Get Your Arse to Brooklyn, Yo!

© Andrew Miksys

This Thursday the Nelson Hancock Gallery will be hosting the opening of two shows by two very talented artists, Jon Gitelson and Andrew Miksys.

Jon's work is smart, funny and personal. It is part Larry David and part Martin Parr, but really it is pure Gitelson. I am super excited he decided to come to town for the opening.

Andrew's photography is rich, classically stylized and flat out gorgeous. He was kind enough to share his work with my class at Parsons yesterday and we were all stunned by his beautiful photos.

Jon and Andrew's work couldn't be more different which should make for a great show.

Here are the details:

Jon Gitelson | Artist's Books and Andrew Miksys | BAXT
Nelson Hancock Gallery
May 1 - July 6
111 Front St. #204
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 1, 6 - 8pm

If two shows in one location is not enough to satisfy your art appetite, New Orleans' own William Greiner has a show opening that very same night on that very same block in the very same building. Be sure to stop by Klompching Gallery for the opening of Fallen Paradise.

See you in Brooklyn!

Don't Call It a Comeback

Love Kills, 1979 © Jill Freedman

The New York Times has a great profile on Jill Freedman. Jill made a name for herself in the 70s and 80s with her gritty black and white images of a city in serious decline. She is now enjoying a bit of a renaissance with a show at Higher Pictures.

It's great to see an artist get her due after so many years, but it's disheartening to know you can have the goods and still fall off the art world map. The sad truth is Jill's story is probably more common than the stories of artists who enjoy a consistent and sustained success throughout their career. Too often I focus on career lessons learned from those who have made it, but the wisdom of those that struggle is just as valuable. "You have to be good at hustling," Jill says.

And so I hustle...

An Opening, Two Closings and a Monkey on a Motorbike

Pieter Hugo Cover/Juxtapoz Magazine

Just a quick update from the California Zephyr as I speed across America. Tonight my first solo show in Germany opens at the Pool Gallery in Berlin. The people at Pool couldn't be nicer and Art Das Kunstmagzin has chosen the show for their Tip of the Week.

This weekend marks the closing of both my first solo show at Paul Kopeikin Gallery and the Car Culture group show at SMoCA. Very sad to these shows come down, but all things must pass.

Also, some of my work is featured in the latest issue of Juxtapoz Magazine. The issue highlights work by a number of great photographers like Pieter Hugo, Boogie and Corey Arnold. Get your copy now!

New American Fables Solo Show in Berlin this Friday

New American Fables opening Friday at Pool Gallery

Today I am leaving on a four day cross country train trip. Yes, I'm riding the rails like Boxcar Bertha, but instead of livin' and lovin' like an outlaw I will be shooting an editorial assignment. I suspect a train across America means serious connectivity lapses, so I may be off the grid for a few days.

I previously planned on going to Berlin this week for the opening of my first solo show in Germany, but over the past six weeks I have suffered through a series of flus, colds and an assortment of maladies that made it difficult to plan a trip oversees. It's too bad because it should be a pretty happening event.

The show is called New American Fables and features a selection of work from my Domesticated and Halloween in Harlem series. I will definitely make it over before the show closes and hopefully time it to catch the openings of Alec Soth's TWO SHOWS in Berlin. Talk about a big-time art superstar.

If you are in Berlin this Friday please stop by Pool Gallery for the opening.

Here are the details on the show:

Amy Stein | New American Fables
Pool Gallery
Apr 26 – May 24
Tucholskystraße 38
Berlin, Germany
Opening Reception: Friday, Apr 23, 7-11 pm

Corey Arnold on NPR

© Corey Arnold

Corey Arnold is a great photographer who manages to marry the best parts of documentary and conceptual work to produce images that are uniquely his own. He is also on my shortlist of truly wonderful people in the world. Check out this nugget of audio and visual gold he just did with NPR.

Trapped!

The New Yorker has posted a fascinating time-lapsed video of Nicholas White, who was trapped in an elevator for forty-one hours. Mr. White stays remarkably calm during his ordeal. I would have chewed off my arm and clubbed myself to death with it.

Jessica Dimmock and The Ninth Floor

© Jessica Dimmock

This Thursday Jessica Dimmock's The Ninth Floor opens at Foley Gallery this Thursday. If you haven't seen Jessica's work yet check out the show or pick up her book. You will be hard pressed not to be effected by the work.

Anna Sirota is a student of mine from Parsons. She was moved by the images from The Ninth Floor and approached me about writing a review of the book on my blog. I am a big fan of writing about your own work and the work of others, so I was happy to oblige.

Here's Anna's review:

The drug epidemic in America has escalated to an all time high. People all over the country are falling into the abyss of addiction and the war on drugs is an endless and seemingly hopeless endeavor. Many feel disconcerted and disgusted with the idea of injecting a lethal chemical into their veins, but the importance of recognizing and discussing the emotional pain and suffering that addicts experience on a daily basis is the way to initiate change.

Jessica Dimmock’s “The Ninth Floor” is a hauntingly uneasy documentation of young heroin addicts living in squalor. Jessica successfully captured the stale, dismal atmosphere of the space, once a representation of beauty and class. The vacancy disintegration of each of her subjects is palpable. Through a muted color scheme and a straightforward snap-shot perspective, Jessica Dimmock evokes feelings of sadness and sympathy. The images are genuinely disturbing and impossible to be ignored. If this book is not a cause for reflection, then nothing can be.

Here are the details on the show:

Jessica Dimmock | The Ninth Floor
Foley Gallery
547 W 27th Street, 5th floor
New York, NY 10001
Apr 17 - May 31, 2008
Opening reception: Apr 17, 6 - 8 PM

Send in the Clowns

© John Gordon

Today on Conscientious Jörg compared the work of Idris Khan and Jason Salavon. Both artists create composite images of preexisting photos that share a similar subject.

My husband John was inspired and gave the concept his own waggish spin. The above image represents every clown in the International Clown Hall of Fame (ICHOF). The results are quite frightening and yet strangely hypnotic.

Saturday Night Party Then Sunday Afternoon Kong

Edinburgh, UK 2003 © Brian Ulrich

Last night I went to a party at the fabulous home of photography collector Joe Baio. Each year Joe throws a big shindig during AIPAD to show off his amazing collection of photographs. The walls were covered in photographs by Sally Mann, Brian Ulrich, Arthur Tress, Vik Muniz, Loretta Lux, Angelika Rinnhofer, Muzi Quawson...the list goes on and on.

The joint was packed with a who's who of gallerists and photographers featured in Joe's collection. I found myself in many amazing conversations with people I have admired for a very long time but never had the opportunity to meet. I had about three glasses of wine too many, but I think everyone else did too. It really was a special evening and I am now counting the days until next years party.

This afternoon I am paying the price for my partying ways. I am nursing a decent hangover and consuming copious amounts of coffee so I can get on with the business of the day. During my downtime I watched the documentary King of Kong. If you haven't seen it yet you must stop everything you are doing and watch it now.

Now I am off to AIPAD one last time.

Photography Now 2008 Opening Tonight in Woodstock

© Matthew Baum

If you are in or around Woodstock, NY, tonight be sure to catch the opening of Photography Now 2008 at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. The exhibition was juried by Darren Ching of Klompching Gallery fame and features a number of very talented photographers including my very dear friend, Matthew Baum.

While you are there, be sure to kick a hippie in the shins.

Shai Kremer at Julie Saul Gallery

Abandoned Syrian Base, Golan Heights, 2007 © Shai Kremer

Fighting back a sickness that has ruined me for the past several weeks I ventured to Chelsea last night for Shai Kremer's Broken Promised Land opening at Julie Saul Gallery. The opening was hopping and Shai's prints looked amazing. For over seven years Shai has been documenting the effects of military action on the landscape of Israel. The work is both sobering and beautiful and raises a lot of questions about the generations of people born into an environment where this kind of destruction is the norm.

After making the rounds at Shai's opening we walked a few blocks to the Blind Spot auction at David Zwirner. We went to the auction with a strong desire to make serious bids on a couple of pieces, but the place was so incredibly crowded it proved impossible to see the work let alone write your bid down. I quickly tucked the credit card back in the pocket and made a beeline out the door and into the beautiful New York night.

Busy Like Our Friend the...

This is one of those weeks where the social calendar and the career calendar collide in spectacular fashion. By Sunday I will probably be reduced to a tired pile of my former self.

Last night was an SVA event at the Whitney Biennial, tonight is Spoon at Terminal 5, Thursday is the Blind Spot Auction and then it's all AIPAD through the weekend. (By the way, big thanks to Robert Ayers of ArtInfo for including me in the Editor's Picks for AIPAD).

All that nighttime fun caps full days spent scurrying about the streets of New York trying to get stuff done. I am teaching two classes this week, putting the finishing touches on my portfolio so my rep can start shopping it around and preparing a ton of prints for a solo show in Berlin that opens in two weeks! (More on the Berlin solo show later.)

I'm exhausted!

Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining. This is all good stuff and exactly what I set out to do. It's just becoming painfully obvious to me that I do not have the capacity to juggle the expanding details and obligations of my career and still be able to produce new work. I have a wonderful intern, Chanjai, who helps me a ton, but I think I am at a critical juncture where I need to expand operations and hire an assistant. Once I get back from Berlin I will explore this idea a little more and maybe post a want ad on my blog.

Bunny Hops to F-Stops

Brian Ulrich and Todd Hido getting rad!

Last Tuesday at Aperture I saw a great lecture by the talented Todd Hido. As he talked about the long hours he spends driving around looking for his next subject and finding influence in the work of Robert Adams I realized that we share a very similar vision and approach to working. It really was an inspiration.

Much of what Todd said will soon become career canon for me, but one thing he mentioned really piqued my interest. His early years were spent in Ohio on a BMX bike.

This got me thinking about another photographer I know who rode BMX back in the day, Brian Ulrich. I started to wonder if there was a correlation here. Maybe the future stars of MoMA can be found getting agro on the dirt tracks and in the parking lots of America. Perhaps photography grad schools should cut the curriculum and just show this to incoming students:

Hmmm...

If you are a modern photographer genius who spent their youth doing tail whips, table tops and endos, let me know and please send me a photo. I think I can get a grant for this.

Big Openings This Thursday and Friday

© Alison Malone

Yesterday I began carb loading in anticipation of a big Thursday gallery crawl. It's not often I make it to the Midtown galleries, but with Fred Herzog and Matthew Pillsbury in the mix I am willing to tear myself away from the usual Thursday night in Chelsea.

I have been crowing for a while now about Fred Herzog's brilliantly alive Kodachrome photos of Vancouver from the 50s and 60s. Shockingly this is his first solo show in the states.

Matthew Pillsbury's work is instantly iconic and you just know we are biding time until his MoMA retrospective. I love Matthew and his work, but secretly I'm really more interested in seeing Nathan.

Also worth checking out this Thursday is fellow SVA alum and all around radical chick, Alison Malone. Work from her series Job's Daughter will be featured in the Dream-Self group show at Broadway Gallery.

Here are the details:

Fred Herzog | Vancouver Color
April 3 - May 31
Laurence Miller Gallery
20 W 57th St
New York, NY 10019

Matthew Pillsbury | Elapsed
April 3 - May 31
Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 E 57th St #1300
New York, NY 10022

Dream-Self
April 3-15
Broadway Gallery
473 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10013

Gregory Crewdson | Beneath the Roses
April 3 - May 3
Luhring Augustine Gallery
531 West 24th St
New York, NY 10011

See you there!

Todd Hido at Aperture Tonight

Untitled, #4078 2005 © Todd Hido

The very talented Todd Hido will be giving a lecture tonight at Aperture. Todd consistently produces images that are uncanny and haunting, but never foreboding. Much like Hopper his work propagates the kind of mystery that invites you into the scene instead of warning you to keep a safe distance. I am a big fan.

I am feeling sick today, but if I can drag myself out of bed and onto to the F train I will be there.

If you can't make it, check out the video of Todd below.