I don't get it

I don't know how I feel about meta photography. As in photography about photography. These works are conceptual in that the content is secondary or even irrelevant compared to IDEAS that deal with the nature of the medium of photography. Examples of some overtly meta photography and the ideas I have come to associate with them by reading interviews and other articles.

Tobjorn Rodland:

What is good Art Photography? What are good and bad motives and good and bad subjects for art?






















There's a brilliant interview with the photographer here.


Christopher Williams:

What is the photographer's motive? How does he feel about photography? Williams is a little different because he chooses his subjects for very specific deeply researched reasons and often hires a photographer to take the pictures.













His Artforum cover story here


Roe Ethridge:
What is the connection among these images when shown in an exhibition? Does there need to be one?




















Interview with Roe Ethridge here.

What I find interesting about these artist's pictures is that you're supposed to have to think alot about them to "get" them as in justify them as ART but they're so aesthetically pleasing that you can kind of just enjoy looking at them. They're kind of cheesy and obvious and they look like appropriation. The artists here are very successful and its probably because of the combination of an interesting concept and a glossy surface. Also they can be classified as "artists that use photography" as opposed to to just photographers so their work appeals to people who may not be so interested in photography.

I really like those little white frames. If I ever show my work in a gallery I want little white frames.

More work that is similar but uses more actual appropriation.

Anne Collier:

Elad Lassry:
















I love these little frames. It makes the work like an object. They also seem oddly collectible.

So I'm wondering which I find more intersting: The old school of documentation, representation, and obviously serial, linear projects or using photography to discuss photography and making whatever I want and allowing the associations and justifications to come later.