John Pfahl's Altered Landscapes

Australian Pines, Fort DeSoto, Florida, 1977 © John Pfahl

Saturday I toured a number of current exhibitions in Chelsea and was lucky to catch the final day of When Color Was New: Vintage Photographs From Around the 1970s at Julie Saul Gallery. The show featured quite a few iconic images from Sternfeld, Goldin and Eggleston, but the work of John Pfahl really stood out. I had forgotten how much I loved John Pfahl's Altered Landscape series.

Triangle, Bermuda, 1975 © John Pfahl

John made this series in the 1970s, but the images feel very contemporary because this style of photography is in vogue with the new wave of snapshot youth. But where many young photographers only go as deep as the ironic juxtaposition of an object in an environment, John's interventions manage to weave the primal simplicity of the Lascaux drawings with a playful complexity that reveals an intelligence very much of this time.

Wave, Lave, Lace, Pescadero Beach, California, 1978 © John Pfahl

I love the way these photos play with space. John has created images that at once seem flat and two dimensional and then suddenly reveal a depth that is expansive as the ocean itself. Truly ahead of its time.

Moonrise over Pie Pan, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, 1977 © John Pfahl

Second Issue of 1000 Words

© Anri Sala

The second issue of 1000 Words Magazine is now up. The theme is "Construct" and includes work by Thomas Demand, Anri Sala, Iosif Kiraly, Richard Learoyd, Indre Serpytyte and yours truly. It also includes some solid writing by Tim Clark, J. MacNeil Miller, Chas Bowie, Michael Grieve, Pedro J. Vicente Mullor and Jörg Colberg. Take a look.

Gross

Charles Dharapak / Associated Pres

This is the worst kind of political theater. It's just really cynical and gross. Josh Marshall does a great job of breaking down the choreography.

Domesticated Show Reviewed in ARTnews

Today, on the drive home from our vacation we stopped at a Barnes & Noble in New Haven to pick up the September issue of ARTnews. The magazine features a review of my Domesticated show at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery.

I have known for almost a month the review was coming and the September issue has been out for a few days now, but I have been too apprehensive to pick it up until today. I was so nervous I had my husband read it first while I browsed the fiction aisle. When I came back he was smiling.

Here's the review by Richard Chang:

In her first solo exhibition, titled "Domesticated," Amy Stein explored the point where the civilized world and wild-animal habitats. For her compelling photographs, the artist restages real encounters between humans and animals. The scenes are united by their setting: the area in and around Matamoras, a small town in northeast Pennsylvania that borders a state forest.

Stein specializes in unexpected juxtapositions. In Nursery (2007) a spotted doe appears to have just awakened in a greenhouse among meticulously organized flowers, cacti, and hanging potted plants. Watering Hole (2005) features a young girl in a blue bathing suit standing on the edge of a diving board, staring down a large bear poised on its hind legs. Only a low chain-link fence separates them.

The narratives are enhanced by Stein's formal skill. Trasheaters (2005), showing two coyotes picking over spilled garbage outside a suburban ranch house, contrasts the animals' natural grace with hard geometry of the circular metal trash can, the triangular roofline, and three rectangular windows emitting a harsh yellow light as a sign of nearby human presence.

Backyard (2007) shows a hunter behind a chain-link fence, aiming his rifle at a turkey trotting across a snow-covered meadow. The placement of the hunter makes it look as if he's the one confined. Through such clever scene-setting, Stein reveals the contradictions inherent in mankind's twin impulses to join nature and to tame it.

Whew!

I'm Hiring: Digital Assistant

I am looking for a New York based file-prep genius to take my work from negatives to beautiful final prints. The ideal candidate is a hungry, hardworking perfectionist looking for a great opportunity to build experience producing prints for gallery and museum exhibitions as well as public and private collections.

Required skills:

• Minimum 1 year of experience scanning medium or large format negatives to digital files
• Minimum 2 years of experience working with Photoshop to spot, color correct, retouch and prepare digital files for print
• Experience handling photographic prints and packaging for gallery and museum shipment
• Superior communication and organization skills

Desired skills:

• Experience managing the process with a printer to deliver final prints
• Sense of humor

This is a part-time position (up to 20 hours per week) with minimal pay ($15/hr), but the experience and perks are considerable.

Does this sound like you or someone you know? Please send a PDF of your resume and samples of your work to amysteinphoto@yahoo.com no later than September 15, 2008.

And please help me spread the word!

The Merchandising Empire Begins!

Guns and Keds are as American as preemptive war and apple pie. And now they're together at last! I just found Zazzle where you can customize your our pair of Keds.

Here's my pair.

Awesome.

Shows Closing Saturday

Saturday is your last chance to catch the Beyond the Backyard exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and my New American Fables show at the Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco. Both shows have been very well received and represent seminal moments in my career so far. While I'm sad to see them come down, I am excited about the opening of the Road Trip exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Art, plus more solo and group show opportunities that I hope to report on soon.