23 epiphanies: Ramblings on artistic influences

Power plant accoutrements -- by Joe Reifer

My presentation at last week's Mono Lake Night Photography Festival was about the value of cultivating a diverse set of artistic influences. You are already doing this informally. The idea is to talk or write about your artistic input, as a playground for better understanding how these things are influencing your artistic output.

I had 45 minutes to talk, and spent just under 2 minutes talking about how each of these artists has influenced my night photography. As the presentation was both fast and media intensive, I've reproduced the list of artists below for those who attended the conference.

I encourage you to make your own list of influences. This could be a desert island list of your favorite films, photography books, novels, museum exhibits, dance performances -- whatever you're into. Making a list is the first step -- the epiphanies are born out of process of articulating why you love this work, and how the work has influenced you. The writing doesn't have to be lengthy -- start with one sentence for the why, and one for the how. Have fun, and feel free to share your list.

1. Gordon Matta-Clark: Conical Intersect [video on UbuWeb] [photos & bio on artnet]
2. John Divola: Vandalism Series [photos on divola.com]
3. Roger Ballen: Outland | Shadow Chamber | Boarding House
4. John Pfahl: Altered Landscapes
5. Draw on your image: To be discussed in a future blog post
6. Gaspar Noe: Enter the Void [Netflix]
7. Matthew Barney: Cremaster Cycle
8. Werner Herzog: Of Walking In Ice
9. Mark Rothko: Rothko's Rooms[Netflix]
10. William Vollmann: Imperial
11. Michelangelo Antonioni: Red Desert [Netflix]
12. David T. Hanson: Waste Land
13. Flotation Tanks
14. Haruki Murakami: A Wild Sheep Chase
15. Ikeda Carlotta: Butoh Dance
16. Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story [Netflix]
17. Master Musicians of Jajouka: Apocalypse Across the Sky | Pipes of Pan
18. Lotte Reiniger: The Adventures of Prince Achmed [Netflix]
19. Caspar David Friedrich [friendsofart.net]
20. John Hind: Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight
21. Chris Verene: Family | Chris Verene
22. Jacques Tati: Playtime
23. Erik Kessels: In Almost Every Picture #9 Black Dog

Note: Book and movie links go to Amazon, and help put a few extra pennies into the epiphany research jar.