ARTIST LECTURE A selbe, Larry Sultan

Canal District San Rafael
2006
chromogenic print
53 x 62 inches

Larry Sultan was a visiting artist during the 2006- 2007 school year and i viewed this lecture via the VCU photography and Film online resources. I was intrigued by this artist because he didn't start out as an artist going to an art school but her was actual a political science major. He never really viewed art except what was seen in the popular culture. Starting as an artist he was interested in the ideas of the accessibility of art. Made seems to be made for art galleries to be shown in art galleries. And billboards are made to be show on the side of the road, and only on the side of the road. Sultan then started to use billboards as his canvas. He thought that he made art on a billboard that puzzled the viewer that they would take more time than the average 6 seconds to look at the board.

Using art students and free billboard space in broad daylight they would change existing advertisements. The image above of the man painting on the billboard is the favorite of mine of the ones that i saw. I think is is so funny and clever to simply erase the subject out the billboard that passersbys will be forced to look at this and wonder. His billboard art evolved and changed from this as time went on.

Sultan artwork shifted in meanings and ideas greatly. The middle image above is from a few years were Sultan was asked to photograph porn shoots. It is interested the stance he takes on this odd subject. He foucuses on the space that is being used as the set. Most of the time it is a rented house that they use to shoot in and you realize the falsity of the situation. He photographs the structure or the interesting details of the building and careful covers the necessary bodyparts so that the viewer knows what they are seeing but can't quite figure it out. The porn stars become the background and setting for the house to exist.

The top image above is from Sultan's most recent work. He works with the illegal immigrants who stand outside the hardware stores as his subjects. He pays them to be the models of this narrative that he is creating about their odd presence in the suburban world they are trying to call home. The images are really beautiful but have a sad weight to them.

I am most intrigued by his billboard work because i think that it is so accessible to the public that it has to make an impact on people who do not look or pay attention to the art world.