Comments on: imants krumins – painter https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/ burn is an online feature for emerging photographers worldwide. burn is curated by magnum photographer david alan harvey. Wed, 07 Sep 2016 08:31:01 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.4 By: denislav https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-98227 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:53:49 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-98227 “Error: Slideshow data not found. Check XML File Path and Type.”

and this is shown not only on this essay… :(

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By: Imants https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-84421 Sun, 13 Feb 2011 09:41:57 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-84421 …same mother different father

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By: eva https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-84420 Sun, 13 Feb 2011 09:27:31 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-84420 Alternative? Different beast to me..

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By: Imants https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-84405 Sat, 12 Feb 2011 20:19:23 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-84405 the alternative ……………. http://www.etrouko.com/cp.htm

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By: Frostfrog https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83066 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:18:06 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83066 Thank you, Imants.

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By: Mike R https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83027 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:41:37 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83027 Imants, thanks for deconstruction of your work here. Very helpful and revealing.

Mike.

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By: Imants https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83023 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:48:32 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83023 Hi to All
I suppose I better reply …………..
Unlike other activities I started this as a slide show for burn as an internet based piece of work, along the way it turned into a potential book. The book part took over and it went it’s own direction and after a couple of months it was completed.
The slide show was always there I chipped away bit by bit images came in, went out, were altered reorganised etc but the theme stayed the same ………….. The nature of internet sites like burn etc

It starts with comment, about a way of seeing things and in a way that probably doesn’t exist. “sees things upside down and in colour” This was about how people are forever looking for something, getting a new hold of things and the thing that is written so often often ………… “this is not new I have seen it all before” etc. It also reflect the I see things my way so therefore I am correct part of the wwwdot world……..

Then it moves into the other prevalent thing that happens on internet when we run out of ideas, “Painter decides to reclaim…”… I am going to go back to what I used to do so I can find myself ……… thus all the new is gone.

Images run in and out, wearing various masks, post modernist ploys, anonymous beings as posters on the net etc ….. life just goes on

In the end is it annoying? Sure is, Is it resolved? No way, never meant to be With the text at the end, one goes on and on for far too long the other just a splatter disappearing before it can be read ……….. sound familiar to ways that we have to communicate at times?

Did it ever occur to me that it may piss people off ……… of course ………. Otherwise there was no use posting it is about the wwdot world after all

On another level it is about a Kids vs. Adult vs. Imants world but you will have to search for that in the images. But here is a no text no sound version probably about two and a half minutes. http://www.etrouko.com/201101.htm This was done ages ago as a compliment to the book, never completed no need now as the book got deleted………..some added into book 5 as I stated before thus completing the series

I prefer the one on burn as posted

As for the other part about me well it is the wwdot world ……. David, Bob Panos yea I probably don’t deserve your support on that matter but thanks it is appreciated

Thanks to all that viewed the work …………

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By: Frostfrog https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83022 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:26:17 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83022 Thanks, Bob – I appreciate the insight.

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83021 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 02:46:48 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83021 GORDON…

i hate all that stuff too, but seriously the skype bit is the easiest of all..takes 5 minutes to set up an account…it is free….it is easy…my 91 year old mother got a handle on it in no time and we can have our morning coffee together…do it Gordon…and give me a call…after you talk to Imants of course!!

cheers, david

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By: Gordon Lafleur https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83020 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:09:23 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83020 David, Bob, Panos, Imants

Thanks for your insights. I have learned something about myself here, and am feeling humbled.

All, I’d love to skype with each of you sometime. I just have to figure out this skype business. Despite spending much of my life presently in front of a computer screen, I’m still a major techno-phob. Skype, computer games, i-phones, on-line banking….uggg,..shudder, hate it all.

Peace.

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By: panos skoulidas https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83017 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:19:59 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83017 Gordon i agree with David on this one…
Skyping with Imants is pure fun….
and i also admire u for having the strength to be honest about everything (even your little wine love affair;)
and i will admit that i was the very first one “attacking” or misunderstanding Imants here in his first essay.. of course later i did my homework and all i found is a great artist…
big hug & respect

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By: bob black https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-83000 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:31:58 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-83000 i meant it is ‘hard’ to fight with David in real life because he is such a good/nice/fun person…and that smile, kills more than just the ladies ;))))))…ask my wife :))

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By: bob black https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82999 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:29:38 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82999 MW/JOHN:

KALATOZOV’S ‘I am cuba’ is magnificent….culmination of a brilliantly intelligent/thoughtful filmmaker operating under terrible pressure…Cranes are Flying and Letter Unset, while not as brilliant/boundary-pushing as Soya cuba, are still glorious and beautiful Soviet films….

as for Frank….all franks’ films are worth…and like John, I LOVE his later films…though, they go hand in hand with his later photographic work….funny, i ‘discovered’ Americans after buying his Hassleblad Award book in ’96…and Stories lines (from his Tate exhibition) is one of my favorite fotobooks period….

GORDON:

a note about Imants…i’ve known Imants for more than 3 years now….we’ve exhibited together (here in toronto), i’ve shown his work in the projection series I used to create/curate here, and we’ve talked pretty extensively via emails over that time…in all that time I’ve only had 1 fight with him (pretty good for a friendship), and that came up under Aaron’s essay and ONLY because i was/am feeling more ‘vulnerable’/emotional post Russia trip….i take the responsibility for getting upset…Imants is a very intelligent AND sensitive, heart-felt caring person…and he does like to push folks buttons on the internet (we all do, in our own way), but trust me, he is not as ‘arrogant’ as many folks thing here….he’s just a thoughtful, man who makes thoughtful work ….the web, obviously, de-personalizes…shit, i mean, i’ve literally screamed at the computer screen myself ;)), but in real life it is totally different….and most important, i think it is important to separate the ‘work’ from the ‘person’…even if Imants was an obnoxious brat (which he is not), the work is the work….i know work produced that is gorgeous, aware, sensitive and i couldn’t stand talking to that person for 2 minutes…so, i think it is important we separate ‘real’ from ‘work’…and just see work for what it is…whether we like it or not….if we see things with a grin, it makes things easier :)))

i mean, i’ve had fights with David (and i often feel embarrassed when i think about them now) and he is as hard a person to fight with in real life as one can imagine…he’s pretty much what you see here, talkative, fun-loving, caring, open and thoughtful…and gives it his all, in work, for his students and with his friends….so, we just have to separate ourselves 1 degree from our personal thoughts/reactions related to the web, and remember, that these are real people who actually are good folk, just like each of us :)))

ok, gotta run, will comment on the new essay later :))

hugs
bob

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By: Mike R https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82997 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:53:09 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82997 DAH “we are lucky to be able to enjoy free discourse on a topic near and dear to all our hearts…we should never forget this fortunate position everyone here is in…” – amen to that. Not too long ago i.e. pre-internet, the majority were in a photographic wilderness with only photography magazines to inform them of events.

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By: john gladdy https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82996 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:05:35 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82996 MICHAEL WEBSTER. the period I was refering to was simply the ‘period’ you left out of the first line of imants text. ‘Eats shoots and leaves?
Put it back in and its a simple statement. Albeit one that is mainly incorrect and based on flawed assumptions. Now the beauty of this kind of work is that the artist is free(if they so wish) to ‘imply’ that this ‘error’ is just another inbuilt cypher, and its pretty difficult to prove otherwise. Heads I win, tails you lose.

Glad you are exploring franks later film work..many didnt.
Did you ever manage to track down the MIKHAIL KALATOZOV film I told you about ‘SOY CUBA’ ?

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By: mw https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82993 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:02:07 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82993 Oh, and John, regarding work that might my abilities of assessment, or more importantly, abilities in general, thanks for the clue about Robert Frank’s films. I’ve been watching “Pull My Daisy” and can feel expansion happening in real time. I look forward to seeing much more of his work. And Bob (and Michelle), likewise with 2666. Don’t know what I think of hit yet, but I think about it a lot.

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82991 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:26:40 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82991 GORDON…

i chat with Imants from time to time on skype…as face to face as one can get on the net…i would love to do the same with you…but my conversations with Imants from his home in Sydney could best be described as “cheerful”…i think Imants is more playful than antagonistic…at least by intention…..hey we are all a bit idiosyncratic here are we not? let’s just enjoy it ….i have had the pleasure of hosting in my new york apartment i would say perhaps 50-100 folks who hang out here on Burn at one time…yes, a party which follows a slide show by a Bruce Davidson, an Alessandra Sanguinetti, or an Elliott Erwitt…good shows of work by icons and by students followed by just having a beer with friends like Bob B, Erica, Panos, Andrew S, Anton, Patricia, John G, Preston, Chris B., Audrey, Tom H, Eric E,Michael W, and many many more….all of them good people and in a special “live” environment…oh yes,we have definitely taken the blog to real life here on Burn …all fun, all good people with interesting things to say and doing great things…how it all shows up here in print on Burn is sometimes up for grabs but 99% of the misunderstandings would never have even been misunderstandings in person…..then there is just flat out disagreement on a set of work which is normal, healthy, and just fine….in person however the disagreement would have happened with a smile instead of a frown….again , we are lucky to be able to enjoy free discourse on a topic near and dear to all our hearts…we should never forget this fortunate position everyone here is in…

peace, david

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82990 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:14:26 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82990 MW…

i have to jump in my truck and drive five hours home…and my arm hurts like hell after a small surgery where the surgeon said “oh this will be a quick in and out”…..but i want to get into this discussion…saw Paul Klee mentioned and trying to imagine the connection, but it will have to be tomorrow i think when i respond…but if i never come back to this thread i think your last sentence pretty much sums it all up for me….

“Seems to me this falls into the category of something about which reasonable people can disagree.”

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By: mw https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82989 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 13:44:47 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82989 Bob, I don’t’ recall ever reading anything with “semiotics” in the title, but if we take Eco’s definition that it is everything that can be taken as a sign, well yes, I study it all the time. I did study linguistics some, both as as an undergrad and at the graduate level, so no doubt came across semiotics, or certainly related ideas, back then, though I have no conscious memory of anything I learned in those classes. Wikipedia tells me that Suassure is the founder of semiotics and I recall having read him, or of him, back in the day, though I remember nothing of what he actually wrote, so who knows? Anyway, my poor retention skills didn’t leave the linguistic cupboard entirely bare. When I read Eco’s definition, I was aware that a “sign” is, linguistically speaking, something that stands for something else–word, image, anyting. So gain, yes, I study it all the time.

Regarding Klee, were we to meet, I’m sure you’d be disappointed in my vast ignorance. I was remotely familiar with his work from long gone days of writing art history papers for pay (B+ or your money back) and kicking around modern art museums, but it had been many years since I gave him any thought. As with linguistics, I’ve forgotten just about everything I ever did know about Klee. What surprised me when I googled his paintings was that he was obviously illustrating certain aspects of color theory, something I was not equipped to recognize way back when. But I am equipped to recognize it now and find that aspect of Imants’ work interesting. A color, or two colors placed against each other, or even an entire palette can be as much a sign as anything else. I don’t know whether Imants was consciously aware of the color theory subtext in the work, but with his background I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Imants, along those lines, as you noted, you lost exclusive rights to assign meaning and value to your work once you sold it into the public domain (Ha ha). And I respect that you are able to call something finished and move on. Still I think it’s unfortunate in this case. Let’s look again at the text:

“The dog Painter sees things upside down and in color
Painter decides to reclaim what is rightfully his
Though once the pages go yellow the person is so dead
A self Rouault portrait
who dares not wear a mask?

“real art”
forgery, homage, mummery, travesty shan-zhai
no photo no photo no photo no photo [repeated]
eventually he became as one with The Bone Collector

Paul Klee’s work ah love it as an idea
fake fake fake made up! but we luv da fake

how long should I spend looking at a single photograph
should I read the caption before looking at an artwork”

Cut everything after “The Bone Collector” and it would, imo, be much, much stronger without losing any meaning. And losing the last two lines, at the very least, has been suggested by others as well. They appear out of place, feel tacked on. But whatever… Your work, your call.

Gordon, I don’t see work like this as akin to wedding productions even though the basic skeleton (photos, text, backgrounds, music, timeline) are identical. What’s “new” about work like this is the attempt to tell a sophisticated, highly literate story with those tools. Of course “new” can cover a lot of years and we can argue about its definition. Regardless, I think it’s fair to say that this is an immature art not near the point where it’s all been done and all that’s left is to refine techniques that have already been done by the masters — unlike, say, very literal documentary photography, or wedding photography for that matter. The bar is much higher for the more mature arts.

John, I’m sure that I’ve skipped, been ignorant of, a lot in my assessment. In general, and specifically in regards to this work, I enjoy art that is meaningful but in which the meaning is difficult, if not impossible to discern. If you are aware of similar work that would expand my abilities of assessment, I’d be interested in taking a look. I’ve no doubt whatsoever that such work exists. I would have guessed though, that you would like many of Imants’ photos if considered independently. They are well composed, technically well-processed, have an edge to them, and stand on their own as singles.

But don’t’ get me wrong, I don’t mean to be a defender of this work and have no problem whatsoever with those who either don’t like this sort of thing or don’t like this particular example of it (though I do enjoy reading more detailed explanations of why not). Seems to me this falls into the category of something about which reasonable people can disagree.

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By: Gordon Lafleur https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/01/imants-krumins-painter/#comment-82978 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:06:11 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=8067#comment-82978 Imants

I have been having a hot bath, after a day shooting portraits, drinking a glass of red wine (sorry, know you are a tea totaler), composing in my head a long post to you. Here is a small piece of it.

First, congratulations on your publication here. Despite what you may think, I like what you do.

Second, I must appologize. Yes, my first comment really did decend into the personal. Shame on me. I try to keep my comments civil, and failed here. Probably red wine was involved. I do drink too much.

My perception, and judgment of your essay was coloured by my perception and judgment of you as a person. Imants, you gotta know, from my perspective at least, you come off as a fountain of negativity. Your burn persona is the cynical heckler, constantly trying to pick a fight. This does seem to have receded as of late, but my impressions were still there. You have heckled me, and others for no good reason.

As a result of my pre-conceptions and impressions of you personally, I viewed and reacted to this work in that context and from that perspective.

Anyway Imants, I am glad to have you here as well.

I could go on and on, but my life beckons. My wife and a friend are in the living room chatting. In an hour I will go and play music at a 70th birthday party gig. I love my life. I love burn.

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