D.I.Y. self-publish/print on demand mags… and MagCloud

I’m wondering if anyone might have some experience with this on-demand publishing service called MagCloud by HP…?  Quality?

Seems to be yet another avenue for self expression / self branding… full of potential with the right content and very little economic means.

And now with a little boost from the NYT – perhaps a wider audience, though I’m wondering about the “vanity publishing” aspect with this comment… “it’s a nifty idea for a vanity press that reminds me of the underground zines we had in the ’60s and ’70s.”  ?

Surely, content trumps quality and it is likely so in this case… but perhaps there is a certain fitness to purpose, to satisfy the desire to hold print in our hands in addition to the flickering glimmer of our screens…

Gerhard Richter’s “Kugel”

Originally published:  March 29, 2005

Note: This is not a photo that I took – it is a web image from the resource (collection) on Gehard Richter’s Paintings, Watercolors and
Multiples for which proper credit maybe found and attributed here:
www.sammlung-frieder-burda.de/index_e.html

My comments…..the orb is particular in capturing the moment (trace?) in this picture of the art piece. The reflection in the all seeing – the instant of recording – context, photographer and apparatus.  The picture preserves a trace of the subject/viewer relationship that in “reality” is always shifting and requires that  you be present in the now to participate…

I love how the photo provides another space for interpretation of the piece.

The photograph provides a separation distance between you and the orb – more precisely, the presence of an image in your likeness which can only occur obviously given the situation “in real time” between you and the orb…    You see your likeness in the mirror… Here through the photograph – the separation distance is quite apparent as it offers a glimpse of the relationship to the moment when a photograph was taken….

Gerhard Richter
Kugel
1989
Diameter: 8 cm
Ball of high-grade steel
signed, dated and numbered by engraving “A.P. 5/5 Richter 1989″

UPDATE

What does this have to do with “modern photography”?  …  The work by Matthew Jordan comes to mind…

Untitled 2008, Matthew Jordan - From his series “half empty“… more here….

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

Wim Bosch – Illusions / Constructions

Wim Bosch,  Yard, 2006, pigmented ink on paper, aluminium, 101 x 142 cm

Wim Bosch,  Blossom, 2006, pigmented ink on paper, aluminium, 105 x 135 cm

I came across this person’s work via Mrs. Deane  recent post on photo books – but what caught my eye is something about Wim Bosch’s work , I’m not exactly sure,  I just can’t put my finger on it, but I like the newer work.   Something about the newest / latest (more subtle?) constructed photographs appeal to me like beautiful mysterious paintings… yet these are not paintings – nor or they photographs… but I like them for these images appear to contain some of the best parts of either tradition.

More of Bosch’s work here and representation here….

Ways of Seeing… Stationary images or a flow of informational bits…

Earlier, I posted about Bill Viola’s work – primarily thinking about the important effect of creating a “context” with in which to experience “art”…  Thinking further along the lines of the influences of the web and the potential collapse of context….   this series on youtube is worth watching…

and

The clips are worth seeing for yourself in your own context…

Don’t miss an interesting passage in the first series – an the example of the stationary image – one that you might make a pilgrimage to see – the image embedded in the walls of architecture…

Daniel Shea – Removing Mountains / Coal River – Newspace Center – Portland

West Virginia, by Daniel Shea from the series Removing Mountains 2007

Removing Mountains and Coal River

March 6th through 29th
Opening Reception: Friday, March 6th 7-10pm
Artist Lecture: Saturday, March 7th, 12pm

Newspace Center for Photography
1632 SE 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97214

I’m hopeful to get to see / hear about Daniel’s work – been watching it for some time and to find out it’s coming to Newspace is wonderful news.  Get out and see it!

Here’s a previous post of mine again in the category of “handsome” aesthetic…

Shea’s images flirt with his stated interpretation in the vein of a social documentary narrative and at first glance for me are simply quite beautiful photographs. It will be fun to see the group of photos in context and in print.

It’s an interesting consideration and challenge to pursue making contemporary pictures with a strong sense and execution of a current contemporary aesthetic to convey a sense of place and people.