Slanted #15. Ken Rosenthal, photographer

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Photography

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165

—– Untitled from the Seen and Not Seen Series Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, USA

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Photography

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—– Portrait of girl wearing devil horns

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165


Photography

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165

—– Stuffed bear standing at top of stairway

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Photography

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—– Young girl sitting in baby bathtub

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165


Photography

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165

—– Funerary sculpture bust at Pere Lachaise Cemetery Paris, France, 2007

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Photography

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—– Back view of nude woman

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165


Photography

—– Missing

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f.,165

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Projects

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B端ro Wilhelm Puffed-Up > P. 165

Von B und C B and C are moving! > P. 165


Photography Fonts & Type Labels Experimental Type Projects

Ken Rosenthal / Corbis Selected Work > P. 150 f., 165

Experimental type special

Kapitelseite Font Projects

—– Distant view of the Eiffel Tower on overcast day Paris, France, 2007

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Interviews & Reports

Ken Rosenthal > P. 53 ff., 165

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The images are inspired by dreams I’ve had, as well as by dreams I’ve imagined Michael Schmidt • Have you dreamed anything inspirational, lately? Ken Rosenthal — I have had several lately, in which I have been hiking through a dark and very dense forest. There are many fallen trees, and strange patterns of cleared foliage. I have now just begun working on a series of color landscapes in the forests near my summer cabin in the Pacific Northwest that is clearly informed by these dreams. I’m very excited about these new pieces. It’s the first series in color that I have worked on, and while formally very different from anything I have produced there is still a very clear connection to my previous series’. • In your series “A dream half remembered” you used your own dreams as inspiration – or was it a dream someone else told you? (Selective pieces can be seen in the front of this magazine; for the full series check www.kenrosenthal.com/dreamhalf.html) The images in the “A Dream Half Remembered” series are inspired by dreams I’ve had, as well as by dreams I’ve imagined. More then anything, this series is informed by the loose and often random structure of a dream’s narrative. I’ve always been fascinated by the manner in which I progress through a dream, with the constant shifting of scenery and characters. All of our memories have imprinted in our subconscious like shadows captured on a negative, waiting to be imaged … I love that idea, that correlation between photography and memory. • What was the mood you were in when working on that series? Overall, I was in a pretty dark space as I worked on A Dream Half Remembered. I was at a very transitional point, trying to decide what things in my life were ultimately most important to me. Professionally, a lot was happening very quickly, and I was conceiving of new work faster then I could create it. Creatively, I was in a very fertile period. But I was having a very difficult time trying to balance my creative life with my personal life. Certain relationships in my life were coming to a head … I was

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Los Angeles born, Tuscon based photographer Ken Rosenthal earned a BA in still photography at the University of Southern California and a MFA in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Almost from the beginning his work focused on the unfocused. His blur is an expressive blur that serves several purposes. Michael Schmidt conducted this interview on July 17th, 2011.

emotionally overwhelmed. A Dream Half Remembered and the series which followed, “Missing,” helped me work through that period of time and better understand myself, my desires, and (for lack of a better word) my demons. • I conceive your images (all we have seen on either Corbis or your website) as familiar and not familiar at the same time. Can you give us an insight about the kind of aesthetic in your photography? My work is very personal, and most of the people in my images are either family members or symbolize close friends or family. Yet, while personal, it is not necessarily meant to be viewed as literally autobiographical. I employ the level of diffu­ sion that I use in printing, as well as the toning and bleaching techniques, in great part to help lend a more universal reading to the photographs. These techniques, in many instances, also help to remove the specifics of a particular time or place. • Your images use a diffused focus and seem to follow some kind of old-style photography. Do you have pictorial paragons? I quite admire many of the pictorialists from the early part of last century. When I was an undergraduate and studying photography at the University of Southern California, I saw an exhibition of Edward Weston’s work at the Huntington Library that featured a great deal of his early pictorial work. That show and its catalogue left a huge impression on me. I had also acquired a number of photographic journals from the 1930’s, and was drawn to the pictorialist work within. • How do you organize your series? Is it intentionally or more experimentally? A bit of both. I would say that my series begin to form rather intuitively, and progress with greater intent. I typically will have a few images that I have printed and lived with for a while that begin a dialogue and develop a relationship with each other. They form the nucleus of the series, and attract other images. As the series builds, and the ideas within the series

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1 Human skull against black background, 2002, USA 2 Girl holding jack-o’-lantern in front of face, 2002


Interviews & Reports

Ken Rosenthal > P. 53 ff., 165

151 are better resolved, I begin to shoot more and add additional images by design. • What is the technique behind your photographs? I suppose you work analogue? Yes, I shoot with a film based camera. My equipment is really very simple: I have one camera body (a Hasselblad), two lenses, and a spot meter. I use only one type of film, Kodak Tri-X. • What is the degree of post-production in your work? Is there “post” at all? There is a huge amount of what many would term post production, the analogue equivalent of “post”: the darkroom. My negatives are shot in focus, and all image manipulation is done in a traditional wet darkroom. In addition to altering the sharpness of my imagery, there is quite a bit of chemical manipulation: selective bleaching; several different baths of toner; and selective toning. The work that I do in the darkroom is very labor intensive, but I love it. In my opinion it is much more hands on, soulful and satisfying than working digitally. I do shoot quite a bit with a digital camera these days, but to this point the work that I have editioned through the galleries that represent my work has all been shot on film. • Are certain technical aspects important for your work (e.g. camera, film, etc.)? Technically, I probably place the greatest importance on the materials I use in the darkroom: the paper, and chemistry I use to produce my prints. I love my camera, but ultimately I the ideas behind each series are far more important to me than the tools and materials used to craft the prints. • One last question. Since we are typography magazine. What is your relationship with typography, have you got any experience or preferences in relationship to your work? For a few years after grad school I worked at a digital service bureau, where the majority of clients were graphic designers. I gained a decent understanding of, and a great respect for typography while there. One font that I came to love is Mrs. Eaves, which I have used in my branding for about 10 years now. I am currently in the midst of self-publishing the first printed catalogue of my work, which will be released in October 2011 to coincide with a solo exhibition, entitled Retrospective, at the Wall Space Gallery in Santa Barbara, California. I am working with a friend who is a very talented graphic designer, Kerry Stratford, who will design the publication. It is important

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to me that the catalogue has a clean and minimal use of typog­raphy that will very quietly complement the work, and I trust that Kerry’s vast knowledge of typography and design skills will greatly enhance the final product.

3 Ray of light emerging from clouds over ocean, 2007, California, USA


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