‘Girl Culture’ – Serious Business

Some time after the new year, my wife and I will bring a little girl home. As we prepare to expand our family, advice comes from all corners. This week it came unexpectedly from a photography lecture.

The Austin Center for Photography has brought several big names to town for its Icons of Photography series. I’ve enjoyed all of them, and this week was no exception.

Lauren Greenfield has made name for herself as a professional photographer and is best known for her work examining the world of young people and most especially girls. As far as the advice she gave, it’s fair to call it more of a warning, a sign of what it means to grow up in these times in America.

Her book Girl Culture (the cover of which is shown in the above thumbnail) explores the way the body is the primary vehicle for expression in our society. Honestly, just go look at the pictures; they speak more eloquently than I do. (Some images NSFW.)

Women are reaching higher and higher levels of achievement in our society, yet still feel compelled to conform to culture that is sick in so many ways. Having a daughter navigate this jungle is going to be hell.

Girl Culture

Art:21 – Jeff Koons

As much as anyone, Jeff Koons is the current definition of celebrity artist, which of course means that outside the insular world of art, no one’s ever heard of him. Visit any contemporary or modern art museum, and don’t be surprised to see a piece by Koons.

Even though I’ve seen several of his works over the years, I had never seen the man himself. Art:21, the PBS series about visual art in the 21st century, solved that problem.We’re introduced no only to the artist but to the machinery that produces his works. He comes up with the ideas, but then a small army executes the deliverance. He employees dozens of artists (presumably) to move his visions into the plane of material existence. (I love writing in art-speak.)

For all this, Koons creates some crazy stuff. Here’s a taste. More after the jump.

Michael Jackson and Bubbles