Kat Hennessy Weekly Post [Week 13]

Alan Ostreicher

Alan Ostreicher is a contemporary photographer who focuses a lot on form, shape, and texture in his black and white photography. While not specifically abstract (usually ascertainable as to what the subjects are or could be), he chooses to capture a certain aspect or section of a subject that emphasizes the previously listed concepts (line, shape, texture, etc). While the black and white photographs are what initially attracted me to this artist, upon exploration of his website, I found his Instantaneous photographs to be more entertaining, interesting, and inspirational to me. They are not always in focus, which I love, and sometimes contains very minimal content or conceptual language within it. They are simply images that capture his day to day existence.

His black and white photographs cause the viewer to look outside of an object as an object itself, and more into the shapes and forms that certain parts of it contain. How does paint splatter related to a torn shirt? Initially one would not necessarily relate them at all, but by taking away the information that would typically cause us to distinguish the two: color mainly, then the details surrounding it, we start to see this sort of forged relationship between the two. this causes us to connect items and ideas in the world which we would normally intermingle together in out minds. His Instantaneous works speak to me on a deeper level. I have a film Minolta camera that I used to take with me everywhere I went. It is much easier to carry around than my digital camera, and the idea/concept of the permanence of film and the mystery of what was captured intrigue me about film. I use it as a sort of visual diary to mark things in my life that I may not have otherwise thought to photograph. Sometimes I find that the images I capture there are much more powerful than any I have taken specifically with content or concept in mind.