Posts from the “Art” Category

Adreinne Waheed: Black Joy and Resistance

Posted on January 17, 2019

Hailing from Oakland, California, Adreinne Waheed took up photography at the age of 13 and never put the camera down. Inspired by the work of Roy DeCarava and Gordon Parks, Waheed has dedicated her life to celebrating the beauty and resilience of the African diaspora.

In her new book Black Joy and Resistance, Waheed does just this, bringing us inside the 2015 Million Man March, #FeesMustFall, and Carnival in Bahia, as well as Brooklyn’s own West Indian Day Parade, Afropunk, Dance Africa, and Soul Summit.

“Every image in this book was photographed at a large public event,” Waheed says. “What ties them together is the celebration of black and brown cultures and the resistance of conformity, oppression patriarchy, etcetera. Music, dance, art and other forms of passionate expression are elements that are interwoven throughout.”

Read the Full Story at Huck

Categories: Africa, Art, Books, Brooklyn, Japan, Latin America, Photography

Evenlyn Hofer: New York

Posted on January 15, 2019

Three boys at the front door, 1975 © Evelyn Hofer: New York, published by Steidl.

There are moments when you find yourself gazing upon a photograph feeling as though you were there. In the silence of the still image, you can feel the breeze caress your hair as the steady of flow of traffic hums along. The sun warms your back as you take it all in. It’s like you are there; of course, you are not, but the image gets transferred into your memory anyway. You now have a memory of witnessing something someone else saw, and all of the attendant emotions it caused. Can you be nostalgic about someone else’s life? It’s the question that comes up time and again in Evelyn Hofer: New York (Steidl).

The monograph itself, begins with a reference to an older time, drawing inspiration from the classic 1965 book New York Proclaimed, which features an in-depth essay by V. S. Pritchett and photos by Hofer before moving on to include a selection of previously unpublished photos made during early ‘70s throughout. Evelyn Hofer’s New York is the city of one who knows it well, who traverses its streets, parks, and bridges. It is the landscape of a True Yorker who loves it all: the glass and steel, the flesh and bone, the lives to be found everywhere you look.

Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot

Santo Domingo in New York, 1964 © Evelyn Hofer: New York, published by Steidl.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, Art, Books, Feature Shoot

Patti Smith: Wing

Posted on January 15, 2019

Patti Smith (1946) Patti at William Burroughs Grave, Lawrence, Kansas, May 2013 Silver gelatin print Photo by Lenny Kaye. Image courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York.

In the early 1970s, Patti Smith travelled to Mexico with a Polaroid camera in hand, making photographs as components for collages, most of which have been lost to history. In the decades since, Smith returned time and again, creating a series of images and poems inspired by a feeling of kinship with the nation and its flourishing artistic community.

Now, a selection of 30 photographs is on view in Patti Smith: Wing, a celebration of creation and communion. Wing is also the title of a poem about freedom, both physical and spiritual, as well as the act of travelling independently to distant lands.

“I am not a photographer, yet taking pictures has given me a sense of unity and personal satisfaction,” Smith writes in Land 250. “They are relics of my life. Souvenirs of my wandering. All that I have learned concerning light and composition is contained within them.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Patti Smith (1946) Frida Kahlo’s corset 2, Casa Azul, Coyoacan, 2012 Gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City.

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Exhibitions, Huck, Latin America, Photography

God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin

Posted on January 15, 2019

Photo: James Baldwin, writer, Harlem, New York, 1945. hotography by Richard Avedon © The Richard Avedon Foundation, Courtesy David Zwirner

The work of James Baldwin (1924–1987) speaks not only to his time, but that of our own – calling out abuses of power while painting a heartfelt portrait of those they harm. Yet in becoming a public figure, Baldwin’s fame became a double-edged sword, amplifying the impact of his ideas while simultaneously draining him of his creative resources.

In a new exhibition God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, writer, and curator Hilton Als explores Baldwin’s life as both inspiration and cautionary tale. Featuring the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Richard Avedon, Beauford Delaney, Marlene Dumas, Glenn Ligon, Anthony Barboza, Kara Walker, and James Welling, the exhibition also includes a wealth of archival materials including a vinyl recording of Baldwin singing, Precious Lord, Take My Hand – which Als first heard inside the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine during Baldwin’s funeral.

Here, speaking to AnOther, Als reflects on his relationship with Baldwin, one that came about as Als began his journey just as Baldwin was concluding his.

Read the Full Story at AnOther

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, AnOther, Art, Exhibitions, Photography

Jacob Fuglsang Mikkelsen: Catcher in the Eye

Posted on January 14, 2019

Inside the upstairs bathrooms at The Tunnel nightclub. © Jacob Fuglsang Mikkelsen

Calvin Klein model of the time in orange with Billy Name. Silkscreen prints designed by Lynne Packwood. © Jacob Fuglsang Mikkelsen

New York City in the 1990s was a heady time. Murder surged to a record high as the crack epidemic reached its peak. Abandoned buildings became crack dens and prostitution flourished on the streets, ushering in the controversial rule of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1994.

Under Giuliani’s “Quality of Life” campaign, the New York Police Department began a crackdown on people committing minor offenses. Then the mayor took aim at nightclubs, ordering raids that would transform the underground scene from a DIY space for outsiders to a corporate endeavor replete with mega clubs, bottle service, and couches on the dancefloor.

The 90s was the last hurrah of bohemian New York, an epitaph to the “anything goes” insouciance that came with being able to live, work, and party in Manhattan without breaking the bank. It was into this bohemia that Danish artist Jacob Fuglsang Mikkelsen arrived and set up shop at the Gershwin Hotel on East 27th Street, the epicenter of the downtown avant-garde scene.

The Gershwin drew a delicious mix of artists, writers, and luminaries—including Quentin Crisp, Danny Fields, and Marcia Resnick; Warhol legends like Ultra Violet, Billy Name, and Paul Morrissey; and nightlife icons like Susanne Bartsch, Amanda Lepore, Sophia Lamar, and Junior Vasquez. Casting himself as Holden Caulfield armed with a camera, rather than a hunting rifle, Mikkelsen created a performance piece in which he “shot” the people on the scene, capturing them for a series he titled Catcher in the Eye.

Mikkelsen’s photographs preserve the city as it was: a surreal phantasmagoria of freedom, independence, and self-expression. VICE recently caught up with the photographer, who spent some time reminiscing about life in New York during the dial-up era.

Read the Full Story at VICE Online

Morning on 14th Street outside Junior Vasquez’s Arena Party at Palladium. From left: Actor Tim Cummings and Raymie Moynagh with friends. © Jacob Fuglsang Mikkelsen

Categories: 1990s, Art, Manhattan, Photography, Vice

Jamel Shabazz: Last Moments of Innocence

Posted on January 13, 2019

The statistics were staggering. During the 1980s, “A man had a better survival rate fighting in Vietnam War for nine years, than a Black man fighting to survive in an urban city for one year.”

When Jamel Shabazz returned home from the Army to his native Brooklyn in the summer of 1980, he discovered the streets had been turned into a war zone. He picked up his camera and began his mission to engage people and find out what was going on. Shabazz has used photography as part of a humanitarian mission that kept him connected to the streets, operating as an independent in what became one of the most deadly war zones in the New York City’s history as the years progressed. The photographs Shabazz has selected are portraits of brothers who died violent deaths in 1981. He speaks about his mission to honor these men. May they Rest in Peace.

Please talk about what you saw when you returned from the army during the summer of 1980? What were the conditions in New York like at that time? And how did this inspire you to begin using your camera as a tool to connect with the people of New York?

Jamel Shabazz: What captivated me the most upon returning home was seeing how so many of my peers’ little brothers were now rising stars in the neighborhood. Many were just a few years younger than me now in their mid-to-late teens; they were continuing much of what we started, but on a whole new level. When we came up during the 1970s, the usage of the 007 switchblade was a common weapon of choice. Gun ownership was rare, and if a person had a .25 automatic or .22 revolver that was a big thing. Now it seems like everyone had an assortment of weapons and a strong desire to get a ” REP”. The 9mm would make its introduction along with the Uzi machine gun, and life as we knew it would be forever changed.

As I made my way back to areas I once embraced, I came upon so many really good young people that knew my history. Armed now with a clearer understanding of life and purpose, I carried along my new SLR camera. Marvin Gaye’s song ” What’s Happening Brother” sums up much of what I was feeling and I sought to know what was going on and what had transpired since I was gone. Almost everyone I encountered was warm and receptive as I would share stories about my personal journey overseas and the things I experienced. In return, they would brief me on what was going on in the neighborhood. I would come to find out that two people from my inner circle were doing life in prison for an alleged crime that transpired while they were under the influence of LSD, others were institutionalized as a result of experimenting with mind altering stimulants as well, and tragically some never fully recovered. I knew then that I had returned to a community that was rapidly losing its treasured youth.

As I sought information about the conditions, I was informed that there were a number of territorial wars that were being fought and this took me aback, because mostly everyone involved went to the same schools and knew each other. In working to reestablish myself I would spend time with various crews that I would later find out had conflict with each other. It seemed like everybody had “beef.” Even within my immediate circle, my partners wanted my insight as to how to wage war on their opponents, who by chance were two young men I was mentoring. I had no idea my partners wanted them dead!

It came to me when we sought to enact our justice upon “them” one night, locked and loaded with one thing on our minds. As the “targets” appeared and weapons were aimed, I recognized them as being the same young guys, which I knew by other names. I passionately explained to the would-be assassins that they could not carry out this action. An argument ensued, but everyone honored my request and we moved on. This event troubled me as did all of this newfound hate and brutality that was destroying my neighborhood.

I had seen my share of hate while in the Army and I could no longer subscribe to it, so I made up my mind that I was going to do everything in my power to reverse this cycle of self-destruction. Reading numerous books in service, provided me with a strategy and solutions. The camera became my main tool in reaching folks and it was almost like a master key that helped me gain entrance to so many places. During the fall of 1980, I reestablished myself at two local high schools that many of the warring students attended, Samuel J. Tilden and Erasmus. I was raised in the neighborhood and knew many of the students. In other cases, I would build bounds with those I did not know. Once I gained their trust I would speak to them about the need to stop the killing and the dangers of a self-destructive lifestyle. Once that message was delivered I would take their photograph. This tactic allowed me to connect with a large number of people.

The photographs you have shared, letting me know these men were murdered, take on a new level of meaning. Can you speak about what it is like to have not only taken these photographs so that the spirit and soul of the people are preserved, as well as what it is like to share them with the world? I’m curious about their second life, so to speak, as your photographs have become a vital part of photographic history and popular imagination.

Jamel Shabazz: The photographs of the young men I share here were all individuals I knew personally. They were all in their early twenties, all Brooklyn born. Each one in his on right was considered a leader amongst men, and all displayed great potential. Tragically, none lived past the age of twenty-five and each one would meet a violent end by gunplay. In some cases I would come to find out that I even knew those responsible for taking their lives. When I reflect back on the moment in which I recorded my very last photograph of them, I can’t help but to think about the exchanges we had.

My main objective was to always help them see the various obstacles that they were facing as young men, and at the same time I wanted them to know that I recognized the greatness that they all possessed. My words were always sincere and well received and I had no idea at the time that I would never see them again after capturing their last moments of innocence. In many cases I would learn of their passing years later, through others who recognized their photographs in my books. The work I have been so blessed to record, is all about preserving the legacy of those that stood before my lens; my gift to the friends and family, and food for thought for those that might have been responsible for taking the life of another human being.

First published at NYC, 1981 in 2014

Categories: Art

1947, Simone de Beauvoir in America

Posted on January 10, 2019

Louis Faurer, New York, NY, 1947 (profile head in El window), Courtesy Deborah Bell Gallery/ Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

Esher Bubley, Coast to Coast, SONJ, 1947, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery/ Sous Les Etoiles Gallery.

In January of 1947, Simone de Beauvoir (1908 – 1986) arrived in New York from her native France to begin a four-month speaking tour at colleges across the United States. Over a period of 116 days, she crossed 19 states and 56 cities by trains, cars, and Greyhound buses, immersing herself in the nation’s landscape and keeping a detailed diary of all that she witnessed.

First published in France in 1948, America Day by Day shows us America through de Beauvoir’s eyes, giving us a taste of life for the young writer and intellectual just two years before she published her landmark work, The Second Sex.

“This is a very photographic book,” says Corinne Tapia, director of Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York. “The writing is so precise. She is determined to tell her truth and what she sees. You can easily point out the fact by the descriptions of the cities: where she is, where she goes, and what she hears.”

Tapia first read the book 15 years ago, returning to it periodically and therein discovering a desire all her own: to curate an exhibition of photographs illustrating the world de Beauvoir’s encountered.

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Wayne Miller, From ” The Way of Life of the Northern Negro,” Chicago (Afternoon Game at Table 2), 1946-1948 courtesy Stephen Daiter Gallery/ Sous Les Etoiles Gallery.

Fred Lyon, Post & Powell, Union Square, San Francisco, 1947, courtesy Peter Fetterman Gallery/ Sous Les Etoiles Gallery.

Categories: Art, Exhibitions, Huck, Photography

The Humble Arts Foundation Lists the Best Online Photo Stories of 2018

Posted on January 8, 2019

Honored to be included on Humble Arts Foundation’s list of “22 Essays, Interviews and Other Sharp (Online) Photography Writing You Should Have Read in 2018’ with “Tim Hetherington’s Photos Are a Tender Look at Male Sexuality and War” for VICE.

Categories: Art, Photography, Vice

Karlheinz Weinberger: Sports

Posted on January 3, 2019

For Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006), the camera was an all-access pass into a world where men openly expressed their true selves. Best known for his photos of rebels and rockers, Weinberger pursued the masculine ideal in its many forms, including the peak athletic physiques of the sporting world. In Karlheinz Weinberger, Volume # 2, Sports (Sturm & Drang), we’re whisked away and taken into a testosterone-fueled world filled with bodybuilders, wrestlers, weightlifters, motorcyclists, and football players drenched in pools of tension and sweat.

Curator Patrik Schedler, who cared for Weinberger artistically from 2000 until his death and manages the photographic estate, explains: “Weinberger was so interested in the relationships between men, their self-expression and their beauty. With his camera, he was able to observe and work out all this very well. Weinberger said that he was able to photograph almost all the men he liked. In fact, they liked to be photographed, to show themselves, to pose.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Categories: 1960s, Art, Books, Huck, Photography

Mickalene Thomas: I Can’t See You Without Me

Posted on January 2, 2019

Mickalene Thomas. Mama Bush (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher, 2009. Rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel on wood panel. 82 x 72 in. Private collection

Mickalene Thomas. Afro Goddess Looking Forward , 2015. Rhinestones, acrylic, and oil on wood panel. 60 x 96 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Look, but don’t touch, just imagine how it feels as your eyes caress the surface of a work of art by Mickalene Thomas. Painting, photograph, and collage commingle effortlessly as sequins, rhinestones, and glitter every hue imaginable make their way across the picture plane. Spellbound, you stand there and breathe it all in, taking refuge in the infinite glory of the sublime.

At the heart of Thomas’s work is an intoxicating sense of intimacy, a sensual embrace that that seems to embody the very air we breathe. One is immediately seduced and disarmed, overwhelmed by the feeling of being welcomed into this milieu, a space that suggests a boudoir filled with velvet and lace, with veils that cover and reveal, of secrets to be shared.

At its very center, it is about relationship, about the dynamic that exists between artist, model, and viewer that dances into the timeless sunsets of an infinite land. It is rooted in the connections Thomas holds with the women who inspire her to create a wonderland.

Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot

Mickalene Thomas. Racquel: Come to Me, 2017. Rhinestones, acrylic, oil, oil stick, and glitter on wood panel. 108 x 84 in. Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong

Categories: Art, Exhibitions, Feature Shoot, Women

Picks of the Bunch: Huck’s Top 10 Photo Stories of 2018

Posted on December 29, 2018

What a way to end the year! I am thrilled to have two of the top ten photo stories chosen by the readers of Huck — including my very first cover for the magazine!

Read the Full List at Huck Online

Then check out…

PICTURES OF REALLY, REALLY RICH PEOPLE GETTING DRUNK

Throughout the ’80s, photographer Dafydd Jones captured the well-heeled hedonists of England’s upper classes. ‘It was another world going on behind closed doors,’ he remembers. Read more…

A CAB DRIVER CAPTURES 30 YEARS OF NEW YORK AFTER DARK

Street photographer Ryan Weideman drove a New York City cab for decades. With one eye on the road and a camera in his hand, every passenger became a story, every trip a wild ride. Read more….

Dachshunds fighting over canapes, ris Love and Brooke Astor with Just Desserts and Dolly Astor at a Dachund party. Barbetta. Manhattan. 12 February 1990

Categories: 1980s, 1990s, Art, Huck, Photography