A Closer Look -- Raskols

March 8, 2013, 9:14 am

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Raskols by Stephen Dupont

In 2004, The Economist ranked 139 capital cities all over the world in order of "livability;" Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea ranked last. That same year Stephen Dupont traveled to Papua New Guinea to make the photographs included in his new monograph, Raskols: The Gangs of Papua New Guinea. Besides being one of the largest islands in the world, the rich and varietal landscape of Papua New Guinea remains largely unexplored. In 1975, Papua New Guinea won its independence from Australia. In the late 90s, they entered into agreements with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, privatizing their rich natural resource economy. The problem in Papua New Guinea is a common one in the third world. An exponentially growing population, lack of education, high unemployment rate and corruption at all levels of government breed a sense of mistrust in the system while economic opportunities are limited at best -- leaving people struggling to feed their growing families, with no access to healthcare and little hope for a better life. Calling themselves raskols, the gang members photographed by Dupont have not reverted to a life of crime by choice, but by necessity. Their communities rely on the protection they provide while the authorities, education system and global economic policies have failed them.

from Raskols by Stephen Dupont

These are photographs of a people who feel vulnerable, misunderstood, and have lost faith in the infrastructures that are supposed to protect their communities. But make no mistake -- Dupont, nor these raskol gangs, are asking for your sympathies. It is clear that they want to live in a just world and will find that justice through any means necessary -- even violent retribution. In a quotation from the book a raskol gang member sheds light on this eye-for-an-eye dichotomy: "We're the little raskols. The police, they're the big raskols."

from Raskols by Stephen Dupont

The book's design is minimal and accessible. The black & white photographs depict the raskols against decaying walls or receding into shadows. They are almost always shown with their handmade handguns or carrying machetes -- sometimes one in each hand. It is as though the raskols' weapons have become a part of their identity. Their postures emanate a kind of menace or danger, while their eyes express their common humanity in an almost painfully evident vulnerability. The photographs are interspersed with quotes from the Bible, the Port Moresby Acting Police Commissioner, and from the raskols themselves. They contentiously opine on the lives of the raskol gang members, creating an air of tension felt throughout the book, likely similar to the tension felt by walking the streets of Port Moresby.

from Raskols by Stephen Dupont

The photographs of the raskols' handmade weapons provide an engaging critique of the problems faced by marginalized societies. The weapons are a testament to the innate human desire to feel protected and safe. They show our innovative spirit -- to make the best out of what we are given in order to survive. It is this innovative spirit that is on the cutting edge of human advancement -- but here, the raskols show us the other side of this double-edged sword. When the citizens of a country have lost hope and their cries fall on deaf ears, when their hunger is nearly too great to satisfy and their villages are under threat by local gangs, when authorities turn a blind eye to corruption and fail to protect them -- they must do what they can in order to satisfy their basic human needs. I can't imagine anyone would do any different in a similar circumstance -- making Raskols a compelling and complicated narrative about the nature of the human spirit and its desire to thrive. -- Erin Azouz

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Book Review: 101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides

March 11, 2013, 9:29 am

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101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinindes.
Photographs by Enrique Metinindes. Aperture, 2012.

101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides

Reviewed by Blake Andrews

101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides
Photographs by Enrique Metinides. Edited with introduction by Trisha Ziff.
Aperture, 2012. Hardbound. 192 pp., 150 color illustrations, 8-1/2x10-1/4".

Any discussion of Enrique Metinides will deal with the Weegee factor at some point, so let's get that out of the way first. The comparison is probably inescapable. Both photographers made their name as press shooters, tracking down the crime scenes and accidents that comprise the underbelly of any large city. Both men had an inner radar for disaster scenes and a prurient attraction to their aftermath. And both men saw their finished work published for decades in newsprint before being later re-examined and claimed by the art world. To Norteamericanos encountering the work of Metinides for the first time, "The Mexican Weegee" seems a natural epithet.

But Metinides is his own man with his own style and huge oeuvre. He was something of a photographic prodigy. With a natural childlike interest in gore, his earliest photos were of car crashes. By age twelve he was a seasoned street shooter in Mexico City. At 13 he began his apprenticeship as a press photographer, and by age 15 he was a full-time professional, shooting whatever press photos were required, but with a particular focus on accidents, crashes, explosions, crime scenes, and the other charged material called for by Mexico's notorious nota roja -- the tabloid red pages, named for the color of blood.

101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides, by Enrique Metinides. Published by Aperture, 2012.

Such material lends itself to easy exploitation, yet Metinides generally took a more dignified approach. Counter to Capa's "Get closer" advice, his scenes were often shot at medium distance, showing not only whatever catastrophe he was recording, but also the surrounding visual context. He caught crowd reactions and emergency responders, but above all he captured the encompassing fabric of everyday life, seemingly always on the verge of utter chaos. His sense of the moment was impeccable, and his weaving of wires, lines, and formal elements into tight compositions showed surprising sophistication for a press shooter. His photos show heart, sometimes figuratively. "If it bleeds it leads," goes the old press mantra, a saying that Metinides seemed determined to outgrow. Yes, his photos show plenty of sangre roja. But they're more concerned with the holes in society than in any specific corpse.

101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides, by Enrique Metinides. Published by Aperture, 2012.

Now retired, Metinides rarely travels outside Mexico. He was well known in his native country for his press career -- and as the elder statesmen of the nota roja -- but he had no international reputation until 2000, when the publication of his first book El Teatro de los Hechos brought his work to a wider audience. A few years later in 2003, The Photographer's Gallery in London gave him a show and his first book in English (now out of print and tough to find).

After that the race was on. With the photo world rapidly expanding its understanding of high/low art and searching beyond the normal circuit for fresh material, Metinides quickly found himself on the gallery escalator. Shows in New York, Berlin, Madrid, Zurich, San Francisco, and other cities followed the one in London, capped with an appearance at Recontres d'Arles in 2011. The book Series was published last year, a cinematically styled monograph that succeeded in some ways, yet took such an idiosyncratic approach that Metinides' photographs lost some of their oomph amid the energy of the presentation.

101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides, by Enrique Metinides. Published by Aperture, 2012.

By 2012 Metinides was an established figure, and the stage had been set for stodgy Aperture to take a stab at him. Their 101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides is the best book I've yet seen on Metinides. For most readers it will be the easiest to track down, and the most accessible introduction to his work. After a nice career summary by Trisha Ziff, his photos are presented chronologically and without much complication, covering a range from 1948 (he was 14) to 1995. The photos are nicely offset by end papers and cover printed in -- what else? -- bright blood red. Well, maybe it's closer to orange, but either way it's electrifying.

101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides, by Enrique Metinides. Published by Aperture, 2012.

These are Metinides' personal favorites selected by him, and for each one he's written a short 'What Was He Thinking?' description to give the photo real-world context. The descriptions remind me a bit of newspaper captions, though more detailed and written from a photographer's point of view. I don't think they'd work in a newspaper, but for photographers looking for insight they are a gold mine. As a nice bonus, 101 Tragedies includes several spreads of yellowing La Prensa reproductions showing Metinides' photographs as they were originally published. These notas amaryllis -- often cropped and poorly printed -- are matched with contemporary prints showing the photos with better production values. The comparisons provide a great source of entertainment. All in all, the book gets my full recommendation.—BLAKE ANDREWS

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by Todd Hido.

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BLAKE ANDREWS is a photographer based in Eugene, OR. He writes about photography at blakeandrews.blogspot.com.

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Book Review: Some(w)here

March 12, 2013, 9:33 am

≫ Next: Global Folly: A New Portfolio by Jo Whaley

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Some(w)here. Photographs by Andres Gonzalez.
Self Published, 2012.

Some(w)here

Reviewed by Christopher Johnson

Some(w)here
Photographs by Andres Gonzalez.
Self Published, 2012. Hardbound. 84 pp., 69 color illustrations, 8x6¼".

Building a narrative is difficult work. Building a narrative with nothing but photographs is very difficult work but, Some(w)here by Andres Gonzalez aims at doing just that. Some(w)here is the story of a modest journey. It attempts, with varying degrees of success, to portray the journey in an arc. As the book’s title implies the details are vague. Some(w)here is the story of an anonymous geography populated by anonymous people and buildings. Gonzalez’s style is conducive to achieving this. His pictures are casual, uncomplicated and soft. He chooses his details with the same taste for symbols our dreams have: birds in flight, windows, people walking through the rain with umbrellas. He favors mist and drizzle, snow and fog, the blur of lights moving and fluoresce.

Some(w)here, by Andres Gonzalez. Self Published, 2012.

Some(w)here might be more immediately poignant without its aim at a narrative arc. The pictures themselves hold one another together by their very quality and don’t need the extra padding of a story. The design of the book itself is slick and attractive but, I’d like to see it a little bit bigger. There are several two page spreads in Some(w)here but, sadly, most are marred by having a central subject matter which is split by the pages’ crease. This is a frustrating drawback. The pages themselves are on matte paper, which increases the dreamlike nature of the book. Many pages are cut short, or perhaps a better way of putting it would be that some pages are like squares and some are like rectangles. It's an unusual feature that I liked and Gonzalez grouped these segments of various sized pages very neatly so that each one feels like a different and proliferated sequence.

Some(w)here, by Andres Gonzalez. Self Published, 2012.

Some(w)here almost leaves one with the sense that these are photographs left out of the family album; pictures that were shot in a moment and the context of which slipped as quickly from the memory. It is this quality that makes or breaks the book as a whole. Those who like landscape, portraiture, architecture, or documentary will not be intrigued. Those, however, who like the paintings of Redon and the films of Bergman or the surreal dream poems of Breton will find this book quite to their liking.—CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON

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CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON is originally from Madison Wisconsin. He came to Santa Fe in 2002 and graduated from the College of Santa Fe majoring in English with an emphasis in poetry.

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Global Folly: A New Portfolio by Jo Whaley

March 13, 2013, 11:44 am

≫ Next: Book Review: Cuba

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An Indecorous Disturbance, 1989 -- Jo Whaley

We are excited to announce a new portfolio of images from her early work, Global Folly, by represented artist Jo Whaley. Two photographs from this series are included in our current exhibition, The Nude – Classical, Cultural, Contemporary. The human body has been used as a vehicle to examine a wide range of subjects, from concepts of fertility and the divine, to mathematical ratios, to social and cultural ideals. It is a practice that artists continue to engage with and explore to this day; the nude endures as an ideal subject for expressions of beauty, allegory, emotion and humanity. In this series, Whaley explores the question: “If our natural world is really a paradise, are we causing our own expulsion?”

For the photographs in Global Folly, Whaley created elaborate stage sets, painted backdrops and utilized gel filters to paint with light, “employing an expressive use of color, rather than a descriptive one.” Whaley’s highly controlled use of color emanates a painterly, theatric quality in her photographs. The theatrical stage upon which her models pose elevates the fictional narrative to the allegorical myth of the Garden of Eden. However, Whaley poses the concept of a “global folly” – the garden’s decay at the hand of human intervention.

The Birth of Venus, 1990 -- Jo Whaley

“Birth of Venus,” the famous 1486 painting by Sandro Botticelli, depicts the goddess Venus emerging from a seashell. In Whaley’s recreated photograph of the same title, the nude woman emerges from a modern wasteland of old tires and debris.

The Inquiry of Gaia, 1990 -- Jo Whaley

In “The Inquiry of Gaia, 1990” Whaley illustrates the inquisitive Greek goddess of Earth, Gaia. She is depicted inspecting the Earth under a microscope as a bird looks on. An anatomical heart rests idly on the table, symbolic of the pleasures and pains associated with the earthly body. Gaia’s scientific approach speaks to an innate human desire to reconcile both the abstract emotions of the heart and the empirical mind.

Whaley writes, “Global Folly forms the visionary and stylistic basis of all my subsequent bodies of work. In these narrative fictions, the figures are shown under acid rain skies, amongst the debris of urban culture or pouring tea, while some explosion blasts through the distance. While these images depict a cautionary tale, they are intentionally sensual, having a baroque sensibility of opulent decay.”

View the entire Global Folly portfolio

For more information about Jo Whaley's work or to inquire about purchasing a print, please email Anne Kelly or call 505-988-5159 ext. 121.

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Book Review: Cuba

March 14, 2013, 9:28 am

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Cuba. Photographs by Anderw More.
Damiani, 2012.

Cuba
Reviewed by Karen Jenkins

Cuba
Photographs by Andrew Moore.
Damiani, 2012. Hardbound. 128 pp., 68 color illustrations, 15-3/4x11-3/4".

It's hard to imagine a prevailing depiction of Cuban culture from without that does not hinge upon the idea of access. Closing off and opening up happen ideologically, geographically, architecturally there, and this notion provides the conceptual framework for American Andrew Moore's photographs of Cuba made over a fourteen year period. His new volume from Damiani is billed as a refined and expanded version of the 2002 book, Inside Havana that focused largely on interior views of domestic and semi-private spaces, with the occasional jaunt into the street. Throughout this ongoing series, Moore utilized traditional, highly formal pictorial techniques to establish the dual directionality of looking in and looking out. In image after image in this oversize book, a doorway, window or corridor establishes a metaphor of permission and refusal, intimacy and intrusion. Portraits play a secondary role here, but they too situate their subjects on thresholds, those in between places of gatekeeper and guest. Occasionally underscoring these overt tropes are more subtle demonstrations of admission and reception, such as an unmade bed or a mirror's reflections. This revised edition also sees Moore going outside, leaving the city and applying his schema to the verdant expanses of a different Cuban landscape.

Cuba, by Andrew Moore. Published by Damiani, 2012.

Moore first visited Cuba in 1998 to photograph its stately, deteriorating theaters and the book opens and closes with images of such teatro in grandiose decay. His views of these modern ruins connect his work with a broader contemporary practice of photographing abandoned structures– those crumbling psychiatric hospitals, schools and prisons united by their often politicized, sometimes romanticized depictions. Moore strives to establish open-ended pictorial narratives in his work, and as a site of a community's collective storytelling, the theater is a natural conduit. In their degraded form, Moore ties these theater images to his views of other communal spaces that with the passage of time, obsolescence or neglect, have been repurposed and reoccupied by some other slice of Cuban society. No longer abandoned, their functionality is reimagined in ways both pedestrian and inspired, as the prevailing story evolves. The book's striking cover image shows the Teatro Campoamor in 1999, falling in on itself, now housing a fleet of bicycle taxis and motor bikes bathed in a lovely light that enters through a nearly absent roof.

Cuba, by Andrew Moore. Published by Damiani, 2012.

In an accompanying essay, Joel Smith, curator of photography at the Morgan Library & Museum, uses the term "global photograph" to describe work like Moore's that satisfies a broad demand for images and information about places outside of a viewer's reach. Smith suggests given Cuba's literal and figurative insularity, it is marked by certain over-determined characterizations such as "world capital of revolutions gone rigid, flashpoint of America's hawkish paranoia and leftist romanticism [and] exiled land of exiles." Smith contends that Moore's work addresses these notions head on; enter eclectic architecture in decay and colorful mid-century American cars. Yet in viewing this book, I often wished for either more "information," such as the specificity of a photojournalist's extended caption, or for the opposite; that the images would more fully convey Moore's particular experience. Rather than a consistently artful collection of broad (open) strokes, I want a smaller, more subjective view; one that in its idiosyncratic expressions would provide the counterpoint to those clichés and tired narratives that Moore in his years of increasing insight and trust surely has in mind.—KAREN JENKINS

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KAREN JENKINS earned a Master's degree in Art History, specializing in the History of Photography from the University of Arizona. She has held curatorial positions at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, AZ and the Demuth Museum in Lancaster, PA. Most recently she helped to debut a new arts project, Art in the Open Philadelphia, that challenges contemporary artists to reimagine the tradition of creating works of art en plein air for the 21st century.

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Photobooks Under $30

March 15, 2013, 11:25 am

≫ Next: Book Review: The Unphotographable

≪ Previous: Book Review: Cuba

In an effort to give prominence to some of the great little photobooks on the shelves at photo-eye, I've been writing about photobooks under $30 for the last few months. The first, second and third installments of this series can be found on the photo-eye Blog with some titles still available. This installment highlights three softbound photobooks under $30: The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar documents the construction of the largest concentrated solar thermal plant in the world, Contact Sheet #169 surveys the poignant nude self-portraiture of Chinese photographer Shen Wei and Tales of Tono explores life and culture in the Northern Japanese countryside.

Jamey Stillings – The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar

The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar– Jamey Stillings – $9.95
A stunning visual documentation of the world's largest concentrated solar thermal plant currently under construction in the Mojave Desert, CA – the project follows the evolution of its construction, beginning in 2010 and scheduled for completion in 2013. Aerial photographs emphasize scale in this vast desert landscape. At only a little over 5x8inches, this petite softbound book effectively illustrates the expansive Ivanpah Solar project and hints at the limitless possibilities of sustainable energy production.

Shen Wei – Contact Sheet Number 169

Contact Sheet #169– Shen Wei – $16 signed
This issue of Contact Sheet highlights the work of Chinese photographer Shen Wei, who has created a compelling body of work comprised exclusively of nude self-portraits. Sexuality and the nude form are highly contentious subjects in his native China, but in this work, he asserts himself, his identity and sexuality in raw and emotive portraits. He often is found in undisturbed landscapes but is also photographed in interiors, urban and suburban environments. His work explores the intrinsic desire to find a place for oneself in the world, in relation to our environment, ourselves, and others.

Daido Moriyama – Tales of Tono

Tales of Tono– Daido Moriyama – $24.95
Tales of Tono is a remarkable monograph from prolific photographer Daido Moriyama. Continuing his long-standing tradition of grainy black-and-white photographs taken in his native Japan, Tales of Tono borrows its name from Japanese folk legends and contains carefully selected diptychs within each page spread. This compact book also comes with a thoughtful text from Moriyama about his practice. Despite its size, it packs a powerful selection of images, making it a must-have for Moriyama fans.
--Erin Azouz

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Book Review: The Unphotographable

March 18, 2013, 9:12 am

≫ Next: In-Print Photobook Video #16: Mass by Mark Power

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The Unphotographable. Numerous photographers.
Fraenkel Gallery, 2013.

The Unphotographable

Reviewed by Adam Bell

The Unphotographable
Photographs by numerous photographers, introduction by Jeffrey Fraenkel.

Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 2013. Hardbound. 124 pp., 57 duotone illustrations, 9-1/2x12".

Despite its complex indexical nature, photography allows us to document and record the world unlike any other medium. However, the lens not only captures, but also transforms the world around us. It makes visible things and phenomena both seen and unseen. The unique, alchemical quality of photography to reveal and transform its subjects is one of its chief delights. The Unphotographable, the latest anthology and catalog by the Fraenkel Gallery, gathers together a collection of vernacular, scientific and artistic images that all in one way or another attempt to capture what lies outside the power of the lens.

From one of Alfred Stieglitz's famous Equivalents to a vernacular image that captures what appears to be Christ's profile in the branches of a lakeside tree, the book gathers together a diverse and striking collection of images. Although the various photographers' motives vary, the images almost all (intentionally or unintentionally) capture the seemingly unphotographable or unseeable. As Jeffrey Fraenkel states in his introduction, these subjects include but are not limited to "thought, time, ghosts, god, [and] dreams." Like Fraenkel's previous anthologies (i.e., Furthermore, The Eye Club, The Book of Shadows and others), the book demonstrates Fraenkel and his gallery's great eye and unique ability to gather memorable images from a variety of different photographic sources.

The Unphotographable, by numerous contributing photographers. Published by Fraenkel Gallery, 2013.

In naming the book The Unphotographable, they are also being playfully ironic. While the photograph's nominal subjects may be 'unphotographable,' the results are purely photographic. From the ghostly apparitions of double exposures to the mystical evanescence of long exposures, photography can capture the world in ways ripe with metaphorical possibilities that point beyond its literal roots. As Fraenkel notes, "photography's paradoxical ability to render the immaterial and evanescent have been acknowledged since its earliest days." This ability, coupled with our own desire to capture phenomena that lie outside our perception, has long been an important aspect of the medium and its history.

The Unphotographable, by numerous contributing photographers. Published by Fraenkel Gallery, 2013.

Fraenkel's book is not the first to explore this topic. Tucked in the back of the book, Fraenkel acknowledges its debt to two recent museum shows – The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult (MET, 2005) and Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible (SFMoMA, 2008). Each addressed photography's relationship to the immaterial, both real and unreal, and play an important role in fleshing out this history. Present since its invention, images like these have tested the boundaries of photography and complicate any simplistic understanding of photography as a mere recording device. Although not as focused as these two previous shows and books, and lacking the institution weight usually associated with large museums, The Unphotographable is nevertheless a welcome addition to this rich history and contains a host of wonderful images.

The Unphotographable, by numerous contributing photographers. Published by Fraenkel Gallery, 2013.

The book is beautifully designed and has a wonderful trompe l'oeil image of the book on its own cover. While it contains numerous fantastic photographs from artists like Liz Deschenes, Chris McCaw, Adam Fuss, Paul Graham and others, as is often the case, it is the older scientific, vernacular and lesser-known images that really shine. In one untitled vernacular image from 1935, a giant flame shoots up into the darkness illuminating an ominous sign that states – "Trespass with or without permission at your own risk." Another image from 1895 by Jakob Ottonowitsch, entitled Spark captured on the surface of the body of a well-washed prostitute, records a spark of electricity that resembles a shimmering amoeba. An already fantastic image rendered all the more surprising and strange by its perplexing and unbelievable title. Although not a new strategy, the mingling of vernacular and scientific images with intentionally artistic images creates a surprising and rich dialog that highlights the generosity of the medium.

The Unphotographable, by numerous contributing photographers. Published by Fraenkel Gallery, 2013.

Photography has always flirted with and tested its own representational boundaries. As this collection attests, when the alchemical magic of photography intersects with our own desire to test the limits of what we can see and make visible, the results are often astonishing. But, as the aforementioned sign suggests, it can be dangerous and scary territory. We may not always give ourselves permission, but if we can't see it, what's there to be afraid of.—ADAM BELL

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ADAM BELL is a photographer and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and his work has been exhibited and published internationally. He is the co-editor and co-author, with Charles H. Traub and Steve Heller, of The Education of a Photographer (Allworth Press, 2006). His writing has appeared in Foam Magazine, Afterimage, Lay Flat and Ahorn Magazine. He is currently on staff and faculty at the School of Visual Arts' MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department. His website and blog are adambbell.com and adambellphoto.blogspot.com.

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In-Print Photobook Video #16: Mass by Mark Power

March 19, 2013, 6:05 am

≫ Next: Saturday: Book Signing with photographer David Carol

≪ Previous: Book Review: The Unphotographable

In video #16 of our In-Print Photobook series, Melanie McWhorter shares with us Mass by Mark Power published by GOST Books.

In-Print Photobook Video #16: Mass by Mark Power from photo-eye.

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Saturday: Book Signing with photographer David Carol

March 20, 2013, 7:00 am

≫ Next: Portfolio: New Storm Images from Kevin Erskine

≪ Previous: In-Print Photobook Video #16: Mass by Mark Power

Where: photo-eye Gallery, 376A Garcia Street, Santa Fe, NM

When: Saturday, March 23, 2013 3-5pm
Contact: Melanie McWhorter
Phone: 505.988.5152 x 112
Email: melanie@photoeye.com

photo-eye is pleased to host a book signing for David Carol, author of "This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!", All My Lies Are True... and 40 Miles of Bad Road on Saturday, March 23rd from 3 to 5pm at photo-eye Bookstore, 370 Garcia Street, Santa Fe, NM. The artist will give a talk about his work starting at 4pm, answer questions from the audience and sign copies of his books.

DAVID J. CAROL attended the School of Visual Arts and The New School for Social Research where he studied under Lisette Model. He is the author of three photography books. His first monograph was 40 Miles of Bad Road... a ten year retrospective of his personal work from 1993 through 2003. His follow-up book All My Lies are True... was a collection of photographs taken throughout his twenty plus year career. Both books were winners in the PDN Photo Annual's Best book of the year in 2004 and 2010. His latest Non-Book "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things!" was released last spring with a lecture and book signing at The Center for Alternative Photography in New York City. His photographs and books are in the permanent collections of many museums and corporations, including The International Center of Photography, New York, NY, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Mn . David's work has been represented by or shown at the Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, IL, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY, The National Arts Club, New York, NY and the John Cleary Gallery, Houston, TX. David is the Director of Photography at CBS Outdoor as well as a weekly contributor for Emerging Photographer Magazine and a writer for RangeFinder Magazine with a monthly column called Photo Finish that features the personal work of professional photographers.

Can't make it to the signing? Purchase a signed copy of "This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!", 40 Miles of Bad Road or All My Lies Are True...

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Portfolio: New Storm Images from Kevin Erskine

March 20, 2013, 10:13 am

≫ Next: Book Review: War Is Not the Only Story, Vol. 5

≪ Previous: Saturday: Book Signing with photographer David Carol

Mothership with Lightning, Valentine, Nebraska, 2009 -- Kevin Erskine

We are pleased to release a new portfolio of Kevin Erskine's stunning storm photography on the Photographer's Showcase. Erskine's color photographs capture the enormous power and beauty of these awe-inspiring events. Storm chasing across the American Southwest and Plains, Kevin Erskine is the pseudonym of a celebrated Dutch filmmaker and photographer. "My fascination with big storms started in my childhood during the winterstorms in Holland. During a trip in the US, I teamed up with renowned stormchaser Tim Marshall. From that moment on I was totally addicted and obsessed with the beauty of severe weather," he says.

Storm, White Deer, Texas, 2012 -- Kevin Erskine

Erskine's previous portfolio is made up of a series of panoramas, making these 25x32 images a remarkable departure in scale. While the panoramas tend of feature just a small strip of ground at the bottom of the frame, many of these new images include a bit more of the earth, creating contrast, but also a grounding context. Shooting with large and medium format cameras in the face of an on-coming storm, Erskine's images capture the deep colors and unique texture of the clouds. "Having only 4 images per roll makes me to concentrate on the right moment. Changing film in the storm is usually not an option. The result of the large film showing the rich tonality and colors of the storm makes it worth while. I prefer to keep the images pure and unaltered by computer manipulation," Erskine says.

Mothership 2, Mitchell, Kansas, 2009 -- Kevin Erskine

See all of Erskine's work on the Photographer's Showcase

Supercell was recently published in a book from Hatje Cantz, and is also available in a boxed limited edition containing special edition of the book and a corresponding print. Information on both the trade and limited editions can be found here.

Read Daniel W. Coburn's review of Supercell
Read the interview with Erskine

For more information, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

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Book Review: War Is Not the Only Story, Vol. 5

March 21, 2013, 9:20 am

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≪ Previous: Portfolio: New Storm Images from Kevin Erskine

War Is Only Half the Story, Vol. 5. Photographs by Davide Monteleone,
Elizabeth Herman, Miquel Dewever-Plana, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Massimo Mastrorillo
& Lara Ciarabellini. Published by The Aftermath Project, 2012.

War Is Only Half the Story, Vol. 5

Janelle Lynch

War Is Only Half the Story, Vol. 5
Photographs by Davide Monteleone, Elizabeth Herman, Miquel Dewever-Plana, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Massimo Mastrorillo and Lara Ciarabellini.
The Aftermath Project, 2012. Softcover. 92 pp., 74 color illustrations and four gatefolds, 11x11".

War is Only Half the Story, a book of documentary photographs, reveals visual narratives about the fortitude of humanity in the wake of war. Five projects show people learning to live again — rebuilding families, homes, and societies. The book is published by The Aftermath Project, an American non-profit organization dedicated to broadening the public's understanding of
"the true cost of war — and the real price of peace."

The book recalls the words of essayist, poet, and farmer, Wendell Berry. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he wrote in In the Presence of Fear: "What leads to peace is not violence but peaceableness… We should recognize that while we have extravagantly subsidized the means of war, we have almost totally neglected the ways of peaceableness."

War is Only Half the Story includes work by the winner and finalists of its yearly grant competition, which is open to photographers worldwide covering the aftermath of conflict. Davide Monteleone was the 2011 winner for Red Thistle, a project he began three years before in Georgia and Russia's Northern Caucasus, to document "the aftermath of two centuries of cruel disputes"—the ethnic, religious, and geopolitical conflicts that have plagued Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushtia, Circassia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay–Cherkessia.

Monteleone's work lays bare the fragility of peaceable daily life in the face of constant violence. In one image, two middle-aged women stand arms akimbo in bathing suits on a beach during the holiday that celebrates Abkhazia's independence from Russia. Their bodies are soft, their gazes hardened by the harshness of light and history. Another photograph depicts two men dressed in black suits seated at a table in front of an arrangement of fresh fruit. They are celebrating a wedding, but the mood is that of a funeral. Their heads are bowed, as is the bride's, who stands in the corner with her back to the wall, eyes cast down.

War Is Only Half the Story, Vol 5, by Davide Monteleone, Elizabeth Herman, Miquel Dewever-Plana, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Massimo Mastrorillo and Lara Ciarabellini. Published by The Aftermath Project, 2012.

But those images are only part of a somber drama. In Grimi, Dagestan, the photographer shows us a dense stream of blood textured with debris. It flows down a quiet concrete street to meet the feet of a passerby cloaked in black. The village is notorious for its cases of abuse, torture, and human rights violations following a 2006 conflict with Russia. In a photograph of a domestic interior in South Ossetia, matching coffins sheathed in overcast light and crimson fabric await burial. They contain victims of a land dispute between Georgia and Russia. In another image, made from an overhead perspective in a newly built mosque, crowded rows of kneeling men pray. The motion of their movement is rendered in soft streaks of color.

Monteleone's photograph on the paperback cover is of a dilapidated gymnasium-turned-memorial site. Pictures of ninety-one men, women, and children line the wall beneath a skeletal basketball hoop. They are victims of the Second Chechen War. Funeral wreaths are the only signs of life. In the foreground, a blue ball is buried between broken floorboards.

Red Thistle, the title of Monteleone's project, comes from Tolstoy's novella, Hadji Murat, in which the flower is portrayed metaphorically to represent the Caucasus' struggle for independence from Russia. Equally compelling are the series made by The Aftermath Project's finalists, Elizabeth Herman, whose A Woman's War explores the experiences of Bangladeshi women post-1971 liberation struggle; Miquel Dewever-Plana's Guatemala: The Other War, which shows a gang-driven culture ravaged by thirty-six years of civil conflict; Massimo Mastrorillo and Lara Ciarabellini's If Chaos Awakens the Madness, work from Bosnia and Herzegovina that chronicles the ongoing struggle for harmony after the Bosnian War; and Too Young to Die, the book's sole black and white series about an undeclared, but no less real, war in Chicago's inner-city, by Carlos Javier Ortiz.

An introductory text precedes each body of work, illuminating the premise of the photographers' inquiry and relevant historical and cultural information. Following each series is a list of images and detailed captions. Text about one of Mastrorillo's pictures of a begging Roma — or gypsy — girl, states that Romas are not among the nationalities recognized by the Bosnia Herzegovina constitution. Text about one of Ciarabellini's pictures of a group of people seated along a sunny lakeside in Perucac, indicates that they are not picnickers, after all. They are volunteers resting during the exhumation of a mass grave in the Serbian village that borders Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This book, remarkable for its in-depth, sensitive, and artful investigations, succeeds at fulfilling Sara Terry's intention when founding The Aftermath Project — to create new dialog about war, in which telling the story of its consequences is as important as studying the trajectory of the war itself. Terry, also a photojournalist, covered the Bosnian War. Each year, The Aftermath Project distributes 400 copies of its book of award-winning projects to U.S. senators, journalism programs, peace-building organizations, curators, editors, and industry professionals. A photo-based high school curriculum that addresses aftermath and visual literacy issues is also available at no cost to international educators.

We are inundated by images of war and violence, but we have a choice — even a responsibility — about where to focus our attention. War is Only Half the Story is a meaningful option. It moves us to connect with our humanity and our privilege. It is from that individual place, that a dialog can begin, and peace can grow.—JANELLE LYNCH

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JANELLE LYNCH is a photographer, teacher, and freelance writer. She is also a 2012–13 Fellow at The Writers’ Institute, CUNY Graduate Center. www.janellelynch.net.

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Book Review: Brutal

March 22, 2013, 9:19 am

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Brutal. Photographs by Michal Luczak.
Self Published, 2012.

Brutal

Reviewed by Christopher Johnson

Brutal
Photographs by Michal Luczak.
Self Published, 2012. Hardbound. 64 pp., 31 black & white illustrations, 13¾x17".

Brutal by Michat Tuczak is a book like many other books; it tries to tell the story of a place and its people. It is a documentary. All the photos in Brutal are of the Katowice Station in Katowice, Poland and of the people who make their way there to take the train into other cities for work and leisure. These are photographs of shadow and concrete, torn clothes and weathered faces. Tuczak photographed the Katowice station between July 2010 and January 2011 before it was to be refurbished. His hope was to capture the station in its 20th century glory before it, like most things, made the transition to our own century. Tuczak is nostalgic to say the least and these photographs capture that. This is a document about travel and travelers that never touches on destinations but, rather departures and returns. Brutal is a sea of faces and bodies in motion. The station itself seems a transitional realm that, like so many throughways, is in a state of constant neglect.

Brutal. Photographs by Michal Luczak. Self Published, 2012.

So, what sets Brutal apart other than the trademark style of Tuczak's art? Presentation. Brutal is a massive book (1 ft. 5‘ by 1 ft. 2‘). It is clunky and non-bookshelf friendly. It is crudely, and thus delicately bound. Its feel is rough to the hands. This is not a book that you possess but a book that seduces you. The massive format of Brutal is great; rarely do we get such a sense of looking in. Here perspective is everything. The faces and places given to us by Tuczak will not be ignored or compartmentalized. Here is a haunted station, an outmoded place. There is an eerie quality that works in the chiaroscuro of these photos; the dark is deeper and the light is more fully blown. Equal attention is given to debris and functionality as we are invited to view the station from inside and out. Mysterious packages await delivery or, perhaps, have been left behind. Mortar lays about the station, old works torn out and never cleared away. It is a strange place that seems to hover between construction and demolition. These pictures, industrial and masculine, are like a photo archive for a lost David Lynch film. Brutal isn’t for those who prefer soft tones but rather, those who prefer the cold, who favor course wool over cashmere. The discreet collector will also find the presentation of this book to be one of a kind, provided they have the space to shelve it.—CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON

Brutal. Photographs by Michal Luczak. Self Published, 2012.

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by Andrew Phelps.

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CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON is originally from Madison Wisconsin. He came to Santa Fe in 2002 and graduated from the College of Santa Fe majoring in English with an emphasis in poetry.

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Book Reivew: 1981 & 2011

March 25, 2013, 9:13 am

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1981 & 2011. Photographs by Paul Graham.
MACK, 2012.

1981 & 2011

Reviewed by Tom Leininger

Paul Graham 1981 & 2011
Photographs by Paul Graham. With text by David Campany.

MACK, 2012. Hardbound. 104 pp., illustrated throughout, 8-1/4x10-1/4".

Paul Graham was awarded the 2012 the Hasselblad Award and the book that celebrates his photographic career brings together two of his series of pictures A1 - The Great North Road from 1981 and The Present from 2011. Thirty years separates the works. It is possible to see the potential of Graham in the first, and him working at the top of his game in the second. Bringing together these works helps an understanding of Graham's varied methodologies.

If you are unaware of Graham's photography David Campany's essay between the two series, Noticing, is worth the price of the book. In addition to the essay there is a short explanation of the award and how Graham fits into its history by Dragana Vujanovic and Louise Wolthers. Campany fluidly takes the reader through Graham's career. He touches on the nature of photography and narrative, weaving together a tight essay that rewards the careful reader. He relates the work to the times in which they were made and how that has influenced contemporary photography. He touches on the themes of Graham's work and how he bends time. If you need an introduction to Graham, this essay is the perfect place to start.

1981 & 2011, by Paul Graham. Published by MACK, 2012.

To put it simply, this work is about photography, seeing, color, shape, and not about those things all at the same time. This is what interests me about Graham's work. The photographer in me says this guy is making images that I am afraid to, or I never see. What is really going on in The Present? Do we know, do these photographs tell us? Yes and no. They tell us that Paul Graham has come from a place of tradition and moved into a place where questions about the medium and narrative live. Paul Graham is a photographer of spaces that explain temporal truths.

1981 & 2011, by Paul Graham. Published by MACK, 2012.

Working in color with a view camera in the early 1980s was not as common as it today. The influences of Stephen Shore are clear, but Graham's voice does come in through his color palette, which is different from Shore's, his pacing of the photographs and their distance from the subjects. Landscapes and portraits build into a narrative of a specific place and time. It is clearly documentary work carried out in a specific manner. The work feels traditional.

It is in The Present that Graham starts to challenge the medium and the idea of the photographic moment. With his use of diptychs in this publication, he asks the viewer to set aside the notion of the singular image. His world is precisely sharp, but compressed. He notices very specific people and colors, shapes. Challenging pictures offer up a critique of the decisive moment, or decisive edit.

1981 & 2011, by Paul Graham. Published by MACK, 2012.

When reading the pictures in The Present according to a strict traditional photographic ruled view they are all flawed and the point is lost. Looking deeper, Graham's sense of humor comes through. These are not action packed images. Printed at a smaller size in this book, one has to look very carefully to see the difference between the images.

The book is well designed with the A1 pictures being placed at the top of the page and the work from The Present printed toward the bottom, at times in pairs. What is missing is the gatefolds that were present in initial book form of The Present. Both works shine in this well printed book. The embossed ampersand on the cover and the beige paper for the essays add to the experience.—TOM LEININGER

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TOM LEININGER is a photographer and educator based in North Texas. More of his work can be found on his website.

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In-Print Photobook Video #17: The Furtastic Adventures of the Cabbit and the Folf by Charlotte Lybeer

March 26, 2013, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Interview & Portfolio: Karin Rosenthal

≪ Previous: Book Reivew: 1981 & 2011

In video #17 of our In-Print Photobook series, Erin Azouz shares with us The Furtastic Adventures of the Cabbit and the Folf by Charlotte Lybeer published by Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.

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Interview & Portfolio: Karin Rosenthal

March 27, 2013, 11:11 am

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Love Knot, 1991 -- Karin Rosenthal

We are pleased to announce that a full portfolio of photographs from the Nudes in Water series by Karin Rosenthal are now available through the Photographer Showcase. Karin Rosenthal is one of the fifteen photographers included in our current group exhibition The Nude – Classical, Cultural, Contemporary. The photographs in this exhibit range from classical studies to the exploration of cultural and contemporary themes; some are playful and some investigate more existential realms, while others manage to combine multiple elements. Rosenthal has been photographing the human form for over 30 years creating images that are surreal yet classical. I have asked Rosenthal to tell us about her background and her images. --Anne Kelly

Anne Kelly: Who are your Influences?

Karin Rosenthal: When I was 6 years old, I asked for a camera for my birthday. That was highly unusual for a girl (even a boy) in the early fifties. But I had already been hanging out in the darkroom in our basement from the age of 3 with my mother and grandmother. Photography was almost as basic to our family as eating. My grandmother was self-taught in Germany and had a darkroom in her Dresden house. She taught

Karin Rosenthal and family

my mother, who also studied painting in Germany. I was the third generation of women photographers in our family. My father was an ophthalmologist who brought Zeiss equipment to the US when he and my mom emigrated in 1937 so that he could record unique diseases of the retina. My older brother also has done photography all his life, becoming a highly regarded architectural photographer. When we went on trips, we all had cameras, ranging from 35mm to Rolleiflexes to stereo and movie cameras... no ordinary family at the National Parks. I assisted my mother when she photographed children in West Hartford and commented on revisions to her paintings when she took painting classes. She critiqued my photographs. Throughout my childhood we visited numerous museums in the US and Europe and went to art openings, including several of my mom's. My childhood introduction to photography had a profound effect on me.

When I was in college, I got a membership to MoMA and went there every chance I got. I wrote papers at MoMA for my History of Art classes and knew their photo collection by heart. Seeing major MoMA showings by two highly accomplished women photographers, Dorothea Lange and Berenice Abbott, gave me remarkable new female role models. During the Seventies, I was drawn to the surrealist photographs of Man Ray and Bill Brandt and the dreamlike images of Ralph Gibson. Harry Callahan’s graphic simplicity, Edward Weston’s formalism, and Eikoh Hosoe’s minimal yet spiritual nudes also affected me deeply, as has the work of Ruth Bernhard and Ruth Thorne-Thomsen. Viewing art forms other than photography influenced me. Before I arrived in Greece on my year’s fellowship, I saw a painter friend’s delicate watercolors of rocks with human overtones, and, in England, Henry Moore’s giant carved wooden women.

Squiggle Nude, 1996 and Frog Princess I, 1988 -- Karin Rosenthal

AK: In your street photographs, man is disconnected from his environment. In your nudes they are part of the landscape, sometimes becoming it. Can you discuss this?

KR: I taught photography to drug-addicted Vietnam Veterans and kids from Cambridge projects to pay my way through art school. I came to see urban life through the eyes of people on the periphery of our society. My street photography showed a lot of the isolation, loneliness and alienation that exists in modern cities. Many people dwell within their own dramas, lost in time and space, not connecting with each other or the place they are in. In the enlightening film "Street" which I just viewed at the Metropolitan Museum, people in the city pass each other, rarely acknowledging another person or their context. In my later twenties, I began to spend more time in the country and found it to be a spiritual sanctuary that connected me to existence in a way urban environments never had. Nature strips away culture and gets to the profound essence of our being: we come from the land and return to the land. We are one with nature.

AK: You’ve talked about your Nudes in Water as a manifestation of both the conscious and unconscious. What do you mean by this?

Nude Solarization, 1977 -- Karin Rosenthal

KR: One of the first images I made in the Nudes in Water series was of a woman seated in water. I decided to use the Sabattier effect (Solarization) in printing it. Because that darkroom process is done on higher contrast paper, I was able to dodge and bring up detail in the body under the water. A white Mackie line surrounded and unified the above-water and below-water person. That which lurks in the water has always symbolized the unconscious for me, and I found the merging of conscious and unconscious worlds a more complete representation of a person than one part alone. We are motivated by forces we are not aware of. From then on, I used underwater elements to evoke a lurking reality, a sense of other worlds (like dreams) coexisting with the easily known. The power of my non-conscious awareness came to bear later during my fellowship in Greece. All winter long, I had observed (with

delight) the magnificent contours of mountainous coastlines with reflected sunlight dancing at their edges. A few months later, without my thinking about it, that coastline imagery joined with the figure, making them one and the same. A body landscape motif has played in and out of my images ever since. All that one loves (and even all that one hates) is potential fodder for one's art.

Source, 1998 -- Karin Rosenthal

AK: You have always been attracted to abstraction — what are your thought on color vs. B&W in abstraction?

Arp, 2004 -- Karin Rosenthal

KR: B&W is inherently more abstract than color, providing less specific information. I tend not to like images that are too literal; they are just seeing the surface and confusing the viewer with too much detail. The more I've worked with color, the more I've found abstraction within it. Much of that comes from pushing seeing beyond the obvious in an almost scientific way and using reflections to inject the figure into a scene, fusing it with other elements. My upbringing and schooling in painting and sculpture contribute greatly to the abstraction in my more recent work. Modern art paved the way for simplicity, distortion, color fields, all sorts of ways of organizing content. There are numerous references to modern painters in the Tide Pool series... to Chagall, Picasso, Klimt, and Escher, to name a few. The very first piece I did with a figure reflected in a tide pool is titled Arp because it reminds me of Jean Arp's work. The model stood and leaned over the pool. I photographed the pool only, her reflection joining with shells above and below the surface of the water. One no longer saw the figure, rather, hot dog and boomerang shapes. The head was a shell.

AK: Tell us a little bit about your working process.

Karin Rosenthal shooting

KR: I like to work on one series at a time, with total concentration on my subject. When highly focused, I notice the accidents that happen -- white flesh and black flesh manifesting from the same body, dune grasses joining with pubic air in one bright continuum. Some of my most significant work has happened accidentally. I also like to build a visual vocabulary with light and water that I can repeat -- how to create an aura, how to put white lines around forms, how to create blackwater, how to make a reflected figure appear to be made of rock, how to get multiple tiny, but intact, human figures to show up with one click of the shutter, etc. Increasingly, as both my B&W and color work have become more macro, I have used my camera a little like a microscope from my biology days. I want to observe and capture magical new worlds that are in front of our eyes, but that we don't see.

Santorini, 1981 and Lily Pads, 1991 -- Karin Rosenthal

AK: Over the years you have worked with many models – for you how does it differ working with men vs. women?

KR: Initially, I photographed both men and women. Then, in Greece, when the body landscape motif became part of my work, I decided that female contours looked more like land and worked mostly with women. As is so often the case, I learned that was only a shallow truth. When I continued the series a few years later on Cape Cod, a man's buttocks became lily pads, two men became a dynamic vortex, and a father and son sitting next to each other echoed landscape. Since I care less about the erotic overtones of my subjects and more about their human connection to land, I work with males and females interchangeably, seeing them the same way. We are all on the same spiritual journey.

AK: You have moved from photographing models to reflections of models – please talk about this transition.

Body Reflection, 2007 and Interior World, 2003 -- Karin Rosenthal

KR: My first photograph of a reflected model happened by accident in the Southwest in 1991. I was setting up my equipment and checking through the lens when I saw my dancer model reflected in a small pool of water. Bored, she was on the riverbank doing her morning stretches while she waited for me. I moved her arms minimally and took the shot. That led to a series of Canyon Nudes in color (1991-1996), using only reflected figures. The summers I worked on those images in the Southwest, I also continued my Nudes in Water on Cape Cod. In many ways, the Canyon Nudes were a response to some scary storms we experienced on our houseboat trip. Nature was powerful and survival was fragile. The figures in the Nudes in Water, by contrast, were sculptural and solid, actual bodies joined with their reflections, having a strong presence equivalent with nature. But by 2003, even the B&Ws were moving more towards the tenuousness of existence. My consciousness and that around me had changed after 9/11. As I was aging, I was also experiencing significant losses in my life. A greater sense of dissolution and fusion with nature was entering the images. I began craving more natural material to work with, more complexity, and changed venues to an island off the coast of Maine. A new color series of Tide Pool Figures began with nature and reflected figures merged into one. As the series has continued, the scope has become not just earthly, but cosmic, with humans even more of a speck in the continuum of creation.

Dune, 1996 -- Karin Rosenthal

View Karin Rosenthal's portfolio

A selection of Rosenthal's work can currently be seen as part of The Nude on exhibit at photo-eye through April and features the work of fifteen photographers. Two portfolios of work from the show can be viewed here.

For additional information about Karin Rosenthal's work or to acquire a photograph, please contact the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202 or by email.

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Book Review: Once, Still & Forever

March 28, 2013, 9:19 am

≫ Next: A Closer Look -- Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

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Once, Still & Forever. Photographs by Jessica Backhaus.
Published by Kehrer Verlag, 2012.

Once, Still & Forever

Reviewed by Shane Lavalette

Once, Still and Forever
Photographs by Jessica Backhaus
Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2013. Hardbound. 88 pp., 55 color illustrations, 9-1/2x11-1/2".

Jessica Backhaus’ latest monograph Once, Still & Forever is a painterly reflection on time, place, and emotion. Those familiar with Backhaus’ earlier titles Jesus and the Cherries, What Still Remains, One Day in November, or I Wanted to See the World know of her inquiring eye, and will be charmed by her continued exploration of the world’s most delicate fragments.

Before I even opened the book I marveled at the opalescent cloth on the cover, which shimmers purple from one direction and green from another. I may have a bit of object lust when in the proximity of deliberately designed photobooks but I found the same sort of magic and wonder present in Backhaus’ photographs as I entered the pages. Her abstractions of the everyday are imbued with meaning and emotion in a way that is often difficult to put words to, but always marvelous to view. As Backhaus herself explains it, “My photographs are like a mosaic, a puzzle that evokes the beauty of ordinary moments often ignored, as well as the residue of loves past and memories forgotten.”

Once, Still and Forever, by Jessica Backhaus. Published by Kehrer Verlag, 2013.

A window painted with plants, a reel of weathered twine. The rain soaked rails of a train lead us further. Strange and familiar fruits. Glass bottles, vessels of the past. Refractions, reflections—spaces of silence and of sound, artifacts of darkness and golden light. What is vast becomes small, and what is small becomes vast. Backhaus paints with the layers of the world, finding strokes of beauty in the otherwise mundane. She reminds us of the power of looking and the importance of affection, present in every frame. She reminds us, ultimately, of our own existence.

Once, Still and Forever, by Jessica Backhaus. Published by Kehrer Verlag, 2013.

Returning to her homeland of Germany after spending twenty-two years away was full of mixed emotions, anticipation and uncertainty. In Once, Still & Forever, Backhaus exposes the sorrows and joys of human experience through her own. By her side we discover that finding answers takes time, and that hardship can be one of life’s greatest gifts.—SHANE LAVALETTE

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SHANE LAVALETTE (b. 1987, Burlington, VT) is a photographer currently living and working in Somerville, MA. In 2009, he received his BFA from Tufts University in partnership with The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His photographs have been published and exhibited internationally. In addition, Lavalette is the founding editor of Lay Flat, a publication of contemporary photography and writing on the medium. www.shanelavalette.com www.layflat.org.

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A Closer Look -- Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

March 29, 2013, 11:28 am

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Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes by Ed Panar

Ed Panar's Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes is a strange little saddle stitched book containing a series of black & white photographs -- or perhaps more correctly, two series of black & white photographs, because when you get to the end, flip it over and turn it upside down, there's another book. With neither a back nor a front, it also avoids a beginning and an end. It's a fascinating experiment in sequencing and book design, in the same family as Thobias Faldt's 581c, where halfway through the book every image appears again, but in a different order. Faldt's book similarly has an endless feel as the repetition of images works to compel the reader back to the beginning, but it's not just the infinite nature of Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes that makes it captivating.

Keep flipping it over and keep looking at it again and again. Nothing changes, but somehow it always feels different. For me, a big part of that feeling is because the booklet essentially contains two books inverted and woven together. While your attention will automatically go to the correctly oriented image seated at the top portion of the right page, it's impossible to ignore the upside down photograph lurking in the bottom left. Something happens when these images are viewed upside down. I flip sculptures I'm working on upside down when I feel stuck. It's a basic drawing exercise, too -- simple inversion allows you to see differently.

Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes by Ed Panar from Spaces Corners & The Ice Plant

Panar's photographs are quiet and thoughtful, including landscapes, reflections, and objects -- a pillow, a tire, a tipped over hazard barrier. Crumbling pavement stones and graffitied walls, a lot of corners and hard edges. The simplicity and strong composition makes these images look unexpectedly different when flipped. Recognizable scenes are reduced to their graphic lines, patterns and textures repeat, depth changes, and we see something different although we are looking at the same thing. Connections form between images and I want to look again.

Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes by Ed Panar from Spaces Corners & The Ice Plant

The blaze-orange booklet comes with a small digital print of a mirror on a wallpapered wall reflecting the floral pattern, camouflaging it. It's a disorienting image -- look at it in one direction and then flip it upside down -- you can almost feel your brain shifting, trying to make sense of it. The back of the image bears the title of the book, bibliographical information as well as its number in the edition, Panar's signature and a doodled figure. From a little reading on Nothing Changes, I’ve come to understand that Panar was interested in making something infinite, but to me this book is just as much about perception and the act of seeing. As many times as I went around, somehow nothing ever looked the same. -- Sarah Bradley

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Artist Update

March 30, 2013, 10:00 am

≫ Next: Book Review: Hesitating Beauty

≪ Previous: A Closer Look -- Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

Macallan 101 -- Ernie Button

The NPR food blog The Salt recently featured the beautiful whiskey-dervied images of Ernie Button. Read it here. The post also focuses on the the science of the subtle rings that Button captures in his photographs, saying, "According to Howard Stone, head researcher at Princeton University's Complex Fluids Group, the rings and waves seen in Button's images are probably the result of particles that are left behind once the alcohol has evaporated." And Button's beautiful images have inspired these scientists, who now plan to do research on it. "In particular, they are looking into why different types of whisky produce subtly different patterns."

View Ernie Button's Vanishing Spirits portfolio

High Tide, Winter, 1999 -- Tria Giovan

Tria Giovan's High Tide, Winter, 1999 is currently on view in Land, Sea, Sky, an exhibition of recent acquisitions at the Parrish Art Museum. Other artist featured in the show include Clifford Ross, Jane Wilson, Robert Dash and Fairfield Porter. The exhibit runs through April 9th. A book of Giovan's coastal images titled Sand Sea Sky was recently published Damiani. See it here.

Giovan's work on the Photographer's Showcase are a series of subtle photographic documents from Cuba in the 1990s and can be viewed here.

Golden Fleece -- Alan Friedman

Alan Friedman's stunning sun photographs were recently featured on Insidehook. Read it here. A backyard astronomer, Friendman's images are made using "a jerry-rigged ten-inch telescope, some narrow-band filters and a 120 frames-per-second webcam (the same kind used to snap pics of your license plate) in his upstate New York backyard," the article says.

If you missed it, Friedman give a wonderful lecture on his process at the TEDx Buffalo conference, which can be seen here.

View Friedman's portfolio

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Book Review: Hesitating Beauty

April 1, 2013, 9:00 am

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Hesitating Beauty. Photographs by Joshua Lutz.
Schilt Publishing, 2012.

Hesitating Beauty

Reviewed by George Slade

Hesitating Beauty
Photographs by Joshua Lutz.
Schilt Publishing, 2012. Hardbound. 96 pp., illustrated throughout, 6x9".

I seldom spend much time looking at endpapers. They are typically about as interesting as theater lobby carpets. But Claudia Christen's design for the spaces opening and closing Joshua Lutz's new book prompted a lot of thought. They show one very conventional photograph, of a smiling, young woman in a red floral-print dress holding a container overflowing with white flowering vine; this image, recalling a garden party or some other al fresco event, has all the hallmarks of early 1960s orthodoxy. However, on the endpapers it has been multiplied perhaps two dozen times, refracted and distorted in bug-eye fashion; the attractive dark-haired woman appears, at times, inexplicably headless, or with her feet, a dark cloud, or a building emerging from her neck.

Without overwhelming the remaining contents of the book, the endpapers advance the argument Lutz (and Christen, acknowledged co-editor as well as designer) have contrived in this fascinating portrait of mental disturbance within social normalcy, in the emerging suburban context that valued conformity and feared its betrayal. The design also calls the authenticity of images into account; was there a bug-eye filter one could use back in the day? Or is this a contemporary, Photoshop manipulation, a designer's trick, brought to bear on an archival fugitive?

Hesitating Beauty, by Joshua Lutz. Published by Schilt Publishing, 2012.

A teasing realness suffuses Hesitating Beauty. That auburn-beehived, much-multiplied figure of the endpapers looms as a central figure, starting with the formal portrait on the front cover. She is of unspecific but youthful age, in a fashionable dress with a pearly necklace—perhaps a college yearbook photo. Her lips partially open and eyes mostly closed, as though caught between expressions, or in some fleeting rapture. But why would anyone have kept this picture, with all its marks of failure, unless there was some foreknowledge of mania, some omen-filled sense that this attractive woman might betray the superficial promise of her looks?

Hesitating Beauty, by Joshua Lutz. Published by Schilt Publishing, 2012.

One close-up image of a wrist encircled with medical labels—"FALL RISK," "Haldol"—reveals a name. Jinne Lutz, born May 24, 1947. So, a major clue; we could well be witnessing the photographer's mother in a descent from normalcy to something else, a state disconnected from the "real" world. The photographs, both pre-Joshua and post, support the alienation as well, for the most part—there are some visions, like those endpapers, which seem a little too good to be true. The sign of the demon, 666, on the back door of a crashed bus. Road signs devoid of information. Tree trunks with suspiciously anthropomorphic formations, coming alive as we stare. Nature comes alive for readers as it may have, in unsettling, inassimilable ways, for Jinne.

Hesitating Beauty, by Joshua Lutz. Published by Schilt Publishing, 2012.

Not unlike Christian Patterson's "factive" book (or is that "docu-fictional"?) Redheaded Peckerwood, Lutz's book draws us in with enough credibility to sustain belief, then spins us around with seeming tangents and time shifts by introducing contemporary beauties whose own psychological foundations may be no firmer than the mother-figure Jinne's. There is an unnervingly cinematic quality—Hitchcock, Buñuel, perhaps—and surprising punch to this modestly scaled publication. How sane are any of us? How close are we to the edge? Ultimately, how much can we trust what we see?—GEORGE SLADE

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GEORGE SLADE , a longtime contributor to photo-eye, is a photography writer, curator, historian and consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He can be found on-line at http://rephotographica-slade.blogspot.com/

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Interview: Chris Enos

April 2, 2013, 12:00 pm

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Untitled from Nude Series– Chris Enos

Our current exhibition, The Nude – Classical, Cultural, Contemporary, explores the many ways in which the nude form has been depicted in photography. One of the artists in the show, Chris Enos, explored the nude form with her camera in the 60s and 70s – a time when gender and sexuality demanded new meaning in the changing cultural landscape of America. I asked Enos to offer some insight into her working process, background and inspiration. -- Erin Azouz

Erin Azouz: You received a BA in Sculpture from SF State and an MFA in Photography from SFAI. Can you talk a little bit about how your studio art practice led you to photography?

Untitled from Nude Series– Chris Enos

Chris Enos: A year before I was to get my BA in Sculpture I took a photography class from Jack Welpott. I loved the independence of photography. I could shoot, develop film and print all on my own. In sculpture, I always needed help lifting heavy things and the attitude towards women was discouraging at best. I liked being out in the world instead of in the studio. I was also intrigued by how conservative photography was. I felt that if something had been done before, there was no reason to do it. Photographers all seemed to be making photographs like Weston and Adams. Fortunately for me, Jack encouraged my crazy work and even provided paper for me to do a full size male nude with all four sides. I went on to get my MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute.

EA: It is interesting that you mention the discouraging attitude you faced as a woman when you were working as a sculptor. There seems to be a similar imbalance in photography — not as many women are working in the medium as men, though I think this is starting to change. What do you think?

Untitled from Nude Series– Chris Enos

CE: Sculpture is particularly a macho medium. Much of it is physically difficult. I disagree that there is an imbalance in photography. The majority of my students over thirty years were women. The imbalance is who gets shown. Remember that there were very few women in Beaumont Newhall's History of Photography, which was the only photography history for a very long time. Also, John Szarkowski rarely recognized women in the field. Look at the major photography galleries today and you will find that men are mostly represented but this clearly does not represent important photographers fairly. It is still a man's world and it certainly pisses off many of my women (and some men) photographer friends.

EA: You photographed nudes from 1967-1975, during a time of political unrest and sexual revolution in America. How did that influence this body of work?

CE: I photographed nudes for eight years. It represented freedom and independence from the moral judges. The feminist movement may have served as a support, but I think I was a feminist from birth. I have been in trouble for being outspoken most of my life.

I was living in Haight Ashbury and all that you can imagine that entailed. I thought that if an artist had anything to say that was unique and could make a contribution, the work had to reflect one's times. I often told my students that if their work was boring to take a look at their lives. My life was not boring. We went to nude beaches, free Dead concerts in Golden Gate Park, protested the Vietnam War and experimented with psychedelics. I also held down two jobs and went to school full time. We had very free sprits and believed in peace and back to nature stuff.

EA: In your Nude series, human forms take on sculptural qualities. Can you talk a little bit about the intersection of photography and sculpture?

CE: The sculptural qualities in the Nude series probably have to do with my background in sculpture. I found while teaching that many students did not see dimension. They saw the world as a flat screen. We did exercises to develop their sense of space. There is even space behind us.

EA: It seems many photographers are feeling limited by the medium alone, and are turning to painting, sculpture and video to further their photographic practice. A lot of your work similarly merges more than one medium — painting and photography, or sculpture and photography. Can you talk a little bit about this?

CE: I started painting on and collaging my photographs in the late 60s. Why not? I have never been big on rules and restrictions. I always told my students that if there was a rule – break it. It is also easy to feel that everything has been photographed and maybe we don't need more of the same. Adding and subtracting to the photograph can allow for exploration and unintended discoveries. I also like to get physically involved with my work and see what can happen. Photography historically has attracted control freaks. I have always wanted to explore the unknown to see what is there.

Untitled from Nude Series– Chris Enos

EA: Who and what are some of your influences and inspirations?

CE: A few of my early influences were Bill Brandt, Robert Heinecken, Kathe Kollwitz, Dorothea Lange, Eva Hess and Rauschenberg. I was also influenced by conceptual art and the lack of humor in art. Music and film has played an important role for me. I am interested in what an artist has to say and how they use whatever medium to say it. Many photographers know little about painting and sculpture and other art media. It can be a very narrow field.

Untitled– Chris Enos

EA: You talk about how an artist’s work should reflect one’s times — an important idea with which so many artists struggle as they create new bodies of work. Can you talk a bit about your current work in this context?

CE: My current work has to do with body parts and death. This certainly reflects this time in my life. It doesn't take long for conversations with my contemporaries to involve health issues, what is falling apart or needs fixing. I am using collage, photographs and encaustic. I have no idea where the work is going, but it is going.

A selection of Enos' work can currently be seen as part of The Nude on exhibit at photo-eye through April and features the work of fifteen photographers. Her work in the show can be viewed here.

For additional information about Chris Enos' work or to acquire a photograph, please contact the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202 or by email.

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