(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
ARGUABLY, ALTHOUGH iMo UNARGUABLY, THE LAST BIG THING in the picture making world was the emergence of the New Color picture making movement. And quite a number of "big name" picture makers rose to the fore during that era.
Names such as Eggleston, Meyerowitz and Shore (amongst many others) who not only pioneered the use of color picture making in the fine art photography world but also made manifest the idea that any thing was suitable as a referent for picture making. For decades to follow, the work of those pioneers inspired / influenced a generation or two of picture makers who, with their own variations / vision, stood firmly on the shoulders of the earlier pioneers...Mossimo Vitali, Edward Burtynski and Andreas Gursky as examples.
Within the borders of any thing goes, there was a minor movement of straight photography minicry which was actually staged tableau vivant...Gregory Crewdson, David Hilliard, Jeff Wall and Aaron Hobson (my son) come to mind. Lots of interesting work to been seen in this genre.
In any event and all of that written, I have been increasingly struck by the fact that there has not been, nor can I see one on the horizon, another / next Big Thing, picture making wise. One could suggest that the emergence of smartphone picture making is a Big Thing, and it is, but it is more of a change in how pictures are made rather than a change in how picture makers see the world.
On the other hand, it could be argued that smartphone picture making has truly embraced, like no other movement, the idea that any thing and ever thing is, indeed, ripe for picture making thereof. Within that picture making world is the selfie. A genre which is loaded with picture making trash but, nevertheless, in which there is a significant amount of gold.
Who knows? Maybe a major art instition will, as MOMA did with the New Color Photographers, mount a ground breaking exhibition of selfie gold and, as a result, launch the next Big Thing.