Vik Muniz Retrospective at High Museum

By guest contributor Karen Rothstein.

Now on exhibit until August 21, 2016 at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, is a retrospective including more than 100 photographs by the Brazilian born mixed media artist Vik Muniz.

He has such a warm and enthusiastic manner. At the media preview, he expressed his overwhelming joy at seeing museum-goers actually taking close-up notice of all the unorthodox materials he used to create his artworks. Even the youngest child can find something in his work that brings them pleasure and perhaps engages them into taking an interest in the world of Art.

The writer, Karen Rothstein with artist Muniz in front of his Self-Portrait: “I Am Too Sad to Tell You”, after Bas Jan Ader, from the “Rebus” series.

Muniz is known for trying to create a sense of wonder and intrigue within his photography. The way he creates each piece is unique, adding a plethora of unconventional items in the process of making each finished photograph. These things that you might be familiar with in their proper place, will all come as a surprise in his art. Things such as: tiny childhood toys, garbage, torn pieces of magazines, diamonds, food of all sorts, etc…. It is easy to see the artist has a playful sense of humor. The different textures and sizes of his working canvasses make each finished photograph very unique. For example, one project included large-scale drawings made by bulldozers on a construction site, while other images were made by assembling small pieces of garbage or tiny toys and then photographing them from above, to reveal the intended scene that he pictured in his head before it all started. Be sure to watch the video in the gallery, showing how he created “Mother and Child” from the “Pictures of Garbage” series.

Vik Muniz – Mother and Child  (Suellen)  from “Pictures of Garbage” series.

Muniz often makes several works in a series, using similar materials to explore a common theme, materials that often trigger the viewer’s memory, recalling another time and place.

Vik Muniz – “Double Mona Lisa” (Peanut Butter and Jelly) from “After Warhol” series.

Vik Muniz – “Saturn devouring one of his sons” after Goya, from “Pictures of Junk Series.”

Vik Muniz – “Vik, 2 Years Old,”  from Pictures of Album series (representing one of the few pictures from his childhood)

Before moving to New York as a young man, Muniz was brought up in a working class family in Brazil while the country was under a strong military regime. People couldn’t speak their mind and times were hard. To this day he stands up for the underdog and addresses issues of social justice, and several of the works on display express the depth of his feelings.

 

Vik Muniz – “George Stinney, Jr.” from “Pictures of Album” series  (Stinney was convicted at a flawed trial in 1944 at the age of 14 in South Carolina.)

 

Vik Muniz – Six children from the “Sugar Children” series (Children from sugar plantation workers who played in the sand on the Island of St. Kitts).

Muniz really loves to use all different textures and is intrigued with color pigmentation as seen in his wonderful rendering of Gauguin’s “Day of the Gods”. Look close, the colors and textures comes to life.

Vik Muniz – “Mahana No Atua” (Day of the Gods), after Gauguin, from “Pictures of Pigment” series.

Muniz is primarily working in series these days, but he started out in the 80’s doing sculpture. A fine example is on display, be sure to few his Mnemonic Vehicle (Ferrari Berlinetta) a composite of polyurethane, plexiglass and aluminum, portraying a nearly life-size Ferrari automobile as a massive matchbox car.

The Artist is a true master of creativity and composition, his work has been on display the world over. He currently works in  New York City and Rio de Janeiro.

This exhibit is a wonderful one and will make for great discussion with family and friends in days to follow.

Vik Muniz – A Bar at the Folies-Bergère after Édouard Manet, from the Pictures of Magazines 2 series.

The Vik Muniz exhibition runs through August 21, 2016 at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Visit www.high.org for more info.

Butcher Brings Majestic Everglades to Coconut Grove

Acclaimed large-format nature photographer Clyde Butcher will be opening a new gallery in Coconut Grove, Miami this February.

The prolific photographer is set to attend the grand opening of his new “Everglades Gallery,” located at 2994 McFarlane Road on Friday, February, 13, (a great Valentine’s Day date.) Butcher will also be on hand at an invitation-only V.I.P. event on Tuesday evening, January 13, to give a keynote presentation at 8pm.

The new gallery apparently opened its doors for a while during the holidays, as reported in this Coconut Grove Grapevine Article:

The Clyde Butcher Facebook Page also posted some pictures of the gallery set-up in progress:

Butcher’s majestic black and white photographs are surely among the most moving representations of Florida’s vanishing wilderness you’ll ever see.  As I stated before in my review of his “Preserving Eden” exhibition, Butcher is one of the greatest American landscape photographers and clearly one of the hardest-working men in the business.

This Coconut Grove “Everglades Gallery” joins Butcher’s other two venues, the “Big Cypress Gallery” in Ochopee, and “The Venice Gallery & Studio” just south of Sarasota, which also houses his 2000 sq. ft. darkroom.

So take note Miami, you now have no excuse not to go see the work of this living legend for yourself.

Digitaltruth Photo becomes exclusive U.S. Distributor for Labeauratoire’s Caffenol Concoction.

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FILM: Eastman Cinematic Plus-X 5231 (expired 2004)

The concept of “caffenol” is not new. It’s been around for quite a while now and there are many different recipes out there. You might even want to try making your own. But if you’d like to use our tried & tested formula, I’ve carefully measured and packaged the two commonly used sizes for developing tanks: 600ml or 1000ml.

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Perutz Perpantic 17 from 1956 developed in Labeauratoire’s Caffenol Concoction.

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ALL IMAGES IN THIS POST ARE © LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN

Please do not duplicate without permission.

 

Abelardo Morell’s Universe Next Door at High Museum Atlanta

ABELARDO MORELL’S UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR AT HIGH MUSEUM OF ART – ATLANTA

Review by Labeauratoire US Correspondent Karen Nurenberg Rothstein

The photography exhibition, “The Universe Next Door” is now on view at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia through May 18, 2014. It includes more than 100 works that span Abelardo Morell’s career from 1986 through the present-time.

Abelardo Morell – Camera Obscura: Manhattan View Looking South in Large Room
1996, Gelatin silver print.

Abelardo Morell was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948. He fled with his family in 1962, but before he left Cuba he saw many atrocities. His life was turned upside down by the things he lived through. These events have given him a great sense of depth and feeling which he has used in his work as a photographer.  Morell is especially known for his work with the camera obscura, but he got his early inspiration from great masters of street photography such as Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Bresson was an early adopter of the 35mm format camera, which Abelardo used primarily for some time, but with the birth of his children, he left the light weight 35mm camera and went to a heavier, large format model. He began to experience things in a different way after his children were born, and he used the large format camera to express that new found depth of meaning with contrasting light and dark expression in his work.

Unlike many other photographers, Morell doesn’t limit himself to one photographic style. There are several different visual avenues he explores, giving this exhibition a dynamic variety.

CHILDREN

Abelardo Morell shows us that you are never to old to experience things with the enthusiasm of a child. His children opened his eyes, allowing him to visualize things with a simplicity and wonderment, to go beyond what is plainly visible and to genuinely see and photograph the world in a different way. His work is indeed a magical mix between realism, surrealism and simplicity. Consider his photograph of a pencil. It is simply a pencil, but the morning shadows transform it into a magical tower.

Abelardo Morell – Pencil, 2000, Gelatin silver print.

One of the key images included in this exhibit shows the shadow of the artist’s house on the ground. A door, windows, and a fence have been drawn into the image, and his children pose, showing what might be going on inside or within. Reality merges with imaginary.

Abelardo Morell – Laura and Brady in the Shadow of Our House, 1994, Gelatin silver print

SURREALISM

In “Still Life with Wine Glass”, which is a photogram, Morell has positioned the objects as a still-life. But with his artful magic and the use of water and glass, the result is surreal. The perspective is distorted, forcing the viewer to focus on the objects he has brought to the foreground.

Abelardo Morell – Photogram on 20″ x 24″ Film, 2006, Gelatin silver print.

Morell also has a great talent for showing excitement. He is able to capture the unique behaviors and properties of motion, and several photographs in this exhibit are good examples of this talent. The “Motion Study-Hammer” gives the illusion that a hammer is coming down to hit the nail on the head, but in reality it is three impressions of a hammer in lead.

Abelardo Morell – Motion Study of Hammer Impressions on Lead
2004, Gelatin silver print.

CAMERA OBSCURA

The Camera Obscura (Latin for “dark room”)  was one of the earliest methods of projecting an image. This was achieved by opening a small hole to allow light from the outside to penetrate into a darkened room. This technique would cast a faint, upside-down image of the outside scene onto the inside wall. This process helped early master artists such as Vermeer and dates back to the 10th century or perhaps even farther.

Abelardo Morell – Camera Obscura: The Empire State Building in Bedroom
1994, Inkjet print.

In 1991, Morell started bringing the outside world inside with his use of the camera obscura. At home with his family was where he felt the most inspired, so he started blackening rooms of his house and, with his large format camera on a tripod, he set out to make the most enchanting and exciting photographs he had done in his life.

Using Kodak Tri-X film in a view-camera, these first camera obscura images required an exposure time of several hours. When the first image was developed it was an epiphany for him. The interaction between the projected, outside image, with the ordinary elements of the room inside, produced a truly unique mixture.

Abelardo Morell – Camera Obscura: View of Central Park Looking North
Fall, 2008, Inkjet print.

Later, Morell started capturing these projections in color, and also devised a way to invert the image so that it would be seen right-side up. His retrospective at the High Museum displays the exciting evolution of these camera obscura photographs.

“A lot of my work tries to disorient you once you get invited in to something that seems normal.  I like to suggest that what may be empty is not. When you feel alone there is actually a lot more of the world coming into your space than you think.” 

– Abelardo Morell  –  http://shadowofthehouse.com/film.html

Abelardo Morell – Camera Obscura:
View of Atlanta Looking South Down Peachtree Street in Hotel Room
2013, Inkjet print.

TENT CAMERA

The next venture for Morell was to make a portable camera obscura, and his “Tent Camera” was what came to materialize from this endeavor. With the help of a friend he placed a periscope on top of a darkened tent enabling him to project the outside images onto the ground inside, where there was already a natural canvas. With the advances in digital photography, the increased light sensitivity allowed Morell to make exposures more quickly.

Abelardo Morell discusses the making of his image. Tent Camera Image on Ground:
View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Yates, 2012, Inkjet print

“The added use of dig­i­tal tech­nol­ogy on my cam­era lets me record visual moments in a much shorter time frame– for instance I can now get clouds and peo­ple to show up in some of the photographs.”

– Abelardo Morell  – http://www.abelardomorell.net/srcHTML/tent-camera-statement.html

Lib­er­ated now with his tent camera, he was free to experiment out in the world.

Abelardo Morell – Tent-Camera Image on Ground: View of Old Faithful Geyser,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2011, Inkjet print.

BOOKS, PAPER AND MONEY

In some of the other works on display, Morell uses a 35mm camera to capture his love for the simplicity of everyday things, such as Books, Paper and Money.  With this camera he achieves majestic close-ups, engaging the observer to realize the beauty in things we so often take for granted as mere objects.

In “Down the Rabbit Hole”, the rabbit, from “Alice in Wonderland,” struggles to peer down a hole made in a large book. This makes the viewer want to look inside and perhaps dream of what might be down there, and of possibilities to come.

Abelardo Morell – Down the Rabbit Hole
(From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), 1998, Inkjet print.

In the image “Paper-Self” he has merely stacked up paper to create a profile of himself. The visual architecture of this photograph, with its detailed, contrasting highlights and shadows, is so well structured, it reveals his mastery and shows us the intricacy and pulchritude of his mind.

Abelardo Morell – Paper Self, 2012, inkjet print.

PICTURING THE SOUTH

In 1996 the High Museum established “Picturing the South” an initiative commissioning established and emerging artists to make a body of work that would show off the south. Abelardo Morell is the latest artist to receive this commission. He chose for his subject matter, the trees of the southern landscape, and captured them in his somewhat whimsical, yet natural way.

Abelardo Morell discusses his image: Cutout in Print with Pine Trees Behind
2013, Inkjet print

During Morell’s talk at the exhibition’s press conference, he describes his technique of hanging a large image of a wooded scene in front of the actual trees in the forest. He then cut out parts to expose the real landscape.

Like so much of this exhibition, this image offers us an interesting look into the way Morell continues to surprise us with each step he makes in his photographic journey.

 “The Universe Next Door” runs through May 18, 2014 at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.

LINKS:

High Museum Atlanta’s Website: www.high.org

Abelardo Morell’s Official Website: www.abelardomorell.net

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ALL TEXT AND “LABEAURATOIRE” PHOTOGRAPHS BY KAREN NURENBERG ROTHSTEIN

FOR LABEAURATOIRE ©2014

Super Natural: Clyde Butcher’s Florida Photographs at the Leepa-Rattner Museum in Tarpon Springs Florida

Butcher is one of the greatest American landscape photographers and certainly one of the hardest-working men in the business. Don’t miss your chance to see some of his magnificent and massive prints in this exhibition:

“Preserving Eden” Clyde Butcher’s Florida Photographs

Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art ~ Tarpon Springs, Florida, USA  North and South Galleries Dec. 8, 2013 – Feb. 16, 2014

Clyde Butcher – Loxahatchee River #1, 1991
Gelatin silver print, 48 x 72 in., On loan from the South Florida Museum, Bradenton

Clyde Butcher works with a large format view cameras and often traipses out into the Florida Swamps with all his equipment. This is not a simple task and, though he does have helpful assistants, it can be a brutal and arduous journey. But at 71, Butcher is a master of his craft and his herculean efforts produce spectacular results. While many people view landscapes as still and unchanging, Butcher is somehow supernaturally in-tune with his natural surroundings and he waits for the perfect moment to snap his picture like a street photographer would in the urban jungle.

Clyde Butcher’s unique eye, combined with his patience and attention to detail, allows him to instill the feelings of action and excitement in a seemingly unmoving scene.

This special exhibition at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs includes 35 black and white photographs and allows visitors the opportunity to experience the unique connection Butcher has with natural Florida, and they don’t even have to put on wading boots!

Butcher takes us on an historic journey, not only into the deepest, darkest corners of the Everglades, but also to the sun-bleached shores of Florida’s beaches, and even to the vanishing green spaces that can be found beside highways and parking lots. He is a man on a mission and that mission is being “deeply committed to recording precious landscapes throughout the world.”

After their virtual hike through the stunning wilderness, visitors can sit and relax watching a video documentary on Butcher and his work.

In addition to being one of the greatest living photographers, Clyde Butcher is also one of the most active, and when it comes to his online presence, he has provided many ways for fans to become involved and stay connected.

He provides guided Photo Safari’s and Ec0-Excursions via his website:

Clyde Butcher’s Big Cyprus Gallery

His personal site: clydebutcher.com also has a wealth of biographic and technical information for those gearheads out there.

Butcher’s Facebook Page has more status updates than your thirteen year-old neice’s.

And he even has his own YouTube Channel!

So, take advantage of your chance to see this great exhibition. If not, be sure to check out one of his future events by subscribing to his NEWSLETTER.

IF YOU GO:

“Preserving Eden” Clyde Butcher’s Florida Photographs

Dec. 8, 2013 – Feb. 16, 2014

Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art / 600 Klosterman Road · Tarpon Springs FL 

open Tuesday – Sunday (check for hours)

LRMA@spcollege.edu / (727) 712-5762

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ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT @ LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN

An Odyssey of Imagery: Joel-Peter Witkin at Keitelman Gallery Brussels

Joel-Peter Witkin “Love and other Reasons”

at Keitelman Gallery Brussels

January 24 – March 29 2014

NOT FOR THE TIMID OR EASILY OFFENDED.

Joel-Peter Witkin – “Paris Triad” 2011

Don’t miss this rare chance to experience an odyssey of imagery in the photographs of infamous American artist Joel-Peter Witkin. His unmistakable style combines caustic and corrosive techniques with traditional darkroom printing to present a unique and often startling tableau. Calling on a wealth of symbolism from mythology, legend, and painters of the past, Witkin composes meticulous scenes in makeshift studios with subjects spanning the entire experience of human life, and death.

Joel-Peter Witkin was born in New York in 1939. After honing his technical skills as a documentary photographer in the US military, he studied visual art and received his MFA from the University of New Mexico. Witkin still lives in Albuquerque where he continues to innovate and build on his well-established career. This exhibition “Love and other Reasons” at the Keitelman Gallery brings together a wealth of different pictures, mostly from the last fifteen years.

Viewing Witkin’s images is not an endeavor to be taken lightly. Many have castigated the artist and his work and even some of his fans find it difficult to look at. Witkin often uses human body parts and corpses in his photographs and the people who pose for him fill the spectrum of humanity, from the traditional beauties to the drastically deformed. Witkin himself once advertised for models exhibiting “…all manner of visual perversions…” and that is what the viewer will encounter in his images.

Joel-Peter Witkin – “Anna Akhmatova” 1998

But perversion is not what Witkin sees, and those who “get” his work also see the beauty that can be found in the compositions he presents. Recalling still-life paintings by the Flemish masters, many of his photographs gather an ensemble of objects with an infinite capacity for symbolic interpretation, and like the “vanitas” of the 17th century Witkin uses these symbols to spark introspection.

Joel-Peter Witkin – “Still Life with Mirror” 1999

Witkin uses his lens and his creativity to shine a light in to the darkest corners of the mind and of human existence and asks us to consider, what is the nature of life, of death, of beauty, of fear? Do we look in the mirror and see the transitory nature of all life and earthly endeavors?

Joel-Peter Witkin – “Poussin in Hell” – 1999

“Hellish” is a word that can often be conjured when viewing Witkin’s work. And like the demon-filled representations on medieval church walls, these photographs offer a story that is more powerful than mere words can express.

Joel-Peter Witkin – Paris Triad: “Death is like lunch… it’s coming.” – 2011

Don’t be alarmed and ask “what’s the world coming to?” He’s not subjecting you to anything that Hieronymous Bosch didn’t envision six hundred years ago. But unlike Bosch, Witkin’s story is not about exposing evil. On the contrary, his pictures embody an innocence of sorts. It’s easy to look away. To dismiss them as merely provocative. But look more deeply into the images (and into yourself,) and you may glimpse what Witkin is searching for.

“There’s two times in life where you’re totally innocent: before birth, and at death.”

– Joel-Peter Witkin

Joel-Peter Witkin – Paris Triad: “The Reader” – 2011

If you can gather the mental constitution to let go of your preconceptions and step through the looking glass provided here, you’ll be rewarded with a wealth of stunning images you’re not likely to forget. Witkin is certainly a master of his craft. He can invoke the spirits of Dante and Dalí and bend them to his will.

With a cadre of dedicated assistants, he often spends days sketching and laying-out his elaborate scenes before any photography occurs. He then spends as much time again working the negatives and prints into his unique mixture of photo, graphic, collage, and chemical reaction.

Joel-Peter Witkin – “Eternity Past, Berlin” – 1998

This exhibition at the Keitelman Gallery offers a fairly wide array of Witkin’s work ranging in time and subject matter. Many of his newer pieces include almost vibrant colors, not a characteristic often associated with his earlier work. And some of the photographs have been hand colored, where previous prints of the same image were only presented in black and white. Painting and collage elements have become more prevalent in Witkin’s arsenal of visual weaponry over the past ten years, proving the artist has not ceased evolving.

Joel-Peter Witkin – “Woman with Small Breasts” – 2007

 Witkin is not an artist resting on his laurels. He continues to investigate the nature and meaning of human experience when many others have resorted to platitudes. With a well-weathered soul he still searches for that common innocence that lies within the essence of all things. And though it might remain just out of reach, Witkin keeps taking up the challenge.

~ LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN – FEBRUARY 9, 2014

Joel-Peter Witkin “Love and other Reasons”

at Keitelman Gallery Brussels runs January 24 through March 29 2014

for more details visit: http://www.keitelmangallery.com/

KEITELMAN GALLERY / RUE VAN EYCK 44 / B-1000 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

TEL +32 2 511 35 80  / EMAIL KEITELMAN @ KEITELMANGALLERY.COM

OPENING HOURS: TUESDAY – SATURDAY 12:00 – 18:00
OR BY APPOINTMENT

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PHOTOGRAPHS WITH THE “LABEAURATOIRE” LOGO BY LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN

ALL OTHER IMAGES ARE FROM THE KEITELMAN GALLERY WEBSITE

High Museum Atlanta hosts treasures from The Louvre & Tuileries Garden.

SEE PARIS ON PEACHTREE STREET!

Review by Labeauratoire US Correspondent Karen Nurenberg Rothstein

This week, I visited The Louvre and Tuileries Garden, an exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta Georgia, USA. It is showing through January 19, 2014. The Tuileries are on the must-see list of many who visit Paris. It is graced with Art that saturates the soul and bathes you in its beauty.

The Tuileries started out as a private garden created by Catherine de Medici, as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564. It was opened to the public for the first time in 1667. Later, after the French Revolution it was established as a public park and today it is still one of the focal points of the city.

The High Museum exhibit brings the wonders of The Tuileries to an American audience. It features more than 100 works, some never before seen outside of France.

If you get a chance, come down to Peachtree Street in Atlanta and take a walk through the picturesque, boxed holly trees in the High’s courtyard, and feast your eyes on bronze sculptures by Aristide Maillol, including “Mediterranean” (aka “Latin Thought”) 1923-1927.

The Beauty in this piece lies in the simplicity of the work. The triangular limbs intertwine freely with one another to form the figure of a woman deep in thought.

Another Maillol bronze in the courtyard, “Venus with Necklace” 1928, is equally impressive. Don’t pass these by. Take the time to stop and enjoy their beauty.

Then, entering the ground floor of the exhibit, there are several more statues that leave you breathless. One example was François Joseph Bosio’s “Hercules Battling Achelous as Serpent” 1824 in Bronze.

Another is the marble sculpture “Faun” by Antoine Coysevox from 1709.

This has an adorable satyr on the opposite side.

The second floor reveals the history of the Tuileries Palace and Garden. In addition to more sculptures, there are artifacts from the time of Catherine de Medici, including this “Mold for the bust of a Cloaked Woman” from the Workshop Of Bernard Palissy. ca. 1550-1570.

Also included are items from the time of King Louis XIV, who expanded the garden, such as this wonderful tapestry “Procession of Louis XIV in front of the Tuileries Castle: October, The sign of The Scorption”  produced in the Gobelins Royal Manufactory (after a design by French painter Charles Le Brun.) This was one of 12 tapestries made to depict the French Royal House and the months of the year.

This one represents October.  The zodiac sign is featured at top center and there are signs of autumn throughout. King Louis XIV is in the background with his procession, weaving through the Tuileries Garden away from the grand Palace.

There are several rooms to see on this floor, one of them provides comfortable seating to enjoy a contemporary video projected on three screens. This gives you the sensation of walking in the garden and passing people as they enjoy a lovely day in Paris. Do sit and take it in.

Entering the third floor you see a large wooden model of the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden, in the background pictured on a partitioning wall is a scene filled with all the pageantry of a bygone era.

Many artists were inspired by this great garden and its Tuileries Palace. My favorite painting is one by Pierre Tetar van Elven, a Dutch artist from 1828-1908.

It is titled “Nighttime Party in the Tuileries, 10 June 1867, on the Occasion of Foreign Sovereigns to the World’s Fair ” 1867 (above), oil on canvas.  It really takes you into the lavish lifestyle.

Several fabulous engravings and etchings are displayed. Especially interesting was this watercolor and etching on on laid paper (above) by an unknown artist from 1784. It documented the first manned flight in a hydrogen-filled balloon, which was launched from the Tuileries in December of 1783 by professor Jacques Charles with Nicolas-Louis Robert as co-pilot. They ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet and landed 2 hours and 5 minutes later.

Photography buffs will love the last room. It is filled with historic photos of the gardens by some of the great photographers of the world, including 13 prints by Eugène Atget, and others by Louis Vert, Andre Kertesz, Jaroslav Poncar and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

“View from above the Tuileries Garden’s Parterre” 1975 by Henri Cartier-Bresson

“Merchant Selling “Coco” and toys in the Tuileries Garden” by Louis Vert
circa 1900-1906, printed after 1930.

This is a once in a life time chance to experience the wonders and the beauty of The Louvre and Tuileries Garden right in your own backyard, Don’t miss it.

For more info visit http://www.high.org

The exhibition runs through January 19 in Atlanta and then will travel to the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio (Feb. 13-May 11) and the Portland Art Museum in Oregon (June 14- Sept. 28).

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All text and images by Karen Nurenberg Rothstein, a contributing writer for Labeauratore.

Intimate Mapplethorpe show at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels thru July 27

Don’t miss the unique opportunity to see some of Robert Mapplethorpe’s exquisite early work at the Xavier Hufkens gallery in Brussels, running through July 27, 2013.

Mapplethorpe’s 1975 self portrait (at right) is among many treasures on display at Xavier Hufkens.

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-89) was an absolute master of black and white photography. He is world-renowned for his classical portraits of the famous and beautiful, and for his stark presentation of the New York gay leather scene.  Many have touted the technical mastery of his large prints made from his medium format Hasselblad camera, but few people know about the small, intimate Polaroid pictures that marked his induction into photography in 1970. Those one-of-a-kind, instant photos, some of which have never before been exhibited, make this show a must see event for any connoisseur. Of course, keep in mind there are graphically sexual and controversial images in this exhibit, so those who are easily (or even not so easily) offended should  take this into consideration.

“Robert Mapplethorpe Au Début (works from 1970-79)”
The front window at Xavier Hufkens Gallery

The show is titled “Robert Mapplethorpe Au Début (works from 1970-79)” and features 95 pieces. In addition to the 29 Polaroids and the numerous, traditional, silver gelatin prints, there are three early multi-media / collage works which offer a rare insight to the graphic process that preceded Mapplethorpe’s photography.

Robert Mapplethorpe – Untitled multimedia collage. Early 1970s
On exhibit at Xavier Hufkens

This untitled collage (above) from the early 70s includes two Polaroid pictures with geometrical collage elements. Interestingly, the blue/gray background element appears to be photographic paper exposed with a grid of dots using the “photogram” or “rayograph” method pioneered by Man Ray and others.

Viewing Mapplethorpe’s Polaroids at Xavier Hufkens
Photo by Lance Aram Rothstein

The relatively small Polaroid pictures necessarily draw the viewer close and this adds to their inherent intimacy. Mapplethorpe used the instant camera to capture friends and lovers, and these images have a certain spontaneous spirit that seems to be lacking a bit in the later, well-known studio pieces.

Untitled (Randy), 1975 B&W Polaroid by Robert Mapplethorpe

Polaroid enthusiasts will notice that some of these “B&W” pictures clearly benefit from the warmer tones offered by some of the early pack-films. And they will also be pleased to see that even legends like Mapplethorpe had to deal with the unpredictability of instant film technology.

Untitled (Nickey Waymouth) B&W Polaroid by Robert Mapplethorpe on display at Xavier Hufkens.

Pardon the poor image (above) shot through reflective glass, but notice the tell-tale Polaroid roller marks which still irk many an instant shooter today.  These anomalies are one of the things that make instant photographs so special and unique. Unlike a heavily lit, heavily worked darkroom print, these little gems were made “in the moment” and were likely shared with the subjects soon after they were shot.

Producing these little, instant, “arranged windows” may have led Mapplethorpe to explore what eventually became his strongest suit: composition. It seems as though he viewed all the elements of this world to be shapes and forms for him to arrange and compose within his own little, four-sided presentation box called the “photograph.”

Untitled, 1974 B&W Polaroid by Robert Mapplethorpe

Many people try to contemplate and judge the content of Mapplethorpe’s photographs, but when one simply studies the composition of the images, he seems to have taken a page out of Mondrian’s book. The world we inhabit is made up of shapes and spaces. Some of those shapes are flower petals, others are faces with expression, and others are dildos and sinks and whips and trees and hands and stove knobs and yes, some of those shapes are erect penises. And some of the spaces are sky, while others are assholes. Shapes and Spaces, all to be thoughtfully arranged, lit and captured with equal importance and reverence, just as were Mondrian’s lines and boxes.

Piet Mondrian Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray, 1921 © Art institute Chicago

Robert Mapplethorpe photographs at Xavier Hufkens

Moving on to the square-format of the Hasselblad camera seemed to strengthen his emphasis on composition. These four, square photographs, (above) hung together at the Xavier Hufkens Exhibition, highlight precisely this idea of arranging shapes in a box. You can imagine hearing Mapplethorpe thinking to himself, “Okay, here are the shapes and spaces I’ll be working with today, how shall I light them and place them in my little square box in a way that will be pleasing?” – And therein lay his brilliance. He always found a way that was pleasing, and this allowed pure emotion to shine through. Like the pure emotion a wild animal might feel when looking at a sunset before settling down to sleep.  No baggage!

Of course most humans can’t escape their baggage.  Many people can’t find a way  to get past the content to appreciate the highlights and shadows  of Mapplethorpe’s mastery.

Lily, 1979 by Robert Mapplethorpe

Phillip, 1979 by Robert Mapplethorpe

Take these two photographs (above) for example, on display in the exhibit. Most people can look at the flower and just think, “Oh, that’s nice, what lovely shapes and shadows.” But some people look at the second image and can’t help but wonder “Why this man is wearing toe-shoes, Why is he naked, Is he gay? Is he a transvestite? Why are you showing me this? Are my tax dollars funding this?”  They never allow themselves to even see the shapes and shadows.

Viewing the Mapplethorpe exhibition at Xavier Hufkens

I guess the real point is, there’s beauty to be found in everything. And Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the rare souls who not only realized that, but was able to capture it and present it to others in hopes of sharing that beauty. Don’t miss this rare chance to appreciate those efforts. Make the trip to the Xavier Hufkens Mapplethorpe Exhibit before it closes on July 27.

Xavier Hufkens Gallery at 107 Rue St-Georges in Brussels.

Photographer Joel-Peter Witkin said: ” As an artist, (Mapplethorpe) went out into the dark and came back with the best of what he saw in humanity and in himself. He was rare. It’s very hard to render emotions through a camera. Robert was a bright light, throwing light on aspects of mortality that society usually denies. He caught emotion.” Quote from the book “Mapplethorpe: Assault with a Deadly Camera” ©1994 by Jack Fritscher, Ph.D.

Viewing the Mapplethorpe exhibition at Xavier Hufkens

IF YOU GO:

Xavier Hufkens Gallery at 107 Rue St-Georges in Brussels Belgium

Tel. +32 (0)2 639 67 30
info@xavierhufkens.com
Open Tuesday to Saturday,
11 am to 6 pm

More Info?  http://www.mapplethorpe.org/

ALSO – If you do make the trip to see this exhibit, you should pop just around the corner to see the nice Pierre Lefebvre exhibition at the Delire Gallery running through the 3rd of August, 2013.

ALL WORDS AND IMAGES © BY LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

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Review: Gordon Parks “A Harlem Family 1967” photography at The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY – through June 30, 2013

Don’t miss your last chance to catch this moving exhibit of Gordon Parks’ photography called “A HARLEM FAMILY 1967,”  running through June 30, 2013, at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York.

Guest post by Karen Nurenberg Rothstein

A day spent in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood brought me to The Studio Museum of Harlem.

There I had the chance to see this touching and heart-wrenching exhibit of black and white photography by Gordon Parks .  Born Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006),  he was also a well known musician, writer and film director. The exhibit is called “A Harlem Family 1967” and consists of about 30 silver gelatin photographs of the Fontenelle family.  Norman Sr. and Bessie Fontenelle, along with their eight children, lived in Harlem during a turbulent time filled with racial unrest, crime, and drugs.  But worst of all was the poverty, which made it fairly impossible to escape such a life.

Gordon Parks With The Fontenelle Family Harlem, New York, 1967

Parks, a well known photojournalist, documented their lives as part of a 1968 Life Magazine photo essay that truly revealed the horrid conditions in Harlem during that period. He spent a month shooting the trials and tribulations they faced just getting from one day to the next. Some of the images have never before been shown to a public audience.

Gordon Parks was the first African American photographer on the staff of Life Magazine. He had done many glamourous fashion shoots for them, but he took the opportunity, with this assignment, to reveal to the American people what kind of lives so many Black Americans led during those times, and the images reveal an extremely personal look into this one family’s lifestyle.

Bessie Fontenelle Cleans Her Bathtub, Harlem, New York, 1967

Many of the photographs are a quite dark, perhaps symbolizing the rough world that surrounded this family. Times were not easy, but they tried to make the best of it. Mother Bessie also washed the family clothes in this tub.

This photo below, which was larger than most others in the exhibit, shows the many holes in the walls, which the family often taped-up or stuffed with clothes to keep out the cold and rats. 

Norman Jr. Reads in Bed, Harlem, New York, 1967

Harlem was not a safe place then, with so much crime and drug activity. The children found themselves without much and made due with broken toys and an alleyway to play in. Little Richard was sometimes so hungry he ate the plaster off the walls. Parks really understood their plight and conveyed it well in the photographs.

Untitled Harlem, New York, 1967

Fontenelle Children Outside Their Harlem Tenement, 1967

Bessie tried to keep a little faith and it is shown here.

The Only Picture Hanging in the Fontenelle Home, Harlem, New York, 1967

One afternoon when Parks walked into the Fontenelle’s apartment, he found Bessie and Little Richard huddled in the bed. He snapped this photo (below) and then asked what had happened. Bessie told him it had been a bad night. Norman Sr. had been drinking and got out of hand. When he finished kicking her, she got up and poured honey and sugar into scalding water, forming a kind of molasses, which she dumped over him.

He was in the hospital.

Bessie and Little Richard the Morning after She Scalded Her Husband, Harlem, New York, 1967

Gordon Parks took Norman Jr. to the hospital to see his father, who was badly burned. He told his son that he couldn’t understand why she did that to him.

Norman Jr. visits Norman Sr. in the hospital, Harlem, New York, 1967

Parks said, ” Norman Jr. didn’t get along with his father, but to see him in the hospital, burned, shook him deeply.”

Gordon Parks clearly connected with this family and used his unique talents to show their plight, one shared by millions of other impoverished people around the world. He stayed in contact with the Family until he died on March 7, 2006.

Take the rare opportunity to be deeply shaken by this momentous photojournalistic essay. Walking out of the exhibition, I stopped a moment to consider all those that are still living similarly today… 

This is well worth a trip to the museum if you happen to be in NYC this weekend as it ends on June 30th 2013.

RELATED LINKS:

– What Became of Harlem’s Fontenelle Family? – NYTimes.com

– The Gordon Parks Foundation

IF YOU GO:

The Studio Museum in Harlem

http://www.studiomuseum.org

144 West 125th Street
New York, New York 10027
Museum Hours: Thursday: 12pm-9pm
Friday: 12pm-9pm
Saturday: 10am-6pm
Suggested donation: Adults $7.00
Seniors and students (with valid id) $3.00
Free for members and children under 12
Target Free Sundays: Free admission every Sunday thanks to the support of Target

All text and images by Karen Nurenberg Rothstein, a contributing writer for Labeauratore.

Murder framed in Antwerp! Catch Weegee at FoMu before Jan. 27

Polaroid photograph by Lance Aram Rothstein

Don’t miss your last chance to catch this brilliant, travelling Weegee photography exhibition from the International Center of Photography in New York. It’s on show at FoMu (FotoMuseum Antwerp) in Belgium until 27 January 2013.

When you walk past the crime-scene tape that adorns the doors of the museum and up to the second floor exhibit, you’re treated to a rare collection, transporting you into “Weegee’s World.” With more than 100 authentic prints, original newspaper clippings, touch screen displays and videos, you can be a time-travelling voyeur into the gritty life of early-mid-century America.

Polaroid photograph by Lance Aram Rothstein

Weegee (Arthur Fellig 1899-1968)  was a powerhouse of early, urban photojournalism. After emigrating to the USA from Austria at the age of ten, he later re-invented himself as “Weegee the Famous” and made that moniker stick as a crime scene photographer and documentarian like no other.

Weegee, [Installation view of “Weegee: Murder Is My Business” at the Photo League, New York], 1941. © Weegee/International Center of Photography.

As the US was emerging from the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Hollywood studios were pumping out romanticized versions of the gangster life. But Weegee carved his own place in the annals of photography by showing the true images of life on the streets of New York.  His images could be labeled as the beginning of tabloid journalism, but these pictures wouldn’t be seen in your Weekly World News or Daily Mail. Most of his images wouldn’t pass todays “Cheerios Test.” (Will readers want to see this while eating their morning meal?)

Weegee, Line-Up for Night Court, ca. 1941. © Weegee/International Center of Photography.

In the beginning he worked mostly at night with a powerful flash. Weegee stalked his prey in the back-alleys and station houses of the real Gotham City. He wasn’t an artist refining his delicate craft. Avedon would not approve of his methods, which more closely resembled those of the hit-men he photographed than those of other photographers of his day. The perp would be pulled out of a dank bar after midnight and shoved into a Black Maria giving Weegee only seconds to focus, frame, calculate and pull the trigger. The flash that followed wasn’t from the muzzle of a gun, but that of the automatic flash-bulb on his 4×5 Speed Graphic camera (on display at the exhibit.)

Polaroid photograph by Lance Aram Rothstein

Often sleeping in his clothes by day, he would wake up in the evening and scan the police and fire radio channels, competing to arrive on the scene before the cops.  When the gang from Murder Inc. wasn’t playing shoot-em-up. Weegee redirected that same, unflinching lens to the everyday inhabitants of his adopted city. Whether it was tenement children escaping the heat in the spray of a fire hydrant, or tiara-topped “society” ladies on their way to the theater, his flashbulbs were a great equalizer. Compressing every aspect of “life as it is lived” into a flat, black and white frame and presenting it as evidence. It grabs you by the collar and shouts: “Hey! This is real life! Pay attention!” And we do.

“Summer on the Lower East Side” by Weegee (Arthur Fellig), gelatin silver print, 31.8 x 41.4 cm (12 1/2 x 16 5/16 in.), 1937. © Weegee / International Center of Photography.

The Fashionable People, [title first used for “The Critic” in LIFE Magazine], published December 6, 1943 – ©1994, International Center of Photography, New York, Bequest of Wilma Wilcox.

You can find a more in-depth biography of the man himself here at the Masters of Photography Blog.

IF YOU GO: FoMu Antwerp is open Tuesday to Sunday open from 10 to 18 h.  Closed on Mondays.

Here is a link to their Practical Information page.

About my photographs: The color images were shot with an iPhone 4. My B&W Polaroid photographs of the exhibition were made on a customized vintage Polaroid 110 Pathfinder camera produced while Weegee was still making pictures. Here’s what it looks like:

Links:  Foto Museum Antwerp – International Center of Photography –

Extensive NY Times Review of the original Exhibition.

All text and photos © Lance Aram Rothstein for Labeauratoire unless otherwise noted.

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