Tonight!!! William Greiner opening at Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Loungers
Noac, 1995, Digital C-Type Print, Signed & Numbered Verso

I am exhausted, spent and still unfinished with my final projects for the School year but I have to go to this for a bit tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing the final images in printed form. So far, I have only viewed Greiner's work on his website and his blog.

FALLEN PARADISE — William Greiner
May 1 — June 27

OPENING RECEPTION: May 1, 6pm — 8pm

This is the underbelly of pre-Katrina New Orleans. Greiner presents an image of a city that was already devastated, by neglect and abandonment, long before natural disaster struck. His imaging of New Orleans' urban vernacular is perceptively pictured through a carefully constructed use of color, form and content.

William Greiner's modus operandi is the American Color Tradition — the snapshot that isn't. Here, the familiar becomes unfamiliar. The seemingly objective actuality of the city, its banality, its ordinary everyday impression, is transformed into a vista of flush saturated palettes of color. Born, raised and (until Katrina) living and working in the city, New Orleans has always been an importnt source of inspiration for Greiner's work.

Here, a decade of looking and picturing his immediate environment, is brought together and displayed for the first time. Fallen Paradise is a celebration of apparent incidental imagery that is, of course, abound in formal devices — frame, vantage point, shape and line. Although there exists an autobiographical subtext, Greiner is most successful in compelling us to also look, not just at his city, but at the photograph itself. Whilst the importance of his subject does not disappear, these images function as photographic artifact — at once, they are observation and cultural object.

William Geiner lives and works in Baton Roughe, Louisiana.

KLOMPCHING GALLERY

111 Front Street, Suite 206
Brooklyn, NY 11201

What is wrong with AIPAD?

Photo of the 2008 New York APAID show by Susan Sermoneta.

A few weekends ago, I went out to see The AIPAD Photography "show". I wouldn't call it a show - that would give it too much credit. The only thing that was like a show was the price.

$25 dollars for the day.

No student ticket pricing.

Zero.

What is wrong with these people? Are they that elitist that they need to overcharge EVERYONE? Even the bigger more prestigious and more historically significant show, The Armory Show has a fair student price of $10. I am glad I didn't post this right after I went since I was in a angrier mood then and I maybe would have said something rash.

I almost didn't go until I found an artistic method of entry. As for how the fair was? It was ok there were some highlights and some embarrassments. I would post them here but I wouldn't want to help them. One thing I will note is how interesting it is to see who isn't represented at these fairs but are in other fairs. Those famous Germans with the big price tags weren't there at all as far I saw.

So, next year AIPAD please consider at student pricing all the cool Art Fairs are doing it.

Lots of blog coverage here here here here and countless others...

The Black Sun by Ansel Adams and Minor White.

Ansel Adams, “The Black Sun, Owens Valley, California,” 1939
From the book “Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs,” page 124.

Last fall, after the bulk of the Black Sun Project shooting was complete I began researching and writing about the work. I looked into symbolic and historical meanings of a Black Sun, the history of photography as well as the more recent artist manipulations with glitches. Its quite amazing how research can help you more full understand what you were doing with in your own work.

I hope to discuss the symbolic meaning of a Black Sun and glitch art in other posts. Now, I want to discuss the biggest revelation in my research; two historical photographers have come up with very similar Black Sun pictures. The first image I came across is the image above by Ansel Adams made in 1939 and the other is by Minor White produced in 1955.

Through a bit of Google image searching I came upon several blogs that mentioned an Ansel Adams’ image called “The Black Sun, Tungsten Hills, Owens Valley, California.” There is very little web information and virtually no good images floating around but Ansel talks about this image quite thoroughly in his book “Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs,” starting on page 124.

My first negative was planned for development in Kodak D-23. The film was Kodak Super-XX, a fine material of the "thick emulsion" type. The sun flared strongly in the sky, and in the center of the flare was a small circle of slightly gray value, representing a partial reversal of the sun's image. The second exposure was identical to the first, but compensating development was planned for the desired reversal effect. It was gratifying to see both negatives as experiments and one, The Black Sun, as a striking surrealistic image. It was proof that the subject may prompt ideas, ideas crave visualizations, and craft makes their realization possible.

Ansel does a nice job of talking about where the technical and the aesthetic join up and work together. I am not sure if he imagined the outcome before the negative was produced, like he claims, or if it was a happy accident. Either way his image stunned me when I first found it in his book.


“The Black Sun” by Minor White, 1955 from Time-Life’s “Great Photographers,” ref. 163, p. 185 via “Solarization Demystified” by Professor and artist William L. Jolly.

Another surprising discovery happened more recently, when I came across an article on solarization by Professor William L. Jolly. Apparently “Adams claimed that the reversal was anticipated and previsualized. White admitted that, in his case, it was an accident and rhapsodized, The sun is not fiery after all, but a dead planet. We on earth give it its light.”

Another contemporary photographer working with similar content of sun images with a different method to get there is Chris McCaw. Chris has been letting the sun literally burn the photographic medium and has been getting some breathtaking results. I look forward to seeing the real prints in person someday.


Sunburn GSP#039, by Chris McCaw 2006.

Black Sun Project, debuts at Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami, FL (UPDATED x2)

UPDATE: The show will be up for on more gallery walk this Saturday April 12th 7-10PM. Although I can't be down in Miami the gallery will be open, please invite everyone you know, stop by, check it out and let me know what you think.


On Saturday, March 8th, 2008, I opened my first solo show at the Bas Fisher Invitational. It was great to be back in Miami to get some fresh air and see all my friends there. Please check out the images of the show below the Press Release.

PRESS RELEASE

The Bas Fisher Invitational presents “Black Sun Project,”
a new series of photographs by Harlan Erskine.

Harlan Erskine
“Black Sun Project”
March 8th - April TBD, 2008

Opening Reception: March 8th 2008 7-10PM
Closing Reception: April 12th 2008 7-10pm

other viewings by appointment only: lightofman[at]gmail.com

Bas Fisher Invitational
upstairs on the 2nd floor
of the Buena Vista Building
180 NE 39th St. Suite 210
basfisherinvitational.com

Black Sun Project

“The sun is not fiery after all, but a dead planet. We on earth give it its light.”
—Minor White

My photography certainly began in a formalistic project based practice but this particular project is very much a departure for me because I am experimenting in photographic abstraction. Not long after photography’s invention, many photographers experimented with abstraction of photographic space. Even the early contact prints of plants produced by the inventor of the Calotype, Henry Fox Talbot, are in essence an exploration in photographic abstraction. I am particularly interested in the later abstraction from the 1930’s of Man Ray and his then assistant Lee Miller and their rediscovery of Solarizations or the Sabattier Effect. Particularly interesting are the more direct echos of my project in the singular images from Ansel Adams and Minor White. Their Black Sun images, through overexposure solarization, are the analogue version of my images. Therefore, in a similar way, they explored abstraction in relation to the contemporary photographic technology of their time–this exploration, titled Black Sun Project, explores photography through a significant contemporary technology, the mobile phone.

Contemporary practice has very much brought a particular kind formalism into vogue but with new sets of guidelines. I am certainly guilty of applying many of these parameters within my own work but in moving away from my previous methods of working, I have found some clarity in my previous explorations as well as a new avenue to explore. I will continue to work the way I used to but every so often, it is beneficial to perform radical change and see where it leads. Taryn Simon’s photograph of the albino tiger is good example of a photographer who is photographing an evolutionary glitch/mistake. Nature normally weeds out albino tigers born in the wild since they are not well suited to their surroundings and have a very tough time surviving–they tend to get horribly sunburn and stick out in its surroundings. By the same logic, technology companies normally weed out glitches from their products (we hope they do anyway) to improve their products. The manufacturer of this cellular phone eventually weeded out the black sun solarization effect so this artwork is self–reflexively about that mistake or glitch in the technological evolution of mobile photography and photography in general.



The Bas Fisher Invitational is a artist run alternative art space, located in the Buena Vista Building in Miami’s Design District. It was founded in July 2004 by artists Hernan Bas and Naomi Fisher in the wake of losing their favorite alternative art space “the House” to Miami’s rapid gentrification. Their premise is to simply invite artists who they are inspired by to publicly showcase their work, exposing additional exciting voices to Miami's growing art scene.

For additional information please contact the gallery at lightofman[at]gmail.com or contact Harlan Erskine at Me[at]harlanerskine.com






Black Sun 0006, c-print on diasec in wood frame, 48" x 64"


Black Sun 0009, c-print on diasec in wood frame, 48" x 64"


Black Sun 0181, c-print on diasec in wood frame, 48" x 64"


Infinite Black Suns, 104 c-prints, 4" x 6" each

Peter Funch

"Communicating Community" from the series "Babel Tales" by Peter Funch 51 x 23 inches.

One of the many people I got to meat during last weeks Armory Show madness was photographer and gallery owner Peter Funch. I got to take a quick look at his prints at The Volta Show but I wanted to spend more time with them. Hopefully they will be up again in New York.

Peter is a cofounder o f V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their website has a nice gallery of Peter's Babel Tales. Peter was also selected by Getty Images in their New Photographers 2007 collection of image makers.

April Art opening weekend...

"Laura (Thunderstorm)" Ryan McGinley, 2007
c-print, 20 x 24 inches, Exhibited in I Know Where the Summer Goes 2008

So, after a mad mad Armory weekend - Spring openings are upon us in New York. Here is my rundown am I missing anything?

Tonight, Thursday April 3rd 2008

Ryan McGinley at Team
Grand street, 83, b/w wooster & greene

"Dream-Self" Group Show at Broadway Gallery
473 Broadway, 7th Floor
Featuring works by Allison Kaufman, Bedel Tiscareno, Lambert Fernando, Erica Allen, and Alison Malone.

Victoria Sambunaris "Yet All Remains" at Yancey Richardson Gallery
W 22 street, 535, floor 3

Sze Tsung Leong at Yossi Milo Gallery
W 25 street, 525

David Plowden, Fred Herzog "Vancouver Color and Vintage America" at Laurence Miller Gallery
W 57 street, 20, floor 3

Tomorrow, Friday April 4th 2008



Nancy Davenport "Workers (leaving the factory)" at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery
W 26 street, 526, #213

Gregory Crewdson concludes the Beneath the Roses series at Luhring Augustine Gallery
W 24 street, 531

I don't think I will be able to make it to the uptown opening tonight but let me know if anyone makes it and report back.

UPDATE: Gregory Crewdson's opening was on Friday night not Saturday I guess artcards is not always 100% - I thought it was an odd opening day for Chelsea.

New York Times: On Miami's Art Scene

Reflection of a visitor to the Rubell Family Collection in the Wynwood Art District is seen in an untitled work by Anselm Reyle. Chip Litherland for The New York Times.

In Sunday's New York Times Travel Section there is a article that not only got Miami's art world right but mentioned some friends of mine. Have a look The Miami Art Scene: The Beach Party Moves Indoors. Congratulations Jen Stark, Frank Wick, Scott Murray at Twenty Twenty getting a huge write up, Naomi Fisher and Jim Drain and many others. Its a great write up that is surprisingly on point with where the spots are while avoiding all the South Beach clichés of the standard Miami Travel article.