Images copyright Barbara ProbstThere's a hint of BLOW-UP about the work of Barbara Probst. Interesting and complex stuff.
This is going to be a brilliant resource.
Topman
the children's clothes shop have recently made bigger arses of themselves than the gelled up skinny jeaned lady boys who shop there. They have decided that this years trend is called "The Salford Lads club" look! You couldn't make this shit up. Anyway they have photo's of The Smiths Door and changed the sign to read Topman Lads Club. Being self important fashion types they never thought to seek permission and then got some photographer (and I use the word loosely) to shoot some gimps dressed like a cross between the big dancer with the moustache from Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Image copyright Mark Page
Image copyright Simon RobertsI have been planning to post about WE ENGLISH for a few days and then I go and get pipped to the post by The Guardian! Anyway I've been following the progress of this project over on the blog that was set up at the start of Simon's tour of England last year. It's been really interesting following a project from start, through to publication of a book, a great use of blogging and something I wish more Artists would do.
To be honest as I followed I feared the end result was going to be a little twee, and it is a walk through the sunnier side of England. Nothing wrong with that though, cynical photographers are "Two a penny" and I include myself in that category. It is after all a look at the English through the landscape of leisure,and I think this is a really interesting angle and a great way to hone in on how we think of England. If I have a gripe, and of course it's me, so I do, and that's why you love me. I'm not sure about the title. It seems too broad for the subject which is England's landscape explored through leisure and pastimes and the way that, that forms our view of England. So more about the landscape and our relationship to an aspect of it than the English as a people, which I feel the title points to? But that's me just being picky and trying to find fault in what is a great piece of work that I think will stand out amongst the current crop of "Englishness" studies,
Scotland? I'm not that keen. Although this boils down to the last time Rangers came to Manchester and a particularly nasty dose of food poisoning I got in Edinburgh ( Dearest chamber maid I apologise about the sheets.) No, I hate kilts, bagpipes and Alex Salmond. I resent the fact that they have their own Parliament but also want to play in ours, they seem to want Independence when it suits them, a little bit like the student who moves out of home but still takes their washing home to mum.If we ever want to stop all the shit that's going down we just got to forgive and forget sometimes. So well done my wild blue arsed porridge eating cousins, this time you really have been Brave at heart.....
© Yao Lu
Image copyright Clare Strand"Over the last ten years, dissatisfied with the often complacent values of the photography world, Clare Strand has assembled a body of work that is both subversive and celebratory in its approach to photographic conventions.
During this period Strand’s art has developed through a series of increasingly interesting and unique projects that have explored various photographic genres, from Victorian portraiture to crime scene and forensic photography.
In these series she has dwelt on the oddity of photography’s strange backwaters, its utilitarian functions and its infiltration of every corner of our lives, to make us question the value and complex meanings of photographic images". Cont'd (then click info link)
I love the photographs from Clare Strand's series "Gone Astray Portraits" A little bit of Victorian brought up to date and playing with and commenting on the traditions of photography. Think John Thomson's London portraits, but done in an old studio by a man with a big moustache and a magnesium flash gun that goes bang and an Aspidistra and maybe a stuffed lion oh and costumes. Sorry I'm getting carried away but do you get me? See Clare Strand's website HERE.
As Greater Manchester Police continue there new found love affair with big photo's I wonder if they have really thought this one through. Take some sixteen year old males who have had their heads filled with guns and films and "gansta" and then you go offer them the ultimate status symbol, a new kind of kudos a giant "Wanted" Poster in the middle of the city centre. They then say that they think he may be in Birmingham anyway. Now that's a special kind of dumb.......Can there be any town anywhere that has had a bigger impact on music than Manchester?
Not just the usual suspects you know your, Joy Divisions ya Smiths, Roses etc. No I mean before that. Take the Halle for instance. Oldest symphony orchestra in Britain and fourth oldest in the world. And these guys above. Sweet Sensations. Ever heard of them? No me neither but we should have done. Sweet, sweet soul coming from Manchester town. For a good rundown of Manchester music from The Hollies up to more modern stuff go HERE. I knew Manchester produced bands but I didn't realise the complete quantity, quality and sheer diversity.
