Tonight in New York

Group show TASCHEN is an exhibition of 18 photographers. Curated by Jon Feinstein and amani olu, “this exhibition follows Humble’s vision of fusing and collapsing photographic genres. Documentary becomes conceptual, portraits are "conceptual" or “process oriented;” and the notion of photojournalistic truth is neither entirely refuted, nor taken for granted.
Among these artists, Brian Shumway and Sophia Wallace’s images similarly converge traditional elements of fashion photography with explorations of race, gender sexuality...”

RSVP is required for the opening this Thursday, September 30th at 6pm. RSVP to rsvp@hafny.org
TASCHEN Store New York
107 Greene Street

Delugians-The Aftermath of Katrina in Images

I went to the "Delugians" opening to see the work and catch up with Bryce Lankard, one of the photographers and the show's curator. Along with Jennifer Shaw, David Halliday and printmaker Kyle Bravo, Bryce has put together a show at Solomon Ats Gallery of work influenced by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The collection of art in "Delugians" focuses on a different aspect of the aftermath, how the emotional, social, and psychological effects of this catastrophe manifest themselves in the work of 4 lens-based artists.

Bryce Lankard's work (like the one above), "Blink of an Eye" is about memory, loss and emptiness. There are almost no people in his photographs, just the remnants of another time. The work is infused with emotion and a sense of what was and is no more.

David Halliday is a formalist, and his portraits of Common Ground volunteers transmits a sadness and exhaustion that radiates straight at you. His subjects stare at you not in defiance, but with resignation and weariness, with sagging shoulders. The prints are beautiful sepia-toned silver gelatin, and it felt as if I could talk with each person directly.

Kyle Bravo is a printmaker, but in this show he used photographs as the basis of his fascinating work. "Obituary Conglomerations" over prints faces of people who died in the floods in black on white paper. The layering of faces seems to mirror the confusion over real body counts.

In "House Conglomerations" Bravo takes images of destroyed houses and twists them on top of themselves, like a Mobius strip of destruction. Can they ever be unraveled?

Jennifer Shaw's "Hurricane Story" is told with with a toys and a toy camera, her first-person narrative of her Katrina experience. The images are indistinct and dreamy, as if unreal, yet they are making sense of a real nightmare that included giving birth to her son in the middle of the night after leaving their home to escape the hurricane.
"At 3:47 a boy was born."

"Send in the Guard."

I urge everyone to do see this exhibit which will be there for a month. The space is beautiful, and the work deep and contemplative. It's a treat to see how artists deal with catastrophe, working through their own emotions and making something lasting out of a nightmare. That's something that should resonate with all New Yorkers. And it's definitely worth your time and attention.
Solomon Arts Gallery
83 Leonard St. 4th floor

Opening Thursday September 16

A lot is happening, so get up, and get on out!


New Orleans photographers Jennifer Shaw, Bryce Lankard, David Halliday and printmaker Kyle Bravo bring work influenced by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to Salomon Arts Gallery. The collection of art in "Delugians" focuses on a different aspect of the aftermath, how the emotional, social, and psychological effects of this catastrophe manifest themselves in the work of 4 lens-based artists.

Jennifer Shaw
Hurricane Story is a graphic novel told in photographs. A first person narrative illustrated with toys, Hurricane Story depicts the strange true tale of Shaw's evacuation adventures, including the dramatic birth of a son on the day Katrina made landfall. Shaw's toy camera, black and white images have always had a dreamlike quality, but these vibrant color images are a notable departure from the idealized world of her earlier work.

David Halliday
Whether it is landscapes, still lifes or portraits, David Halliday is well known for a luscious, meticulous approach for revealing the beauty in the mundane. New Orleanians have long been the subject of his portraits. In pre-Katrina days those subjects often reflected the whimsy and eccentricity of the city, while his portraits post-Katrina, of volunteers at Common Ground, a lower 9th ward organization, show an altogether new side of life in New Orleans, and reveal a somberness that reflects the burden of their struggle.

Bryce Lankard
Having experienced the trauma of 9/11 as a New Yorker, Bryce Lankard found in the Katrina disaster that unfolded in his beloved city of New Orleans, another event that tore at the fabric of his world. Witnessing first-hand the physical and psychological toll that both events exacted, and yet saturated by images of destruction, Bryce set out to create images that capture the idea of loss in another way. "Blink of an Eye" is a series of images and faux panoramas that use the iconography of childhood and summertime, both fleeting, temporal periods, quickly gone, to suggest how quickly things, taken for granted, can disappear.

Kyle Bravo
Primarily a printmaker, Kyle Bravo, has used photography liberally in two series of "conglomerations". In "Obituary Conglomerations" Kyle has sampled from the Obituary section of the Times-Picayune to create collective portraits of the dead of New Orleans. His own photographs of architectural elements of wrecked homes of the lower 9th ward are collaged into graphic icons in "House Conglomerations." The subjects of both series, when removed from their context, serve as signposts of the post-traumatic stress, depression, destruction and spiritual and emotional brokenness that plague many in New Orleans.

Salomon Arts Gallery
83 Leonard Street, 4th floor (Tribeca)
6-9pm

JONATHAN SMITH "UNTOLD STORIES"

Rick Wester Fine Art
511 West 25th Street Suite 205
between 10th & 11th Avenues

"Jon Smith is making risky, provocative images out of ordinary moments, fixing himself as a bright star of his generation... He is street savvy with a sensitive eye, showing the mystery hidden in everyday intimate moments. This work bears a sensibility and a poetic impulse reminiscent not only of Edward Hopper's New York, but the dark pleasures of Blue Velvet as well."
— Joel Meyerowitz

"Pathos" Tetsugo Hyakutake

"I attempt to connect historical, economic, and social issues of post-war Japan with personal experiences and the voices of my generation. Despite the loss of human lives, destruction of its major cities, and its lack of raw materials, Japan became the second largest economy in the world in less than 30 years. Industrialization and economic development are often considered to be synonymous with the advancement of society. This is one 'unspoken truth' that I attempt to question by expressing the ironic duality of both the beauty and dehumanization inherent in industrialization."--Tetsugo Hyakutake

Alan Klotz Gallery
511 West 25th Street, Suite 701
6pm - 8pm

Paul Strand in Mexico

A historic exhibition comprised of over a hundred photographic works by Strand, including vintage prints, previously unseen documents, and ephemera, that presents a unique and important photographic portrait of Mexico at a critical point in its history by one of the great modern masters.

Also at Aperture

Mexico + Afuera: Contemporary Mexican and Mexican-American Voices curated by Miriam Romais of En Foco
Aperture Gallery
547 W. 27th 4th floor
6pm - 8pm

"Next Stop Atlantic"

There is something about Stephen Mallon's industrial photography that appeals to the child in me, the part of me that loves to learn about things I never come in contact with. I am fascinated by the world that exists beyond my own. With "Next Stop Atlantic" we see what happens to old subway cars after the MTA has retired them. The cars are dropped into the Atlantic from New Jersey to Georgia and become artificial reefs--home to barracuda, grouper and other marine life.

Stephen's photographs are not just fascinating as subject, but beautifully composed and compelling. His show at Front Room Gallery in Brooklyn opens tomorrow, Friday September 10, and is worth checking out.