View new videos from the weekly series of artist’s interviews with Ellen Carey and Manuel Geerinck included in the exhibition now on view at Aperture Gallery, The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography.
In the first video clip, Ellen Carey presents her works in the exhibition: the large-scale Pulls with Lifts and Drops of film pulled through the rollers of a Polaroid large-format camera and her color photogram, PushPins, where the artist used pushpins to perforate the photographic paper in the darkroom. Carey explains how abstraction in photography challenges the viewer to rethink the medium, and go beyond the narrative side to explore new arrays of light and color compositions as well as new processes using meaningful materials that reference the history of photography. She also highlights the physicality of her work often exhibited through large-scale installations.
In the second video clip, Belgian artist Manuel Geerinck, who started his career as a painter, speaks about his unique process combining his drawings that he then photographs in motion. Inspired by minimalism and the early days of photography, Geerinck explains how his work is at the crossroads of photography and painting as well as abstraction and figurative, always “at the edge.” He also speaks about his exploration of colors through the photographic medium.
Aperture friend, Radius co-founder, and photobook freak Darius Himes, sends notice that the deadline for the Blurb Photography Book Now competition is looming. All entries must be received by noon PDT, July 16, 2009.
Last year, I had the pleasure of being in one of the first groups of jurors to participate in Blurb Photography Book Now (as was fellow Aperture editor, Denise Wolff), and it was a real treat when all the books from the “Thematic Photography Book” category—of which I was one of 5 jurors—started pouring in and piling up. In looking through them, it was evident to me that one key limiting factor for the technology had to do with an artist’s ability to work with the few format options available. In the best, most successful books, the artists accepted and adapted effectively to those parameters in interesting and creative ways, whereas others were clearly fighting it the whole way through—and their layouts subsequently tried to work despite the format, not with the format. Another observation I made at the time was how frequently the text—whether it be simple captions or an artist statement—was treated as a mere afterthought, and not integrated into the larger whole of the book with much intention. Of course for me, the book is such a great form precisely because of the possibilities present when text and image interact.
One thing I was a bit confused about in last year’s competition was how the somewhat vague category of “Thematic” work (the one I had been given to jury) differentiated itself from the even more vague “General” category, so I was pleased to see that they had redefined the categories to be a little more straightforward: Fine-Art, Commercial, and Editorial. (Mr. Himes, who has coordinated and helped guide this competition, writes further about this tweaking of categories in his blog.)
I frequently advise people who are interested in having a book published that the best first step is to try to work with the book form on their own before presenting it to a publisher: make a hand made maquette, barter some art for design services, or—hey, here’s an idea—why not make a book via one of the super-easy digital printing services now so widely available. This competition (which is not limited to ONLY Blurb-made books) is a chance to do just that, and to possibly get some feedback and recognition while you’re at it!
Also, while you’re thinking about competitions, don’t forget that the Aperture Portfolio Prize deadline is also looming… more about that next week.
SophieCalle is a retrospective exhibition on view at the Centre for Fine Arts based on the life of artist Sophie Calle. As much of Calle’s work reflects autobiography by blending artistic expression with personal introspection, this exhibition traces her life through her work chronologically, yet in reverse. The voice of Frédéric Mitterrand leads visitors through the exhibition and comments the “life” of Sophie Calle.
In 2004 Calle had a solo exhibition entitled M’as-tu vue at the Centre Pompidou, Paris and represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2007 with Prenez soin de vous, and was also invited by the Artistic Coordinator of the Biennale to show her work in the international pavilion.
PROJECTS: DONE is an exhibition of works from fourteen projects completed by photographer Candida Höfer between 1968 and 2008. Architects Kuehn Malvezzi developed displays in close cooperation with Höfer, and collaborated with curators Markus Heinzelmann and Doreen Mende to create rumination on the interplay between photography, architecture and presentation as the fifteenth project. Here, the term “project” is associated with a planned work that reaches a point of completion or achievement and is thereby distinct from regular artistic activity. By the consideration of the exhibition as a project unto its self, the concept of “project” becomes a sum of smaller project-components bound by themes and limited by time and space. By exploring this “inner order” of art, Candida Höfer’s photographs become less about what is being presented in the frame, and move toward a provocative reflection on art, as it exists in the world.
Aperture, Pratt, and the Strand Book Store are pleased to announce the winners of the Eye on the Strand photography contest, which kicked off last fall and concluded March 31, 2009. The winners were chosen by a prestigious panel of judges from over 500 submissions featuring unique and creative photo representations of the Strand Book Store. The Grand Prize Winner will get to have lunch at New York City’s famous Balthazar Restaurant with world-renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and receive a collection of Aperture books, among other prizes.
The work of the grand prize, second and third place winners and twenty finalists will be featured in a special exhibition to open at the Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery on July 16, 2009. An opening reception will take place Wednesday, July 15 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. To read about contest details, including prizes awarded, and to view the winning images, click here to visit The Strand’s online photography gallery.
Grand Prize Photo Winner: Josh Robinson/“Strand Shadows”
Second Place Photo: Cary Conover/“Upside Down”
Third Place Photo and Viewers’ Choice Winner: Manjari Sharma/“Strand, The dreamer’s land”
Opening Receptions with the Winners and Finalists
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:00–8:00 pm Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery
144 West 14th Street, 2nd floor, New York
(212) 647-7199
As part of the interview series, watch new video clips of artists Bill Armstrong and Seth Lambert from the exhibition now on view through July 16 at Aperture Gallery, The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography curated by Lyle Rexer.
In the first video clip, Bill Armstrong puts in context his Mandala #450 piece that is in the show with his Infinity series of abstract blurred meditative images that he has been working on for the past 12 years. Going through his work since the 1980’s, Armstrong explains why he uses blurring as a process and his “painterly approach to photography.” At the end, he also introduces his new video work.
In the second clip, Seth Lambert contextualizes his work in the show Nothing on the Bed of an Epson Expression 10000XL within his Failures series of grids mapping out anything from beard hair, mirror pieces to nothing with a blank scan. The latter on view in the show still presents small residues called “artefacts” that Lambert has mapped out individually into a perfect grid that always fails. He also highlights the importance of the physical object in photography even if his work is often all digital and computer generated.
Click here to hear more about his process in an online radio show he did last week on ARTonAIR with curator Lyle Rexer, artists Charles Lindsay and Penelope Umbrico included in the exhibition.
Stay tuned next Thursday for video clips of Barbara Kasten and Ellen Carey.
Monday June 29, New York Times writer and former picture editor Philip Gefter will introduce his new publication, Photography After Frank at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This title presents the tale of contemporary photography starting with a pivotal moment as Robert Frank’s seminal work in the fifties; Gefter then connects the dots of photography’s transformation into what it is today. The book signing will immediately follow the lecture in the adjacent Director’s Roundtable Garden.
El Ojo de Tu Vecino (The Eye of Your Neighbor) is an exhibition that attempts to recreate the vision of a number of young Spanish-speaking photographers who live and work in New York, and to open a space where they can express their thoughts on coexistence in our metropolis. The photographic visual essays gathered here attempt a reading on different levels; where the public, the private and the intimate are theorized. El Ojo de Tu Vecino creates a visual discourse surrounding the reality, fiction and imagination of the subjects being photographed and, without a doubt, on human behavior.
Curated by the Cuban Rafael DíazCasas, El Ojo de Tu Vecino responds to a collaborative desire between three institutions: Aperture Foundation, under the leadership of the Mexican Juan García de Oteyza, El Museo del Barrio, whose director Julián Zugazagoitia made the project his own, suggesting through his collaborators a curatorial course of action, and Instituto Cervantes New York, promoter, producer and host of the exhibition. El Ojo de Tu Vecino (The Eye of Your Neighbor)
Thursday, July 2—Saturday, September 5, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 2, 2009 6:00 pm
Galería Amster Yard, Instituto Cervantes de Nueva York
211-215 East 49th Street
New York, New York
Last week Aperture’s work scholars attended a private tour of Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered with Sean Corcoran, Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum of the City of New York. The exhibition, curated by Kathy Ryan, is in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Dutch arrival in Manhattan and features a collection of work from Dutch photographers including Helen van Meene, Rineke Dijkstra, Erwin Olaf, Hendrik Kerstens, and others, all aimed to create a ‘portrait of the city’. Alluding to Dutch traditions, each of the artists employs a unique approach to his or her interpretation of present day New York City.
Aperture would like to say thank you for all who made our first Some Like it Hot Summer Party such a huge success.
Co-Chair Michael Foley and artist Thomas Allen
Co-Chair Cathy Kaplan and friends
Co-Chair Michael Hoeh and friends
Co-Chair Severn Taylor and friends
Aperture intern Jenny Plath hands off original Hannah Hooperdrawing titled Self Portrait with Thomas Allen Print, June 2009 to the lucky winner.
Magnum wine bottle raffle winner
Spencer Throckmorton, Juan García de Oteyza, Susana Leval and Sofia Ortiz
the Willowz
Thomas Allen’s Beachcomber limited-edition print, specially commissioned for Aperture’s 2009 Some Like It Hot Summer Party, are available for a limited time! Contact prints@aperture.org
© Yolanda Delamo
