2002! my review for a Photography course....

I was going through my files today in my online storage and came across an interesting feature! I did not know I had the option of searching for my files by date, so upon further searching I found a photography exhibit review that I wrote in 2002 about Robert Frank's photography and video exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CMN 2552B Image et Communication Le 8 Juillet, 2002 Robert Frank: More Than Meets the Eye. A Critique of Hold Still-Keep Going at The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa. Robert Frank is an artist, as well as a photographer who has worked with various mediums throughout his career. He first started out as a "commercial and film-still photographer in Switzerland in the 1940's" according to writer Ann Sass. In 1947 he came to New York and became a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar. His exhibit Hold Still-Keep Going at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography contains at least 30 (or more) photographs, as well as several of his films. I found it quite difficult to absorb the overall meaning of each work as I did not have the time to closely examine each work, therefore I have chosen to review the three pieces that stood out the most to me and whose meaning I think I understood. Overall my impression of Robert Frank as a photographer is that he wants the viewer to think his works and photographs are very simple pieces that do not have much substance behind them. But, on a closer look, the viewer sees that he (Frank) has taken his photographs in a very calculated and organized manner. That is why I feel there is more than meets the eye in most of Robert Frank’s work. One photograph that really stood out was that of "Goodbye Mr. Broodvitch" (1972). At the first glance the viewer sees a vending machine. A first impression could be "what does this have to do with a goodbye?" Upon closer examination, the viewer sees that in the vending machine (Frank) has placed many messages relating his moving from New York to Canada. There are some messages such as the date he is departing New York on a food wrapper, some other sayings, as well as that he is headed for Mabou, Nova Scotia. To the person who only takes a quick glance, this photo looks very superficial; but there is really a deeper meaning to it. Another photograph that stands out in my memory is that of the nude woman in her house with --------4am written on it. My first impression of the photo was that it looked quite voyeuristic and made me wonder why he would take this photo, and who the message was meant for. Upon learning that the woman in the photograph is his wife, the arrangement of the photo makes more sense. It seems he is trying to share some of his personal life with the viewer. Once you learn the background behind his photos, you have a completely different perception of his ideas and work. The last piece I recall seeing was one of his films that looks like it was shot in an Arabic country and involves men handling snakes in cages. At first impression this video is very rudimentary looking, like it was shot on a home video camera very randomly. After watching the short film where the viewer sees snakes being handled and put in cages, I thought it took place in another country altogether. After viewing this film I learnt it was shot in America (as far as I recall). It seems that again, Robert Frank is trying to play with the perceptions and stereotypes that his audience could have about Arab people. I got the impression that he was trying to reinforce the idea that we still have many stereotypes about other cultures in his film. Overall, I think Robert Frank is a good social commentator and has done a very effective job of speaking through images that can be understood by (almost) everyone. His images are realy worth (more than) a thousand words- they speak for themselves.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hopefully you will find this interesting as well and will be interested in learning more about Robert Frank's art!