Kim Joon, Fragile @Sundaram Tagore

JTF (just the facts): A total of 22 large scale color works, each face mounted to Plexiglas and unframed, and hung in the two entry areas, the main gallery space, and a smaller back room. All of the prints are digital chromogenic prints, in editions of 5 or 8. The works range in size from 35×21 to 83×47 (or reverse), and were made between 2008 and 2010. A thin catalogue of the exhibit is available from the gallery. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Korean photographer/artist Kim Joon’s eye-catching images venture into the unexplored edges of what we call photography, looking for wholly original aesthetics that go beyond the boundaries imposed by the use of a camera. Using the powerful digital tools found in computer labs and animation studios, Kim has pushed the nude figure somewhere unexpected, morphing it into an undulating, intertwined foundation for intense decoration and patterning.
.

I think Kim’s work brings forward many of the same underlying ideas and questions that were raised by Thomas Ruff’s show at David Zwirner earlier this spring (here), albeit with an entirely different visual output. While Ruff made images of abstract mathematical equations, he too was working inside the realm of the computer, extending his visual vocabulary into uncharted white spaces. Kim has taken the freedom generated by the technology and used it to re-imagine human bodies, covering them with a heady mix of colorful Asian and Western iconography, like tattoos or body paint. Rendered in 3D and then “skinned” with his choice of coverings, the bodies become an impossible tangle of male and female limbs, a theme and variation exercise in repetition and geometry, with stylized fish, cats and birds mixing with corporate logos (Donald Duck, Mini Cooper and Honda).
Kim’s newest works trade the look and feel of human skin for the alabaster shine of fine porcelain. Bodies have been broken open, revealing hollow insides like headless figurines. Traditional china patterns from Villeroy & Boch, Limoges and Royal Copenhagen cover the cropped torsos and echo across nearby plates and saucers. Floral designs with gold leaf edges and blue and white butterflies wander across clusters of fallen bodies.
I think an overly simple reading of Kim’s work would be to highlight the clash of cultures that can be found a great deal of contemporary Asian art today and conclude that he too is working this same set of “East meets West” ideas, albeit in a more boldly colorful manner, printed big and glossy to attract a certain kind of collector. When I look at these works, however, I am more interested in where his compositional explorations might be taking us, and how to better interpret his computer-generated visual innovation. We’re a long way from clumsy appropriation and photocollage – in fact, we’re somewhere entirely new, with inherently different risks and challenges for those who employ these revolutionary tools. Do it “wrong” and it’s a throwaway gimmick, do it “right” and it breaks all the rules.
To my eye, while not every one of the works in this show hits the mark, there are certainly moments when the swirl of bodies or the arrangements of china are wonderfully woven together. Give them the backhanded compliment of “decorative” if you must, but when these interlaced forms/patterns find just the right balance of fluidity and refinement, there is something here that we haven’t seen anywhere before.
.
Collector’s POV: The works in this show are generally priced by size, with the smallest images at $7000 or $10000, and the largest either $23000 or $25000, with a number of intermediate sizes and prices. Kim’s work has recently become more consistently available in the secondary markets for photography, particularly in the past year or two. Prices at auction have ranged between $5000 and $16000.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Artist site (here)
  • Interview: Art Radar Aisa (here)
  • Feature: CNN (here)
Through November 13th
547 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10001

Taryn Simon: Contraband @Lever House

JTF (just the facts): A total of 1075 color photographs, mounted on archival paper, and hung in Plexiglas frames on three, two-sided walls in the single room lobby space. Each of the individual images is sized roughly 6×6. They are then grouped by subject matter onto 16 panels, each 95×71. All of the works were taken in 2009 and printed in 2010. A complete monograph of this project was recently published by Steidl (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Taryn Simon’s approach to photography mixes a deadpan documentary style with an undercurrent of cerebral, conceptual ideas that tests the limits of what a photograph can see and communicate. In previous projects, she has photographed people wrongly convicted of crimes at the scenes of their undoing, and made images of objects that have a hidden or indecipherable purpose. In her newest work, she spent five days in the bowels of JFK airport, taking pictures of all the items that were confiscated from passengers and express mail packages. The result is a taxonomy of contraband, a snapshot catalogue of all of the things that fall outside the approved and acceptable.
In this series, Simon’s images are basically commercial still lifes: frontal shots of various objects set against neutral white backgrounds. This aesthetic approach depersonalizes the items, making them cold, pared down, documentary facts. Photographically, the images themselves aren’t particularly interesting.

But taken together, seen as an extremely long and eclectic list of things that are prohibited, illegal, counterfeit, unlicensed, or undeclared, the objects start to take on a different resonance. They start to create a picture of the edges of our culture, telling stories of the forbidden and illicit, of people who pursue activities that fall outside the norms. They paint a picture of a melting pot of puzzling cultural influences and traditions. They tell us about the global commerce that flows in and out of America like a flood each and every day, meeting our demands, fueled by our desires. They highlight what we find threatening or scary. In short, they provide a surprisingly direct social commentary on what we have decided we are not (and yet we still are).

.
So what’s on this exhaustive list? Deer blood, Cuban cigars, pirated DVDs, counterfeit Beanie Babies, peyote, moon cakes, pharmaceuticals of various kinds, leaves from endangered species, nesting dolls, bongs, skeletons, berries, chicken feet, sugar cane, unidentified meats, fake watches, seeds, eggshells, pirated handbags, bags of fat, and cigarettes, among many, many others. It’s a parade of oddities and curiosities, a set of both the bizarre and the mundane.
This is a show where the backstory is everything, where the context provides the spark of ideas. It’s a thoughtful conceptual exercise, bounded by a particular slice of time, and it successfully focuses the viewer on a striking inversion. It forces us to look closely at how we have defined our world by seeing what falls outside its boundaries.
Collector’s POV: Taryn Simon is represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York (here) and Almine Rech Gallery in Paris and Brussels (here). Simon’s work has only just begun to enter the secondary markets in the last year or so, and no definitive price pattern has yet emerged. As such, gallery retail is likely the only real option for interested collectors at this point.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Artist site (here)
  • Feature: NY Times Lens (here)
  • Current exhibitions: Gagosian Beverly Hills (here) and Almine Rech Brussels (here)
Taryn Simon: Contraband
Through December 31st
390 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Auction Results: Photographs, November 2, 2010 @Bonhams

Bonhams had a generally uneventful outcome at its Photographs sale in New York earlier this week. The auction had a Buy-In rate over 45% and Total Sale Proceeds that missed the low estimate by a decent margin. With few in the way of positive surprises, there just wasn’t much to write home about.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
.
Total Lots: 110
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $506500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $748500
Total Lots Sold: 60
Total Lots Bought In: 50
Buy In %: 45.45%
Total Sale Proceeds: $423767

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 100
Low Sold: 53
Low Bought In: 47
Buy In %: 47.00%
Total Low Estimate: $517500
Total Low Sold: $287127
.
Mid Total Lots: 9
Mid Sold: 7
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 22.22%
Total Mid Estimate: $171000
Total Mid Sold: $136640
.
High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total High Estimate: $60000
Total High Sold: NA
.
The top lot by High estimate was lot 38, Ansel Adams, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, 1927, at $40000-60000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 33, Ansel Adams, Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California, 1944/1970s, at $39650.

70.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 2 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 13, Edward Curtis, The Vanishing Race, Navajo, 1904, at $15860
Lot 89, Duane Michals, Magritte with Hat, 1965/1989, at $5795 (image at right, top, via Bonhams)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
.
Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Auction Previews: Post-War and Contemporary Art, Evening, Morning, and Afternoon Sales, November 10 and 11, 2010 @Christie’s

Christie’s has the final slot in the Fall Contemporary Art season in New York next week with two days of various owner sales. Works by Cindy Sherman and John Baldessari fill all five of the top photo lots by High estimate. Overall, there are a total of 35 lots of photography available in these sales, with a total High estimate for photography of $4030000.

Here’s the simple statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 0
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): NA

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 17
Total Mid Estimate: $540000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 18
Total High Estimate: $3490000

The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 58, Cindy Sherman, Untitled (#88), 1981, at $400000-600000. (Image at right, top, via Christie’s.)

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

Cindy Sherman (4)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (4)
John Baldessari (3)
Vik Muniz (3)
Jeff Wall (3)

The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening), here (Morning), and here (Afternoon). The eCatalogues are here (Evening), here (Morning), and here (Afternoon).
.
Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
November 10th
.
Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session
November 11th
.
Post-War and Contemporary Art Afternoon Session
November 11th
.
Christie’s
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

The Mexican Suitcase @ICP

JTF (just the facts): A total of 70 black and white photographs (framed in black and matted) and 102 contact sheets (unframed and pinned directly to the walls), hung against yellow walls in all of the gallery rooms on the main floor of the museum. The photographs are a mix of vintage and modern gelatin silver prints; the contact sheets are modern pigment prints. 20 glass cases circle the galleries, displaying relevant magazine spreads, letters, telegrams, notebooks, and other ephemera. The exhibit also includes selections of newsreels, a map of the various travels of the photographers, and a computer area for further study. All of the works were made during the period between 1936 and 1939. The exhibit was curated by Cynthia Young. A two-volume monograph, cotaining a full reproduction of all the images in the Mexican Suitcase, has recently been published by Steidl (here) and is available in the store for $98. (Since photography is not allowed in the ICP galleries, there are unfortunately no installation shots for this show. The images at right come via the ICP website.)

The following photographers were included in the show, with the number of works on display in parentheses:

Robert Capa (24 prints, 37 contact sheets)
Robert Capa/Gerda Taro (9 prints, 9 contact sheets)
David “Chim” Seymour (21 prints, 31 contact sheets)
Fred Stein (1 print, 2 contact sheets)
Gerda Taro (15 prints, 23 contact sheets)

Comments/Context: When the mystery “suitcases” finally found their way to the ICP in 2007, the unexpected rediscovery of the three boxes of long lost Spanish Civil War negatives had the photography world aflutter. Were the images all by Robert Capa? Did they definitively tell us whether Capa’s famous The Falling Soldier was authentic or staged? The photo world waited with bated breath. In the end, the “Mexican Suitcase” didn’t hold answers to this one controversial Capa question, but provided a surprisingly thorough picture of what it was like to be a war correspondent armed with a hand camera during the Spanish Civil War. Containing a mix of negatives from Robert Capa, David “Chim” Syemour, Gerda Taro and Fred Stein, the boxes tell the story of the origins of embedded photojournalism, where the photographers actively participated in the action, had clear biases and sympathies, and chose different narratives to follow. (Robert Capa, Exiled Republicans being marched on the beach from one internment camp, Le Barcarès, France, March 1939, at right top, via ICP.)

Robert Capa’s images of the war are filled with up-close activity and movement. Young soldiers race into the blurred, smoky front line action of the Battle of Rio Serge, with others stand and peer out of rubble strewn bombed out windows. Recruits are mobilized in Barcelona, and refugees are herded down the beach or holed up in tent camps in France. Gerda Taro’s images also track the battle, from attacking soldiers to burning trucks. The wounded and dead lay in plain sight, and the families in Valencia are left to helplessly wait for information. Shooting together, Capa and Taro also captured gunstocks stuck in the trench sandbags near Madrid and the destroyed walls of buildings torn apart, some left standing, others leveled to the ground. David “Chim” Seymour’s photographs are less concerned with the immediacy of battle, and instead turn toward the more subtle consequences of the war. His camera is variously pointed at outdoor masses, Basque markets, anguished faces at a land reform meeting, and soldiers protecting art, capturing military and civilian expressions with equal candor.

What I liked most about this exhibit was the meticulousness with which the contact sheets and prints were matched with the magazine spreads. This detail work enables the viewer to see how the stories got constructed, how the photographers created the narrative lines via the types of images that they took. Even though the small contact sheets require some patience to pore over, they do provide the sequential context for how the photographers were “seeing” the chaos around them, and how they were framing the eventual history that would be written. Given the political viewpoints of the photographers, the line between reportage and propaganda gets a little muddy in some places, and the contact sheets make these choices more obvious.

Overall, this is a very visceral show, and all the outtakes make for a down and dirty picture of war. While there are some standout single images buried in among these thousands of frames, I was more struck by the overall sense that I myself was standing with a camera, immersed in the dizzying heat of the battle (or its aftermath), trying to make sense of it all and looking for a thread of a story to follow. The show is an amazingly potent dose of the challenges faced by these war-time photojournalists, their successes and failures vibrantly real even decades later.

Collector’s POV: Since these negatives were recently rediscovered, it is not surprising that vintage prints of works from this period are scarce. More generally, of these photographers, Robert Capa has the most robust secondary market, with plenty of images coming up for sale in any given year; prices have typically ranged between $2000 and $22000, with most under $5000. Works by David “Chim” Seymour can be found only intermittently, the few lots that have sold finding buyers between $1000 and $4000. The works of Gerda Taro and Fred Stein have very little, if any, auction history. Since Capa and Seymour were members of Magnum, modern prints of their images can be acquired directly via the Mangum Photos store (here). (Gerda Taro, Crowd at the gate of the morgue after the air raid, Valencia, May 1937, at right bottom, via ICP.)
Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
.
Transit Hub:
Through January 9th

1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

Auction Previews: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales, November 9 and 10, 2010 @Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s is up second in the Fall Contemporary Art season in New York next week, with Evening and Day auctions Tuesday and Wednesday. With a high priced Gursky anchoring the photography offerings, for the most part, it’s a gathering of usual suspects. There are a total of 39 lots of photography available across the two sales, with a total High estimate for photography of $4351000.
Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 0
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): NA
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 21
Total Mid Estimate: $641000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 18
Total High Estimate: $3710000
The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 8, Andreas Gursky, Frankfurt, 2007, at $1200000-1800000. (Image at right,top, via Sotheby’s.)
Here’s the list of photographers represented by three or more lots in the two sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Vik Muniz (5)

Hiroshi Sugimoto (4)
Andreas Gursky (3)
Thomas Ruff (3)
The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).
Sotheby’s
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

New York: A Bird’s Eye View @De Lellis

JTF (just the facts): A group show including a total of 48 black and white and color photographs, mostly framed in black and matted, and hung in the main gallery space. All of the images are vintage aerial photographs of New York city, and were taken between roughly 1875 and 1960. (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers have been included in the show, with the details of the works on view in parentheses:

  • Berenice Abbott (3 gelatin silver prints, 16×16, 14×10 or 16×5, 1932-1938, and 1 photogravure, 13×10, c1932/later)
  • American Illustrated Stereograph (1 albumen print, 4×7, c1876)
  • Anonymous (2 bromide prints, 6×8, 1884, 1 albumen print, 5×10, c1876, 1 albumen print, 9×16, c1900, and 1 group albumen prints, 6×8, c1876)
  • Margaret Bourke-White (1 gelatin silver print, 9×13, c1930)
  • Charlotte Brooks (1 gelatin silver print, 13×10, 1943)
  • Harold Haliday Costain (3 gelatin silver prints, 9×20, c1930)
  • John Paul Edwards (1 gelatin silver print, 9×20, c1925)
  • Fairchild Aerial Surveys (1 gelatin silver print, 14×18, 1931)
  • W. Gray (2 albumen prints, 6×8 or 7×9, c1890)
  • Horsman’s Cabinet Photographs (1 albumen print, 4×6, c1875)
  • International News Photo (1 gelatin silver print, 10×8, 1930)
  • J.S. Johnston (1 albumen print, 7×9, 1893 and 1 bromide print, 8×6, c1890)
  • Keystone View Company (1 gelatin silver print, 5×7, 1937)
  • Arthur Lavine (1 gelatin silver print, 13×9, 1965)
  • Ben Judah Lubschez (1 gelatin silver print, 6×9, c1925)
  • Nickolas Muray (1 gelatin silver print on gold paper, 4×4, 1927)
  • Fritz Neugass (1 gelatin silver print, 10×8, 1947)
  • Peyser & Patzig (1 gelatin silver print, 10×7, 1930)
  • Press Photo (1 gelatin silver print, 7×10, 1945)
  • George Rockwood (1 albumen print, 7×9, c1880)
  • Charles Rotkin (2 gelatin silver prints, 10×13, c1950)
  • Edward Scherck (1 gelatin silver print, 8×10, c1930)
  • William Gordon Shields (4 gelatin silver prints, 14×11, 13×10 or 9×19, 1915-1917)
  • Samuel Stebbins (1 gelatin silver print, 14×11, c1934)
  • Fred Stein (2 gelatin silver prints, 14×11 or 9×7, 1940-1945)
  • Howard Suchurek (1 chromogenic print, 19×9, c1960)
  • Todd Webb (1 gelatin silver print, 8×9, 1947)
  • Paul Woolf (5 gelatin silver prints, 8×6, 9×7, 8×7 or 8×10, 1935-1940)

Comments/Context: As collectors of city and industrial images, we’re fascinated by the geometric patterns that are created by the interactions of architecture and by the density of built structures that make up all kinds of cities. This show brings together nearly a century of aerial views of New York city, providing both a rich historical record and an evolving survey of how landmarks and urban buildings were used as the raw material for photographic experimentation.

Chronologically, the show begins with 19th century views of the city, when the tallest structures were the church spires that poked up through the uniformity of squat warehouses and apartment blocks. With the advent of the skyscraper, the skyline took shape, and steep views downward into the concrete canyons below became more possible – instead of looking up into the sky at the outlines of famous buildings, artists were looking down into the chaos of the streets. Actual aerial surveys (shot from airplanes) were also taken from even higher vantage points, putting the tall buildings in wider panoramic context. As expected, the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building make repeated appearances in these photographs, providing a visual anchor against hazy clouds or the dark shadows of dusk.

My favorite images in the show are those that induce a bit of vertigo, where the angles get distorted and the walls of buildings bend in unexpected ways. They forgo the heroic romance of the broad vista and instead give us the frenetic, spine tingling energy of the city.

Collector’s POV: For the most part, the prints in this show are reasonably priced, ranging from $150 to $8500, with a sweet spot between $2000 and $5000. The outliers are the vintage Berenice Abbott prints, which are priced between $18000 and $26000.
Rating: * (1 star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Reviews: Gothamist (here), Wall Street Journal (here, scroll down)
  • Feature: NY Times (here)
New York: A Bird’s Eye View
Through November 20th
Keith De Lellis Gallery
1045 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10075

Auction Previews: Carte Blanche and Contemporary Art, Parts I and II, November 8 and 9, 2010 @Phillips

Phillips kicks off the Fall Contemporary Art season in New York next week, with the Carte Blanche sale (curated by Philippe Segalot) and a two-part various owner sale. The big news photography-wise is the sale of Cindy Sherman’s Untitled #153, with a jaw-dropping estimate of $2-3 million; in an edition of 6, it is the last print still in public hands (the rest are in museum collections I believe), so the bidding will likely be fierce. If that wasn’t enough, there is also a Richard Prince cowboy in this set of sales, with a hefty estimate of $1-1.5 million. All in, there are a total of 88 lots of photography available across the three sales, with a total High estimate for photography of $7804500.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 29
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $194500
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 46
Total Mid Estimate: $1100000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 13
Total High Estimate: $6510000
The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 14, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153, 1985, at $2000000-3000000. (Image at right, top, via Phillips.) The next highest lot by High estimate is lot 113, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1998-1999, at $1000000-1500000. (Image at right, bottom, via Phillips.)
Here’s the list of photographers represented by three or more lots in the sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Gabriel Orozco (5)
Thomas Ruff (4)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (4)
Gregory Crewdson (3)
Marilyn Minter (3)
Vik Muniz (3)
Richard Prince (3)
The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Carte Blanche), here (Part I) and here (Part II).
November 8th
November 8th
November 9th
450 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022
and
450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011

Abelardo Morell: Groundwork @Benrubi

JTF (just the facts): A total of 10 large scale color works, framed in black with no mats, and hung in the entry and main gallery spaces. All of the works are archival pigment prints, made in 2010. The images are available in three sizes: 24×30 (in editions of 10), 30×40 (in editions of 8), and 50×60 (in editions of 6). There are 2 works in the smallest size, 3 in the middle size, and 5 in the largest size on display. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: This show of recent work continues Abelardo Morell’s explorations of the boundaries of the camera obscura process. Several of the images on view repeat the room-as-camera motif for which he is so well-known: views of Rome and Florence, projected into hotel rooms and cluttered offices, the Duomo or the Roman Forum seen in bold layered color, upside down on the walls.

A new twist on his technical method comes in the form of an unusual apparatus: a tent camera with a periscope lens that projects the image onto the floor. This takes us away from backdrops of walls and doorways with fancy moldings and introduces new textures: the rocky dirt ground of the desert, a carpet of pine needles, streets of pockmarked cobblestones and old bricks, and even the crackled surface of a tar roof. The surfaces are matched to the landscapes that adorn them, providing both deeper context and an additional layer of visual complexity: Acadia National Park in Maine on the needles, the Brooklyn Bridge on the tar roof, the Florence Bapistery on the cobbles.

Most importantly, this new approach flattens out the picture plane, removing the undulating distortions created by the physical depth of the rooms, as well as eliminating the mystery of what the room is “seeing”. The result is a much more painterly feel, the texture mixing with the image itself, becoming almost Vik Muniz-like: a postcard picture of a desert landscape made out of rocks. I think this will open up a whole new area of experimentation for Morell, where unexpected juxtapositions of image and texture might generate new visual effects. Who knew the ancient camera obscura had so much more to offer?

Collector’s POV: The prints in this show are priced as follows: the 24×30 prints are $11000 each, the 30×40 prints are $17000 each, and the 50×60 prints are $24000 each. Morell’s work has been available in the secondary markets fairly regularly in recent years, with a handful of lots up for sale in any given year. Prices at auction have ranged between $2000 and $17000.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Artist page (here)
  • Feature: New York (here)
Through December 19th

Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Sara VanDerBeek: To Think of Time @Whitney

JTF (just the facts): A total of 29 color works, framed in black with no mats, and hung in the single room gallery on the first floor of the museum. All of the works are chromogenic prints, sized 20×16, and made in 2010. This is the photographer’s first solo museum show. The Whitney does not allow photography in the galleries, so unfortunately, there are no installation shots of this show. The single images at right are taken from the Whitney website. (Sara VanDerBeek, Foundation, Reynes Street, 2010, at right.)

Comments/Context: Sara VanDerBeek’s small solo show at the Whitney is modulated and meditative, an atmospheric exercise in muted color. In a departure from her photographs of carefully constructed conceptual sculptures of appropriated/collaged images, these works rhythmically alternate between images of pitted concrete foundations unearthed in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, angular, geometric sculptures made in her studio, and details found in her childhood home of Baltimore. The entire project is wrapped in the mantle of Walt Whitman, borrowing its group titles from Leaves of Grass.
.
While this exhibit has all the trappings of a deeply personal investigation of time and memory, it somehow falls flat in terms of showing us something new. I found the images of gritty, textured poured concrete to be the most aesthetically interesting, with their all-over abstractions in scratched grey and blue, but it would be hard not to see obvious connections to the explorations of surface by Aaron Siskind and Minor White here. VanDerBeek’s pared down studio sculptures of roughly hewn nested rectangles, chevrons, and boxes have been photographed with moody shadows (a little reminiscent of Brancusi’s photographs), in the same washed out palette as the images of concrete; the effect is subdued and quiet, the works isolated and drained rather than elevated. These two groups of images are then intermingled with a handful of more personal icons (in the same natural light tonalities), and then sequenced into juxtaposed groups that repeat around the room. (Sara VanDerBeek, Blue Caryatid at Dusk, 2010, at right.)

In general, while these works have a lovely pale serenity, I think the overall experience misses the mark a bit. My enjoyment of the soft, diffused feeling of the photographs was disrupted by an underlying sense of the artist trying too hard, of a self-conscious, conceptual artiness that seemed too contrived. But this same knock could be leveled at any number of inward looking, mystical or symbolic photographers across the decades (Szarkowski’s “mirrors”), especially those who have regularly employed abstraction. These new works do successfully create a mood, I’m just not sure it is one that we haven’t felt before.

Collector’s POV: None of the images in this museum show are for sale. Van DerBeek is represented by Metro Pictures in New York (here, with some installation shots) and Altman Siegel Gallery in San Francisco (here). Her work has not yet reached the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point. (Sara VanDerBeek, Foundation, Dorgenois Street, 2010, at right.)

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

Transit Hub:

  • Review: New Yorker (here)
  • Feature: NY Times (here)

Sara VanDerBeek: To Think of Time
Through December 5th

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Auction Preview: Photographs, November 3, 2010 @Phillips London

The Fall photographs season moves to London next week with a various owner sale at Phillips on Wednesday. The auction contains an unusually broad mix of material, with another installment of Japanese photography from the Jacobson/Hashimoto collection, paired with a number of lots by Araki and Moriyama. Overall, there are a total of 192 lots available here, with a Total High Estimate of £1552600.
Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 106
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £351100
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 72
Total Mid Estimate: £656500
Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 14
Total High Estimate: £545000
The top lot by High estimate is lot 115, Edward Steichen, Charlie Chaplin, 1925, at £50000-70000. (Image at right, top, via Phillips.)
Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by four or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Nobuyoshi Araki (9)
Daido Moriyama (8)
Iwao Yamawaki (7)
Shikanosuke Yagaki (6)
Peter Beard (4)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (4)
Elliot Erwitt (4)
Horst P. Horst (4)
Irving Penn (4)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
November 3rd
Phillips De Pury & Company
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Auction Preview: Photographs, November 2, 2010 @Bonhams

Bonhams‘ various owner Photographs sale next week brings together its customary West coast flavored selection of lower end material. The auction contains a number of Cole Weston prints of Edward Weston negatives. Overall, there are 110 photographs on offer, with a total High estimate of $748500.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 100
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $517500

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 9
Total Mid Estimate: $171000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 1
Total High Estimate: $60000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 38, Ansel Adams, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, 1927, at $40000-60000. (Image at right, top, via Bonhams.)

Below is the list of photographers represented by 3 or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Edward Weston (14)
Ansel Adams (11)
Harry Callahan (8)
Brett Weston (6)
Philippe Halsman (4)
Herb Ritts (4)
Ruth Bernhard (3)
Edward Curtis (3)
Andre Kertesz (3)
Terry O’Neill (3)
RISD portfolios (3)
.
For our own collection, I quite liked lot 107, Uta Barth, Untitled (05.6), 2005. (Image at right, bottom, via Bonhams.)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographs
November 2nd

Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Sign up for our weekly email newsletter

This field is required.