American living in the midst of ignorance, was unfamiliar with the piece, but taken by it.

Still – the silent version spoke loudest and most powerfully to me.

By: Thodoris Tzalavras

Thodoris Tzalavras — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:19:34 +0000

Nice walls John…

By: Herve

Herve — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:18:02 +0000

does “we are vulnerable everyday” the same as “we are vulnerable in the everyday”, but one is just plain simple english and the other heightened poetry? inquiring (simple) minds…..

By: eva

eva — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:01:24 +0000

Been drivin’ me crazy.. that’s not from ‘Woven Hand’, but from ‘Folklore’.. finally found it!

By: mw

mw — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:27:31 +0000

John G, I have the same issues with overtly Christian work, yet some of my favorite artists are, or have gone through phases where they were, overtly Christian. Nick Cave, Dylan, and Tartovsky spring immediately to mind. Of course they are hardly typical in how they express their beliefs, unintelligible to normal religious people.

Nick Cave’s “No More Shall We Part” is one of my favorite albums (discs, records — what do we call them these days?) and I think it’s a bit representative of the ongoing conversation here regarding essays like this, and the differences between essays and singles for that matter. “No More Shall We Part” is a collection of excellent singles that form a whole that is greater than its parts. Taken together, these singles tell a larger story, but the story is so complex and open to interpretation that it is difficult for many to recognize it as a coherent story. Alberto’s essay, and others with similar approaches, are similar, I believe. For lack of a better word, I consider these types of things “literary” stories, though I’d like to find a better word since with photography we’re dealing with images and feelings much more, or even excluding words. Nevertheless, it’s a valid form and one I think has a lot of possibilities, though just as any art it’s not going to appeal to everyone.

By: eva

eva — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:30:01 +0000

John..

honored but intimidated to hang there, you got some great stuff up your walls.. not only the photos, but those paintings!! Thank you :)

By: panos skoulidas

panos skoulidas — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:41:09 +0000

A shame on America that his work is not better known there.
——————-
nahhhhhh….just a shame on me, actually…not america (this time;)

By: Ross Nolly

Ross Nolly — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:52:11 +0000

Paul; David Eugene Edwards from 16 Horsepower is in “Searching for the Wrong-eyed Jesus”

By: john gladdy

john gladdy — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:11:51 +0000

Paul. make photos like YOU sing…fuck everyone else. be moved, be Inspired, be humnbled, be angered…but be true. Not a chance of a shot otherwise.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:02:38 +0000

John…

Never heard that music before, it made me stop in my tracks, so did your walls. Paintings, photos and music all stir my sky, in fact I want to ride life or make photos like that guy sings.

By: john gladdy

john gladdy — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:51:42 +0000

Panos. Michael is right, David Eugene Edwards. (16 horsepower, Woven hand ). Even a cynical atheist such as myself feels humble around his faith…..it resonates authenticity…and while I do not share his beliefs I feel very strongly that his is not a fashion position or a con trick as so much is these days.
A shame on America that his work is not better known there.

By: mw

mw — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:06:11 +0000

I’m guessing 16 horsepower. Great band somewhere between underrated and unknown, at least in the states. Had pretty much forgotten about them. Thanks for the reminder. Almost guessed John Mellencamp before he started singing. Still, similar to JM’s later work.

Don’t see how those pics exclude you liking this essay, but I have no problem with you, or anyone else, not liking this essay.

By: Matt McInnis

Matt McInnis — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:03:45 +0000

I don’t know.. I get the concept, but the photos just don’t work for me. The artist statement is thin, and could be followed by just about any photograph. I’m thinking ‘decisive moment’ in other words. For it to work for me, I’d need some shots that are less metaphorical and more about those moments of collapse. To me the portraits look like people deep in thought, but not frail, not on the brink of something.. I don’t get 13.. and the only object shot that resonates for me is 6.. yet it doesn’t ring true to the artist statement, what is about to happen? what is impending, what is frail? Is it a statement on death and decay? loss of worth perhaps?

By: panos skoulidas

panos skoulidas — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:22:30 +0000

nice one John!!!! (who’s singing?)

By: john gladdy

john gladdy — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:16:17 +0000

A probable explanation as to why work like this does not say anything I an interested in hearing.

The current state of my walls.

http://vimeo.com/34709676

“it doesn’t mean that much to me, to mean that much to you”
-Neil young.

I think eva’s picture looks great.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:41:42 +0000

Gordon…

Thank you, those are my words. I felt particulary inspired this morning, I began writing everything with “We” but I generally hate preachers and as it also sounded so highly pretencious I decided to adjust it all to “I”.