Artists Ben Ripley and Meryl Feigenberg lead a close examination of Robert Mapplethorpe’s Lisa Lyon, using Descriptive Critique, a group process of close looking at a single piece of art. Its formal structure is designed to suspend habits and evaluative judgements and meet the work slowly. It affirms confidence in the capacity of people, students and professors, artists and laypeople, to benefit from multiple points of view, each different perspective contributing to an understanding of the work that is evolving, not exhaustive. Please note, this program will run until 7 pm. Tea and coffee will be served.
Robert Mapplethorpe (American, 1946–1989), Lisa Lyon, 1981. Gelatin silver print, 19 1/4 x 15 1/4 in. Museum purchase, Wachenheim Family Fund, M.2017.11
Ben Ripley is an artist working primarily in extended photography. In the inventive spirit at the dawn of photography, he devises new and unexpected ways of recording, rendering, and looking. In particular he is interested in reimagining the mechanisms and values of established media such as text and analog photography as a way of reorienting histories. His work often seeks a harmony between the physics of the material world and inner feelings. Other concerns are definitions of race, the limits of language, and explanations of visual experience. He is currently finishing his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
Meryl Feigenberg holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Professional Certificate in General Studies from International Center of Photography, an MAT in Art Education from School of Visual Arts, and a BA from Hampshire College. She is currently a resident at Trestle Projects in Brooklyn. Meryl works primarily in photography, although her work spans across mediums including video, making and finding objects, performance, installation, drawing, text and audio. Interested in looking for a place of not knowing, un-knowing, and withholding from conclusion, Meryl experiments with materials and forms of communication to continue observing and questioning and finding other ways of seeing. Additionally, Meryl is an educator with students of all ages. Currently she teaches at the International Center of Photography, ICP at The POINT, and the Educational Video Center. She has previously taught in New York City public schools and The City College of New York, amongst others.