Mobile phones and comtemporary artists

This interesting Artsy article describes how contemporary artists communicate via their mobile phone cameras. Also it informs us of an exhibit that features some of these digital photos.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-famous-artists-swap-iphone-photos-creativity-ensues?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10156555-07-25-17-Editorial&utm_content=banner&utm_term=Editorial%20Email%20-%20Daily

Photographing Endangered Species

Endangered Species

I learned of this photographer and his effort to photograph the world's endangered species.
Please read his story here.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-photographer-mission-document-12-000-animal-species-extinct

Procrastination: Why?

The Art Of Procrastination

     Hello, friends! Tax day is just around the corner. True to form I have procrastinated again this

year. "Why," I ask myself. There is just no really rational answer to this question. Technology was

supposed to save me this year. I could download my W2's from www.mytaxforms.com

This site did successfully access my first one, and I was able to print it. Then I tried to access my

second form with no success. I called the help center number but they online recording was of no

help. It suggests that I call my employer but that number's recording refers me back to the tax

website. So now I am trapped in a technological conundrum of my creation. Next year I will do better

and start to get it together early. Don't bet on it though!

Objective Chance

Look To The Skies

     This article describes the art

work of Tacita Dean. Her work is in a

style called Objective Chance, which

is a sub-genre of Surrealism.

http://www.wallpaper.com/art/in-the-clouds-tacita-dean-looks-to-las-skies-for-her-latest-body-of-work?utm_campaign=facebook+&utm_source=social+&utm_medium=social+&xid=wallpaper_socialflow_facebook#149692

Mexican Artists Fight Female Stereotypes

Nine Mexican Women Fight Stereotypes in their Printmaking

Feminism in Mexico is often divided chronologically into peak periods followed by lulls: the Revolutionary period (1915-1925), the Second Wave (1968-1990, peaking in 1975-1985), and the post-1990 period.[1] While feminism may be defined as a set of organized philosophy and activity aimed at creating, defining, and protecting political, economic, cultural, and social equality in women’s rights and opportunity,[2][3] Marta Lamas and other feminists caution that the women's movement in Mexico can not be equated with the feminist movement.[4] Lamas, a leading Mexican feminist, laments that the Mexican feminist movement has always been weak and has struggled in the modern era to move beyond Mexico City's middle class to working-class and rural women.[5] In the Revolutionary period where a broader spectrum of women from throughout Mexico were seeking suffrage, the movement lacked sophistication and focus, evident in the fact that Mexican women did not gain the vote until 1953.[6] Women's equality demands, per Lamas, stem from a situation where women are juggling between household commitments and underpaid jobs. As most Mexican women in the upper and middle classes are provided with domestic help, women are more accepting of traditional gender roles.[7] For many Mexican women, assisting other women through benevolent organizations and charitable works is in-line with their traditional view of womanhood, whereas a radical approach might meet with disdain or even violence.[8]

The level of education one has attained has played a large part in Mexican feminism. Schoolteachers, in most cultures, are some of the first women to enter the work force and the same was true in Mexico.[6] Many of the early feminists who emerged from the Revolution were teachers either before or after the war,[9] as were the participants of the Primer Congreso Feminista, the first feminist congress in Mexico.[6] The participants in the Mexico 68 clashes who went on to form that generation's feminist movement were predominantly students and educators.[10] The advisers who established themselves within the unions after the 1985 earthquakes were educated women who understood the legal and political aspects of organized labor. What they realized was that to form a sustained movement and attract working class women, they needed to utilize worker's expertise and knowledge of their jobs to meld a practical, working system.[11]

Because Mexico was dominated by one political party for 71 years, women's roles as mothers was politicized, marginalizing the political involvement of feminism to a great degree before 2000.[12] This narrow view of women often put feminist goals at odds with activities that they also supported. For example, both state run and national programs, likeDIF, offer welfare assistance and food supplements to low income women. To receive the benefits, the government requires women to take classes in domestic skills. Programs target skill programs that tie women to domesticity or are low-skill without evaluation as to whether those programs are appropriate or needed in the local marketplace. The systemic "blindness" with regard to the official recognition of women's roles allows women no input in the programs designed to help them, nor recognition of the achievements they have made from organizing and agitating for change.[13]

As of the most recent Gender Gap Index measurement of countries by the World Economic Forum in 2014, Mexico is ranked 80th on gender equality.[14]

http://hyperallergic.com/283179/nine-mexican-women-fight-stereotypes-in-their-printmaking/

Postwar German Avant Garde Art

German Art After World War Two

     Otto Pienes was a German Avant

Garde artist who worked in post-war

Germany. He began a movement

called Elemental Art. Abstract

Expressionism, Cubism, and

Surrealism were major art

movements that influenced him. To

learn more please read the following

article.

Elemental Art: Post WW2 German Avant Guard Movement
http://hyperallergic.com/278797/firestarter-otto-pienes-elemental-art/

Art Work In February

My Recent Artwork

     I have been busy these past few

weeks in February working indoors.

So most of my new photographs are

mainly in the Still-life genre.

     

Phototography And Urban Renewal

The Construction Of A New Restaurant

     I live in an urban cultural/

entertainment district called Grand

Center, Inc. Located in Midtown St.

Louis, this area has made great

strides in urban renewel. In the past

few years several renovation

projects have begun.

     One such project is my 

apartment complex which was

created from a eight story

dilapidated retail/office building.

Directly across the street from

where I live is a remodeled three

story building dating from the 50s

and 60s. Now the building is home

to an arts center, university

extension, and a nonprofit

organization.

     In January construction was

started on a rooftop restaurant.  My

seventh floor apartment overlooks

the construction site. It has been fun

to watch the construction process

from the very beginning.

     Soon I got the idea to photograph

the ongoing activity. In doing so I am

creating a visual record of the

restaurant's creation from beginning

to end. I am happy to share a few of

these photos with you.

My Return To Blogging

My Return To Blogging

     After several years I feel inspired

to start blogging again. It is hard to

believe, but I used to have three

blogs going at the same time. It was

fun and I had loyal readers.

   
     I wonder what happens to

abandoned blogs? Do they wander

aimlessly in a digital space? Are they

captured by bigger blogs and orbit

them like digital space junk? Did any

of my past readers post comments

that were never answered? This last

question makes me feel a little guilty.

I hope that I didn't create any bad

karma. Perhaps bad karma is what

makes my cell phone misbehave so

often.

   
     With this blog I will be a

responsible blogger. I promise on

the grave of my previous blogs.

   
     Unidentified Hanging Objects, digital photo,
     2014 by Sandra Fischetti

  

     Self-Portrait In Green Coat, digital

     Portrait by Sandra Fischetti

     01/2016,

     

https://www.facebook.com/      fischetti.sandra/