Archive for the “News from the field” Category
Cara Phillips of the blog Ground Glass has emerged as a photographer and blogger to watch. Her blog is clock a block full of insightful posts.
I’d like to highlight a few of her amazing recent posts, both of which made me want to re-dub her CPRC (Cara Phillips Resource Center). Surf on in here to see her curated list of great web sites and blogs (ours among them, thanks for the shout out!). Another doozie of a post was “To be a photographer,” with Cara’s own 2-cents of career do’s and don’ts.
Cara along with Amy Elkins launched the entity/site “Women in Photography.” Currenly, they are showcasing the work of Elinor Carucci. Best of all, they accept submissions on a rolling basis. From their mission:
There are more women working in the contemporary photo world then ever before. Their methods, choice of subject matter, visual language, and processes run the gamut of artistic possibility. What unites them is their passion and the effort they devote to creating extraordinary bodies of work. Women in Photography is a showcase for this work. It is also a resource for photographers, editors, curators, gallery owners, and viewers alike to discover and enjoy the work of female artists. By mixing the work of emerging photographers with artists that have achieved high levels of success within fine art and commercial worlds, the project is designed to open a visual dialogue and create a venue to share work, support, and ideas.
Women in Photography is co-curated by amy elkins and cara phillips. It will present a solo exhibition of work from select photographers every other Tuesday of the month.
Women in Photography is sponsored by humble arts foundation, and designed by made by brown.
ABOVE IMAGE: Cara Phillips, Botox, 2007, from her web site
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Review Santa Fe is this weekend. I just stumbled on in to their web site knowing this and came across this fantastically wonderful new feature: they have created a page for all of the 100+ selected photographers featuring about 5 images, their web site, and a portrait! For me, it’s almost like going as a reviewer, but by proxy.
I have already hungrily looked at all of the pages and clicked through to several web sites. You can get to it by following the above link, but I have copied all names and page links below.
We want to wish those going, both photographers and reviewers, the best of luck! For those who don’t know about Review Santa Fe, it is a juried review hosted by Center (in a Prince kind of way, the center formerly known as the Santa Fe Center for Photography), a new member of our Connections network. You can enter to be considered for Review Santa Fe as well as the coveted Project Competition. Reviews are usually in May or June, and the entry deadline is in January.
I want to give a special shout out to the Boston and New England participants (and PRC members!): Meg Birnbaum, Jared Leeds, Caleb Charland, and past New Englander Eric Percher, who is currently in our 13th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition. Boston’s very own Pelle Cass is quoted on the web site, a hearty recommendation indeed. I hoped you have as much fun looking at the images as I did.
“Review Santa Fe has given me the best possible opportunity to move my work forward that can be crammed into 48 hours.” — Pelle Cass, RSF participant
Review 2008 Photographers: Click on the names to see work from their projects and for links to their web sites:
Douglas Adesko (n/a)
Dylan Chatain (n/a)
Clemence de Limburg (n/a)
Ella Naef (n/a)
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Last week, I surfed on in to our blogs stats and saw that Jörg Colberg of the blog Conscientious had posted on Boston Photography Focus as a blog to check out! Our stats increased substantially and I wanted to return the favor to him and a few other blogs of note. We’ll keep highlighting great blogs, so keep checking back.
Conscientious is a font of information and images. Jörg seems to post every day, and sometimes several times a day. One of the best things on the blog are his extensive interviews. I wanted to give Jörg a hearty thanks and second his emotion on 2 of them (the others I still have to check out!).
Dawoud Bey just launched a new blog called What’s Going On. Dawoud teaches at Columbia College in Chicago and was one of our past visiting lecturers. An amazing, humble, wonderful man, you can tell he is a wonderful teacher.
We can’t paint blog is one I have stumbled across recently as well. It’s nicely designed and shows some great stuff. We can’t paint also accepts submissions, the deadline is August 1st, so check them out! Plus, We can’t paint is an excellent name and its author is Canadian, both very cool attributes.
We can’t paint recently posted on Pause, to Begin, a unique project dedicated to emerging photographers that combines the web, a book, and recordings. The team just announced the 15 photographers selected for 2008 - and it includes 3 folks I know: Matthew Gamber, Colin Blakely, and Shawn Records. Congrats guys!
ABOVE IMAGE: We heart blog, found on flickr in tarop’s photostream.
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Posted by: david in Boston Scene, News from the field, tags: Boston, Cambridge, Copley Society, Framingham, Iris Gallery, lectures, openings, Peabody Essex, Salem
THURSDAY, MAY 29
Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. Cambridge Public School Student Work. Opening Reception: 5-7pm. 617-577-1400. 41 Second Street, Cambridge, MA 02141.
Iris Gallery of Fine Art Photography. Brigitte Carnochan Photographs. Opening Reception: 5.30-8pm. 617-895-8951. 70 Charles Street, Boston, MA, 02114.
FRIDAY, MAY 30
Cambridge Art Association. Northeast Prize Show. Reception: 7-9pm. 617-876-0246. Kathryn Schultz Gallery. 25 Lowell Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
SATURDAY, MAY 31
Arnold Arboretum. The Magnificence of Trees: Photographs by Maria Muller. Reception: 1-3pm. 617-524-1718. 125 The Arborway, Boston, MA 02130.
Danforth Museum of Art. 2008 Members Annual Juried Show. Opening: 6-8pm. 508-620-0050. 123 Union Avenue, Framingham, MA 01702.
Peabody Essex Museum. Body Politics: Maori Tattoo Today. Gallery Talk: 11am. 978-734-9500. 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970.
Copley Society of Art. Donna Hamil Talman: Origins. Gallery Talk: 11:30am. 617-536-5049. 158 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116.
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PRC Juried Show featured Online on FLAK PHOTO !
Our image a week takes a hiatus to defer to an image a day! Beginning this Monday, May 19th, the PRC has teamed up with the kind folks at Flak Photo to feature 10 images from the Juried Show, a “web photo happening” if you will. The series kicks off today, Monday, and runs weekdays, May 19 - 23 & May 26 - 30. Thank you Andy!!
Flak Photo / Features showcases images from “group show” photography projects - the section highlights work from new series, book projects and gallery exhibitions. In recent months, Flak Photo has published work from jen bekman gallery’s A New American Portrait, the Minnesota Center for Photography’s PhotoBravo, the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward / Emerging Photographers 2007, 3030 Press’ New Photography in China, Humble Arts Foundation’s 31 Under 31: Young Women in Art Photography and Hamburger Eyes Photo Magazine’s Inside Burgerworld.
Add to the above impressive list the 12th and 13th PRC Annual Juried Exhibitions, and we’re in some really good company!
ABOUT FLAK PHOTO: Flak Photo is a photography blogzine featuring distinctive work from an international community of contributors that promotes interesting visual approaches to seeing the world and celebrates the art of exhibiting quality photography online. The blog is produced by Andy Adams and features work from new photo essays, book projects and gallery exhibitions from established and emerging photographers.
So surf on in to www.flakphoto.com every day for the next couple of weeks, or sign up for their email list, and a great photo will be delivered daily to your inbox!
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Posted by: Leslie in Boston Scene, Industry events, News from the field, PRC Exhibitions, tags: aperture, awards, claire beckett, competitions, festivals, juried show, Kudos, lesley a. martin
The first ever New York Photo Festival is in full swing this weekend. Sadly, taking down the New England Survey exhibition and artists dropping off and overall gallery prep for EXPOSURE: 13th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition is keeping me close to the fold here in Boston. Neverthless, we wish them the best and have a few neat PRC/Boston overlaps to note! Congratulations all!
Our 2008 PRC juror Lesley A. Martin is one of the curators of the festival. She put together a wonderful exhibition, Ubiquitous Image, which includes Penelope Umbrico, represented locally by Bernard Toale Gallery, whom I showed most recently in the PRC exhibition Ad/Agency.
A few names of note made the inaugural NY Photo Awards list under fine art single images and series. Martin Fougeron has been getting a lot of attention as of late and will be in our upcoming juried show. Jessica Todd Harper, who was in the 2005/2006 PRC exhibition Group Portrait, makes the list as does local imagemaker (and the photographer of the Boston Superheros Project) Tanit Sakakini.
When dropping off her work for the juried show yesterday, Claire Beckett told me that she was invited by Laurel Ptak of Aperture and i heart photograph to be on an Aperture panel. She’ll speak on Sunday with photographer Nina Berman, a sort of before and after Iraq. Claire was in our 2006 PRC exhibition, DOCUMENT, and was interviewed this week in Big, Red, and Shiny.
Consider this an open invitation to add any other
connections/kudos in the comments!
For those heading to NY, have a safe trip. Please take lots of pictures and share them with us will you?
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THURSDAY MAY 15
New England School of Photography. A Nickel and a Kopek: Black and White Photographs by Bill Franson. Reception: 7-9pm. 617-437-1868. 537 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. www.nesop.edu
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. The 2008 DeCordova Annual Exhibition. Opening Reception: 6-9pm. 781.259.8355. 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, MA 01773. www.decordova.org
Massachusetts College of Art + Design. Stories in a Black Box. Opening Reception: 7-9pm. 617-879-7333. Brant Gallery. 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. www.photoemerge.com/blackbox.html
FRIDAY MAY 16
The Schoolhouse Gallery. Spring Arts Competition. Reception: 6-9pm. 508-487-4800. 494 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657. www.schoolhouseprovincetown.com
SATURDAY, MAY 17
Clark Gallery. Jim Dow Photographs. Gallery Talk & Book Signing: 2-4pm. 781-259-8303. 145 Lincoln Road, Lincoln, MA 01773. www.clarkgallery.com
Massachusetts College of Art + Design. Thesis Show III. Reception: 6-8pm. 617-267-6100. Bakalar and Paine Galleries. 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA. www.massart.edu
Hood Museum of Art. Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body. Introductory Tour: 2pm. 603-646-2808. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755. hoodsmuseum.dartmouth.edu
SoWa Artwalk. South End: 11-6 pm. Various locations, Boston, MA 02118. www.sowaartwalk.com
Newton Open Studios. Spring Art Tour. Open Studios: 12-6pm. 617-872-0228. Throughout Newton, MA 02460. www.newtonopenstudios.com
SUNDAY, MAY 18
Emerson College. Stories Turn Into Pattern: Senior Thesis Exhibition. Opening Reception: 1-3pm. 617-824-8329. Huret & Spector Gallery. 10 Boylston Place, 6th Floor, Boston MA, 02116. www.emerson.edu/huret
Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center. Ocean Wild: The Underwater Photography of Brian Skerry. Opening Reception: 1-5pm. Gallery Talk: 3pm. 781-821-8853. 963 Washington Street, Canton, MA 02021. www.massaudobon.org/visualarts
Griffin Museum of Photography. Senior Sunday - Louis Yanucci. Artist Talk: 3pm. 781-729-1158. 67 Shore Road, Winchester, MA 01890. www.griffinmuseum.org
SoWa Artwalk. South End: 11-6 pm. Various locations, Boston, MA 02118. www.sowaartwalk.com
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PDN (Photo District News) just released their eagerly-anticipated Photo Annual. Besides announcing their Annual winners, providing an insightful year in review, and giving the amazing advice they usually do, they had a great feature titled “46 Reasons to Love Photography Now.” The PRC, along with our annual juried show, is thrilled to be one of the 46 things!
PDN wrote in part: “The economy got you down? PDN’s editors and writers have compiled a list of the innovations, inspiring people, innovations, and idiosyncrasies that make photography as rewarding and exciting as ever.” PDN- we heart you too!
A special thanks goes out to Jeanine Fijol, PDN Photo Editor, who was our juror for the 11th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition in 2006, who first contacted me. The PRC joins a whole host of diverse people, places, and things, reminiscent of our unique 30th anniversary exhibition, PRC/POV (the venerable Dashwood Books made both of our lists!). Below is a montage from the magazine (thank you Cara!) and a few of the other 46 favorite things. Get thee to a newsstand and buy one now!
* Lee Friedlander * National Geographic * ICP Infinity Awards
* on demand printing * Wired magazine * Arles
* Taschen Books * B&H’s overhead conveyors * Nadav Kander
* Columbia College, Chicago * 20×200 * The Eddie Adams workshop
 From PDN magazine
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For those who haven’t yet had the “Swanny” - aka Mary Virginia Swanson - experience , I pass along a link to her web site and to her incredible blog.
I first met Swanny at the SPE Austin, TX in 2003 and she knew who I was before I knew who I was! I highly recommend her book The Business of Photography and required it for my class at AIB.
For those wanting to get all the happenings, news, and calls for entries first, her blog is a MUST! I thought I subscribed to a lot of emails and listservs, but she takes the cake. You can get it all in one place here. Check it out now, bookmark it, visit often, or better yet, subscribe to her RRS feed - marketingphotos.wordpress.com
ABOVE IMAGE: We heart blog, found on flickr in tarop’s photostream.
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FRIDAY, MAY 2
First Fridays. South End Galleries. Opening Reception: 5.30-8pm. Various locations, Boston, MA 02118.
Gallery Kayafas. Frank Gohlke. Opening Reception: 5.30-8pm. 450 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. www.gallerykayafas.com
Boston Center for the Arts. First Fridays. Opening Receptions: 6-9pm. Artist Studios Building. 617-426-5000. 551 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116. www.bcaonline.org
Laconia Gallery. MIND/matters. Opening Reception: 5.30-8pm. 617-670-1568. 433 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. www.laconiagallery.org
Addison Woolley Gallery and Center for Photographic Inquiry. Nature: Subtle Sublime Surreal. Opening Reception: 5-8pm. 207-775-0678. 87 Market Street, Portland, ME 04101.
Vermont Center for Photography. A Thin Line: Photographs by Leah Mae Dyjak. Opening Reception: 5:30-8:30pm. 802-251-6051. 49 Flat Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. www.vcphoto.org
SATURDAY, MAY 3
Cape Cod Museum of Art. Rebecca Brown: Photographs of Coney Island. Gallery Talk: 2pm. 508-385-4477. Route 6A, Dennis, MA 02638. www.ccmoa.org
Somerville Open Studios. 10th Annual Somerville Open Studios Event. Throughout Somerville: 12-6pm. 617-623-5590. Somerville, MA 02144. www.somervilleopenstudios.org
Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. Going to the Dogs. Gala Cocktail Party, Portrait Gallery, and Live & Silent Auctions: 6-9pm. 401-454-6500. 224 Benefit Street, Providence, RI 02903. www.risdmuseum.org
Judi Rotenberg Gallery. Hello my name is piXnit. Opening Reception: 5-7pm. 617-437-1518. 30 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116. www.judirotenberg.com
SUNDAY, MAY 4
Somerville Open Studios. 10th Annual Somerville Open Studios Event. Throughout Somerville: 12-6pm. 617-623-5590. Somerville, MA 02144. www.somervilleopenstudios.org
TUESDAY, MAY 6
Nesto Gallery. Maine Women by Lauren Shaw. Opening Reception and Film Screening: 5:30-7:30pm. 617-898-1798. Milton Academy, 170 Centre Street, Milton, MA 02186. www.milton.edu
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7
Nesto Gallery. Maine Women by Lauren Shaw. Artist Talk: 9am. 617-898-1798. Milton Academy, 170 Centre Street, Milton, MA 02186. www.milton.edu
Harvard University Art Museum. Women Photographers in India. Lecture/Discussion: 6pm. 617-495-9400. Arthur M. Sackler Lecture Hall, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138. www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
THURSDAY, MAY 8
The Griffin Museum of Photography. 3rd Annual Focus Awards. Reception: 7:30pm. 781-729-1158. 67 Shore Road, Winchester, MA 01890. www.griffinmuseum.org
RHYS Gallery. Judith Larsen. Opening Reception: 5-8pm. 617-357-7497. 401 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. www.rhysgallery.com
Tufts University Art Gallery at the Aidekman Arts Center. MFA Thesis Exhibition. Artists’ Talk: 6pm. 617-627-3518. Tisch Gallery. 40R Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155.
Harvard Museum of Natural History. Looking at Leaves: Photographs by Amanda Means. Member’s Preview: 6-8pm. RSVP Required. 617-495-6972. 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. www.hmnh.harvard.edu
FRIDAY, MAY 9
Brookline Arts Center. Kyoto in its Season. Photo Salon: 6:30-9:30pm. 617-738-8760. 86 Monmouth St, Brookline, MA 02446. www.brooklineartscenter.com
Fort Point Arts Community Inc. ARTWALK 2008. Open Studios: 4-7pm. 617-423-4299. 300 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210. www.fortpointarts.org
Essex Art Center. Symbols of Search: Color Photography of New Orleans homes’ detail 18 months after Hurricane Katrina. Opening Reception: 5-7pm. 978-685-2343. Main Gallery. 56 Island Street, Lawrence, MA 01840. www.essexartcenter.com
Harvard Museum of Natural History. Looking at Leaves: Photographs by Amanda Means. Gallery Talk: 3pm. RSVP Required. 617-495-2773. 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. www.hmnh.harvard.edu
Griffin Museum of Photography. Portfolio Reviews. 10-1pm. 781-729-1158. 67 Shore Road, Winchester, MA 01890. www.griffinmuseum.org
Pucker Gallery. Recent Reflections: New Photographs by Paul Cary Goldberg. Dinner/Preview: 7pm. 617-267-9473. 171 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116. www.puckergallery.com
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Tuesday was an important newspaper day in Boston. Gracing the front page of the Boston Globe was the Red Sox’s opening day at Fenway and the announcement that their own Mark Feeney won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, as noted in the last post.
Humbly for us, Mark Feeney’s review of the current PRC landscape exhibition, New England Survey, also ran in the very same Globe. (And luckily for us, he liked it!) I am thrilled at the confluence of events. I wrote to congratulate Mark, and he modestly replied that it’s a win for the paper and different than organizing an exhibition. To his and their credit, we had several people visit today because of his review and lots of calls. Here’s to the power of well-crafted words and the media!
You can read Mark Feeney’s review of the PRC exhibition New England Survey here.
You can read the official Globe story on Mark Feeney’s Pulitzer Prize in Criticism here.
You can read some of his nominated stories here.
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I am delighted to report that Mark Feeney, resident art, photo, and culture critic at the Boston Globe, has won the Pultizer Prize in Criticism! I just learned about the great news. Congratulations Mark! You so richly deserve it!
I am also honored to report that one of the 10 stories with which Mark was nominated and won was his review for the PRC exhibition Picture Show. You can read all of Mark Feeney’s nominated, prize-winning stories here.
This series of 10 reviews includes his musings on the photographic efforts of several PRC friends, including Kim Sichel’s aerial photography show, Arlette Kayafas’s Charles Teenie Harris show, and Abe Morell’s Mead Art Museum show. Being that we are a smaller non-profit in a largish city, I am thrilled and humbled that Mark has written about our shows so often, or even at all. You can read 5 of Mark’s reviews of PRC exhibitions here.
I so very much appreciate the time that Mark spends in understanding an exhibition and I know the artists do too. He always asks for all of the wall text and artist statements. I have long admired Mark for his insightful commentary and ability to create brilliant turns of phrases. In his writing, you can tell how much he enjoys pondering ideas of all stripes.
ize="2">Here are some excerpts below from the Boston Globe story and above, a photo by another of our favorite Globe staffers, Dominic Chavez.
From the Boston Globe, Globe writer wins Pulitzer for Criticism
By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff, April 7, 2008
Mark Feeney, an arts writer and photography reviewer for The Boston Globe, today was awarded the 2008 Pultizer Prize for criticism.
It is the 20th time the Globe has won the Pulitzer, which is considered the most prestigious award in journalism, and the second time in the past seven years that the newspaper has won the award for criticism.
Feeney, 50, won for 10 essays on visual culture that ranged from photography to painting and film. A self-described Globe “lifer” who began working at the newspaper shortly after he graduated from Harvard in 1979, Feeney noted today that the Globe has long made arts criticism a cornerstone of its identity.
“More than anything else, it’s about the paper,” he said of the Pulitzer. “There are so many people who are deserving who don’t get it. It’s a crapshoot. I’m just amazed, overwhelmed, and really, really pleased that the dice came up for me this time. But it’s not just for me. It’s for the paper.” The awards were announced this afternoon at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. …
Feeney won the Pulitzer for 10 critical essays that suggest the fluency and brio of his writing style, and the range of interests on which he brings that style to bear. …
“The Globe has a great tradition of reviewers, not just such prior Pulitzer winners as Robert Campbell and Gail Caldwell, but so many others, going all the way back to Michael Steinberg, Robert Taylor, Richard Dyer, Margaret Manning, and several current colleagues whom I will not embarrass by naming,” said Feeney.
Feeney was born in Winchester, Mass., and raised in Reading, Mass. His mother,
Agnes, who still lives in Reading, will turn 90 on Saturday. “I’ve been at a loss as to what to get her for a present,” Feeney said. “I guess I’m all set now.”
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[The following is an excerpt from the current issue of the PRC's newsletter, in the loupe]
Do you photo blog?
Like many of you that are on the shady side of thirty years old, I tend to embrace any and all new technologies reluctantly and with a lugubrious attitude. A good example: my refrigerator still houses a substantial amount of 35mm film even though I have been shooting digitally for several years. But, in the case of the photo blog phenomenon, I have to say that I embraced the blogosphere - as a reader, not a publisher - early and with great enthusiasm. Why? Simply because a large number of the better blogs present an amazingly good selection of emerging talent. Over the last several years, I’ve become familiar with the work of photographers that I would not get to know by any other means. If you haven’t visited a good blog lately, here are a few killer photo blogs that reside on the Fitts favorite list:
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LKB here again, aka the girl whose brain is mush from being gone for most of March and then deinstalling and installing the next 2 weeks. I promise that I will write many inspired posts giving you the inside scoop as well as tips for these two important industry events in the coming month. However, until I regain my brain cells after looking at what I estimate to have been over 100 portfolios, my flickr pics will suffice. I just posted on the PRC’s flickr site dozens of fun photographs of Fotofest and SPE. Both were amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Houston and Denver, especially the latter. You can see the company with whom I reviewed in Fotofest’s Meeting Place session one here and see an overview of all of the SPE 2008 sessions and events here. Enjoy the PRC’s flickr pics here or by clicking the above montage!
(To entice you further, there are some great pics of new SPE board member and recent PRC lecturer Arno Minkkinen and some behind-scenes party pics.)
ABOVE FLICKR MONTAGE - CLOCKWISE STARTING IN THE UPPER LEFT:
David Coleman of UT’s HRHRC photography collection chats with former Bostonian Jim Stone at Fotofest;
A Fotofest opening - that is Aperture’s Lesley A. Martin on the right, our next juror for our PRC juried show!;
Jonathan Singer, John Craig, and new SPE board member Arno Minnkinen look at their fuji prints at the SPE closing dance party;
At the SPE opening reception, from left, Thomas Gustainis, and MassArt alums Caroline Burghardt, Rebecca Sittler, and Bruce Myren (latter now an MFA student at UConn).
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Leslie is off to points West and I’m spending a few days in New York City. I devoted some time to making the big museum circuit and have to call out a few interesting things.
At the Met, I checked out Depth of Field: Modern Photography at the Metropolitan.
 Depth of Field was a broad selection works by moders photographers including Cindy Sherman, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Rineke Dijkstra, Adam Fuss and Thomas Ruff. I always enjoy the Bechers’ typological arrays, in this case 20 water tanks. In a very different vein was Adam Fuss’ giant photogram titled Now! of water being poured over photographic paper during exposure. It looked like a landcsape and an abstraction at the same time, and had detail you could get lost in for days. Taking up a large wall at the end of the gallery was Thomas Ruff’s Jpeg ny02, a tremendously enlarged JPEG image of the destruction of the World Trade Centers on Sept. 11, 2001. The scale of the piece makes all the artifacts of the JPEG compression clearly visible and forces you to squint and step back and forth to try and focus the image.
Also on view at the Met is Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks, which is worthy of a post all its own, but not today.
 A few short blocks uptown I found myself at the Whitney Museum, currently in the throes of its Biennial. I dodged the crowds and made for the permanent collection on the top floor, where I’m always happy to view paintings by Charles Sheeler and Charles Demuth. I lucked into small show of Demuth called Chimneys and Towers: Charles Demuth’s Late Paintings of Lancaster. Although some seem to take a Freudian view of Demuth’s chimney compositions, I like to view them alongside the Bechers’ work, as documents of a type. Also interesting, I saw some of Demuth’s sketchbooks and learned that the prismatic lines that cut across his paintings appear more or less fully realized in the sketches, and were actually incised in the fiberboard he painted on.
A mile or two downtown, not far from the NY Public Library, lies ICP, currently showing The Collections of Barbara Bloom and Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art. Bloom’s work is hard to categorize, and is a good example of ICP stretching the bounds of “photography.” ICP presents a retrospective of Bloom’s multi-media work and archives of indescribable paraphenalia, much of it stamped with her name, logo or likeness. Downstairs has been completely taken over by Archive Fever, which I will describe by way of quoting ICP’s web site:
Organized by renowned scholar and ICP Adjunct Curator Okwui Enwezor, Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art will present works by leading contemporary artists who use archival documents to rethink the meaning of identity, history, memory, and loss. Over the past thirty years, successive generations have taken wide-ranging approaches to the photographic and filmic archive. The works presented here take many forms, including physical archives arranged by peculiar cataloguing methods, imagined biographies of fictitious persons, collections of found and anonymous photographs, film versions of photographic albums, and photomontages composed of historical photographs. These images have a wide-ranging subject matter yet are linked by the artists’ shared meditation on photography and film as the quintessential media of the archive.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. You have to see it - experience it - to understand.
To make a long story longer, I have to note that big museums, like verything else in NYC, are far from cheap. The Met suggests a donation of $20 (although you can get in for less if you don’t mind a dirty look), the Whitney’s rate is $15 (includes free audioguide to the Biennail - you’ll need it), and ICP comes in looking cheap at $12. But, members of the Photographic Resource Center and other allied institutions can get in to ICP at the low price of zero, thanks to the little-known Connections Program.
Free admission for Connections members can be had at ICP, The George Eastman House, The Griffin Museum of Photography, and the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. Additional benefits are available at the rest of the 20 or so member institutions. I’d say that’s quite a deal.
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Boston Photography Focus is a blog dedicated to Boston photographers, Boston photography exhibitions and education, photo enthusiasts, and all manner of photo-based activities, news, happenings, topics, and ideas in and around Boston, New England, and beyond. It is sponsored by the 