Perpetual Photo No. 210, 1989 © Allan McCollum

Exhibition on view:
March 12–April 12, 2012

Blondeau Fine Art Services
5, rue de la Muse
Genève, Switzerland
41 (0)22 544 95 95

Challenging ideas of originality, a group of appropriation artists share the common thread of relating to images in a newfound way. Earlier exhibition’s, Pictures (Artists Space, New York, 1977) and The Pictures Generation (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009) pioneered the way for ‘appropriationist’ practices, advocating the importance of painting as a medium and the borrowed, sampled, and recycled aspects of our visual culture.

Last Exit: Pictures, curated by Lionel Bouvier, seeks to articulate the can of worms ‘re-presentation’ tends to open. Understanding the picture itself, whatever the sources used, becomes inherently important rather than attempting to absorb an alternate or lost reality beyond the image. Despite generational or aesthetic differences, the heart of this exhibition is to display pictures in every state: appropriated, displaced, painted, re-photographed, and combined.

Featured artists: Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, Allan McCollum, John Miller, Steven Parrino, Richard Prince, David Robbins, David Salle, Laurie Simmons, Alan Vega, and James Welling.

Allan McCollum contributed to Words Without Pictures. Louise Lawler is featured in Aperture issue 145. Laurie Simmons has an Aperture published book, Walking, Talking, Lying, she is featured in The New York Times Magazine Photographs, and has a print available. James Welling is featured in Aperture issue 190 and contributed to Words Without Pictures. Aperture, in association with the Cincinnati Art Museum, will publish a survey of James Welling’s work in Spring 2013.

Image by Daniel Gordon

Daniel Gordon Artist Talk at Aperture

Artist Daniel Gordon will discuss his large-scale color photographs and unique process at Aperture tomorrow as part of the Parsons Lecture series. Gordon’s work was most recently featured in MoMA/PS1′s Greater NY show. The artist’s collage imagery which has been described by Conscientious blog’s Joerg Colberg as falling in the “somewhat disturbing part of the spectrum,” has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries.

Parsons Lecture Series: Daniel Gordon
6:30 PM, Tuesday, November 30th

Aperture Gallery and Bookstore
547 West 27th Street
New York, New York

Image by Hank Willis Thomas

A Conversation with Leslie Hewitt and Hank Willis Thomas

Tomorrow evening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, artists Leslie Hewitt and Hank Willis Thomas will appear in conversation with Eva Respini, associate curator of MoMA’s photography department. This talk is the latest installment of the museum’s panel discussion series Conversations: Among Friends which brings artists, scholars and curators together in consideration of Art’s political and social contexts. Leslie Hewitt, was featured in Aperture published essay collection Words Without Pictures. Hank Willis Thomas’ monograph Pitch Blackness was released by Aperture in 2008.

Click here to buy tickets

A Conversation with Leslie Hewitt and Hank Willis Thomas
November 30, 6:45 pm doors,

The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
New York, New York

Image by Richard Misrach

Richard Misrach at SF Camerawork

Richard Misrach’s book tour for recent release and critically acclaimed publication Destroy This Memory continues tomorrow night at SF Camerawork in San Francisco. Recently called a “Masterpiece” by writer Geoff Dyer in the Financial Times, Destroy This Memory presents an affecting reminder of the physical and psychological impact of Hurricane Katrina capturing the grafitti and messages scrawled by survivor’s on walls during the Hurricane’s tragic aftermath. The talk will be followed by a book signing and artist’s reception.

Lecture and Book Signing with Richard Misrach
November 30th, 7:00 pm

SF Camerawork
657 Mission Street 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA

Curator and co-founder of Humble Arts Foundation, Jon Feinstein recently gave Aperture’s interns a special tour of the exhibition 31 Women in Art Photography presented by Humble Arts and Affirmation Arts. Humble Arts Foundation is an organization devoted to emerging artists of all ages and backgrounds that are making interesting and innovative work. 31 Women in Art Photography, which was recently on view at Affirmation Arts until April 10th, was Humble Arts Foundation’s second annual exhibition of women’s work and in part addresses disparities between the number of women in the field of photography compared to the number of women photographers given opportunities to exhibit.

Feinstein co-curated the show with curator and editor of Aperture’s Words Without Pictures, Charlotte Cotton. The show features work by women photographers at different stages in their careers including Aperture published photographer Robin Schwartz as well as Sarah Palmer, Emily Shur, Ann Woo and more.

Click here to find out more about Aperture’s Work Scholar Program

Click here to view Charlotte Cotton’s Words Without Pictures

Click here to view Robin Shwartz’s Amelia’s World

Cover of Lay Flat 02 / Image Credit: Ann Woo / Courtesy of Lay Flat

Lay Flat 02: Meta is the newest publication from the Lay Flat independent imprint run by photographer Shane Lavalette.

Bringing together emerging and established artists, Lay Flat specializes in dynamic and varied books and publications that are just as much art objects, in their own right, as the work featured in their pages.

The recent second book by Lay Flat entitled Meta gathers essays, texts and images from artists and thinkers whose work contemplates the medium of photography itself. The book includes works by over twenty artists  who actively challenge and experiment with the conventions of photography as well as essays by contributors such as pioneer of experimental photography James Welling who was featured in Aperture issue 190, Aperture books publisher Lesley A. Martin, and Alex Klein who edited Aperture Published Words Without Pictures.

A release party and book signing for Lay Flat 02: Meta will take place at ICP this Friday, March 26th, with a number of the contributing editors and artists in attendance and available to sign books.

Lay Flat 02: Meta Release Party and Book Signing
Friday, March 26th, 2010
6:00pm – 7:30pm

ICP Museum Store
International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Click here for more details and to purchase Lay Flat 02: Meta

Click here to view Words Without Pictures

Click here to view James Welling’s artist’s lecture at Aperture Foundation

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