Archive for November, 2008

Working Through “Critical Mass”

If my guess is right, there are several hundred photography curators, publishers, gallerists and magazine editors sifting through all of the Critical Mass finalists at this very moment. The deadline for viewing and voting on the work is December 3rd, which means that the Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to take a few hours and get the job done (which is exactly what I’m doing).

I have to say that the work this year seems especially impressive, and I’ve been keeping a folder of some of my favorite images discovered along the way. (Each image is linked to the photographer’s website, so you can learn more.) Enjoy!

Thomas Wik:

Amanda Friedman:

Celine Clanet:

Dave Jordano:

Cara Phillips:

Ellen Rennard:

Graham Miller:

Harri Palviranta:

Jared Soares:

Jonathan Smith:

Jorg Bruggemann:

Mary Parisi:

Mi Zhou:

Nan Brown:

Nicolas Silberfab:

Cristina Seely:

Thomas Alleman:

Tony Fouhse:

And my nephew Tyler’s WOW selection by Johan Rosenmuthe:

Tags: Critical Mass
Posted in Events & News, Photography | 1 Comment »

Covering Photography…

Photographer Karl Baden, who runs a wonderful website called Covering Photography (which explores the relationship between photography and book covers) has just curated a show by the same name. Covering Photography will run through Dec. 31 in the Rare Books Department at the Boston Public Library (open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). “The exhibit explores the influence of iconic photographs on book cover design by comparing book covers from Baden’s own collection that he believes were either directly appropriated or influenced by famous photographs, with book illustrations of the original photographs, as the photographer meant them to be seen.” Well worth checking out.

Tags: Boston Public Library
Posted in Book Review, Events & News, Photography | No Comments »

You’re My Only Hope

This Monday, the 24th of November, I’ll be speaking at ASU (Coor building, Room 174) at 6:30 pm. I was honored to be asked to jury the student exhibition at my alma mater, and the show will open at Northlight Gallery at 7:00 pm (or as soon as my lecture is over).

Tags: ASU, Northlight Gallery
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Thinking about Eggleston

In an earlier post this week, I listed Friedlander, Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Diane Arbus and the Bechers as a group of progenitors of nearly everything that is happening in contemporary photography. Of course, this is not true. Or at least, it requires some clarification. There are far too many forces in the world pushing and pulling and shaping events, thoughts, attitudes and actions to distill the use of photography over a 30 year period down to just 6 people.

But the influence of these photographers is rather monumental (and that’s a statement I’ll stand behind). Many other critics have said as much, so I’m not really out on a limb here.

Lee Friedlander enjoyed a massive one-man retrospective in 2004 at the Museum of Modern Art, curated by Peter Galassi (but thoroughly endorsed and set into motion decades earlier by John Szarkowski).

William Eggleston had enjoyed his one-man show at MoMA back in 1976. It was also endorsed—hand-picked and curated—by Szarkowski, and by doing so, the rather young curator put his reputation truly out on a limb. I don’t want to go into all of that now, but suffice it to say that the show was hated and ridiculed.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is now thoughtfully revisiting the career and influence of William Eggleston, photography’s Southern, aristocratic gentleman. [The New York Times has published a wonderful review, by critic Holland Cotter. And The New Yorker's resident art critic, Peter Schjeldahl, has also reviewed the show.]

[The Eggleston Trust website has an amazing amount of information. Check out the monographs section for what appears to be a complete list of his major monographs. I'm sure there are numerous smaller catalogues from shows around the world that are not included, though. Also, check out the Articles & Essays section for the full content of things like Szarkowski's published introduction to William Eggleston's Guide, 1976, or Thomas Weski's essay from Los Alamos, published in 2003. A true resource.]

Tags: William Eggleston
Posted in Events & News, Photography | 1 Comment »

Looking Up…

I have a quick story to relate. This past summer, one of the highlights of Review Santa Fe was sitting at the Cowgirl restaurant and chatting with various reviewers and photographers after the open portfolio sharing event. At one point in the conversation, a young gentleman brusquely interrupted the conversation to say, “Excuse me, but in exactly 4 minutes and 30 seconds the Space Shuttle Endeavor, coupled to the Space Station will pass directly overhead. And due to the fact that, while it’s not long after sunset here on the ground, in the atmosphere, the sun will still be shining on the Space Station and we will be able to see this sight if we go stand in the street.”

With a bit of nonchalance and piqued curiosity, about 5 of us headed outside. What did we have to lose? Then, the most amazing thing happened. The photographer calmly stated that it should be visible just “over there.” AND IT CAME STREAMING ACROSS THE NIGHT SKY! It was the largest night-time object, apart from the moon, that I think we will ever be able to see with the naked eye.

Stuart Sperling was the photographer. And he just sent me another email today, which begins,

“Hi from the dude from Review Santa Fe, who’s all into space and 3D and whatnot.”

I knew exactly who he was.

“The Shuttle Endeavor is mated to the Space Station this week, which, again, makes for really bright viewing opportunities for those who lie in the path. A good one’s coming up for Santa Fe tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:43PM.  Check it out if the sky’s clear. Look to the West/Southwest, and find Venus (and Jupiter will be just up to the left of Venus).  The Station/Shuttle should climb from right there, cruising up and SE over you at about 18,000 mph. Rock on.”

Check out this visual. I don’t know what all those lines mean, but it reminds me of Asteroids (as in, Atari).

Thank you, Stuart. Rock on.

[UPDATE: It's 5:50. Just came back in from watching that bright light cruise up and over our heads. Again, thanks Stuart!]

Posted in Art + Film + Design + Architecture | No Comments »

Thinking about Lee

I’ve been thinking about Lee Friedlander a great deal this month. For one thing, we just launched Lee Friedlander: New Mexico (with Radius Books and Andrew Smith Gallery). It was Friedlander’s 33rd book, a fact that sent me back to his massive 2005 MoMA retrospective catalogue to both verify and remind myself of all the books that had come before ours.

In the back of this massive exhibition catalogue (which, after all, accompanied what was the largest photographic exhibition by a living photographer in the history of MoMA) is a section entitled Books, Special Editions, and Portfolios (compiled by Dalia Azim) and which chronicles Friedlander’s output of printed matter. The first entry on the list, Photographs & Etchings (By Friedlander and Jim Dine) is from 1969. The last entry, #46, is Sticks & Stones: Architectural America, and is dated 2004. (There are several books since 2004 that I can think of, such as Cherry Blossom Time in Japan, Frederick Law Olmsted Landscapes, and of course, Lee Friedlander: New Mexico).

In talking with Lee about his books, he told us that the New Mexico book was his 33rd book (!!) and of those, Katy Homans had designed 21 (!!). I also asked him which were his favorites, to which he ever-so diplomatically replied with an analogy—”They’re like children. How can you choose a favorite?”

Below are the spreads from the MoMA catalogue which outline his books and portfolios. Many of these, thankfully, are still in-print. Friedlander, Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Diane Arbus, and the Bechers form a sort of cadre, a set of progenitors whose actions have influenced nearly all things that have happened in the last three to four decades in contemporary photography. (Lewis Baltz and Ed Ruscha are like the step-sons of this nuclear family).

Tags: Lee Friedlander
Posted in Book Review, Photography, Radius Books | No Comments »

The Infinity Bookcase

Anything involving books always make me drool. (Thanks a lot Allison.) This is courtesy the website Book Patrol, and the creator is Dutch conceptual artist Job Koelewijn. The shape of the bookcase is a lemniscate—a figure 8 and the mathematical symbol of infinity—which is so perfectly combined with the notion of the infinite potential and lasting power of books, words (and even more classically, the Word).

Tags: Infinity Bookcase
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All the Presidents

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