Lecture w/ Karen Sinsheimer Curator of Photographs @ Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Today I was fortunate to hear Karen Sinsheimer, Curator of Photographs at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art giving a talk at Stanford University. This was Karen's second talk to photography alums of the Continuing Studies Program at Stanford and her general topic this year was the trends in photography—for collectors and museums—the issues in terms of budgets and new processes and technologies.

It was a really informative lecture. She opened with a presentation on the SBMA's upcoming show "Chaotic Harmony" which will be opening summer 2010. It will feature photographers from Korea covering globalization, identity: cultural & personal, and anxiety of the current state of the country and its citizens. Some of the emerging and existing photographers I am looking forward to seeing are Sanggil Kim who photographed groups of young generation Koreans who have grown with technology. As well as Yeondoo Jung who photographs people in their realities (such as working at an ice cream parlor) and then photographs them in their dream scenario reflective of their realistic pose like being an ice warrior, the concept is simple but moving, everyone has a dream or an alternate version of their reality.

As much as I enjoyed her sideshow of the upcoming exhibit I was more captivated by her talk on the art market and art trends. The market has changed from gather all emerging art to focusing on the greats and antiques. She discussed how even the established such as Cindy Sherman or Loretta Lux can either evolve into something that is not representative of their usual work, or get pigeonholed into creating redundant work. She talked candidly about the importance of having a a reason for your work. Don't create with the idea of "I want to be in a gallery". Have a purpose, a reason, motivation; a why. IT is so important to be a proactive creative artist. Use all the tools of photography and any media to help you get your reason across. Humorously she referred to the "fuzzy photographers" who bow to the holgas thinking every image is a brilliant piece of work because it "is vignetted and has cool light leaks, and you never know what you're going to get". Point is there is no point to it or any other art unless you have a common concept, its just a pretty picture. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it doesn't make it fine art. But the idea of fine art, although there are some rules, needs to be defined by you. How you experience art and how you process it into your work. Regardless of the media you can use all the tools allotted digital, film, paint, mixed media & alternative process are just a few of the supplies offered.

After her lecture I was inspired I wanted to take my holga... yes I still love ALL my holga... and get out there and start creating my art. Artists, dealers, and the rest of the audience was just as eager. So get out there and make some art.. for yourself.. for the world... something you are proud of. Because everyone will always have their own interpretation of your work positive and negative, you have no control over the perception. All you can control is your process.