Rear Views, A Star-Forming Nebula, and the Department of Foreign Propoganda: The Works of Taryn Simon

by Simon Baker

Born in New York in 1975, Taryn Simon is at the forefront of contemporary photography practice. Her artistic medium is based around three equal elements, photography, text and graphic design, which combined investigate the limitations of absolute understanding, examining the gaps between each element and how this can lead to disorientation and ambiguity. Published in close collaboration with the artist, this book provides a complete overview of Simon's practice to date.

Hardcover

First published November 7, 2014

Reviews

[Kathorcea]

"After giving your request serious consideration, even though it is against company policy to consider such a request, it is with regret that I inform that we are not willing to grant the permission you seek" - Disney Publishing Worldwide

Dewey Decimal Run- Call Number 77-Photography, computer art, film, video

I like art. But I am not an art expert. I love to stare at paintings hung in exhibits, and I like the little notes that give context and explanation about said paintings. When read from this standpoint, Rear Views is an intriguing little book. I know next to nothing about photography, and I had never heard of Taryn Simon before now, but after reading (most of) this book, I will definitely go to one of her exhibits if I ever find myself near one. The amount of work she puts into her photos is amazing, and the subject matter she tackles are wide-ranging and reflect back on our globalized world. I don't want to give anything away because a lot of these pictures have to be seen with no preconcieved notion (with the exception of the intro quote, srry). They really are that good.

buuuuuuuuuut

Then you get to the essays. When Simon herself speaks, (or writes), it's very theoretical, yes, but I like her way of writing as it's to the point and succinct. Nearly everyone else is the most pretentious person I have never read. All this talk of "TV is ruining America! I hate Star Wars" has been made fun of for years over the Internet, because, well, to each their own. Some of these people have yet to learn this. The most egregious example is a double interview with Simon and another artist named Liam Gillick (his art's pretty cool, I checked). When Simon is asked a question her response is very straight forward: "I don't think so" or "Language transmits power." When Gallcik talks, he just goes on and on, throwing out name and academia terms to...what? What's the purpose? It's almost a satire on how out of touch some artists are nowadays.

I guess that's why Simon's work appeals to me. It's very clinical and minimalistic, but at it's heart, the photos speak of human nature, both good and bad. They aren't so drowned in layer upon layer that they become almost indecipherable to the common musuem goer; of course, deeper things that are beyond my comprehension are going on, but Simon doesn't dwell on it, and I don't feel like I'm "missing out" on anything. If you like well-done photos that cut right at the heart of our globalized yet distinct society, then this book is perfect. Just leave the essays for the grad students and PhD's.

[Zac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the page length, this book is a relatively brief introduction to the photographic works of Taryn Simon. I have a few of her monographs already and this is a pretty poor substitute: there are only several pages devoted to each exhibition, and the images are quite small so you don’t really get a sense of Simon’s photography. However, the book collects the essays from each of these books, as a well as a few other bits of writing (including an interesting interview with Brian De Palma). This is probably the main value of the book, as the ideas behind the works are at least as important as the photographs themselves, and the writings cumulatively reveal the broad themes in Simon’s works. I can’t stomach art writing for very long, and I could certainly live without ever seeing ‘liminal spaces’ thrown about again, but much of this was readable. The writing does get a bit repetitious as many of the essays summarise Simon’s previous works.
If you are fan of photography, weird hidden connections between things, and rich visual data that is presented in a neat and systematic way (yes please!), Taryn Simon may be your new favourite artist. If you just want to read about Taryn Simon, this is pretty decent overview, though a lot of this stuff appears on her website (minus the essays). However, if you want to see her photography outside of a gallery, I recommend picking up her monographs as the images are much clearer and they include the entire exhibition.