News, Changes and Discoveries

Hi everyone:

After a very long wait, I'm coming to you from my new office/studio. It's about 90% complete, which is enough for me to be able to work, blog, and find other ways to cause trouble. Over the last couple of hours, while doing some work, I got a healthy dose of vitamin D from the natural light in my window and a smile crossed my face as the birds chirped their approval of my latest itunes selection and blogging music for the day - U2...in an effort to get pumped for the concert in July. Crappy i-phone picture below to give you hint of what I'm alluding to:

Where's all the equipment you ask? Well, my supplies consist of the following:

-A 1920's bakelite camera

-Papers and boards

-Cutting implements and surfaces

-Super-secret chemistry

-Computer

-External drive

-Printer

Everything but the computer equipment resides in a closet located in the studio - so everything is within easy reach, but the space remains uncluttered. This helps greatly in hatching evil schemes.

So, you're probably wondering if I've actually done anything in this new space. Glad you asked - indeed I have. If you take a look at the website (www.sirinsky.com), you'll notice some changes...some subtle, some a little more obvious. A new image is up, some older images are gone, the order has been shuffled around a little bit, and there have even been some minor design changes to the site itself. So after you're done here, go there and explore!

I've also come to some realizations about what direction(s) I want my work to take. Lately, I've had this yearning to get back to the basics. Camera-film-image; but still using my antique camera and adding my own special flavor.

My painterly series has consumed me for a few years now - which has been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it has helped me to really delve into a style in a way I haven't in the past. And, I'm by no means done - there's much more to do and I look forward to seeing where it goes. But, on the flip-side, there have been times where it felt like fitting a square peg into a round hole. If I have a shot I really love, that still says "Marc Sirinsky's work," but it doesn't work with the "process" for whatever reason, do I ignore it? Do I save it for some other time? Can someone really devote themselves to multiple bodies of work at once or does it simply show immaturity as an artist?

The most recent shot I posted to the site (which many of you have seen on the blog) showed me that if it's done right, you can develop multiple bodies of work at once. The key is to not spread yourself too thin, and make sure that all the work you're creating is truly yours. Being all over the place is not good for one's development, but allowing your own personal style, subject matter and perspective to translate across more than one body of work is completely achievable, and can actually keep all of your work fresh.

All artists have pieces they've created that have signified a key moment in their career - a discovery or turning point that informs their work in some way going forward. I personally have several - some of which are on the site and some aren't. I haven't had one in a while - but I think this one is a game-changer. How much of one and in what way has yet to be seen.

I've got a bunch more images waiting in the wings, and now that the studio is ready, I can work on those in the next week or two.

I'll leave you with some recent publishing news. An image of mine has been published on the Tumblr site for a contemporary photography blog entitled Slightly Lucid. This is a great blog - with a well-edited group of images, and their Tumblr site is also very well done. Check it out:

http://tumblr.slightlylucid.com/

Stay tuned for more!

-Marc

Mission Accomplished

Hi everyone:

Happy spring! Sorry it's been a while - I haven't been myself lately and have had some trouble making time for art-related activities. Hopefully I'm back on the horse for good now. Blogging tunes today are a bit of a mish-mosh: a new playlist with some White Lies, some very old New Order, a little Social Distortion...a nice mix to keep the blood moving.

So, in my last post, I showed y'all this new image I had, and complained that the retouching on it was going to be a complete pain in the ass. Well, I finally got around to working on this image again, and I'm pretty please with the results. Below is a before, and an after:

Before:

After:

When attacking this little project, I kept trying to convince myself that simply cropping out that baby swing was fine. Well, it wasn't. The image just wasn't as strong - all of the other elements were exactly where I wanted them - which makes sense, since I do most of my composing "in camera," rather than in post. So, bottom line: a baby out there is gonna be missing his swing.

So, what was involved here? Well, I first attacked the ropes that the swing was hanging from. I knew those would be the easiest - the sky and trees were an irregular pattern with textures and tones that would be relatively easy to clone and blend. It took a little while, but that particular piece was relatively painless. Then came the tough part - the swing itself. I not only needed to get rid of the swing, but also had to build out what was behind it - part of the house, roof and chimney. I hit the chimney first - and even added a little sun glare to give it some depth and not make it look like one continuous blob. The house was a little tricky - getting the lines and the tones to match up properly took a little time, but all in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. This was a good exercise for me - it had been a while since I'd taken on such a major retouching project, and it's nice to know that I haven't completely lost my touch.

The next trick will be to see if I keep the image "as is," or run it through my printing process. I'll probably run it through the process first - just to see what the colors do when they hit the paper. I hope to get to that this week, so I'll let everyone know the results!

Also, that roll of film should finally be processed by now (lab was running behind), so hopefully I'll have a lot more news soon. So, stay tuned - and be well!

-Marc

New Images, New Supplies, New Discoveries...

Good morning loyal blog readers:

Now that I've finished my chai and am a little more caffeinated, I can talk to y'all with some level of coherence. Blogging music today is The Cranberries. I'm not a huge fan of their dreamy stuff, but they can really rock when they want to. One of my favorite concert memories is seeing them in a tiny club in Chicago with my sister-in-law - that version of Salvation was worth the trip all by itself!

On the art front - I have a new roll of film currently being processed. It's b/w, so it may take a little while - this shop hand processes b/w film still (I know - crazy, right?), so the guy waits until he has a sizeable pile of film from other retro folks like me so he can do them all at once. Could be a week or more - we'll see.

I haven't gotten back to the image I posted last week - not a large enough chunk of time to finish it off. I also just bought a new printer...which is replacing the old one I used for part of the printing process. This new printer is awesome (wireless, which is helpful), but I'm not sure how the inks will behave - so there may be some trial and error before I can really dig in again. We'll see...but I plan to get on it this week if possible.

In other news, I recently made my first trip to the Phillips Collection in DC. For a museum of it's size, it is easily the best permanent collection I've ever seen. Several major stars of art history are there: "Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Renoir, "The Uprising" by Daumier and "The Road Menders" by Van Gogh - among many others. However, my favorite was a landscape by Courbet called "The Mediterranean." I'm not typically a huge Courbet fan - he falls into the same category for me as Manet. I appreciated what they did for the history of art, but I don't typically enjoy looking at them (with the exception of their works on paper.) But, this one just blew me away. I must have come back to it 3 or 4 times during my trip to the museum - it's just a masterpiece...simple as that. I'd post a version here - but you really need to see it in person to appreciate it (particularly in terms of the colors). Google it if you want to get a sense...

Anyway, that's all for now. More to come soon - hopefully the next entry will include a newly finished piece!

-Marc

New and a Little Different

Hello Blog Fans:

Well, it took me a few weeks, but here comes the first entry of the year from your's truly. I've been a bit under the weather the past several weeks - but am feeling better now and am ready to jump into the new year with a new image and some good work ahead.

Blogging music today - Face to Face (Live). One of my favorite live bands of all time - they recently got back together, are touring again and have a new album coming out at some point soon. Just the right mix of grit and melody...

Ok, back to business now. So, I recently shot an entire roll of film on one subject. Now, this is a rarity for me - I tend to shoot conservatively (contrary to what every photo teacher I've ever had has instructed me to do). I guess it's the photo editor in me. Well, in this case, I thought the scene warranted more attention for 2 reasons. Firstly, it was very cool...I'd had my eye on it for a while and didn't know if I could do it justice, but I wanted several attempts at it...since the camera I use can be kinda finicky. Secondly, the scene itself and the lighting involved was a bit complicated. Lots of highlights and shadow - small details, etc...things that are not always conducive to my style and printing process. Well, the film is back, scanned and I've got the beginnings of a cool image here. Oh, and it's color!

Keep in mind that this is pretty raw - only minor adjustments were made thus far. One thing I did do was build the rope holding the tire - the lighting faded it into the background too much, so I had to recreate some of it...but no biggie. I have some decisions to make on this one: do I keep it color or change to b/w? Do I keep it as a straight image or run it through the printing process? And, the other thing I'm not sure about - that damn baby swing. Removing it is really complicated due to the what's behind it, so my choices really are to leave it or crop it out. Problem is, I really like the house to the right, so cropping out that swing would make for a pretty unbalanced image...and not in a good way based on my first impression. Decisions decisions, but I think this one could be a winner when I'm done with it. I'll post the final image when complete so everyone can see how it evolved.

Other than that - I discovered that the camera I've been shooting with for almost 10 years is made from bakelite, not plastic. This material is the predecessor to modern plastic...and people made everything out of it...jewelry, radios, accessories...and yes...cameras. Kinda cool that the piece even has more history than I initially thought.

I plan to do some more shooting the next couple of weeks, so hopefully more images soon! In the meantime, stay warm!

-Marc

2010 Parting Shot

Hi everyone:

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I had a nice, quiet one over here - Thai food for Christmas dinner (decided to change it up from the Jewish tradition of Chinese), ice sculptures at the National Harbor in MD and some good family time.

I have the house to myself for a couple of hours, so I'm chowing on coconut shrimp while the Afghan Whigs blare through my tiny laptop speakers. For my money, this isn't a bad way to spend an evening.

So, I promised everyone a new image before the end of the year. Here it is:

I've been toying with whether or not the image would make sense on the website. What do you guys think? Let me know. If you don't, you leave me to my own devices - and everyone knows how dangerous that can be!

Also, don't forget to visit Bell Studio on Southport to catch some of my work before it comes down! It's right by the Southport "L" - so snow or cold is no excuse. You're Chicagoans, right? No room for wussies in Chi-town - so get out there!

Happy Early New Year everyone! Lots more to come in 2011!

-Marc

New and News

Happy Holidays y'all:

Like my southern twang? I know it doesn't really fit my personality - but ya gotta try somethin' new every once in a while. Blogging music today is Hurricane Bells - a great little band from NYC. It's a new project by the singer of Longwave - one of my favs. Cool stuff...check 'em out (they are streaming both their album and their EP on their website).

So, just got a couple rolls of film back. And.....they're shit. Pretty much complete shit - maybe one or two images are salvageable, but that's about it. That's 3 rolls of film in a row that have basically sucked. Not good - hopefully this will all be left behind in 2010 and 2011 will start out with some great stuff. We'll see - I've got one or two images I shot a couple of months ago that I'm still working on - so I'll try to get those up to the site - or at least here - before the end of the year.

The latest news is that one of my old haunts - Bell Studio in Chicago - has 4 of my pieces up. You Chicagoans out there, get over to the gallery to check them out! They're only up through the end of the year, so get there while the gettin's good! (maybe for a Christmas present for your favorite people on earth?)

Info is:

Bell Studio

3428 N. Southport (at the Brown Line Southport "L" Stop)

Chicago, IL 60657

773-281-2172

Stay warm everyone, and enjoy the holidays. 2011's gonna be a great year - I can feel it.

-Marc

Showing and Shooting

Hi all:

Well, it has been a while and I thought a blog entry on the eve of Thanksgiving was in order. I've got a lot to be thankful for this year - a great family, a fun vacation (which I just got back from), and a bunch of art news.

Blogging music today is The Ramones. Sometimes, you just gotta do it - know what I'm sayin'? Well, let's get right to it - the show at Zolla/Lieberman several weeks back was well-attended from what I understand. I was a bit bummed that they only hung 3 of the 4 pieces I sent them - especially because when Paul (my framer) was framing them, there was interest in one of the pieces. Of course, that's the one that wasn't hung in the show - even though it was initially accepted. Oh well - this kind of stuff happens sometimes...especially when the gallery only has one night to hang an entire show.

However, once that show came down, the pieces moved back to Bell Studio on Southport. I love those guys - and it's always good to show over there. So, drop by and take a peek if you wanna see some new work! Not sure how long they will be up - so get down there and check it out! Info is:

Bell Studio

3428 North Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657-1420
(773) 281-2172

Other than that, I'm busy trying to find a new "home" for my work and am seeking out some publishing opportunities as well. My current body of work now has 10 finished pieces in it, which is enough to begin full-on promotion. For those of you who haven't been on the site in a while, check it out - there's some good new work up there. I've also been doing a ton of shooting - so hopefully I'll have some other new pieces in the not too distant future.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday everyone. More after Turkey Day!


-Marc