This past Friday was the opening of several shows at the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center. The two that stand out the most in my mind were Counter: Photography, Japan's Artist Today and Landscapes. I was most impressed with all the photography, but mostly one in particular "Absence" by Hiroko Inoue, 2000. This piece had several wooden boxes in rows portraying a building with the images printed on cloth laying on top of the boxes. The images were taken from inside a mental hospital and most or all of the images have bars by the windows. I was first attracted to this piece because it was unlike the rest. The images felt trapped and somewhat a little bit lonely, however I feel that was the purpose of the artist. Overall I enjoyed this piece and thought it had a strong concept.
While I was at First Friday I was also able to see Leslie Raymond 's show (my new media professor). I had never seen her work before and thought it was original. The installation was called Landscapes which had a total of nine small tv's with nine different types of landscapes recorded and played over a certain amount of time. Each tv gave you a certain mood and different season, which for lack of a better word was very cool. I really enjoyed going to First Friday and will post the pictures I took as soon as possible.
