Art Photo Collector

“When you set up pictures, you’re not at any risk. Reality involves chance and risk and diving for pearls.”—Nan Goldin

Fifty years ago, during a tumultuous 1963, Constantine Manos joined Magnum Photos. Reared in South Carolina to Greek immigrant parents, he has for over 60 years taken photographs that are about light, shadow and what can be revealed in a moment. His pioneering work in color, and recognized expertise with a Leica, still capture our attention.

The Museum of Art Ft. Lauderdale’s latest show, Florida Color, mines work from Manos’s “American Color” series. While this work has already received wide acclaim, I wonder what Floridians make of seeing images of their compatriots inside a museum. Are they a mirror or a window? —Lane Nevares

“In my art, I wish to present myself through multiple lenses — as artist, as Moroccan, as traditionalist, as Liberal, as Muslim.  In short, I invite viewers to resist stereotypes.”—Lalla Essaydi

The work of Lalla Essaydi reminds me why I love photography. Sumptuous, complex, referential and captivating, her images seek the sublime. Underlying this aspiration for a transcendent beauty is a rich intellectual foundation that Essaydi eloquently explores in her writing. To appreciate the depth of her art is to read her statement. 

These large-scale works from her series “Harem Revisited” and “Bullets Revisited” will go on display tomorrow at Edwynn Houk Gallery in NYC. What we see online cannot reveal the elaborate detail in the intricate (and time consuming) henna calligraphy applied to her models, nor can it reveal the details in her staged sets. The photographs online, however, can lure us into reshaping our ideas of women, Arab culture and what photography can do. Join Lalla Essaydi on this journey. —Lane Nevares

“We are drowning in images. Photography is used as a propaganda tool, which serves to sell products and ideas. I use the same approach to show aspects to reality.” —Martin Parr 

Just in time for summer, the noted British, Magnum photographer, Martin Parr’s, latest exhibit, Life’s a Beach, opens tomorrow at Aperture Gallery here in NYC. Mr. Parr, who enjoys immense popularity and recognition, has done much for Photography. In addition to his signature work, he’s a lecturer, collector, filmmaker, and all around disciple for the medium.

Parr’s work has always had its detractors asking whether he is taking the piss and exploiting the public for his own amusement and needs, or whether he is a serious artist revealing ourselves through color, composition and fill flash. Like most things, I think the truth lies somewhere in between. Martin Parr is doing things his own way.

“Life’s a Beach” is a color parade around the world. Parr’s keen interest in beaches (although not a sun bunny himself) and people takes us from the shores of India to Latvia to Thailand to Mexico and onwards, transforming banal scenes into ironic, humorous, curious and sometimes dispiriting riffs on people at the beach. It’s all classic Martin Parr.

In addition to the show, which will be a crowd-pleaser, there’s also a new mini-edition of the monograph available, as well as a video of Parr presenting the book. All great stuff. Martin Parr once signed my notebook not with his name alone, but rather inscribing,”Martin Parr was here.” Indeed, the same holds true for his images. —Lane Nevares 

“I do not mistrust reality, of which I know next to nothing, but I am suspicious regarding the image of reality which our senses convey to us, and which is incomplete and limited. Our eyes have developed such as to survive. It is merely coincidence that we can see stars with them as well.”—Gerhard Richter

Luigi Ghirri, who passed away in 1992, was many things in his 49 years: a writer, curator, land surveyor, photographer, and conceptual artist. It is through his color photography that he is best known. His 1978 self-published monograph, Kodachrome, has influenced numerous artists and was re-printed to great acclaim last November. Currently (and for the first time in the United States), the accompanying exhibit of 25 vintage works is on display at Matthew Marks in NYC. 

Ghirri pursued his philosophical ideas using photography as a medium for deciphering form and meaning. His cool, smooth, Kodachrome view of the world is an attempt to mine significance from the signs surrounding us. Engaging with his work is to join him in grappling with universal questions of identity, place, and reality. Are his photographs, then, aspirations for some cathartic truth? Don’t let the ironic, understated images fool you, Luigi Ghirri is enjoining us to think deeply and critically about what we see and know. —Lane Nevares

“A portrait! What could be more simple and more complex, more obvious and more profound.” —Charles Baudelaire 

The 33rd edition of the New York AIPAD Photography Show kicks off on April 4th. For collectors and enthusiasts, this is a superlative opportunity to see the finest work going on in photography. More than 80 galleries and dealers worldwide are represented, including Brooklyn-based gallery, Klompching, who will be exhibiting for the first time. Their current show “Conflict and Costume,” by photographer Jim Naughten, features striking portraits of members from the Herero tribe of Namibia. Against the backdrop of the southwestern African landscape, we see Herero history carefully revealed through a conflation of fashion. Naughten’s use of strong flash lighting under a bright sun gives the portraits an added boost—colors burst and skin shines. 

The AIPAD show, events and talks continue through April 7th. Mark your calendars and treat yourself to one of the best chances of the year to see (and buy) an impressive array of work from all over the world, from historical to contemporary and everything in between. See you there. —Lane Nevares 

“Beauty is a term that is always in development, it’s not a fixed thing and is very much subjective, so to me, it’s a perception.” Erwin Olaf   

“It all begins with a dream,” Erwin Olaf told a group of us last Saturday. His latest show, Berlin, currently on view in NYC at Hasted Kraeutler and in London at Hamiltons Gallery is true to form for Olaf: sumptuous images layered with narrative, rich with details, and perfectly executed.

Using his dreams as surrealistic launching points, Olaf described his process of finding themes, unifying them, and working with his design team to bring them to fruition. This latest series, Berlin, took him outside of his Amsterdam studio and into a city steeped in history, where he could shoot his tableaux inside noted buildings, some of which have notorious histories. (Indeed, the stairs Olaf climbs in his self-portrait are the same that Hitler mounted into the Olympic Stadium.) These particular interiors, and the tales they contain, become part of the new story. Olaf’s Berlin series takes us into an enigmatic world where no one is telling us what to believe, but rather engaging us to conjure these stories ourselves. —Lane Nevares 

“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

“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 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

“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

“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

“Photography is, first of all, a way of seeing. It is not seeing itself.”—Susan Sontag 

Looking at Thomas Allen’s photographs, one is tempted to think these are photoshopped or digitally manipulated in some way. Instead, Allen carefully cuts, crafts and stages these three-dimensional scenes which are then shot on film using a large view camera and tilt-shift lens to achieve the special depth-of-field look. Allen is entirely self-sufficient and a confessed, “dyed-in-the-wool purist,” regarding his working technique. Everything must be as the camera captured it.

This latest series, “Beautiful Evidence,” inspired by his 8-year old daughter’s scientific curiosity, is currently on exhibit at Foley Gallery here in New York. The show ends on Sunday, but for a broader understanding, it’s worth visiting Allen’s site to discover more of this talented artist’s way of seeing.  —Lane Nevares

“The way I have always looked at it is, the world is in color. And there’s nothing we can do about that.” —William Eggleston 

Tomorrow and Friday, Christie’s New York Photographs sale will take place. I visited the preview today and took note that, out of a plethora of amazing work for sale, this famed Eggleston photograph, Memphis (Tricycle) c.1970, would reign with the highest estimate of $250K-$350K.  Considering that this print is but 13/20, I marveled at the magic of the market.

For those with no interest in the art market, auction house previews offer an excellent opportunity to see a great variety of high-caliber work in one setting. Yes, the rarified atmosphere can sometimes be a bit much, but I find it’s easy enough to focus on the breadth of work available. To see iconic historic and contemporary photographs from the masters of the medium is a worthwhile way to while away an afternoon.  —Lane Nevares

“One often wrongfully compares photographs to paintings. This is nonsense. The image does not refer to painting but to something alive through which passes silence…”—Lise Sarfati 

Tomorrow night, Lise Sarfati’s latest exhibition, On Hollywood, opens at Yossi Milo Gallery here in New York. Sarfati, already well known as a Magnum Photographer, chose, unconventionally, to use Kodachrome 64 transparency film to create this latest series. Kodachrome 64 film stock was originally used in the early Hollywood films of the 1940’s and there is only one lab left in the States where it can be developed.

Sarfati’s decision to use this type of film is significant. For a photographer not to have immediate feedback (on a digital display screen) of their work, means that they’re trusting their instincts, never knowing until much later whether they have captured the image they sought. It also means that our eyes see colors and light through a medium that is no longer readily available. And for Sarfati, it references the old glamour of Hollywood alongside the reality of life for these women in today’s Hollywood.

I am curious what others think of this work. I have always found that Sarfati’s European background strongly informs how she sees American culture. Her point-of-view is distinct. While I find references to other great photographers in her work, there is no doubt that the alchemy she creates between photographer and subject is compelling.—Lane Nevares