Don’t miss your last chance to see these spectacular exhibitions on view, TODAY — closing at 6:00 pm!

While Michael Wolf’s large-scale color photographs of downtown Chicago’s buildings and their inhabitants examine public versus private space in the context of 21st-century urban life, Barbara Crane’s intimate Polaroids from the 1980s hone in on private human gestures performed in public at Chicago’s summer festivals. Both bodies of work reveal private moments that were intended to go unnoticed, each eliciting very different visceral responses from the viewer while evoking the voyeurism that permeates our culture today.

Aperture Gallery and Bookstore
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
Between 10th and 11th Avenues
New York, New York

Barbara Crane gave a talk last November coinciding with her exhibition, Barbara Crane: Private Views, currently on view at Aperture Gallery. Crane went through her entire 45-year illustrious career as a photographer who continues to experiment with processes and reinventing a new language for her different bodies of work. In this excerpt below, Crane speaks specifically about her series of close-up Polaroids from Private Views taken in Chicago in the 1980s; how she photographed in movement with her cumbersome Super Speed Graphic camera, in thick crowds and her particular attention to gesture and colors. She also explains how it took her more than 25 years to edit these images in a book.

To watch the full version of this talk, click on these links below:

Part 1, Part 2

Barbara Crane: Private Views is on view at Aperture Gallery until January 21st. This series is a celebration of the classic 1980s Polaroid snapshot with an experimental flair; Crane’s mixture of natural light and flash combined with her use of Polaroid film highlights the primary colors of ’80s fashion, which still feels hip and contemporary today. An exhibition of this work will also be on view at Galerie Françoise Paviot, in Paris from January 14th until February 20th. There will be an opening with the artist on Saturday, January 23rd from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.

View related limited-edition print and book

Now available for download, Aperture Gallery offers a FREE audio tour podcast of our current exhibitions The Transparent City and Private Views, given by the artists themselves. Listen as Michael Wolf explains his process and anecdotes from his work in Chicago creating The Transparent City and Barbara Crane speaks about her experiences at Chicago festivals where she took her polaroids for Private Views. Both are available by clicking the above image.

TWO EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
EXPLORE PRIVATE VERSUS PUBLIC LIFE IN CHICAGO—PAST AND PRESENT

Aperture Gallery is pleased to present two simultaneous exhibitions exploring the city of Chicago from different vantage points and periods in history. While Michael Wolf’s large-scale color photographs of downtown Chicago’s buildings and their inhabitants examine public versus private space in the context of 21st-century urban life, Barbara Crane’s intimate Polaroids from the 1980s hone in on private human gestures performed in public at Chicago’s summer festivals.

Michael Wolf: Artist’s Talk and Book Signing
Tuesday, November 10, 6:30 pm

Barbara Crane and Barbara Hitchcock
in Conversation + Book Signing
Wednesday, November 11, 6:30 pm

Opening Reception with pics Fuji’s new instant cameras! :
Thursday, November 12, 6:00—8:00 pm

Exhibitions on view:
November 7, 2009—January 21, 2010

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
between 10th & 11th Avenues
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

View exhibitions details

View events details

Now on view at the Chicago Cultural Center, Challenging Vision, a 60-year retrospective exhibition guest curated by Kenneth C. Burkhart that celebrates the career of Chicago-based photographer Barbara Crane. Including over 200 photographs, this collection of her many separate projects make up the most complete survey of her work to date. Aperture published her most recent monograph, Private Views, which celebrates the 1980’s culture as captured through Crane’s Polaroid photography. A special exhibition of her work from Private Views will open at Aperture Gallery on November 2, and Crane will be in conversation with Barbara Hitchcock on November 11 at Aperture Gallery.

Click here to purchase your copy of Private Views through Aperture.

Click here to purchase a signed limited-edition print from Barbara Crane through Aperture.

Click here to view an interview with Barbara Crane courtesy of the Amon Carter Center.

Barbara Crane: Challenging Vision
Saturday, October 3—Sunday, January 10, 2010
Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibit Hall
78 E. Washington Street, Chicago
(312) 744-6630

To kick off the annual Society for Photographic Education conference, the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth hosted a talk by Chicago-based photographer Barbara Crane on March 25. The lecture and reception accompanied Challenging Vision, a retrospective of Crane’s work now on view at the museum through May 10, 2009 . Click here to see a video podcast with the artist.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Aperture’s booth at the conference in Dallas, TX, last week.

Barbara Crane graciously stopped by the booth to sign copies of her new book, Private Views, on March 27.

Everyone loved Barbara’s manicure!