robert frank's "the americans"

I really enjoyed seeing the Robert Frank exhibit at the National Gallery. In my art and studies, I am interested in American identity and iconography and that is what I liked most about Frank's work. He is a foreigner, so in coming to America and creating this body of work, one might expect for it to be covered in commentary and the photographic "hand of the artist." I don't think it's like that at all. I feel as though Frank truly captured the essence of the American spirit and let the photos offer commentary on themselves, not the other way around, making for some very effective photographs. 

julia scher

Julia Scher's work "explores issues related to electronic security." Scher creates installation pieces based on the idea of surveillance and then digitally alters the data that she collects, thus illustrating the way in which surveillance can be both faulty and altered.

Of her own work, Scher says that she first saw surveillance "in terms of looking at landscape." I find this to be interesting because landscape is often a subject in traditional painting or drawing, however, in appropriating this subject into digital media with an entirely new purpose, Scher really is making a statement about contemporary art.

john klima

John Klima, a photography major from SUNY Purchase, created "Glasbead." "Glasbead" is an interface that "exemplifies the convergent nature of new media art." It is an interactive online artwork and can be found here. Klima was inspired to create this piece by Herman Hesse and his novel entitled "The Glass Bead Game." Klima's work is considered to be interdisciplinary in that he employs techniques learned from being a software designer as well as attending art school, but also that he incorporates literature into the meaning of his work. Having all of those influences allows for his work to be multi-dimensional in a way that can often be true of new media artists.