Artist Hank Willis Thomas celebrated a great week last week, starting off with his work being on the cover of New York Magazine, which featured his illustration of Barack Obama and getting to look at advance copies of his first monograph, Pitch Blackness, which will be released by Aperture in October 2008. Hank Willis Thomas was selected as the winner of the first Aperture West Book Prize, an Aperture initiative announced in January 2007 to raise awareness of Western-based photographers in the United States. The artist has gained wide recognition with his highly provocative series B®ANDED, which addresses the commodification of African-American male identity by raising questions about visual culture and the power of logos. The monograph is a virtual tour-de-force which visually deals with the senseless murder of the artist’s young cousin Songha Willis, the issues of grief, black-on-black violence in America and the ways in which corporate culture is complicit in the crises of black male identity and culminating in his latest series Unbranded- in which Willis Thomas examines advertising and media representation of African-Americans. Hank Willis Thomas is one of the most compelling emerging artists of today and we are pleased to let our devoted blog readers know that we will be introducing a print by Hank in our limited-edition photographs program. Stay tuned! For additional information on the artist you can view his website.

Congratulations to Daniel Epeset, managing editor, and all of our friends at photo-eye on the launch of their redesigned website, featuring their new online Magazine, as well as the online version of the USA Photography Guide. The first issue is dedicated to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Robert Frank’s The Americans with astounding and impressive articles and reviews.

“Today’s launch of our new website marks the third major design for photoeye.com. We have come a long way since first launching the site in 1997 as one of the first e-commerce, independent bookstores on the web. In September of 2003, we changed the design to a lighter, easier to navigate style. The goal for today’s new design was to produce a site that branded each of the divisions clearly, while maintaining the ease-of-use functionality found in our previous version. Apart from the great wealth of new features and new look for each of our divisions, today’s launch also includes two exciting new additions to the website: photo-eye Magazine and the U.S.A. Photography Guide.”–Rixon Reed, photo-eye, Director

Check out more from Rixon in his first blog post here.

Cheers and good luck!

INVAZE 1968

Exhibition on View: August 9, 2008-September 13, 2008

Exhibition Halls of Old Town Hall (Staroměstská radnice); 1 Old Town Square; Prague 1, CZ

“Invaze 1968”, an exhibition of Josef Koudelka’s historical photos, has just opened in Prague’s Old Town Hall. The show coincides with the 40^th anniversary of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and is inspired by the book, Invasion 68: Prague, published in the US by Aperture.

The images both in the show and in the book are remarkable documentations of that infamous week in Prague. Amidst the turmoil of the invasion, Koudelka managed to capture the event very intimately. The photographs were then smuggled into the United States and published by Magnum. To keep Koudelka safe from persecution, he was referred to by the pseudonym “Prague Photographer.” He even won the Robert Capa Gold Medal award as the “unknown Czech photographer.” It wasn’t until years later that Koudelka was able to claim ownership of the photographs.

Now, forty years later, the same country that Koudelka fled is exhibiting his work amidst a series of commemorative events. Similarly, Aperture and Pace/MacGill Gallery have upcoming Koudelka shows in New York City opening this September. As “Invaze 1968” curator Irena Šorfovà notes, more exhibits enable the audience to “see the same event through different eyes.” Koudelka agrees, stating in the current issue of Aperture that he is “interested in the picture that may tell different stories to different people.” These concurrent exhibitions highlight the physical and emotional devastation of the end of the Prague Spring.

Several artists who have been featured in Aperture publications have been selected as honorees for the 2008 Lucie Awards! The Lucies are an annual awards ceremony conducted to honor and award the best in the field of photography. According to their mission, the Lucies were created, “to salute the achievements of the world’s finest photographers, to discover new and emerging talent, and to promote the appreciation of photography.” Of the nine honorees, five of them have books published by Aperture. These honorees include:

-Richard Misrach: Lifetime Achievement

-Susan Meiselas: Achievement in Photojournalism

-Sara Terry: Humanitarian Award (for The Aftermath Project)

-Josef Koudelka: Achievement in Documentary

-Erwin Olaf: Achievement in Advertising

The award ceremony will take place October 20, 2008 in New York City. For more information, click here.

Congratulations to all the honorees!

Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn will have his first exhibition under the new directorship of Amani Olu, Humble Arts Foundation opening Wednesday. The exhibition Young Curators, New Ideas, examines different trends and perspectives in contemporary art photography through the bias of six emerging curators.  Alana Celii & Grant Willing (Fjord Photo), Michael Bühler-Rose, Jon Feinstein (Humble Arts Foundation), Amy Stein, Lumi Tan (Why Wherefore) and Aperture’s Educational Program Manager: Laurel Ptak (I Heart Photograph). Each curator using roughly ten feet of space, aims to engage viewers in a discussion on where he or she believes art photography is today.

Opening reception: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 | RSVP required: rsvp@bondstreetgallery.com
Public reception: 6 – 9 pm
On view: Wednesday, August 13 – Saturday, September 6, 2008

© Petra Cortright

© Jason Fulford

Images are courtesy artist/Bond Street Gallery

Laurel Ptak’s exhibition takes the show in a different direction by commissioning 26 photographers, designers, and new media artists to embrace the animated GIF. Appropriately titled Graphics Interchange Format, the show explores how a lo-fi digital image technology invented in 1987 fares in contemporary context. Ptak gave artists only 3 days to complete the commission and encouraged the use of photographic materials. A few of the artists had never made an animated GIF before, while others were notorious for it. “Some use the form epically,” says Ptak, “like a novelist or film director; others are self- reflective about the limits of technology and representation; many challenge photography’s usual atemporal disposition; and
then some just make me giggle.” The results are 67 artist-made animated GIFs shown on 44-inch flat screen in an infinite loop. Each are sold in an unlimited edition for $20, accompanied by a personalized note from the artist.

Graphics Interchange Format features works by Victor Boullet, Tyler Coburn, Petra Cortright, C. Coy, Daniel Everett, Thobias Fäldt & Per Englund, Martin Fengel, Jason Fulford, Nicholas Grider, Pierre Hourquet, Konst & Teknik, Eke Kriek, Emily Larned, Matt MacFarland, Katja Mater, Kelci McIntosh, Ilia Ovechkin, Robert Overweg, M. River, Noel Rodo- Vankeulen, Asha Schechter, Trevor Shimizu, Jo-ey Tang, Anne De Vries, Karly Wildenhaus and Damon Zuccon

Press inquiries to (Aperture’s former publicist) KATE GREENBERG: kate@bondstreetgallery.com

bond street gallery
297 Bond Street | Brooklyn, NY 11231 (Carroll Gardens)
718.858.2297 | Directions: F/G to Carroll St. or R to Union St.

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday | 11 am – 6 pm

Look out this fall, Amani will be joining Aperture’s Collector’s Workshop: Introduction to Affordable Photography for a conversation on how to begin and build a photography collection without breaking the bank. Geared specifically towards first-time and young collectors.

September 16, 6:30 p.m., Aperture Gallery

South African photographer Pieter Hugo, who was featured in the Spring 2007 issue of Aperture magazine, received The Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Award for his series “The Hyena and Other Men” and “Wild Honey Collectors” on July 12th. The award, which was given to Hugo at the closing ceremony of the opening week of the notable photography festival, goes to an artist whose work has recently acquired international recognition. Elisabeth Biondi, one of five judges invited by guest curator Christian Lacroix, nominated Hugo.

The other nominees include: Debbie Fleming Caffery, Danilo Giuliani, Jamie Isaia, Ethan Levitas, Leila Mendez, Daniel Riera, Marla Rutherford, Martina Sauter, Jerry Schatzberg, Stefanie Schneider, Nigel Shafron, Cameron Smith, Angela Strassheim, and David Urbano.

Hugo’s work will be on display in Arles until September 14^th.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver recently announced that Aperture co-founder Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) will be inducted into The California Museum‘s California Hall of Fame on December 15th, 2008.

This group, which Gov. Schwarzenegger says “will inspire millions of their fellow Californians, and people all over the world, to dream, work, and achieve,” also includes Dave Brubeck, Jane Fonda, Theodor Geisel (“Dr. Seuss”), Robert Graham, Quincy Jones, Jack LaLanne, Julia Morgan, Jack Nicholson, Linus Pauling, Leland Stanford, and Alice Waters. Lange, along with the aforementioned inductees who made careers in the Golden State, will be joining fellow Aperture co-founder Ansel Adams, who was inducted last year.

Lange used her time away from her professional portrait studio in San Francisco to document the plight of the poor. Her work, which chronicles American history, includes images from the Great Depression, the internment of Japanese Americans, and post-war industrialism.

Lange’s most famous portrait, Migrant Mother, epitomizes Lange’s ability to capture emotion and translate it to imagery.  It is available to purchase from Aperture’s collection of limited-edition prints online here.

Congratulations to Dorothea Lange, and all of the inductees, for this incredible honor!

By popular demand, Aperture’s Annual Summer Sale has been extended.

Last chance to save big on classic and contemporary books and prints.

Hurry sale ends Thursday, August 7, 2008.

Save 30% on Books and 15% on Limited-Edition Photographs.