Practical Photography, 2006-08 [view larger]
© Torbjørn Rødland

There is an excellent group show currently up at Andrew Kreps which deserves some attention. The exhibition, titled To Be Determined, is described by the press release as being “centered around a generation of artists whose work stretch the limits of photography. Portraiture and self-portraiture, archiving, and typology, as well as free-form fiction are at the core of their exploration of the medium.” It goes on,

The selection of artists, some of whom would not consider themselves to be solely photographers, have interrogated the medium, and expanded its conventional definition. When looking at the group, one may question whether there is indeed a circumscribed, or unified practice of photography. But while utilizing strategies that diffuse its understanding, this group of artists can be unified by their focused engagement with their subject matter.

The artists on display include Walead Beshty, Anne Collier, Phil Collins, Liz Deschenes, Roe Ethridge, Annette Kelm, Peter Piller, Josephine Pryde, Eileen Quinlan, and Torbjørn Rødland.

If you’re in New York, do yourself a favor and stop in to see this before it comes down. The show will be up through March 7th.

I’m happy to take part in “The Troposphere,” a group show in Manhattan that was curated by Sophie Lvoff to include photographs by the following artists:

Alicia Baird, Christine Collins, Gerald Edwards III, Bertrand Fleuret, Jason Fulford, Bryan Graf, Brenton Hamilton, Sharon Harper, Shane Huffman, Shane Lavalette, Sophie T. Lvoff, Curtis Mann, Patrick Nilsson, Thomas Seely, Lanya Snyder, and Barry Stone.

The show is up at The Hampshire House (150 Central Park South, No. 804) from December 11th until January 4th, viewed by appointment only. The opening reception will be held December 11 from 7-9pm. Be there!

More info here.

Mike Mandel sent me an e-mail recently reminding me to see an exhibition of Boston-based photographer Karl Baden’s Covering Photography collection, now up at the Boston Public Library in their Rare Books and Manuscripts exhibition space. The show, titled “Imitation, Influence… and Coincidence,” highlights books from Karl’s collection that either appropriate or seem to be influenced by famous photographs.

“Imitation, Influence… and Coincidence” at the Boston Public Library, 2008
© Karl Baden

BOOK: The Shackle (1976) by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
PHOTOGRAPH: Lovers, Budapest, 1915 by André Kertész
© Karl Baden

BOOK: The Road to Wigan Pier (1956) by George Orwell
PHOTOGRAPH: Three Generations of Welsh Miners, 1950 by Eugene Smith
© Karl Baden

BOOK: La Bâtarde (1976) by Violette Leduc
PHOTOGRAPH: Lovers Quarrel, 1936 by Brassaï
© Karl Baden

BOOK: Caddie Woodlawn (1970) by Carol Ryrie Brink
PHOTOGRAPH: Lucille Burroughs, 1936 by Walker Evans
© Karl Baden

You can read more about the collection and see more sample displays from the exhibition here. But if you’re in Boston, I highly recommend seeing it person. The show will be up until December 31st.

Victor Sira has curated what looks to be an interesting show at ICP’s Education Gallery called Book Dummies. As described online,

Book Dummies is an exhibition that gives insight into the process of making a photo book. It reveals the many layers of the process, and gives a step-by-step view of the approach used by each of the photographers whose book dummies make up the exhibition.

The exhibition brings together books by Morten Andersen, Stephanie Cardon, Yuichi Hibi, Leigh Ledare, Esther Levine, Pax Paloscia and Victor Sira. The show will run from October 25th to December 27th. The opening reception will be held this Friday, October 24th from 6 to 8pm.

More info here.

Organized by Roxana Marcoci, Curator of the Department of Photography, MoMA’s New Photography 2008 exhibition brings together the work of German photographer Josephine Meckseper and South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky. From the website:

Each artist’s works exemplify recent developments in art: the reinvention of documentary photography to picture the diverse conditions of everyday life in South Africa in Subotzky’s case, and the expanding of the medium of photography into a series of artistic operations that expose the thin line between advertising, politics and fashion in Meckseper’s case. Both artists’ endeavors attest to photography’s potential to construct, document, and engage with meaning in the world today.

If you’re in New York, the show is worth stopping in to see. But if you can’t make it, see the above video and the online gallery.

The East Meadows, Northampton, Massachusetts, March 13, 2006 [from "Oxbow Archive"]
© Joel Sternfeld

I’ve always been a big fan of Joel Sternfeld’s work, so I was happy to hear about his exhibition of new photographs that just opened at Luhring Augustine entitled Oxbow Archive. For the large-scale images, Sternfeld focused his 5×7 camera on the varying weather and atmospheric effects in a field in central Massachusetts over the course of a few years, as the seasons changed. From the press release:

Sternfeld’s new work represents a break with painterly notions of the Picturesque and the Sublime; his field is flat, average and indistinguishable from thousands like it. He does not take the view from nearby Mount Holyoke as the Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole did in 1833 and look down on the Oxbow of the Connecticut River, the “grandest prospect in North America.” A single field that appears in Cole’s now iconic painting is of ample interest for Sternfeld’s attentive eye.

This work represents a departure from archetypal photographic depictions of nature; grandiloquent mountain views and dramatized skies are eschewed, as are ideal specimens of flora. Anthropomorphization of “perfect form in nature” does not occur; the geometric is not valorized. The photographs are not meant to be metaphoric equivalents of anything else. Rather, the images present themselves without pretense as a systematic index of seasonal progression.

If you’re in New York, stop by the gallery to see the photographs in the flesh – if for nothing else, just to experience the beautifully subtle color palette. If you do in fact like the work, you can look forward to the book, which should be available very soon from Steidl.

Until then, see more from Oxbow Archive online here.

There has already been a lot of discussion surrounding New York Photo Festival on the blogosphere: Andrew Hetherington’s and Michael David Murphy’s columns over on Foto8, Robert Wright’s critique of Tim Barber’s Various Photographs exhibition (which Joerg Colberg deemed “the worst photography show [he has] ever seen”) and, of course, many others. While I also have some thoughts about how particular events and exhibitions may have been improved (or how the tagline “The Future of Contemporary Photography” should have been dropped immediately), I was quite happy with the festival in general. As with any curatorial endeavor, not everything about it will appeal to everyone, but in each of the exhibitions I managed to find a number of inspiring images and ideas.

As a way to begin digesting everything that I looked at over the past week, I thought I’d begin by sharing a few of my picks from each of the four major exhibitions.

The Ubiquitous Image, Curated by Lesley A. Martin
Location: 76 Front Street Gallery

© Natalie Czech

© Penelope Umbrico

© Harrell Fletcher

© Curtis Mann

© Joachim Schmid

© Useful Photography

Chisel, Curated by Kathy Ryan
Location: St. Ann’s Warehouse

© Katherine Wolkoff

© Roger Ballen

© Lars Tunbjörk

© Andreas Gefeller

New Typologies, Curated by Martin Parr
Location: Smack Mellon & Dumbo Arts Center

© Sarah Pickering

© WassinkLundgren

© Michel Campeau

© Jeffrey Milstein

© Jan Kempenaers

Various Photographs, Curated by Tim Barber
Location: 70 Front Street Gallery

© Mark McKnight

© Dan Otranto

© Lina Scheynius

© Hannah Whitaker

© Santiago Mostyn

(As well as the work of Christian Patterson, Irina Rozovsky, Danielle Levitt, and Balarama Heller.)

Indeed, there was a lot to see. Aside from the major exhibitions and satellite shows, the festival put on artist talks, panel discussions and screenings. It has been said that Roger Ballen gave an unforgettable talk on the first day of the festival. Unfortunately I missed it (kicking myself for this) but I was able to catch a few others, of which I most enjoyed hearing Stephen Gill. When I spoke with Stephen the day before, I could already sense his genuine love for image making but the talk proved it.

As for the panel discussions, I heard good things about the conversation between Martin Parr and Erik Kessels – mostly that it was really entertaining – but was unable to attend myself. I had high hopes for the second day’s panel, “Curating 2.0″ (featuring Tim Barber, Jen Bekman and Laurel Ptak), but was ultimately let down. I imagined much more critical discourse and much less individual presentation. However, “The Secret Life of Images” (featuring Lesley Martin, Joachim Schmid and Penelope Umbrico) lifted my spirits. Lesley did a really nice job moderating the discussion, posing questions to keep the dialogue interesting. I was also happy about the inclusion of the last panel, “Picturing Iraq” (featuring Vicki Goldberg, Nina Berman, Steve Mumford and Claire Beckett).

I commend the founders Frank Evers and Daniel Power for making the festival happen. All in all, it was great first run. I think everyone I’ve spoken to has taken something away from it and, if anything, it was such a treat to be in the company of so many people that share the same passion. It was good to see old friends and make a few: Greg Stimac, Christian Patterson, Michael Schmelling, Jason Lazarus, Will Steacy, Michael Bühler-Rose, Brian Sorg, Cara Phillips, Amy Elkins, Nicola Kast, Victoria Hely-Hutchinson, Joe Tripi, Amani Olu, Jon Feinstein, Coley Brown, Brad Troemel, Greg Wasserstrom, Grant Willing, Alana Celii, Grady O’Connor, Amy Stein, Alice Wells, Harlan Erskine, Patrick Romero, Jesse Chehak, Alys Kenny and Casey Kelbaugh (Slideluck Potshow), Noah Kalina, Alexandra Catiere, Richard Renaldi, Seth Boyd, Marc Yankus, Marcus Schaden and everyone at the booth, Ken Schles, Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren (WassinkLundgren), Darius Himes, Andrew Hetherington, Joerg Coberg, Laurel Ptak, Raul Gutierrez, Michael David Murphy, Michel Mallard, Meagan Ziegler-Haynes, Christina Caputo and many other fine folks

Evers and Power have already begun planning NYPH09, which will last for 10 days instead of 4 and again be held in DUMBO. According to PDN, next year’s list of curators will include Jody Quon (photography director at New York magazine), Chris Boot (founder of book publishing company Chris Boot Ltd.), Neville Wakefield (critic and independent curator) and Bill Ewing (exhibit curator at the Musee de l’Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland).

I’m looking forward to it.

Life in the Big City, 2008
© Jessica Iannuzzi

It’s nice to see that students are putting on interesting photo shows. photoFEAST, a student-run photography organization at Parsons, is presenting their most recent Spring undergraduate exhibition. This time, they call it Idlewild.

Idlewild highlights works stemming from many veins in contemporary photography. As a whole, these photographs, while not all figure studies, challenge the general characteristics of what makes a portrait. Each photograph works as an introspective gaze into something that is unfamiliar or insignificant; they are portraits of time, space, and occasions. The images represent singular moments that have been removed from their context to comment on an overall reflection of cultural phenomena. Idlewild’s intention is to seamlessly intertwine a whimsical aspect found in some of the imagery and a more serious, critical approach found in others. By curating these two ideas together, the images create a hyperrealism that comments on the everyday.

This year’s show is curated by Chris Burick, Allie Cossack, Juliana Gamino, Piotr Kuczynski, and Grady O’Connor and features work from Parsons students Ida C. Benedetto, Erica Campbell, Alana Celii, Lorena Costa, Jena Gagliano, Julia Gartland, Hanifa Haris, Jessica Iannuzzi, Hyesung Kim, Soorin Kim, Hannah Kuo, Peggy McDonnell, Soojin Park, Brandon Pavan, Bailey Roberts, Diwa Tamrong, Grant Willing, and Stephanie Wowk.

If you’re in New York on April 18th (now that I think of it, I will be), the opening reception will be held from 6 to 8pm. The exhibition will remain up until May 1st.

3 Gallery
Parsons the New School for Design
66 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY

Question Mark, 2007-08
© Ryan McGinley

Ryan McGinley’s latest work, from a series titled I Know Where the Summer Goes (after a Belle & Sebastian b-side), proves to be be another set of pretty, youthful images for fans to enjoy. The new work will be on display from April 3rd to May 3rd at Team Gallery in New York. From the press release:

Ryan McGinley’s “snapshots” have been evolving steadily since his guerilla show at 420 West Broadway in 2000. In the intervening eight years he has moved away from an artistic practice that was the soul of casual and towards an elaborated production schedule that raises the ante on “being there.” McGinley has gone from being perceived as the hottest young photographer in town to being considered a serious artist with a rare gift for creating enduring color photographs — photographs that show us the best of youth.

The inspirational images for the project were culled from the kinds of amateur photography that appeared in nudist magazines during the 60s and early 70s. McGinley would sit with his models and look through all of the ephemera of the period that he had collected, discussing with them the mood that he was hoping to capture that day. McGinley had chosen a very specific itinerary that would bring his troop through the incredible range of landscapes that are available across the US and carefully planned a battery of activities, sometimes orchestrating the use of special effects. He has always been quite fond of fireworks and fog machines and in this new work they play a major role.

Those of you following this blog know that I’m a bit torn about his photographs in general, but I’ve always loved what particular images seem to suggest about the body and its relationship to nature.

Fireworks Hysteric, 2007-08
© Ryan McGinley

Running Field, 2007
© Ryan McGinley

Dusk Flip Smoke Strip, 2007
© Ryan McGinley

If you’re in New York, you may want to drop by for the opening at Team, tomorrow night at 6pm.

See more here from I Know Where the Summer Goes here.

When I was in New York last week, I visited Aperture with Michael. The Matthew Sleeth show that was up was pretty interesting in itself but I think both Michael and I were drawn to the Erik Kessels exhibit entitled In Almost Every Picture.

In Almost Every Picture is an idiosyncratic collection of found images from three volumes in the cult classic book series of the same title. The Spanish Woman features photographs taken by a husband of his wife during the years 1956–1968; Twins features pictures of two sisters, who always appear dressed in identical outfits, taken in Europe during the 1940s; in Dalmatian, a beloved dog and her owner grow old together while walking through various European locations; and Taxi is comprised of photographs taken by a taxi driver of his car and passenger at different “holiday spot” locations.

The collections that Kessels brings together all contain an intriguing back story. And the motivation is very specific, often obsessive on part of the photographer.

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

Kessels, the Dutch art director behind KesselsKramer, has been producing In Almost Every Picture as individual books for some time, all of which are sold out now. Fortunately, Aperture just released a limited edition box set of these books: In Almost Every Picture: Volumes One to Five.

Find out more here and here.