Gavin Mannino

  Manual Manipulation By Gavin Mannino 3/23/2022   10:23:00 P.M. EST                     Duane Michals, The Illuminated Man  (1968)    Photo Credit ( Duane Michals | Duane michals, Duane, New media art (pinterest.com) )                The common similarity between all the photographs are the surreal, bizarre elements that are present. I feel that those elements make a more interesting spectacle when compared to ordinary portraits. The   Illuminated Man  is a perfect pick for the elements I find intriguing. What could have been a standard, run-of-the-mill portrait has been altered to be more artistic in presentation. I imagine that a very bright light was aimed at the subject's face in order to cause the over-exposed, bright effect which seems pretty simple but makes for a hell of a picture. The composition is perfect, center...

  Mystery Makes Marvels By: Gavin Mannino February 27th, 2022     7:10 PM EST Hand through door, 1969  Ralph Gibson      Part of what makes art great is mystery. The not-knowing of something makes that something interesting. From detective noirs to who was the girl that smiled at you, the quest for an answer is captivating. I remember when I started watching Twin Peaks, I was not very sure of what was going on but I knew I wanted to figure it out. The thrill of trying to understand something that is complex or hard to understand is exhilarating and fun. Symbolism embodies the culture of art, and as a viewer, we are responsible with figuring out what the symbolism in a specific artwork means to us. But as I learned from Twin Peaks, sometimes there is not an answer or a big secret. Sometimes, mysteries are just meant to be enjoyed.      I felt this message when viewing this image taken by Ralph Gibson. There is a feeling of an un...

  Making the Most of What You've Got By: Gavin Mannino 02/21/2022     11:28:00 PM EST     New York City  (1966)     FRIEDLANDER, LEE     After we left the Lycoming Art Gallery today, I decided to go out and take pictures of anything I could compose to be symmetrical or capture through a reflection of a store front window. As I was taking pictures, I noticed how people walking by would either stare or mind their own business. It was a little weird at first, but I got used to it because the foot traffic was not that heavy for a Monday morning in downtown Williamsport. I went along taking pictures of alleyways, tall buildings, stores, and sidewalks. I still felt a little out of place, crouching and leaning while taking pictures on the sidewalk, it felt awkward. Then I started doing my research on Lee Friedlander and I realized I had no room to talk.                His photos he took in New York w...

   Why  "B&W is boring"  is a Dumb Take to Have   By: Gavin Mannino   2/14/22      5:30 PM EST                                      Cours la Reine, Paris, France, 1987   © Michael Kenna/Beetles Huxley      I remember that when the movie "The Lighthouse" was premiering at my local theater, I wanted to go really bad. Robert Pattison and Wilhem Dafoe in a psychological horror? Who wouldn't?! My question was soon answered by my friends, who I always go to see movies with, saying they did not want to go see it because it was in "black and white". I realized that a lot of people have the same opinion about movies or tv shows, "If it's in black and white, it's too old or bad." Another thing I realized is that this was a stupid take to have.     The early start for all photography is in black and white, even ...

   Seeing the Unseen     By: Gavin Mannino     02/06/2022     10:00 PM EST         Photographer: Adam Fuss ( untitled (SWAN) from MY GHOST, 2000                                                                       Photo Credit: (www.artnet.com) Bree Hughes      The idea of a spirit world, a realm of spirits and ghosts that are unseeable to the human eye, have been mentioned in various religions and have been the fascination of humans since early civilization.  Numerous works of literature and art throughout time have tried to explore and capture what this morbid world is like; From literary works, like Dante's Inferno  and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol,  to visual representations i...

Fascination with the Obscure By: Gavin Mannino  February 2nd, 2022                         Larmes (Tears) by Man Ray, 1932      I took some time and viewed the various works of Man Ray and one thing that jumps out at me about his work is his style. His photo gallery is very diverse from portraits of subjects to miscellaneous items that could be found lying around a house, but all of the photos give off an emotional feeling of sadness. A lot of the photographs' contents lead me to believe that Man Ray is some kind of "tortured artist" or someone that is misunderstood. His photography and art can be weird, and it can be hard to decipher the meaning of them, which is right up my alley!     I love art because it is able to transport the viewer into a different world. I love how Man Ray is able create art with photographs in the real world and still give them a sense of oth...

  Photography: Rated E for Everyone By: Gavin C. Mannino Photo Credit (Erik Kessels) FOAM, Amsterdam exhibit of what a days' worth of imag es posted on Flickr looks like with the use of printed out images, 2011.      Photography has become something for everyone to participate in, whether taking photos or simply viewing them. I say "participate" because photography, to me, seems to be a visual event that only requires your eyes to be involved. We can view historical findings, concerts, movies, nature, war, objects outside our galaxy, and anything else that someone can point their camera or phone at and snap a picture. Photography is such an immense and complex thing, but yet simple enough that a child can understand how to do it. With everyone having a device with some sort of capability of taking pictures, the world has become this interconnected society that can communicate just through images. The invention of photography is one of the most important dis...