Posts from the “1990s” Category

Ming Smith

Posted on January 18, 2017

Photo: Ming Smith, Sun Ra space II, New York City, New York, 1978 Vintage gelatin silver print, printed ca. 2000 28 3/16 x 39 7/8 in. © Ming Smith, courtesy of Steven Kasher Gallery

Ming Smith is the quiet storm, her photographs evoking the soul of Billie Holiday’s music in photographic form. She has lived as an artist all her life, creating a body of work that captures the mysterious beauty of eternal truth. “Images outlive us,” Smith observes, and at the same time, without them, things disappear and the moment is gone. In this way, photographs become not only a work of art or an artifact—they become part of the collective consciousness that defines human experience.

“Something flows through you,” Smith explains. The photographer becomes a channel open to the world, transforming three dimensions into two then delivering them so that we may feel and understand their point of view. Smith’s perspective is as singular as she is. The first African-American woman to have her work collected by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Smith is a pioneer, an innovator, and a rebel imbued with ineffable elegance.

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Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Manhattan, Photography

Witness at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Posted on January 6, 2017

Photo: Larry Clark, American, b. 1943 Untitled 1963 Gelatin silver print Sheet: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm); image: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm) Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Gift of Herbert and Lenore Schorr 2002.85.2 Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Although the photographer usually stands behind the camera, they are present in every shot they make, from the choice of subject matter and the framing to the moment of release and the selection of the print from hundreds, if not thousands, of others that remain unseen in the archive. Every photo taken and shown bears the eye of the photographer, just as every painting and sculpture bears the hand of the artist. We can consider the photographer many things: provocateur, mastermind, or more “objectively,” witness to scene they are recording for posterity.

The photographer as witness is a popular conceit celebrated in Western art as it embraces the impossible ideals of detachment, neutrality, and independence from the subject and the creation of the image. It carries the noble, even heroic, connotations that elevate the photographer to a status all their own. This response was most recently seen after Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici took a picture of Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas moments after he assassinated Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov. While the world lay agog at the perfectly orchestrated act of a cold-blooded killer, many in the photography and art worlds took the opportunity to disassociate, waxing rhapsodic about the aesthetics of the image and the valor of Ozbilici.

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Photo: Dawoud Bey, American, b. 1953 The Birmingham Project: Mathes Manafee and Cassandra Griffin 2012 Archival pigment prints mounted on Dibond Diptych, each sheet: 40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm) Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Restricted gift of Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida, and Mary and Earle Ludgin by exchange 2014.8.a-b Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

CONTACT at Fahey/Klein Gallery

Posted on January 2, 2017

MONTGOMERY- MARCH 25: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. seen close from rear, speaking in front of 25,000 civil rights marchers, at conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery march in front of Alabama state capital building on March 25, 1965. In Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Stephen Somerstein/Getty Images)

For a photography aficionado, there is nothing quite so thrilling as looking at contact sheets. It is like reading a diary, delving into private realms that were not meant for public consumption. Like the old drafts of a novel or the prior recordings before the master tape, the contact sheet tells the story of how it happened—how we got to this place. It is a narrative all its own, one that few will ever know, unless the photographer blesses us with a view.

Then, what we see is magical: that heart-stopping, breathtaking moment like in the theater when an actor breaks the fourth wall. It is an acknowledgement of the very construction of it all: the recognition that everything we see has a history and a reality that we rarely ever know. The contact sheet seduces with what it reveals—all that has been hidden from our sight now appears.

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Contact Sheet featuring MONTGOMERY- MARCH 25: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. seen close from rear, speaking in front of 25,000 civil rights marchers, at conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery march in front of Alabama state capital building on March 25, 1965. In Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Stephen Somerstein/Getty Images)

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Hollywood Royalty | Debbie Reynolds & Carrie Fisher

Posted on January 1, 2017

Carrie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds, 1973

One of the greatest love stories of our time, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher will be laid to rest together, as they were never meant to be apart. Together, they defined the changing image of women for over 60 years, fiercely self reliant, in varying states of grace.

But it was Postcards from the Edge that hit the high water mark, most likely because books are my first true love. The fact that Carrie, who “hid in books” while growing up could then use them to reveal herself to the world with a wry, tender humor to process the pain she felt, and then turn around and write the screenplay so that no less than Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine could bring this story to life….

Whew. Aspirational, inspirational, pure liberation through art, beauty, and truth. I wrote a few words for CraveOnline for two women who bring tears of love and happiness to my eyes.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Books, Crave

Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris Webb: Violet Isle

Posted on December 30, 2016

Photo: Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, 1993. Photo by Alex Webb.

Cuba, the Violet Isle—a name known to few for the rich color of its fertile soil, is an island that has captivated the imagination of the world through a tumultuous history that has played a significant role in the political machinations of the twentieth century. It is a land has emerged in the twenty-first century as a complex nation coming to terms with a fate that is yet unforeseen. As we reflect upon the country’s future, we may look to its recent past, to its people and its landscape.

Over the course of 15 years, photographers Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb made 11 trips to the Violet Isle, each of them documenting different corners of the country. While Alex Webb focused on the country’s street life, Rebecca Norris Webb turned her attention to the displays of animal life, exploring tiny zoos, pigeon societies, and personal menageries. Together, they published Violet Isle in 2009 with Radius Books and while the book has since sold out and gone out of print, they continue to share the work in exhibitions around the world.

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Photo: Havana, 2008. Photo by Rebecca Norris Webb

Categories: 1990s, Art, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

“Hip-Hop Evolution” Is One for the History Books

Posted on December 29, 2016

Photo: Still from “Hip-Hop Evolution”

On August 11, 1973, Hip Hop was born when DJ Kool Herc spun a back-to-school jam in the rec room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. Entrance was 25 cents for the ladies, 50 cents for the fellas, and the spot could only hold 40 or 50 people—but from the footage shot, you could tell they put the Boogie Down in the Bronx.

So what made this Hip Hop and not a regular jam? Well, Herc was the first person to spin just the breaks, the drum (or drum and bass) solo on classic soul and funk records. He brought two copies of each record so he could set them up on the turntables and extend the break just as long as he wanted to. Herc not only created a style and a sound: he turned the turntable into an instrument all its own.

The thing about Hip Hop was, it was the sound of the streets. It was created, innovated, and updated by cats who had music in their blood and a need to dominate. Hip Hop’s formative years were an underground phenomenon; back in the days most stations wouldn’t play it on the radio let alone on MTV. But its isolation gave it strength and integrity—there was no selling out inside the community.

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Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Bronx, Crave, Manhattan, Music

Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art

Posted on December 22, 2016

Artwork: Amy Sherald, High Yella Masterpiece: We Ain’t No Cotton Pickin’ Negroes, 2011. Oil on canvas; 59 x 69 inches (149.86 x 175.26 cm). Collection of Keith Timmons, ESQ, CPA. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. © Amy Sherald.

The American South: a land shrouded with myth and mystery, wrapped in layers of illusions and untold history. Novelist William Faulkner suggested that the South is not so much a “geographical place” as an “emotional idea,” furthering the disjunction between the reality and illusion that has permeated the South throughout its existence.

Place is the foundation upon which culture is built and from this culture comes ten thousand things that shape and influence the human experience, from the physical and the spiritual to the intellectual and the emotional realms. To understand the multifaceted nature of the South, it behooves us to take a more nuanced view, taking in the many elements that make the South its own complex and fascinating world.

Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art, currently on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, through January 8, 2017, does just this, approaching the subject from the perspective of its aesthetic progeny. The exhibition presents the work of 60 contemporary artists including Romare Bearden, Sanford Biggers, William Christenberry, Thornton Dial, Sam Durant, William Eggleston, Jessica Ingram, Kerry James Marshall, Richard Misrach Gordon Parks, Ebony G. Patterson, Fahmu Pecou, Burk Uzzle, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others.

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Rachel Boillot, 38765 Panther Burn, MS from the series Post Script, 2014. Archival pigment print, edition 2/12; 20 x 25 inches (50.8 x 63.5 cm). Courtesy of the artist. © Rachel Boillot.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Painting, Photography

Tastemakers & Earthshakers: Notes from Los Angeles Youth Culture, 1943-2016

Posted on November 22, 2016

Photo: Humberto Sandoval, Still from Sr. Tereshkova, 1975, sepia tone photograph on paper. Courtesy of the artist.

“One thing is certain: the arts keep you alive. They stimulate, encourage, challenge, and, most of all, guarantee a future free from boredom,” American actor Vincent Price (1911-1993). Best known for his distinctive voice, a somber and thrilling timber, and his performances in horror films, Price was also an aficionado of the arts, a collector and historian who donated 90 pieces from his personal collection to establish the first “art teaching collection” housed at a community college—East Los Angeles College, to be exact—in 1957. In recognition of his gift, the college renamed the art gallery the Vincent Price Museum.

Over the past 50 years, the collection has grown to include 9,000 objects and showcased more than 100 exhibitions designed to serve the community of some 35,000 students who enroll each year. Five months ago, Pilar Tompkins Rivas took up the mantle as Director of the Museum, and decided to create an exhibition that would speak to the history of the community over the past eight decades.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Legendary DJ and Club Innovator David Mancuso Dies at 72

Posted on November 15, 2016

Photo: American nightclub owner David Mancuso, owner of the Loft disco on Prince Street in SoHo, meets with the SoHo Artists’ Association to discuss their complaints, New York, New York, October 14, 1974. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images)

With every passing, 2016 solidifies its place as one of the greatest times of transition in recent memory. Most recently, legendary New York City DJ and club innovator David Mancuso (October 20, 1944-November 14, 2016) died. His death marks the end of an era in many respects, reminding us that downtown New York has long ceased to be the hub of innovation and creativity.

Mancuso pioneered the “private party” at his home at 647 Broadway at Bleecker Street. Back then, the neighborhood was filled with raw, desolate space that was once the site of a bustling industrial companies. Into the void, artists came, willing to live and work in spaces that were not zoned for residential use nor up to code. The Do-It-Yourself of ethos of the time was taking shape, as visionaries worked with what they had, and in doing so, created an entirely new world.

Mancuso took up residence in 1965, throwing about half a dozen rent parties over the next five years. On February 14, 1970, he hosted an invitation-only party called “Love Saves the Day,” which he marks as the official beginning of The Loft, by which the space would later be known.

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Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Crave, Manhattan, Music

Empire: An Arturo Vega Retrospective

Posted on November 10, 2016

Artwork: Arturo Vega, Empire, 1989 Acrylic and Silkscreen on Canvas. 80 1/4 x 132 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches, Individual panels: 80 1/4 x 20 1/4 and 80 1/4 x 30 1/4 and 80 1/4 x 31 1/4 and 80 1/4 x 25 1/4

Arturo Vega: you may not know his name but you assuredly know his work, as the Ramones logo is one of the most replicated images on earth. The mastermind behind it all was a tireless workhorse who toured with the band for more than two decades and nearly 2,263 live shows as the art and lighting director. And when he wasn’t on tour he could be found in his loft at 6 East 2nd Street at Bowery in the East Village, producing artwork of his own, or on the scene, out supporting fledgling artists with advice, a place to work, or straight up purchasing their pieces to put money in their pocket.

Vega, who died in 2013 at the age of 65, hailed from Chihuahua, Mexico, where he was an artist and activist until the 1968, when he fled the country after being arrested en masse with 148 of the country’s most notable artists, poets, and intellectuals including filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. With the government carrying out disappearances, torture, and extralegal executions, Vega fled to New York, which he had already visited a few times, establishing a network with prominent figures including music publicist Jane Friedman.

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Photo by Miss Rosen

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Manhattan, Painting

Jamel Shabazz: Pieces of a Man

Posted on November 8, 2016

Photo: Untitled, East Flatbush, 1990. © Jamel Shabazz

Pieces of a Man (Art Voices Art Books), the newest monograph by legendary photographer Jamel Shabazz, is a tremendous undertaking, bringing us around the world and across time, yet always able to center on what we all share as human beings. The title speaks to the way in which each of us are so many things in this life and on this earth, with each photograph capturing a facet of our infinite complexity. The book, like the individual, proves that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, and yet sometimes we feel fragmented, or must only reveal one part of ourselves, and still remain authentic to our souls.

Pieces of a Man is a story of love and loss, of joy and pain, of life and death and rebirth with each page. It’s like listening to a classic album like What’s Going On—absolutely overwhelming and yet, you want to listen to it over and over. Shabazz talks with Crave, providing us with a treasure trove of insight and inspiration.

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Photo: Waiting, Brownsville, Brooklyn, 2012. © Jamel Shabazz

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Brooklyn, Crave, Photography