J. CARRIER: ‘ELEMENTARY CALCULUS’

J. Carrier has had a nomadic lifestyle, moving from Washington D.C. to Ecuador, and then to Africa and the Middle East, every move taking him further from his friends and family. During his time in Israel, Carrier began to feel an affinity with the migrants who had landed in the dusty city of Tel Aviv, relating to their experience as an outsider, someone far from home.

Elementary Calculus, through a series of portraits, landscapes and still life photographs, observes the publicly private moments of these peregrine foreigners as they attempt to connect back to their homes. In his documentation of migrants and refugees in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Carrier explores the distance between reality and desire – the want for what was and the hope for what will be – and traces the manner in which we navigate the points between the unknowns. His photographs resonate with the sense that in a foreign country geographical distance loses its physical measure and home feels like a hazy memory, a half- remembered dream.

Carrier’s subtle yet striking images of Israel and the West Bank throw up more questions than they answer. What does this influx of foreigners mean in a nation that is defined by ethnicity and competing claims of ownership? And how does this complex situation affect these new varieties of refugees? Is there promise in this land for them?

After graduating with a degree in biological sciences, J. Carrier became a drummer in a punk-rock band. He spent most of the past decade living and working in Africa and Israel and now lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife. He won the fine art award in the New York Photo Awards in 2010, was the Grand Prize Winner at the National Geographic Traveller / PDN “World in Focus” awards in 2010, and was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography in 2011.

© MACK

THE CHICAGO PROJECT

Catherine Edelman Gallery is proud to present The Chicago Project, an online gallery devoted to new and established photographers in the Chicago area who we feel deserve recognition. We hope this site will expose local talent to a wider audience and we plan on adding photographers as we find them. Please contact Juli Lowe at juli@edelmangallery.com with any questions you may have regarding photographic sales from this project. 

Photographers include: Zach Abubeker, Natalie Alms, Jane Fulton Alt, Matt Austin, Matthew Avignone, Justyna Badach, Andy Barnes, Shannon Benine, Jeremy Bolen, Clarissa Bonet, Dan Bradica, Jerry Cargill, Larry Chait, Paul Clark, Eddee Daniel, Philip Dembinski, Sarah Faust, Juan Fernandez, Troy Flinn, Lenny Gilmore, Bill Guy, Ron Harris, Anni Holm, Eric Holubow, Ezell Hudson, Wm. Bradley Johnson, Justin Chase Lane, Patricia Lay-Dorsey, Joyce P. Lopez, Paul Marquardt, Nate Mathews, Sandro Miller, Nathan Millis, Bill O’Donnell, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Leasha Overturf, Colleen Plumb, Brad Pogatetz, TJ Proechel, Mike Rebholz, Tealia Ellis Ritter, Jason Robinette, Cesar Augusto Rodriguez, Dawn Roscoe, James Rotz, Laurie Rubin, Chella Sapkarov, David Schalliol, Christopher Semel, Charlie Simokaitis, Joe Small, Melissa Stallard, Tone Stockenstrom, Sarah Stonefoot, John Sundlof, Alan Thomas, Anthony Vizzari, Jacob Watts, Shane Welch, Barry Wolf, and Chi-Jang Yin.

Nick After Shower (2010) Matthew Avignone

Lipsticks, Smoke Stacks & Pearls (2011) Anthony Vizzari

Anonymous, Saint Paul, MN (2009) TJ Proechel

Christmas Tree (2009) Matt Austin

Light on Horizon (2010) Justin Chase Lane

© Catherine Edelman Gallery

Mario Carbone

Posto fisso. Marina Abramović e Ulay a Bologna, 1977

curated by Paola Paleari and Paola Scremin

S.T. Foto Libreria Galleria, Roma

10.09.2012 - 10.10.2012

In 1977, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna hosted the International Week of Performance, which gathered several important artists of the time.

Among them was Marina Abramović who, together with her partner Ulay, put on stage “Imponderabilia”, one the most well-known creations of the Serbian artist.

In this work, the two performers, both completely naked, stood at the opposite sides of a doorway, forcing visitors to squeeze between them in order to pass through. The purpose of the action was the exploration of human physical limits and psychological reactions, obtained through the artists’ live presence in real time.

On that occasion, the photographer and documentary filmmaker Mario Carbone (1924), a specialist in depicting Italian everyday life and later the contemporary art scene, shot a documentary and some pictures during the performance’s preparation and execution.

s.t. foto libreria galleria brings this visual material together in a show curated by Paola Paleari and Paola Scremin. Posto fisso Marina Abramović e Ulay a Bologna, 1977 presents the documentary itself, a series of screenshot prints and a selection of the black and white photos taken during the event.

The exhibition, which is part of Fotografia Festival Internazionale di Roma, will offer the possibility to browse through a wider selection of short documentaries and photographic works by Mario Carbone, which range from social issues to contemporary art.

Group Show: ‘Polaroid’

Helsinki Festival 2012, Helsinki

18.08.2012 - 02.12.2012

The Polaroid company regularly gave artists cameras and film, and from their responses it built up a huge, nostalgic collection of photographs. Vienna’s WestLicht Museum acquired the European section in 2010, some of which can now be seen by the Finnsih public.

The WestLicht collection contains 4400 works by 800 artists from 1970–90, from which Chief Curator Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Museum Director Elina Heikka and from WestLicht Chief Curator Rebekka Reuter made a selection of ca. 300 images.

The Finnish component has been compiled by critic Otso Kantokorpi and photographic artist Martti Jämsä. Next to the original Polaroid artworks, contemporary images taken on new Impossible Instant Film are also represented.

Anna Positano photographs of London 2012 Olympics on casabella’s editorial 815-816.

© Anna Positano

ANNA POSITANO

Photographs of London 2012 Olympics on casabella’s editorial 815-816.

A city that changes and is always the same

«The February 2012 issue of “Architectural Design” was entirely on the “London Urban Regeneration”. “Regeneration”, the, is the buzzword of the London of the new millenium, and that of the Olympic city as well. Of coursebehind an effective slogan there is a good dose of skilfull “territorial marketing”. Operations in London are well aware of the fact that the historical heritage is the sole quality that can truly make the difference between London and the other financial capitals of the world. The Canary Wharf and Docklands operations have only partially exploited the charm emitted by thename of London, and the almost total destruction of the historic fabric today certainly puts a limit on their real estate value. The years of “deregulation” under Thatcher were years in which question of conservation of urban fabric and safeguarding of historic buildings were pushed into the background with respect to the need for return on investment. The result was a strong reaction towards xonservation and the protection of constructed heritage. Today, as in new York, for that matter, the organism of control of the protection of Landmarks pay attention not only to monuments, but also to “street patterns” and even the constructive details of the simplest “anonymous” buildings. ALongside the tall towerss, the symbol of which is Renzo Piano’s Shard, we are seeing a true widespread phenomenon of “urban regeneration” that naturally involves much of the fabric of the historical city, but also the industrial suburbs and the residential areas of the outermost bely. The skewing towards new markets of the British financial giant has imposed, as in all large western cities, the closing of productive facilities up against urban areas, while favoring the explosion of office complexes inside those zones. The large factories of the London outskirts have been closed for decades, the shipyards have been moved, the warehouses and grain storage facilities have been abandoned. The image of hte city hasn’t changed, in its familiar symbols, but its geography has changed a lot».*

* extract from Nicola Braghieri London 2012, The Running City. Olympic and Paralympic Games Casabella 815-816, August 2012

© Casabella | Anna Positano

MONIA LIPPI: ‘FLOATING WINONA’

New Project by Monia Lippi included in the Italian webplatform HABITAT. Habitat is a research project about “alternative” housing. The object of Habitat is to build a collection of works by photographers, artists and researchers dealing with the refusal of the urban housing standard.

Anarchism, agricultural communes, social housings, self-sufficient villages, experimental residential systems, spiritual communities, collectivization, land-sharing, urban nomadism… Communities, either built upon fair living ideas or created to get out of an emergency status, are the living example of a conscious choice opposing the urban status quo and the Property/House/ Family Trinity. The choice as a “principle” and the western society as a “cause” represent a dichotomy we find in all the works included in Habitat.

‘Floating Winona’ is a photographic research on Latsch Island Boathouse Community, located in Minnesota on the Mississippi River, opposite the city of Winona. Monia has recorded the lives of its inhabitants, has seen their buildings floating adapt to the seasons and the children become teenagers and then young men and women. Her look is always calm and equidistant, yet it hides the intense exchange, and not always peaceful, with the man who seeks a deeper contact with nature.

© Habitat | Monia Lippi

Ellie Davies
Into The Woods
Richard Young Gallery, London
05.10.2012 - 17.11.2012 

The Richard Young Gallery invites you into the realms of naturalism and fairytale with an intriguing solo exhibition by award-winning English photographer,

Ellie Davies. Into the Woods will showcase a selection from each of the five series Davies has produced from 2010 – 2012 including and introducing her most recent, unseen body of work, The Dwellings.

With this collection of 24 photographs Ellie Davies captures the mystery and intrigue of ancient forests by creating minimally disruptive woodland installations that transform the natural into the fanciful. These carefully constructed environments offer the viewer a nostalgic possibility of discovering something magical amidst the trees and shadows.

Davies works mostly alone in the woodland to become fully attuned and engulfed by the atmosphere of each individual setting. She performs small acts of engagement by painstakingly crafting and arranging her chosen materials within the natural world and then documenting her intervention with photography.

Painted leaves are positioned into paths enticing the viewer to delve deeper into the forest; golden trees reveal themselves within heavily saturated green and brown environments; strands of wool ephemerally create beguiling trails that jump from tree to tree; ovals of bright light hover within the panorama of the darkened forest floor; and dwellings created from fallen branches are stumbled upon – unsure of whether they were created by man or animal.

Ellie Davies comments: ‘My work grows out of my sense of the woodland I am in. There is often a slight tension, an eeriness, but also great beauty in the shadows beneath the trees, and my images are an evocation of these feelings. I wanted my compositions to capture a sense of my place within the woodland and my response to it, but also a feeling of enchantment - like a chance discovery in a fairytale.’

© Richard Young Gallery  | Ellie Davies

Seduced By Art. Photography Past and Present.
National Gallery, London
31.10.2012 - 20.01.2013

View Old Master painting through a new lens with the National Gallery’s first major exhibition of photography. The exhibition explores early photography from the mid-19th century and the most exciting contemporary photographs, alongside historical painting. It takes a provocative look at how photographers use fine art traditions, including Old Master painting, to explore and justify the possibilities of their art.

Work by leading photographers such as Martin Parr, Craigie Horsfield, Sam Taylor-Wood, Richard Billingham, Julia Margaret Cameron and Gustave Le Gray will be on display beside key paintings from the National Gallery collection.

Paintings and early and contemporary photographs are presented together according to traditional genres such as portraiture, still life, nudes and landscape, highlighting the universality of the themes and influences across all the works, both past and present.

Drawing attention to one particular and rich strand of photography’s history – that of the influence and inspiration of historical painting – the exhibition features pictures by the greatest British and French photographers alongside work by an international array of contemporary artists. It includes new photography and video specially commissioned for the exhibition and on public display for the first time, plus works rarely seen in the UK.

Exceptionally, three ‘interventions’ of contemporary photographs by Richard Billingham, Craigie Horsfield and Richard Learoyd will be displayed within the Gallery’s collection, juxtaposed with great 19th-century paintings by Constable, Degas and Ingres.

The show includes almost 90 photographs alongside selected paintings from the National Gallery’s collection. Key photographs will come from the Wilson Centre for Photography, Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Media Museum in Bradford, Fundació La Caixa in Spain, and direct from the photographers themselves.

© National Gallery 

Krystina Stimakovits, Pete Gardner and Malcolm Phillips
Of Slippages & Shadows
Mile End Art Pavilion, London
16.10.2012 - 21.10.2012 Mile End Art Pavilion, London

The city is more than a base in common for Krystina Stimakovits, Pete Gardner and Malcolm Phillips. Daylight and artificial illumination in turn are seen to transform the structures of the urban environment. The city becomes a dial casting indecipherable messages onto itself. Objects and buildings are displaced in distorted negative images. Not the city of monuments and symbols, but a more fragile and elusive place.

These three photographers seemingly subvert the camera’s unwavering scrutiny to present images of uncertainty and mystery. This is how and where we live, slipping and shading in and out of sight.

Krystina Stimakovits originally from Vienna, Austria studied African & Asian Studies (University of Sussex) and later Fine Art and Photography at Camberwell College of Art (London). She has set up and worked in various voluntary sector organisation within the fields of Development Education and Urban Regeneration. In the mid 90s she worked in independent film, both feature and documentary. Photography has been her sole focus since 2007. 

Pete Gardner is a London born professional photographer. He originally studied fine art before becoming a full time studio assistant for two established commercial photographers. Subsequently he set up his own studio and now, with over twenty five years experience, specialises in creative product and concept photography for design, publishing and advertising clients. Despite this full time commercial activity he continues to pursue photography as a form of personal expression. 

Malcolm Phillips was born in Aberdeen and grew up in Cambridge. He studied at the universities of Warwick, Manchester and St Andrews and has a doctorate in English literature. Arehouse published his ‘Poems for my double’ in 2005. He lives and works in London.    

  © Krystina Stimakovits | Pete Gardner | Malcolm Phillips

Thanks to Harvey Benge for sending us a special souvenir from New York!

DANIEL KARIKO
Where Will You Spend Eternity, and Other Stories.

«The need to adapt ourselves to the place we inhabit has been largely overshadowed by the urge to adapt the world to ourselves. This continuing series of photographic work attempts to forge a dialogue between the man-affected landscape and the idealized presentation of a landscape created for purposes of habitation, or simply, entertainment. 
This group of photographs investigates the commoditization of landscape. Photographed in various locations and seemingly unconnected, these images range from humorous to ironic. Some photographs present strictly fake-as-real landscape, and others discuss the consumption of the world that surrounds us.
We often observe our landscape through the pre-established cultural filters, and apply our idealistic expectations to our surroundings. Often, man-affected landscape is idealistically natural, as found in gardens, parks, and other tourist destinations, and therefore maintained and presented to us to enjoy it and consume it. In other cases, we adapt the landscape that surrounds us to our own idea of “natural” space, this often resulting in what Umberto Eco refers to as Hyperreality. 
This body of work started initially as a form of travelogue, and evolved into the search for patterns, trends, and simulacra in order to highlight the space between the exploitation and romanticization of nature».

© Daniel Kariko

ANDREAS MASS
Noroc

Andrea Mass is 24 years old student at the Köln International School of Design and an employe at Josekdesign. He is originally from Kazachstan and since the age of 10 he lives in Cologne, Germany. After having published some interesting works in April 2011, we are happy to share few shots from his recent trip to Romania. These photographs confirm maturity of his sight, careful reading of the landscape, and the sensitivity to nature. We also have discovered that the word “noroc” means “good luck” in the Romanian language. The word is also used as a greeting. “Noroc” is also said while toasting (the Romanian equivalent of “cheers”).

© Andreas Mass 

ELLES VAN GELDER & ILVY NIJOKIKTJIEN
Afrikanerblood, Carolina, South Africa 

An extreme right-wing group is teaching young white South Africans to eschew Nelson Mandela’s vision of a multicultural rainbow nation. 

The fringe group Kommandokorps, led by old-apartheid leader Franz Jooste, organizes camps in school holidays for Afrikaners, white teenagers of mainly Dutch and German descent. He teaches them to defend themselves against crime in South Africa and that black South Africans are their enemy. 

He tells them they are firstly Afrikaners and should deny their South African identity. We follow them on one of the camps, where in nine days boys who once carried a budding belief in South Africa’s unity, become toughened men with racist ideas.

Afrikaner Blood has won the 2012 Multimedia Contest of World Press Photo!

Watch video here

©  Elles van Gelder & Ilvy Njiokiktjien