But The Good News Is...

Yerim and Her Pink Things, 2005 © JeongMee Yoon

My dear friend JeongMee Yoon just got a lovely write-up in the New York Times. In addition to the article they also gave her work the full multimedia slide show treatment. Really impressive. You can see JeongMee's work in person beginning March 3 when her solo show opens at Jenkins Johnson Gallery in New York.

I have been thinking of JeongMee lately after I saw a recent feature in New York Magazine about five New Yorkers whose entire wardrobe consists of a single color.



One of the five people profiled is Stephin Merritt (brown). Stephin is the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, the Magnetic Fields, who I happen to be seeing live tomorrow at Town Hall.

UPDATE: JeongMee's show at Jenkins Johnson opens Saturday, March 8.

But She Has Blonde Hair Too

Madonna hitchhiking (from Sex), 1992 © Steven Meisel

From the AP wire:

Lawrence Nicastro, 73, said he found the grainy, poster-size photo last year while going through storage items at his home in Las Vegas. He believed it had been left by a customer at his service station in the Bronx in 1962.

Nicastro and his wife, Phyllis, said they had spent about four months researching the origin of the photograph and called in Chris Harris, a publicist and Monroe expert, for help authenticating it.

Harris said it was a dead ringer for Monroe and scheduled a Wednesday news conference to unveil the image to reporters.

The two men gave The Associated Press a sneak peak Tuesday.

"You're right; it's Madonna," Harris said after being told of the mix-up. Harris said he believed someone had slipped the poster into Nicastro's storage as a prank.

So, I can kind of believe that a 73 year old man mistook a very common photo of Madonna for a very rare photo of Marilyn Monroe.

Kind of.

What is harder form me to believe is that one, someone makes a living as a Marilyn Monroe expert and two, that said expert confused the two. (His Marilyn Monroe experting days are totally numbered.) What is super hard for me to believe is that neither noticed the '92 Ford Aerostar cruising down the road in the background.

Yesterday's Tomorrow Today!

Little know fact. Alec Soth uses this very same flash setup

I love the Modern Mechanix blog. The blog posts scanned articles from old Modern Mechanix magazines that feature everything from fabulously eccentric DIY weirdness to fantastical glimpses of a not-too-distant, but oh so clunky, future. They have a special section devoted to photography, but idiosyncratic insanity abounds behind every turn.

Jeff Wall at Strand Bookstore This Friday

Passerby, 1996 © Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall will be speaking and signing copies of his latest book, Jeff Wall: Works and Collected Writings, at the Strand Bookstore this Friday. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of the giants of contemporary photography. Get the details here.

The Big Opening

I am relaxing in Scottsdale, AZ after a long drive from Los Angeles on Sunday. I am visiting Scottsdale to see the Car Culture show at SMoCA and spend a few days chilling out. The run up to the opening at Paul Kopeikin Gallery has been a thrill ride and I need to cool the jets for a few days.

The opening was exhilarating and nerve racking and wonderful all at the same time. The place was packed and the work was well received. It was great to see familiar faces like Liz, Patrick and Amy and meet a ton of new folks from Los Angeles.

I will post installation photos soon, but right now I am going for a hike.

Thank You Fecal Face

Never thought I would utter that combination of words, but then again I never thought I would live to see someone named Barack Hussein Obama as the front runner to be the next president of the United States. Such is the wonderful world we live in. Fecal Face is a fabulous Bay area based Web site that covers and supports emerging arts and artists. In advance of my solo show that opens this weekend they were kind enough to interview me and post some of my work.

Also, check out a recent Web feature on Luminous Lint and another interview at The Land Salmon.

New Domesticated and Stranded Images

Susie, Andrew and Pam, Route 17, New York © Amy Stein

I just added some new Domesticated and Stranded images to my Web site. Take a look and let me know what you think.

If you are in SoCal and want to see the Domesticated images in person, please come to my big solo show opening this Saturday at Paul Kopeikin Gallery.

Car Culture Opening Friday at SMoCA

Fat Car, 2000 © Erwin Wurm

Work from my Stranded series is currently featured in the exhibit Car Culture at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. The big opening for the show is this Friday from 6 - 8 PM. If you are in Scottsdale or the greater Phoenix area, try to stop by and check out the exhibition.

Also, the folks at SMoCA have put together a snazzy site to compliment the show. It's the next best thing to being there.

Battle Dems: Super Tuesday!

2008 © Michael David Murphy

vs.

Hillary Clinton 1993 © Larry Fink

It's a Man's (Art) World

Untitled (Woman Singing) 1990 © Carrie Mae Weems

This morning Edward Winkleman points to a very telling piece of research conducted by ChelseaArtGalleries.com. They surveyed language from gallery press releases over the past two years and the results are not surprising. Key takeaway for me, in 2007 the word "his" appeared more often in press releases than the word "art."

But The Good News Is...

© Juliana Beasley

There is a ton of good stuff happening in the photography world these days, or at least that's what one would believe judging by my feed aggregator and inbox. Each week I am going to do a roundup of some of the more interesting projects, opportunities and announcements I have come across. There is a lot of crap in the world, but the good news is...

Juliana Beasley is one of my favorite photographers and one of my favorite people. She continues to knock it out of the park with her work and the world is starting to take notice in a big way. Her new series, Eyes of Salamanca, was just awarded second place in Prix de la Photographie's Human Condition competition. Well deserved recognition of stunning work.

The title of one of my favorite albums by Talking Heads is now the title of a great new book project from photographer/prolific blogger, Shane Lavalette, and Karly Wildenhaus. They are currently seeking submissions from photographers who would like to be featured in the first volume of Remain in Light. You can get all the details about the book and submission information here.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the power of the book for emerging photographers. Having your work featured in book form can be a huge personal validation and a heck of a promotional tool. Photographer initiated projects like Remain in Light and Pause, to Begin have sparked a kernel of a big book idea that I would like to pursue after things quiet down a bit in the next couple of months. I will keep you posted as it starts to take shape.

Battle Photo: She's Got Legs!

The latest photo offering from Jen Bekman's wonderful 20x200 project was inspiration for this edition of Battle Photo.

The Office 2004 © Rebecca Loyche

vs.

Untitled 2006 © Alison Brady