Last post for 2013, some pictures from home...

 

Here are a few images I've made here in Auckland, in the last day or so. Shot five minutes from my home as summer quietly progresses...

The POWER of PATIENCE

 

A friend of mine sent me this link to a post on HARVARD MAGAZINE dealing with The Power of Patience, a presentation by art historian Jennifer L. Roberts at a The Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT) conference last May. I might add that the link was sent to me because patience is not something that I have a lot of!

In this crazy world of instant everything, where things are speeding up and certainly not slowing down, where we are pushed toward immediacy, rapidity, and spontaneity Jennifer Roberts says this:  The virtue of patience was originally associated with forbearance or sufferance. It was about conforming oneself to the need to wait for things. But now that, generally, one need not wait for things, patience becomes an active and positive cognitive state. Where patience once indicated a lack of control, now it is a form of control over the tempo of contemporary life that otherwise controls us. Patience no longer connotes dis-empowerment—perhaps now patience is power.

What's of particular interest and importance to those of us working in the visual arts is the issue of how there is a tendency to look and not see. Seeing requires time, requires patience, requires perseverance. 

Roberts' complete address is worth a read and there is a YouTube clip as well.

PARIS DIARY - NOVEMBER 2013

Following my month in Paris this last November I have just completed the sixth bookwork in my PARIS DIARY series. The book is the same format as the previous diaries with an edition limited to 50 copies, each book signed and numbered. There are 28 photographs, over 28 pages, printed on 150gsm art paper, 226 x 160 mm. Below are some of the pages.

Copies can be obtained directly from me at: harvey.benge@xtra.co.nz
Prices are, €24 / £20 / US$32 / NZ$38, which include packing and postage. For payment you can simply log on to my PayPal account using my email address above.

Photographers whose work I like - No23/ Chad Muthard

From the city that brought us Noam Chomsky, Robert Crumb and John Coltrane, Philadelphia based photographer Chad Muthard is an artist who makes work that has an edgy sense of disquiet, gently questioning and giving no hint of any answers. Muthard deals in allusions with his strange open-ended WTF images.  His narratives are not straightforward, ideas play off each other both visually and conceptually with humor, pathos and often a sense of tender sadness.

Muthard's latest bookwork FOLLOW MY LEAD AFTER YOU was released in September. There are pictures in this work I wish I had made.
You can see more by going to Chad Muthard's site HERE where you can buy the book direct.

Paris - the ultimate selfie

 

One of the things I like to do when I'm in Paris is head to the Palais de Tokyo at 13, avenue du Président Wilson, and make a set of self portraits in the genuine 60's style dunk and dip FOTOAUTOMAT machine. For a mere 2 euro you get 4 small argentique portraits, on photographic paper developed, stopped and fixed in the mini rotating tanks inside the contraption.

Palais de Tokyo have this to say:
It was only a matter of time before someone thought of bringing those columns of 4 small silvery portraits back into fashion. The collective FOTOAUTOMAT, which has existed in Berlin for over ten years and in Paris since 2007, restores and restyles black and white photo booths from another era in order to give them a new, more stunning, more unique, and more creative life.
The good old-fashioned photo booth first reappeared in France in September 2007 and made its home at the Palais de Tokyo, where it was ready to take your picture in black and white in four flashes! Notice to the public – to all actors, bigwigs, artists, lovers, etc. Come give in to your narcissistic urges for just 2 euros.

And a very pleasant gallery assistant opened the machine up to show me the tank that holds the developer, stop, fixer and wash. Here's a picture to prove it.

Dunking and dipping

The result comes out here

 Of course the big bonus is that Palais de tokyo have excellent shows of contemporary art, a great book shop, a good restaurant and cafe and is right next door to the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris and until 23 February next, showing a retrospective of the painter Serge Poliakoff.

Right now the Palais de Tokyo has a stunning show, the work of Philippe Parreno who has responded to a carte blanche invitation with an exhibition where the architectural modification of the space becomes a work in itself, “a total work of art”. Well worth seeing.

PHOTOGRAPHY, all art. SMALL is the new big?

 

Small is the new big at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

As I mentioned in my previous post, when I talked to FOTO MUSEUM DEN HAAG curator Wim van Sinderen in Paris, we agreed that photography in particular does not have to be big to work. Small is the new big we concurred. To make the point, Wim told me about an exhibition he has curated in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Effectively 204 galleries with thousands of authentic works housed in a multitude of small white exhibition spaces.
The boxes include works from 800 different artists both established and emerging, names like Daido Moriyama, David Lachapelle, Anton Corbijn and Erwin Olaf have contributed works. Plus Lichtenstein, Picasso, Beuys, Christo, Ed Ruscha, Damien Hirst. Wim describes the venture as a dream come true, not only that, but such a simple and brilliant idea!

You can read more on Wim van Sinderen's blog HERE.

PARIS PHOTO 2013 and Paris in November

 

PARIS PHOTO - more photobooks you can ever see in a lifetime

Back in my studio and time to think about my month in Paris and the PARIS PHOTO experience in particular. There is no doubt that PARIS PHOTO is the bench-mark for photography art-fairs anywhere. Not only the place to see photographs but where to go to catch-up with photo friends, make contacts and allow the happenstance of chance and luck to kick in. For example, my last year's encounter with SUPERLABO publisher Yasunori Hoki and the subsequent publication, this year, of the LOST HOME collaborative edition only happened because I was at PARIS PHOTO 2012.

You can compare PARIS PHOTO to the massive container ship in the movie Captain Phillips. The ship powers on full of containers loaded with goods much of which you can never possibly see. All the while the pirates hover wanting a part of the action. This year fotofever opened in the carrousel de louvre, then there is Offprint at beaux-arts de Paris, Le Photobookfest at picturetank in Belleville. And much more, not to mention the very many photography shows in public and dealer galleries.

The bottom line is that if you want total photography immersion, Paris is a must in November. And it must be PARIS PHOTO. Despite its daunting mass it is the place to be. This year the fair presented 136 photography galleries from 24 countries, 28 specialist book publishers and had a tally of 55,239 visitors.

My pick are the galleries showing smaller works, a preference echoed by curator Wim Van Sinderen from the FOTOMUSEUM in the Haag who told me that in his view small is the new big.

Here are four galleries that stood out for me, all showing small works of depth, substance and surprise.
Gallery Luisoti from Santa Monica CA with works by Lewis Baltz, Ron Jude and John Divola. Gallery Priska Pasquer with works by Manfred Willmann, Alexandra Catiere and Shomie Tomatsu. ROBERT MORAT / GALERIE with work by Marten Lange, Bertien van Manen and Bernhard Fuchs. MAGNIN-A with work by Mama Casset, Malick Sidibé and J.D.'Okhai Ojeikere.

Lewis Baltz at Gallery Luisoti

Alexandra Catiere at Gallery Priska Pasquer

Bernhard Fuchs at Robert Morat Galerie

MAGNIN-A

colette Paris - Some Things You Should Have Told Me

Hanging out in Paris today with my friend Syd. Dropped into house of style colette. Was pleased to see my new book on sale. Avoiding the inevitable crush of style seekers managed to sign a few books.

Paris in November

 

I leave for Paris today and will be hanging out there for most of November. If any of my Paris photo-friends or those in town for Paris Photo feel like a coffee or a beer, please get in touch, either thru facebook or my email: harvey.benge@xtra.co.nz

Here are few photographs I made in Paris last November...

My blog is going into hibernation until first week of December.

The 6th FotoBookFestival opens today in Kassel

The 6th FotoBookFestival pays homage to Daido Moriyama's book opus through numerous programme items and `events.

Daido Moriyama is one of the most important living photographers and photobook makers of current times. His career began during the sixties in Tokyo, where he became a member of the influential Provoke group that created the most important style of Japanese post-war avant-garde photography. His oeuvre plays a central part in the establishment of Japanese photography as one of the important creative developments in the history of photography. In more than 50 years, Moriyama gained fame through his coarse, contrast-rich, partly unfocussed and highly grainy black-and-white photography, in which he deals which urban experiences, especially around the streets of Tokyo. His immense influence on young Japanese artists continues to date. Apart from B+W photography, Moriyama works with color, Polaroid’s, screen-printing, film, texts and installation. His fame is predominantly due to the more than 150 photobooks that he has continuously published, including masterpieces like Japan, A Photo Theatre (1968), Farewell Photography (1972), Light & Shadow (1982) and Shinjuku (2002).

During three action packed days there will be lectures and presentations from Gerry Badger, Remi Coignet, Gosta Flemming, Aron Morel, Ferdinand Bruggemann, Yasunori Hoki, Simon Baker, John Gossage and much more. Plus the Photobook Dummy Award.

You can see the full programme HERE.

SUPER LABO - new photobooks from PHOTOBOOKSTORE UK

Featured in PHOTOBOOKSTORE's October newsletter (No 2) is a range of edgy new titles from Japanese publisher SUPER LABO.

Marrakech by Daido Moriyama looks sure to continue the SUPER LABO’s successful run.  Featuring images from Moriyama’s trip to the fabled city over 25 years ago, Marrakech is presented in a very unusual two books within one design, which in turn our housed in a slipcased hardback.  A limited edition of 500 copies, Marrakech looks sure to sell out sooner rather than later, and in stock now HERE.

Chris Shaw’s photos are currently paired with Moriyama’s in an exhibition at Tate Britain, and his new book Weeds Of Wallasey is SUPER LABO’s second release of the month. Weeds of Wallasey is a series of black and white photographs taken on the Wirral in the Bidston Valley. As Chris Shaw explains, “ I observed and documented the battle between nature and a post industrial blight, to express my own feelings about a landscape I grew up in, my roots, my weeds…”.  A slipcased edition of 500 copies.  Weeds of Wallasey is in stock now HERE.  

Similarly elegantly presented, Stilll by Terri Weifenbach is her second book with SUPER LABO following last year’s 17 days.  This slipcased impeccably printed hardback contains images taken in the suburban areas of the photographers hometown, Washington DC.  See our video preview of Stilll, and order your copy of  this limited edition book edition book HERE.  

You can see all of PHOTOBOOKSTORE's SUPER LABO titles (which also include recent release Make by Shomei Tomastsu) and a number of out of print books HERE. 

For those who will be in Paris for Paris Photo SUPER LABO will have a booth in the Grande Palais where various book signings will take place.

Lavalette...an independent imprint for photography

Formerly known as Lay Flat, Lavalette is an independent publisher of limited edition photography books and multiples. Founded in 2009 by photographer Shane Lavalette, the studio works collaboratively with emerging and established artists to produce books that both express a vision and exist as artful objects in themselves. In addition to artist books, they publish Lay Flat, a periodic journal devoted to contemporary photography in which each issue takes on a new theme and format.

Lavalette's latest publication available for pre-order

Lavalette also produces an action packed blog which you can go to HERE. The blog publishes a series of "conversations" where regular contributors such as Lucas Blalock and Tim Davis talk to practitioners who are engaged with the contemporary and cutting edge coal face of photography, most decidedly about now and certainly not then.

Lucas Blalock in conversation with Kate Steciw

Judging from the 6,437 facebook likes I'm not the only one who values Lavalette as an important photography resource, well worth keeping an eye on. You can go there HERE.

Pieter Hugo - KIN at Stevenson Cape Town

Thabile Kadeni, Langa, 2013

Pieter Hugo's profound and deeply moving series KIN opens next week at Stevenson Cape Town. Made over the last eight years Hugo turns a critical but loving eye on his homeland. Hugo ventures into cramped townships, contested farmlands, abandoned mining areas,  and sites of political significance. He has looked at drifters and the homeless; his pregnant wife, and his daughter moments after her birth; the domestic servants who have worked for the Hugo family over three generations. The series alternates between intimate and public spaces, with particular emphasis on the growing disparity between rich and poor, and reveals Hugo's deeply conflicted feelings about his home. It confronts complex issues of colonization, racial diversity and economic disparity.

Hugo describes the work: ...an engagement with the failure of the South African colonial experiment and my sense of being 'colonial driftwood' ... South Africa is such a fractured, schizophrenic, wounded and problematic place. It is a very violent society and the scars of colonialism and apartheid still run very deep. Issues of race and cultural custodianship permeate every aspect of society, and the legacy of forced racial segregation casts a long shadow ... How does one live in this society? How does one take responsibility for history, and to what extent should one try? How do you raise a family in such a conflicted society? Before getting married and having children, these questions did not trouble me; now, they are more confusing. This work attempts to address these questions and to reflect on the nature of conflicting personal and collective narratives. I have deeply mixed feelings about being here. I am interested in the places where these narratives collide. Kin is an attempt at evaluating the gap between society's ideals and its realities. 

Cape Town, 2009

Louis Mantanisa, Cape Town, 2013

Green Point Common, Cape Town, 2013

You can see more on the STEVENSON site HERE. And Pieter Hugo's site HERE.