About Me

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MICHAEL SCHREIER Michael Schreier is a professional artist and photographer who has dedicated his considerable professional career to the celebration of both the public and private hero. Recent work includes Storyteller, Waiting for Words at the Ottawa Art Gallery, curator Emily Falvey, 2009, and the curating of the exhibition Dave Heath, A Heritage of Meaning, 2013 at the Ottawa Art Gallery. Selected works are represented in both public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the National Archives Photography Collection, the Agnes-Etherington Art Centre, the Canadian Portrait Gallery, Visual Studies Workshop, (Rochester, New York), Light Works Workshop, Syracuse New York, Carleton University Art Gallery, and the University of Ottawa Library Special Collections.

Sunday 24 January 2016




Camera Obscura is dedicated to Dave Heath and Jim Borcoman



Post #2


(cursor on photograph, for detailed viewing)





The Snapshot, History Painting and A Storyteller, Waiting for Words



                                   
                           



   the archivist's muse    
 Tears for an Empty Desert 

Double-page layout edited to adjust for blog.
2006, Michael Schreier




                            As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe. 1640                                         Family Portrait
                                   Jacob Jordaens,                                                                          circa 1985
                              National Gallery of Canada                                                           Michael Schreier


I am most appreciative to the National Gallery of Canada for its clear and informative essay concerning Jacob Jordaen's painting As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe, 1640.  Essay/History to Jordaen's As The Old Sing.


However, allow me to digress for a moment and return to my father's portrait from the previous posting:







                                                                                 Portrait of my father,
                                                                                         circa 1985

                                            Michael Schreier, From artist's book Tears for an Empty Desert, 2006

  Prior to his death, and for several years, my father referenced Austria's daily journals; prompted perhaps by an increasing anxiety for his decision to sever all ties with his European roots, he came to realize that returning would be impossible. My father expressed serious difficulty with this portrait, as it may have highlighted an uneasiness, that his privileged musings could be so readily recognized. His accidental death in 2005 suggested a deeper unresolved ambiguity: my response would be the threnody,
Tears for an Empty Desert, 2006. 
   
   
  Gaile McGregor's  The Wacousta Syndrome: Explorations in the Canadian Langscape, associated with James Fenimore Cooper's iconic The Leatherstocking Tales, explores this unique aspect of Canadian identity. Although focused on the routine pragmatics of daily life    in one's adopted culture    one might still experience a memory of and yearning for one's homeland. She suggests this metaphor of loss as an intrinsic element within the Canadian cultural profile. 

                           Note: the word Langscape is McGregor's, delineating vision as a product of language and voice. 




                             
( Page layout, one year after my father's death, 
                                                                        included in Tears for an Empty Desert.) 
                                                                
                                                                                 2006
                                                                          Collection of the Artist, Michael Schreier.


Further, as my father's death would mark our familial tragedy, its circumstance would reflect a more critical absurdity    an embrace for the unknown.



                                                                                Remember 
                                                                                    2006

                                                  ( Portrait of my mother, one year after my father's death, 
                                                           included in Tears for an Empty Desert.) 
                                                                
                                                               Collection of the Artist, Michael Schreier.


Drawing, circa 1983, included in Shaman's Witness, 2008
Hilde Schreier


 As suggested, a memory, a photograph or work of art may offer a portal to thought. I first viewed Jordaens' master work at the National Gallery of Canada in 1968. At the time, I was very interested in theater, having the previous year in high school, with deep conviction and premature hubris, directed Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. A master of the theater of the absurd, Ionesco touches the very core separating the frailty of memory from storytelling. I have discovered that Jordaens' work interrogates similar notions and I would over the course of my career, when accessible, return to this painting as it continues to enlighten current interests and direction.



( Considering another of Ionesco's plays ) 








                                                         Page Layout from Shaman's Witness, the 2nd in the trilogy:
                                                             
                                                                  -Tears for an Empty Desert
                                                                  -Shaman's Witness
                                                                  -Storyteller/Waiting for Words

                                                             Michael Schreier, Artist's Book circa 2005-9, 
                                                                 
                                                                                       (paintings and drawings, Hilde Schreier,
                                                                   photographs, Michael Schreier)




From Series:  A Warm Smile is an Attribute of Charm,
1973, Michael Schreier
(Cyanotype)

Collection: National Gallery of Canada

     






Remote
2013

                                                            From work-in-progress series, (working title; The Differend)
                                                                                                  Collection of the Artist, Michael Schreier

 True absurdity, I propose, renders elements of both tenderness and empathy. A reverence for humanity's mystery might suggest that the story told, reflects an ethic to be revealed. Would the snapshot simply offer a confirmation, without any judgement or alternative rationale? Or might one consider it less than casual? The snapshot    of that prodigious moment    requires both a motive and then directive. Yet the artist may employ this common style, engaging with a more comprehensive dialectic, while framed within the rubric    one of numerous    "to witness".  Eric Fischl's Krefeld Project touches on chords of melancholy, sadness, and humor, with little contemporary cynicism, embracing complex thoughts for loss and bewilderment, a truly masterful work. His work underscores the very nature of  contemporary history painting and storytelling and can be referenced with Paula Rego's Pillowman and Balthus and the Cardgame.


                                                                            Conversation/Pause,
                                                                                       2015
                                                              
                                                            From work-in-progress series, (working title; The Differend)
                                                                                           Collection of the Artist, Michael Schreier   



It is during moments of doubt, while still embracing with the quotidian, that I allow myself a respite in reverie    a reflective silence    a nurturing of a sense of place. The snapshot, I suggest, is always linked with storytelling, offering each of us a window to continuity and a mirror for the self. Finally Jean-François Lyotard's The Differend: Phrases in Dispute suggests a unique perspective; consider an interim both a tie to and separation from immediacy in which a generated pause is exiled from continuity and rational thought.





Gyorgy Kurtag's remarkable composition resonates to voice, silence and the orchestration of space.




                                                                                       Family Moment  
                                                                                               2015

                                                                 From series, (working title; The Differend)
                                                                                                 Collection of the Artist, Michael Schreier        
                                                                            


     
                                                        Diptych: From series Portraits in Silence, 2003, 
                                                                  Collection of the Artist, Michael Schreier

                                     16..04..03, 13..45..15                                                 16..04..03, 13..40..11
                                    
                                    (#s metadata timeline for photograph: day..month..year..hour..minute..second)

(note the order for the placement of the photographs in the diptych: the time line clearly indicates that the photograph on the right was taken first. What might this artist's intentional reversal imply?

A blog traditionally offers chronologically connected observations with historical references: it can also become an independent voice playing with associated imagery and thought. This blog is of the latter, not attempting to categorize logic with existing rationale but to offer an exploration for both unity and chaos. 

This blog may be its own Storyteller/Waiting for Words



 Disappearing Numbers
from exhibition, 
Storyteller/ Waiting for Words, 2009

Ottawa Art Gallery, Curator, Emily Falvey
Collection of the artist, Michael Schreier

( Cursor images for detailed viewing.)


Post #3  
The Constructed Image/Directorial Mode and the Sequence 
February 7, 2016






                                                       

























                             

Thursday 21 January 2016

1. An Introduction to Camera Obscura



Camera Obscura is dedicated to Dave Heath and Jim Borcoman



Post #1




An Introduction to Camera Obscura



(Camera Obscura is dedicated to Dave Heath and Jim Borcoman)

(cursor on photograph, for detailed viewing)


  For some time I have been considering writing a blog exploring photographic vision, thought and the continuity of knowledge. The privilege of a productive career as an artist and professor in the visual arts department at the University of Ottawa has encouraged a perspective grounded in Art History, and Photography; with a deep appreciation for painting, music, poetry and philosophy. While providing critical thinking for a student's understanding and appreciation of their vision, our discussion focused on an individual's obligations in the pursuit of a personal language. Supported by formal constraints, they addressed inherent possibilities for future direction. Personally, I am grateful for this time and our conversations as they have assisted me in nurturing a more comprehensive understanding of my own work.    


Brother and Sister
Vienna, Circa 1932


As an objective document the photograph reflects a moment in time: with quiet subtlety it may also provide an intuitive and penetrating subtext.


 Camera Obscura, a "room without clarity", of both entry and exit, (access to be granted), a metaphor suggesting a passage from one moment to the next, from one space to the next, a continuity to be discovered, rendering a palimpsest; in another context, A Room of One's OwnVirginia Woolf offers an interrogation for recognition within one's professional community; moreover, a discovery for one's perspective and immediate sense of place in history. She reflects upon an artist searching for a Room of One's Own, that her singular insight might encompass a lifetime of progressive thought. This blog accepts Virginia Woolf's challenge to embrace the mystery and grace of one's vision. 

 I discovered the photograph, Brother and Sister, Vienna, Circa 1932 of my mother and her brother in our family album in the late 70's. An unnamed photographer has provided a kindred moment. Considering this photograph over the years, I have come to realize that concerns explored in my professional practice emerge and are evident in this photograph. So what is there yet to be discovered?  It has afforded me a portal for thought. I also find myself in tandem with Roland Barthes. Shortly after his mother's death while studying a similar photograph, he mused that his family album might provide him some clarity for perhaps a lost coherency and sense of place. However, Barthes would discover an appreciation for the intrinsic value and curse of doubt. His tract Camera Lucida followed.




Page layout from artist's book, Tears for an Empty Desert,                                     Michael Schreier, 2006


In the mid 80's and for the first time, I arrived at my mother's previous address, entering a courtyard of her apartment complex. 
The new photograph would be juxtaposed with Vienna, Mother and Brother, Circa 1932. I had mistakenly assumed it to be the same courtyard. The tree behind my mother is, in the more recent photograph, located on the other side of the wall. However my vantage from an adjacent courtyard would prove fortuitous. One of numerous themes, evolving in my work, reflects on the metaphor and value of passage, that unattainable space or the memory of one's lost history. While offering traces of previous play, the density of this wall restricts me and the reader from any access to my mother's privileged childhood sanctuary. One may however discover other connections between the two photographs, underscoring a more contemporary reading and understanding.




                                             My parents and I leave Vienna for Canada in 1953.

This photograph begins a small family album assembled by my grandmother, photographs sent by my father hoping to retain some link to our "Heimat" (homeland), while harboring only little intention to return. My grandmother labelled this photograph "Im Schiff" 
(on the boat), left of center, lining up with my outstretched arm, perhaps searching for that last virtual embrace. Both my father and I seemingly cite our attention with the handwritten "Im Schiff" while my mother joyously smiles towards an unknown bystander. Neither is aware of the specter looming behind, so reminiscent of Christo's work, assemblages and constructions for the undisclosed and looming past. Further, I have always been intrigued by the strangers' choreographed dance of silence and distance, absorbed, living their lives totally disassociated from the confirmation of this moment.

As a reader of this moment, I am aware of the significance of my immediate history while accepting those present but unavailable musings of others. 




Page layout from artist's book, Tears for an Empty Desert,                                     Michael Schreier, 2006



                                                                 


                                                       Gnossienne 1/piano, Alessio Nanni
                                                              
                                      A remarkable performance, with (reflected hands), recorded at 
                                      White Noise Factory Laboratory, November 23, 2009.







                                                       Digital Photograph, 2015/16 from series "Museum's Muse"
                                                                                  Michael Schreier


This introduction to Camera Obscura has offered one of many ways to read an image. To assume that an image includes a motif to be channeled, allows the author an entry to conversation. I would suggest that an artist, in concert with their work may address valuable implications leading to new directions. Implications can be of formal concern as well as of content and of ideas. This blog focuses on the development of ideas suggested in the musing of one's work. Further at a time of doubt the work may inform an artist's perspective, proposing a more coherent understanding. I have always encouraged this process as it reasserts continuity.

     

The next posting: The Snapshot, History Painting and A Storyteller, Waiting for Words 




                         Jacob Jordaens: As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe. 1640               Michael Schreier: Family at Lunch, 1985
                         Collection of the National Gallery of Canada                                       Collection of the Artist                                        



( Now that the blog has been published I realize some may not know that selecting or tapping on a photograph / illustration enlarges the image and any text included. This is quite beneficial for text that may have been mastered in Photoshop and then entered in the blog. It is much clearer, allowing for a detailed viewing. Further, it is my intention to post a new entry on the Sunday of the next week.  The Snapshot, History Painting and A Storyteller, Waiting for Words will be published on
January 31, 2016.)