harlan erskine * photography/blog

RIP Corey Haim, 1971 - 2010

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:32:00 +0000

Sad news today - Corey Haim was in some classic films that really captured a generation. These films images and stories are seared into my memories forever. Rest In Paradise.

Here is a mash up of the classics.

Corey Haim, Actor, Dies at 38 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

New York Armory Show week

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:27:00 +0000

It was a gloomy day when I arrived to pick up my press passes. Its not the best time of year for New York weather but maybe that better for looking at art indoors?

Yesterday marks day one of New York art fair week. I am taking pictures of the art I find compelling as I stroll through the crowds. I'll start posting later today. Blow are some key listings if you have something to add to this list please email me.

ART FAIRS:

The Armory Show
Piers 92 & 94, Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street
Wednesday, March 3, 5pm Vernissage
Thursday, March 4 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-7pm

VOLTANY
7 West 34th Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues)
Thursday, March 4, noon-2pm VIP Preview
Thursday, March 4, 2-8pm; Friday, March 5 - Sunday, March 7, 11am-7pm

Scope New York
Pavilion at Lincoln Center Damrosch Park, 62nd Street andamsterdam Avenue
Wednesday, March 3, 3-9pm VIP FirstView ($100)
Thursday, March 4 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-7pm

Pulse
330 West Street (corner of West Side Highway @ West Houston)
Thurdsay, March 4, 9am-noon VIP Preview
Thursday, March 4 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-5pm

ADAA Art Show at Park Avenue Armory
Park Avenue at 67th Street
Tuesday, March 2, 5:30-9:30pm Gala Preview ($150)
Wednesday, March 3-Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-6pm

Dutch Art Now
The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
Wednesday, March 3 - Sunday, March 7, 11am-5pm

Fountain New York
Pier 66 at 26th Street and West Side Highway in Hudson River Park
March 4-7, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 11am-7pm VIP Preview benefiting the Museum of Arts & Design ($20)
Friday, March 5 – Sunday, March 7, 11am-7pm
Friday, March 5, 7pm–midnight Public Reception
Saturday, March 6, 7pm-midnight Artlog Live

Independent
548 West 22nd Street
Thursday, March 4, 4-9pm Opening Reception
Friday, March 5 - Saturday, March 6, 11am-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-4pm

Korean Art Show at la.venue
608 West 28th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues
Tuesday, March 2, 3pm Preview, 6pm Reception
Wednesday, March 3 - Sunday, March 7, 11am-7pm; Thursday, March 4, 11am-8pm

PooL
Gershwin Hotel, 27th Street and 5th Avenue
Friday, March 5, 6-10pm Vernissage ($20)
Friday, March 5 - Sunday, March 7, 3-10pm

Verge New York 2010

The Dylan Hotel, 52 East 41st Street (Between Madison and Park Avenues)
Thursday, March 4, noon-6pm Professional Preview, 6pm-10pm Opening Reception
Friday, March 5 - Saturday, March 6, noon-8pm; Sunday, March 7, noon-6pm

OPENINGS and EVENTS

Thursday, March 4

Rosson Crow "Bowery Boys"
Deitch Projects
Soho: 18 Wooster street, 6-9pm

Friday, March 5

Gavin Kenyon, Jen Viola, Joe Brittain, Lauren Lavitt, Nicholas Brooks, Nolan Hendrickson
"Accrochage: collision, fender-bender; skirmish, clash; coupling, hitching; (picture) hanging; (boxing) clinch"
Ramiken Crucible
Chinatown/LES: 221 East Broadway, at Clinton street, 6-8pm

Allen Ruppersberg
Greene Naftali Gallery
26 street: 508 W 26 street, floor 8, 7-9pm

Christopher Chiappa "High Fructose Corn Syrup"
Kate Werble Gallery
Soho: 83 Vandam street, at hudson street, 6-8pm

Aubrey Mayer, Billy Childish, Dan Miller, Horst Ademeit, Marcus Werner Hed, Michael Bauer
White Columns
13 street: 320 W 13 street, (entrance on Horatio), 7-10pm

Joseph Beuys "Make the Secrets Productive"
PaceWildenstein
25 street: 534 W 25 street, 10am-6pm

"Vernissage" at PooL Art Fair New York (Gershwin Hotel)
27 street: 7 E 27 street, 6-10pm

Martin Mull "The Four Seasons and Other New Works" inaugural exhibition for new location
Stellan Holm Gallery
79 street: 1018 Madison avenue, 6-8pm

Saturday, March 6

Photography: "31 Women in Art Photography"
curated by Charlotte Cotton, Jon Feinstein
Affirmation Arts
37 street: 523 W 37 street, 6-9pm

MUSIC VIDEO: "This Too Shall Pass" by OK Go - RGM version

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:31:00 +0000

I have written about Rube Goldberg in Art and Advertising before so when I came across this video I had to post it before going to sleep. And its been a LONG day of Armory Show events (more on that tomorrow). They did a really nice Rube Goldburg with lots of references to popular versions as well as fun reveals and effects - I wonder how many takes they did to get this? enjoy...

Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs over the course of several months.

Logorama

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:51:00 +0000

This great animated piece from French design studio, H5 is one of the best examples of fair use of copyrighted matearial I have seen in some time.

Via Amy Stein Photo via Next Nature.

On Originality...

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:28:00 +0000

Penelope Umbrico, 4,786,139 Suns from Flickr (Partial) 1/14/09 2007-2009 4 x 6 inch machine prints (detail).

Every artist has to grapple with the question: Is your work original? Some say that no artwork is original. This statement is a cop out. Originality still exists and flourishes. A lot of original art grows out of looking at other works and reacting to it. The danger is when the artist finishes a project and knowingly or not comes up with work that is too derivative or even plagiarized from others.

Last week at a talk benefitting the Camera Club of New York, artist Penelope Umbrico talked about her work to a packed house at SVA. Her art is a remixing of photographic media into a dialogue about the larger culture of photographic consumption. For her project, Suns from Flickr, she utilized the abundance of sunset images uploaded to the popular photo sharing site, Flickr. Through a careful cropping and arrangement, she remixed their original purpose, transforming them into a random wallpaper of candy-colored sunsets.

When her exhibited work was uploaded back to Flickr, some viewers were offended by the appropriation (remixing), thus missing the point of the project. Umbrico's Suns has a very different intent from those who uploaded their pictures to Flickr. The art is not simply the imagery; it is the sum of the parts used to illustrate an idea. There might be artistry to mixing a tube of paint, but I have never heard a paint manufacturer claim that an artwork was partly theirs, since they formulated the paint.

Richard Prince, "Untitled (Cowboy)."

Another case is the appropriation of photography by Richard Prince of Cowboy images from Marlboro ads. Recently, A Photo Editor interviewed one of the photographers, Jim Krantz about Richard Prince. If you have not read the interview, check it out here. While I appreciate Jim's work, Prince has appropriated it differently than the work for which Krantz was commissioned. These images began as an advertisement for cigarettes. Marlboro used Krantz's fantastic images of the American cowboy to sell a product that has killed thousands of people. Marlboro combined these images with their logo to sell the idea that smoking their brand of cigarette was a classic American thing to do. The freedom of the American West was equated to the act of smoking. Thus, these images were no longer about anything but the lowest form of propaganda. They were selling death, plain and simple.

Jim Krantz's "Calf Rescue" (1998), taken on assignment for Marlboro.

Richard Prince's re-photography of these advertisements significantly shifts their meaning. In Prince's Cowboys, the work begs the question, What is real? Prince peers into the American veneer of the cowboy and calls it fake. In his new work, the viewer can identify the copied surface in the pattern from the advertisement. Logos have been removed. All that is left is the idea of the American cowboy. His new work is about questioning the authenticity of both the myth of the cowboy and the honesty of that idea.

In A Photo Editor's Interview:

APE: But, that's the irony isn't it. Someone steals a photograph and suddenly your work is important to the art community. That's what it took.

It's amazing to me that the curators at the Guggenheim would bring this work in without acknowledging the source or giving the viewers the opportunity to see what motivates and inspires a person. You need a footnote in a paper but there's no source recognized here.

As a photographer I understand the desire for credit. I have certainly felt the sting from not getting credit for something. But we need to remember there was no byline in the ad. Marlboro paid thoroughly for these ads. It's difficult to feel for the photographer who became part of the cancer stick propaganda machine. He sold out his images literally and complained when they were used as paint for someone else's artistic expression. If anything, Krantz is lucky. His images could have easily been forgotten, lost to the void of time. Because of this controversy he has gained recognition, the chance to make some work express his artistic intentions, and receive a wider audience than he might have received without this experience.

Recently, another controversy over originality has been getting attention. This is a case among fine art photographers. The playing field is a bit different. Jorg Colberg has written a lot about this in his blog, specifically in the posts "On Plagiarism and Similarities" (2006) and recently "When does similar become too similar?" and "Way too similar?" In his last post, he explains the current controversy of David Burdeny and his project "Sacred & Secular." When comparing this project to the work of Elger Esser, and particularly with the work of Sze Tsung Leong's project "Horizons" troubling similarities occur. This story was first discussed in the blog photo muse in this post and recently PDN magazine has posted a story "Copycat or Not? Photographer Challenged Over Look-Alike Work."

This comparison is more direct since we are looking at two photographers. At first, I thought this might simply be a case of two artists working on common themes. A while back, I wrote about artists making images that shared the theme of falling. Each image depicts falling people, but the artists go about making the images from different approaches. The more I look at Burdeny's work, the more I start to think that it is just too close to Sze Tsung Leong. Not only is the subject and angle of the shot similar, but Burdeny also utilizes Leong's method of hanging the show. If I were a curator, I wouldn't want to show art this unoriginal. Even if it doesn't meet the legal definition of plagiarism, it meets the artistic definition of unoriginal.

David Burdeny, Grand Canal II, Venezia Italy, 2009

Sze Tsung Leong, From the Horizons Series, Canale della Giudecca I, Venezia. C-Print 2007

David Burdeny, Sacred & Secular, Installation view

Sze Tsung Leong, Horizons, installation view

As you can see from the above examples the intention of the work is extremely suspect. As a community of artists we need to be aware of others' work and ideas. As an artist brainstorms for new ideas and an interesting thought bubbles up they need to be careful. You can use ideas and art from the past to inform and inspire your work but you always need to be aware of what has been done so that the finished piece is your original concept.

In David Burdeny case, is there something that we are missing from viewing the project on the web only? Because unlike the differences in the first two examples of artists remixing another person's work, Burdeny's similarities include not only the content, but the intent of his art. What do you think? Is it too close?

--
Further reading, Todd Walker, aka Ocular Octopus weighs in on this topic in his post "Plagiarism in Photography Is Impossible"

This will be the topic of this week's #photoartchat Tweetchat. Tomorrow, Tuesday Feb 23rd at 9 pm EST, we will be hosting David Bram, photographer and publisher of Fraction Magazine.

The 15th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:05:00 +0000

harlan erskine, 'Bridge III,' 20 x 37 inches, 2008

I am happy to announce that three images from my series Imaginary Wars have been selected for "EXPOSURE: The 15th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition." The show is made up of 12 artists selected from a total of 220 International submissions. The juror was Mia Fineman, Senior Research Associate, Department of Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

EXPOSURE:
The 15th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition
Juried by Mia Fineman
April 23 - June 20, 2010
Opening reception, TBA

For this year's exhibition, Fineman selected 12 artists out of a total 220 international submissions.

2010 Selected Artists
Jacqueline Bates (NY)
Joshua Deaner (RI)
Harlan Erskine (NY)
Alexander Harding (MA)
Joseph Holmes (NY)
Stella Johnson (MA)
Bryan Alfred Martello (MA)
Mary Parisi (CA)
Charles Rozier (CT)
Irina Rozovsky (MA)
Cindy Stephens (MA)
Millee Tibbs (RI)

From the Photographic Resource Center (PRC):

Each year, the PRC is pleased to host a juried exhibition with a nationally-renowned juror. This prestigious competition is a great opportunity to view new work as well as see topics in which contemporary minds are engaged. With only about a dozen artists selected from close to 300 entries, the PRC Juried Exhibition is a highly competitive and revered program. All winners exhibit several images each in the PRC gallery.

Guest jurors represent esteemed curators, photographers, and professionals from the region and beyond. As each juror brings a different perspective, the show is unique and fresh every year. Past guest jurors of the PRC Juried Exhibition have included Mia Fineman, Russell Hart, Lesley A. Martin, Jen Bekman, Jeanine Fijol, Alison Devine Nordstrom, Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Chris Enos, Diana Gaston, Deborah Martin Kao, Richard Woodward, and Edward Earle, among others.

In celebration of the PRC's 30th anniversary in 2006, and to reflect the mission and function of our annual photography competition, we changed the name of the PRC Members' Exhibition to EXPOSURE: The Annual PRC Juried Exhibition.

X INITIATIVE: BRING YOUR OWN ART (BYOA)

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Yesterday the one year experiment called the X INITIATIVE ended with a marathon 24 hour art show. BRING YOUR OWN ART (BYOA) began at 11 am on February 3rd and continued, doors open until February 4th officially closing at 11 am with all work left in the building would become trash if not picked up. This process reminded me of the closing event for the Miami space The House. They lost their lease to a group of condo developers and for their closing event everyone was asked to put a piece of art up that would be destroyed with the building.

I arrived at after dinner to put up a handful of my Black Sun Project images with a mini project called "10 Suns for 2010." The space was a busy workshop with a mix of artists friends and viewers all roaming around and enjoying the spectacle. The first floor had a rotating open stage where bands and musicians could sign up for time slots. The second and third floors of the space were reserved for artwork.

I had learned of this event via Jerry Saltz and his popular Facebook page. During the evening the New York Magazine art critic roamed the floors of the gallery offering free on the spot critiques. After I walked through the two floors and installed my images I was able to talk with him. We discussed my work and the event itself. He was very approachable in person and you could tell he was enjoying the interaction and the event.

The diversity of work was amazing. It would have been very hard to curate a show like this but this event was more then sum of the work on its walls. It was a show for the ages. This crowd-sourced art / performance / Relational Aesthetic was an experiential tour-de-force.

I placed my Black Sun pictures in spaces next to work that I thought they worked well with. Take a look at the installation pictures below. Also, if your work is in any of the pictures please let me know and I will make a caption and link to your website.

Here is the aftermath of the event when I picked up my work:

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - What is photography's role in crises like Haiti?

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:02:00 +0000

What is photography's role in crises like Haiti?

For tonight's Art Photo Tweet chat will will be joined my photographer and writer Michael David Murphy aka @whileseated2. Recently, he wrote this piece in foto8 Does Haiti's Crisis Call for a New Photojournalism? This started off a great deal of discussion.

These is also a huge post over on the blog Prison Photography Staring at Death: Photographing Haiti.

Another starting point will be Susan Sontag's classic essay: Looking at War, Photography's view of devastation and death. I will be re-reading that before our chat.

We will be having an open ended chat on how photography interacts with disasters and crisis, using These articles as a starting point. Here are some potential points of discussion:

What are the moral/ethical issues of creating photography in disaster/crisis areas, help the people in front of you or photograph them?
What contribution does photography play in helping those in distress
"artistic vampirism" - making money/fame based on the misfortune
Why do we love to look at decay. Why can't photographers get enough of Detroit?
Are photographers adding anything to public knowledge/information?
What's the value of pro photo vs vernacular (Here Is NY vs Meyerowitz vs Abu Grhaib)

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

NOTE: we will be making these tweets a biweekly event now. So Todd and I can better prepare. Maybe in the future if momentum builds more we can move it back to a weekly event. If you liked the weekly version please email / tweet us.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Music Video of the Month: "Silvia" by Miike Snow

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:22:00 +0000

I'm loving this newish video from the Swedish band, Miike Snow. Directed by Marcus Söderlund www.marcussoderlund.se Cinematography By Linus Eklund www.linuseklund.se

The Rube Goldberg of Art and Advertising.

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:48:00 +0000

Rube Goldberg born in 1883 and lived through December, 1970 and his influence is still being absorbed and celebrated today. A few days ago I came across this advert for Google's Chrome browser made in the UK. I'm really digging their creativity and use of different angles and mediums like mercury to make their Rube Goldburg like effect look great.

Peter Fischli and David Weiss made this piece over 20 years ago based on this principle called the Way Things Go or Der Lauf der Dinge in German.

Some credit Peter Fischli and David Weiss with the inspiration for the advertisers including this famous Honda Cog ad:

There is also this popular Japanese children's show called ピタゴラ装置 pronounced Pitagora Suichi or Pythagoras Switch.

Also fun to watch is this baking of video for Google chrome:

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Continuing the conversation: Is Photography is in its death-throes?

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:29:00 +0000

Last Week's Tweet chat we discussed photography by starting with a comment left on Amy Stein's Facebook status by New York Art Critic Jerry Saltz:

I do not think that the word "emerging" is the problem; it merely denotes a phase of one's exhibiting career. I think that the lurking problematic term is, ah, "photographer!"

Photography is clearly going through simultaneous death-throes, transformation, rebirth, and other out-of-medium experinces.

That is what you should be thinking about. That's where the real THRILL will be.

This past week he dropped that comment into his own Facebook page and began a flood of over 300 comments. After his reposting Saltz also posed this question

Let's learn. Define the word "Postmodernism" (in art ONLY). Your definition CANNOT BE MORE THAN 2 or 3 SIMPLE sentences.

I responded:

Postmodernism in photography is photography that is meta aware. That is aware of its histories, truths, construction and realities and then communicates through that awareness.

In addition to the artist I mentioned last week I want to add a show I saw this past week "Lunch Break" by Sharon Lockhart at Gladstone Gallery.

Outside AB Tool Crib: Matt, Mike, Carey, Steven, John, Mel and Karl, 2008 Chromogenic print; 49 x 68 1/2 inches (124.7 x 174.2 cm) framed

That's where we will begin again for tonight using that quote as a starting point for our weekly photo art chat.

where is art photography NOW? dead/alive/rebirth?
what is transforming, rebirthing into
how do the practices of documentary live along side the conceptual, constructed, abstract and appropriation?
art art photographer's artists or art artist art photographers? does it even matter?

Join in tonight at 9 pm EST.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tonight, Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Is Photography is in its death-throes?

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:41:00 +0000

A few days ago photographer and blogger, Amy Stein broadcasted via her Facebook status a complaint about the definition of "emerging photographer":

Amy Stein: Can we please come up with a better benchmark for "emerging photographer" than age!?! Unrepresented? No solo exhibitions? Something?

Her status update set off a first storm of over 55 comments from a variety of perspectives. Much of the conversation centered around what the term means and how even today age is used as a factor for eligibility as an "emerging photographer." This is of course a silly factor to weather an artist is coming onto their own. Especially considering the recent New York Times article on a 94 year old painter emerged onto the art scene. Much of the conversation floated between the frustration in the looseness of the "emerging" definition and the problem with age discrimination until New York Art Critic dropped by to add his thoughts:

Jerry Saltz: I do not think that the word "emerging" is the problem; it merely denotes a phase of one's exhibiting career. I think that the lurking problematic term is, ah, "photographer!"

Photography is clearly going through simultaneous death-throes, transformation, rebirth, and other out-of-medium experinces.

That is what you should be thinking about. That's where the real THRILL will be.

That's where we will begin our chat for tonight using that quote as a starting point for our weekly photo art chat.

Ofer Wolberger has an interesting related post on his blog horses think here:

I obviously don't think that photography is dead but it's definitely due for some re-invention and I don't mean the digital kind.

Lately, I've been excited by some photographers who seem to have found a natural way out of the medium. That's not to say that they give up on making photographs. On the contrary, they continue to make photographic work but they are also beginning to engage in other art making practices. The freedom to begin exploring visual ideas through other mediums seems to lead to a re-freshed perspective when it comes back to photography.

Wolberger then points to several photographers who are pushing outside of their photograph to express themselves. His list includes:

Brian Ulrich, City Life, 2008-2009

from Christian Patterson's Out There

submitted jpeg from Jason Lazarus' Try Harder

Sam Falls, Figure Drawing (girls like us), 2009

A few artists I would like to add:

Wolfgang Tillmans and the sculptural photography he loops into his exhibitions.

Simen Johan for mixing in his sculptures with photograph in his series "Until the Kingdom Comes"

Phillip Toledano from his "America the Gift Shop" series.

And recently Alec Soth's web project:

Las Vegas Birthday Slideshow from Little Brown Mushroom on Vimeo.

Alec Soth celebrates his 40th birthday in Las Vegas by making a slideshow.

For more information, go here: http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/?page_id=894

I'm sure there are many others I will add them as they come up.

So...

where is art photography NOW? dead/alive/rebirth?
what is transforming, rebirthing into
how do the practices of documentary live along side the conceptual, constructed, abstract and appropriation?
art art photographer's artists or art artist art photographers? does it even matter?

Happy New Decade! 2010 here we come!

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Goodbye 2009 and good riddance!

Heres to the beginning of a new non-"lost decade" Let's make this one count! Dust your shoulders off and let's get down to work.

-best

h

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, Day 6 - Final Day

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:30:00 +0000

The final day of Art Basel I revisited the main show to see what I had missed from the opening night. I love viewing art in person that I have only seen on the internet or in books. One key element to understanding art is seeing the scale and the quality of the production firsthand. Unlike some of the side fairs, the big show in the convention center is filled with consistently well produced art. It is really a pleasure to experience it.

I realize putting 600 pixel wide pictures up here doesn't do them much justice. Hopefully, it serves as a record of what caught my eye. This year's Art Basel was a step up from 2008. As we move toward 2010 I hope this is a positive sign of things to come. Enjoy.

Kehinde Wiley, "Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II," 2009. Oil on canvas: 122.375 x 138.375 inches. at Deitch Projects, New York, NY.

Jon Kessler, "Mob Scene," 2009. Mixed media with motors, cameras and LCD screens. LCD Array: 66.5 x 53 x 24 inches, Mechanism: 84 x 57 x 20 inches. at Deitch Projects, New York, NY.

Kader Attia "Satellite Dishes" 2009. Light Box at Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria.

A pairing of older and newer works from Thomas Struth. The left two are from 1978 when Struth was shooting in New York. The top is "115th Street and 2nd Avenue, New York / Harlem, 1978" and the bottom images is "99th Street at 1st Avenue, New York / Harlem, 1978." They both were printed in 2002. The right large piece is "Museo Del Prado 3, Madrid" 2005. C-print. 80 5/8 x 97 5/8 inches at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY.

Andreas Gursky "Dubai World III" 2008 c-print 93 5/16 x 134 13/16 inches (incl. frame) at White Cube, London, UK.

Just around the corner from there was another Andreas Gursky this one I had seen before in a book is called "Copan" 2002. C-print 81 x 103 inches at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY.

Across from Gursky was a Thomas Demand "Fotoecke / Photobooth" 2009 C-print 70 3/4 x 78 inches at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY.

Robert Longo "Untitled (Men in Cities)" Black and White photos, 1976 - 1982 / 2009 at Metro Pictures, New York, NY.

Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, from top: "Black Cowboys:Bill Pickett Rodeo 09 no.1" and "Black Cowboys:Bill Pickett Rodeo 09 no.2" both 1999 archival ink jet prints at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.

Elger Esser, "La Grande Be, France" 2009 C-print 72 1/2 x 78 3/4 inches at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.

Bernd and Hilla Becher, "Winding Towers (Anlagen)" 2007 (photographed from 1968-1997) 9 black and white photographs at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.

Beate Gutschow "S#2" 2005 Light jet print, 57 3/8 x 49 1/2 inches at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY.

Mario Garcia Torres "The Improbability of Common Sense" 2009 Acrylicand silkscreen ink on linen.

Kader Attia "Rochers Carres", 2009 at Galeries Christian Nagel, Berlin and Galerie Graesslin, Frankfurt, Germany.

Scott McFarland "Sugar Shack, Caledon Ontario" 2009 Digital C-print 72 x 105 inches at Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA.

Doug Aitken "Free," 2009 at 303 Gallery, New York, NY.

Florian Maier-Aichen "Untitled (Passo Stelvio) 2009 C-print 70 3/4 x 98 1/4 inches at 303 Gallery, New York, NY.

Yinka Shonibare, MBE "Willy Loman: The Rise and Fall (Paradise)" 2009 C-type print 90 x 70 inches) at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK.

Yoshitomo Nara at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.

Mikhael Subotzky at Goodman Gallery, Capetown, South Africa.

Mikhael Subotzky at Goodman Gallery, Capetown, South Africa.

Ernesto Ballesteros from the series "Covered Light Sources" Permanent black marker on photography, at Galeria Nara Roesler, Sao Paulo, Brasil.

Paul Pfeiffer "Fragment of a Crucifiction (after Francis Bacon)" 1999 at carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany.

Robin Rhode "8 Ball," 2007, 16 digital prints at carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany.

Quite possibly my favorite piece of the day was this Paul Pfeiffer gold chromed TV in the front left of the booth. "Caryatid (Wrestling)" 2009 at carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany.

It seemed like everyone in the media mentioned this Roxy Paine piece, "Maelstrom" 2009 at James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY. I had seen a different version of it on the roof at the Met but I still enjoyed it in the indoor environment. Maybe indoors is a better home than the roof where it competes with the sprawling views of central park.

Duane Hanson, "High School Student," 1990 at Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France.

Ryan McGinley "Wes (Scarlett Split)," 2009 at Team Gallery, New York, NY.

Caio Reisewitz, "Guanabara," 2009 C-print 70.8 x 90.5 inches at Luciana Brito Galeria, Sao Paulo, Brasil.

Mitch Epstein "Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988" 2004 Dye Transfer 16 x 20 inches at (?)Sikkema Jenkins and Co., New York, NY.

missing info (please email me)

Rineke Dijkstra from Left, "Amy, Liverpool, England, December 22, 2008," and "Beth, Liverpool, England, December 22, 2008" both Archival inkjet prints 2008 at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY.

Final stop of the night was a big group birthday bash for me and my early Sagittarius friends. Which was caped off with the best group birthday cake ever!!! Thanks to master baker and artist Jen Stark.

Tuesday's Photo Art Tweetchat - Looking back on 2009

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Tonight 9-10 pm EST we continue our weekly Photo Art Tweet chat. Last week we had a very successful conversation with first guest tweeter, Darius Himes, an acquiring editor at Radius Books. Thanks everyone for joining in the conversation and thanks again to Darius Himes for taking the time to join us. You can get more info and a transcript here: http://wthashtag.com/Photoartchat

This weeks topic will be looking back on the past year. What are the things about 2009 that stick out in your memory about Art Photography? We will cover areas such as the best museum show, gallery show, photobook, new photographer? And other relevant topics that made art in 2009 stimulating.

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Beg Borrow and Steal" Catalogue front cover.

The First stop of Day 5 Art Basel Miami was the Rubell Family Collection. Each year they curate a new show timed for the Basel festivities this year the show is called "Beg Borrow and Steal" and it will run through May 29, 2010. If you're in Miami around then I highly recommend checking it out.

RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION, Beg Borrow and Steal 2009

Jennifer Rubell "Old-Fashioned," 2009. 1,521 Dunkin Donuts Old Fashioned Donuts.

I ate some "Old-Fashioned"

They tasted "Old-Fashioned"

Nate Lowman, "More or Less," 2003. Mixed media installation.

Foreground: Peter Coffin, "Sculpture Silhouette (J. Koons ‘Balloon Dog’ 1994-2000)," 2009. Powder coated aluminum. Background: Richard Prince, Untitled (joke 7), 1987
Powdered graphite and gesso on canvas.

Jason Rhoades, Untitled (Chandelier), 2004. Glass, wire, neon, Plexiglas, fabric and plastic.

Left, Peter Coffin, "Untitled (Designs for Colby Poster Co. # 5, 9, 33, 19, 51)," 2008. Letterpress ink on five coated cardstocks. Right: Dan Flavin, "Untitled (Monument for V. Tatlin)," 1964-1965. White flourescent lights, Ed. 1/5.

Peter Coffin, "Untitled (Designs for Colby Poster Co. # 5, 9, 33, 19, 51)," (detail) 2008. Letterpress ink on five coated cardstocks.

Maurizio Cattelan, La Rivoluzione Siamo Noi, 2000. Polyester resin figure, felt suit and metal and plastic coat rack.

Second Floor installation at "Beg Borrow and Steal."

Stephen G. Rhodes, "Interregnum Repetition Restoration (Upholstered)," 2008. Single-channel video and mixed media.

Steven Shearer, "Puffs," 2006. C-print mounted on aluminum.

Steven Shearer, "Puffs," (detail) 2006. C-print mounted on aluminum.

Damien Hirst, "Dance Naked," 1997. Stainless steel, glass, surgical equipment and plastic skeletons.

Rashid Johnson, "Promised Land," 2008. Spray enamel, mirror and wood.

Aneta Grzeszykowska, "Untitled Film Stills," 2006. Seventy C-prints.

Aneta Grzeszykowska, "Untitled Film Stills," (detail) 2006. Seventy C-prints.

The Miami landscape near the Pulse Art Fair.

Khaela Maricich aka the blow played at the Pulse Art Fair.

Khaela Maricich aka the blow played at Pulse.

Khaela Maricich aka the blow playing in Lindsay Lohan mode. Here is the scoop from Pitchfork..

Khaela Maricich aka the blow playing in Lindsay Lohan mode, shoe detail. Maricich really did finish the show by saying, "Could you imagine Lindsay actually performing that? Could you get an idea? Now take that image and subtract it from what I just did. The sum of that is the difference between a girl like me and a girl like Lindsay." perfect.

Induce at Freegums and Poplife Sky's the Limit event held at the Electric Pickle.

at Electric Pickle

Dr. Jay at the Freegums and Poplife Sky's the Limit event held at the Electric Pickle.

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:04:00 +0000

I took it a bit easy on the Friday of Art Basel and only ventured out to see some of the satellite fairs starting with a very sad Photo Miami. I'm not 100% sure but they were inside of a old Circuit City location and the wold building just dropped with Bankruptcy. I really don't think separation of a medium in an art fair as a very sustainable model.

Sure I enjoy photography more and I look for it when I am at an Art fair. But walking around in an all photography fair felt flat to me. Maybe it was just the overall quality of everything there was weaker then normal? Either way I only ended up taking a few pictures of work I liked. Also my friends who were with me and didn't have a press pass had to pay the insane price of $20 to get in. They were not happy nothing in there was worth a $20 entrance fee just to look at it.

PHOTO MIAMI 2009

Photo Miami cover photo by Sean Higgins, Raga Jog, 2009, courtesy of Collette Blanchard Gallery.

Rinko Kawauchi at Mountain Fold Gallery, New York, NY.

After that sad experience we drove off to the NADA Art Fair. This Year's NADA fair was in the Deauville Beach Resort in North Miami.

NADA 2009

Daniel Gordon's "Flying Pictures" at Leo Koenig Inc., New York, NY

Tony Matelli's Weed, painted bronze at Leo Koenig Inc., New York, NY

Jacob Dyrenforth at Renwick Gallery, New York, NY.

Jacob Dyrenforth (detail) at Renwick Gallery, New York, NY. I love this detail. Do you think I could have plugged in my iPhone?

Another Daniel Gordon. This is from at Callicoon Fine Arts / Photios Giovanis, Callicoon, NY. Its not surprising that was everywhere at this years fairs. Reciently he was included in the 'New Photography 2009,' MoMA show reat the 'NY Times Review here. What does surprize me is how different his two bodies of work look.

Daniel Gordon at Callicoon Fine Arts / Photios Giovanis, Callicoon, NY.

Jasper Niens' installation piece "5 ROOMS" at Galerie West, the Netherlands. Consisted of a small maze of hallways and doors, echoing Dan Graham a little.

Zipora Fried at On Stellar Rays, New York, NY.

Zipora Fried at On Stellar Rays, New York, NY.

The best booth of all the fairs goes to twenty twenty projects, Miami, FL. Believe it or not but the book was turned into a FM transmitter / low power radio station. Re-broadcasting a famous Miami pirate radio station that has since been shut down.

Hanging at the pool, Deauville Beach Resort in between looking at art.

Ellen Harvey, "The Room of Sublime Wallpaper II," 2009 at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, New York, NY.

Ellen Harvey, "The Room of Sublime Wallpaper II," 2009 (detail)

SVA MFA Alum Yamini Nayar was showing these great built enviorments this one entitled "BY A THREAD," 2009, 30 x 40 inches at Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY.

Brendan Fowler, on the left side - "Fall 2009 (Flowers Outside Silk Flowers Show in LA 1, Fall 2008 West Coast Tour Poster - C, Flowers on Walk With Andrea/Terry/Cindy 1, 2 Screen Flower Print), 2009, Digital C prints, silk screen ink on paper, frames, plexi, 46.5 x 49 x 5 inches (variable) at Rental Gallery, New York, NY

Tuesday's Art Photo Tweetchat - continuing the discussion on the Photobook. UPDATE

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:00:00 +0000

UPDATE: I'm pleased to announce that tonight's #PhotoArtChat we will be graced with our very first guest tweeter, Darius Himes. We are very lucky to be joined by an expert in the field of fine are photography books as well an a great thinker on photography. Please read his bio below and follow along or join us as we talk more about the current and future of the photobook.

Himes' bio:
Darius Himes is an acquiring editor at Radius Books, a non-profit publisher founded in 2007 that publishes books on the visual arts and photography. Prior to that he was the founding editor of photo-eye Booklist, a quarterly magazine devoted to photography books, from 2002–2007. He is also a lecturer, consultant, educator and writer, having contributed to Aperture, Blind Spot, Bookforum, BOMB, PDN, and American Photo. He earned his BFA in Photography from Arizona State University and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. In 2008, he was named by PDN as one of fifteen of the most influential people in photo book publishing.

--
Tonight, Tuesday, December 22, 2009 9-10 PM EST we will be continuing last weeks successful tweet chat on the Future of the Photobook. Last weeks chat went really well with a number of people joining in and adding in their perspective into the mix. We began by discussing the Future of the photobook from a technological perspective and then we began to discuss content. Tonight we will continue to discuss the photobook but this with our guest tweeter publisher Darius Himes. We'll be talking with him about how he see the future of the photobook especially as it pertains to subjects and content.

A few interesting posts have been written since last week.
Catch up with this round up on Livebooks Blog:
12 Hot Thoughts on the Future of Photobooks | RESOLVE - the liveBooks photo blog

These Art Photography Twitter Chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Tonight, Opening: Johanna Heldebro: To Come Within Reach of You

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:52:00 +0000

Johanna Heldebro, "Night Watch chapter 4 excerpt," 2009

2009 Fall Solo Show Artist
Johanna Heldebro Presents
To Come Within Reach of You
December 18, 7 to 10 p, Free Admission & Drinks

Johanna Heldebro presents images and video documenting the daily life of her father, who disappeared from her life two years prior. After searching his name on the internet, Heldebro travels to Stockholm, Sweden to obsessively follow him, creating a series that refigures comfortable notions of adult identity. Join us for this compelling body of work that is at time as coldly detached as it is uncomfortably personal.

Complimentary Bear Flag Wine & Colt 45. Music from DJ Tanner.

RSVP events@3rdward.com

On display through December 27.

More images from Johanna Heldebro's series:

Johanna Heldebro, "Finding My Way Inside chapter 2 excerpt," 2009

Johanna Heldebro, "Finding My Way Inside chapter 2 excerpt," 2009

Johanna Heldebro, "Autonomy chapter 5 excerpt," 2009

Thinking about the future of the Photobook.

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:28:00 +0000

Paul Graham's 12 book called "a shimmer of possibility"

I've been thinking a lot about the future of the photobook lately. Tonight there is going to be a online chat through Twitter. More info on that here: http://www.harlanerskine.com/blog/2009/12/first-art-photography-tweetchat-future.html

There is also an interesting experiment in blogging on the subject on the Livebooks blog, RESOLVE. Their crowd sourced blog collects all the recent posts into one big page. Lots to check out and think over.

All these discussions are an interesting contrast to the Aperture Foundation hosted talk I attended few months ago. The talk featured many different voices. Some of the names on the panel included:

Charlotte Cotton, curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, LACMA, will moderate a discussion with panelists Alex Klein, artist and Curatorial Fellow in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, LACMA; Matt Keegan, artist and editor of North Drive Press; David Reinfurt, graphic designer and co-founder of Dexter Sinister; and Denise Wolff, Aperture Editor. Other special guests include special guests Paul Graham, Darius Himes, and Laurel Ptak.

Sadly, the panel never quite got to the meat of a real discussion. After each panelist gave an introduction there wasn't much time left. Maybe this is where a Twitter based chat can work better? We'll see.

NDP #4 (ed. 1000)

I did manage to learn about some interesting work from the panelists - especially, artist and publisher Matt Keegan's North Drive Press. Their hybrid publishing of magazine / book / art object in limited edition batches is an example of where creative art books are headed. As production gets cheaper, artists are more easily able to produce their own larger edition artworks.

In preparation for tonight's first art photo chat, Todd Walker reminded me of this Words Without Pictures piece by Darius Himes and it's a great starting point for thinking about the photobook going forward from 2010. Darius Himes also wrote a post contribution that's worth checking out.

There are two parts to the future of the photobook; one part is technical and the other is creative. New technologies in printing and reading are emerging. How will they change the way we consume photography? What new creative trends will emerge through these technologies developments as well those through developments in art production? These two areas are interdependent and will change as the other does.

Photobooks, and particularly art photobooks, are unlike their book cousin the novel which may suffer massive declines in paperback book sales because of reading devices like Amazon's Kindle. The enjoyment of the novel, and especially a paperback doesn't greatly diminish when consumed on such a device. Many readers swear by them. I have to agree with Darius Himes when he writes in his essay, "Who Cares About Books?":

And while the sensual experience of receiving and holding a Mac AirBook borders on the rapturous (I almost feel like I'm dissimulating when I enter the Apple shrines scattered around the country), it is still not something I want to read a book on-even if it is something I want to use to send an email about a book I just read.

Books are so archetypal for the modern wo/man that we form nearly permanent bonds with them as teenagers and adults. They are the security blankets and teddy bears of the adult world. Most of us cart our books from state to state, from college dorm to rented apartment to newly purchased home, and lovingly set them up on our shelves as reminders of knowledge acquired and courses and degrees completed, and as familiar companions.

I enjoy books for many reasons and the little subjective memories they pick up along the way is certainly one of them. There are two recent books that might be interesting to discuss.

While the consumption of an artistically produced book would lose much of its presence on a downloaded format, there probably will be rare cases where the end design is for electronic consumption. One particular piece I recently came across is made by Eve Susman and the Rufus Cooperation. It's produced by a new publisher started by Schroeder Romero and Winkleman Gallery called Compound Editions called White on White. The edition is sold as a 6-minute video installed on ARCHOS 5 media tablet.

Eve Sussman & Rufus Corporation
A COUNTRY ROAD. A TREE. EVENING. 2009
Original music by Lumendog
Geoff Gersh - guitar and electronics
Adam Kendall - keyboards & electronics
Christof Knoche - bass clarinet & electronics
Bradford Reed - pencilina
6-minute video installed on ARCHOS 5 media tablet
5" x 0.5" x 3.1"
Edition of 100, plus 10 APs
$450.00 for numbers 1-50; SOLD OUT
$600 for numbers 51-100.

While we can't say for certain what the future is of the photobook will be, it's exciting to see artists stretching the boundaries.

SELF PROMO ALERT: While you're thinking about photobooks be sure to check out my artist published photobook:

ten convenient stores
I made the 7 x 7 inch booklet with laser paper on a high end xerox laser printer. It is packaged in various convenient store bags. Produced in an artist edition of 20 in 2005 and a bigger edition of 100 in 2005.

Looking forward to tonight's experiment.

First art photography tweetchat: The Future of the Photobook.

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Tomorrow evening, December 15th, I'll be moderating and chatting with Todd Walker for a chat about the future of the photobook. We'll be online to talk the future of the photobook from 9-10 pm Eastern / 6-7 pm Pacific.

This will be the first in a series of regular Tuesday night tweetchats. Since this is the first time we've tried something like this it's going to be experimental. I have borrowed this idea from the book / literature community, which holds weekly tweetchats. To see what they are talking about twitter search #litchat #yalitchat #kidlitchat and you'll get and idea. I hope to get the entire photographic community involved with these tweetchats. The amazing part is the way the literature community has embraced this forum. Everyone from literary agents to authors to editors and readers and fans are able to join in to the conversations.

For our art photography chats anyone can join in or just read it live by using the hashtag #photoartchat on Twitter. One easier way to transform twitter into a chat room is Tweetchat.com and entering the photoartchat room here: http://tweetchat.com/room/photoartchat.

PS., you should follow OcularOctopus on Twitter, here:http://twitter.com/OcularOctopus and me here: http://twitter.com/harlanerskine

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:15:00 +0000

The third day I was in Miami was a long day of Fairs and events. The first Fair I visited was Pulse. This year the Pulse Art Fair moved from its former location in the Wynwood area to the Ice Palace Film Studios, which is more south and closer to downtown then last year. Many fairgoers may remember that this was were the NADA Art Fair was housed for several years.

Miami based artist and great friend of mine Freegums had a wheat paste up across the street from Pulse advertising his event coming later in the Art Basel week.

PULSE MIAMI 2009

'Okay Mountain Corner Store' by Austin collective Okay Mountain was a fair highlight. 'Corner Store' was a commission from Arthouse, a Austin, TX contemporary arts center.

Inside the Okay Mountain corner store.

The Artlog booth had great new work by my friend Manny Prieres.

In the same Artlog booth right next to Manny Prieres's drawings were some new Friends With You watercolors.

I caught some of Columbian Performance artist Maria Jose Arjona's performance, with Siamese fighting fish. I can't decide if this is poetic art performance or a tragedy waiting to happen.

missing info

missing info

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The Jen Beckman Gallery showed a booth full of paintings by Painter Sarah Mckenzie

Cody Hudson aka struggle inc. had fresh new work at Andrew Rafacz Gallery.

The Dean Project showed this piece by Sangbin Im 'Seoul,' 2008. 40 x 87 inches. This take on a cityscape photo manipulations was an interesting contrast to Andreas Gursky's perfect cityscape which was displayed at the Miami Art Basel Miami Beach Art Fair.

RWFA Rick Wester Fine Art showed several pieces by Meghan Boody. This one is titled 'It was one of those exquisite days that come in winter, in which it seems no longer the dead body, but the lovely ghost of summer,' 2006 printed in 2009. Until seeing this booth I hadn't seen these and although I am still thinking about them it's interesting for me to see other artist working with children and constructed images.

Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org. 'Addio,' 2008

These portraits by Michal Chelbin show at Andrea Meislin Gallery is part of a larger series called Locked and depicts Stas, a 15 year old inmate of a maximum security prison in Russia. Recently this series was awarded fourth place in the Taylor Wessing prize at the National Portrait Gallery. They are strong images. Sadly they seem to lose all their power from their relatively small size and bad placement. Art fairs reward larger sizes. There is just so much art fighting for your attention. Mural sized photography commands more space on the wall and is earlier to view. Unless a small work is given a lot of wall space (and thus importance) they tend to fade into the background.

missing info

The Glue Society, "THE DAY THE DRAGON ATE THE SUN," 2009. Duration: 2 minutes. HD film.
During the morning of July 22nd 2009, the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century passed over Shanghai. Shot using 14 synchronized cameras, this film captures the effect of this phenomenon upon the city and its people while exploring the relationship between ancient mythology and modern China.

The Glue Society, "THE DAY THE DRAGON ATE THE SUN," 2009. detail.

SVA Alum Dinh Q. Le's sculpture and pictures were all over the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. The grouping of images along the back wall is called "Bicycle Repair Signals," 2009 and the sculpture in front of the pictures is titled "I am Large. I Contain Multitudes (1)," 2009.

PPOW Gallery dedicated their entire booth to the images and installation of Portia Munson.

a set of Alex Prager images.

U-Ram Choe 'Una Lumino Ortus,' 2009 at bitforms.

The Yossi Milo Gallery had this nice arrangement of Sze Tsung Leong Horizons series. It's great to see that the Art Fair hanging has been kept largely in tact for this series.

Right on the next wall at Yossi Milo Gallery were two prints from their current show by Robert Bergman. I have yet to see the show - I hope I can make it over there this week.

Also at Yossi Milo Gallery was this arrangement by Lise Sarfati

The http://www.winkleman Gallery had several standout pieces from Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation including this video titled 'Red Girls / Blue Girls,' 2007

Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation 'Extended Family' from their series 'The Rape of the Sabine Women,' 2009

Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation 'How to Tell the Future from the Past, v.2,' 2009. Three-channel video installation, 40 minutes.

Edward Burtynsky, 'Alberta Oil Sands #6
Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, 2007' from the series 'Oil' at Galerie Stefan Ropke.

Airan Kang's Installation of LED-lit book sculpture at Bryce Wolkowitz. These 'Books' were selling fast and I could see why. I really enjoyed them and they even had some of my favorite books made into these hypnotic tributes.

Adler Guerrier at Miami's Locust Projects.

Robert F. Hammerstiel's series 'Private Stories' at Vienna GalleryLukas Feichtner

Another Robert F. Hammerstiel's series 'Private Stories'

After all that walking around at Pulse I was looking forward to what the Scope Art fair had to offer. Judging by what I ended up photographing there wasn't much that struck my eye. Here are my highlights:

SCOPE MIAMI 2009

Cara Phillips Ultraviolet Beauties at AUREUS Contemporary.

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Sweat Shoppe's Magic Paint Roller was great to finally see in person. check out the video demonstration here: http://vimeo.com/7012935

A bunch of Jen Stark were in Miami gallery Carol Jazzar. Colorful and precise as ever.

Jean-Francois Rauzier's 'Bibliotheque Ideale 2' was breathtaking and selling well at London Gallery Waterhouse and Dodd.

Design Miami 2009

Although I didn't have time to stay long at Design Miami. I really wish there was enough time to have come back here. These design and furniture pieces are a really nice contrast to the art works at the fairs.

the first stop in Design Miami was Workshop Workshop, a marathon zine making workshop created by artist Jim Drain, poet P. Scott Cunningham. Tonight's zine leaders were BFF and Pizza Dog.

This Audi A8 show space was a heavy but fun contrast to the Workshop Workshop zine making party next door.

This Tom Dixon chair has a great back story you can read it in the NY tImes here.

After Design Miami there was a mad dash to see the some of the murals installed in a project produced by Deitch Projects and Goldman Properties called The Wynwood Walls. There were too many great murals to show all of the pictures I got here. This one below is by Os Gemeos.

STAGES
"It is a unique celebration of human potential inspired by Lance and dedicated to the fight against cancer."

The last event of the night was one of my highlights for the trip. Lost of high quality art, a good croud, free flowing drinks and snacks, great music and a even better cause. The event was coproduced by Miami's O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

From left to right. Yoshitomo Nara, 'Fire,' Acrylic on wood panel, 91 x 91 cm and Andreas Gursky. Tour de France I' 2007. C-print mounted on plexiglas in artist's frame, 90 x 66 cm.

Ed Ruscha, 'Vital to the Core' Acrylic on linen, 61 x 89 cm.

Richard Prince. 'I'm Not Coming Home.' Collage and acrylic on canvas, 117 x 86 cm.

Cai Guo-Qiang 'Tree With Yellow Blossoms,' Gunpowder on paper, mounted on wood as a four-panel folding screen, 230 x 310 cm.

Shepard Fairey threw down the quality tunes for part of the night.

Os Gemeos 'O Coletor de Cabecas,' Spray paint and paint on canvas, 160 x 99 cm.

Catherine Opie 'Untitled (Road)' C-print, 61 x 81 cm.

At the end of the evening there was a fantastic performance by Bradford Cox performing as Atlas Sound.

Art in a New Miami Art Museum

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Herzog & De Meuron

This is news to me but before Art Basel began Herzog & de Meuron unveiled the plans for the Miami Art Museum which was reviewed by the Times.

For more have a look at the review: NYT: Matching Architecture to the Art in a New Miami Museum

Also, their amazing new parking garage is under construction at the western end of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. The New York times has the scoop: Square Feet - A Miami Beach Parking Lot, Designed by Herzog and de Meuron.

Back from Art Basel Miami Beach

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:25:00 +0000

flight back from Miami. ©harlan erskine 2009

I'm back from Miami. I think this year's fairs were great lots of interesting art good opening around it and a remixed fair set up created a fresh year for looking art art in the balmy Miami weather.

I will be posting the images and art works that left an impression on me at the fair this week. But for now take a look at these post art fair reports:

Miami Herald writes about the fairs with a quirky "How much for that art?" video feature.
Basel '09: Less bling, more ka-ching

Another Miami Herald piece talks about sales rebounding. I'm quite fascinated with the economics of Art I wish NPR's Planet Money would do a story on the economics of the Art Market.
Sales rebound paints pretty picture at Art Basel

ARTINFO has the scoop on Kehinde Wiley's Michael Jackson painting.
Kehinde Wiley's Michael Jackson Commission Sells at Art Basel - ARTINFO.com

New York Mag's Vulture has a fun slide show talking about art that sold at the fairs. I find it amazing that the fairs are so large that I only say about half of the works in this slide show!
Art Basel: The Works That Sold — and Sparked Conversation

New York Mag's Vulture also has a piece on the top 10 parties and again I have to say I didn't know half of these were even happening. This list is particularly subjective since I would argue that some of the events I went to would have toped some of these. Fun list anyway.
The Worst Excesses of Art Basel 2009

NYPOST has a story about Sly Stallone's paintings at Art Basel. Right after I picked up my press pass from Art Basel Miami Beach's Media center I saw Sly getting out of his black SUV for a VIP preview of the fair. Now I know why he was there a day early.
Rocky hits the canvas

NY Times' The Moment Blog has a few cool videos highlighting various artist when came down to the fair.
Art Basel Miami 2009 | Aurel Schmidt Video
Art Basel Miami 2009 | Shepard Fairey Video

Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (harlan erskine) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Here is what went down on the first big day of Art Basel Miami Beach. My day began with the opening of the main fair and ended with a bang O.H.W.O.W. and Max Fish in Miami.

The rush of people waiting to get into Art Basel Miami Beach's opening night vernassage.

Dieter Applet (made 1977, printed 2007) at Kicken Berlin in their collection "Ninety years of Bauhaus."

A huge Robert Longo forrest drawing at the Margo Leavin Gallery.

The irristable glow of a Dan Flavin at the Margo Leavin Gallery.

Roni Horn's "Suite #4," 1991-94 Suite of 4 offset lithographs at the Margo Leavin Gallery.

Ger van Elk's "The Co-Founder of the Word O.K.-Hollywood," 1971, Three color photographs at the Margo Leavin Gallery.

A huge Sterling Ruby peace "American Risk" 2009, dripping for your attention at Pace Wildenstein.

Evan Perry's warped life-like sculptures are always a crowd draw are on exhibit at the Sperone Waterstone.

Fantastic Obama Inauguration photos by Mauro Restiffe at Galeria Fortes Vilaca made you wander what era they were produced in.

The sad 1980's era bathrooms at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

"Welcom e Art Basel" announced the Days Inn on 20th and Collins Ave.

The other side said "Have a n ice day" like it always does.

The sculpture at Art Basel Miami Beach Oceanfront nights.

The entrance of the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

Aaron Young, "Locals Only," Burnt rubber and resin on glass panel, 5' x 7', 2009 at IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

David Lynch and Danger Mouse project "Dark Night of the Soul" at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery. The LED light above the photographs would light up when the music playing was arranged for that group of images.

David Lynch and Danger Mouse project "Dark Night of the Soul" at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

Iggy Pop making an appearance at the David Lynch and Danger Mouse project "Dark Night of the Soul" at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

The rooftop performance by French composer Koudlam above outdoor screening of Cyprien Gaillard's Crazy Horse accompanied by smoke and people waving flares at IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

an unannounced annonymous performance at IT AIN'T FAIR 2009 at the O.H.W.O.W. Gallery.

Funny storm troupers guarding(?) the Vagabond.

Max Fish invades the old PS 14 Space for the Fish's 20 year anniversary.

Looking toward the front of the Bar at Max Fish in Miami.

Looking toward the stage of the Bar at Max Fish in Miami.

New York graff artists gave the Miami bathrooms of the remade Max Fish the New York treatment.

more bathroom views at Max Fish.

One last bathroom views at Max Fish.

Freegums Sky's The Limit poster is installed across the street from the bar.

As I departed more posters were being installed.