Michael
I rarely have the patience or temperament to watch documentaries and
will usually choose a good feature film to burn away the hours instead.
I think growing up being forced to watch 60 minutes and ABC specials
because we only had one TV ruined my perception of how good a story set
in reality can really be. That was until I watched ‘Finding Vivian
Maier.’
I am sure many would be aware by now that I have been playing a major
role in our current side project ‘Vintage Camera’ and part of that has
been getting the opportunity to go out into the streets of Sydney to
take photos on film cameras. It is an extremely intimidating thing, but
is equally as rewarding. When it comes to shooting out in the open and
taking photos of people, knowing how to use the camera is the easiest
thing, but knowing when to use it is extremely difficult. When you’re
out in the wild you have to hunt down photos, to see opportunity in even
the most mundane. You’re telling a story with these images and the
world won’t stop for you. It’s impossible to not insert your personality
into the images, because unlike a landscape or a standard portrait, you
are capturing your unique perspective. You are focusing on what you
want to people to see.
I think what amazes me about Vivian Maier’s work is exactly that; it is
her unique and eccentric personality infused into her images that really
draws you in. Looking at one or two of her images it is easy to think
‘hey, that’s a pretty cool picture’ but it isn’t until you see the sheer
enormity of her work and how extensive it really is that you can truely
understand why people connect so well with it. The more you see, the
more you feel that you understand her. Watching the documentary and
hearing people’s personal accounts on knowing Vivian and her impact on
their lives really broadened my understanding of how the relationship
she had with other people and herself effected her work. It deepened my
appreciation as I was able to see more of her personality coming through
when looking at the images.
Many weeks ago Andrew and I were having a somewhat intense discussion
about what we believed was the ‘truest’, ‘most difficult’ and even
‘best’ form of photography. Before even seeing the documentary I argued
the fact that ‘street photography’, particularly in the style of Vivian
Maier was just that; to which he responded ‘all street photography is,
is taking a photo of an ugly person and somehow that’s insightful’.
While I understand the perspective, especially considering how saturated
the form of photography is with mundane, fairly disconnected work, but
seeing the documentary and the depth to Maier’s work only strengthened
my view. I think the main point of difference with her, is her ability
to draw the duality of emotions in the world, both the precious moments
as well as the darker more morbid ones (which once watching the
documentary you will realise is a reflection of herself). It is for that
reason, the raw emotional connection and allusion, that her work
carries such significance. Not only is her work probably some of the
most thoughtful and unique I have ever and will ever see, I believe that
she is one of the greatest artists that will ever live during our
lifetime.
One of the greatest lessons I took away from watching ‘Finding Vivian
Maier’ is not to seek recognition or praise but to focus on creating and
to take any and all opportunities you can to focus on your purpose.
Being a Nanny may not have given her the financial freedom or
recognition that many seek, and it’s honestly amazing she was able to
afford to shoot so much film throughout her life, especially considering
it was much more expensive back then, then it is now. But by doing so
it gave her the opportunity to connect with people, to spend her days
outside ‘exploring’ and gave her a freedom to create which maybe other
professions wouldn’t have allowed.
Just like her photos, you might get something similar or something
completely different out of the documentary that I got, but
nevertheless, it would be a true disservice to yourself if you never got
to experience her story. I couldn’t recommend highly enough.
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Josh
Who is selling your art?
Finding Vivian Maier - an exploration of a genius, or an example of an opportunistic "art dealer".
Maier is an obvious artistic marvel. Her talents are plain to see, and
this documentary does a fantastic job uncovering and analyzing her art.
But.
And there is always a "but"!
The glaring obvious beyond the genius is the questionable role that John
Maloof plays. John, the discoverer of Vivian's art, and her posthumous
marketer has a vested interest. The story is not uncommon- an art dealer
discovers the next Picasso, buys their art and proceeds to wind up the
marketing train in an attempt to raise awareness.... and value. John
self describes as being opportunistic, going to flea markets and
auctions to try and find lost treasures. There is no doubt that the
artist, art dealer and the audience all benefit from such an uncovering-
but what happens when the artist no longer exists to reap the
benefits?
Vivian can't (and maybe didn't want to) accept the kickback from a
discovery, but Maloof can. The cynic in me points to this as a gaping
hole in the story of the uncovering of someone's beautiful work. But,
without Maloof, there would be no exhibition, no art gallery, no
documentary and maybe no Monday morning newsletter writeup.
Maloof's role could be discussed to no end, but there is an interesting
question that forms from his involvement- "who is selling your art?"
which quickly morphs to, "is art to be sold?", which the descends down
to the seemingly bottomless exploration of the value that art attains. I
wish I could have been Maloof- for the obvious benefits that sitting on
many millions of dollars of negatives has, but also for the luxury to
sit in on a private exhibition of one of the world's best street
photographers, day in- day out. Which one has more value to you?
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Andrew
Paradoxical, bold, mysterious, eccentric, private
“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness” – Aristotle
Albert Einstein and Michelangelo Buonarroti were apparently incredibly
unhygienic. John Nash fully believed he was Emperor of Antarctica. Pablo
Ruiz (Picasso) and Vincent Van Gogh battled chronic depression and
possible schizophrenia. We can see from the vast array of photos taken,
that Ms. Vivian Maier was a genius. The kind like the aforementioned
from both the art and scientific universes. Excelling at some
understanding to a level ‘normal’ people simply cannot attain, but not
without some other part of her person, mental health or otherwise,
having its’ strength sacrificed. This much I think is obvious.
One thing that I think differs Vivian from the rest is that for whatever
reason, she did not share her work. I think it would be foolish to
attempt to rationalise that decision. She clearly was not an entirely
rational person. On top of this, photography is incredibly personal. For
someone who never gave her name and did not actively grow any
meaningful relationships, having someone pry through the literal frames
of her conscious life probably seemed like the last circle of hell.
What were her goals though? So many pictures were not even developed
into negatives. They were literally just single frames she saw once in a
split second and never again. I don’t think it would be fair to say
that she knew they would eventually be developed because she took zero
steps to ensure that. A question one of the documentary’s participants
asks is why hoard art? If the Last Supper was hung in Da Vinci’s
bathroom or if the roof of the Sistine Chapel was instead a mural on the
shady side of a Newtown drug den, what value would it hold? The answer
is simple. Nothing. When a tree falls in a forest with nobody there to
hear it, it doesn’t make a sound.
The fact is, without the effort to make your work known, without at
least trying to force people to look at you and see what you’ve done,
you are condemning it to the only fate that’s worse than death. Never
being alive. This is probably what drove the director of ‘Finding Vivian
Maier’ to bring her work to the fore. It is a similar drive that
restores old, forgotten timepieces. By finding the history or
experiences an object has been through, you pull it from the void into a
higher state of being. We can only thank the director for doing the
same for Vivian.
This documentary really coerced me to look inward and critique how I
spend my own time and what mine own goals are in relation to what I can
contribute to the world around me. As far as I am concerned, bar
replicating to continue the species, finding what we are good at, or
getting good at something, and sharing that with those around us is the
most important thing we should be doing. Whether that’s on an
interplanetary scale like Elon Musk and SpaceX, or becoming a carer for
someone because you have too much love and patience to spend.
As a maker of things, there is no greater joy for me than to hear
someone appreciates the thing I made them. Something that may have been
useful or helpful. Could that be how Vivian saw her photography?
Something that could be created and given to someone to enrich their
lives. We will never know.
There is only one thing I can be sure of. My appreciation for street
photography, especially as a way of showing an audience who you are by
what you see, has grown monumentally.
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James G
"Finding Vivian Maier" was a brilliant film and I was absolutely captivated by the extraordinary photography of its subject.
Vivian Maier's enormous body of work reflects the practice of street
photography in the tradition of Alfred Stieglitz, Henri Cartier Bresson,
Diane Arbus, and Robert Frank. Her eye for framing, composition,
timing, tragedy and humour elevate the seemingly insignificant moments
she documents into ephemeral and powerful images. Given her fascination
with the down trodden, the poor, the overlooked, and the discarded, it
is ironic that Maier was completely unknown as an artist until her
enormous body of work was discovered many years after her death, her
boxes of negatives being auctioned as junk. The institionalised art
world appears to struggle to accept her as an authentic artist, despite
being embraced popularly.
This film provokes reflection about the medium of photography, how we
legitimise what is and is not art, and the nature of time, with its
coincidental junctures that resonate unpredictably. How many other great
artists and works of art have gone undetected, disposed of
unceremoniously, lacking the surprisingly coincidental bringing to light
by someone capable of telling their story like Jeff Maloof? At its
conclusion I was left pondering a number of questions- how do we
understand what is art or refuse, sacred or profane, confidential or
revealed to others, meaningful or trivial, normal or irregular? What is
photography but the contrast of darkness and light?
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James N
I think I should start off by saying I don’t understand photography as
an art form or have any particular attraction to it, nor can I take
pictures that are anything beyond blurry, but this documentary really
surprised me. I’d heard about this documentary from Mr Hacko when he and
Michael really started to get into vintage film cameras and I just
shrugged it off as something that I wouldn’t find even remotely
interesting, but I’m pretty surprised that I was wrong about that.
Despite not having any real appreciation for the art form, the story of
Vivien Maier was pretty amazing if not depressing at the same time. All I
can really say is that I don’t regret taking the time to watch and
absorb what Finding Vivien Maier had to say even though about 50-60
minutes in it got a bit morbid and depressing. | | |
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