Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Works by Brett Weston

Works by Brett Weston at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York, NY. "...the first exhibition of the artist to be mounted in New York in over 14 years, and one of only two Brett Weston retrospectives to be mounted anywhere in 35 years. This exhibition seeks to reestablish Weston’s status as one of the greatest American photographic artists of the 20th century. The exhibition will include over 80 black and white prints, all printed by Weston, and almost all vintage. It will encompass seven decades, from the 1920s through the 80s, and will demonstrate how Weston embraced a set of formal themes early on, and then mastered and deepened them over the years."

Stella... Le Vampire


Stella... Le Vampire (Flash Video 02:27). A scopitone directed by Alain Brunet. Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Kyle

Happy Birthday to my son Kyle - 15 years old today.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Car Poolers

Daido Moriyama: In Pictures

Daido Moriyama: In Pictures. "...Daido Moriyama uses an ordinary compact camera and never stops shooting. He is one of Japan’s most celebrated photographers. In this film Moriyama invites us into his studio and takes us on a walk around the atmospheric Shinjuku neighbourhood, his home from home in Tokyo."

Friday, October 19, 2012

Body and Spirit: Andres Serrano, 1987-2012


Andres Serrano... America (Boy Scout John Schneider, Troop 422 (2002, Cibachrome print). From the exhibition Body and Spirit: Andres Serrano, 1987-2012 at Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art in New York. "...Throughout his career, Serrano has created a distinct visual language that poses questions about mortality, religion, sex, and society, among other subjects that appear at the forefront of contemporary discourse. While Serrano’s photographic technique has remained straight forward and without digital manipulation throughout his career, formally his works over time exhibit considerable variation."

Thursday, October 18, 2012

New York: Stieglitz to Titarenko

New York: Stieglitz to Titarenko at Nailya Alexander Gallery in New York. "...New York City has fascinated generations of photographers. Alfred Stieglitz combined formal perspectives with his romantic imagination to search for 'the spirit of that something that endears New York to one who really loves it... the universal thing in it.' Walker Evans rebelled against Stieglitz’s 'unwonted earnestness' and created his own 'documentary style' pictures of the city. Newcomers like Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962, St. Petersburg, Russia) see New York through their experience in disparate places and with different photographic traditions. Each photographer in the exhibition has his own view of the city, each is enchanted by its secret magic, and somehow a plausible New York emerges from this visual cacophony."

Ubu Gallery at FIAC

Ubu Gallery at FIAC - Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain in Paris.

Anonymous Japan, 1960's-1970's and Vivian Maier: Street Photographs

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Pure Folk: Celebrating the Folk Art Society of America


Pure Folk: Celebrating the Folk Art Society of America at Barbara Archer Gallery. "...showcases work by self-taught greats like Linda Anderson, George Andrews, Beverly Buchanan, Herman Bridgers, David Butler, Ronald Lockett, James Harold Jennings, J.B. Murry, Nellie Mae Rowe, Jimmy Sudduth, Mose Tolliver and more. A special tribute to the late Mr. Imagination will also be featured. Over 25 years have passed since contemporary folk art exploded on the art scene, leaving us with a plethora of faux folk art imitators and a shortage of meaningful work by the early, authentic masters in this genre."

Steve Kahn: The Hollywood Suites

Steve Kahn: The Hollywood Suites at Joseph Bellows Gallery. "...The series divides into two groups of pictures. 'The Hollywood Suites (nudes)' features sexually charged pictures of young women, often partially clad and sometimes cropped. In 'The Hollywood Suites (mirrors, windows and doors),' he concentrated on architectural interiors, making arresting use of windows and doors. The images themselves are grainy and offer an unnaturally sharp contrast between darks and lights. Select examples feature doorways embellished with geometric patterns done in twine." More... Works by Steve Kahn at his personal site.

A Visual Essay on Gutai at 32 East 69th Street

A Visual Essay on Gutai at 32 East 69th Street at Hauser & Wirth in New York, NY. "...After World War II, a devastated Japan processed the impact of the atomic bomb and faced a cultural void. It was in this atmosphere of existential alienation that the Gutai Art Association (Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai) – a group of about twenty young artists, rallying around the charismatic painter Jiro Yoshihara – emerged in the mid-1950s to challenge convention. Although keenly aware of Japan’s artistic traditions, the Gutai artists attempted to distance themselves from the sense of defeat and impotence that pervaded their country, and to overcome the past completely with ‘art that has never existed before’. They burst out of the expected confines of painting with daring works that demonstrated a freewheeling relationship between art, body, space and time. Dismissed by Japanese critics as spectacle makers, the Gutai artists nevertheless produced a profound legacy of aesthetic experimentation, influencing Western critics and anticipating Abstract Expressionism, Arte Povera, Fluxus, and Conceptual Art."

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

The Archive of Studio Shehrazade


Akram Zaatari... Anonymous (1960, gelatin silver print on paper). From a collection of photographs from The Archive of Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon at The Tate Gallery.

Sally Mann: Upon Reflection

Sally Mann: Upon Reflection at Edwynn Houk Gallery. "...For the very first time, the works from the Omphalos series will be on display. In this series, the focus is on the artist’s torso. Akin to the faces, the process is the same, but the grids of Omphalos examine more abstract, sculptural forms. The plates themselves have been treated as such: chiseled, scratched and smoothed until flesh becomes stone. Clearly a departure from one of the earliest and most timeless motifs in art, Omphalos is a title not only referring to the torso, but also to the symbolic continuation of the themes explored in Mann’s previous work: fertility, family, and heredity, recorded in the human form and in the land."

Saturday, October 06, 2012

1948 Wisconsin State Fair Murals: 100 Years of Agricultural History

1948 Wisconsin State Fair Murals: 100 Years of Agricultural History at the WHS. "...This exhibit brings to life a series of 14 stunning, large-scale historic murals originally displayed at the 1948 Wisconsin State Fair in celebration of the state's centennial. The murals were developed to tell the story of Wisconsin's agricultural growth and development from 1848-1948. After decades of lying dormant, nine surviving murals were rediscovered, cleaned and conserved."

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Yutaka Takanashi


Yutaka Takanashi... Untitled (from the series 'Toshi-e', 1967 gelatin silver print, printed 2012, ed. 12). From an exhibition of works by Yutaka Takanashi at Galerie Priska Pasquer in Cologne, Germany. "...the second exhibition in Germany to be devoted exclusively to the works of Japanese photographer Yutaka Takanashi (born 1935). One of the founders of the legendary 'Provoke' group that revolutionised Japanese photography at the end of the 1960s, Takanashi’s influence can still be felt in Japan and in the West to this day."

Richard Gordon

Richard Gordon at Gitterman Gallery. "...an exhibition of vintage black and white photographs from the 1970’s by Richard Gordon. Taken primarily in New York City and along the West Coast, Gordon’s images examine the role of photography and its relationship with reality. Much of the work appears in Gordon’s 1978 book Meta Photographs and as the title suggests they are often photographs about photography. Gordon’s images are a part of an early discourse about how society has used photography as a means of representation. Though he is theorizing about the medium, his images often are witty, even humorous, while formally exploring the exotic of the everyday."

Occult Voices – Paranormal Music, Recordings of unseen Intelligences 1905-2007

Occult Voices – Paranormal Music, Recordings of unseen Intelligences 1905-2007 (Published by Thomas Knoefel und Andreas Fischer Köln, Released by supposé, 2007) at UbuWeb Sound. Spooky!