Sherrie Levine

Unoriginality is not what most artists become famous for but in the case of Sherrie Levine she has become so highly acclaimed for it it’s all she’s known for. Taking photographs of other famous photographs and presenting them as her own work she ironically subverts the very notion of original creation by neither recomposing or reinterpreting she confronts the idea of photography as an infinitely reproducible medium in comparison to fine art which tends to be a unique object. Her photographs cannot be mistaken for the original photographs or even as copies of the originals Levine works as hard to not deceive viewers as forgers work to betray them a distinct trail of evidence revels the multiple recycling of her image. Size and color for example often mimic the mass produced reproductions of the photograph not the originals and when it comes to the works she chooses to borrow they are examples of early twentieth century master works created by esteemed members of the avant garde. Well know works by the well known deceased. When titling her works she formally disqualifies herself from sole owner simply by adding the word “after” followed by the name of the artist whose work has been reproduced e.g. After Edward Weston. In one of her pieces titled Sherrie Levine (after Edward Weston) She reproduces a poster made by George A. Tice using Edward Weston’s photographs of his sons torso which he had based on a classical Greek sculpture of a male nude by Praxitieles. What distinguishes these pieces as not all the same is what every artist was trying to accomplish. When Weston recreated to pose of the nude he was paying homage to the beauty of classical world. When Tice then reprinted Weston’s work he said the he felt he was working in collaboration with Weston a longtime hero for the artist. And when Levine then snapped a photo of Tice’s poster Levine was working to weaken common assumptions about originality, value and possession her contribution is the absence or originality. The work she produces speaks to the human experience she brings to light that most of the places, people, and art that the public recognize is not from first hand encounters but form photographs. Levine’s art reflect the public’s acceptance of counterfeits as originals she says “the world has filled to suffocating. Man has placed his token on every stone. Every word, every image is leased and mortgaged…I try to make art that celebrates doubt and uncertainty…By incorporation parasite meanings” Sherrie Levine images are about its meaning, not its appearance. Her work wreaks havoc on traditional measures of merit. It also implies that a copy is no less valuable than the original. Levine’s copies may even be more valuable because they embody a new and possibly more profound artistic concept.

Rimma Gerlovina & Valeriy Gerlovin

Rimma Gerlovina & Valeriy Gerlovin are not your typical artist describing their works as “photoglyphs” they conjure up two contradictory meanings photo meaning writing with light in Greek and glyph meaning carved symbol , illogical parings are typical ingredients of the Gerlovin’s work these two artist enjoy intentionally subverting logic. There work always has something to say both artist are originally from the USSR where they lived in a county where journalistic wiring was manipulated and propaganda and double means were an everyday awareness. Leading members in the soviet avant garde they used duplicity, puns, and innuendos to protect themselves from authorities. When they moved to the US in 1980 they were given a whole new linguistic world to stretch collapse and manipulate the meaning of. The Gerlovins ask such illogical propositions as “past and future are contained in the present. Two bodies cans occupy the same space at the same time. That space has energy that living and nonliving entities are not easily differentiated that there is order in randomness. That a speck of dust contains the truth of the entire universe.” In one of the most famous pieces “To Be, Or Not, Or Both, Or Neither” the title has been stenciled on to Rimma’s arms and legs in a bold black type face suming up Hamlet’s famous question and updating it for the twentieth century. Transfused it to a newly built conundrum the frame consist of Rimma curled in on herself almost as if withdrawn in confusion. Her body not held within the frame exploring the idea that she and her question cannot be held in the tight logical borders she is literally and metaphorically marked by her confusing destiny in the piece BE-LIE-VE Rimma has the same bold black letters this time on her forehead as two strand of hair cross her face to form an X it divides the word believe so that LIE is isolated to assert the interconnection between faith (believe) and deception (lie). The Gerlovinas draw on many influences from Raja Yoga, Eastern philosophy, Jewish mysticism, Russian Poetry, but they provide no answers, instead they actively deny the possibility of a singular one with their work.

Andres Serrano

Andres Serrano’s work is so deeply entrenched in controversy that a New York senator exclaimed before congress “this so-called piece of art is a deplorable, despicable display of vulgarity” following this by ripping up Serrano’s latest exhibition catalog. The cause for the congressman’s uproar at Serrano’s art was due to one of his latest pieces, it was a simple but beautiful depiction of the crucifixion, standing five feet tall and portraying Christ sacrifice the photograph should inspire not enrage. It was not the image but the title that was causing problems, titled “Piss Christ” it gives insight to how the photo was made. So what did Serrano mean by creating an image that combined urine with the Savior. Serrano a lifelong Catholic asserts that he did not mean for the image to be sacrilege or to incense congress but that the image is his own way of “redefining and personalizing my relationship with god”. Piss Christ is a loaded piece of artwork with many ways of interrupting it. The presence of the disagreeable bodily fluid indicates that the artist intended to desecrate Christ or raise the ideas of carnal body vs. spiritual practice, human desire vs. personal piety, it would seem reasonable if it didn’t go in direct violation of the catholic doctrine which Serrano so readily upholds as his religion. Other ways of looking at the piece include the fact that Serrano having done religions works before and works that employed bodily fluid in his pieces found combining the two a natural step, and that the use of the bodily fluids demonstrates Serrano does not share out culturally inscribed disgust towards bodily waste. Another common theme for Serrano is the idea of religion in contemporary societies. Piss Christ could simply be commentary on the figurine not the figure represented, that the idea of the marketing of cheap religious artifacts for pay not piety is morally distasteful. Serrano could also be trying to stir up controversy in the name of Christianity, as illustrated in the Bible, Christ was betrayed, disgraced, and tormented during the crucifixion it was an ugly and painful way to die and that today’s christens no longer emphasize with his suffering and that Serrano’s hope is that this symbolic reenactment of Christ humiliation might help reawaken religious adore. So while the image itself contains no inflammatory content, simply depicting an amber light crucifixion some still believe that piss Christ intention is to inflame the public and test the government’s commitment to freedom of expression, but Serrano stands strongly by his photograph as his own tool for understanding and worshiping Christianity as an individual.

Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle’s work shows a detachment form the normally emotionally charged work brimming with the artist inner self that flourishes in today’s galleries instead her photographs are black and white, frontal, neutral, anything mood-emoting or selected would contradict the purpose of her work , Relying completely on the privet life of strangers to supply the narrative content of her work she does not want to be part of it. In works like Stalker, Chamber maid, and Investigative Reporter Calle illustrates how various professions now work as proxies to intimate relationships. In her piece titled The Sleepers Calle focuses in on dramatizing how psychological research has replaced love and affection as the means to viewing the intimate aspects of one’s personality. She does this by keeping a very careful balance between sterility and intimacy in the circumstances surrounding the development of her pieces. Taking on the guise of Psychologist Calle starts by signing up 24 strangers most of whom were referred by friends in this step she is able to maintain anonymity while giving the participant the comfort of a mutual friend. The Second stage of this production is the location, for the sleepers she has chosen her own bed fuelling this sense of sterile vs. intimate by picking such an emotionally charged environment but rejecting the idea of interacting with her subjects. When a new sleeper arrives he has been instructed to wake the previous one and restore there position in bed for the next eight hours. Sitting at their bedside her position of psychologist is further dramatized by only interacting with the sleepers through a questionnaire, taking their picture once every hour and recording anything noteworthy about their sleeping. This neutrality in such an intimate setting is her way of depicting the metaphor of the paralyzed state of love in today’s society. Calle exploration of emotional distance here is at the core of all her work.

Laurie Simmons

The photographer Laurie Simmons’s work consist of mostly minimal interior spaces which she meticulously furnishes with miniature, couches, rugs, wallpaper, art etc. If any forms of nature are present they are as artificial as the people. These “still lives” are to suggest at the windowless office building, the climate controlled supermalls, the newly built home, all perfectly controlled, perfectly artificial environments, that we as culture rely so heavily and spend so much time in. Simmons’s photographs of pseudo- characters in pseudo- situations constitute reality in a time were people spend there lives in synthetic settings. Exploring the idea of detachment form nature in her piece Chicken Dinner Simmons shows two identical dummies sitting at a bar one in a casual white dress shirt the other in a bow time and jacket. With their desires bubbled above their heads we get a look at what they long for. The casual dummy dreams of a chicken dinner typical of the mass produced TV dinners that are frozen, dehydrated then effortlessly reconstituted in a microwave, easy and artificial. The genteel dummy imaginings a cowboy, a long step from his current existence but the cowboy of his dreams is clean cut, well dressed, and handsome not the a true cowboy, but a media representation , just as false and lifeless as the dummy himself these confusion of the true reality vs. the synthetic version is Simmons focus when it comes to this body of work, in her manipulation of space, lighting and color Simmons exaggerates the visually synthetic with neon colors multidirectional lighting and staged scenes. She does this in order to tie theses amplified forms of cultural role models back to their media sources. “The strong athlete, the successful business man, the nurturing homemaker” these pieces are put forth to warn against the lure of media and the portraits of mass produced people it presents and to promote the hunt for the natural experience over the contemporary.