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Lavish Hairstyles by J.D. 'OKHAI OJEIKERE

2013-06-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

J.D. 'OKHAI OJEIKERE was born in 1930 in the western part of Nigeria. One of his cousins advised him to buy a camera and tought him what he needs to know. In his young days Ojeikere incessantly wrote to the Ministry of Information, asking them to hire him as an "assistant in the dark room". His tenacity was rewarded when in 1961 the first television station was founded.

At the eve of the decolonization he was contacted by the West African Publicity agency where he paid his dues; soon after he opened his own studio "Foto Ojeikere". In 1967 he became an active member of the Nigeria Art Council, a group in charge of organizing a festival of visual and living arts. This was an opportunity for Ojeikere to devote himself to Nigerian culture, to which he was deeply attached.

"Hairstyles" will be his most known collection, involving almost 1000 different hairstyles that give an image of the African woman. He found these "artsy sculptures" on the street, at weddings or at work.

Ojeikere lives and works in Nigeria. His Hairstyles series is currently on view at Il Palazzo Enciclopedico, at the 55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia.
La Biennale di Venezia
June 1 - November 24, 2013

J.D. 'OKHAI OJEIKERE

Hairstyles

Agaracha © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Mkpuk Eba © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Modern Suku © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Onile Gogoro or Akaba © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Star Koroba © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Udoji © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Ife Bronze © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Pineapple © J.D. Okhai Ojeikere and courtesy Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Courtesy the artist and Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Photo of the Day

2013-06-16T20:02:00.001-07:00

Father and Son

Provence, France, 1955

Photo © Elliott Erwitt

Cuerpos Sagrados or Sacred Bodies

2013-06-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

"Cuerpos Sagrados" is a series of images where the artist Holly Wilmeth has used the human body together with exotic insects and plants to represent ceremonial plants around the world (peyote, ayahuasca, iboga, etc). It's a personal interpretation of the subject matter, using digital and alternative gold leafing process for the prints. The people that are painted are from Rio Dulce, Guatemala as well as San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

The painted bodies: Black, which is considered to be an inauspicious color in most cultures, is the color of 'living', worn on the face during war preparations. White predictably is the color of peace. Decorating one's face in various patterns and shapes has been a part of the culture make-up of many societies since the beginning of time. Face painting is a common theme across cultures as divergent as the Indigenous American tribes in North America and various tribes in Africa and South America. In Native American Tribes, Face Painting has been used for artistic expression since ancient times. The art of transforming ourselves with make-up and masks is a universal phenomenon. Before we sought to vent our artistic impulse on a cave wall, we painted on our faces and bodies. Indigenous peoples of the Amazon have said that in this power to change ourselves, we demonstrate our humanity and set ourselves apart from the world of the animals.
~~~Holly Wilmeth

Holly Wilmeth was born and raised in Guatemala. Her work has been published in international publications such as National Geographic Adventure, New York Times, CARE, TIME Magazine, GEO Magazine, Monocle, The Economist, etc. She is based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Holly Wilmeth

"Cuerpos Sagrados"

Courtesy the artist.

Photo of the Day

2013-06-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Loading Zone

Crinoline Flowers vs Jeu de Jambes

2013-06-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

Crinoline Flowers is a stunning series created by wedding photographer Sophia Banks.

To Sophia Banks: What inspired you to do this series?

The Crinoline Flowers series was made several years ago and was inspired by a spring walk in the park, the cluttered vintage stores in Kensington market and my identity as a transgender woman.

The vision for the photos almost literally just appeared in my mind as you see them. I choose the bright colors to represent the flowers and also as a tribute to the LGBT rainbow.

When I made this series I was still young and sorting through my gender identity, trying to figure out who I was. The surreal over the top feel of the images came from a place where I felt repressed and expressed that with my photography in a way I could not find the courage to do in my life.
~~~ Sophia Banks

Sophia Banks lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

Crinoline Flowers

Courtesy the artist.

Also featured on the HuffPost

Photo of the Day

2013-06-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941 - 1960 at Somerset House

2013-05-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941 - 1960 looks at one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century, Erwin Blumenfeld and his latter works from his career in New York. Having produced an extensive body of work throughout his thirty-five year career, it was in the USA, after the war in the context of economic growth and a buoyant and expanding press, that Blumenfeld's humorous, inventive and personal work flourished. This exhibition celebrates the output of his Central Park studio during the Second World War and post-war boom years, including fashion photography, advertising campaigns, personality portraits, 'war effort' propaganda posters and experimental work, which have since been recognized as significant technical achievements in the field.

After only three years of working in the USA, the German-born photographer became one of the most famous and highly paid photographers in the business, with the New York Times heralding him as an "outstanding leader in imaginative photography".

Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941 - 1960 is currently on exhibit at Somerset House, UK.
May 23 - September 1, 2013

Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941 - 1960

Grace Kelly 1955 for Cosmopolitan

Spring Fashion 1953 for Vogue

Lilian Macusson for the cover of American Vogue, January 1951

Evelyn Tripp in a Dior Sargent Dress (variant of photograph in American Vogue Nov. 1949)

City Lights

Support for the Red Cross for the cover of American Vogue March 1945

Courtesy The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld and Somerset House, UK.

Photo of the Day

2013-05-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Flowers on Water

Anja Niemi: Starlets

2013-05-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

In Anja Niemi's new series Starlets, the Norwegian photographer combines the self-portrait with the idea of the staged narrative. The images are like film stills or movie posters, with herself cast as all the characters. Niemi calls herself a 'one-man band', as she always works alone.

The stories are loosely told leaving room for interpretation, and although it is mostly fiction, "there will always be a bit of me in them" she says, believing that private experiences help to create universal statements. The images possess an eerie, unreal quality, combining tragedy with humor.

We have a tendency to cover up our flaws and decay, hiding all the ugliness of life and I try to have a bit of humor about it.
~~ Anja Niemi

Anja Niemi is one of the most exciting young European photographers. She has exhibited widely in both Europe and USA with her previous series Do Not Disturb, Portrait of the Invisible and Porcelain.

Starlets is on view at The Little Black Gallery, London.
June 4 - June 29, 2013

Anja Niemi

Starlets

The Showgirl
Copyright © Anja Niemi

The Taxidermist
© Anja Niemi

The Bride
© Anja Niemi

The Receptionist
© Anja Niemi

The Roller Girl
© Anja Niemi

The Secretary
© Anja Niemi

The Socialite
© Anja Niemi

The Starlet
© Anja Niemi

The Wife
© Anja Niemi

The Reject
© Anja Niemi

Courtesy the artist and The Little Black Gallery, London.

Also on the Huffington Post.

Photo of the Day

2013-05-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

Philip Haas

The Four Seasons

Summer (after Arcimboldo), 2010

Courtesy New York Botanical Garden

Photo of the Day

2013-05-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

A Bed of Flowers

Photo of the Day

2013-05-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

To All the Moms of the World

I made this collage with my Instagram Flower Photos

Guldnakke (Golden neck) by Trine Søndergaard

2013-05-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

" My Neck Is Shaded by the Beads....."

Gold is a universal symbol of wealth, the sublime or the divine. gold provokes a feeling of desire in many of us. When I first saw the golden bonnets at a local museum, I was immediately fascinated by the material and the delicate embroidery, without knowing anything about the history behind them. The bonnets are from the mid 1800s, and were popular among the wives of Denmark's wealthy farmers. They were a status symbol. Gold textiles had previously been reserved for royalty, the nobility and the church. Highly specialized needlewomen made the bonnets, and these experts are early examples of self-employed women who were often able to provide for their families. Linking this kind of women's history to a specific garment is something I've explored in the past, just as I've explored our ability to read the signs of the past previously.

In Guldnakke, none of the faces can be seen. The focus is entirely on the napes and golden bonnets. I work consciously with large formats to enhance the visual effect that occurs when the embroidery is magnified and the image creates the space for a wealth of detail, which in real life only covers a small area.
~~~Trine Søndergaard

Trine Søndergaard (b. 1972) is a Danish photographer. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in Denmark and abroad. Søndergaard lives and works in Copenhagen.

Trine Søndergaard

Guldnakke

Guldnakke, 2012

Courtesy the artist, Martin Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen and Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.

Huffington Post

Photo of the Day

2013-05-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

Circus Inspired

Grafica 2010

Courtesy and Copyright Mariana Monteagudo

Photo of the Day

2013-04-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Imaginary Landscapes

One way

Polixeni Papapetrou: The Ghillies

2013-04-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Australian photographer Polixeni Papapetrou engages part reality, part fantasy moving through the Australian landscape, using the rich terrain as a backdrop for her narratives about the transitional space of childhood. Papapetrou's art practice has involved an intimate collaboration with her children and their friends for over a decade. As they have grown and transformed, so too have the roles they perform and spaces they inhabit.

In Papapetrou's most recent body of work, The Ghillies, organic figures emerge from the ground, creating an almost symbiotic relationship with the landscape; the figures change color and shape according to the different landscapes and costumes they inhabit. A ghillie suit was originally devised for hunting and combat, and they were taken into the field to act as a decoy, disguised with matter from that landscape in order to blend with their surroundings. Papapetrou's son introduced her to ghillies through his interest in the Call of Duty video game, in which players use ghillie suits in order to become snipers and conceal themselves within the terrain. Photographing her son in the natural Australian landscape, Papapetrou addresses a boy's transformation from a youth into adulthood, and the camouflages he must take on to fit in with his peers and society.
"I wanted to make a body of work that looked at what it felt like to be a boy going through adolescence."
~~Polixeni Papapetrou

POLIXENI PAPAPETROU

The Ghillies

Salt Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Desert Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Study for Hattah Man and Hattah Woman
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Grasstree Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Magma Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Ocean Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Scrub Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Study for the Ghillies, 2013
© Polixeni Papapetrou

Courtesy of the artist

The Ghillies is currently on view at Jenkins Johnson Gallery, NY

April 4 - June 1, 2013

Nellie Castan Gallery

March 28 - May 4, 2013

Photo of the Day

2013-04-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

Venice, CA

Photo of the Day

2013-04-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

GENESIS

Photograph: Sebastiao Salgado

Courtesy NY Times

Stephan Brigidi's Carnevale Series in New Book Project; Afraid of the Dark, A Venetian Story

2013-04-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Afraid of the Dark, A Venetian Story is a book project containing Stephan Brigidi's photographs and stories based upon his many sojourns to Venice, and will include his prominent Carnevale series.

Afraid of the Dark speaks of Brigidi's personal spiritual quest propelled by some discovered family mystery with ties to the freemason secret society known as P2. The book is about coming to terms with darkness and fear, exploring those sensations, and accessing the powers of fear. Brigidi's Carnevale series, which has shown in the Witkin Gallery in NYC, the Kathleen Ewing Gallery in Washington, D.C., and Gallery Z in Providence, R.I., will be featured as a centerpiece of the book. This series of photographs taken in Venice exemplifies the mysterious Carnevale festival, taking place the twelve days preceding the Lenten Catholic season, and begun centuries ago as a way of release and pleasure- taking in preparation of the forty days of sacrifice.

Stephan Brigidi is a widely published artist whose work has been exhibited through out the United States and Europe. He lives and works in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Afraid of the Dark, A Venetian Story

Carnevale Series

Courtesy Stephan Brigidi

On the Huffington Post

Photo of the Day

2013-04-15T14:50:00.001-07:00

The Pop Object: The Still Life Tradition in Pop Art

Wayne Thiebaud: Lipstick Row, 1964

On view at Acquavella Galleries, NY

Photo of the Day

2013-04-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

A Single Rose

Ojai Valley, 2013

In search of the Wild Man; Wilder Mann by Charles Fréger

2013-04-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Between 2010 and 2011, French artist Charles Fréger traveled to eighteen European countries, from Italy to Poland, Scotland to the Czech Republic, in search of the Wild Man. A centuries-old, legendary figure, the Wild Man continues to be an important symbol of transition associated with festivals that mark the cyclical patterns of life: the changing of the seasons, special religious holidays, rites of passage, life and death. In full-length portraits, Fréger photographs celebrants dressed in traditional costumes crafted from layers of animal skins, local plants, bones and antlers, which visually transform the masqueraders into a wooly bear, a long-horned goat, a demon or man of straw.

The Wilder Mann series explores man's complex relationship with nature and how vestiges of these costumes and past rituals continue to influence contemporary life, even in the digital age.

Charles Fréger lives and works in Rouen, France.

The Wilder Mann is currently on exhibit at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
April 11 - May 18, 2013

Charles Fréger

Wilder Mann

Babugeri, Bansko, Bulgaria, 2010-2011

Cerbul (Stag), Corlata, Romania, 2010-2011

Laufr (Jumper), Trebic, Czech Republic, 2010-2011

Ursul (Bear), Palanca, Romania, 2010-2011

Courtesy the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

Charles Fréger, Wilder Mann

April 11 - May 18, 2013

On the Huffington Post

Photo of the Day

2013-04-05T13:30:00.001-07:00

URS FISHER

Problem Painting, 2012

" Empty Spaces " by Katerina Belkina; A Fascinating Self-Portrait Series

2013-04-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

Russian photographer Katerina Belkina puts the 'self-portrait' phenomenon in a new setting. With unprecedented technical precision, Belkina uses the refined possibilities of digital photography in order to present a disquieting image of the new woman in a postmodern world.

In her work, Belkina shows herself as a distant character in different roles, thus putting her own individuality into perspective, while at the same time addressing the viewer. As a modern, makable creature, the woman is turned into a new heroine in the story which is both recognizable and mysterious. Does she coincide with the archetypal figures from age-old fairy tales and folk tales (Blue Beard, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, Odette, Rose Red and Snow White) in which her role as a woman seemed clearly defined, or does an underlying layer appear, which disrupts this assumed familiarity?

Empty Spaces takes on the form of a metropolis. However, this urbanized world is artificial and purely materialistic and, as a tiny dot in this constructed whole, man feels even more lonely and abandoned. In Belkina's vision, the metropolis has created a new type of human, in which only a hint of consciousness of the connection with the true universe is present.

Katerina Belkina lives and works in Moscow.

KATERINA BELKINA

Empty Spaces

Red Moscow

Enter

Fly

Metro

The Road

Weighing

Morning Message

Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Lilja Zakirova, Netherlands.

On the Huffington Post

Photo of the Day

2013-04-01T08:51:00.001-07:00

EGAREMENTS