‘Landscapes Andalucía’
Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York07.11.2013 - 04.01.2014
New York, October 23,...
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EMMET GOWIN OVER ANDALUSIA
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DARREN HARVEY-REGAN‘Phrasings’ The Ravestijn Gallery,...
DARREN HARVEY-REGAN
‘Phrasings’
The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam
01.11.2013 - 21.12.2013
In 1955, Fortune magazine published, ‘Beauties of the Common Tool’, a portfolio by Walker Evans featuring pictures of ordinary hand-made tools, such as a ratchet wrench and a pair of scissors. Harvey-Regan first constructed a montage of Evans’s images to make new forms. He then sourced matching tools, cut them in half and re-joined various halves together, with the resulting physical objects being photographed to create his final work. The montaged tools become both beautiful and bizarre objects, in which a ratchet wrench is combined with a pair of pliers and a Mason’s trowel joined with a pair of scissors.
Harvey-Regan finds photography that photographs objects – whilst in itself being an object – interesting as a concept. “It’s a means of transposing material into other material, adding new meaning or thoughts in the process. I think photographing materials is a way to consider the means of creating meaning, and it’s a tactile process with which I feel involved. Touching and moving and making are my engagement with the world and my art”.
Further illustrations in the exhibition include ‘The Halt’ in which a real axe pins the photograph to the wall, and ‘When is an image Not an image’, in which a trompe l’oeil effect occurs: an image comprised of surfaces and shadows is mounted on a block, two sides of which have a 45 degree outward bevel, meaning they are easily viewed, whilst the positioning of a spot-light on an adjacent wall creates a shadow on the remaining sides, thus completing the work’s ‘frame’.
On initial viewing, one may consider the works to be surrealistic, but Harvey-Regan refers to the works as ‘phrasings’, “different versions of a visual question or proposition”. He further elaborates: “If you take, ‘what happens if’…” as the beginning of the exhibition’s question, then the works explore how that question ends, by using the elements of the photographic material, the image, and the original object and shuffling these three around, giving different emphasis to each, in which each has a different phrasing”.
© The Ravestijn Gallery | Darren Harvey-Regan
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NEW EXHIBITION BY GIUSTINO CHEMELLO
Perchè tanta assenza di te non è più possibileGalleria Browning, Asolo08.12.2013 –...
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STORIES #4: SUE-ELIE ANDRADE-DE'
BY STEVE BISSON, GAIA MUSACCHIO
1. Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started?...
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PAOLO VENTURAL’archivio ritrovato di V.P. Curated by Luca...
PAOLO VENTURA
L’archivio ritrovato di V.P.
Curated by Luca Panaro
14.12.2013 - 02.03.2014
Palazzo dei Pio, Carpi (Modena)
From December 14 Palazzo dei Pio hosts for the fifth time, after the exhibitions Beppe Lopetrone: moda e celebrità; Olivo Barbieri: opere scelte 1978-2010; Mario Cresci: dentro le cose and Franco Vaccari: in palmo di mano; a significant event dedicated to another artist whose work has shaped the history of contemporary photography: Paolo Ventura’s exhibition L’archivio ritrovato di V.P., curated by Luca Panaro.
The exhibition was made possible through the support of the City of Carpi, the Gruppo Fotografico Grandangolo BFI and Nuovagrafica whose joint efforts consistently pursue the promotion of the Italian masters of photography and the research on photography involved on investigating contemporaneity as well as cultural traditions and territory.
The exhibition is combined with a fine artist’s book featuring essays and texts (in Italian and English) by Luca Panaro and Marco Antonetto. Luca Panaro: Be it true or false it doesn’t matter, from the exhibition’s catalogue: «Combining different technical skills, such as painting, sculpture, early photographic processes and digital manipulations, within the same project he has plenty of leeway to investigate the status of current matters, establishing a privileged connection with the viewer who is led to discover a new culture founded on the acceptance of hybrid images thanks to the sense of bewilderment experienced by continuously shifting languages. By its very existence, this multiple reality encompassing radically different and yet interlaced experiences advances a versatile mode of thinking, and makes the coexistence of true and false easier to accept. Indeed, the understanding of the present is premised on this apparent contradiction.
The necessity to realize a site-specific intervention must be understood from this point of view: it is neither a documentation of Carpi nor of its citizens, but instead the replacement of both past and present with images that offer a new angle on them. Leaving aside the descriptive function that prevailed in the course of history, photography frees itself from several constraints and lets fiction shape our experience of the real, as some philosophers maintain. All this considered, Ventura does not inquire the true and the false, the question is not even raised. Instead, he aims to build a reality which stands beyond our ordinary perception by staging the discovery of a secret room inside Palazzo dei Pio where various items from the mid-19th century were stored. Displayed with accuracy, these objects tell the story of a man (possibly, the photographer himself) whose initials are embroidered on a shirt stained with blood.
A few daguerreotype plates, a pair of men’s shoes and trousers, a ladies’ evening dress (perhaps belonging to the photographer’s wife), a small caliber projectile, a Garibaldi’s army uniform, a top hat, a fabric pouch containing a wooden compass. Besides, ten books, Italian and French manuals on 19th century photographic processes, and a daguerreotype camera dated around 1850. These items speak about an amateur photographer, but mostly they bespeak a man’s passions. Arranged with accuracy, these evidences are like clues, bits and pieces that allow us to reconstruct an affair that yet remains shrouded in mystery. The found daguerreotypes, un- known so far, appear to be the oldest photographs of Carpi. They tell us about photography in that age and about the struggles to make photography on metal as compared to later photography on paper.
Ventura’s silver plates show what could have been seen in real daguerreotypes, provided that they had been preserved or even ever made in Carpi around that period. Then, it is not important that they are fictional if fiction can be understood as future truth. In this way Carpi re- gained not only the archive of an imaginary V.P., but also an original vision of his hometown with dormer windows on the roofs, curtains gathered at the sides of the windows, posters pasted at street corners, and outfits usually worn to the benefit of the photographer’s rigorous eye. All details that were not preserved in photographic images of the city, and yet we can now experience them through fiction.»
© Paolo Ventura L’archivio ritrovato di V.P., 2013 courtesy Palazzo dei Pio di Carpi
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BRADFORD WASHBURN‘Bradford Washburn’ Michael Hoppen Gallery,...
BRADFORD WASHBURN
‘Bradford Washburn’
Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
05.12.2013 - 27.01.2014
Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr. (June 7, 1910 – January 10, 2007) was an American explorer, mountaineer, photographer and cartographer. He started climbing at the age of sixteen, discovering photography at the same time.
Washburn travelled the world for eight decades, documenting landscapes from the Grand Canyon to the Alps, from Mount McKinley to the Matterhorn. Ansel Adams called Washburn a “roving genius of mind and mountains.” He pioneered photographic techniques that captured some of the most remote and inaccessible locations on earth.
It is Washburn’s dual preoccupation with photography and exploration that sets his work apart from numerous other landscape photographers.
His images are imbued with the gritty excitement and dizzying heights that is the domain of the explorer. His early photographs were intended as topographical information to assist in the planning of his explorations however they soon moved beyond their utilitarian origins. His large-format monochrome prints are masterpieces of composition and photographic detail. Outwith of the context of their creation they stand alone as artistic monuments in their own right.
During his career, Washburn achieved many awards, including nine honorary doctorates, in 1980 the Alexander Graham Bell Medal from the National Geographic Society, the Centennial Award also of the National Geographic Society and the King Albert Medal of Merit. He was also Founding Director of Boston’s Museum of Science and served as director for forty years.
The Michael Hoppen Gallery is delighted to be showcasing a large body of Bradford Washburn’s lifetime works. Accompanied by a collection of notebooks and diaries pertaining to his career we hope to pay homage to Washburn both as mountaineer and as artist.
© The Michael Hoppen Gallery
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WOLFGANG TILLMANS‘central nervous system’ Maureen Paley,...
WOLFGANG TILLMANS
‘central nervous system’
Maureen Paley, London
14.10.2013 - 24.11.2013
Maureen Paley is pleased to announce Wolfgang Tillmans’ seventh solo show at the gallery. For the last few years Tillmans has been working on his Neue Welt project, extending his photographic study to diverse global territories while developing ways of capturing and printing his imagery with advanced digital technology. This new exhibition is both a departure from Neue Welt as well as an extension of that vision. central nervous system presents a renewed exploration into portraiture for Tillmans and focuses on a single subject throughout the show. This new collection of images has not been exhibited before and is as much an intimate portrait of a nuanced relationship as it is a portrait of Tillmans himself.
I believe in all hallucinations. I believe in all mythologies, memories, lies, fantasies and evasions. I believe in the mystery and melancholy of a hand, in the kindness of trees, in the wisdom of light.
JG Ballard, 1984
It is in this spirit that the artist’s work emerges from a place of honesty and intensity. Tillmans openly presents his ongoing friendship and unrequited love that is compelling, adventurous and vulnerable in equal measure.
Making a portrait is a fundamental artistic act and the process of it is a very direct human exchange. The dynamics of vulnerability, exposure, embarrassment and honesty do not change, ever. I’ve found that portraiture is a good leveling instrument for me and it always sends me back to square one.
Wolfgang Tillmans, 2001
Having pioneered a conceptual approach to the production and installation of photographic material for over two decades his most recent work experiments with new developments in inkjet printing that allow the incredible sharpness of his images to look hyper-real and yet painterly. The colour tones he is now able to achieve reflect the glossy, metallic and unreal Ballardian landscapes of our times and his often, huge digital prints present a world that is both mundane and dramatic, familiar and alien. Tillmans illuminates the quotidian and shows us the world as it is, highlighting its often overlooked strangeness and beauty.
© Maureen Paley
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PHOTOTALKS #49: MARCO MARIA ZANIN
BY STEVE BISSON
I met Marco Maria Zanin this fall in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This meeting was pretty...
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DAVID NADELBurns Blue Sky Gallery, Portland04.12.2013 -...
DAVID NADEL
Burns
Blue Sky Gallery, Portland
04.12.2013 - 29.12.2013
Artist David Nadel’s series Burns is a poignant study of the remains of scorched forests in northwest Montana. Over the past five years, Nadel has hiked the rugged terrain of the Swan, Apgar, and Whitefish mountains in order to photograph the aftermath of wildfires. The charred trees against the white snow create a monochromatic, almost abstract aesthetic, yet closer inspection reveals the sharp details and subtle colors captured by the artist’s large-format view camera. For Nadel, these images acknowledge the loss of what once was while simultaneously drawing our attention to new, awe-inspiring landscapes:
“The ‘Burns’ depict order in a landscape that is chaotic, stark and devastated. The remains and monuments of a once colorful forest redefine beauty in the landscape.”
David Nadel was born in Massachusetts, and holds a BFA from Purchase College. His work has been exhibited at the Soho Photo Gallery in New York, Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, and +Kris Graves Projects in Brooklyn. He is currently represented by Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York City and lives and photographs in Montana.
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STORIES #5: KERIM AYTAC
BY GAIA MUSACCHIO
1. Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started? What are your...
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PHOTOGRAPHY AND RURAL LANDSCAPE. A WORKSHOP BY URBANAUTICA
In early December 2012 Steve Bisson, curator and founder of Urbanautica and Benetton Foundation...
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SCHOLARS #3: ALEKSEY KONDRATYEV, ANDREW COLVILLE
BY STEVE BISSON, GAIA MUSACCHIO
1. Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started?...
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WILLIAM KLEIN RETROSPECTIVE AT FOAM
FOAM, Amsterdam20.12.2013 - 12.03.2013
Foam finishes 2013 with a unique retrospective exhibition of...
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DAIDO MORIYAMA: SILKSCREENS
Hamiltons, London07.11.2013 - 20.12.2013
Daido Moriyama is recognised as one of Japan’s most...
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BYEBYE A BOOKLET. A POSSIBLE CALL This booklet of images is a...
BYEBYE A BOOKLET. A POSSIBLE CALL
This booklet of images is a result of the call ‘Bye Bye 2012’ that ran for few days right before New Year’s Eve on Urbanautica. The end of the world was imminent and thus we shared this concern with our large following. The participation was massive and from all over the world. Contributions of different sort, gender and mood.
After one year we decided to share some of those submissions in a special online edition to be featured on the 31st of 2013. There are no captions, names and much less page numbers. The aim was to construct a kind of polytheist narrative. What matters here is not the single shot but the great desire to understand and embrace what surrounds us.
A special thanks to Harvey Benge, Heidi Romano, Greg E. Jones and Bryan Formhals who have sent us their thoughts on photography at the end of the world. The booklet is available online for free from here.
The booklet features images from the following photographers and artists: Louis Vorster, Laura Glabman, Jefrey Pelagio Jacob, Ben Roberts,Tiago Casanova, Tiago Dias Dos Santos, Koichi Nishiyama,Enrico Abrate, Lucas Hardonk, Shane Lynam, Mikel Aramendia Lacalle, Frederic Harster, Laura Keller Sanna, Juan Margolles,Raffaele Capasso, Peter Zéglis, Yiannis Hadjiaslanis, Marzena Skubatz, Bruno Zhu, Piero Turk, Al Palmer, Maud Faivre, Lukasz Biederman, Wouter Van de Voorde, Alessandro Calabrese, Patrick Coughlan, Benoit Chailleux, Beth Herzhaft, Ana Catarina Pinho, David Sopronyi, Corrado Piccoli, Luca Massaro, Andrea Botto, Aoife O’Dwyer, Yaniv Waissa, Alex F. Webb, Christophe Le Toquin, Sarah-Ann Cousein, Mariya Ustymenko Film Photography, Ryan Harding!
© Urbanautica
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NATALYA REZNIKSecretsIt was the name of very popular children’s...
NATALYA REZNIK
Secrets
It was the name of very popular children’s game in USSR. Mostly, 5-8 years old girls were involved in this game. It was not just a game, but rather mystic ritual. I also loved this game and my friends did love it.
Each person made a small pit in the ground, put there some “treasure” of her (such as broken old accessuaries of our mothers, candy wrappers, small flowers, details of toys and other «garbage», which we appreciated very much), covered by a fragment of broken glass and buried into the ground. It was the most important secret of each of us and no one should know where is it. It can be shown only to the best friend.
After some time we revealed it again and see – what happens with these treasures in the ground. The ground was an other world and putting the treasures into the ground meant something like burial of something intimate. Sometimes we could not find our secrets, sometimes the flowers were rotten or someone found it and the secret was stolen. Then we leaved this secret in the ground for some days, but we should remember where is it, if you forget – you never find it!
My project is about women who moved to Germany from USSR about 15-20 years ago. The main reason for moving was the repatriation of their families, who were captives, deported, displaced persons during and after World War II (so called «Russian Germans»).
I proposed them to remember this game and to recreate it here, in Germany in order to make the secrets from objects which they saved from USSR. Every person could put into the secret what they keep in memory from that Soviet time and store in their homes (and in their souls).
© Natalya Reznik
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STORIES #7: ALEX HOWARD
BY GAIA MUSACCHIO
1. Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started? What are your...
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OTHER WORLDHi there, our page is now open for your Best Wishes...
OTHER WORLD
Hi there, our page is now open for your Best Wishes 2014! This year theme is “OTHER WORLD”. Send us your image with a comment at info@urbanautica.com, or post directly on the FB page. Submissions will be open till friday 10th of this week. The most liked image will receive a special book from us! Cheers!
Images featured on this page: Kaho Yu, Alexey Bogolepov, Alla Mirovskaya, Gabriele Harhoff, Mitch Karunaratne, Aleksey Kondratyev, Chris Round, Laura Glabman.
Check the booklet of last year call ‘ByeBye’ here:
© urbanautica
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NEW BOOK RELEASE BY ANDREA ALESSIO
BY STEVE BISSON
‘Before You, Santa Claus, life was a moonless night’ by Andrea Alessio
Beware, here...
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PAUL D’HAESEEscapades After the black-and-white images of...
PAUL D’HAESE
Escapades
After the black-and-white images of ‘Dayblind’ – Dayblind -, there is a new episode in the oeuvre of Paul D’Haese. In premiere and now in colour, an intermediate representation of Escapades, the building of a imaginary city in which one can have an amazing walk, the development of an intriguing city of subtly refined banality and surrealism.
Paul D’Haese presents excerpts from urban areas. He shows images that refer to an imaginary world. They are sleek and minimalist, clear and strange at the same time. This is usually to objects, spaces or structures that are strange or confusing to come across, within the context in which they are. The images are escapades from normality. In fact there is something trivial about that: framing, cq. embedding reality exactly creates the opportunity to escape.
© Paul D’Haese
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