Photography at the 2011 ADAA Art Show

As always, this year’s ADAA Art Show was characterized by its consistent quality from booth to booth and its extraordinarily high production values. Even though there is a wide spread of work on display in this show, the ratio of wheat to chaff is generally much higher than the other fairs. Once again, many of the exhibitors opted for solo shows or tightly edited groups of work, meticulously hung against colored walls or linen wallpaper. It’s a thoroughly sophisticated approach to an art fair; the challenge is that without a few jolts of roughness or energy, this hushed environment can lull you to sleep.
This post is organized by my path through the fair, starting to the left from the entrance, and winding back and forth before returning to the front to exit. Like our Armory posts, for each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, and pictures of the installation are also included where specific images stood out.
Marian Goodman Gallery (here): Gabriel Orozco (2)
McKee Gallery (here): Richard Learoyd (1). Learoyd’s portraits are growing on me as I see them more. This one was priced at $35000.

Robert Miller Gallery (here): Diane Arbus (11)
Jill Newhouse (here): Anonymous (13). This booth was filled with Rodin sculptures and drawings, as well as quite a few photographs of his sculptures. It wasn’t clear who the photographer of record was for these images, as many were signed by Rodin himself. I particularly liked this set of three variant images. In general, the prints were reasonably priced, between $800 and $4500 each.

Zabriskie Gallery (here): Paul Strand (16). This booth was devoted to Strand, and aside from one industrial image and one Taos church, all of the works were from his garden in Orgeval, France. I very much enjoyed these two florals (look for the bees in the second one), both of which were priced at $24000.

Cheim & Read (here): Diane Arbus (1), William Eggleston (2), Walker Evans (1). The contrasts in this Evans were spectacular; however, it wasn’t for sale.

CRG Gallery (here): Lyle Ashton Harris (1), Joel-Peter Witkin (1)
Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs (here): Bisson Freres (1), Jean Laurent (2), Felix Teynard (1), Auguste Salzmann (1), Louis-Remy Robert (2), Louis-Emile Durandelle (2), William Henry Fox Talbot (7), James Nasmyth (2), Anna Atkins (2), Louis Pierre Rousseau (1), Dr. Alfred Donne (1), Unknown (2), Edward Steichen (1), JB Greene (2), Andre Adolphe Eugene Disderi (2), James Ross and John Thomson (1), Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1), Duchenne de Boulogne and Adrien Tournachon (1), Circle of Charles Simart (1), Julia Margaret Cameron (1), Charles Marville (2). As usual, Kraus’ booth was a smorgasbord of 19th century photographic treasures. I had seen the two Atkins cyanotypes previously, so I was more intrigued by the Robert negative image, with its intersecting lines made by the cart and tools. It was priced at $60000.

Skarstedt Gallery (here): Cindy Sherman (2), Richard Prince (group of 4)
Fraenkel Gallery (here): Carleton Watkins (7), Robert Adams (10). This booth featured a smart pairing of Watkins and Adams, where echoes of land forms (rivers, masses of boulders, horizon lines, etc.) were matched together. I liked the Adams on the top left below, with its jagged shadow contrast and the hidden train track running below. The Adams images were priced between $12000 and $18000; the Watkins images were between $45000 and $190000.

Donald Young Gallery (here): Jeanne Dunning (2), James Welling (5), Rodney Graham (1 + 1 diptych), Mark Wallinger (stills on video screen)
Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): William Klein (20 + 1 video + 4 books). A brash booth full of Klein photographs was a bit of a surprise from Greenberg, which has often opted for a selection of iconic highlights in this kind of fair setting. I thought it was fresh and fantastic.

James Cohan Gallery (here): Katie Patterson (4)
Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects (here): Laurel Nakadate (12)
Pace/MacGill Gallery (here): Irving Penn (20). This booth contained a selection of Penn’s innovative corner portraits, where his famous subjects have been pushed into a narrow confining space. I enjoyed the two portraits of Georgia O’Keeffe on the inside wall of the booth, but perhaps my favorite was the Truman Capote on the front wall; I liked the way the space is taken up by the chair and Capote’s large coat, and I think the introduction of the vertical line of the wall opens up the strict formula of the composition. The Capote portrait was priced at $95000.


Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery (here): Mika Rottenberg (2), Barney Kulok (1). I liked the jumble of spaces and volumes in this large Kulok image; it was priced at $6000.

Regen Projects (here): Catherine Opie (3). There is certainly an echo of Hiroshi Sugimoto or Renate Aller in these Opie seascapes and sunsets, but there’s no denying the serene lushness of the pure blue images. These were priced at $30000 each.

Photography at the 2011 Armory, Part 4 of 4

The 4th and final portion of our 2011 Armory summary covers Pier 92, also known as the Armory Show Modern. Part 1 of the review (which includes an explanation of the format) can be found here; Parts 2 and 3 can be found here and here.

Marlborough Gallery (here): Hans Silvester (1)

JGM. Galerie (here): Anne & Patrick Poirer (2)
Vivian Horan Fine Art (here): Cindy Sherman (1), Lynda Benglis (6). I had no idea photography was part of Benglis’ artistic practice. These color lanscapes were carefully traced with gold paint in certain areas. I didn’t ask the prices.
Springer & Winckler Galerie (here): Georges Rouse (2), Andy Goldsworthy (2), Hiroshi Sugimoto (4), Sigmar Polke (4), Arnold Odermatt (18). The entire outside wall of this booth was devoted to Odermatt. Aside from the two color portraits of children, they were all black and white car crashes from Karambolage.


Wetterling Gallery (here): Nathalia Edenmont (6), Mike and Doug Starn (1 diptych, 1 triptych). I liked the simple fragility of this massive Starn leaf. It was priced at $38000.

Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): Shinichi Maruyama (3), Michael Wolf (6), Barbara Morgan (2), Rosalind Solomon (1), Andre Kertesz (10), Nathan Lyons (3 diptychs), Trine Sondergaard (10), Frederick Sommer (1), John Wood (2), Edward Weston (1), Alfred Stiedglitz (1), Irving Penn (2), Todd Hido (3), Paul Strand (1), Yao Lu (1), Aaron Siskind (10). I never tire of Siskind’s building facades, with their patterns of windows, moldings, and architectural lines. They clearly also work well when hung as a group/grid, so the geometries and differences in scale/color can play off one another.

Francis Naumann Fine Art (here): Man Ray (6). This Man Ray nude was terrific close up; it was priced at a hefty $250000. I also liked the suite of mathematical objects (particularly the star shaped form in the upper left), which I had never seen before. They were priced at $120000 for the set of 4.

 

Marc Selwyn Fine Art (here): Richard Misrach (1), Robert Mapplethorpe (1), William Wegman (2), Donald Huebler (1), Robert Heinecken (3). I’ve always liked Heinecken’s Polaroid foodgrams. They were priced at $11000 each.

Alan Koppel Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (2), Diane Arbus (1), Gregory Crewdson (1), Richard Hamilton (3), Robert Frank (1), Robert Moskowitz (1)
Armand Bartos Fine Art (here): Barbara Kruger (1)
Gerald Peters Gallery (here): J. Henry Fair (1)
HackelBury Fine Art (here): Doug and Mike Starn (2), Garry Fabian Miller (4), Pascal Kern (10)
Yancey Richardson Gallery (here): Victoria Sambunaris (2), Sharon Core (1), Olivo Barbieri (2), Rachel Perry Welty (2), Alex Prager (7 + 1 video), Andrew Moore (1), Laura Letinsky (2), bryan Graf (3)
Amy Wolf Fine Art (here) and Elrick-Manley Fine Art (here): Hannah Wilke (4)
Chowaiki & Co. (here): Cindy Sherman (1)
James Barron Art (here): Elinor Carucci (1), Sally Mann (1), Kohei Yoshiyuki (1), Brian Finke (1), Wolfgang Tillmans (1). This installation shot doesn’t do justice to the delicacy of this huge abstract Tillmans. The pigment washes down the surface in tiny traceries and puffs of purple smoke. The print was priced at $78000.


Nancy Hoffman Gallery (here): Lisea Lyons (2)

.
Nohra Haime Gallery (here): Eve Sonneman (2 diptychs)
.
Contessa Gallery (here): David Drebin (5)
Next up: Photography at the 2011 ADAA Art Show

Auction Preview: First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art, March 10, 2011 @Christie’s

Christie’s is last in line in the March Contemporary Art season with its First Open sale on Thursday, but the auction house comes to market with quite a bit more photographic value on offer than either of its two rivals. Out a total of 313 lots in the auction, there are 42 photographs available, with a total High estimate of $1100000.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 13
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $99000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 24
Total Mid Estimate: $531000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 5
Total High Estimate: $470000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 117, Thomas Struth, El Capitan (Yosemite National Park), California, 1999 at $100000-150000 (image at right, middle, via Christie’s).

Here’s the complete list of photographers represented by two or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Matthew Barney (4)
Gordon Matta-Clark (3)
Gregory Crewdson (2)
Barbara Kruger (2)
Richard Prince (2)
Wang Qingsong (2)
(Lot 122, Matthew Barney, Cremaster I: Goodyear, 1995, at $80000-120000, at right, bottom, and lot 278, Gordon Matta-Clark, South East, 1975, at $15000-20000, at right, top, both via Christie’s.)The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.

Christie’s
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Auction Preview: Contemporary Art, March 9, 2011 @Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s is up second in the lower end Contemporary Art parade in New York later this week. Out of a total of 343 lots on offer, there are 39 photographs interleaved, with a total High estimate for photography of $712000. Overall, I didn’t find much of note buried here.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 13
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $93000
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 25
Total Mid Estimate: $559000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 1
Total High Estimate: $60000
The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 19, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #109, 1982, at $40000-60000.
Here’s the list of photographers represented by two or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Olafur Eliasson (2)
Candida Hofer (2)
Richard Prince (2)
Andres Serrano (2)
Cindy Sherman (2)
Wang Qingsong (2)
(Lot 50, Dan Graham, Luxury Housing, Yorkville, New York, N.Y., 1966, at $6000-8000, image at right, middle, lot 159 Adam Fuss, Space, 1988, at $15000-20000, image at right, top, and lot 177, Zhang Dali, Demolition Series, 2000, at $5000-7000, image at right, bottom, all via Sotheby’s.)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
.
March 9th
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Photography at the 2011 Armory, Part 3 of 4

Part 3 of our 2011 Armory summary covers the entire left side Pier 94, left from the entrance area. Part 1 of the review (which includes an explanation of the format) can be found here; Part 2 can be found here.

Lisson Gallery (here): Rodney Graham (1), Maria Abramovic (group of 20)

Victoria Miro (here): Idris Khan (1), Isaac Julien (1), Doug Aitken (group of 20). This striking purple and orange grid of Aitken images was on an outside wall of the booth; I didn’t get a price.

Max Wigram Gallery (here): Slater Bradley (1), James White (1)
Museum 52 (here): Mariah Robertson (1)
Galeria Senda (here): Massimo Vitali (1), Ola Kolehmainen (1), Jordi Bernardo (2)
Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois (here): Alain Bublex (1)
Nicholas Robinson Gallery (here): Petros Christostoumou (1), Indre Serpytyte (1)
Sean Kelly Galley (here): James Casebere (2), Robert Mapplethorpe (2), Iran do Spirito Santo (4), Marina Abramovic (1), Frank Thiel (2). I liked the textured geometric uniformity of this monochrome Thiel. It was priced at 23000€.


Galerie Barbara Wien Wilma Lukatsch (here): Mariana Castillo Deball (4)

Carlier Gebauer (here): Jean-Luc Moulene (1)
Baronian_Francey (here): Florian Maier-Aichen (1)
Galerie Georg Kargl (here): Andreas Forarasi (1), David Maljkovic (1)
Yvon Lambert (here): David Claerbout (5+1 diptych)
Jack Shainman Gallery (here): Zwelethu Mthethwa (1), Hank Willis Thomas (1), Carrie Mae Weems (grid of 42), Richard Mosse (1). This was the first time I’ve seen one of Mosse’s infrared images of the Congo in person. The pink tonality of the mountainous jungle is truly electric; I’m looking forward to seeing an entire show of this body of work at some point soon. The image was priced at $19000.

BlainSouthern (here): Mat Collinshaw (13)
Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie (here): Hrafnkell Sigurdsson (1)
Buchmann Galerie (here): Bettina Pousttchi (2)
Galerie Daniel Templon (here): James Casebere (1)
Kavi Gupta Gallery (here): Curtis Mann (2). I continue to be impressed by these bleached images by Mann. I like the yellowed surface distortions and the glimpses of narrative underneath. This grid was $22000, and there were others to look at in a binder.

Workplace Gallery (here): Marcus Coates (1), Matt Stokes (1), Jo Coupe (1)
Parkett Publishers (here): Paul McCarthy (1), Annette Kelm (1)
Bugada & Cargnel (here): Cyprien Gaillard (4)
Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska (here): Josef Hoeflehner (2), Giovanni Castell (2), Olaf Otto Becker (2), Axel Hutte (1)
Ingleby Gallery (here): Garry Fabian Miller (7), Peter Liversidge (2), Susan Derges (1 diptych). I’ve always been a fan of Derges’ work, especially the River Taw series of photograms. These images of water over sand have an amazing sparkle up close. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a price.


Galeria Enrique Guerrero (here): Olga Adelantado (2). Pablo Helguera (6+slides on lightbox)

Faria Fabregas Galeria (here): Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck (1)
Ignacio Liprandi Arte Contemporaneo (here): Adriana Bustos (2)
Galeria Nara Roesler (here): Paolo Bruscky (2)
Lucia de la Puente (here): Edi Hirose (9)
Galeria Isabel Aninat (here): Denise Lira-Ratinoff, Collectivo Aninat & Swinburn (4)

Part 4 of the Armory review can be found here.

Auction Preview: Under the Influence, March 8, 2011 @Phillips

Phillips follows up the bustle of the New York art fairs with a lower end sale of Contemporary Art scheduled for tomorrow. Out of a total of 287 lots on offer, there are 55 lots of photography mixed in, with a total High estimate for photography of $532500.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 40
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $215500
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 15
Total Mid Estimate: $317000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA
The top lot by High estimate is lot 143, Vik Muniz, After Mark Rothko (from Pictures of Colors), 2001, at $30000-40000.
The following is the list of the photographers represented by two or more lots in this sale (with the number of lots on offer in parentheses):
Katy Grannan (4)
Ryan McGinley (4)
Vanessa Beecroft (2)
Anna Gaskell (2)
Sarah Jones (2)
Barbara Kruger (2)
Elad Lassry (2)
Florian Maier–Aichen (2)
Vik Muniz (2)
Gabriel Orozco (2)
Richard Prince (2)
(Lot 88, Barbara Kruger, Ohne Titel -Evil, 2001, at $20000-30000, at right, top, lot 105, Matthias Hoch, Ravensburg #24, 2002, at $3000-4000, image at right, bottom, and lot 108, Walter Niedermayr, Dachstein 1, 1997, at $10000-15000, image at right, middle, all via Phillips.)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
Phillips De Pury & Company
450 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Photography at the 2011 Armory, Part 2 of 4

Part 2 of our 2011 Armory summary covers the remainder of the main Pier 94, straight ahead from the entrance. Part 1 of the review (which includes an explanation of the format) can be found here.

Catherine Edelman Gallery (here): Julie Blackmon (2), Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (3), Gregory Scott (3), Nan Goldin (2), Myra Green (group of 23). Green’s works depict the close-up features of the artist’s face (ears, nose, mouth, lips), in an exploration of black stereotypes. I liked the messiness of the ambrotype process, which adds a blunt roughness to the simple forms. To get a sense of scale for the image below, each work is just a few inches by a few inches, each easily held in one hand. The whole set was available for $44000.

Galeria Oliva Arauna (here): Zwelethu Mthethwa (1), Per Barclay (1), Jorge Molder (3), Juan Carlos Robles (2), Gabriele Basilico (24), Alfredo Jaar (1), Miguel Rio Branco (1)
Galleri Bo Bjerggaard (here): Per Bak Jensen (1)
Jiri Svetska Gallery (here): Miroslav Tichy (3), Petra Feriancova (5), Petra Mala Miller (2), Katarina Poliacikova (1)

Galerie Eigen+Art (here): Rémy Markowitsch (8). A water damaged auction catalogue forms the basis of Markowitsch’s images. The reproductions are torn and eroded, allowing multiple layers to show through, creating interlocking patterns and textures in black and white. They were priced at $22000 each.


Galerie Guy Bartschi (here): Marina Abramovic (1), Nan Goldin (2)

Rena Bransten Gallery (here): Vik Muniz (2), Candida Hofer (2)

Bryce Wolkowitz Galley (here): Ola Kolehmainen (2)

Yossi Milo Gallery (here): Yukio Onodera (11), Simen Johan (2), Alison Rossiter (2 diptychs), Sze Tsung Leong (2), Loretta Lux (2), Pieter Hugo (2). Hugo’s imposing portrait is from a sprawling computer recycling facility in Ghana, where spare parts and metals are salvaged. It was priced at $23000.


Cardi Black Box (here): Shirana Shahbazi (1)

Voges Gallery (here): Martin Liebscher (1)

Greenberg Van Doren Gallery (here): Tim Davis (6)

Michael Stevenson (here): Viviane Sassen (6). Sassen’s work has a quiet dance-like elegance; I particularly liked the one of the far left below, where the anonymous body lounges amid the drapery. These were priced between $2000 and $7500.


Luciana Brito Galeria (here): Caio Reisewitz (1), Allan McCollum (1), Geraldo de Barros (8), Rochelle Costi (5)

Goodman Gallery (here): Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (1), Mikhael Subotzky (3), Jodi Bieber (1), David Goldblatt (1). Goldblatt’s elevated image of an endless shanty town resolves itself into intricate texture and dense pattern. I remember asking the price, but I somehow didn’t write it down.

Galerie Laurent Godin (here): Gonzalo Lebrija (3)

Carolina Nitsch (here): EV Day (6), Alyson Shotz (6), Vera Lutter (3). Shadowy new photogravures by Lutter, this time of pyramids. They were $6000 each or $15000 for the set (pre-publication).


Timothy Taylor Gallery (here): Susan Hiller (11)

Produzentengalerie Hamburg (here): Wael Shawky (2)

Galerie Sfeir–Semler (here): Akram Zaatari (3), Yto Barrada (2)

Kukje Gallery (here): Candida Hofer (1)

Galerie Krinzinger (here): Frank Thiel (1), Kader Attia (1), Paul McCarthy (2), Oleg Kulik (2), Rudolf Schwartzkogler (2), Gunter Brus (1), Otto Muehl (10), Valie Export (1), Marina Abramovic (8), Angelika Krinzinger (4 triptychs). Krinzinger’s images depict fragmented bodies supported by plastic braces with velcro strips; the effect is sculptural and abstract. The triptychs were priced at $2500 each.


Galerie Thaddeus Ropac (here): Sturtevant (11)

Sies + Höke (here): Etienne Chambaud (2), Joao Maria Gusmao and Perdo Paiva (4)

Part 3 can be found here.

Photography at the 2011 Armory, Part 1 of 4

If I have any takeaway from this year’s photography scavenger hunt at the Armory Show in New York, it is that this show is evolving away from the heavy hitters and “best of the best” toward more of an international melting pot. As I wandered through the alleys of white booths that cover both Piers 94 and 92 (roughly 275 galleries in all), I saw very few million dollar prints or acknowledged contemporary icons, and instead encountered a satisfying diversity of work, much of it on the fringes or entirely new to me.

With a few years of doing these reviews under my belt, my approach to this show has now become ruthlessly systematic: back and forth, up and down the aisles, scanning each nook and cranny for photography. All in, I found 96 galleries showing at least one photograph (down from 115 last year); as always, I certainly missed or omitted a few, but I’d like to think I looked at nearly everything that was on view.
I’m going to break my notes into four posts, roughly grouped by their physical location at the fair. Part 1 of this summary covers the booths in the area to the right of the entry at Pier 94 (if you are facing the registers) and continuing up along the far right side of the pier. In general, these reviews will list the photographers on view, with the number of works in parentheses. Additional commentary, price details, and the like will be added for noteworthy discoveries. As always, all of the galleries are linked back to their websites for further investigation and follow-up:
Studio La Città (here): Vincenzo Castella (2), Massimo Vitali (1), Gabriele Basilico (2). The angles and textures in this Basilico from Istanbul are subtly spectacular; it’s also big enough to draw you into details. Priced at 10000€.
Angles Gallery (here): Augusta Wood (1), Ori Gersht (2), Soo Kim (1)
.
Galleria Raffaella Cortese (here): Kim Sooja (1), Marcelo Maloberti (3)
.
Hales Gallery (here): Sebastiaan Bremer (2)
Filomena Soares Gallery (here): Helena Almeida (2), Vasco Araujo (1 diptych), Pilar Albarracin (1), Joao Penalvia (2)

Corkin Gallery (here): Chad Gerth (22 as one installation), Frank Madler (1+1 diptych), Iain Baxter (2), Barbara Astman (7), NE Thing Co. (2), Andre Kertesz (9), Lazlo Moholy-Nagy (1), Margaret Bourke-White (1), Walker Evans (1), Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1), Brassai (1), Thaddeus Holownia (24). In addition to a wall of vintage work on the outside of the booth, the interior was a single artist installation of Holownia’s Walden Pond Revisited, a suite of large scale black and white tree trunks on all four walls. I didn’t get a price.


Galerie Grita Insam (here): Candida Hofer (1)
.
Giorgio Persano (here): Michele Zaza (18), Per Barclay (1), Michelangelo Pistoletto (5), Mimmo Paladino (24 in a spiral)

303 Gallery (here): Stephen Shore (1), Rodney Graham (1), Collier Schorr (1), Florian Maier-Aichen (1)
.
Ratio 3 (here): Mitzi Pederson (2), Ryan McGinley (1), Lutz Bacher (1 group), Geof Oppenheimer (1), Miriam Böhm (2). These visual puzzles by Böhm were among my favorites at the show. I liked the layered approach to simple art materials, photographing and rephotographing from slightly different angles to create echoes and spatial depth, while maintaining apparent alignment. There was a terrific article on Böhm in ArtForum a few months back. They are priced at $4500 each.

XL Gallery (here): Blouesoup Group (1), Igor Moukhin (1)
.
i8 Gallery (here): Hrafnkell Sigurdsson (6), Olafur Eliasson (16 in grid), Sigurdur Gudmundsson (5). I never seem to tire of Eliasson’s grids of images; this one captures windswept green plants in black rocky dirt. I should have also taken a picture of Sigurdsson’s series of chucks of ice on the back side wall. There was no one around to get a price for the Eliasson.

 


Galerie Barbara Thumm (here): Sabine Hornig (1)

Andrew Kreps Gallery (here): Roe Ethridge (1), Peter Piller (12, pinned to wall), Andrea Bowers (1). I have been a bit of an Ethridge skeptic to date, but I found this double layer image to be more complex and compelling. It’s priced at $10000.


Arndt (here): Vik Muniz (3), Sophie Calle (1)

Kerlin Gallery (here): Paul Seawright (1)

Murray Guy (here): Kota Ezawa (1), Moyra Davey (group of 25)

Rhona Hoffman Gallery (here): Vito Acconci (1), Robert Heinecken (9), Gordon Matta-Clark (1). I’ve always wanted to find a Matta-Clark photograph with dense layers of geometric cut aways for our own collection, so I was particularly covetous of this multi-image work. The price was $175000.

Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art (here): Ori Gersht (1)

Anna Schwartz Gallery (here): AES+F (1)

Galleri Charlotte Lund (here): Maria Friberg (1), Andres Serrano (2), Denise Grünstein (2). I very much liked the mix of performance and lushness in these images by Grünstein. The series uses hair to mask the model’s face. I was shown another excellent image (in a monograph) where the model’s head is being held by some kind of 19th century model posing contraption, once again, the tactile red hair blown across her face. They were $17000 each.


Clark & Faria Gallery (here): Scott McFarland (1), Greg Girard (1)

Part 2 can be found here.

Laurie Simmons, The Love Doll: Days 1 through 30 @Salon 94 Bowery

JTF (just the facts): A total of 11 large scale color photographs, framed in white and unmatted, and hung in the upstairs entry and the main gallery downstairs. All of the works are Fuji Matte prints, made in 2010-2011. Physical dimensions range from 70×47 to 70×53 or reverse. All of the images are available in editions of 5. A multi-panel video runs in the window facing the street. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Laurie Simmons’ new photographs are her latest step in a logical progression in scale that began on a table top decades ago and has now reached full-sized. With the help of a highly realistic, human-scaled sex doll (actually two), she has evolved away from the sparkling irony and wit of the miniatures, ventriloquist’s dolls, objects on legs, and deftly arranged color-coordinated rooms of her earlier projects, moving closer to “reality” than ever before.
.

What is altogether surprising about this body of work is how the doll itself seems to have become an emotional collaborator in the pictures, with actual mood swings and personal interactions. When seen in chronological progression, the pictures make it appear like Simmons has recently adopted a daughter or welcomed an exchange student, and the development of the relationship between the two of them can easily be followed. Early pictures in the series have the doll looking wistful and melancholy, lying in bed or lounging pensively in the sun. Soon the doll starts to exert her own rebellious personality, with smudged makeup and a tangled mass of plastic necklaces, or jumping from the edge of high stone wall. The arrival of a second doll introduces a new set of interpersonal dynamics, and the story ends just as the scenes are getting more complex and tense.
.
I think it is a mistake to get caught up in the lurid sex doll aspect of this work, or to get distracted by the pathetic-ness that such an object implies. While Simmons has always been a talented director and scene setter, I think there is an entirely different emotional resonance in these new images. By using the sex doll as a prop, her work has been reenvisioned on a human scale, with a corresponding increase in realistic detail. Her own house has become a doll house, where the artfulness of the stage has become less important and the interaction of the actors has come to the forefront. The magic comes when the setting seems to inject the doll with personality and the photographs become portraits; we’ve moved beyond clever retro dress-up, and are now in some other emotional landscape, complete with a nuanced set of feelings and modern behaviors. If you’ve seen the movie Lars and the Real Girl, you can see where this line of thinking eventually goes – the doll reflects attributes applied to it by the people around it, miraculously becoming part of the community.
.
Stylistically, every single one of the images in this show is masterfully constructed, mixing artifice and reality to generate tenderness and ambiguity. Sure, there is an inherent creepiness to this whole endeavor, but if you can get beyond that initial weirdness (the second doll still in the packing box is the most sad I think), these images offer a more complicated commentary on relationships, roles, and internal emotions than Simmons has ever taken on before. If you’re in town for the art fairs this week, this is one show to make a special trip to see.

Collector’s POV: All of the works in this show are priced at $35000 each. Simmons’ photographs have become more readily available at auction in recent years. Prices have ranged between $1000 and nearly $100000, with a consistently rising sweet spot between $8000 and $15000.

While I liked many of the images in this show, my favorite was The Love Doll/Day 6 (Winter), 2010; it’s on the far right in the top installation shot. I found it particularly engrossing because Simmons has got the “suburban/country young mom at school pick-up” look spot on, right down to the knee high muck boots and the long, form fitting down coat; that “stylish but down to earth” combination is like a winter uniform where we live (although the coat is often brown or black), and Simmons’ recreation is pitch perfect. The fact that her subject is a doll makes the realism that much more unnerving.
Rating: *** (three stars) EXCELLENT (rating system described here)
.
Transit Hub:
  • Artist site (here)
  • Reviews/Features: New York (here), NY Times T (here), Artnet (here), Wall Street Journal (here)
Salon 94 Bowery
243 Bowery
New York, NY 10002

Michael Schmelling: Atlanta – Hip Hop and the South @ClampArt

JTF (just the facts): A total of 35 color and black and white photographs, variously framed with no mats (one image is unframed and pinned directly to the wall), and hung in single room gallery space, with a small checkerboard motif in one corner of the floor. The digital c-prints range in size between 11×14 and 20×30, with several of intermediate sizes; many are 15×10 or reverse. The works were made between 2007 and 2010, and are available in editions of 5, regardless of size. There are also 2 unique works made from photographic cut outs mounted to paper; these smaller images are 12×9. A monograph of this body of work was recently published by Chronicle Books (here). (Installation shots at right.).

Comments/Context: If we play a word association game and I give you “Southern photography”, I’m guessing that most of you would come back with some combination of Eggleston, Christenberry, and Mann. Michael Schmelling’s images of modern Atlanta depict an entirely different South than that of those three photographic masters, a place of raw urban grit and youth-driven hip hop culture. His snapshot aesthetic is a perfect match for the rowdy, brash energy of the place, where scantily clad young women primp themselves in dingy colored rooms and shirtless young men with low-slung beltless pants (prison style) strut and swagger.
Schmelling clearly has an eye for saturated color; his pictures pop off the wall with muscular intensity: the bright yellow mustard of a chili dog, the purple wall of a bathroom, the orange leggings of a club girl, the head-to-toe lime green outfit of a rapper. He also captures the smaller details of the lifestyle with close attention: a curled sheet of scratched lyrics, the jumble of microphones and abandoned speakers found in makeshift recording studios, close up hand gestures (pointing and posing), and the bright club lights that create harsh shadows. Most importantly, he’s successfully recreated the rough mood of the environment, his pictures peppered with moments of saucy indecency and masculine preening.
My first impression of this show was that it was loose and off-hand, probably due to the way the images are mixed on the main wall. But a closer look revealed that the photographs are anything but accidental; I liked the editing and sequencing, especially the interleaving of portraits and atmospheric still lifes to round out the larger narrative. On the surface, the work is lively and fresh, a breath of something different from the normal Chelsea fare; down a layer or two, it’s simply well-constructed, accomplished photography.
Collector’s POV: The works in this show are reasonably priced, falling between $1200 and $1800 based on size. Schmelling’s work has not yet appeared in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.
While I liked quite a few images in this show, my favorite was Fusion_7, 2009; it’s second from the right in the bottom installation shot. Three sassy girls in tank tops and short shorts vamp with their tongues out, giving the camera the finger. It has the same kind of joyous spirit found in Malick Sidibé’s images of 1960s Bamako clubs, with an added veneer of 21st century attitude.
Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Artist site (here) and Atlanta Revisited blog (here)
  • Review: New Yorker (here)
Through March 19th
Clamp Art
521-531 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Coke Wisdom O’Neal, Blue Nude @Mixed Greens

JTF (just the facts): A total of 14 color photographs, unframed and unmatted, and hung in the North and South gallery spaces. All of the works are c-prints mounted to Dibond, made in 2011. Most of the images are square format, roughly 26×26; the rest are rectangular, ranging from 28×16 to 32×26 or reverse. All of the images, regardless of size, are printed in editions of 5. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Coke Wisdom O’Neal’s last project placed his subjects in an enormous plywood box, several stories high, dwarfing them in its immensity, allowing them the freedom to create their own environments. His recent nudes explore the other end of the spatial spectrum, where anonymous bodies have been pressed into small spaces, hemmed in by the edges of a clear Plexiglas box, forced into densely folded positions and pushed up against the walls.

This cramped territory was originally explored by Ruth Bernhard in the 1960s, with her iconic In the Box nudes, and more recently by Jenny Saville and Glen Luchford, in their series Closed Contact. O’Neal’s approach is more purely geometric, in that the viewing plane matches exactly one side of the enclosure, almost as though the viewer was right inside the box with the model. The space is also tighter, not so much to create oddities of distortion against the sides, but to leave very little room for extraneous movement; his models are truly trapped inside these boxes, their beads of sweat and the areas of fogged glass a testament to their struggles. In some cases, two bodies are jammed into one box, making the intertwining even more squished and intimate.

Stand back a bit and legs and arms become abstract lines and curves, framed by the rigidity of the transparent exterior. To my eye, the images move between being nameless odd specimens, like those found in jars in natural history museum cases, and something more purely sculptural, bodies bending and flexing in formally beautiful ways.
Collector’s POV: The works in this show generally range in price between $2400 and $3000, in ratcheting editions. O’Neal’s work has not yet appeared in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.
My favorite image in the exhibit was C46_M66_Y79_K50, 2011; it’s not in any of the installation shots, as it is hung alone on a wall near the door to the gallery. I liked the swirling N shape created by the compressed leg and the vertical arm.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • Artist site (here)
Through March 17th

531 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today @Aperture

JTF (just the facts): A group show containing a total of 110 photographs by 80 photographers, variously framed and matted, and hung throughout the gallery space (which is divided by several interior walls) and the book shop. All of the works were made between 2003 and 2010. The exhibit was curated by William Ewing and Nathalie Herschdorfer, and was originally shown at the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne. A catalogue of the exhibition has been published by Aperture (here). (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers have been included in the show:
.
Ueli Alder
Yann Amstutz
George Awde
Kristoffer Axén
Anna Beeke
Benjamin Beker
Joshua Bilton
Bogdan Andrei Bordeianu
Savaş Boyraz
Thibault Brunet
Maxime Brygo
Christine Callahan
Tehila Cohen
Jen Davis
David De Beyter
Nicolas Delaroche
Sylvia Doebelt
Dru Donovan
Eliza Jane Dyball
Lina el Yafi
Salvatore Michele Elefante
David Favrod
Daniela Friebel
Robin Friend
Matthieu Gafsou
Anne Golaz
Lena Gomon
Nick Graham
Audrey Guiraud
Claudia Hanimann
Florian Joye
Kalle Katalia
Daniel Kaufmann
Chang Kyum Kim
Ani Kingston
Markus Klingenhäger
Richard Kolker
Sylwia Kowalczyk
Ania Krupiakov
Ivar Kvaal
Elisa Larvego
Shane Lavalette
Sunghee Lee
Jacinthe Lessard-L.
Di Liu

Liu Xiaofang

Sophie Lvoff
Agata Madejska
David Molander
Agnes Eva Molnar
Richard Mosse
Milo Newman
Yusuke Nishimura
Ya’ara Oren
Anna Orlowska
Jennifer Osborne
Margo Ovcharenko
Nelli Palomäki
Regine Petersen
Augustin Rebetez
Andrea Star Reese
Nicole Robson
Camila Rodrigo Graña
Simone Rosenbauer
Sasha Rudensky
Catherine Ruttimann
Su Sheng
Ady Shimony
Geoffrey Short
Shimin Song
Megumu Takasaki
Jaime Tiller
Janneke van Leeuwen
Frederick Vidal
Tereza Vlčková
Saana Wang
Robert Watermeyer
Adrian Wood
Tamara Zibners
Barbora Zurkova & Radim Zurek

Comments/Context: For collectors like ourselves, the root of what we do on a day to day basis is a process of sorting and sifting. We expose ourselves to an endless stream of diverse imagery from a wide variety of sources, most of it drifting by to be quickly forgotten, some of it grabbing our attention just enough to make us think, a very small percentage from there rising to the point where we dig in much deeper to search for that single image that moves us enough to make the purchasing plunge. While this process has a facade of analytical rigor, the fact is that it is highly personal and subjective, often random and serendipitous, and nearly always difficult to explain.
.
The curators of this massive group show took on an expansive task: review over 700 entries from 120 photography schools around the world, winnowing the pile down by roughly 90% to get to 80 photographers, and from there generally selecting a single image to represent the artist’s work. In doing so, they imposed no rigid, over-arching theme or thesis, so what emerges is an edited sampler of current “emerging” photography, seen through the eyes of these two people. Not surprisingly, it’s an eclectic and energetic show, spanning multiple genres, geographies, subjects, and working methods.
.
The challenge with a patternless gathering of work with no organizing principle is that there isn’t any way to make sense of it all. The viewer really only has one option: to pick favorites. So as I surveyed the show, for each image, I asked myself a simple but brutal question: based on this single photograph before me, do I want to see more from this artist? This is totally unfair and inherently flawed as a process; further exploration might find some favorites to be boring and some omissions to be fantastic. But in the end, this kind of show represents the increasing “shuffle-ization” of our world: put an edited group of images on random play and see which ones you like.
.
Out of 80 photographers with work on view, I found 13 that caught my eye enough to wonder about what else they had done; my apologies to those I would have liked had I encountered an alternate image. The list is below (alphabetically) with a bare minimum of commentary surrounding the image on display (links to artist websites below as available; please add those I’ve missed to the comments):

  • Jen Davis: I’ve run across Davis’ strong self-portraits before; this smoke-ring blowing cowboy seems authentic and electrically alive.
  • Dru Donovan: A black and white nude portrait of man lying on a mirror; it plays with shadows and skin in unusual and subtle ways.
  • Audrey Guiraud: Architectural photographs from skewed angles, creating abstracted geometric compositions.
  • Claudia Hanimann: In this image, I liked the play of textures between the blue patterned shirt and the plush cloth seats surrounding it.
  • Kalle Katalia: A night beach scene with a solitary figure in the foreground; a modern take on 19th century landscape painting/composition.
  • Liu Xiaofang: A small girl looks out on an expanse of sky with a single cloud; highly stylized but still evocative.
  • Agnes Eva Molnar: Chaotic, multi-layered images of lively young women.
  • Richard Mosse: I’ve seen/reviewed Mosse’s work before; this fire engulfed jet engine pulsates.
  • Yusuke Nishimura: A sky scene in delicate pastel gradation like a watercolor.
  • Margo Ovcharenko: This was the most memorable image in the show for me. It’s an off-center portrait of a young woman that seems vital and fresh, her green dress twisted and pulled taut.
  • Simone Rosenbauer: I liked the crisp claustrophobia of this overpacked hallway shot.
  • Catherine Rüttimann: While we’ve certainly seen backstage images of the press before, I enjoyed the crushing theatricality of the nearby sets in this image.
  • Su Sheng: Well constructed images of the loneliness and boredom of solitary kids in single child Chinese families.

While other collectors will almost certainly be drawn to a different selection of specific works from this group, I think the optimistic take away for me was that, even with its flaws, this kind of broad curatorial selection process can help to uncover a few durable stars from the sea of those trying, and can expose collectors to the fresh thinking that kicks us out of our established ruts. As always, there are new, original voices waiting to be discovered and brought to the surface, and while the sifting is painstaking for everyone involved, it’s one of the only ways to successfully separate the wheat from the chaff.

Collector’s POV: The Aperture Gallery is not a selling venue, so there are no prices for this particular show. In general, there is little or no secondary market history for any of these photographers, so interested collectors will need to search out gallery representation or contact the artists directly via their personal websites.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
.
Transit Hub:

  • Jen Davis artist site (here)
  • Dru Donovan artist site (here)
  • Audrey Guiraud artist site (here)
  • Kalle Katalia artist site (here)
  • Agnes Eva Molnar artist site (here)
  • Richard Mosse artist site (here)
  • Yusuke Nishimura artist site (here)
  • Simone Rosenbauer artist site (here)
  • Catherine Ruttiman artist site (here)
  • Review: Snapshots (here, scroll down)
  • Prior Exhibition: Musée de l’Elysée (here)

reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today
Through March 17th

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Sign up for our weekly email newsletter

This field is required.