Art Photo Collector

“Justice in the conduct and life of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.”—Plato 

Although we do not hear enough about it, there are more than 70,000 juveniles presently incarcerated in the United States. Richard Ross, a Professor/photographer at the University of California Santa Barbara, has spent more than five years in over 300 facilites in 31 states documenting, interviewing, and photographing what we do to young people in this country. This project, Juvenile-in-Justice, and the accompanying book offer a sobering analysis of how we administer justice in the USA.

Ross’s skills as a photographer are quite evident throughout his work. While these images may on the surface appear perfectly composed and cooly detached, they are, in fact, indictments of injustice. This rich alchemy of beauty and indignation gives these images their power and resonance.

Juvenile-in-Justice is on view in NYC at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts until Saturday, and then moves on to the LA Municipal Art Gallery. For an excellent and poignant overview of the project, this video is required viewing.  --Lane Nevares 

“It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideals which have been instilled in them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are wounded.” —W. Somerset Maugham

The International Center of Photography in New York recently announced their 29th Annual Infinity Awards. In the “Young Photographer” category, Kitra Cahana (b. 1987) is this year’s winner. Unknown to me, I visited her site and was immediately drawn in.

Cahana’s series on nomads and teens, in particular, caught my eye. In photography, the quality of light (and the attention given to it) means everything. Her judicious use of it gives her color images a moodiness that is both pleasing and full of uncertainty—like the kids she photographs. At age 25, Cahana reveals a depth rarely found in the work of her contemporaries. Her ICP award is well deserved. —Lane Nevares

“You don’t see the things you photograph. You feel them.”—André Kertész

Tucked away in the Clamp Art gallery, Evzen Sobek’s Life In Blue series is a little gem of a show. I first encountered this series, shot along the Nové Mlýny reservoirs in the Czech Republic, upon publication of the monograph in 2011. Since then it has gathered notoriety and has been featured in many blogs and publications. I was pleased to see the work first-hand and in relation to one another.

For those of you in NYC, I include a visit to this show on my fine art photography tour to illustrate how deceptively easy it appears, but how difficult it is, to achieve coherency in a body of work. In this series, the color blue is the ostensible motif, but Sobek’s ability to create a consistent mood, or feeling, is what makes the work shine. Join me and others for lively conversation and fun this Saturday. —Lane Nevares 

“Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.” —Marcus Aurelius 

Beauty, in the most sublime sense, is an inherent good. When I encounter it, I am reminded how little it matters what I, or anyone else, think about it. Writing over 1,800 years ago, Marcus Aurelius, as many others before him, understood it too. 

I recently came across the Pakistani-born, Tokyo-based photographer Arif Iqball’s work via David Alan Harvey’s excellent online magazine burn.  These pictures of Geiko and their apprentice Maiko are simple, elegant, contemplative, and sumptuous with color. It is the respect and love from the photographer that infuses them with their sensitivity. His admiration for Japanese culture and tradition is evident. Mr. Iqball is still developing as a photographer, but this delightful series (including the B&W version on his website) shows promise. —Lane Nevares 

“I felt that children smoking would have a surreal impact upon the viewer and compel them to truly see the acts of smoking rather than making assumptions about the person doing the act.” Frieke Janssens 

Last week, I attended the preview for, “Smoking Kids,” by the Belgian photographer, Frieke Janssens. I was impressed at how much fun an opening could be. Rather than a stuffy affair, it was packed with well-dressed Belgians out in support of one of their own, enjoying live music and good drink. In essence, a party.

Frieke Janssens images of smoking children may, on first take, seem real, but they’re not. With any photographic work, much lies in what we bring to the moment of engagement with the image. Understanding a photographer’s intent, therefore, can sometimes be a little ambiguous. With these beautiful portraits of children, I find that to be the case. Janssens is asking us to question the viewer’s relationship to smoking, and then what?  Do these portraits transcend their stylized appeal?  

Janssens is an accomplished photographer bold enough to follow her imagination wherever it may lead. She understands how to produce good work, and I salute her. I suspect that despite some finding her depiction of children controversial, much of the work will sell here, as it has in Europe. The exhibit is up until the 8th of February at the VII Gallery in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Stay tuned, you’ll be hearing more about Frieke Janssens. —Lane Nevares

“I find that through the study of women, you get to the heart—the truth—of the culture.”—Shirin Neshat 

The first New York solo show for Vienna-based artist, Sissi Farassat, recently opened at Edwynn Houk. Farassat, born in Iran, but reared in Austria, brings a unique fusion of Persian and Viennese influences into her work. A careful study of these photographs, reveals thousands of hand-stitched sequins, crystals and beads she uses to transform her photographs from one medium into another.

Of course, Farassat, isn’t the first to take a photograph, manipulate it by hand, and to create something new. What is wonderful about her work, however, is the attention and the commitment to the idea that a photograph possesses endless possibilities. —Lane Nevares

Wishing all of you a prosperous and exciting 2013. Thanks for sharing the journey.—Lane Nevares

“It (taking photographs) is all about longing…without longing—no pictures at all.”  —Anders Petersen

One of the nicest gifts I received this year is Anders Petersen’s latest monograph, ”Soho.” In collaboration with London’s noted Photographers’ Gallery and Mack Books, Petersen was given a four-week residency last year to shoot images of an area in London known for many things to many people. For Petersen, it was an opportunity to return to a place he’d known in the 70’s and could re-discover, thirty years later, through the lens.

While there are many impressive photographers working today, Anders Petersen is one of the finest. I am consistently astonished at the power of his photographs. His ability to infuse images with a poetic gaze that senses fragility and yearns for Beauty is the mark of an artist in love with his craft, and more importantly, in love with people. I can keep returning to his work and always find something deeper, more resonant. 

For a peek inside the book here’s a video. But I recommend discovering his work, first hand, in print. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in the magic of the photobook. —Lane Nevares

“I wasn’t born a commercial photographer. I was born an artist, and I’ve been doing art my whole life.” —Jill Greenberg

The photographer, Jill Greenberg’s, latest show Horse is ending this week at ClampArt. With her signature lighting, Greenberg is back in action doing what she does best: portraits. Her work, distinctive and often imitated, rides a fine line between what many argue is “commercial” and what is “fine art.” I won’t belabor any distinctions here.

In the essay to her new book Horses. Greenberg writes, “I explore how the photography relates to gender issues and whether horses are perceived as feminine or masculine… I ended up getting to the place where they’re both.” Whether others see this connection is an open question, but from an aesthetic point-of-view, I find these portraits, with their powerful lighting and re-touched colors, to be quite appealing. They make me see horses in a fresh way.

For those of you who are curious about how Greenberg captured these images, here is a behind-the-scenes video of her in action. Given the set-up, crew, and the hard work that goes into producing a photo shoot, I can assure you that she’s not “horsing around.” —Lane Nevares

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” —Nelson Mandela

The Walther Collection’s Project Space in New York is currently exhibiting Part II “Contemporary Reconfigurations” of “Distance and Desire: Encounters with the African Archive,” curated by Professor Tamar Garb of University College London.  This second part of an ambitious three-part series presents us with contemporary work from diverse African and African American photographers.

The exhibit weaves together artists engaging with, what academics call the “ethnographic archive,” and their unique responses to it. From photographers like Zanele Muholi, who gives us politically and sexually charged portraits of her fellow South Africans, to Samuel Fosso’s conceptually-layered self-portraits, the artists in the exhibit look us straight in the eyes and ask, “who’s really looking at whom?” —Lane Nevares

You, me and Sotheby’s. Last exciting auction tour of the season is coming up this Wednesday. Please join me for fun, intellectual stimulation, and what will be a thrilling auction.  Hope to see you there. —Lane Nevares

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” —Carl Sagan

One of the four artists recently shortlisted for the prestigious 2013 Deutsche Börse Prize is the Spanish photographer, Cristina De Middel, whose self-published book, “The Afronauts” takes us into the world of the Zambian space program of the 1960’s. Yes: the Zambian space program.

Known as the “Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy,” the unofficial organization, lead by an ambitious man named Edward Nkoloso, wanted Zambia, despite it’s Russian and American competitors, to be the first to Mars. Now that’s ambition for you.

Cristina De Middel carefully reveals the story through a brilliantly crafted photobook that creates an experience of both history and imagination. I have only perused a copy, but found the enigmatic photographs, charts, letters, and layout to be first-rate. De Middel, who is also a photojournalist, is skillfully blurring truth & fiction. None of these photos were taken in Zambia. And none of them are “real” in their depiction of actual events. De Middel is challenging our unwarranted belief in the photograph: the idea that what we see is somehow true, real, and authentic. When, after all, it’s just a photograph. —Lane Nevares

“Reality is always extraordinary.”   — Mary Ellen Mark 

For many people, Mary Ellen Mark’s work needs no introduction. Her latest monograph, Prom, done in collaboration with her husband the film maker, Martin Bell, who also interviewed the sitters, was published in April.  Since then, the exhibit for Prom has traveled: most recently to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and tomorrow night to the Janet Borden Gallery where it will be up until the 19th of January.

With her 20x24 Polaroid Land Camera and signature lighting, Mary Ellen Mark explores the peculiarly American rite-of-passage known as the “Prom.”  While, to my tastes, these portraits are not a departure from her other polaroid portrait series, Twins, this latest body of work is still excellent and distinctively Mary Ellen Mark.

The details matter. Taken over a period of four years and thirteen different High Schools, these photographs, carefully examined, reflect layers of American culture. The clothes, the postures and the gaze—all provide clues. These teens mirror our economic and social realities, and in doing so, reveal ourselves.  —Lane Nevares  

“The world makes up my pictures, not me.” —Lee Friedlander 

Until December 22nd, the Pace/MacGill Gallery on E. 57th St. is hosting a double-shot of Lee Friedlander.  Two exhibits, “Lee Friedlander: Nudes” and “Lee Friedlander: Mannequin” take us into the past and back to the present.  On the second floor, we get to re-visit Friedlander’s acclaimed nudes from the late 70’s and 80’s, while on the 9th, we encounter the first New York presentation of his latest body of work, “Mannequin.” 

Both shows revel in the power of the 35mm camera. Friedlander’s nudes are evocative and immediate.  His hand-held camera work still feels loose and confident. In this new series, “Mannequin” it’s all about composition, perspective, and layers of shadow and light. While past masters like Eugene Atget and Berenice Abbott have successfully pursued a similar motif of reflections in a shop window, a modern master like Friedlander leaves his own scent behind. I found that the complexity of these images stirred my mind in many directions—the closer I looked the deeper I got.  Lee Friedlander is approaching his 80’s, yet how many younger photographers can consistently match this caliber of work?  —Lane Nevares

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”—Henry D. Thoreau

Along with many others, Hurricane Sandy was not kind to the Chelsea Arts District in New York. It’s unfortunate that many galleries suffered damage and that things have been sorely disrupted for many. The Andrea Meislin Gallery, which was/is hosting Michal Chelbin’s new exhibit, “Sailboats and Swans,” is currently closed. 

Michal Chelbin’s latest project and recent monograph depict her work over the last six years shooting portraits in seven prisons in Ukraine and Russia. This latest work is true to form for Chelbin: gorgeous light and enigmatic subjects. I am deeply impressed at her ability to conjure portraits that are singularly hers.

Much has been written about her work and the excellent blog, Time LightBox, has a slide show featuring more from this series. (Highly recommended viewing.) Chelbin is an outstanding photographer who is underestimated, and I suspect that as time goes on and her work evolves, this will no longer be the case. —Lane Nevares