Artists Paper

Both of my artists focused on videogames but instead of making a video game as an art form they took photographs of people playing videogames. Both received very different versions of what a person would be called a “gamer”.  The two artists that will be discussed are Philip Toledano and Shauna Frischkorn.  Toledano’s work is called Gamers while Frischkorn’s work is called Game Boys. 

            Toledano says in his artist statement,

                        I’ve never been very interested in straightforward portrait photography. I often feel that it reveals nothing other than the photographer’s intentions, and a topographic record of the effects of time.

But what of hidden emotions and feelings? Characteristics that are usually secreted from the world? How do we record those?

I wondered if there was a way to unconsciously tease out aspects of people’s personality, and capture it on film. So I had them play video games. (Toledano)

By wanting to capture emotions and feelings through video games is really interesting.  Although the pictures in Gamers do not seem realistic, it is possible that a gamer would make this face. The faces seem to be exaggerated and possibly staged.  Toledano did not reply back to my questions. Despite the possiblitiy of the pictures being staged, it is still a good art piece. 
In comparison Frischkorn’s work Game Boys features only males, while Toledano included females in his work.  Frischkorn did reply and said that she had photographed females but they did not fit her vision so they were not included in the final cut (Frischkorn).  In Frischkorn’s work the gamers have a dead look, they are fully immursed in the game and are concentrating on it.  Even though this work seems more realistic it is not as intriguing as Toledano’s work. 
            Both of the works are very similar in that they are both  taking photographs of people playing video games. Both have dark backgrounds and the faces of the gamers are lit up.  Another interesting thing is that the audience does not know what kind of games they are playing, which could contribute to facial expression.

 Works Cited

Frischkorn, Shauna. Personal interview. 17 Apr. 2013.

Frischkorn, Shauna . "Shauna Frischkorn - Game Boys." Shauna Frischkorn. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://shaunafrischkorn.com/section/14920_Game_Boys.html>.

Toledano, Philip . "Mr Toledano : Gamers." Mr Toledano : home. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.mrtoledano.com/gamers>.