Assignment One

oeuvre

noun

the body of work of a painter, composer or author, the complete oeuvre of Mozart

a work of art, music, or literature, an early oeuvre

I received my new project today, the third one of the year, and I am actually dreading it! I hate presentations with a passion and gain a red complexion whenever I stand in front of an audience. I thought that my job, working with people everyday and being put in on the spot, sometimes unusual situations, would boost my confidence to the highest elements, but standing in front of people I know seems to be a fear that I cannot shift.

I have been given the photographer Wim Wenders. When David first said he was going to give us a photographer to plan a presentation on, the first thought I had was 'oh my God, what if I hate there work'. Fortunately for me, although I had never heard of Wim Wender's work before David assigned me, I think his work is very contemporary and very American in context.

imagejournal.org

 This photograph that I sourced from the Image Journal website has a very vintage feel, which I love! The colours compliment each other although they are very different, and the red sofa and red Coca-Cola machine work well together. The impression I have gotten from Wim Wender's work is a contemporary yet vintage feel, about the American society and landscape.

Looking deeper into Wim Wender's biography online, his work has engaged me. A German film director, playwright, author, photographer and film producer, he seems to be a man of many talents! Steering away from his photographic background, I have taken an interest in his music video work, as that is something I do personally as work with my partner. His music videos are still very contemporary, reflecting his photographic work.

I am pretty happy that I have received Wim Wenders as my photographer to research, and tomorrow I will be visiting the library to read up on the recommended book, Written in the West!

wimwenders.com

The photograph I have chosen above is very moody and isolated, an unlike the photograph above, doesn't reflect a culture or place. Overall, his photographs are of places rather than people!

Moving back to my presentation, I have to produce an eight minute presentation in a pair, I have been paired with Cherry so we are going to work together to do independent research to compile our presentation. We have to comment on their oeuvre and selected monograph of Wim Wenders. Our lecturer has compiled a list of the things we need to consider:

Oeuvre

- What is their approach? What tradition does their work belong to?

- What is their work about?

- How is their work made?

- What techniques/equipment do they use?

- Where have they published their work?

Do they have both commercial and artistic practice?

Monograph

-What was the social context at the time of the works production? (consider the year, location, political or economic climate, the photographer's own personal circumstances, etc.)

- Is there an interesting story to tell about the way the work was made (consider the technical, psychological or social challenges the photographer faced in making this work?)

- Is the work considered to be important or significant in any way; if so, why and by whom?

- What are the recurring themes or ideas contained in this body of work?

- Consider the book design - orientation, scale, paper texture and weight, the materiality of the cover and binding, as well as the layout

- Are the images presented full-bleed on a page or are they framed?

How prominent is any text accompanying each image?

- Consider the information accompanying each image, including text, graphics, drawings, captions, titles etc.