John Divola – Artist Lecture

I was extremely excited to listen to the very influential photographer John Divola lecture on Sunday at the downtown Museum of Contemporary Art.  Despite the lack of ventilation in the stuffy Ahmanson Auditorium, Divola plowed through an hour-long lecture on his artwork dating from his humble beginnings as a graduate student at the University of Califorian in Los Angeles to his current work as he continues to teach photography at the University of California in Riverside.  He appeared very relaxed speaking in front the intimate crowd, no surprise coming from a professor.

The most interesting part of any artist lecture, is hearing and seeing the artist talk about their work and the evolution of their art as their thought process changes.  From Divola’s older work up until his most recent was very consistent in his exploration how humankind interacts with the natural environment and his constant exploration of the abandoned spaces, the spaces around him and man-made elements within the landscape.

Even to this day, I will still recall how my photography professor showed us his Isolated Houses series– we all looked on in silent.  Divola has an instinctual eye for light and how it shapes the subject matter, and to this day, I still believe his house series is one of his most beautiful for its play on light and color.

In Artificial Nature, Divola selects and exhibits found photographs of fake natural landscapes created for movies.  At first appearing natural and eerie, the movie sets are gorgeous.  Once the viewer takes a closer look and notices the movie set signs and the painted background, the whole gig is up.