Eli Nixon: Private Investigator
Intrinsic to the value of photography since the 19th century is the belief in the realism of the medium and the camera as a truth-device. Since the mid 20th century, it has been argued by critics such as Alan Trachtenberg, Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag that the photograph only records the surface appearance of people and events; the complex meanings and truths implied by a photo are created constructs associated with the viewer’s sensory and memory experiences. Photographs describe not “reality”, but an individual perspective seen and documented.Susan Sontag explains in her classic book On Photography, "The photographer was thought to be an ...Read more
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tags: Eli Nixon archive mystery crime police private eye forensic photography anthropology film documentary
Oh Christ! Destroying the Art of Sacrilege
On Thursday, a piece of art inspired by conquest inspired its own violent demise. The artwork, a Pre-Columbian styled codex by Enrique Chagoya, titled The Misadventures of Romantic Cannibals (pictured above), on display at the Loveland Museum Gallery in Loveland Colorado was ripped to pieces by 56 year old Kathleen Lorie Folden, who drove nearly 700 miles from Montana to do so.The 7.5" x 90" twelve panel foldable book, made from the same paper as its ancient Meso-American counterparts, depicted a clash of cultural icons, like much of Chagoya's work. Chagoya, a Mexican born artist who has been living in the US for the last 20 years, and currently holds a position as an associate art professor...Read more