Coinciding with Aperture’s Spring 2009 title Access to Life copublished by Magnum Photos, The Stenersen Museum in Oslo presents an exhibition of works from eight Magnum photographers Jonas Bendiksen, Jim Goldberg, Alex Majoli, Steve McCurry, Paolo Pellegrin, Gilles Peress, Eli Reed, and Larry Towell. The work presents people in nine countries around the world before and four months after they began antiretroviral treatment for AIDS. The emotionally charged presentation of their faces, voices, and stories is illustrative of millions of people who would have died without access to free antiretroviral drugs.
Aperture, Pratt, and the Strand book store present an exhibition featuring the winners and runners-up of the Eye on the Strand photography contest. A special exhibition on view at the Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery will showcase the winning images of grand prize winner Josh Robinson Strand Shadows, second-place winner Cary Conover Upside Down, third-place winner and viewers’ choice winner Manjari Sharma Strand, The Dreamer’s Land, as well as the work of twenty finalists. The winners were selected by a prestigious panel of judges from over five hundred submissions of unique and creative photographic representations of the Strand book store. As the grand prize winner, Josh Robinson will receive a collection of fifty Aperture photography books, lunch with internationally renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark courtesy of Balthazar Restaurant, a $100 Blurb Gift card, a one-year subscription to Aperture and New York magazine, and his photograph on exhibition at Pratt CCPS Gallery as well as the Strand’s online Photo Gallery.
Eye on The Strand
Opening reception: Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 6:00–8:00 pm
Exhibition on view: Wednesday, July 15, 2009—Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Pratt Institute Center for Continuing and Professional Studies Gallery
144 West 14th Street, 2nd floor
New York, New York
(212) 308-7720
In conjunction with the Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion exhibition now on view, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presents a special screening of Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, a 1966 film by William Klein. The story follows a young Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris who becomes the subject in an episode of a documentary television show called “Qui êtes-vous?”. Functioning as a satire on the fashion industry as a whole, the film follows Klein’s clever photographic aesthetic. Friday evening’s event features a pre-screening discussion with Harold Koda, Kohle Yohannan, and Dorothy McGowan.
Aperture in close collaboration with Contrasto are please to present a revised edition of William Klein’s, Rome first published in 1959, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of it’s release this October. This beautifully produced edition includes Klien’s never before-before-seen fashion pictures made in Rome, along with new updated text by the photographer. Now redesigned to encompass two volumes in a special slipcase, this new edition offers audiences another chance to celbrate this groundbreaking work.
Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?
Friday, July 17, 2009, 5:30 pm
Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
$10.00
Now on view Cheim and Read Gallery is The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women, a group exhibition of women artists depicting the female form. Featuring artists such as Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Vanessa Beecroft, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Kathe Burkhart, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Nan Goldin, Katy Grannan, Jenny Holzer, Sally Mann, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Shirin Neshat, Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman and Hellen van Meene. Through a variety of mediums this exhibition seeks to present a collection of works which reclaim the traditional domination of the “male gaze” and reorient the significance of the female figure to allow for more varied interpretations.
View new videos from the weekly series of artist’s interviews with Barbara Kasten and Carel Balth included in the exhibition now on view at Aperture Gallery, The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography.
In the first video-clip, Barbara Kasten presents her work Studio Construct 17 as based on physical constructions that play with light and are created only for the purpose of being photographed. By this approach, the photograph itself becomes the object and is removed from being representative or documentary. Kasten expands that while subject matter is inherent to photography, her images are unidentifiable and exist as records of light that explore spatial and formal ambiguity. This distance results in a more indirect connection between the viewer and the work.
In the second video-clip, artist Carel Balth explains the process behind his works Moving IV and Madrid V, and how his appropriation of images through a digital format functions as a new medium. Originally recorded as digital video taken by Balth, he carefully selected screen-grabs that are later printed on canvas called Piezographs. He explains that this approach creates a new vantage that confronts reality though light, space, time, and movement into a culmination of images. Balth likes the idea that people may not completely understand his work at first, and recommends The Edge of Vision by curator Lyle Rexer for further insight to his aesthetic.
A reminder to all photographers—The third annual Aperture Portfolio Prize is accepting submissions until Thursday, July 16, 2009! This international competition is focused on discovering fresh contemporary artists and bringing them to a wider audience. First prize receives $2,500 and will be featured in Aperture Foundation’s website and e-newsletter. Runners-up will also be promoted and featured on aperture.org. Don’t miss your chance to submit!
With over 60 exhibitions set among beautiful 12th-century churches and former industrial buildings, the 40th Rencontres d’Arles is not to be missed. The carefully prepared exhibitions are mostly produced by the Rencontres team, along with artists and curators, and often travel on to other parts of the world.
Returning to Arles after over twenty years,Nan Goldin is presented in 40 Years of Ruptures, and has invited 12 photographers to participate in the exhibition Ça me touche, Nan Goldin’s Guests: David Armstrong, Marina Berio, Jean-Christian Bourcart, Antoine D’Agata, JH Engström, Jim Goldberg, Christine Fenzl, Leigh Ledare, Boris Mikhailov, Anders Petersen, Jack Pierson, Lisa Ross and Annelies Strba on view at the Atelier de Mécanique.
Additionally, Goldin is presenting three personal exhibitions: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a visual diary of her life in New York; Sisters, Saints and Sibyls, a tribute to her sister and to those rebel women fighting for survival in society; and her own collection of photographs. On Saturday, July 11, Nan Goldin will be honored with a Discovery and Book Award ceremony for her influential work in contemporary photography. Aperture originally published Goldin’s masterwork The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in 1986.
Aperture Production Manager Matthew Pimm just recently returned from Singapore, where he was on press for Joel Meyerowitz’sLegacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parksat CS Graphics. Meyerowitz’s new title features a rich archive of images of New York City parks, shorelines, and forests, that transport the viewer into the heart of a lush wilderness, while contextualizing these corners of nature as an integral part of city life today. Look for the book in stores this October. An exhibition of photographs from Legacy will open at the Museum of the City of New York this fall.
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.
