Mathew Pokoik is a photographer, curator, and arts activist. He divides his time between New York City and the Catskill Mountains where he and his wife (choreographer Aynsley Vandenbroucke) founded and direct Mount Tremper Arts, a center for contemporary art. Mount Tremper Arts is a performance and exhibition center that hosts an annual summer festival along with providing space and time for artist residencies throughout the remaining year. For the last several years Mathew has focused on a long-term photographic project exploring media and globalization in major metropolitan areas around the globe. He has curated exhibitions focusing on contemporary photographic practice. He graduated from Bard College where he studied with Stephen Shore, and latter informally studied aesthetics and photography with Frederick Sommer. www.mathewpokoik.com

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Curiosity Questions

Street Work

 How and when were these cameras developed? What are the characteristics of an image produced with a 35mm range-finder camera?

 What are some of the characteristics of urban landscapes as depicted in literature and the performing and visual arts?

 What ideas and characteristic techniques are shared by the photographers from this movement, and how might these have influenced Mathew Pokoik’s images?

 What has been the evolution of street photography and how does Street Work fit into this spectrum?

 How have the ideas and photographic works of Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Frederick Sommer, Larry Fink, and Stephen Shore impacted Mathew Pokoik’s photography?

 How have artists like Paul Cézanne and Lee Friedlander talked about and experimented with spatial relationships in their works? How might Pokoik’s images be seen as furthering that exploration?

 How have techniques of photography evolved over time? Where do Mathew Pokoik’s works fit into this spectrum?

 What are some of the ideas from artists and theorists about the process of looking at and perceiving a photographic work?

 What are the characteristics of the elements of photography—things like line, shape, color, framing, texture, or light—and how do artists manipulate these?

 How do photographers edit as they make images? What goes into putting together a series of images?

The Third Oxherding Picture

 How and when were these cameras developed? What are the characteristics of an image produced with a 35mm range-finder camera?

 What are some of the characteristics of the natural landscape as depicted in literature, and the performing and visual arts? How has the Catskills region of upstate New York been represented?

 What are the philosophy and practice of Zen Buddhism? What are the characteristics of Zen literature, and how might these have influenced The Third Oxherding Picture?

 What are the breed characteristics of black Labrador retrievers? With what qualities does Pokoik’s dog, Natasha (“Tasha”), imbue his portraits of her?

 How have the ideas and photographic works of Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Frederick Sommer, Larry Fink, and Stephen Shore impacted Mathew Pokoik’s photography?

 How have artists like Paul Cézanne and Lee Friedlander talked about and experimented with spatial relationships in their works? How might Pokoik’s images be seen as furthering that exploration?

 How have techniques of photography evolved over time? Where do Mathew Pokoik’s works fit into this spectrum?

 What are some of the ideas from artists and theorists about the process of looking at and perceiving a photographic work?

 What are the characteristics of the elements of photography—things like line, shape, color, framing, texture, or light—and how do artists manipulate these?

 How do photographers edit as they make images? What goes into putting together a series of images?