Thursday, April 28, 2011

Saturday Shows

There's a lot going on this weekend as MOPLA comes to an end. I'm obligated to tell you about two shows I'll be a part of on Saturday. It will be very nice to be back to normal in May.

First up, Redefining Hollywood in downtown from 3-6pm.



Then, I'll have 25 shots of downtown in a slide show at the MOPLA closing party over in Santa Monica from 7-10.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Quote of the Week - Walker Evans

"Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long."

- Walker Evans


Friday, April 22, 2011

Quote of the Week - James Pomerantz

Regarding this week's sad news:

"If everyone lived as they lived, nobody would die as they died."

- Jame Pomerantz

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Lucie Benefit - Saturday



The Lucie Foundation is throwing its first ever benefit to support it's photography workshop program to help at risk youth, Snapshop.

What: THE LUCIE FOUNDATION BENEFIT to raise funds for SNAPSHOP! The
Lucie Foundation’s photo workshops for Los Angeles at-risk youth.
When: April 23rd, 2011 from 7-10pm.
Where: The Factory Place Events Complex, 1397 E. 6th Street, 1 block east of Alameda
Street.
Who: THE LUCIE FOUNDATION in association with Art Weekend LA, supported by
LARABA and The Macallan.
Artwork: David Lynch, Amy Arbus and Tasya van Ree.
Food: Honey + Ginger Catering.
Beverages: The Macallan, Absolut, Don Francisco.
Entertainment: DJ Peanut Butter Wolf and Quartetto Fantastico.
Tickets: $50.00 in advance, $75.00 at door.

TIAPB - Tonight from 6-11pm



More info here.

Shows to see - MOPLA

I've been super busy prepping for a number of shows so I dropped the ball on some openings for shows that should definitely be worth seeing. You know that you can see shows outside of the opening receptions, right? In no particular order:

Carlo van de Roer - The Portrait Machine Project @ M+B
Through May 14



Walead Beshty - PROCESSCOLORFIELD @ Regen
Through May 14



Diane Arbus - People and Other Singularities @ Gagosian
Through May 27



Frorian Maier-Aichen @ Blum & Poe
Through May 14

Richard Micrach - Monday



I'll be at this one.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

R.I.P. Tim Hetherington



You owe it to yourself to see Restrepo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/africa/21photographers.html?hp

UPDATE: Chris Hondros has also died. R.I.P.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

L.A.te Opening Saturday at Edgar Varela Downtown

I don't very often talk about my own work on the blog, as its meant to be about photography in LA as a whole but a few times a year I fit in that so I'll be posting a few shows I'm a part of on here in the coming weeks that are official MOPLA selections. I'm very excited about this first one of photography of Los Angeles at night, opening at Edgar Varela this Saturday downtown. I'm with some truly excellent company for this and the opening should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there!

6-10pm

Click invite for details:




J. Wesley Brown

Amanda Freidman

Zack Herrera

Ryan Schude

RJ Shaughnessy

Tim Simmons

Friday, April 8, 2011

Le Weekend



There is of course a ton of stuff happening this weekend because of MOPLA, including this show in which Aline Smithson will show all 20 of her Arrangement in Green and Black series alongside work by 8 other photographers.

Check out PixFeed's list of all that's going down.

Opening Saturday: John Humble at Craig Krull


Copyright John Humble

Local treasure John Humble's show of new work opens Saturday from 5-7 pm at Craig Krull Gallery. I was so excited about this I posted about it two months ago. I can't wait to see the show with new work focused on Venice and the Middle America. Check out his new website here.

On Photography on Photography

My thoughts on Sean O'Hagan's criticism of the Deutsche Börse prize and The Photographer's Gallery.

From his article:

Director Brett Rogers has stated that the prize rewards those who "interrogate" the medium, or, as she puts it in this year's catalogue, "have consistently demonstrated a commitment to reexamining the photographic medium". In a way, that is a laudable manifesto, but it leaves a lot of photography out: straight photography, street photography, reportage, documentary, portaiture …


I'm currently reading Words Without Pictures, arguably Charlotte Cotton's most valuable contribution during her short stint at LACMA, and really enjoying others' takes on many of the issues I've had in my own head over the past year or so in thinking of photography in an art context, which is where my primary interest in photography lies. There's a huge movement currently, which Christopher Bedford has coined New Formalism that continues to lay the groundwork initiated by the prior generation, creating work that deals with the question, "What is photography?" It seems somewhat outdated to me, however - a banal question, yet so ubiquitous in contemporary photography discussions. That's not to say that I don't like the work of many of these contemporary photographers concerned with this, but perhaps I like it despite the concept behind it. Concept's nothing to me with the aesthetic.

I guess it's becoming clear to me that the photographers whose work I admire most, among them, to name a few, Jeff Bark, Katy Grannan, Lise Sarfati, Pieter Hugo, and Viviane Sassen (not to mentions the classics) are making work without centering on the question, "Is photography art?" or "What is photography?" These photographers know very well that photography is art when it's in the right hands and they are simply and directly shooting art photography without this emphasis on concept.


Related:

here
and here

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Feature + QOTW - Bill Dane

I was unfamiliar with Bill Dane's work until I saw some pictures at the Di Rosa Foundation that he made in the 70's of those peep show theaters where you could go and perv and even take pictures of the girls. I'm pretty certain Bill's motivation was more the latter than the former and the one that caught my eye most was a wide shot of the theater with a dancer doing a headstand (below).

It was hard for me to narrow this selection down to something manageable since he's got such a great and unique eye. I kind of just decided to go a bit nuts with this feature and throw up too many shots, ranging from the 70's through 2011. Make sure to head over to his site to explore more and oh, Bill's even got a Flickr.

His Quote of the Week:

"Even though most people still don't seem to understand how manipulative photography is - how it changes experience - if it didn't, it wouldn't be so magical. A clue as to why photography is so wonderful is that it does its own thing; it creates a new reality."

All images Copyright Bill Dane. Click for larger views.




(That's Gary Winogrand standing on the right)
























Opening - Florian Maier-Aichen @ Blum & Poe



Florian Maier Aichen's new show of work in which he's photographed drawings and abstractions (not like my favorite picture of his illustrating this post below) opens at Blum & Poe this Saturday from 6-8pm.

Friday, April 1, 2011

MOPLA 2011 Opens Saturday

The third edition of the Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) kicks off with their opening at Bergamont Station on Saturday from 6 - 10pm. This year is looking really good, with a ton of good shows and events lined up over the coming month. Make sure to take a look at their calendar so you don't miss out. I'll be posting about those I'm really excited about and shamelessly about a few that I've got photographs in.