Jeff Wall- Photography and Liquid Intelligence

I found Jeff Wall’s essay on Photography and Liquid Intelligence very interesting and easier to read than past essays. The start of essay begins with his some of his pictures and the complicated natural forms that play a part in his work. One natural form his discusses is liquid and its movement in relation to its representation in the photograph. Its as though it is a contained tactic that if released could destroy photographs, metaphorically and literally.
Jeff continues his essay with the mention of conceptual photography and the rise of the famous topic of the ontology of photography or more less what this medium proves. I thought Jeff Wall’s interpretation of Sherrie Levine work of Evans’s pictures nailed it. He interpreted her work as an awakening to other photographers trying to reinvent photograph when all they need to do is “study the masters”. Wall explains that in order to recreate photography it is key to learn from the masters and that there is no middle or intermediate art form. Photography has standards that determine whether the criterion in a photo represents photography. I felt this correlated very closely to what Walter Benjamin’s element of the aura in photography. Jeff Wall explains that the some photography that is combined with new innovations often lose its aesthetic quality and are reduced in value or presence in a sense. I also enjoy Jeff Wall’s description of his journey through different eras of photography and what they brought to the realm of photographic art. He derives away from conceptual art in the 60’s and 70’s and brings up Pollocks work during the 50’s. I found rather eccentric how Wall prefers photography not hung on walls. Its interesting that he feels that way because when I think of photography I think of picture frames seen in the halls of homes or galleries.