Ode to the Pictorialists 2

Photography; Inkjet, 2003

Photography internalizes some of the most interesting ontological issues regarding art. The question “Is it art?” haunted photographers throughout its history. Its inability to find alternatives to depiction complicated its entry into the modernist discourse when the other arts were engaged with abstraction. Photography’s impulse to depict in its most utilitarian tendencies (for example photo-journalism as art) creates, to use the artist Jeff Wall’s words, the “most problematic kind of photograph” which anchored itself through social validity. This to me is an insufficient condition for art.

In response to these concerns I had over photography as an art form, I made a series of works that investigated the terms and conditions within which photography defined itself, the first of which is titled “Ode to the Pictorialists”. Pictorialist photography in late 19c and early 20c referenced paintings in its composition, subject matter and its painterly surface which called for the creative manipulation of the image. When the normative practice of art-photography was established through modernism, this tradition was marginalized only to resurface with a vengeance in the digital era.

Ode to the Pictorialists 2

Photography; Inkjet, 2003

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These editions are printed with archival pigment inks on a glossy Fine Art paper. The ink and paper combination have a display permanence rating of 150+ years.

Print Size: We never change the aspect ratio or crop the original image. Each image is sized to maximally fill the selected dimension. All of our prints have a minimum border of a 1/4 of an inch to allow for framing.

All our editions are supervised by the artist and are accompanied by a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. Our prints are made with the greatest attention to quality and a concern for permanence. (Learn more about Print Permanence in the FAQ.)

Akihiko Miyoshi

b. 1974, Japan

Short Bio

Born in Japan, Akihiko Miyoshi received a MFA in photography in 2005 from the Rochester Institute of Technology after taking a leave of absence as a PhD student in computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University to pursue art. Miyoshi is an Associate Professor of photography and digital media at Reed College. His works explores the intersection between art and technology most frequently dealing with issues surrounding photographic representation. His work has been exhibited widely including Portland, New York, Los Angeles, Rochester, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. He was named the International Award Winner of Fellowship 12 at The Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh PA. Miyoshi received a Hallie Ford Fellowship in 2012.