Happy Halloween

© Amy Stein

New Stranded Photos Added to Google Map

Lori and Ron, Interstate 5, Oregon © Amy Stein

I've added some new photographs to my Stranded Google map from my most recent road trip through northern California and Nevada, southern Idaho, and Oregon. I really believe there are some winners here.

I am thinking about making another Stranded trip in the next couple of weeks. This time we may be hitting the highways of the Midwest looking for broken down motorists. I will keep you posted.

"I’m Just a Photographer"

© Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide/Photo Archive Group

Fascinating story in today's New York Times about Nhem En, the man who took the pictures that serve as chilling evidence of the killing fields of Cambodia. Nhem En was the staff photographer at Tuol Sleng prison, the torture house of the Khmer Rouge.

From the NYT:

He had a job to do, and he did it supremely well, under threat of death, within earshot of screams of torture: methodically photographing Khmer Rouge prisoners and producing a haunting collection of mug shots that has become the visual symbol of Cambodia’s mass killings.

You can see more of these chilling photos at the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies.

Lori Nix at Randall Scott Gallery

Great Hall 2006 © Lori Nix

This Saturday Randall Scott Gallery will be holding an opening reception for a solo exhibition of work by the very talented and delightful Lori Nix. I recently paid a visit to Lori's studio and it reminded me of Gepetto's workshop if Gepetto kept sheets of extruded foam and tiny boxes filled with improvised tools and miniature model odds and ends. You can get a sense of Lori and her work environment by watching this video of her on Coolhunting.

Also on display-and just in time for the holiday-will be a few photos from my Halloween in Harlem series. Think of it as a seasonal show-let.

If you are in DC this Saturday you definitely need to be at this opening and see Lori's photographs.

Here are the details:

Lori Nix: The City
October 27 — December 8
Opening Reception: October 27 7PM - 9PM

Randall Scott Gallery
1326 14th Street NW
Washington, D.C.

Nan Goldin Photo Ruled 'Not Indecent'

I have been following this story for a while and it looks like more rational heads have finally prevailed. Some would say this type of event is good because it advances public discourse about acceptable community standards, but I never find police raids and confiscations to be an effective opening statement in any debate. My question is does ruling something 'not indecent' mean it is in fact decent?

Elton John's Seized Goldin Photo Is `Not Indecent,' BBC Reports
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Elton John's photograph of two girls by Nan Goldin, seized by police from an art exhibition last month, "is not an indecent image," the BBC said, citing the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service.

The photo, "Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing," was seized by Northumbria police from the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle, England, while on loan from the singer-songwriter. John said on his Web site that the work had been published around the world "without any objections of which we are aware" and auctioned twice by Sotheby's.

Goldin's 1998 picture, which had the title "Edda and Klara Belly-Dancing," sold for $3,000 in 2004 after failing to sell in 2002, Sotheby's said in an e-mail.

John, an art collector, owns thousands of photos by artists including Man Ray, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams, according to his Web site. He bought Goldin's picture as part of the ``Thanksgiving'' series at London's White Cube gallery in 1999, he said.

American Photo's Top Emerging Photograpahers

The current issue of American Photo features their selection of the top fifteen emerging photographers and I made the list. Needless to say, I am very humbled by my inclusion with such a fabulous group of talented photographers. Also making American Photo's list of the "new generation of photo pioneers": Shen Wei, Donald Weber, Mikhael Subotsky, Jason and Carlos Sanchez, Steven Laxton, Alexandra Catiere, Matt Eich, Camille Seaman, Lyric Cabral, Jehad Nga, Michael Christopher Brown, and Nicolai Howalt and Trine Søndergaard. Be sure sure to pick up a copy of the November/December issue on newsstands now. Or you can ask me for a copy. I believe I've cleaned out most of the inventory below 23rd Street.

November/December issue of American Photo

I'm also featured in an Apple Aperture advertorial in the same issue of American Photo.

Aperture advertorial in American Photo

This has been a good month for me and magazines. I was included in an October photography edition of Zeit magazin Leben. Zeit magazin Leben is the weekend magazine of Germany's largest weekly newspaper, Die Zeit. Watering Hole, an image from my Domesticated series, was featured in their "Around the World in 80 Photographs" edition that included works by twenty-five other photographers including Pieter Hugo, Hiroshi Watanabe, and Alec Soth. Good company indeed.

October issue of Zeit magazine Leben

Covers of American Photo and Zeit magazine Leben

Nice Kitty

Any time you bring a catfish, a dead chicken, a hand grenade, and a large wildcat into your home you know the results will be magical. Via Best Week Ever comes a series of surreal photos of a Russian household sharing their life with a bizarre family pet.

$623,400

Trolley, New Orleans, 1955 © Robert Frank

Sold at Christie's photography auction Wednesday.

Battle Photo: Felled Beast!

© Joel Sternfeld

vs.

© Gregory Crewdson

The End of a Crazy Week

Spectrum of Life © Matthew Pillsbury

The week behind was a little crazy as I tried to complete my Domesticated monograph. I took another trip to Matamoras to make a picture and I have been meeting with graphic designers so I can get cracking on the look and feel of the monograph. I've also been scrambling to get new prints together for a show of my Stranded work at SMoCA. It's hard out here for an imp.

Wednesday I took a break from work to attend the opening party of the HSBC Photography Foundation Award at Phillips de Pury Gallery in Chelsea. This year's winners are the always wonderful Matthew Pillsbury and Julia Fullerton-Batten. We were lucky to be in Madrid when the exhibition made its debut in May. Just like the opening in Madrid this was a top shelf affair with lots of delicious treats and fine champagne and wine. You can see the exhibit in New York through October 19. After that it travels to Lyon in December.

While you are checking out Matthew and Julia's work be sure to see the preview on display at Phillips de Pury in advance of their big photography auction this Wednesday. It is really an amazing experience to take in so much great work in one convenient location. Among the photographs soon to be sold for ridiculous sums of cash include works by Clark, Levitt, Arbus, Frank, Meatyard, Klein, Shore, Sternfeld, and Goldin. The highlight for me was seeing one of my favorite pieces by Matthew, Spectrum of Life, in the auction with so many A-listers.

I would like to think the week ahead is going to be easier, but my to-do list is far too daunting to expect a reprieve.

The White Stripes Holga

The White Stripes have partnered with Lomographische to produce limited edition cameras. The "Jack" model will be a Holga with fisheye lens and the "Meg" model will be the Diana+ with ringflash. Both packages will come with custom lenses and will, of course, be deliciously red and white. Pretty cool. They go on sale this Monday.

Take It To The Bridge

Watering Hole © Amy Stein

If you are in London this weekend be sure to make it over to the Bridge Art Fair. Randall Scott Gallery will be exhibiting work from my Domesticated, Stranded, and Halloween in Harlem series in addition to works by Julia Fullerton-Batten, Cara Ober, Nick Walker, Etsuko Ichikawa, Ryoko Suzuki, Sarah Wilmer, Alejandra Laviada.

Here are the details:

Bridge Art Fair
October 11 - October 14th
The Trafalgar Hotel
2 Spring Gardens, Trafalgar Square
Randal Scott Gallery, Room 718

Block Ice & Propane

© Lee Friedlander

Erik Friedlander is an amazing cellist whose new album, Block Ice & Propane, has quickly become my new favorite traveling companion. Erik also happens to be the son of Lee Friedlander. The new album was inspired by the many childhood road trips he took with his family in their camper. The product of those road trips happen to be some of the more amazing family snapshots ever taken. Erik has posted a few of those photos from his family album. Take a look and then do yourself--and your ears--a favor and pick up a copy of Block Ice & Propane.

I Love Gifts in the Mail: Colin Blakely and Rachael Dunville

© Colin Blakely

Last week was a gift-in-the-mail bonanza. Colin Blakely sent me a signed print from his Somewhere in Middle America series. I first saw the image, The Seeming Impenetrability of the Space Between, at the Griffin Museum and promptly gushed about it on my blog. If you are in the Boston area you can still see the photo in person at the 13th Annual Griffin Juried Show. Also, be sure to check out Colin's blog. Probably the most interesting and honest take out there on the struggle to be a successful photographer.

Also in the mailbox was a signed copy of Rachael Dunville's Springtown catalogue. You can pick up your own copy at photo-eye. The Springtown show is still on display at Peer Gallery and just got a lovely write-up in the New Yorker. Not too shabby.

Big thanks to Colin and Rachael for the fabulous gifts!

© Carrie Marill

In addition to these wonderful gifts, I have also received my first two pieces from 20x200. Arriving were gorgeous prints by Amy Ross and Carrie Marill, respectively. Both prints are still available. For only $20! What are you people waiting for? Beyond the solid curating, Jen Bekman has done a wonderful job with all the identity work around 20x200. When your prints arrive it really is an impressive production.

Fascists Attack Andres Serrano Photos in Swedish Gallery

So sad that this is the state of public discourse. From the IHT:

A grainy video of four masked vandals running through an art gallery in Sweden, smashing sexually explicit photographs with crowbars and axes to the strain of thundering death-metal music, was posted on YouTube last week.

This was no joke or acting stunt. It was what actually happened on a quiet Friday afternoon in Lund, a small university town in southern Sweden where "The History of Sex," an exhibition of photographs by the New York artist Andres Serrano, had opened two weeks earlier.

I was debating whether or not to post a link to the video of the attack. I mean, why give these fascist fucks any extra exposure, right? But, I think it would be a mistake to hide from this video. It is important to expose this type of extremism for the bullshit it is.

Sold to the Lady with the Wine in Her Hand

© Rebecca Norris Webb

Saturday we drove "upstate" to Mt Tremper to visit Mathew Pokoik and finally see the Interactive Landscape show. Mathew lives on an enviable slice of paradise in the Catskill Mountains. Vegetable gardens, 150 acres of forest, a beautiful house from the 1800s nestled next to a two-hundred-year-old Sugar Maple tree; it's the type of place that makes city dwellers drool. Mathew made us a lovely meal and we sat on his porch drinking wine and talking photography. Sitting there watching the sun go down over the Catskills I actually managed to shed my city skin and achieve something very close to a relaxed state.

As night arrived we decided to make the move over to Woodstock for the Center for Photography at Woodstock's benefit auction. Before we left Mathew's house it began to rain. Given the drunken spending spree we were about engage in, we should have recognized the rain as a proper metaphorical omen and stayed on the porch drinking wine.

Before the auction we reviewed the catalog and decided on two pieces we would go after if the price was right. When the final gavel hit we ended up with the highest bid on the two pieces we wanted, an Andrea Modica print from Treadwell and an Alessandra Sanguinetti from The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams, plus a third piece by Rebecca Norris Webb that appeared on the cover of her monograph The Glass Between Us. For the Sanguinetti piece we engaged in a friendly bidding war with Mathew, but in the end I think we wanted it more (or had a little bit more to drink). All three pieces went for well below their estimate price, so despite spending more than we wanted, the deals were too good to pass up.

If you want to start a photography collection, benefit auctions can be a fabulous way to get some great piece by big names at a fraction of the gallery cost. Of course, I don't recommend getting tipsy before you go or you may get a little paddle happy.

Best Band Photo Ever

© Piper Ferguson

Today Pitchfork featured a stream of the song Rachael by the group Neon Neon. Neon Neon is a collaboration between Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Boom Bip. The song is fun, but the band photo accompanying the stream is what caught my attention. Definitely a tip of the hat to Philip-Lorca diCorcia's classic photo, Eddie Anderson, 21 Years Old, Houston, TX.

Update: Of course, when I say "best band photo ever" I really mean second best. Here is the best band photo ever.

UPDATE: I just received a very lovely note from the photographer who took the fabulous photo of Neon Neon. Her name is Piper Ferguson, she lives in Los Angeles and she wears many hats. In addition to being a great photography and a fan of diCorcia, she is also an accomplished director who is currently work on a documentary about the rise of the indie music scene.

Hubble and the Crab Nebula

I just read about images from the Hubble Space Telescope on America Photo's State of the Art blog and then spent the next two hours staring at some of the most mesmerizing photos I've ever seen. These photos are beautiful and haunting and they spark huge mind-numbing questions about matter, space and time. It's almost as if they are art...

Battle Photos: Icebergs!

© Lynn Davis

vs.

Camille Seaman

"We Don't Torture"

"I've said to the people that we don't torture, and we don't." -- George Bush, September 6, 2006

Ooops, his bad. Looks like we really do. This isn't just the legacy of Bush, Cheney and Gonzales, this is your legacy and my legacy. Shameful.

Update: Edward Winkleman has a much smarter screed on the subject.

Josef Koudelka: This Photo is Blowing My Mind

© Josef Koudelka

Last night we attended the Alessandra Sanguinetti artist talk at Aperture Gallery. Alessandra is very smart in how she approaches, executes and talks about her work and I took away a lot from the evening.

While at Aperture I leafed through a copy of their new Josef Koudelka career-spanning book, Koudelka. How could one person have taken so many iconic images? It is all so good it almost makes me want to throw in the towel. I mean, how do you aspire to be a great cello player after hearing Pablo Casals play Bach's Suites for Cello? And how do you aspire to take amazing pictures after Mr. Koudelka has given the world The Hound?

Hysteria Wins, Thanksgiving is Over

Following the hysteria that lead police to confiscate a single Nan Goldin photo of two girls playing, Elton John has decided to pull the installation piece, Thanksgiving, from a Gateshead gallery. Here's the statement from the BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art's Web site:

BALTIC at the request of The Sir Elton John Photography Collection has closed the exhibition Thanksgiving by Nan Goldin.

After the removal of one image from the series it was no longer possible for BALTIC to exhibit the collection of works as the artist intended and therefore BALTIC is symaphetic to Sir Elton John's request and supportive of the decision.

AP has picked up the story here. The AP story includes the sentence, "police confirmed they were looking at the picture to assess whether an offense had been committed," which reminded me of the old joke about the community board that confiscated some alleged pornography and were forced to review the material over and over and over and over and over again before they ruled.