March 2006 Archives

Archinect has published an interview with photographer David Maisel by BLDGBLOG author Geoff Manaugh.

For the most part, I’m interested in landscape images not merely for what they look like, but for what they make us feel, and for what they might represent metaphorically. I’ve also wanted my pictures to take the viewer to places and sites they’ve never seen before, with a resulting sense of alienation or displacement. I'm less interested in being warm and fuzzy than in being harsh and cruel! [laughter] Those possibilities don’t exist when looking at the familiar.

Maisel's Black Maps project is being shown at the Southest Museum of Photography in Daytona. If you're on spring break, you might want to swing by.

Through June 23rd at Southeast Museum of Photography
Building 100
Daytona Beach Community College
1200 W International Speedway Blvd
Daytona Beach, FL
(386) 506-4475

At the end of your life, how many photos will you leave behind? How many will you consider to be good or great? Think about this when you're editing or when you review your work and get discouraged about your output. Harry Callahan considered just six prints a month worthy of his name. Six a month. Between '84 and '89 Andreas Gursky released less than 40 images for public display. How many shots do you take in a month? How many are you satisfied with as your best effort? Are you being ruthless enough? And yet, are you being prolific enough?

All photographers must edit, for after the results of technical errors have been discarded, the only thing that distinguishes a successful picture from a failure is the maker's artistic judgement. - Peter Galassi, Chief Curator, Dept. of Photography, MoMA

This is somewhat old news at this point, but Philip-Lorca diCorcia has successfully defended his right to make street photography without the approval of his unwitting subjects. This has universally been heralded as a terrific victory for art, particularly in the photoblogger community since the bulk of their work is so heavily weighted towards street photography.

However, I found the judge's decision to be a bit more disturbing, as did she. The critical issue at the center of argument was whether diCorcia's work qualified as advertising or purposes of trade. If it did, then diCorcia was liable. DiCorcia's lawyers argued it did not qualify as commerce simply because it was art. This was determined by the photo's "exhibition in a gallery; sale of limited edition prints; and publication in an artist's monograph". Personally I find it strange that one would argue something's value as art by providing examples of its sale. Judge Gische ultimately found that diCorcia had “demonstrated his general reputation as a photographic artist in the international artistic community” and was thus engaged in art, not commerce. This leaves me to question how artists without an international reputation would fare. I find it strange and troubling that the court's definition of art would be so bound up in the gallery system and specifically connected a specific artist's success.

Found an interesting photography blog via Chelsea Art Galleries, Matt Niebuhr's "Intersecting Images". I don't see a heck of a lot of introspection on most photoblogs (they're frequently photo-a-day and that's it) but Matt's done some good writing and thinking about how his own work sits in the larger scheme of photography. "What is Becher-like" is a sample post in this vein.

I have had this post lined up to publish for three successive weekends. There’s so much great stuff in the galleries right now its hard to keep up. Here’s a “shot list” for the weekend. Enjoy.

Two photographers that have caught the digerati's imagination are now showing in New York.

Michael Wolf
Architechture of Density
Through April 8 at Hasted Hunt
529 W20th St, 3rd Flr
(212) 627-0006

Olivio Barbieri
From Rome to New York
Through March 18 at Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea
526 W 26th St, Suite 718
(212) 352-0674

And two grads that I called out from last year's SVA graduate show are also on view.

Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao
Habitat 7

Roosevelt Avenue, 2005 by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao

Through March 25 at Julie Saul Gallery
535 W 22 St, 6th Flr
(212) 627-2410

Through July 9, at Queens Museum of Art
Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, Queens
(718) 592-9700

Rachel Papo is included in the group show "Through a Jewish Woman's Lens"
Through May 8 at Laurie M. Tisch Gallery
334 Amsterdam Ave. (at 76th street)

Lastly, check out GH readers Brian Ulrich and Christian Patterson in the Tiny Vices show at Spencer Brownstone Gallery.

Through April 8th
39 Wooster St
(212) 334-3455

Modern Art Notes has the run down on the expanded Getty Photography Center, 7,000 square feet of exhibition space scheduled to open in October. Cool for the Angelenos.

A few days back I posted a bit about artist statements. The topic has been picked up elsewhere, in relation to some contest submission guidance from Eliot Shepard. This was set off by comments on Conscientious (and a follow-up post) which bleed into "what makes a good photograph" territory. And finally, more interesting commentary at Signal v. Noise.

In the wake of the recent Steichen sale, Art Info has posted a state of the photography market. Most of the article concerns price trends, but then contradictorily ends with admonitions not to buy for investment reasons.

And what's up with this ridiculous comment?

“If a photographer is good, there’s less likelihood they’re going to make a terrible photograph, while even if a painter is good, it’s pretty likely that every now and then they’re going to make a terrible painting.”

Are you kidding me? That's a circular and illogical statement if I ever saw one. A good photographer is, by definition, one that always makes good photographs, but a good painter is one that mostly makes good paintings? Huh? At heart, I do believe photography is inherently superior to other media, but we can be a little more thoughtful about why. (I'll be thoughtful later, I've got a lot of work to do.)

(via A View From the Edge..., owner of the above quote.)

I have had an amazingly busy day and only now came to know that Gordon Parks passed away yesterday at the age of 93. MAN has posed some good links. Howard Greenberg Gallery's current show features a range of work from Gordon's career.

Gordon Parks
Moments Without Proper Names
Through March 11 at Howard Greenberg Gallery
The Fuller Building
41 E 57th St
(212) 334-0010

ARTnews' wide ranging article on the state of art photography opens with a description of the death of chemical-based photography. With the loss of commercial sources of materials for making analog camera-based photographs, silver halide will soon become an alternative process alongside other obsolete processes like the daguerreotype.

I hate artist's statements. It's ridiculous that an artist should be expected to explicitly explain what's behind a piece of work. Isn't that a job for the viewer to figure out on their own? Joerg has pointed out that they are frequently more than a little contrived if not disingenous.

Apparently artists have had a hard time talking about themselves for a long, long time.