Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York09.05.2013 - 01.06.2013
Scenes from the South, 1936-2012, an...
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SCENES FROM THE SOUTH AT HOWARD GREENBERG
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LUO DAN‘Simple Song’ M97 Gallery, Shangai11.05.2013...
LUO DAN
‘Simple Song’
M97 Gallery, Shangai
11.05.2013 - 23.06.2013
For his “Simple Song” project, Luo Dan employed the traditional collodion wet plate photographic process invented in 1850, spending several months traveling with a portable darkroom in remote and mountainous regions of China’s southern Yunnan Province. Looking to capture the purity of this photographic process, Luo Dan was able to reflect the authenticity found in rural life for many of China’s yet undeveloped regions, where the way of life has remained largely intact for hundreds of years. More than 100 years ago many of the villages in this region were influenced by early Christian missionaries, resulting in many of the local villagers becoming people of faith and devout churchgoers, often seen dressing up in their ethnic garments, or Sunday’s best. By bringing a reverence to both this antiquated photographic process and subject matter, Luo Dan’s “Simple Song” series is an effort to capture a sense of timelessness. An incredibly popular process in the mid-nineteenth century, wet plate collodion could render exquisite detail for photographers, but the laborious process of exposure and development also led to its decline towards the end of the century.
An acclaimed portrait and documentary photographer, Luo Dan has won numerous awards and recognition for his works “On the Road - Highway 318” (2006) and “North, South” (2008). Luo Dan was born in Chongqing, China, in 1968 and graduated from the Sichuan Fine Art Academy in 1992. He was given the Gold Award for Outstanding Artist at the Lianzhou International Photography Festival in 2008 for his body of work “North, South” (2008). This year he was recently awarded the Hou Dengke documentary photography prize, as well as voted best new photographer at the Dali International Photography Festival (2011). He currently lives and works in Chengdu, China.
© M97 Gallery
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WILLIAM GEDNEY'S INVENTORY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
The William Gedney Photographs and Writings collection spans the 1940s to 1989 and includes...
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MICHAEL DANNERCritical Mass / Kritische Masse My work Critical...
MICHAEL DANNER
Critical Mass / Kritische Masse
My work Critical Mass/Kritische Masse - Nuclear Power in Germany documents the architecture, everyday routine, and security systems of all 17 German nuclear power plants, as well as the radioactive waste repository Asse II and the Gorleben exploratory mine.
High hopes and deep skepticism have accompanied the use of nuclear power up to the present day. In the euphoric mood that prevailed in the 1950s, everything seemed possible; people took part in an unprecedented economic upswing and found in nuclear energy a fascinating technology for the future. But the optimism of the boom years gave way in the 1980s to a skepticism that was further fueled by the catastrophic nuclear accident in Chernobyl. Anti-nuclear activism has now shaped the political consciousness of a whole generation. And the disaster in Fukushima in 2011 heralded yet a new era in the debate – it seems that a nuclear phase-out in the medium-term is now inevitable. The issue of the final disposal of radioactive waste is still unresolved, however.
My work gives us a rare glimpse behind the scenes at the power plants, showing areas that are normally off-limits. My photographs are interlocked with historical photographs from police and state archives from the planning and construction phases of the plants. Essays by Susanne Holschbach and Kai F. Hünemörder reflect the projectand -SYB- has designed the book.
Biography
Born in Reutlingen (Germany) in 1967, I now live in Berlin. I studied photography at the Fachhochschule Bielefeld (D) and the University of Brighton (UK) and subsequently lived in London from 1997 to 2000. My artistic and photographic work focuses on the life-world. Here, I develop visual strategies that serve as a means of stepping back from the scene at hand, thus allowing for observation, interpretation and staging. The distance thus achieved creates space for various levels of meaning, such as social and historical references or medial reflections. My aim is to facilitate a dialogue between image and recipient that reaches beyond the subject itself and links with the observer’s life-world.
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'DIFFUSION' CARDIFF INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Diffusion Festival, Cardiff01.05.2013 - 31.05.2013
And Where are We Now? This was the question we...
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CHRISTIAN MARCLAY AT FRAENKEL GALLERY
‘Things I’ve Heard’Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco29.03.2013 - 25.05.2013
Fraenkel Gallery is...
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MICHAEL JANG AND THE 'JANGS'
‘The Jangs’
Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco02.05.2013 - 13.07.2013
Stephen Wirtz Gallery is...
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THEN NAKED EYE: SURREALIST PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Shpilman Institute for Photography, Tel Aviv18.04.2013 - 04.11.2013
The exhibition “The Naked Eye”...
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF ORDER: ICP 2013 TRIENNAL
A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial, a global survey of contemporary photography and video,...
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CHINESE AVANTGARDE PHOTOGRAPHY AT BLINDSPOT GALLERY
Blindspot Gallery is proud to present “New Framework: Chinese Avantgarde Photography 1980s-90s” in...
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DEUTSCHE BÖRSE - PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE 2013
The Photographers’ Gallery, London11.04.2013 - 30.06.2013
Now in its seventeenth year, the Deutsche...
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PAUL WALSH
BY MITCH KARATURATNE
Paul Walsh is a British photographer interested in the relationship between...
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NICOLAI HOWALT 'LIGHT BREAK'
Edel Assanti, London23.05.2013 - 22.06.2013
Edel Assanti is pleased to present Nicolai...
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METADATA #16: ANDREA BOTTO
BY GAIA MUSACCHIO
1. Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started? What are your...
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THE YEAR WE MADE CONTACT / O ANO EM QUE FIZEMOS CONTATOErly...
THE YEAR WE MADE CONTACT / O ANO EM QUE FIZEMOS CONTATO
Erly Vieira Jr, Brasil
Documentary, 2010
19′
An island. Seven artists. Several mappings of a city where dwells my restlessness. Documentary freely inspired by the works of artists David Caetano, Douglas Solomon, Elisa Queiroz, Helio Coelho, Julius Schmidt, Maruzza Valdetaro Rosindo and Torres.
The BRASIL ON ART FILM FESTIVAL is an online platform exclusively for Brazilian short films concerned with all forms of artistic expression which include: architecture, painting, sculpture, theater, photography, dance, poetry, music, performance and cinema. Promoted by FILMESSAY and MOVE CINE ARTE Festival – the 1st International Film Festival of Films on Art in Brazil that happens annually in Monte Verde (MG). Available on streaming from May 31 until June 21 at filmessay.com. Remember to sign up to watch films for free!!!
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BACK TO THE '80s AT CLAMP ART NEW YORK
ClampArt is pleased to present “NYC, c. 1985,” a group exhibition including artworks by Armand...
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SOCIABLE CONFLICTS ON THE NEW ISSUE OF ARCHIVO
BY STEVE BISSON
I was recently invited by the Portuguese editor Ana Catarina Pinho to write a short...
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ROGER BALLEN AND PORTRAITS OF SOUTH AFRICA
Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles24.05.2013 - 24.07.2013
Roger Ballen’s photographs are as much seductive...
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METADATA #17: ANN SHELTON
BY DAWN ROE
This issue of METADATA focuses on the work of New Zealand based photographic artist, Ann...
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ROBERT MAPPLETHORPESelf Portraits May 2 - June 15, 2013New...
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE
Self Portraits
May 2 - June 15, 2013
New York
Skarstedt Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe ‘Self Portraits’, featuring eleven photographs that illustrate the artist’s long-term fascination with the genre. As variously costumed characters, Mapplethorpe researches his own identity, capturing his complex and contradictory nature. Whether depicting himself in a playful, fierce, or vulnerable state, the artist’s explorations are intensely personal and self-reflexive.
In a number of early self-portraits, Mapplethorpe boldly explores the notion of gender. In one work from 1980, the artist appears as a sneering, smoking greaser – a James Dean archetype. In another from the same year, Self Portrait (with make-up), Mapplethorpe blurs his gender identity by appearing in partial drag, his face dramatically made-up. By employing conventional signs for man and woman - physical, cosmetic, and sartorial - Mapplethorpe questions established notions of “male” and “female.” This gender-bending game is once again played in a third self-portrait from 1980. Wrapped in a fur collar, Mapplethorpe’s striking profile makes direct reference to Duchamp’s female alter-ego, Rrose Sélavy. In his homage to Duchamp, Mapplethorpe is showing his keen awareness of historical precedents and influences.
Mapplethorpe also uses self-portraiture to explore more serious themes, including his problematized relationship with religion. In a work from 1983, based on the famous 1974 photograph of the newspaper heiress, Patty Hearst, holding a rifle with the symbol of the Symbionese Liberation Army behind her, Mapplethorpe shows himself in battle dress (leather jacket), posing, rifle in hand, in front of an inverted five-pointed star or pentagram, a sign of the Devil. In this work, Mapplethorpe is an aggressor, a rebel soldier fighting for his ‘sinful’ behavior. In the later photograph, Self Portrait (with horns), 1985, Mapplethorpe once again casts himself in an evil Satanic role. Yet, through his skillful mastery of black and white photography, in this case employing platinum printing to produce lush, rich tones, the artist’s evil persona seduces the viewer. This notion is only continued through to a dualism created because of the varied symbolism of horns. Mapplethorpe could also be seen to be playing the role of Dionysus, a Greek god associated with hedonism and sexual desire.
It was not until after his diagnosis with AIDS in 1986 that Mapplethorpe vulnerably reveals himself in his portraits. Taken only months before his passing, for Self Portrait (with cane), the artist is no longer playing a role. Mapplethorpe faces the camera directly, as if he were looking death in the face. The skull-headed cane that he holds in his right hand acts as a memento mori, foreshadowing his inevitable fate. Mapplethorpe is wearing black, so that his head floats free, disembodied, as if he were already halfway to death. Finally, Skull Walking Cane depicts only the skull from the late self-portrait. A modern day vanitas image, this work suggests the powerful connection between art and life, as well as Mapplethorpe’s own transitory existence.
Robert Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 in Floral Park, Queens. He studied at the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn. Mapplethorpe’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Recent solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2012, the Solo Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence in 2010, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Malaga in Spain in 2009, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 2008. Robert Mapplethope died in Boston in 1989.
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