Dennis Olivier

“My first encounter with photography took place when my parents performed some strange static dances with an object in front of their face. Later they would close themselves up in a special room under the house for long periods of time, and no one was allowed in. They diligently made sure that they were left to their own devices while inside. One day I was given permission to enter the room and allowed to stay, but on the condition that I didn't move or went out. I remember there was a unique chemical perfume and a red light.

I was bewildered: my parents appeared flashing a white light on a piece of paper using a strange apparatus. Then they dipped it into a clear liquid and Behold! I couldn't believe it, A miracle! They were wizards who created pictures.

In the following years I didn't really follow his experiments, I was too young to manipulate cameras and I prefered to draw. Photography, Architecture and Art was always present around us and I still remember the black and white exhibitions that we visited.

When I was a teenager, I continued to draw and started to paint a little. I even took part in some local exhibitions. At the age of 17 I began to take some photographs, I was especially fascinated by mineralogical micro mounts. I started studying biochemistry, but after 3 years I changed to Poitiers school of fine-arts, and took an interest in computer graphics and generated imagery.

While I was there I meet Alain Fleig who introduced me to art photography. I also felt a need to practise photography, and with a friend we spent a lot of time learning how to develop films and photographs. We did sessions with models, scenery, and discovered France.

The second year I had my first personal exhibition in a gallery, which was a great experience, then a training placement with Philippe Salaün, who was at this time Robert Doisneau's developer. Following this I did some jobs for organizations, shows and commissioned works. I then started in December 1995 working with computer graphics and made use of the Internet.

I worked in artistic direction for several years, then digital cameras came along and I found a way to work quickly and experiment without using too many resources such as film, chemicals, photo sensitive paper and of course the wonderful resource of water.

Now I meet and exchange information with many photographers after the freedom Digital SLRs have given me to have exactly what I want with the different lenses and power features. I continue to produce some material and I'm involved and maintain collaborative projects such as Art Limited or M42”

Interviews : http://www.denisolivier.com/interview.php

Cannot find representing Gallery

Website: http://www.denisolivier.com/

Frustration

“This, in simplest terms, is the frustration. Somehow, as a tourist, I can never seem to produce the same kind of pictures that are on display in galleries, shops, or as post cards. Sure, I usually come home with something that I can be proud of, but I never seem to achieve what I expected to be able to do.” ~ Louie Powell

The torment of human frustration, whatever its immediate cause, is the knowledge that the self is in prison, its vital force and 'mangled mind' leaking away in lonely, wasteful self-conflict. ~ Elizabeth Drew

Art is a very joyous obsession that has one large drawback – the frustration that is involved with the middle of the process, when things can go either way. ~ Travis Bowles

A point of Frustration- trying to produce outstanding, artistic photos while on vacation

Louie Powell January, 1993

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1306/is_n1_v59/ai_13462317/pg_2?tag=artBody;col1

This topic relates to my overall work because I am obviously frustrated that I seem to be exhausted conceptually on the art front after 5 or so years of art school. I feel frustrated when I pick up the camera, let alone start editing what I shoot. The more obvious topic of the article describes the frustration from taking photo’s on my recent vacation.

Candice Breitz

I attended the Candice Breitz artist lecture. I thought her work was conceptually stunning while at the same time having more to do with other peoples views on subject than her own. Although she was obviously observing and making statements on modern pop culture, the subjects themselves each seemed to tell their own individual story.

I believe the works besides her Legend, Queen, King, and Working Class Hero was a better representation of just her views on modern society. The isolation of personal pronouns in the Four Duets seemed to bring out the individual artists own feelings on the emphasis they placed on either the You or the I values. I did not see any of them place the same emphasize on both. They either seemed to have more passion about themselves or about others. Atleast thats what I saw, and according to Breitz it's more about what the viewer see's in her work than what she originally conceptualized.

andrzej dragan

Biography available on his website: http://andrzejdragan.com/

Good description of work:

Andrzej Dragan's portraits terrify on one hand and addict on the other. One has a strong need to come back and penetrate inhumanly realistic elements of the photographs going deeper and deeper. Power and clarity of the detail, and crystal purity of the color, sober and gloomy light are the elements of Dutch paintings. This is probably the source of the impact of Andrzej's photographs. Portraying so well-known characters as David Lynch, Mads Mikkelsen or Jerzy Urban in the manner of old, Rembrandt style surprises the viewer used to contemporary photography which is so close to spontaneous expression, escaping from reality through exaggerated effects such as movement, blurring the image or taking the colors down to unnatural scale. Dragan's works remain inside one's mind for a long time and most of all - they stand out among thousands of others images surrounding us.

~Tomek Sikora

Couldn't find a website for the Lipinski Gallery in Warsaw however that is the last gallery to host him.

Economy

“Amid continued upheaval among America's biggest financial firms, a former head of the U.S. Federal Reserve says even more institutions could face insolvency, and that the United States appears unlikely to avoid an economic recession.”

Former US Fed Chief Somber on Economic Prospects

VOA News author Michael Bowman

http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-14-voa17.cfm

This article is just a sampling of the economy today, however I believe the average consumer still cannot grasp what the situation really is or how it might affect them. My life is centered around the market and following the U.S. economy in relation to other economies. I find it fascinating to look at the economic figures and then drive down the street next to a hummer passing billboards and new construction projects. I took a series of photographs exploring images people pass every day and took it in contrast to the news in the article above.

Back

I'm back from Jamaica as of 9/14/08 and working on making up missed entries.

My time out was from 9/4/08- 9/13/08.

Incomplete

Paul Thulin has read your blog up to this point/entry. Your blog is currently not up to date and work has been recorded as incomplete.