Archive for the 'Photography' Category
Robert Miller Gallery presents an exhibition of Italian photographer Walter Niedermayr images. Widely exhibited internationally, Niedermayr’s oversized multi-panel photographs feature a stark contrast through scale. Massive mountainous landscapes or architectural elements dwarf human figures and establish a dialogue between man and the environment.
The Richard Misrach exhibition titled On The Beach closes at the Henry today. The show is on a two year tour travelling from Honolulu to Atlanta. Misrach captures beaches, oceans, sunbathers and swimmers photographed from an extreme omniscient perspective.
A series of photographs by Kevin Cummins is now available at Paul Smith. Cummins is well known as one of the prime photographers shooting images in the midst of the punk scene in the 1970s. Each image is available in an edition of 30.
Bernard Sumner - Gelatin-silver print - Size 40.6 x 30cm - Ed. of 30
Bernard Sumner – Joy Division/New Order photographed at 6am, New York City, July 1983. £881
Sex Pistols - Gelatin-silver print - Size 40.6 x 30cm - Ed. of 30
Sex Pistols photographed in Ivanhoe’s, Huddersfield, Christmas Day, 1977. This was the Pistols final gig in Britain before they split up. £881
Melbourne based photographer, Andrew Curtis, uses the light emitted by mobile phones to illuminate his subjects face in a new series called ‘Cell’. C-type color photograph prints available at Christine Abrahams Gallery.
Artist website here.
Extended exposure photographs capture the artist’s movement while skateboarding, at night. The Dark Skate series at DCKT Contemporary, July 23 – September 13, 2008.
Petrina Hicks exhibition at Stills Gallery from June 18 – July 19, 2008.
Lambswool, 2008 from The Descendants
Robert Polidori exhibition, Versailles, at Edwynn Houk Gallery from April 17 – June 14, 2008.
Robert Polidori, Napoleon Recoit a Finkelstein, Reza Bey, 27 Avril 1807, Ambassadeur de Perse, Peinture de Francois-Henri Mullard, Versailles, Attique du Midi 2005
Robert Polidori, Salles d’Afrique, Painting of Louis XVI by Callet, Versailles
Robert Polidori, Vue of Parterre du Midi, Versailles
“The opening night of an exhibition by the photographer Bill Henson featuring images of naked children was dramatically cancelled after police visited the Paddington gallery to investigate child pornography claims.”
Read the full story at the Sydney Morning Herald website.
The Roslyn Oxley9 website was offline for a number of hours during the gallery shutdown. The site went back online last night without access to the Bill Henson artist portfolio section. Soon afterward they submitted a Media Statement which was sent out via email and available at their website.
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Media Statement
Friday 23 May 2008
Statement on behalf of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery and Bill Henson
After much consideration we have decided to withdraw a number of works from the current Bill Henson exhibition that have attracted controversy. The current show, without the said works, will be re-opened for viewing in coming days.
Bill Henson is one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists and is internationally respected. His works are held in every leading art institution in Australia and are included in the collections of a number of the world’s most prestigious art museums. The Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Victoria have both recently held a retrospective of 30 years of the artist’s work.
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery will remain closed while the current exhibition is re-hung.
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Melbourne based photographer Simon Obarzanek’s series of portraits titled 80 Faces was shown at IMA@TCB (The Institute of Modern Art at TCB Building), April 11 – May 11, 2008.
Each black and white image features a portrait of a young persons face, neck and shoulder, similar to a passport photo. At first glance the styling seems minimal, but that changes when you see a number of the images grouped together. All the photographs resonate with an otherness which comes from a stylized process of selecting ‘interesting’ faces and shooting every model in a rigorous manner. The artist’s focus is on shape, scale and proportion of features. Attributes like freckles, lips and ears become isolated and take on a surreal emphasis. Juxtaposition of the images heightens this sublime effect.
Simon Obarzanek is represented by Karen Woodbury Gallery. You can see work from 2007 here, and the images from his 2006 exhibition here.
I forgot to add this title to my last Books from Australia post. McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art is the definitive guide to Australia’s visual artists. Touted as both a scholarly reference and an easy browse, the book is a hefty 1200 pages. This will tip the scales at the airport if you try to bring it back in your luggage.
The editors have done a great job listing 1,000s of artists, with concise biographical information for the majority of the artists and elaborated descriptions for well known artists like Boyd, Perceval, Shead, Smart, etc. Believe it or not, this isn’t 100% complete. There are still artists missing from the guide; not just new artists — mid-career too. That’s not a criticism at all. This is a great resource. The art scene is growing rapidly in Australia and it’s difficult for a book of this scale to keep up with the times. Maybe they could publish an annual soft-cover update …
$295 + shipping. Ship this behemoth by boat. Air mail cost would be frightening.
The Ryan McGinley exhibition, I know Where the Summer Goes, just ended at Team Gallery. This past weekend the exhibition opened at Ratio3 in San Francisco; they started pre-selling quite a while ago so there are only about 3 images left.
Official artist site here.
Bill Henson is often referred to as one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. His vision is exacting, the photos are unforgettable. The imagery is painterly, cinematic and raw. Light is always considered and controlled. One of the reoccurring themes in his work is ’sleep’ and many of his figures appear laying down or reclining. The majority of his work features dark black tones, slightly tinted with blue, red or yellow haze. Brighter light is strategically controlled to uncover a detail of a facade, a portion of a face or a section of landscape.
I first saw Henson’s work at the Passages De L’Image exhibition at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio, 1990. The images shown there left a memorable impression on me. The exhibition was curated by Raymond Bellour, Catherine David and Christine Van Assche, at the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris. Following Paris and Columbus, the exhibition travelled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Fundacio Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona.
In 2005 The Art Gallery of New South Wales put together the first major survey of Bill Henson’s work titled Bill Henson 3 Decades of Photography.
Bus stop featuring advertising for the exhibition, 3 Decades of Photography.
The front facade of the AGNSW featuring banners for the show.
Judy Annear, senior curator of photography at the Art Gallery of New South Wales worked closely with Bill Henson to select more than 350 images from more than a dozen series, which explore the major themes of his work from 1974 until now.
The exhibition detailed a cross-section of Henson’s work from early duotones to the vagabond junkyard wasteland series, the cut and paste series he created for the Venice Biennale to his current Untitled series of images. The earlier works were shown in rooms with plenty of light whereas the later works were exhibited in spaces with increased drama brought about by careful consideration of light, wall color and composition.
Following the AGNSW show, the exhibition moved to Melbourne where it was shown at the National Gallery of Victoria from April 23 to July 10. Henson staged his first solo exhibition at the NGV in 1975 at the age of 19.
Images from the National Gallery of Victoria exhibition, Melbourne.
These are really big spaces. To give you an idea of scale, most of the figures shown in the rectangular works are near 1:1 human scale. Each of the images is 127×180cm with a thick wood frame — not an easy show to install (or de-install). I like the slightly offset stacking of the frames and the groups of five.
Bill Henson
Untitled #52, 2000/2003
LMO SH103 N19
type C photograph
127 x 180cm
Edition of 5
Part of the exhibition included a video (about 27 minutes) in which Henson described some of his creative process and inspiration. I recall how he conceives an idea in his head, then has to get it out in his work. If he’s able to see it in the real world he’ll shoot it there, otherwise he’ll build a set to focus on the image in his mind’s eye. Many of the images featuring the small sparkling lights were controlled environments built within Henson’s studio.
Official artist site here.
AGNSW Film Series titled Bill Henson: Inspirational Cinema.
Henson is represented by Roslyn Oxley9.
For the second round of titles from Australia, I thought I would focus on one of my favorite Australian artists, photographer Bill Henson. Much of his work is created at night, producing saturated black tones in the final images. Subtle swatches of light reveal the detail of a facade, a portion of a figure or section of landscape.
Lux Et Nox
Photographs by Bill Henson
Scalo, Zurich, 2002. 192 pp., 125 color illustrations, 16×12in.
I bought this title after viewing the Bill Henson exhibition at The Art Gallery New South Wales in January, 2005. It’s a unique configuration at 16in. on the long edge which makes it 32in. when opened.
Mnemosyne
Photographs by Bill Henson. Essays by Judy Annear, Jennie Boddington, Edmund Capon, Dennis Cooper, Peter Craven, Isobel Crombie, John Forbes
Scalo, Zurich, 2005. 504 pp., 407 color and b&w illustrations, 10×12in.
I purchased this book at the exhibition as well. This is a very heavy book that catalogs many of Henson’s different series and photographic styles.
Bill Henson
Ediciones Universidad Salamanca, 2003
Oversize Softcover
91 pp, 37 large color illustrations, 9.5×13in.
Bill Henson, Ediciones Universidad Salamanca focuses on a selection of work from the Untitled, 2000 – 2003 series. The first section of the book begins with a couple of essays written in Spanish and English: Naked Youth: The Photography of Bill Henson written by Dennis Cooper and Why is that girl crying? and other formal emotions. Notes on the photography of Bill Henson written by F. Javier Panera.
Official artist website here. Represented by Roslyn Oxley9.
Photographer Joelle Jensen has a solo exhibition at Wall Space.
Untitled (Interiors)
Wall Space Gallery, Seattle, WA
April 8 – May 10, 2008
Official artist website here.