Random Excellence: Mike Chisholm

Mike Chisholm, from Brilliant Corners

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Mike

Comments

[Charlie]

Brilliant indeed! The luminescent quality of those photos is stunning.

Oh boy.

[Colin Work]

Wow. I know Mike. He works for the same organisation as me. I knew he took pictures, but I didn't know he was an artist!

This may say something about me, and possibly Mike, but it makes me wonder how many others are producing worthwhile images right under our very noses? Photography can be a very solitary activity (esp., if like me, you find shooting with other people almost impossible). The web has certainly helped reveal hidden talent, but I wonder how many great images remain hidden away because the photographer hasn't the means, knowledge or confidence to display them in public?

Cheers

Colin

[Rubén Osuna Guerrero]

Dear Mike,

I strongly recommend you "Soil Festivities", an incredible album composed and played by Vangelis of 1984. The artwork is great and the music is incredible (minimalism, inspired in the micro-life and the nature).

Vangelis composes an plays all instruments, in some sort of improvisation and multisession record. Maybe you remember his "Blade Runner" soundtrack, of the famous "Chariots of Fire". All his albums for Frederic Rossif documentals are great (try "Opera Sauvage").

R.

[Miserere]

I'm going to disagree with Charlie and Colin (and Mike J.), I'm afraid Mike Chisholm's photos don't do it for me. The 4 from the top-left corner gallery I quite like, but the others I find uninteresting.

Do I have bad taste? No taste? Or simply a different taste...?

Feel free to flame me :-)

[John Willard]

The first thing that popped into my head was Nine Inch Nails.
"Popped" may be putting it lightly, it was strong enough that I felt the need to comment.
I'm still trying to figure out why.

[Charlie H]

Very unique body of work. Just when you think evrything that can be done has been done, something like this pops up. Mr. Chisolm definitely has a well devoloped personal vision and sees things that others do not. I like the painterly quality of his images. He can certainly see the light. ch

[Ken]

Thank you for posting this alert, Mike. Mike Chisolm is certainly doing some very interesting work. I very much enjoy watching an artist in any medium work through a conceptual framework. That's clearly what Mike does.

@ Colin: Indeed, there are many talented people doing extraordinary work (in many media) who cannot, or do not wish to, show their work. This weekend, for me, raises this point rather like a welt. The enormous "Artopolis" show is under way here in Chicago this weekend. (http://www.merchandisemart.com/artropolis/) Galleries from all over the world are exhibiting thousands of works at the show. Much of it is genuinely good. But some of it appears to be intellectually/aesthetically bankrupt, little more that pick-pocketing the insecure.

I can guarantee that some of Mike Chisolm's work would show here very, very well. But, of course, the prerequisite would be to get gallery representation...which will present a 30%-50% tax. That can be a bitter pill for many, particularly photographers.

[Mike Chisholm]

Thanks to Mike for featuring my work (a complete surprise) and for the encouraging comments above. Seeing as this is my party, some thoughts on The Unknown Photographer:

Most of my work is done in my lunch-hour, or at weekends, repeatedly visiting the same few local sites. I'm not a professional photographer or artist i.e. I don't earn a living that way. Most people work like this: even professionals have to squeeze time for "personal" work which won't pay any bills.

On balance, I think of this as a Good Thing. It's like writing poetry: if you're after fame and fortune, you're in the wrong game. You do it for its own sake, and the appreciation of a small, dedicated, statistically insignificant audience, most of whom will be practitioners themselves. Even fame within such a small circle is effective invisibility -- Martin Parr is about as well known to the wider world as Paul Muldoon. But invisibility does have benefits: you're free from the expectations of paying audiences -- so there's no excuse for your work not to be As Serious As Your Life (or Daft As A Brush, if that's what you prefer).

If you like photo books, may I draw your attention to my Blurb Bookstore, where I have several books of work for sale:

www.blurb.com/user/store/dvrman

If you don't know about Blurb, check it out: I think on-demand self-publishing is one of the best things to have happened in recent years. It might make the difference for you between being unknown and vanishing without trace...

I think that's my 15 minutes done. Thanks.

[Jammy]

Great work there!

Mike Chisholm, I do believe I'm going to order one of your books from Blurb. I saw you're selling work directly through your website and was curious if you're also selling to the Americas.

Congrats on getting featured!

[dyathink]

I like the work a lot and i also like Mike Chisolm's humility..both were a pleasure to discover in this post.