Every Little Thing She Does Is Manic

"I just dont belong

2012-01-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

To anyone. I am mine"

Redwood Saw by Richard Rothman

2012-01-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

My review of Richard Rothman's Redwood Saw (Nazraeli Press, 2011) is now available at Photo-eye. The book was also on my list for one of the best of 2011.

As sentient animals, we arrogantly pride ourselves on our dominion over the land and its creatures. Entering the 21st century, the demands we have placed on the earth are reaching their limits. In the long view, after we are gone, the forest and animals will reclaim the Earth, and humans will likely become a footnote in Earth's long history. Richard Rothman's first monograph, Redwood Saw, tackles the thorny problem of our relationship to the planet. Rather than show often clichéd images of environmental destruction, as powerful and real as they are, Rothman focuses on a dying timber town, Crescent City, CA. Beginning in the forest and weaving his way through the town, Rothman leads us through the landscape and the inhabitant's lives, and offers an affecting portrait of America struggling in the face of depletion and worn-down dreams.

Read the rest here.

(by Tony Seaward)

2012-01-11T14:40:00.001-08:00

(by Tony Seaward):

(by Tony Seaward)

ASX.TV: William Eggleston – “Chromes Vol. 1 & 2″ (2011)

2012-01-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

ASX.TV: William Eggleston – “Chromes Vol. 1 & 2″ (2011):

Chromes.
Photographs by William Eggleston.
Steidl, 2011. Cat# ZE662 ISBN-13: 978-3869303116

ASX CHANNEL: WILLIAM EGGLESTON

Jade Doskow

2012-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

Jade Doskow: Brooklyn photographer, Jade Doskow, brings a sense of contemporary nostalgia to her work. She revisits, reinterprets, and restates the idea of place. For her series, Red Hook 2003-2011, Jade photographs the American landscape in a way that at once feels cinematic and timeless. She leaves room for air and majestic skies, and her work looks to the past, but is rooted in the present and the now. Jade's series, I Lost Utopias/ The World's Fair Project, captures two centuries of architecture: World's Fair Project: 19th Century Projects, and World's Fair Project: 20th Century Projects. In their time, all sites represented a world of hope, possibility, and the future, and now, many are left dormant, fading, or destroyed.

Jade is an engaged educator, on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts, International Center of Photography, and Kingsborough Community College, where she instructs on architectural and digital photography. Her work has been exhibited internationally and featured in publications such as Photo District News, New York Arts, the Washington Post, and the Morning News. Most recently Jade has joined the Huffington Post as a photography blogger.

Red Hook / Repurpose
Red Hook is a small, waterfront neighborhood in Brooklyn that I have lived in and photographed for the last ten years. I have spent these years studying the subtle changes in buildings, vacant lots, and warehouses brought about by weather, time, and light. These images have come to represent my search for a specific feeling of spiritual expansiveness through my photography, more than a document of a specific place. Seemingly disparate elements---vines, a fence, the silhouette of a building---are brought together to create a dialogue of form, color, and emotional charge. Light and time transform seemingly mundane places, creating a feeling of peace and visual infinity.

These are the ideas I have subconsciously been bringing into this body of work, in addition to the more obvious aspects of architectural transformation and repurposing and the fallen aspirations that some buildings come to represent. My work is an ongoing examination of the practical and spiritual life of architecture as well as a quest for a feeling of sublime tranquility within the busyness of the built environment.

In Lost Utopias/ The World's Fair Project, I have been photographing the remaining sites and structures of world's fair sites internationally. What captured my imagination was how these magnificent, temporary events could permanently affect the city in which they were held. These fairs cost millions of dollars to prepare for and construct; however, many hosting cities often lacked foresight into how to maintain or demolish the fair pavilions after it closed, and these pavilions were often bizarre, unwieldy structures utilizing cutting-edge materials for the time and an unpredictable life span.

Brussels 1897 World's Fair, "Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles,"Triumphal Arch at Dusk, 2008

What I have found is a huge variety as to how different countries have preserved or not preserved these sites and structures. For example In Paris I photographed the Eiffel Tower; in Philadelphia Victorian toilet buildings; and in Chicago the empty space by the shore of Lake Michigan where the largest fair structure once stood. I approach each site with an original fair map and retrace where the different attractions once existed, and then make photographs indicative of the zeitgeist of that long-gone event, often utilizing very long exposures and specific times of dusk and dawn to create an otherworldly, dreamy effect.

New Orleans 1884 World's Fair, "World Cotton Centennial," Birds, Audubon Park, 2008

Chicago 1893 World's Fair "The Columbian Exposition," Site of Manufacture Liberal Arts Building, Grand Peristyle, and Agriculture Building, View 2, 2009

Brussels 1897 World's Fair, "Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles," Colonialization Sculpture, 2008

Buffalo 1901 World’s Fair, “The Pan Am Exposition,” Site of Japanese Village, 2009

New York 1964 World's Fair, "Peace Through Understanding," New York State Pavilion, 2008

Paris 1937 World’s Fair, “Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne”, Graffiti, Palais de Tokyo, 2007

Brussels 1897 World's Fair, "Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles," Human Passion Pavilion, 2008

Philadelphia 1876 World's Fair, "Centennial Exposition," Fair Toilet Buildings, 2008

New York 1964 World's Fair, "Peace Through Understanding," Unisphere, 2009

BRASSAI: “Letters to My Parents” (1998)

2012-01-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

BRASSAI: “Letters to My Parents” (1998):

Streetwalker near Place D’Italie, Paris, 1932

By Brassai, Excerpts from the intro to, Brassai: Letters to My Parents, 1998.

I was delighted to notice in the letters that from the start I saw photography as a way to uncover and record the world that surrounded me, the city in which I lived, as comprehensively as possible. There were a good number of critics, by the way, who reinforced me in my belief and my expectations about photography.

“Brassai is one of the few European photographers who have succeeded in giving their thoughts a concrete shape in an oeuvre forming a coherent whole, and who have become known to audiences in the same way as writers have. It is a rare photographer indeed whose prints are engraved in our memories in remembrance of emotions comparable to those felt upon reading a literary work. From the outset Brassai considered all his works as a unified whole. He is probably the only photographer – at least in France – to have acquired such a vast audience and mastered his material to such a degree that he can express himself with a flexibility and apparent ease that is almost literary in its nature,” wrote Jean Gallien in the October 1953 issue of Photo-Monde.

A Prostitute Playing Russian Billiards, Boulevard Rochechouart, Montmartre, Paris, 1932
La Bal Des Invertis, Au Magic City, Rue Cognac, Jay, 1932

I have to clarify another misleading point in the letters, They suggest that I was drawn to photography out of purely practical considerations. In reality, as soon as I learned to use the camera, I lost interest in having my pictures published as illustrations for commissioned articles. From the moment that I realized that the camera was capable of capturing the beauty of the Parisian night (that beauty with which I had fallen passionately in love during my bohemian adventures), I pursued photography solely for my own enjoyment. At the same time I also understood that it wasn’t at all irrelevant what form of expression an artist chose in a given era. Photography seemed to me a medium specific to our time. This realization in 1930 was another turning point.

Strangely enough, our century now relates to photography nearly the same way as I did myself then. There is, however, a delay of forty years. Through the seventies, the world was indifferent and even antagonistic to photography, just as I had been through the thirties. It was only later that general opinion awakened to the fact that photography had become one of the primary forms of artistic expression in the modern era. This realization resulted in a worldwide reappraisal of the value of photography. Museums, universities, private collections, and art galleries that previously had accepted only paintings, sculpture and drawings opened their doors to photography, especially in the United States, which was less overwhelmed than Europe by the heritage of painting.

Toilette, Chez Suzy, 1932
Graffiti (série VII, la Mort), 1935-1950
Dormeur au conotier sur un banc, 1930′s

If I had made such a conscious decision in favor of photography, one may ask, why the anxiety to free myself from it as soon as possible? Why did I write, in what was undoubtedly the most obscure of my letters, dated August 2, 1939, “It was obvious that, come what may, I had to free myself from photography”? Why did I still consider it merely a “springboard to my real self”? To understand this thinking, one shouldn’t forget that photography was my livelihood, a means of support that sometimes involved assignments that I carried out with reluctance. It was mainly this “subservience” that I was attempting to escape. On the other hand, during my stay in Berlin, I wrote that there had begun to emerge in me an “idea” that “had grown into a tree with wide-spreading branches.” This was the “treasure” of which I spoke, but that “I could not fully possess.” I was tormented by the fear that I would not be able to bring it to the surface, and I felt it was a more important task than creating a photographic oeuvre. Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to elaborate further on this here…

Brassai: Letters to My Parents (1998)
Foreward, texts and photographs by Gilberte Brassai
University Of Chicago Press, 1998
323 pages

ASX CHANNEL: Brassai

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For inquiries, please contact American Suburb X at: info@americansuburbx.com.

Chris Berens

2012-01-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Chris Berens:

Strange and fuzzy

Underwater and Hens

2012-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Amazing underwater photographs by Indonesian photographer Hengki Koentjoro
http://www.featureshoot.com/2011/02/hengki-koentjoro-jakarta-indonesia/

Ed Thompson photographs rescued hens from factory farms in the UK
http://www.featureshoot.com/2011/11/ed-thompson-photographs-rescued-hens-from-factory-farms-in-the-uk/

Dreamlike photographs by Alexi Hobbs

2012-01-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

Dreamlike photographs by Alexi Hobbs:

Alexi Hobbs is a photographer located in Montreal. About his series Instincts and convictions he writes:

‘Instincts and convictions is a collection of photographs presenting a line of existential questioning that relies on the subconscious to provide visual drive. The work presents a stream of consciousness revealing the everyday, in all its inglorious routine, as an experience of the sublime. These photographs look at what lies before and after; quiet non-events analyzed in all their stillness. The photographs I choose for this series are sometimes allegorical in nature, combine a number of themes and motifs evoking the language of dreams and are taken from the fabric that is woven in the space between landscape, portrait and still life.’

Dublin’s Abandoned and Mistreated Horses Photographed by Gianpaolo La Paglia

2012-01-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

Dublin’s Abandoned and Mistreated Horses Photographed by Gianpaolo La Paglia:

Gianpaolo La Paglia was born in Italy in 1977, and currently lives in Dublin. After his Diploma of Arts he holds a Degree cum laude in Architecture from the University of Palermo. During a post degree course he started working as a photographer. In 2010 he moved to Ireland where he studied Documentary Photography. Currently he is working as a freelance photographer, focused on social documentary and portrait work for companies, NGOs, charity organizations and media.

This work is from his series, Unexpected End. He writes:

If the real estate and debt disaster in Ireland have filled the front pages of the most important news papers around the world, another unexpected consequence of the economic recession is the abandonment of horses.

During Ireland’s boom years, indeed, thousands of people bought horses as a status symbol but since incomes have been reducing, a lot of horses are being abandoned on public land. Their upkeep, nowadays, costs around €30 and more per day, too much for people who are losing their jobs.

The Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) estimate that around 20,000 horses are roaming abandoned in the countryside. Most of them have contracted diseases and in 2010 “49 horses had to be shot or put to sleep, more than ever before,” said Orla Aungier, manager of the DSPCA. Two places in Dublin are becoming the symbols of this drastic situation. The first is Smithfield Horse Market situated in an old area of Dublin City and the other is the Dunsink Dump in North County Dublin.

Smithfield Horse Market is an unlicensed and unregulated market. Here, every first Sunday of the month anyone, often teenagers and children without any knowledge of equine care, can easily buy horses for as little as €10 or by swapping them for mobile phones or high tech objects. Children often ride around the market on these horses without saddles and stage races on the cobblestone. The police rarely intervene.

Another place where it is possible to measure the dimension of the problem is the Dunsink Dump where the many concrete venting pipes filter dangerous gases from the tonnes of decomposing rubbish underneath into the atmosphere. Here it is possible to find dozens and dozens of abandoned horses and ponies left, often at night time, by owners that can no longer afford them.

Nathan Osterhaus, Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, New York

2012-01-04T20:55:00.001-08:00

In The Land of Cotton (6 Photos)

2012-01-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

In The Land of Cotton (6 Photos):

All photos © Kathleen Robbins

Raised in the Mississippi Delta, photographer Kathleen Robbins has photographed rural life in the region in two bodies of work. Starting in 2003, when she began teaching at the University of South Carolina, she made repeated trips to to Belle Chase, her family’s farm, to explore familial obligations and her relationship with “home” in a project she calls “Into the Flatland.” Robbins says, “This is land that my family has inhabited for generations, and I am pulled to this place in a way that I am not able to fully articulate.”

Her new, ongoing series, “In Cotton,” looks at the lives of rural cotton farmers in the Yazoo Mississippi Delta. During the 2011 growing season, Robbins and writer Mary Carol Miller spent five weeks with ten farm families. Her work on the series continues.

Robbins, who is represented by Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta, has had her work exhibited at The Light Factory, Rayko Gallery, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and other venues. She is coordinator of the photography program at the University of South Carolina. This week, she was named first place winner of the 2011 PhotoNOLA Review Prize, selected by reviewers at the PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review in December 2011.

Top and above: Images from “Into the Flatland”

Blackbirds, from “Into the Flatland”

An interior image, part of Robbins’ ongoing series “In Cotton”

Burning Field, from “In Cotton”

Whittington Foyer, “In Cotton”

Tricia Lawless Murray, Imperial Inn

2012-01-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Tricia Lawless Murray, Imperial Inn:

Tricia Lawless Murray

Imperial Inn,
Oakland, California, 2010

Website - TriciaLawlessMurray.com

Tricia Lawless Murray was born and raised along the coast in Southern California but completed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Northern California. At UC Berkeley she studied Art History through the lens of class, gender and race and at California College of the Arts she studied photography and video embracing the performative aspects of feminist self-representation. Her work has been exhibited internationally and nationally, most recently at Human Resources and Jancar Gallery where she is represented in Los Angeles. Recently, her work was featured on American Suburb X, Conveyor, Fraction Magazine, Kroutchev Planet Photo, Notes on Looking, One Giant Arm, Poncz, and Too Much Chocolate. Her work is in the collections of the Allan Kaprow Estate and the Getty Research Institute and it has been published in the Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography, Vol. 2.

Tom Richardson, The Sleep of the Dog produces the Rooster

2012-01-04T20:37:00.001-08:00

Tom Richardson, The Sleep of the Dog produces the Rooster:

Tom Richardson

The Sleep of the Dog produces the Rooster,
Cojimar, Cuba, 2004

Website - TomRichardsonArt.com

Tom Richardson was born in Miami, Florida. He studied photography at the University of New Mexico from 2001 to 2004 and has been working on self-directed projects ever since. Richardson currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wonderful wife Michelle Evans and a far too quirky cat named Leopold. He teaches photography and serves as department chair at the Media Arts Collaborative Charter School, a school dedicated to educating the youth about visual media and culture. His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally.

(by midcenturydesign)

2012-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

(by midcenturydesign):

(by midcenturydesign)

Ernst Haas: Unseen Personal Work (5 Photos)

2012-01-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Ernst Haas: Unseen Personal Work (5 Photos):

Ernst Haas (Austrian/American 1921–1986) was a prolific commercial photographer, known for his vibrant color work. His personal work has been kept mostly private, though, and escaped posthumous appreciation. In an effort to restore his place in the photography canon, the Christophe Guye Galerie will soon exhibit a selection of little known large-format works and several rare dye- transfer prints. Some of the works were presented in Haas‘ solo exhibition at MoMA in 1962, the museum‘s very first exhibition of color photography. The exhibition ‘Color Correction’, and former Director of the Musée de l’Elysée, William Ewing’s corresponding book published by Steidl, uncovers the “other” side of Ernst Haas’ work. The exhibition runs from January 20, 2012 through February 25, 2012.

-courtesy Christophe Guye Galerie.

(via Set of Two Cat Mugs from Circus Bear Vintage )

2012-01-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

(via Set of Two Cat Mugs from Circus Bear Vintage ):

(via Set of Two Cat Mugs from Circus Bear Vintage )

Celeste Najt

2012-01-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

Celeste Najt:

Never Again by Celeste Najt

RSS

Roxy Music Catnip Life

2011-11-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

Robert Adams

2011-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

Mini doc about his work: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/robert-adams

Links:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/photographs-by-robert-adams/

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/adamsr/adamsr5.html

http://artgallery.yale.edu/adams/landing.php

http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/07/robert-adams-missing-criticism-what-we.html

Fun with MyTouch 4G camera phone

2011-10-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

OK Schtooping

2011-10-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

You know what they say - Nothing good lasts forever

2011-10-04T10:11:00.001-07:00

but another day with you is just as good.

Me with Mugsy the firehouse dog

2011-08-28T15:02:00.001-07:00

Pic with peeps at Madame X

2011-08-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

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2011-03-26T00:00:00-07:00

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Links for 2011-03-24 [Digg]

2011-03-25T00:00:00-07:00

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Stiletto Scuba Fins
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Links for 2011-03-21 [Digg]

2011-03-22T00:00:00-07:00

Don't Be Like Barbie: "There's No Beauty In Cruelty"
Don't Be Like Barbie: "There's No Beauty In Cruelty": The International Anti-Fur Coalition ad is cute, sad, and very clever...

Links for 2011-03-15 [Digg]

2011-03-16T00:00:00-07:00

Ching Chong Ling Long Song
Ching Chong Ling Long Song: This song is politically correct, intelligent, and polite - everything Alexandra Wallace is not...

Links for 2010-11-10 [Digg]

2010-11-11T00:00:00-08:00

Doggie Howser M.D.
Doggie Howser M.D.: My doggie Howser sent me flowers. How sweet of him! He heals me with his luv!..

Links for 2010-06-03 [Digg]

2010-06-04T00:00:00-07:00

PETA%20to%20Rue%3A%20Thank%20You%20For%20Being%20A%20Friend%
PETA to Rue: Thank You For Being A Friend (to Animals): "But my favorite memory of Rue was when we traveled to New Mexico, where she helped push through legislation to outlaw cockfighting. When a reporter asked if there would be any naked protesters, she just smiled and replied, "It's not that kind of cockfight.""..

Links for 2010-05-18 [Digg]

2010-05-19T00:00:00-07:00

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Obama Assassination Used in Geometry Lesson
Obama Assassination Used in Geometry Lesson: The teacher was apparently teaching his geometry students about parallel lines and angles. He used the example of where to stand and aim if shooting Mr. Obama...Geometry Teacher Uses Assassinating Obama to Teach Angles to Students