Self Portrait, © Shen Wei

By Anna Carnick

For this week’s SNAPSHOT, we spoke with New York-based artist Shen Wei. Born and raised in Shanghai, Wei’s photographs-primarily still lifes and nude portraits-offer the viewer a glimpse into very private, still moments, which seem to stand in direct contrast to the larger, ever-changing exterior world. Wei was named one of the fifteen “new generation of photo pioneers” by American Photo in 2007, and was also part of PDN’s annual “30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch” list in 2008.

Wei’s first monograph, the dreamlike Chinese Sentiment, was published by Charles Lane Press earlier this year. The collection is an intimate exploration of the human impact of China’s arrival as a superpower, and features an introduction by Peter Hessler, staff writer and former Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker. It was guest-edited by Aperture book publisher Lesley A. Martin.

This summer, Wei is included in the Museum of the City of New York’s Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Carts Program. This group exhibition on view through September 5 is co-curated by Aperture editor Denise Wolff and documents the ongoing Green Cart Initiative, which placed 1000 mobile food carts offering fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the five boroughs. The exhibition was presented by Aperture and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

Wei spoke with Aperture’s web-editor, Anna Carnick.

AC: What is your idea of happiness?
SW: To have the freedom to do what I want.

How do you define beauty?
The smell of home and my dog.

What do you see as your greatest achievement as an artist so far?
My latest self-portrait project, I Miss You Already.  It took me so many years of struggle to finally breakthrough my shell to be completely free and open and willing.

Your greatest personal achievement?
Convincing my strict Chinese parents on numerous difficult issues throughout my life.

If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?
Probably something musical, a violinist or a dancer.

Your favorite artist, of any genre?
Where should I start?  I have so many.  Recently I have been fascinated by the work of French filmmaker Jacques Tati.

Your favorite photograph?
It has to be Diane Arbus’s Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962.  I had known nothing about photography before I moved to U.S.  The first photo book I ever owned was Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph.  I absolutely love that photo when I see it.  It kind of reminds me of myself as a boy in a way.

Your favorite emerging photographer?
I have been a follower of another Shanghai-born photographer, Yijun Liao.  Her current work is a series of self-portraits with her Japanese lover, which is very mysterious, seductive, and intriguing.

Your current soundtrack?
I love French Chanson, Serge Gainsbourg, Patrick Bruel, Bénabar, Marc Lavoine. . .

The last book (photo or other) you really enjoyed?
The Revenge of Thomas Eakins by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick.

Name a person – living or dead – you’d really like to meet.
A Chinese poet from the Dang Dynasty, Li Bai.

What qualities do you appreciate most in friends?
Honesty.

Your favorite motto?
From caring comes courage. – Lao Tzu

Join Verna Curtis, curator of photography in the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress; photographer Duane Michals, as well as Aperture Editor Denise Wolff to discuss the illustrated history of a mode of presentation that became an art form in itself—a history that has seen radical shifts in the role of handmade artists’ objects. This panel takes place on the occasion of the release of Photographic Memory: The Album in the Age of Photography which traces the rise of the album from the turn of the century to the present day, showcasing some of the most important examples in the history of the medium, as collected by the Library of Congress.

Aperture Gallery and Bookstore

Tuesday, June 14, 6:30 pm

Free

Click here to purchase the book Photographic Memory: The Album in the Age of Photography

The Curators and Artists

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© Andrew Hinderaker

Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Cart Program features the work of photographers who have turned their lenses on city neighborhoods where there is little access to nutritious food, documenting street scenes and urban environments. The exhibition also reveals a new, important use for a nearly ubiquitous and historic urban icon: the pushcart. Moveable Feast is organized by the Museum of the City of New York in conjunction with Aperture Foundation, with support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Kodak generously donated film for the project.

Aperture Foundation asked five emerging photographers to undertake the NYC Green Cart Commission: LaToya Ruby Frazier, Thomas Holton, Gabriele Stabile, Will Steacy, and Shen Wei. As media outlets for this kind of sustained storytelling disappear, this commission is especially important—it supports photography, produces a meaningful archive, and expands public dialogue. Each of the five photographers brought a unique artistic vision and point of view to their mission of documenting the Green Carts, which operate in designated neighborhoods in each of the five boroughs. They photographed the carts themselves, the lives of the vendors, interactions with customers, and the commercial landscapes of the surrounding communities.

A special thanks to the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund for their partnership and support in making the Green Cart Photography Commission and this exhibition possible. Laurie M. Tisch commented, “The New York City Green Cart Initiative brings diverse partners together to help increase access to healthy fruits and vegetables across our city. Green Carts operate at the intersection of public health and urban culture. The Illumination Fund is delighted to help facilitate this inspiring showcase depicting the experience of NYC Green Cart vendors. The work of these emerging photographers celebrates an important NYC program as well as an iconic New York City street symbol.”

Susan Henshaw Jones, the Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum, stated: “We are so pleased to present the work of these artists, most of whom are working in the tradition of street photography and social documentary. The Museum of the City of New York has one of the most important repositories of photographs related to the social history of New York City. These five photographers follow in their footsteps. We are proud to present this exhibition, which helps focus attention on a vitally important civic issue.”

NYC Green Carts is an independently operated mobile fruit and vegetable stand program initiated by the Mayor’s Fund for New York City, the New York City Department of Health, and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. The Museum of the City of New York, with substantial and important holdings in the field of New York City photographs—most notably, in this instance, the Jacob Riis archive—jumped at the opportunity to exhibit the photographs in Moveable Feast and will complement the contemporary photographs with images from their historic collection. Several photographs of pushcarts will be exhibited, including an 1895 image by Jacob Riis, entitled “A Vegetable Stand in Mulberry Street Bend with Myself (Jacob A. Riis) in the Picture.”

Exhibition on view through July 10
The Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue

A sheet from Photographic Memory and one from Alex Webb’s The Suffering of Light on press in Hong Kong.

Photo by Alex Webb

A test of the cover for Photographic Memory before the images have been applied.

With our spring titles starting to print, it is a busy time for Aperture. Both Photographic Memory, which explores the role of the photo album in the history of photography, and Alex Webb’s newest monograph, The Suffering of Light, a survey of thirty years of his career, are on press together at the same printer. Alex and his wife, Rebecca Norris Webb, sent me a snapshot from Hong Kong of two press sheets, one from each book, stacked together at the plant. Read about their experience on press with Alex’s book.

Though printing marks the start of the book’s life in the world, it is often a bittersweet moment for me, as an editor, because it signals the end of the bookmaking process, which is the most fun and rewarding part of my job. I like to think that when a book has been a pleasure to create, this shows in the final product. At least I hope this is the case for Photographic Memory, which I’ve been working on for two years in collaboration with the Library of Congress and author Verna Curtis, a curator of photography there. It’s been an amazing experience. I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with handmade albums by some of photography’s most important figures—like F. Holland Day, Edward Sherriff Curtis, and Walker Evans—and to gain new insight through Verna’s expertise. So, in turn, will those who read the book! A few of my favorites include an album by Leni Riefenstahl of the 1936 Olympics that culminates in a spectacular diving sequence; an album that Jim Goldberg made in a registry book from the rundown California hotel where he shot portraits of the inhabitants; an extraordinary family album by Danny Lyon; and an album containing beautiful, almost haunting mug-shots from a Philippine Prison in 1916.

I was thrilled to receive a test of the cover in the office, struck by how handsome it looked even without the tip-on photos in place and also by how different it became as a real thing, as opposed to the printouts and PDFs I had grown accustomed to poring over. Watching the book make this transition from files to object is magical, not unlike photography itself.
—Denise Wolff

Mug-shots from the 1916 Bureau of Prisons Album

Alex Webb was featured in Aperture Magazine 181 and Aperture Foundation published his book Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names.

Click here to purchase Aperture Magazine 181

Click here to purchase Alex Webb’s Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names

The first edition of The Pond-published by Aperture in 1985 and one of the most important photography books in the history of the medium-included an original gelatin-silver image printed by John Gossage himself and tipped onto the cloth cover of the book. This was a special and luxe addition to an already stunning book, which, ironically, came about because the budget wouldn’t allow for it.

The Pond‘s funding was maxed out with the book’s cloth binding, high-end paper, and extra-long dust jacket with custom color inks. It simply didn’t allow for any more extras, like a tip-on image, which is typically printed as an extra sheet with the rest of the pages of the book. Since what happens underneath a dust jacket is not immediately visible, and, in fact, many readers don’t ever remove it, adding more features there can drive costs up without necessarily adding more perceived value to a book. In short, adding a manufactured tip-on just didn’t make financial sense.

However, it does make for a nice surprise for those who take the time to remove the jacket, and John saw that if he printed the tip-ons himself, he could add this feature without affecting the book costs significantly. As he put it, “It required my effort. But it was just some trouble, and so I did it.” This meant, though, that he needed to make over 2,500 prints! Faced with days in the darkroom, John decided to include six different images so he wouldn’t grow bored. He chose images that commented on the interior of the book, but that weren’t included within, in order to keep attentive readers on their toes and intrigued. Five out of the six images were a series of frames of a string blowing in the wind. The sixth image was a wild card: a menacing junkyard dog behind a fence. While all the images spoke to the kind of beautiful imperfection in the borderland between man and nature surrounding the pond, the dog seemed to guard the book in a very direct way, quietly growling at the viewer.

John made extra copies of each of the prints so that the printer would have more than 2,500, in case any damage occurred during production. After the book was made, the printer returned the leftover images to John.  In the end, he got a disproportionate number of dog prints back. This meant that fewer of these prints were tipped onto books that went into circulation, making a copy of The Pond with a dog print tipped onto the cover even more rare.

It also means that John has some extra copies of vintage dog prints. To our great surprise and honor, he has generously donated one of these prints, along with a first edition of the book, to Aperture for this year’s Benefit and Auction. Now you have a chance to own this amazing, storied print and first edition book, and at the same time support Aperture’s publications, exhibitions, and educational programs.

Blog post by Denise Wolff

For more information on our Benefit as well as bidding online and in-person, please click here.

Don’t miss your last chance to buy tickets to the 2010 Aperture Benefit and Auction and SNAP! Benefit Party on November 1st! This year there are a number of available ticket packages to choose from. Enjoy Aperture’s Silent and Live Auctions as well as the Benefit dinner honoring photographer Richard Misrach, Steven Ames and Julie Saul from 6:00 to 9:30PM.

Or join us for the SNAP! Benefit Party, from 9:30 to 11:30PM, and dance the night away to music spun by special guest DJs and downtown fixtures Tim Barber of Tinyvices.com, AJ Slim and Jeannie Hopper of LiquidSoundLounge.com and ARTonAIR.com. This year the SNAP! Benefit Party will also include Aperture’s first ever Emerging Artists Auction featuring works by artists Jen Davis, Mark Lyon, LaToya Ruby Frazier, among others, an open bar and gourmet bites as well as an exciting selection of raffle prizes including theater tickets, dinner for two and many more!

Images copyright Paolo Ventura

Join internationally acclaimed artist Paolo Ventura for a round table discussion with Aperture book editor Denise Wolff and Cultural Attaché, Embassy of Italy, Renato Miracco as part of the Books and Beyond Series of the Library of Congress’s Center of the Book and to commemorate the gift of two handmade artist albums by Ventura to the Library’s Prints and Photographs Collection. A master of narrative staged photography, Ventura brings his imagined stories to life by building three-dimensional sets in miniature. In his most recent book, Winter Stories, he invents a moving series of photographs depicting scenes from the memory bank of a fictional circus performer as he looks back on his life. The talk will celebrate inspiration and process, presenting a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Winter Stories and sharing stories from Ventura’s life, as well as the elaborate handmade sets, drawings, ephemera, and personal collections that inform his work. He will also be available to sign copies of the book.

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 3:00 pm
Pickford Theater, third floor
Madison Building

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave S.E.
Washington DC

Click here to view Aperture published monograph Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories

Paolo Ventura show-and-tell on Winter Stories from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

Paolo Ventura presents Winter Stories, opening Thursday, December 10 at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler Gallery in New York City, with an artist’s reception Wednesday, December 9 at 6pm. Paolo’s invented worlds take on a life of their own in his beautiful large-scale prints. To learn more about the project and Paolo’s process, watch an edited excerpt of Paolo Ventura and book editor, Denise Wolff, engaging in a show-and-tell on the book Winter Stories at Aperture Gallery this past October. In this clip, Paolo explains how the Winter Stories project came about with the idea to recreate an invented world around a circus performer. Paolo presents the sets he brought from his studio and explains how he builds them playing with different perspectives. He also shares stories of the different objects in his sets inspired by childhood memories, Fellini movies among others. Then, Denise Wolff, who edited Winter Stories, takes us on a behind-the-scenes book tour revealing the making of this limited-edition monograph.

Paolo Ventura: Winter Stories
Opening Reception: Wednesday, December 9, 2009  6-8pm
Thursday, December 10, 2009—Saturday, January 23, 2010
Hasted Hunt Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 627-0006

Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories makes a great gift, and is now 30% off as part of Aperture’s Holiday Sale!

Paolo Ventura on Winter Stories from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

Watch an interview of artist Paolo Ventura in his studio discussing work from his new book Winter Stories (Aperture, October 2009). In this clip, Ventura explains the origin of the project as well as his inspirations. He also shows the different steps of his work leading to the final photograph, from the drawings, crafting the characters and sets, to his preliminary polaroids.

Join internationally acclaimed artist, Paolo Ventura, for a special evening of show-and-tell on Tuesday, October 13, 6:30 pm. with Aperture’s Book Editor, Denise Wolff, to celebrate Ventura’s new book, Winter Stories. Ventura will display many of his elaborate handmade sets, drawings, ephemera, and personal collections, sharing stories from the book and his life. He will also be available to sign copies of this just-released publication.
Click here for full event details.

Click here to purchase Winter Stories from Aperture.

Click here to view more interviews and multimedia features from Aperture.

Aperture with The New School, the Photography Department at Parsons and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics presents a panel discussion as part of the Confounding Expectations: Photography in Context series. Kicking off this fall season’s series is Words Without Pictures, which explores pressing issues in contemporary photography and celebrates the launch of the LACMA book project by the same name. Charlotte Cotton, curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, LACMA, will moderate a discussion with panelists Alex Klein, artist and Curatorial Fellow in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, LACMA; Matt Keegan, artist and editor of North Drive Press; David Reinfurt, graphic designer and co-founder of Dexter Sinister; and Denise Wolff, Aperture Editor. Other special guests include special guests Fia Backström, Johanna Burton, Melissa Catanese, Sarah Charlesworth, Moyra Davey, Darius Himes, John Lehr, Miranda Lichtenstein, Arthur Ou, Ed Panar and Laurel Ptak. Copies of the book will be available at a special price.

Words Without Pictures
Panel Discussion
Thursday, September 17, 2009  7:00 pm

FREE

The New School
Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York, New York