Photographers: January 2006 Archives

I haven't been able to get out to see anything for a while, aside from my first trip to the new MoMA. Mostly this is attributable to the lull in late Jan. as shows end, so I was pleased to find several interesting shows opening this weekend and last.

Alec Soth, Niagra
Through Feb 25 at Gagosian Chelsea
555 W 24th St
(212) 741-1111

Eirik Johnson, Borderlands
Through Feb 25 at Yossi Milo
525 W 25th St
(212) 414-0370

Caitlin Atkinson, Chapters
Through Mar 4 at Foley Gallery
547 W 27th Street, 5th floor
(212) 244-9081

Erwin Olaf
Through Feb 18 at Hasted Hunt
529 W 20th St, 3rd Flr
(212) 627-0006

Tyler Green is posting a series on architectural photographer Julius Schulman over the course of the coming days. The first bit is up on Modern Art Notes now. The Getty's Schulman retrospective closes on Sunday.

NPR has posted an interview with Gregory Crewdson, tied to his new book, I suppose. Though that came out in November. In any case, if you were looking for some insight as to the meaning of all those vacant stares, you'll be disappointed. Crewdson hasn't the first clue what they mean, either.

Of interest is Crewdson's relationship with his subject, in this case a small Massachusetts town. When he wanted to burn down a house for one shot, his past experiences with the town led them to eagerly offer up a selection for him to choose from. He also talks about the specific narrative qualities of photographs, particularly the limitations of capturing just a few split seconds in time.

It's about 6 minutes long and requires Real Player or Windows Media Player.

I initially had a muted response to Sarah Pickering's US debut show. At first glance there is little to recommend the series of mock explosions in terms of framing, printing, technique, etc. (I say "mock" because though the explosions are very real, they are practice pyrotechnics used in military and police training.) Upon further reflection, the choice of subject is weightier than I'd first considered.

Large Maroon by Sarah Pickering

Blake Gopnik's review in The Washington Post is mostly about explosions and little about the photographs themselves. What immediately came to my mind upon seeing the images were Dr. Harold Edgerton's strobe-lit abstracts of milk droplets and rifle bullets. A little investigation shows Edgerton also did some work on explosions, though his subjects were a bit bigger than Pickering's.

In the case of Edgerton's best known work, the value of the images lean heavily on making what is unseen seen - a milk drop frozen in time faster than the eye can understand or a playing card shredded by a speeding bullet. Likewise, Pickering's photographs freeze the destructive force of an explosion into a blooming sculpture of fire and smoke. In the larger images such as the one above, the explosions feel small and manageable in the expanse of the proving ground. These images do not, however, bring us closer to an understanding of war. On a different level, Pickering's photos harken back to some of the earliest photographs - still life of reproductions of classical masterpieces. They are a representation of a representation, distancing us a further generation from the original subject - the explosion of landmine or a napalm blast.

Through Feb 25 at Daniel Cooney Fine Art
511 W 25th St, #506
(212) 255-8158

Minnesota art site mnartists.org has a review of the Minnesota Center for Photography jurried show exhibition. There are a lot of great photographers working in the mid-west; Alec Soth has gained the greatest prominence and his influence is felt here as well.

That several of the artists have an aesthetic similar to Soth’s is both a testament to Soth’s vision, as well as an intimation of the Upper Midwestern psyche: if one had to categorize the region’s photographs, it would be with these isolated, spare images – with an aesthetic of sorrow, pride, and the lower-middle class – an aesthetic that’s just beginning to be explored.

Through Jan 15th (Sunday!) at Minnesota Center for Photography
165 13th Avenue NE
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 824-5500

Some of Robert Polidori's photographs of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were published in this week's New Yorker. A more extensive collection of photos plus an audio commentary have been posted on the Web.

Polidori sounds like a pretty trippy guy, but thoughtful: "Is it ethical to make such human disasters aesthetically beautiful?"