PROGRESS REPORT/BIBLIOGRAPHY

So far, I've been able to do some research, and I have about two pages of solid notes ready for the presentation.

Here's my official topic:

I'm focusing on the state of the photograph in contemporary art. Some critics say photography isa medium inherently connected with the representation of reality, since that in order for a photographic image to be made the object or scene being photograph must in some way exist in front of the camera in order for the camera to affirm it's existance. While this is essentially true, this does not mean that photographs are an honest representation of reality. The critical argument this whole idea brings up is whether or not photography is a medium that can represent reality more accurately than say painting or writing. My presentation will be an exploration of this idea through artists and photographers who are conscious of this idea of photography's 'inherent connection' with reality. In other words, I will look at artists who make something happen for the camera in order for it to be documented and therefore somehow anchored in reality. Examples of this include preformance artists using the photography asa a document for performance, such as Gabriel Orozco, Cindy Sherman, Vito Acconci, Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson, etc. I'll also look at conceptual artists from the 60's using photography for it documentary properties and exploting them to talk about ideas of the banal, such as John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, and Yves Klein, among others.


Books i've looked at so far:

-Art In Theory 1900 - 2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas

-The Photograph as Contempotary Art by Charlotte Cotton. Thames & Hudson, 2004.

-Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes

-On Photography by Susan Sontag

-Criticizing Photographs by Terry Barrett

-Conceptual Art A&I (Art and Ideas) by Tony Godfrey

-Gregory Crewdson, Twilight, Introductory Essay by Rick Moody

-Cindy Sherman: Retrospective by Amanda Cruz and others

-Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their art by Brooks Johnson