Todd Hido: A Road Divided @Silverstein

JTF (just the facts): A total of 15 color images, mostly framed in black with no mat, and hung in the back two gallery spaces. The chromogenic prints come in three sizes (or reverse): 20×24 (in editions of 10+3AP), 30×38 (in editions of 5+1AP) and 38×48 (in editions of 3+1AP). The images were taken between 2005 and 2009. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: The weather forecast for Todd Hido’s group of new landscapes is remarkably consistent: cloudy, with a better than average chance for dreary, depressing rain. Hido’s images document melancholy open roads, stark silhouetted trees, misty skies and barren fields, all seen through the blurry wetness of his car window.
The “open road” is of course an American tradition, embodying freedom, youth, and unlimited opportunity. As a result, it has been “done” plenty of times before; I can think of the famous Dorothea Lange image (here) and couple more by Robert Adams (couldn’t find good scans) that cover the concept from the art photography point of view (and I’m sure there are others I’ve forgotten, so add them in the comments as appropriate); stock photography for advertising and the like is chock full of optimistic, sunny open roads.
Hido’s muddy tracks are just the opposite: lonely, bleak and austere, in an introspective mood, even if the sun is trying to poke through. The works are unabashedly painterly (some might even lump them in the Neo–Pictorialist camp), using the rain to create out of focus softness with the foggy pastel colored light (think Stieglitz’ Spring Showers). The best of the images in this show rise out of the bleary murkiness and find some emotional resonance, a subtle moment of unexpected beauty in an otherwise uninspiring landscape. Unfortunately, not enough of the works find this perfect pitch, and many sink back down into the empty psychological wasteland. All in, the exhibit is a bit of a mixed bag: a few moments of sublime quiet, intermingled with a few too many duller memories of standing in the cold rain.

Collector’s POV: Given that the images in the show come in three sizes, there are of course three sets of prices: $3500 for the smallest works, $5500 for the mid sized, and $9000 or $9500 for the largest works. Hido’s work has started to trickle into the secondary markets, with the few lots that have come up for sale in the past few years fetching between $2000 and $6000. While these landscapes aren’t a good fit for our particular collection, my favorite image in the show was 5157 (shown on the far left of the installation shot at right).

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

Transit Hub:

  • Artist site (here)
  • Interview: Inceptive Notions (here)
  • Review: American Suburb X (here)
Through October 24th
535 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Nicolai Howalt: Car Crash Studies @Silverstein

JTF (just the facts): A total of 25 color images, mounted to aluminum and unframed, hung in the front/entry gallery space. All of the images are digital c-prints, made in 2009, and printed in editions of 5. 21 of the images are car interiors and are sized between 15×19 and 19×24; they have generally been hung edge to edge or in a typology-style grid. The other 4 images are car hoods and have been printed much larger, the largest reaching approximately 70×86. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Danish photographer Nicolai Howalt’s images of the remnants of car crashes alternate between the brutality of evidence and the lyricism of abstraction. In a neatly self-contained project, Howalt has found something new in the world of car culture, stepping back to find a mix of beauty and tragedy in the aftermath of destruction.

The best of the works in this show are the crushed and crumpled car hoods (reminiscent of the sculpture of John Chamberlain) that have been transformed into abstract swirls of color; they are scratched and scarred, slashed and bent, peeling and flaking, creating expressionistic movement and lively all-over compositions. Some of the works are extreme close-ups, where the color gets grainy and pixellated, creating a fuzzy texture of digital Pointillism. The works hold the wall extremely well, and work in different ways from a variety of distances.

The rest of the pictures on view provide a more sober counterpoint to the exuberance of the car hoods. Using a theme and variation approach, Howalt examines the damaged interiors of vehicles, with an intimacy that borders on the gruesomely voyeuristic; strands of hair dangle from a shattered windshield, while bloody hand prints cover a steering wheel. The interiors are flash lit, with pure white or black backgrounds, highlighting the curves of a spiderwebbed window or a dented dashboard. A set of air bags, ranging from inflated to deflated, are shown as a typology, a not so subtle reminder of all that happened before the pictures were taken, but abstracted into a series of white circles.

Overall, this is a well constructed photographic project, with a few standout images to make you step back and nod your head in appreciation.

Collector’s POV: The smaller prints in this show are priced between $2400 and $2600. The four large car hoods are each priced differently, ranging from $6000 to $18500, based on size. Howalt’s work is not yet available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is really the only option for interested collectors at this point. While these works don’t fit with our specific collecting themes, if we owned an airy modern condo with large white walls, the crumpled car hoods would be tempting, especially the smallest of the four, a silky light blue abstraction.

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

Transit Hub:

  • Artist site (here)
  • Thomas Kellner curatorial projects (here)

Nicolai Howalt: Car Crash Studies
Through October 24th

Bruce Silverstein Gallery
535 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Preview: Photographs by Sally Mann, October 7, 2009 @Christie’s

The single owner, single artist auction is the event in the secondary markets that looks and feels most like a gallery or museum show. In fact, this upcoming sale at Christie’s bears a striking resemblance to a show of Sally Mann’s entire Immediate Family series held at Edwynn Houk Gallery (here) in New York in early 2008 (unfortunately, I no longer have the price list from that show for side by side comparisons of individual images then and now). In this case, a dedicated collector from Washington, D.C., has assembled a broad range of Mann’s work, and while most of the prints on offer here are from Immediate Family, there are a few others mixed in as well, some of which are unpublished. Overall, there are a total of 59 lots up for sale, with a total High estimate of $869000. (Catalog cover at right.)

In my experience, even after 20 years, these images still have a surprisingly polarizing effect on people: either they really like them (they are amazed by the quality of the prints, intrigued by the subtleties and vulnerabilities of youth etc.) or they find them very unsettling (the children are too young and exposed, too provocatively posed etc.). Perhaps this is the reason that a handful of images in this catalog have no online picture (“image not available”); while we might not call it censorship exactly, Christie’s seems to be exercising some discretion in the event these images are found too upsetting for some.
Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 17
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $133000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 42
Total Mid Estimate: $736000
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Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA
The top lot by High estimate is lot 307 Sally Mann, Candy Cigarette, 1989, at $30000-50000.
While Mann’s work is not a particularly good fit for our collecting genres, we have considered Night Blooming Cereus quite a few times over the years. The small 8×10 print in this sale is a terrific example of how size matters, as when this image gets printed larger, for some reason, it seems to take on a more Polynesian feel in our eyes, which we like quite a bit less. So our short list for this sale includes:
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Lot 326 Sally Mann, Night Blooming Cereus, 1988 (at right)
Lot 350 Sally Mann, Gooseneck Loosestrife, 1985

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.

Christie’s
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020
UPDATE: After I published this preview, I got a nice note from the press folks at Christie’s with the following response to the online Mann images (or lack thereof): “Christie’s is being culturally sensitive to clients in all of the markets in which we operate.” Mystery solved.

Tim Roda, Family Matters @Daniel Cooney

JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white gelatin silver prints, binder clipped to the wall (not framed) in the single room gallery. The works range in size from 15×21 to 35×52, are printed in editions of 8, and were made between 2004 and 2009.(Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Tim Roda’s photographs are like film stills from old home movies. The grainy black and white images are full of theatrical silliness, with scavenged but elaborate stage sets, unlikely costumes, and improvised narratives. Father and son play the roles of actors, alternating between irreverent humor, exciting drama, and the joyful craziness of make believe: bicycles, windmills, a towering dunce cap, and some extra long legs all find a way into their surreal stories.
The images themselves use wide contrasts of bright light and dark shadow to create a rough cinematic atmosphere, appropriately unfinished and raw. What I like best about the work is the genuine connection between the father and son: the creative working together, the whimsical games and joshing, the messy experimentation without any specific goal or endpoint; it’s often not exactly clear what is going on or whether it is finished, but it is clear that fun is being had by everyone involved. This bond gives the pictures a surprising tone of tender nostalgia, without crossing the line into the soupy or saccharine.
If part of the role of art is to give us insights into our own lives, this body of work is a good reminder that meaningful family entertainment need not include a screen (TV, video games, computers and the like) or something expensive, but that with enough imagination and effort, it can be made from almost anything at all.
Collector’s POV: The prints in this show are reasonably priced, asking between $1300 and $2000, based on size. Roda’s work has no auction history, so gallery retail is the only option for accessing the work at this point.
When I first heard about this show, given that the work doesn’t really fit into any of our genres, I thought it was probably one I would miss. But another collector whose affinities are more in line with Roda’s approach sent me a quick note and encouraged me to check it out. I’m glad I did; the work was much stronger and more moving than I had expected.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Interview with Daily Serving, 2008 (here)
  • Exhibit at MoCP, Chicago, 2007 (here)
Through October 31st
511 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Peter Hujar: Photographs 1956-1958 @Matthew Marks

JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white gelatin silver prints, framed in black and matted, and hung in a single room gallery. The works were taken in Southbury, CT, and various locations in Italy between 1956 and 1958. Most of the prints are 10×10; a few are slightly larger at 13×13. (Installation shot at right.)

Comments/Context: Peter Hujar is probably best known for his sensitive portraits and street images chronicling the downtown scene in New York in the 1970s and 1980s and for his downstream influence on photographers like Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin. This small show takes us back to Hujar’s beginnings and the unknown work he made in his early 20s, a kind of precursor to what would come later.

Nearly all of the images on view are of children, some from a home for the developmentally disabled in Connecticut, others from a convent in Florence and the streets of Rome. There are kids playing with a big ball, climbing on a jungle gym, scrambling in the water, and eating at a long dormitory table. These are simple empathetic pictures, gentle and uncritical, capturing small moments of emotion amidst the chaos of active play. They show the same genuine respect for the humanity and individuality of his subjects that would come to be the hallmark of his later work (and that of Diane Arbus).

While not every picture here is a standout, for those who want to get an expanded view of Hujar’s work and his development as an artist over time, this small show is worth a quick visit.

Collector’s POV: The prints in this show range in price between $12000 and $15000. Hujar’s work is not consistently available at auction; the images that have sold in the past few years have ranged between $2000 and $23000; most prints are unique or in small editions, while a few have been printed in groups of 15 or even 50 (Candy Darling). Hujar is represented on the West coast by Fraenkel Gallery (here). While this work doesn’t fit into our particular collecting parameters, my favorite image in the exhibit was Girl Sucking Her Thumb, Florence, 1958, where a child lies sideways on a white iron frame bed, peering out from the shadows.

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

Transit Hub:

  • Times review of ICA show, 2007 (here)
  • PS1 exhibit, 2005 (here)
  • NYTimes review, 1990 (here)

Peter Hujar: Photographs 1956-1958
Through October 24th

Matthew Marks Gallery
526 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10001

Amy Stein: Domesticated @ClampArt

JTF (just the facts): A total of 18 color images, framed in white with no mat, hung in the main gallery space and the small side alcove. The works are digital c-prints, in two sizes: 24×30 (in editions of 10+2AP) and 30×40 (in editions of 3+2AP). The show includes 17 images in the small size and 1 in the large size; all of the works were made between 2005 and 2008. 12 of the images can be found in the book Domesticated, published by Photolucida (here), and available from the gallery for $24. There are 6 new images (not included in the book, but part of the same series) on view as well. (Marginal installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: The scenes depicted in Amy Stein’s Domesticated series chronicle the borderlands of the human and animal worlds, the places where two previously separate habitats now overlap and rub together, forced into precarious proximity by the encroachment of civilization on untamed nature: wolves are in the garbage, bobcats lounge on a construction site, bears are near the swimming pool, and deer are in the greenhouse and underneath the window. The images are full of confrontations and tests, separations and boundaries, anxiety and curiosity, both sides keeping a wary distance, and watching carefully.

It has already been well publicized that Stein uses stuffed animals (taxidermy) to create her diorama-like stories; these are not documentary photographs of real life events, but re-enactments of incidents and memories culled from conversations with residents of a small town in Northern Pennsylvania. This is I think a critical piece of information for understanding these works; documentary images of these same events would look different; they’d be messier, or too fleeting to have been captured at all, or most likely, the real thing happened in an altogether less interesting manner.

So what we actually have in these photographs is the recreation of memory and the embellishment of tales and legends told again and again. This kind of thinking on the part of the artist seems highly rooted in the history and practice of painting; much less so in the realm of photography (particularly “straight” photography). And so while it is relatively straightforward to see narrative and stylistic parallels with the work of Jeff Wall or Gregory Crewdson or even certain film makers here, I think the more interesting connections are to be made to painting, both in the process steps of formulating an image from memory and transferring it into a more easily digestible and compact form, and in the borrowings and echoes of art history, of allegorical works, and of fables, myths and fairy tales. Stein’s works are a synthesized reality, carefully composed for maximum narrative effect. The whole project shouts 19th century painting to me, even though the images have been executed by a contemporary photographer.

While not every image in the show packs a punch, the overall theme of human/animal interaction is deftly explored from a variety of vantage points in these pictures, coming to a complex and nuanced set of conclusions; perhaps this why the book form has been so successful for this body of work (it has won awards from Critical Mass in 2007 and the New York Photo Festival in 2008). All in, this is a convincing first New York solo show. What I like best is that she seems to have found practical ways to connect photography to painting, and to leverage the strengths of both to generate some unexpected and satisfying outcomes.

Collector’s POV: The images in the show are priced based on size and location in the edition. The smaller prints range between $2500 and $5000; the larger prints start at $4500 (I’m not sure of the end of the edition price for the larger pictures). Stein’s work has no history to date in the secondary markets, so collectors will need to work within the gallery system to access her prints. For those on the West coast, Stein is also represented by Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco (here).While Stein’s work does not fit into our specific collecting program, I particularly enjoyed seeing the image Backyard, 2007 (here), which eerily reminded me of Goya’s The Third of May, 1808 (here, in the Prado).
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Artist website (here) and blog (here)
  • Review of UPenn talk (here)
  • Interview with The Rumpus (here)

Amy Stein: Domesticated
Through October 31st

Clamp Art
521-531 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Juergen Teller, Paradis @Lehmann Maupin

JTF (just the facts): A total of 9 color images, framed in white with no mat, hung in the main gallery space. All of the images are c-prints, in editions of 5, ranging in size from 50×30 to 70×50. The works were originally commissioned by the French magazine Paradis and were shot in 2009; a limited edition book of the work is forthcoming. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Fashion photographer Juergen Teller clearly has his pick of choice assignments: who else gets access to shoot in the Musee du Louvre when it’s empty in the evening? And who else can deliver Raquel Zimmermann (model) and Charlotte Rampling (actress) to participate in the project? And nude no less?

There is remarkable sense of audaciousness and rule breaking in these pictures: nudes lounging on the couches in the galleries, standing stock still like mannequins amidst classical sculpture, and casually posing with the Mona Lisa; the jarring juxtapositions clearly have tremendous shock value, and will therefore appeal to a certain group of contemporary/fashion collectors who thrive on controversy and recklessness.

As photographs, however, the images are pretty underwhelming. Over bright flash, dead pan looks, and offhand compositions detract from what could have been a spectacularly memorable set-up. (Or perhaps that is the point?) The images of art works themselves on their own are the weakest; these kinds of mischievous shots don’t tell us much that is new. Overall, I had a profound sense of a missed opportunity as I walked through the gallery; all the pieces were in place for something unexpected and brilliant; how these pictures ended up being less than exciting is a mystery. So go to this show primarily for the hype, and ruminate on what might have been.

Collector’s POV: The images in the show are priced between $10000 and $17000, based on size. Teller’s work has very little auction history, so gallery retail is likely the only viable option for collectors at this point.

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

Transit Hub:
  • Reviews: ArtObserved (here), WSJ Speakeasy (here), The L Magazine (here)
  • New York magazine article 2008 (here)
Through October 17th

540 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Ryan McGinley @Alison Jacques

NOTE: This review has been contributed by a collector correspondent in London. While the format is the same as our usual New York reviews, the content and rating in this case were provided by a more local collector. Background on the collector correspondent program can be found here.

JTF (just the facts): A total of 24 c-prints, framed in white, were hung in the entrance area, the two main exhibition rooms on the ground floor and also the viewing rooms upstairs in the gallery. The prints range in size from approximately 11×14 all the way up to 72×110, and were shot over 2008-2009. (Installation shots at right, via Alison Jacques Gallery.)

Comments/Context: Ryan McGinley opened his first exhibition in the UK last Thursday, 10th September, at Alison Jacques Gallery in London with a show of prints from his new body of work entitled Moonmilk. The images have been created after McGinley took a small group of young men and women into caves across America, and with the use of coloured lighting, created a series of psychedelic underground landscapes.

The exhibition itself was intelligently hung and a number of the images were particularly strong, with my favourite being Sean (Inside Heart), Grace & Tracy (Goliath) and Wes (Falling). The latter image was particularly powerful and was used for the cover of the limited edition book entitled Moonmilk, published by Morel (here) to coincide with the London opening. I think in overall terms this latest body of work is a positive evolution for McGinley, who of course was thrust into the limelight when he was chosen to exhibit his work in the First Exposure Series at the Whitney back in 2003 at the tender age of 24. Perhaps the most significant departure from earlier work such as The Kids are Alright and I Know Where the Summer Goes is that the models themselves are predominantly not the focus of the images, but rather are used to provide context for the ethereal landscapes that exist in underground caves. Indeed in some of the most powerful images, the human form is very tiny or one can only see a head or an upper torso in the rock formations.

The event was very well attended with an expected mix of people from both the art and fashion world and has been widely covered in the British press, which has helped draw significant attendance in the days following the opening.

Collector’s POV: Price wise, framed prints are refreshingly good value, as they mostly range between £6000 to £10000, depending on size and are limited to editions of just 3 + 2 APs. Although McGinley’s early work drew comparisons with Nan Goldin, Larry Clark and Wolfgang Tillmans and he has even been compared to Robert Mapplethorpe, I think he has earned his own space and his work sits well with my own collection.

Ryan McGinley is also represented in New York by Team Gallery (here) and his prints have entered the secondary markets recently, with a handful of lots coming up for sale since 2006. Prices have ranged from $2000 to $23000, largely based on size.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • Artist website (here)
  • Guardian review (here)

Ryan McGinley
Through October 8th

Alison Jacques Gallery
16-18 Berners Street
London W1T 3LN

Seung-Woo Back, Revised Ideals @Gana Art

JTF (just the facts): A total of 17 works, from two different series, displayed on separate floors of the dimly lit gallery. On the first floor, 7 images from the Utopia series are displayed, framed in grey with no mat; 5 of these works are diptychs hung edge to edge, while the other 2 are single images. All of the works are digital c-prints, printed in editions of 5, and made in 2008. Sizes range between 50×60 and 71×114. On the second floor, 10 works from the Blow Up series on shown; 9 of these are single images; the last is a grid of 40 images hung together as one unit. Again, the works are digital c-prints, in editions of 5 for the larger prints and 10 for the smaller ones, the larger prints ranging in size from 32×24 to 75×63; the grid is 105×200. The works upstairs were made between 2006 and 2008. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Contemporary Korean photography is clearly on the rise, according to our non-scientific hype-o-meter, and Seung-Woo Back is nearly always included when prominent names are thrown around amid the buzz. This show dives a bit deeper into two of his most recent projects, providing a larger sample of his works than is generally available in the current crop of broad survey shows.
The Utopia series is drawn from 1970s era propaganda images from North Korea, complete with shiny science labs, chemical plants, bombers, and soul deadening cinder block architecture. These dated institutional scenes have been digitally manipulated to add in washes of pastel color in the sky and background, much like the “colorization” of old black and white movies. The addition of green, or pink, or orange to these otherwise carefully controlled black and white still images adds an unexpected touch of beauty, which of course makes them all the more unsettling and ironic.
The Blow Up series was constructed via grainy snapshots Back took while in North Korea. Given the strict media censorship there, all of his images were checked before he left the country; this project was therefore built upon the small details of life that he could document with a tourist camera, many of which were otherwise unnoticed portions of mundane shots, later “blown up” to focus on something altogether different than what was in the foreground. The resulting collection offers a surreal glimpse of life in the North: serious police and traffic officers, empty streets with people rushing, school children posing, massive statues in vast open squares, orderly clean up crews, a patriotic pin attached to a shirt. Together, the images have the oppressive feeling of constantly being watched; the resulting mood is both creepy and depressing.
While this show isn’t exactly a sunny pick-me-up, it does offer plenty of complicated ideas to consider, particularly about the nature of controlled imagery and how it can be successfully undermined.

Collector’s POV: The images from the Utopia series are priced between $13000 and $16000 for the single prints, $18000 to $23000 for the diptychs. The single larger prints from the Blow Up series range in price from $6000 to $18000, seemingly based on size; the grid of 40 images is $160000. For West coast collectors, Seung-Woo Back is also represented by Rose Gallery in Santa Monica (here).

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

Transit Hub:
  • Photography Now @SFMOMA (here)
  • Chaotic Harmony: Contemporary Korean Photography @MFA Houston (here)
  • Portfolio 41 (here)
Seung-Woo Back, Revised Ideals
Through October 10th

Gana Art Gallery
568 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Anthony Pearson @Marianne Boesky

JTF (just the facts): A total of 10 works, most of which include multiple images and/or pieces of sculpture, displayed in the back two rooms of the gallery. 3 of the works are sets of small gelatin silver Solarizations, framed in white and matted, hung in rows. A fourth is comprised of 2 of these solarizations and a small bronze sculpture, placed between the two photographs. There are also 3 large individual c-prints, framed in white and not matted; 2 of these images are from the Opaques series, the other from the Flares series. The other three works include mixtures of tall images from the Flares series with more bronze sculptures and are called Arrangements. All of the works are from 2009 and are unique (not editioned). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Given the recent contemporary abstraction shows at Aperture (here) and Michael Mazzeo (here), and the Marco Breuer show at Von Lintel last spring (here), it’s clear that using light sensitive materials in a process intensive way to explore the boundaries of photographic picture making is an active area of exploration for many artists. In his first solo show in New York, Anthony Pearson brings a refined elegance to his photo experiments, with a style that hearkens back to late 1940s/early 1950s Abstract Expressionism.
Several different but related bodies of work are on display in this show, often mixed together to create process juxtapositions and echoes. Intimate solarized gelatin silver photographs of drawings on foil begin the show and are repeated later in alternate combinations; they are scratched and scraped, crosshatched and interlocked in a variety of black and white tonalities, each a small exercise in tight composition. Pearson has then taken these foil drawings and photographed their back sides, enlarging them to make dark, furrowed works that capture the inversion of the original process.
Another process investigation captures light leaking into the artist’s camera, printed as panoramic images turned on end; they are like drops of moonlight rippling outward on a tall, thin, dark pond. Groups of these “flares” (reversed up and down to have the white circle in different locations) are then paired with minimal bronze sculptures, molten vertical strips reminiscent of Barnett Newman’s zips, only with negative space cut out of the middle. While I’ve always considered the specific pairing of photography and sculpture a bit overly mannered (and often just plain odd), most of these combinations actually work quite well; the three dimensionality of the minimal black/silver sculpture compliments the process abstractions in the photographs without trying too hard.
Overall, this is a solid first NY show, with a broad array of images that are both understated and effective.
Collector’s POV: Getting a straight answer on prices for this exhibition was frustratingly challenging; there was no price list available and the woman behind the counter was reluctant to tell me anything. In the end, she looked up a few specific prices in the gallery database, but there was much confusion over works that were made up of more than one image (did I want the entire group or one of the images in particular?), so interested collectors should recheck the following numbers, as there was plenty of vagueness in what I was told. The solarizations appear to be available as both individual prints and in sets: single prints are priced at $2200, with sets of 4 at $7500 and sets of 9 at $12000; it was altogether unclear whether this is a mix and match kind of thing, or whether there are predefined sets only. Works from the Flares series were between $12000 and $14000; whether this includes one or more prints was maddeningly unanswered; I think the prices refer to groups. The largest group of items (2 sculptures and 7 prints) is priced at $48000; I gave up trying to figure out the prices of the other smaller groups that included sculpture. In the future, I’d suggest that a readily available printed price list eliminates these communication breakdowns.
My particular favorites in this show, even though they don’t exactly fit into our collection, were the small solarizations. They reminded me of Callahan’s early light drawings, Otto Steinert’s swirly luminograms, and some of De Kooning’s black and white paintings.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:

  • 2007 exhibit @David Kordansky Gallery (here)
  • Whitney Art Party (here)
Through October 10th
509 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Hans van der Meer, Amsterdams Verkeer/Amsterdam Traffic

JTF (just the facts): Published in 2000 by De Verbeelding. 72 pages, with 33 black and white images. Each image is a 2 page panorama. Includes an essay by the artist. (Cover shot at right.)

Comments/Context: In a photography world full of overly precious, self-conscious conceptual projects, it’s refreshing to come across a simple, self contained body of work that succinctly and successfully tells its story without an excess of baggage. A few years ago, Dutch photographer Hans van der Meer was set with a straight forward commission by some local arts organizations: photograph traffic situations in the city center of Amsterdam.
The streets of Amsterdam, as most people know, are a chaotic brew of cars, motorcycles, delivery trucks, trams, bicycles, and people on foot, winding along canals and between old buildings, over narrow bridges and down cobbled lanes under construction. Van der Meer’s panoramic shots of intersections capture the momentary clashes, conflicts, and almost accidents that happen everyday, as the competing parties jostle for space. Each image allows multiple stories to play out simultaneously, as people in their individual bubbles are suddenly joined with their neighbors by the convergence of activity. The more crowded the city becomes, the more frequently these collisions (real and metaphorical) occur.
What I like about these pictures is that they capture the reality of life in the city with such economy; this small thin volume tells a remarkably full story of a complex and diverse city in just a few understated pages. And each time I come back to the images and look closely again, I seem to discover more layers of interaction amidst the chaos.
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Collector’s POV: Hans van der Meer is represented by Galerie Van Kranendonk in Den Haag (here). His work has yet to show up in the secondary markets in New York or London, so interested collectors will need to follow up directly in the Netherlands.
Transit Hub:
  • Artist website (here)
  • European Fields: The Landscape of Lower League Football (here)
  • 2009 retrospective @Nederlands Fotomuseum (here)

Auction Preview: The Miller-Plummer Collection of Photographs, October 8, 2009 @Christie’s

While certainly any collector’s definition of a good auction is one that includes the specific material that interests him/her, I must admit that beyond our personal affinities, I thoroughly enjoy single owner sales. I think that this is because I am intensely interested in the process of collecting, of how collectors weigh options and make choices, how they search, and hunt, and look, and educate themselves, eventually culminating in laying down their hard earned money for those certain images that move them the most. Every single collection is a unique gathering, the objects often connected by less than obvious ideas and emotional responses. I also think there is a lot to be learned from collectors who have been at it for decades; this is why we are always searching out experienced collectors who will talk with us, and tell us their secrets, even if our tastes for work are entirely different. The parallels are not in the end points, but in the thinking in between.

This collection was put together over a period of about 20 years, starting in 1973, culminating in an exhibition called Particulars at the George Eastman House in 1983. As far as private collections go, I haven’t seen too many as diverse and nondogmatic as this one; how many collections can you name that include unknown daguerreotypists, a heavy dose of known and unknown 19th century material, Moholy-Nagy photograms, and 1970s Robert Heinecken? I like this unconventional heterogeneity; it says that the two collectors were not unnecessarily bound by convention or fashion, but sought out the exceptional or extraordinary (in their eyes) in whatever form it might take.
The sale itself has more 19th century material than we normally see in the main flow of the New York auction season; more than 45% of the lots on offer are dated before 1900. Overall, there are a total of 118 lots up for sale, with a total High estimate of $1746200. (Catalog cover at right.)
Here’s the breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 74
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $444200
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 35
Total Mid Estimate: $672000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 9

Total High Estimate: $630000
The top lot by High estimate is lot 547, a complete set of Camera Work, Numbers 1-49/50, 1903-1917, at $90000-120000.
Given the eclectic nature of this sale, there are quite a few unexpected surprises buried amidst the lots, many of which would fit well with our own collection. Here are a few we found of interest:
Lot 506 Anna Atkins, Polypodium Dryopteris, 1850-1854
Lot 560 Baron Adolph De Meyer, Water Lilies, c1906
Lot 564 Circle of Anna Atkins, Paris Arguta, from The Hatton Fern Album, c1850 (cover lot)
Lot 581 Margaret Bourke-White, The Bridge, Russia, 1930
Lot 582 Karl Struss, Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, New York, 1909 (at right, middle)
Lot 583 Berenice Abbott, Downtown Manhattan from West Street below Rector, Manhattan, August 12, 1936
Lot 586 Daguerreotypist Unknown, Draped nude, c1860
Lot 597 A. Aubry Bodine, Steel and Shadows, Abstraction, c1951 and Baltimore Train Yard, c1946
Lot 614 Ray Metzker, Untitled, 1983-1984 (at right, bottom)
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The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.
October 8th
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

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