Sunday, October 2, 2016

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Hi everyone:

I find myself here on a Sunday, recovering from a party at my house last night, and art is on the brain.    I've got some new work to share from one of my current portfolios, but also some work that is a bit different than...well...anything I've ever done.

First, the new but not the completely new.  I recently created a new photograph for the renamed "Playthings" portfolio on my website (formerly "Vintage Toys").  Here it is:


So, as you can see, this follows the general concept of the existing series.  But, to get describe it a little further, here's a freshly worded artist's statement about this body of work:


"In this series, I’ve chosen to represent the concept of memory through objects that are fraught with emotion during a relatively short, but important time in our lives.  Toys are created not merely as play things, but also as a way for children to relate to the adult world.   These memories are then packed away in playrooms, toy chests and boxes as they are replaced by “real life” experiences. But what happens when these toys are given new life in the “grown-up” environments they were originally created to mimic?  The lines between our innocent, child-like selves and our adult “reality” become a bit more porous… and we realize that maybe the world of our childhood is just as “real life” as the one we now occupy."

I've known that I wanted to take this photo for over a year, but I had to wait until just last weekend.  See, the problem is that I don't have regular access to an airport...you know, TSA rules, the fact I'm not a pilot and all those other pesky details.  Last weekend was our local airshow and during that event, they let the general public into the airport facility to see the planes there, watch the events, etc. So, I brought my 1950's Marx prototype toy plane along for an impromptu photo shoot.  I got some very strange looks as I was down on my belly photographing this thing, but it was worth it.  I shot over 100 photos in less than 10 minutes so I could get in and out of there before someone got suspicious, and the one I ended up using was frame #1.  Probably the first time in recent memory that's ever happened.

Now, back to the title of the post.  In this case, the "something completely different" is actually a series of line drawings I did a few months back.  If you read my recent interview on F-Stop (or Medium, LensCulture or Wobneb... pick your poison), you'll know that drawing, for better or worse, had a major impact on the early part of my photo career.  Well, I saw some work by a Japanese artist named Ko Ushijima and immediately became inspired to create my first ever series of line studies.  For about a week or so, it became an obsession and I was doing one of these a night and posting them immediately to Instagram and Facebook to get a some real-time reactions.  Feedback was quite positive...possibly because they're so different from what I normally do, but I'm pretty pleased with how most of them came out.  Here's a few for your viewing pleasure, in case you haven't seen them already:






I've got some additional images in the hopper and hopefully some more exciting news in the next couple of weeks.  Enjoy the start of my favorite month of the year, and stay tuned for some more new work!

-Marc

Monday, August 15, 2016

Just a taste

Hi everyone:

I know it's been a while and I do have some news to deliver on various fronts.  That info will be forthcoming in a couple of days when I can sit down and write a longer post, but for now, I wanted to let everyone know about an interview I did about my work with my friend and colleague Cary Benbow (a great photographer in his own right.)  It's undoubtedly the most in-depth discussion I've ever had about my work, and I'm really proud of how the article turned out.  Check it:

https://wobnebmagazine.com/2016/08/15/interview-with-photographer-marc-sirinsky/


In the meantime, stay tuned for more photographic tastiness!


-Marc S.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Back From The Dead

Hi everyone:

After a promise that I would be better about posting art news here, this is my first post in all of 2016.   Seriously shameful.  I could provide a ton of excuses, but that doesn't really get us anywhere, does it?
So much has happened, it's hard to know where to start!

In June of 2015, Gallery Plan B (my "home" in Washington, DC) closed its doors.  Since then, I've been working on my current bodies of work, and even managed to start a new one... more on that in minute.  I participated in a couple of group shows - the most enjoyable of which was Art Night DC - a wonderful experience with an incredible array of work.  A lucky design firm is now the proud owner of an image from my "painterly" series, and I hope to do the show again next year.

I also just returned from a trip to Italy, where I of course shot a bunch of images.  For this trip, I actually left my plastic camera at home... a first for me.  I did manage to get some other nice images with the other two camera I brought along for the journey.  Many of course were posted to various social media sites, but I held back a few, including one of my favorites:



I photographed this while en route from Montecatini Terme, IT to the old Etruscan city of Volterra.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out - both as a single image, and for the way it fits into my general portfolio of work.

I also finished an image from a brand new series about an hour ago.   I'm not sure where this series is going, but I have some hopes for it and think it could be a nice change of pace for me, without leading me too far astray from my other work:




The image was shot with an iPhone, but using this really cool microscope called a uHandy by Aidmics Biotechnology.  As many of you know, I look to my personal past and as inspiration for many of my images.  The last time I was in Chicago, I visited the neighborhood where I grew up and took some "samples" from a few select locations.  When I returned, I ran some of the samples through a scientific process and then created the photographs from the results.  This one is from the location of a bicycle accident I had as young kid, and accordingly, the image is called "Crash."   I have high hopes for this series, and unlike most of my other work that tends to be on the small side, I envision these prints being quite a bit larger.   We'll see how it all develops (pun intended - see what I did there?)

So, creating new work and looking for a new gallery home...that about covers it for now.  More updates as they become available, and thanks for sticking with me!

-Marc