photo project

a few more pics from the series of tableaux i'm doing with artist julia kirchmer.

north end cold water flat. boston.

photos of artist julia kirchmer.

the secret life of walls by jack nelson. review by shoot the crow.

jack nelson's book the secret life of walls is a formidable collection of photographs enabling the viewer an up close glimpse at the small beauties that hide in front of our eyes while forming the backdrop to our everyday lives.
these particular beauties are the walls of chiapas, and while the buildings are ancient matriarchs, striking as a whole, it is the wrinkles and crows feet that get their due.

nelson concentrates his lens on the small details and puts the edges of the image where we would expect a wooden frame, as if his chalky colors were meant to be laid out on canvas. early photos show indian yellows, mediterranian reds and pacific blues, lapping paint chip shorelines like transmuted maps of a bygone age. these give way to more linear images no less striking, some bringing to mind mark rothko. portraits guided by the hand of man and eroded by time and nature. they are the patina of old mexico.

the author has an innate sense for sequencing, each photo is a natural prequel to the next. while all the images in this collection are beautiful and can stand alone, their real power is as a group. they beg to be seen in book form, sublime chapters forming a powerful whole.

there are many secrets here, and this is not a collection to rush through like a pack of trading cards, but to savor and return to again and again. peer long enough and you will start to unravel the secrets in the walls but there will always be another hidden away, waiting for the next viewing.

the secret life of walls is available in bound full color print here. $29.99.

and as an ebook here. for 99 cents!

art galleries- neue galerie. the guggenheim. the metropolitan museum.

the bookstore at the neue galerie museum for german and austrian art.

looking out the window at the guggenheim.

earlier we saw the haunting civil war photography show at the met.  the highlight was a series of over 30 3d photos which one can see through a 19th century 3d viewer.

there was a picture of lincoln and general mcclellan during a tense battlefield meeting under the eaves of a tent. seeing it in stereoscopic photography gave the eerie feeling of being almost actually present at the scene.  a voyeur peeking under the tent flaps, witnessing their famously strained interaction.

two great civil war books:

• the killer angels by michael shaara, 
• the personal memoirs of ulysses s grant.

i'm afraid this is how i'm feeling about florida right now- not the people of the state, of course- but apparently the justice system allows a grown man with a gun to stalk an innocent unarmed teenager, provoke a confrontation, and kill him with impunity. perhaps this could happen anywhere, but the stand your ground law and others seem partially to blame.

steve mccurry. portrait of an afghan girl

a few of steve mccurry's images-

photojournalist steve mccurry lectured at the international center of photography last december.  i took some snapshots. his awe inspiring life's endeavor i can only describe as a quest; though he talked about it in in a very down to earth manner. mccury is most famous for his portrait of an afghan girl for national geographic.  recently he returned to afganistan to try to find her.  in his lecture he tells what happened, and much more.  you can watch steve mccurry's talk at the icp here: link

though the content of his photos ranges from portrait to conflict, landscape to beauty, the shots share breathtaking color and composition.
  

carefully framed to eliminate extraneous color and information, whether in war photography, street photography or portrait, the structures tend to rely on one or two heavily saturated hues, vivid against neutral tones.

the compositions and palette have a classical feel; reminded me of da vinci and della francesca.  perhaps mccurry, like cartier-bresson, spent a great deal of time in art galleries, absorbing the pictorial techniques of the masters.


after the lecture there was a feeding frenzy of book and poster signing.

the new york art book fair 2012.

photographer paul mpagi sepuya.

a chris burden book at the nero table. he's most famous for his early pain and danger performance art but also makes ingenious  kinetic sculptures.  some are massive, some miniature. industrial art toys that will titillate anyone fascinated by the romance and menace of  machines. current work.

below, artist mishka henner was very genial. i was looking at his book no man's land. "this is great!" i said.  "i'm the artist!"  he replied, "they're google photos!"  i thought i'd seen them before, but i realized i was thinking of nine eyes, curated by jon rafman, which is very different though also comprised of google street shots.

mishka henner (right, below) also had this fabulous work at the fair- astronomical.  i'd like to own it- i think it would help me keep things in perspective!

yale press had a roy lichtenstein book. i met roy lichtenstein once.  he did a limited edition print to raise money for bill clinton's first presidential campaign. my friend mark steitz was the director of opposition research at the democratic national committee, and had given me a ticket to the vip inaugural ball. during the primaries i had drawn a political cartoon for him that was used in a regional dnc mailing.

before the ball mark took me to a small cocktail party.  it was thrown for a little cabal of notable people who had worked in various behind the scenes ways to help get clinton elected.  among them were garry trudeau and al frankin...

"there's someone i want you to meet" mark drew a man over. "mr. lichtenstein," he said, "i'd like you to meet rebecca demorest, she did some artwork for the campaign too." (!) deliberately, and comically, he had  put me on the same level as the great artist.  story says little about me, or roy lichtenstein, who was really nice, but so much about mark. his graciousness and impish generosity!

the polka dot book is by otto d handschuh. at mark pezinger, verlag.