The Scope of Life: Reality Inspiration Dreams Future
Written by Daniel Brantley
David A. Parker doesn’t show wonders or once-in-a-lifetime images. He shows viewers their lives in all their dullness, with a sprinkle of intrigue for good measure.
Viewed by many as a dull, lifeless realm of concrete and cookie-cutter homes, suburban America can be turned into a place of interest if evaluated through the right lens. That’s what sculptor, videographer, performance artist, and photographer David A. Parker does with his camera lens. Because nothing says transformation like turning the everyday and dull into self-evaluation.
Written by Daniel Brantley
And we’re doing a great job.
Making her first artistic splash in the 1970s with experimental film and performance, Marina Abramovic watched some of her colleagues slam into a brick wall when they realized they couldn’t keep up with the amount of energy required to plan and execute the demanding pieces. Resolute to never wind up in the same place of artistic death, Abramovic continues creating much-discussed videos.
One of her most recent, 8 Lessons on Emptiness with a Happy End, depicts children carrying all sorts of automatic weapons. Abramovic has often focused on death and even used big weapons in her art. But this was different. It involved children. And as a result, it was unnerving in a way that was different from a skeleton resting on top of her naked body, the skeleton rising and falling with each breath. For the most part, the guns in 8 Lessons look large in the subjects’ young hands. Yet somehow, the children look natural and comfortable with these large killing machines strapped over their shoulder, held in the ready position, pointed in the air.
Written by Daniel Brantley
Carrying a camera and an iron will, Margaret Bourke-White ushered in a new era of photojournalism—one that was fearless, dangerous, and compassionate.
Despite the majority of her work being published in magazines (namely Time, which used her shot for their first cover), Bourke-White’s work is some of the most demanding ever captured on film. To view a Bourke-White piece and walk away unaffected is impossible. To view a Bourke-White photo and want to change the world is no rare occurrence.
In her photographic beginning, Bourke-White focused on the concrete. From factories to grand architectural works, such as the Statue of Liberty, her photographic eye caught the beauty, the daunting size of her subjects, and the humanity in the inanimate. But she always had one eye on the humans who made such works possible, and she eventually faced more daunting tasks than climbing on top of buildings or hanging out of airplanes for photos. With the same daring and determination that got her inside countless life-threatening environments, she documented some of the world’s most sought after individuals and events.
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Andres Serrano: If you Can’t Say Something Nice Relishing in the grotesque and offensive, Andres Serrano challenges the world to remember what mama always said. When Andres Serrano entered the art world, it was with a bang. Thanks to his 1987 photograph...
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The healthful spoils of war At the dawn of the 20th century, as Europe endured the 1st World War, a young German quietly went about his business, leading a fitness program on the Isle of Man in the midst of the Irish Sea. ...
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The Problem with Picasso Whether a student of his work for decades or minutes, everyone who approaches the paintings of Pablo Picasso is left with the same dilemma. Alongside Michael Jackson, Michael Jordon, and Mickey...
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Undiscovered Wine Country – Mendoza, Argentina When most people think wine, they think of California’s Napa Valley and the wine regions of Tuscany in Italy or Burgundy in France. But these destinations don’t have a monopoly on the...
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The celebrity carpenter from the south Armed with carpentry skills, a bull-horn and a hefty dose of ADHD, Gary "Ty" Pennington has become a reality television star and in the process improved hundreds of lives through his altruistic architecture....
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