David Salle tells it like it is... Looking, Talking and Thinking about Art

In his new book 2. 1. 3. to how see, Looking, Talking and Thinking about Art, painter David Salle cuts to the chase in this assembly of his critical essays. Salle has the knack of avoiding bullshit and theoretical cul de sac's. His writing gets directly to the guts of what it's about to make art that works. Great art even.

I particularly liked what he had to say in an essay about artist Dana Schutz: Remember talent? A person who is said to have talent can do something: often it's physical, like throwing a football or playing the cello. Then there is imagination; the difference between it and talent is often misunderstood. Imagination fuels talent and funnels into it, but on its own lacks body. Today talent is easily confused with knowingness or a desire for attention, and what passes for imagination is often nothing more than a reshuffling of cultural signs. That's fashion. Occasionally an artist comes along with both talent and real imagination as well as the ability to combine them - to cast an original idea into pictorial form... as with all effective art, the greatness is partly a matter of the imagination behind it and partly a matter of style.

For more on David Salle you can go to his website HERE. And if you're interested you can go to amazon HERE to get a copy of 2.1.3.

Jim Goldberg - Raised by Wolves bootleg

 

Jim Goldberg writes:

Dear Friends and Family, 

As some of you may already know, I have just self-published (what many consider my most iconic work) Raised By Wolves, as a xerox-style Bootleg version.
The original book is largely unavailable except at very high prices - and with this new edition, an entirely new generation will have access. It’s also a way to re-stock all those school libraries that have had RBW stolen off their shelves. 

I am having a book signing on November 12th at Uptown in San Francisco from 3-5pm, where I'll be signing each book in a unique way. I hope to see you all there. If you know of anyone who can't make it or is interested in purchasing Raised By Wolves (Bootleg)... 

Here's the link: jimgoldberg.com If you’ve already purchased the book, many thanks.

Jim

Often considered Goldberg’s seminal project, Raised by Wolves combines ten years of original photographs, text, and other illustrative elements (home movie stills, snapshots, drawings, diary entries, and images of discarded belongings) to document the lives of runaway teenagers in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The book quickly became a classic in the photobook canon and, thus, the original is essentially unavailable.

In the spirit of Tweeky Dave, Goldberg is releasing a xerox style bootleg version of the book with numerous surprises inserted by the artist. At 9x12 inches, the same size as the original, the re-issue features 320 color and black and white pages, perfect bound, with a color softcover. Raised By Wolves Bootleg re-issue - $100 plus shipping*

William Eggleston - The Democratic Forest at David Zwirner NYC

 

William Eggleston - Untitled from The Democratic Forest, c. 1983-1986

David Zwirner New York presents its first exhibition with William Eggleston since having announced the gallery’s exclusive worldwide representation of the artist. On view at 537 West 20th Street in New York will be works from Eggleston’s monumental project The Democratic Forest.

Over the course of nearly six decades, Eggleston has established a singular pictorial style that deftly combines vernacular subject matter with an innate and sophisticated understanding of color, form, and composition. His photographs transform the ordinary into distinctive, poetic images that eschew fixed meaning. His 1976 solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, curated by John Szarkowski, marked the first presentation of color photography at the museum. Although initially criticized for its unfamiliar approach, the show and its accompanying catalogue, William Eggleston’s Guide, heralded an important moment in the medium’s acceptance within the art historical canon, and it solidified the artist’s position as one of its foremost practitioners to this date. Eggleston’s work continues to exert an influence on contemporary visual culture at large.

The Democratic Forest is among Eggleston’s most ambitious projects and a prime example of his uniquely recognizable aesthetic. Likened to an epic journey or an enduring narrative, it comprises a careful selection of works from over ten thousand negatives he took in the mid-1980s across the southern and eastern parts of America and in several European countries. These photographs of rural back roads, industrial and residential environs, architectural details, restaurant interiors, and parking lots, among other locales, eluded the conventions of both reportage and the black-and-white art photography practiced by many of the artist’s peers at the time, and instead shaped their own definition of what a photographic image could be—intuitive and charged with imaginative possibilities. Collectively, the project echoes Eggleston’s predilection for the “democratic” vision of the camera, able to render equally what is in front of the lens.

The exhibition runs October 27 - December 17, 2016. There is a  catalogue published by David Zwirner Books/Steidl on the occasion of the show.

You can read more on artdaily HERE 

William Eggleston - Untitled from The Democratic Forest, c. 1983-1986

William Eggleston - Untitled from The Democratic Forest, c. 1983-1986

William Eggleston - Untitled from The Democratic Forest, c. 1983-1986

Anthony Hernandez at San Francisco MoMA

 

Anthony Hernandez, Discarded #50, 2014

It was a treat, to say the least, to get to see the Anthony Hernandez retrospective at San Francisco MoMA. The show spans Hernandez's lengthy career from his early street photography to his current way of seeing - spare, large format images devoid of human presence yet loaded with meaning.

SF MoMA say this about the show: Anthony Hernandez is the first retrospective to honor the more than 45-year career of this major American photographer. Featuring approximately 160 photographs — many never shown before — the exhibition includes a remarkably varied body of work united by its formal beauty and its subtle consideration of contemporary social issues. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Anthony Hernandez developed his own individual style of street photography, one attuned to the desolate allure and sprawling expanses of his hometown. Over the course of his career, he has deftly moved from black-and-white to color photography, from 35mm to large-format cameras, and from the human figure to the landscape to abstracted detail. Highlights from the exhibition include black-and-white photographs from the early 1970s taken on the streets of downtown L.A., color pictures made on Rodeo Drive in the mid-1980s, and selections from his critically acclaimed series Landscapes for the Homeless, completed in 1991. Although Hernandez has turned his lens on other cities — including Rome, Italy, and various American locales — Los Angeles, and especially the regions inhabited by the working class, the poor, and the homeless, has been his most enduring subject.

The exhibition runs until January 1st next year and it's a must see. if you are in San Francisco next week, on Thursday November 3,  there is a chance to hear Anthony Hernandez in conversation with Jeff Wall. You will find details on the SF MoMA site HERE.

And don't overlook the stunning exhibition catalogue that supports the show. Hardcover, 280 pages, with contributions from Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Erin O’Toole, and Ralph Rugoff.

Anthony Hernandez, Forever #74, 2011

Anthony Hernandez, Landscapes for the Homeless #1, 1988

Autumn in New York - first images

 

New York, Autumn, perfect! Here are some of the first NYC photographs I've printed... pictures made in Manhattan between October 8 to 18.

San Francisco and New York...

Harvey Benge - NYC July 2012

I'm going to be in SF October 4 to 7 and NYC October 8 to 18. If there are any of my photo friends who are around and feel like a meet-up over a coffee or a beer, please get in touch. You can email me at harvey.benge@xtra.co.nz

Harvey Benge - NYC July 2012

PHOTOBOOK AWARDS 2016 - The Shortlist

 

The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards have been announced at the Opening Days of the European Month of Photography.
The Awards this year have been organized in collaboration with C/O Berlin, a Berlin-based charitable institution committed to photography and visual media.
This year’s shortlist selection was made by Christoph Wiesner (Artistic Director, Paris Photo), Lesley A. Martin (Creative Director of the Aperture Foundation book program and of The PhotoBook Review), David Campany (author, curator, and artist), Ann-Christin Bertrand (curator, C/O Berlin), and Becky Senf (Chief Curator and Norton Family Curator of Photography at the Center of Creative Photography).
The winners are to be announced at the twentieth running of Paris Photo on November 10, 2016. The thirty-five selected photobooks will be profiled in The PhotoBook Review, issue 011, and exhibited at Paris Photo and Aperture Gallery in New York, December 10, 2016 – February 2, 2017.
Initiated in November 2013 by Aperture Foundation and Paris Photo, the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards celebrate the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography, with three major categories: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photography Catalogue of the Year. The short-listed titles are :

CATALOGUE OF THE YEAR :

A Handful of Dust : From the Cosmic to the Domestic
David Campany
LE BAL and MACK

Wojciech Zamecznik : Photo-graphics
Karolina Puchala-Rojek and Karolina Ziebinska-Lewandowska
Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii

Werker 2-A Spoken History of the Young Worker
Marc Roig Blesa and Rogier Delfos
Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art and Fotomuseum Winterthur

Robert Mapplethorpe : The Archive
Frances Terpak and Michelle Brunnick
Getty Research Institute

Moholy-Nagy: Future Present
Matthew S. Witkovsky, Carol S. Eliel, and Karole P. B. Vail
Art Institute of Chicago

SHORT-LISTED TITLES FOR PHOTOBOOK OF THE YEAR:

The Meadow
Barbara Bosworth and Margot Anne Kelley
Radius Books

Looking for Alice
Siân Davey
Trolley Books

End.
Eamonn Doyle, Niall Sweeney, and David Donohoe
D1

Taking Stock of Power : An Other View of the Berlin Wall
Annett Gröschner and Arwed Messmer
Hatje Cantz

ZZYZX
Gregory Halpern
MACK

The Democratic Forest
Mark Holborn and William Eggleston III
Steidl

Berenice Abbott : Paris Portraits, 1925-1930
Ron Kurtz and Hank O’Neal
Steidl and Commerce Graphics

The Epic Love Story of a Warrior
Peter Puklus
SPBH Editions

Parallel Encyclopedia #2
Batia Suter
Roma Publications

Little North Road: Africa in China
Daniel Traub, Wu Yong Fu, and Zeng Xian Fang
Kehrer Verlag

SHORT-LISTED TITLES FOR FIRST PHOTOBOOK:

The Prospect of Immortality
Murray Ballard
GOST Books

Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going, Why?
Dan Boardman and Aspen Mays
Houseboat Press and Conveyer Editions

I Absolutely Forbade All Public Photographs of Myself
Yannick Bouillis
Self-published

Dark Archives: 1-41
Andre Bradley
Images Text Ithaca Press

Libyan Sugar
Michael Christopher Brown
Twin Palms Publishers

The Naming of a River
Cheng Xinhao
Jiazazhi Press

Magic Party Place
CJ Clarke
Kehrer Verlag

Black Is the Day, Black is the Night
Amy Elkins
Self-published

A House Without a Roof
Adam Golfer
Booklyn

Lost Coast
Curran Hatleberg
TBW Books

Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015-2016
John Radcliffe Studio
Self-published

Astres Noirs
Katrin Koenning et Sarker Protick
Chose Commune

Event Horizon
Quentin Lacombe
Self-published

Sugar Paper Theories
Jack Latham
Here Press

Dear Clark: Portrait of a Con Man
Sara-Lena Maierhofer
Drittel Books

Tokyo
Sohei Nishino
Amana

Summer Days Staten Island
Christine Osinski
Damiani Editore

00A
Dominique Somers
Art Paper Editions

How We End.
Kate Stone and Hannah Schneider
Self-published

Estamos Buscando A (We’re Looking For)
Paul Turounet
Self-published