Dawoud Bey, the photographer known for his large-scale portraits of adolescents published in the 2007 monograph Class Pictures, has two solo exhibitions currently on view in the Chicago area that span his nearly four-decade-long career.

First, the Art Institute of Chicago presents Harlem, USA (on view May 2 – September 9, 2012), featuring some of Bey’s earliest work candid;y documenting street life with a tremendous sense of empathy for a neighborhood to which he had great familial ties. The work, which the institute recently acquired for their permanent collection, is exhibited here for the first time since Bey’s first solo show at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979. Bey, who teaches at Columbia College, explains in an interview with the Chicago Reader how he found inspiration for this series and for becoming an artist at the Metropolitan Museum’s 1969 exhibition Harlem On My Mind.

In addition, the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago presents Picturing People (on view May 13 – June 24, 2012) a career survey of his work “ranging from chance street encounters to studio portraits,” including a few pieces from his latest series Strangers/Community which features photographs of people from Hyde Park, Chicago, where he now calls home. On Saturday, May 26 Darby English, associate professor of Art History at the University of Chicago and author of How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness (MIT Press, 2007), hosts a free walkthrough of the exhibition.

Find a reviews of both of the exhibitions at the Chicago Reader: ”Two Exhibitions Trace the Journey of Dawoud Bey;” or at Chicago magazine: “A Window into Dawoud Bey’s Photography.

And watch a three-part video series on our Vimeo page in which Bey, in conversation with Carrie Mae Weems at Aperture Gallery (February of 2008 during his exhibition of Class Pictures), discusses his approach to portraiture through the Harlem series, how he collaborates with subjects to highlight gestures, and how his subjects end up reacting to the project.

Aperture magazine subscribers can also read philosopher and art critic Arthur C. Danto’s analysis of Harlem, USA in issue 189.

—–

Harlem, USA
Exhibition on view:
May 2 – September 9, 2012

The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
(312) 629-6100

—–

Picturing People
Exhibition on view:
May 13 – June 24, 2012

Gallery Walkthrough with Darby English
Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm
FREE

The Renaissance Society
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418
Chicago, Illinois
(773) 702-8670

Carrie Mae Weems, a visual artist and photographer published in Aperture magazine #197, is applying her creative background to take on gun violence, starting within her local community of Syracuse, New York.

This initiative, titled “Operation Activate” was launched through the artists’ collective, Social Studies 101, founded by Weems eight years ago. The collaboration between several African-American artists from different American cities strives to “assist in the effort to end violence, to activate space through the use of bold images and graphics and to build public awareness.”

The six-month campaign will include everything from billboards, TV public-service announcements, to comic books and coloring pencils. Weems’ initiative challenges the ongoing gun violence facing the Syracuse community with startling and poignant street signs that read:

“A man does not become a man by killing another man.”

In light of the senseless violence in Arizona, Weems’ efforts seem all the more relevant. We find ourselves striving as a nation to absorb the recent tragedies and deal with the ramifications for the future. There is a desire to turn this into a discussion on political polarization, but as President Obama recently stated, “it is important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”

Operation Activate, through poignant street signs, is empowering this community to consciously and peacefully “Raise Your Hands, Raise Your Voices.”

Copyright Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems, featured in Aperture magazine issue 197, has an exhibition opening at Jack Shainman Gallery. Slow Fade to Black includes work in various media: painting, video, and photography. The opening reception is tomorrow night.

Opening reception for artist:
Thursday, April 22, 2010
6:00-8:00 pm

Exhibition on view:
April 22-May 22, 2010

Jack Shainman Gallery
513 West 20th Street
New York, NY

The winter issue of Aperture magazine, #197, explores the important relationship between photography and the performative. Writer Greil Marcus looks at that relationship as he considers the score for Nan Goldin’s seminal slide show, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.  Carrie Mae Weems’s projects are just as personal; she uses her films and photographs to express the nuances of her existence as a black woman and explore the undercurrents of power.

Richard Brody, staff writer at the New Yorker, examines the photographs of Raymond Cauchetier, the renowned photographer whose documentation of the French New Wave scene offered behind-the-scenes looks at Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and other groundbreaking directors.

Francine Prose speaks with Maira Kalman about the artist’s use of photography and illustration; Anthony Downey discusses contemporary Iranian photographers; photographer Andrew Moore reports on the decline and decay of the city of Detroit and its surrounding areas; and innovative fashion photographer Nick Knight is interviewed by Diane Smyth on his career and process.  Also, Robert Adams revisits his classic series of nocturnes featured in his newly published edition Summer Nights, Walking, in an interview with Joshua Chuang.

Click to view web-exclusive: Anthony Downey on the June 2009 Green Revolution in Iran.

**  Reader challenge:  In which year did Nan Goldin present her groundbreaking slide show, Ballad of Sexual Dependency? **

Pick up your copy of Aperture magazine at newsstands nationwide, order issue #197,  or subscribe here.

To order a one-year gift subscription to Aperture magazine for a family member or friend at 50% off the regular price, click here!

To help support and educate young photographers by donating a one-year subscription to a school or library at 50% off the regular price, click here!

In this video excerpt of Dawoud Bey’s discussion with Carrie Mae Weems last February 2008 when Class Pictures was on view at Aperture Gallery, Bey explains how his subjects reacted to the project and what it meant to them, from the making of the portrait to seeing it framed in a museum or published in the accompanying book. He explains that part of his project is to give portrait subjects a chance to simultaneously pose for a photographer and also represent themselves in a written statement. Dawoud furthers that part of his goal is to draw communities, who may not necessarily go to their local museums, into the institution. Many of Dawoud’s subjects found the experience to be surreal and transformative in their own lives.

The exhibition Class Pictures is currently on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum and as part of the opening reception on Thursday, April 23, Dawoud Bey will give a talk and book signing. The exhibition and its coinciding monograph, Class Pictures (Aperture, 2007), feature Bey’s striking large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States. For the past fifteen years, Bey has been photographing teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum, and—intensely attentive to their poses and gestures—has created a highly diverse generational portrait that challenges stereotypes of teenagers. A brief autobiographical statement by the subject—by turns poignant, funny, or harrowing—accompanies each portrait.

Click here to watch an extended version of the talk.

Click here to view related events.

Thursday, April 16th, Dawoud Bey’s successful traveling exhibition Class Pictures opens at the Milwaukee Art Museum after making several stops in New York, Houston, Indianapolis, and Baltimore.

The exhibition and accompanying book feature striking, large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum. In this video excerpt of a talk with Carrie Mae Weems from February 2008, when the exhibition was on view at Aperture Gallery, Dawoud Bey explains how the portraits in Class Pictures result from a close collaboration with his subjects. His directions were made to highlight the gestures, looks and how the teenagers were posing within the classroom. Bey also speaks about the relevance of the subjects’ written testimonies and how they complete and deepen the portraits.

Dawoud Bey will give a talk and book signing at the museum during the opening reception on Thursday, April 23rd and on Tuesday, April 28 in a discussion with curator Lisa Hostetler.

Click here to watch an extended version of the talk.

Dawoud Bey’s Interest in Photography and Portraiture from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

In February 2008, Dawoud Bey and Carrie Mae Weems discussed the work from Bey’s acclaimed book and exhibition, Class Pictures, on view at the time at Aperture Gallery.

Class Pictures features Bey’s striking, large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States. Depicting teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum—and intensely attentive to their poses and gestures—he has created a highly diverse group portrait of a generation that challenges teenage stereotypes.  After several stops including New York, Houston, Indianapolis, and Baltimore, this successful exhibition will open at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, April 16, 2009.

In this excerpt from the talk, Dawoud Bey explains how he decided to become a photographer, speaks about his first significant picture as well as his approach to portraiture through his Harlem series.

Watch a longer cut of the talk here.

Clockwise from top left: Lorna Simpson (Chuck Close, 2006); Keith Calhoun (image via Open Society Institute); Chandra McCormick (image via Open Society Insitute); Carrie Mae Weems, self-portrait, “I looked and looked and failed to see what so terrified you,” from her multimedia installation The Lousiana Project; Dawoud Bey, self-portrait; Deborah Willis (image via duke.edu); Hank Willis Thomas, portrait by Rashid Johnson.

Now on view at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, is the Aperture exhibition Class Pictures, photographs by Dawoud Bey which depicts high-school teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum. Through intense attention to their poses and gestures—Bey created a highly diverse group portrait of a generation that intentionally challenges teenage stereotypes. The collection consists of forty 40 x 30 inch color prints from various high-schools throughout the country along with statements from each of the subjects. These striking, large-scale works offer unusually respectful and perceptive portraits that establish Bey as one of the best portraitists at work today.

Coinciding with the Aperture exhibition at the Contemporary Museum another portrait show that explores themes of race, class and identity over the centuries will be on view at the Walters Art Museum, co-curated by Dawoud Bey and 12 high school students. The exhibition is the result of a three-week summer residency, during which Bey and the teens selected historic drawings, paintings, and portrait miniatures from the Walters’ private collection to position alongside 10 similarly evocative portraits by Bey. Read more details on the collaborative curatorial project titled  The Portrait Re/Examined: A Dawoud Bey Project on Whats Going On? Dawoud’s Blog.

Read The Baltimore Sun article here:  A portrait of Students as young Walters curators

Check out another great post from Dawoud titled Advice To A Young Artist.

Dawoud and Carrie Mae Weems will be speaking  on Martin Luther King Day, January 19, 3:00 p.m. the day before the presidential inauguration at the Walters Museum.

Dawoud Bey: Class Pictures
December 13-February 21, 2009
Contemporary Museum
100 W. Centre Street, Mount Vernon
410-783-5720

Portraits Re/ Examined:
A Dawoud Bey Project
December 13-February 16, 2009
Walters Art Museum
600 N. Charles St., Mount Vernon
410-547-9000

View and buy the Aperture book here for 30% off.

Buy book signed by Dawoud Bey!

Photo by Martin Parr

Aperture Foundation’s Annual Benefit & Auction is next week! Photographer William Christenberry will be honored and there will be silent and live auctions. Over 60 amazing photographs will be available at the auctions, including work from Christenberry,  Mitch Epstein, Pamela Hanson, Richard Misrach, Gabriel Orozco, Martin Parr, Stephen Shore, Paul Strand, Dan Winters, Carrie Mae Weems, Garry Winogrand, and more. See all the auction items here.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2008
Pier 60, Chelsea Piers
New York, New York

6:30–8:00 p.m. Cocktails and Silent Auction
8:00–10:00 p.m. Dinner, Live Auction, and Award Ceremony

All proceeds benefit Aperture Foundation’s publications, exhibitions, and public programs at Aperture Gallery and at other venues worldwide.

A few tickets are still available. Email mgrasso@aperture.org for availability.