I was incredibly flattered when Laurel picked my work up and posted some of machines shortly after I launched my blog and site. I was aware of her blog when I started, I had read about her gallery show in the NY times. There are a few of the early photo bloggers, pioneers, who have really not only invented the the photo blog, but continue to be influence far outside of cyberspace. While some of the early voices,Alec Soth and Christian Patterson have moved on, the remaining few dominate the world of fine-art photo blogging. Conscientious and I Heart Photograph being the most creative and well known. (of course there are many others launched right after with lots to offer) What both of these blogs offer is a chance to discover the work of an artist you may not know. They are doing all the leg work for you. While as a photographer this is useful and interesting, as a photo professional is is life changing!

When Laurel posted my images, I almost immediately received an email from a photo editor asking if I was the same Cara Phillips that used to work at Redux Pictures. Turns out we had worked there together over 4 years earlier and she was now working at a magazine. So because of Laurel we re-connected and I showed her my work. And in a stranger twist of fate, I am freelancing for her at that magazine this month doing photo research, which by the way is a lot of fun. What I have discovered on the other end side of the photo divide is just how much I Heart Photograph has to offer. It’s easy to navigate, well archived and all the images are linked to source sites. But most importantly it is a veritable treasure trove of undiscovered pictures of every possible kind. And each image leads you on to something, perhaps not what you are looking for but often worthwhile. Then you go to the stock sites where you seem to get 67 pages of the most banal, mediocre photography imaginable. (the exception being news imagery, which is often really good) I mean, really I can’t believe anyone ever uses stock! My guess is the sheer quantity of imagery is the problem.

Buried in there somewhere is probably a lot of good pictures, if you know how to find them, but there are so many dreadful things, you just want to give up. And truthfully, I am sure many corporations cannot always use the kind of innovative and exciting, and let’s face it sometimes weird work showcased on the site. But in a world so full of imagery, we are increasingly dependent on the curator. Those who are willing to shift through the metaphoric garbage to pick out gems are more important then ever. I am much more interested in seeing a site that has one person’s very specific taste I may or may not always agree with, then a generic hodge podge of junk. So hopefully as the blog scene grows, there will start to be more options for buyers, that will actually also give individual photographers a chance to sell some of their images. And for magazines to have an easier and better way to find imagery for their publications.

A random sampling of IHP artists

morten nilsson

Jesper Ulvelius

Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

Roger Ballen, one of my favorite images from the NYPF

I know I have been MIA since the last week’s NYPF, but it took me a little while to recover from photo-overload. There are a lot of great posts about the event, Shane, Andrew, Joerg, Robert, and others all have their take on the events. For me it really was a whirlwind of meeting people, and observing how the NY photo world operates. Relationships are the secret to the art world. For instance, Kathy Ryan was accessible for the whole event. I saw her giving numerous tours of her exhibit and talking to everyone. I never quite got up the nerve to introduce myself, even though I have emailed with her before. It just seemed too desperate, like throwing yourself at the hottest guy at bar at 3:45 am. But it was super interesting to watch everyone and listen to the conversations. There is definitely an inside world that once you are in, gives you a lot more opportunities. But while I may not be in that circle, I saw a lot of friends and made some new ones. I am still blown away that people know my work & blog. It is nice to know people get something out of GG.

That is why I am excited about WIP. At this moment, everything in the world is in flux. The internet is absolutely changing how we relate to each other. There is something great about people reaching out and forming communities. It empowers them to express themselves and to connect. Amy Elkins has been an incredible partner on this project. Not only do we feel like we are doing something that could really be positive, we are having a lot of fun. My hope is that WIP can help create more community among women artists. We are already scheduled through March of next year and still have a bunch of great artists to put on the calendar. Amy and I are really committed to showing quality work and to giving people a place to further their art career. So when we launch, I hope people spread the word about the site to friends and photo/art contacts. There will be a launch party in mid-June, more to come soon…

This project has me thinking a lot about intentions lately and what I want to get out of this experience. I think having a solo show online, can be a way to reach people who for various reasons don’t go to galleries. And perhaps help someone get noticed in the very crowded field of fine-art photographers. But the web is a funny thing, every good intention can come with a price.

Last night Nightline had a story about a stay a home Mom that has created an online blog for women to post their pictures and ask strangers to tell them what to do with their hair. She has a 2 year line up of people waiting to get help to ‘look better.’ While researching the hair site, I came across this blog, which illustrates the type of thinking that leads women to the Plastic Surgeons consult chair. I am sure Hair Thursday is only trying to help, but as soon as you use the internet community for this kind of thing, I think you are on dangerous ground.

Hi. How are ya? Please ignore my rosacea, beady eyes, crooked nose, and double chin. This is about the HAIR, people!

Hair Thursday features images of everyday women, who are given advice on their hair. Each person has a celebrity or two selected as their “model” of what they should aim for.

The web is full of places where you are welcome to be rated, the web boards of Teen Vogue include page after page of these rate me posts. As an artist I am fascinated about the human need to feel special. A large part of the Cosmetic Surgery experience is about this drive to be ’seen’ even it is means being judged.

With the start of New York’s first photo festival, I got to thinking about the evolution of the ‘photo blog.’ Last night’s Tim Barber Tiny Vices show, featured several of the blog world’s mainstay’s and during the evening’s events for the first time I met people who knew me because they read Ground Glass. It was a pretty amazing experience. Afterward, a bunch of us went out to eat. Looking around the table, I thought what a diverse and talented group of people. But more interesting is how we had come together. Amy Elkins, Ofer Wolberger, Amy Stein, Amani Olu, Jon Feinstein, Will Steacy, and Corey Arnold are all bloggers, or are involved in the internet photo community. While some of us know each other from other places, many people met last night for the first time, but knew each other from online.

Then there is Andrew Hetherington, I have been telling him for months he is the Walter Winchell (inventor of gossip column and most important man in radio part) of the photo world. Now he is working for Foto 8 magazine covering the festival. Andrew is a great writer and his sarcastic Irish wit makes his blog one of my daily reads. He really has carved out a unique place for himself in the blogoshpere. The festival itself, includes a presentation by i heart photograph’s Laurel Ptak tomorrow at 5pm with Tim Barber. The fact that both Magnum & Aperture have blogs goes to show how important the form has become. Several blogging artist’s have already proven that they can blog and have successful art careers, Alec Soth, Christen Patterson, Brian Ulrich, Shen Wei, Amy Stein and others. Not to mention, blogging gallery star Jen Bekman, also in the curating 2.0 event. Joshua Lutz has work at the Tierney Foundation show, and has his first solo show at Clampart Gallery in September.

What does all of this mean? I have no idea, but I have met some great people and I am enjoying the ride. Perhaps the next great “photo movement” is not about a particular style or conceptual agenda, but about how artists communicate and share their work. All of the big movements in the past happened when loose groups of photographers formed and shared ideas and work. The WPA project, the Dusseldorf School, Szarkowski’s heyday at the Modern, 291, Yale’s MFA program in the 90’s. It is only a thought, but there is an awful lot going on these days online. Blogs are in a way replacing the underground art scene that made New York so vibrant in the past. NYC rents have made that world a memory, but you can take a chance on an emerging artist online. You can also build an audience. Without a support system, you cannot sustain an art career.

Speaking of which, we now have our site up for Women in Photography. The correct submission info is there and the first show goes up June 2nd - so stay tuned!

And if you are in the mood for something that reminds you of how the world functioned before computers, when we actually had to think and take time to do things in a very different way, there is a great show that opened last night at Cohen Amador Gallery. Japanese photographer, Masao Mochizuki’s strange, otherworldly images of television from the 1970’s look both modern and from a time that never existed. What took him hours of precise and methodical shooting, could now be done in ten minutes with photoshop, but I imagine would have none of the charm. If you are looking for a respite from the chaos of NYPF, it is just the spot.

Cohen Amador

41 E 57th St 6th Fl

One of my favorite photographers has an opening tonight. I highly recommend you go see her new work.

Murray Guy

435 W 17th St

AN-MY LÊ
Events Ashore
26 April - 31 May 2008

A very interesting (as usual) post from Joerg Colberg on Gregory Crewdson’s new work. I went to the opening, my friend scanned the show and I was excited to see how the raw images came together. I was torn about them, while they are certainly very accomplished, I felt disappointed at their lack of new ground. In some ways they were less produced than his last show. I could see that he was trying to capture the feeling of a rust-belt town, which has a very different look than his usual middle class suburb. I appreciate Joerg’s sentiments about our culture’s voracious appetite for newness. We do seem to focus on always wanting the next thing even when there is nothing wrong with what we have. But in the case of Crewdson, I would have liked to see a new visual or conceptual idea. This is an artist who helped to transform the look and process of contemporary photo practice. So I would hope that he would continue to innovate. His images seem to be more about meeting the demands of the current art market, then about anything else. I really can only remember one image from the show. I don’t think artists have to constantly be doing the ‘next’ thing or re-inventing themselves, but they should not rest on their laurels either. And yes some artists work in the same mode for years to create a long term body of work with great meaning. It is something to consider. You have to give Robert Frank credit for moving on to experimental film and art rather than repeating himself. His later work may not be as good as his masterwork “The Americans,” but it takes risks and is unafraid of failure.

2001

2004

2006

Joerg Colberg sent me a link to the NY Times article on Gallerina’s the other day. He was interested to know if I shared his anger at the rather condescending and sexist attitude of the piece. We had a lively email debate, in which he basically called me out:

It’s one thing to see reality as it is, but then it’s quite another thing to
make an effort to change it. If all women merely shrug off this
article and think “Well, this is just the way it is” things are
obviously not going to change. But if just two or three female
bloggers got together and published an “enough is enough” post on
their blogs about how this is ridiculous and offensive, that would be
quite interesting.
I mean it’s nice to have discussions about women in art (just like
the one you participated in the other day), but it seems they don’t
really translate into much outside of the debating halls. I don’t mean
to argue there should be no such debates, but there also has to be a
debate about stuff like that posted in the NYT.

I wanted to take a few days to think about Joerg’s point, do we as women make it worse by accepting this type of portrayal? The Times article seemed to attempt to defend the behavior of these women. The writer went out of their way to mention how educated these women were, and that they are often harassed by drunk men at openings. But there was definitely a underlying condescension in the tone. “She really is so very busy — e-mailing jpegs of artwork to collectors, writing news releases, updating a gallery’s inventory or simply ordering lunch for the staff.” In reality there is no excuse for their attitudes, but the article presented them as just another decorative object in the galleries. I have had my share of bad experiences with so called Gallerinas. A few years ago I attempted to purchase Peter Hujar’s monograph at his show at Matthew Marks. It was a Saturday and pretty slow, but the girl behind the desk was so dismissive, so clearly annoyed and so downright rude, that I finally had to ask “You do SELL books here, correct?” It was quite traumatizing to hand over money to someone who made me feel like the person who can only afford the book, not a print. From that moment on I have avoided them like the plaque. I see no reason to subject myself to their disdain.

But as an artist who hopes to show work in a gallery in Chelsea, how do I feel about people coming to see my work and being treated like that? It is very dismaying. If my work were shown, I would hope that they would be happy to answer questions and offer information, because they become an extension of you when they sit out there. But let’s be honest, how warm and fuzzy is most of the art world. Do curators, gallery owners or editors treat artists much better, not until you make them a lot of money. And if they are that rude to you, my guess is that they treat the $8 to $10 dollar an hour desk workers pretty badly, male or female. And so we get to the heart of the issue for women. Often, because women are in a position that make them feel devalued, they turn their rage on others. When you are in a position of dependence, you feel powerless to defend yourself. If you need a paycheck or the patronage of your employer how do you tell them to treat you fairly? But, as Joerg pointed out as long as we keep taking it, we will keep getting it. One thing we can do is to band together. If women had the same kind of strong networking skills as men, perhaps we would not always feel so desperate. I have noticed that my boyfriend and his male friends and co-workers often help each other get jobs, pass on information and do gratis design work for each other. I have never known a women to do this. We may offer information, but how often to we pick up the phone for someone and say, “hey, you should check out my friends work.” However, several men have done that for me.

So what’s wrong here? Why do women continue to keep each other down, or allow themselves to be objectified like the Gallerina’s? I think that from a very young age, women learn that their looks are their number one asset. They become so used to focusing on their external as the means to success, that they lose sight of the importance of their other assets. Most of us are unconscious of this, we probably never think of ourselves like that. But I know that I worry more about what I am going to wear to things, then anything else. Because even if I want to fight it, part of me knows that I will be judged first on that. Especially if I am meeting with a women. One of the most disappointing examples of this from my own life, was when a certain female photographer came to guest crit my photo class from one of the top MFA programs. She immediately started ripping my work to shreds, primarily the technique aspects. In my attempt to defend the work, I started to take about the nature of the glossy print, when she interrupted me to say in front of the class, “The glossy prints are not the problem, and besides they match your lip gloss.” That was the single most disheartening moment for me, because in one sentence she pretty much told me I was just a ‘face.’ Meaning that I should use my looks or would succeed because of them. Now as someone who spent most of their life feeling like an object, because of my past, she was trying to take away the first thing I had found that I could do that was not about what I looked like. Being behind the camera is the only place where what I look like does not matter. But in reality, it is very hard to escape these cultural assumptions. To me the worst part of the Times article was hearing Yancy Richardson, say that there was nothing wrong with looking for a pretty face to put out front.

Yancey Richardson, the owner of an eponymous Chelsea art gallery, notes that she employs front desk assistants who can answer questions from the public and clients, and also attack a rigorous list of tasks. “You can’t just hire people who are decorative,” she said, “but you can find someone with all those necessary skills and who is beautiful.”

Ms Richardson is one of the few female gallery owners, and who also prominently showcases female artists. Of all people I would hope that she would know better. What is a young woman who hopes to break into the gallery world supposed to think when she reads that. That no matter how hard she studies or no matter how capable she is, if she’s not attractive she will not have a chance. People wonder why breast implants are now one of the number one high school graduation gifts? Instead of burning our bras, we now fill them with silicone fantasies. Are we not telling young women, that not only do they need Master degrees, top grades, they also need to be sexually and physically attractive if they hope to make it in our society. And the fact that powerful women are re-enforcing these ideas is to me the most appalling.

So yes, Joerg’s call to fight against these ideas is necessary. How to do it, is another matter. We as women have to decide how we can change things. But I think most of us feel so much anxiety about our own talent, looks, bodies, personalities, it is difficult to find the energy to do it. I feel that I can only be different in my own life. I can decide to help my fellow female artist, I can work to be free of the self-hating brought on by our beauty culture, and most importantly I can make art that forces people to confront these issues. I will perhaps leave it to Joerg, to write more on this subject. I think we need more people like him, who are not afraid to get angry, and who are not too jaded to think nothing will ever change.

And I hope that Julie Saul, Yancy Richardson, Marianne Boesky, Bonni Benrubi, Elizabeth Dee, Rivington Arms, Becky Smith, Andrea Meislin, Deborah Bell, Paula Cooper, Margaret Murry, Janice Guy, Roxanna Marcoci, Robin Rice, Jen Bekman, and all the other women who have power and authority in the art world take heed, we need to be on the same team. That does not mean giving special treatment to female artists and employee’s, but being willing to examine your own culpability in this debate. Ask yourself if you are treating women the same sexist attitude of your male counterparts, and if so, why? I am sure it is not easy to be a female gallery owner, I have heard many times, “So in so only has a gallery because her rich daddy gave her the money.” Have you ever heard that said about a male gallery owner?

And as for us female artists and people in general, I will borrow the advice of the Gureilla Girls:

Boston, Mass.: Now that we’ve heard what you have to say, how can we help? What’s the best way to stop our national museums from being so racist and sexist? Write letters? It seems so … banal.

Guerrilla Girl Frida Kahlo: Complain, complain, complain! But do it creatively. Shame and ridicule are powerful weapons in the art world. And don’t forget to have fun in the process. Your laughter disarms the powers-that-be.

And ladies, start buying art? Because once you are a force in the world of collectors, galleries will take note!

Just in case you are not completely spent from the art fairs and accompanying parties, this week has an exciting array of photo related events. I have never tried a RedBull, but looking at this line-up I may indulge. And several blog-related contests end this week, so don’t forget to send your submissions.

Also, I have added a new sidebar, which I will periodically update. I realize I am always finding new work (new to me at least) that I want to post on Ground Glass, but unfortunately I don’t always have the time. So I will now put links to the artist’s sites, so people can look discover them at their leisure. The first batch, are all discoveries from Scope.

Events:

National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
New York, New York
(212) 674-8824

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

Hosted by David Zwirner
533 West 19th Street NYC 10011

Live & Silent Auctions of Original Artwork
6-7pm: Exclusive Champagne Preview
7-9pm: Cocktail Reception & Silent Auction
8pm: Live Auction
Purchase Tickets

Openings:

Sze Tsung Leong
Yossi Milo Gallery (525 West 25th)
525 West 25th Street, 212-414-0370
Thursday, April 3, 6 - 8PM

Gregory Crewdson
Luhring Augustine Gallery
531 West 24th Street, 212-206-9100
Friday, April 4, 6 - 8PM

All applications must be submitted before Midnight EDT on Tuesday April 1, 2008.

What’s The Jackanory

Well, the list is finally out for tomorrow night’s NYC Slideluck show. I just want to say thank you to Alys and Casey, the founders, for including me in this line-up of fantastic artists. My guess is that it is going to be some event, so I highly recommend you RSVP and send your membership money today. What is also exciting about this event is that there has been a lot of discussion about blogging and its ultimate usefulness. Many people have said that no one important reads blogs. But to me that completely defeats the purpose of this kind of community building. Let’s face it, the people at the top are most likely not going to be the people who give you your first chance. I heard a photo editor speak to a group of students, and she basically said to them, send your books to assistants and people near the bottom of the food chain. She went on to say that those people will eventually rise up the food chain and you will go with them. But from her perspective if you send her your book, she is going to say “fuck off” I’ll see you when your famous. While the message was pretty harsh, I think that she had good advice. People who spend their time working with the most seasoned, top of the line artists, probably don’t have the time, patience, or inclination, to give an emerging person the attention they require. But there are plenty of people who are talented and who are successful who do want to see new work. What I love about blogging is that it is a community of people committed to their art and to trying to make a life out of being a photographer. This is not an easy task, so the more help you get the better. For instance, Andrew Hetherington, aka The Jackanory, introduced me to Casey at Erika Larsen’s opening party. And Dawn Roscoe and I have become cyber-buddies through Ground Glass and she very generously attended Slideshow Chicago for me. Now, her work is being featured in tomorrow night’s show.

One of the topics we addressed at the Humble Arts Panel at the 3rd Ward last weekend, is why women do not network with each other more. We considered a lot of things, and I don’t think there is one factor that is the final determiner. But most of us realized that all of our photographer friends were male. Not that there is anything wrong with that;) but at some point it is nice to have someone to talk to who understands the complex challenges that women face in the industry. So thanks to Sarah Small, we are going to all get together again to try and keep the community going. The most meaningful part of being on the panel was having other women email me or come up to me and say that my comments resonated with them, and that something I said was helpful to them. No matter how hard I fight it, I suffer from self-doubt about my work. I look at other people’s work and think, “wow I will never be that good.” Unfortunately, there is definitely a price to be paid for showing your vulnerability in this world. Many people find it to be a turn off or use it against you. My guess is that they probably feel the same if not worse than you do, but are desperate to hide it. But my work is explores self-loathing and self-hatred. Perhaps if you have never suffered from the kind of inner demon that drives you to depression and self-destructive behavior you cannot understand or tolerate it in others. But I feel nothing but compassion for the millions of women who feel some type of body hatred or self-esteem challenge. What I think is the most sad is that people dismiss these disorders as vanity. Or they devalue their significance in the light of other issues. But the pain and self-destruction that comes with the dis-satisfaction with the self, that most American women experience is a serious and devastating problem. And the fact that it is often seen as ’selfish,’ or not that big of deal, goes to show how little women are valued in our culture. Unless they are given a monetary value, like the women from the Emperor’s Club. The struggle to find balance and a sense of value as a women in our current culture is not easy. But worth exploring.

Abby Robinson
Adi Lavy
Alessandra Sanguinetti/ Yossi Milo
Brian Finke
Cara Phillips
Chris Maluszynski
CIA DE FOTO
David Burnett/ Contact Press
Dawn Roscoe
Doug Keyes
Ed Burtynsky
Ernesto Gonzalez
Fiona Aboud
Gui Mohallem
Jacob Silberberg/ Panos
Jamie Ziobro
Jasper White
JB Reed
Jennifer Davis
Jill Greenberg
Julio Galeote
Kara Brodgesell
Katherine Newbegin
Magnum Group
Maya Barkai
Michael Muller/ Stockland Martel
Michael Williams
Nadia Sablin
Nikola Tamindzic
Omar Gamez
Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnum
Reuters
Sarah Small
Saverio Truglia
Serge Leblon/MS Logan
Shane Lavalette
Ursula Gullow
Will Anderson
Yoshi

Sarah Small

Dawn Roscoe

Alessandra Sanguinetti

Shane Lavalette

me

Well Christmas in the art world. This weekend all of the world’s galleries and art folk descend on our fair city. Last year was my first year at the Armory show, it was quite overwhelming and pretty fascinating. I waited outside for over an hour to get in, and just gave up on using the bathroom. Everyone seemed to know each other, there was lots of air kissing and some very interesting outfits and shoes. To be honest, most of the art was god awful, other than a few standouts. The only things I actually remember were a rhinestone Marilyn by Vik Muniz, the Eggelston 5X7’s and an amazing sculpture piece of Araki 6×7 positive films negs suspend in a giant glass holder. Other than that I draw a complete blank. This year I am planning to make the rounds of all the events, as I am shopping for galleries myself. I am very interested in places outside of NYC. I think there are a lot of interesting things happening in the European art scene. Although, I know these fairs happen several times a year all over the world. In New York, this is our moment to see the best and worst of what art from around the globe has to offer. I hope to run into some of you out there over the weekend.

Also, if you are in LA this Saturday, my project is part of Slideluck Potshow LA.

5th & Sunset Studios Doors open at 7pm

12322 Exposition Blvd

la@slideluckpotshow.com

Events this weekend

The Armory Show

Pier 94

Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street
New York City

Opening Hours:
Thursday, March 27 - Saturday, March 29 Noon to 8 pm
Sunday, March 30 Noon to 7 pm
Tickets

——-

SCOPE Pavilion
Lincoln Center
Damrosch Park
Corner of West 62nd Street and Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10023

DATES & HOURS
FirstView Wednesday March 26, 2008 3pm – 9pm
Daily Thursday March 27, 2008 10am – 8pm
Friday March 28, 2008 10am – 8pm
Saturday March 29, 2008 10am – 8pm
Sunday March 30, 2008 10am – 6pm

———–

SlideLuck Potshow NYC

Saturday March 29th

Chelsea Art Museum

556 West 22nd Street

New York, NY 10011 USA

phone: 212.255.0719
fax: 212.255.2368
contact@chelseaartmuseum.org

————

RED DOT

Open to the public March 27 - 30, 2008 at the Park South Hotel,

122 E. 28th Street between Park and Lexington.

FAIR HOURS

Thursday, March 27, 11am - 7pm
Friday, March 28, 11am - 8pm
Saturday, March 29, 11am - 8pm
Sunday, March 30, 11am - 7pm

Happy art going!

I am very excited to be a part of tomorrow night’s program, Women in Art Photography, sponsored by the Humble Arts Foundation. Blogger and art star on the rise, Amy Stein will be moderating and has a great line-up of questions, which are relevant to all artists, not just women. And some very talented photographers will be discussing their work and how they survive in the very competitive and challenging world of art. What is most exciting to me about this event, is that someday soon people like Jon and Amani, the founders of HA, will be running the mainstream art institutions and women will probably not have to fight so hard. Whether you hate or like the work, the current Whitney Biennial, curated by two women under 35, is 40% women. That is a big change. Let’s hope its trend that continues. Hope to see you in Brooklyn!

Humble Arts Foundation and 3rd Ward present:

Women in Art Photography
Saturday, March 22 | 6 – 8 pm
@ 3rd Ward
195 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Moderator: Amy Stein
Panelists: Rachael Dunville, Tema Stauffer, Cara Phillips, Mary Mattingly and Sarah Small

In his 2006 article entitled “Where the Girls Aren’t,” Jerry Saltz writes: “Of all the artists in [MOMA's] P&S collection with work completed before 1970, fewer than 1 percent are women.”

Please join Humble Arts Foundation and 3rd Ward in welcoming Amy Stein to moderate our first panel discussion on Saturday, March 22 at 6 pm. The discussion will encompass what it means to be an emerging photographer in New York City right now and how gender may or may not influence the artist’s work in terms of process, subject matter, impact and career path. The panelists, Rachael Dunville, Tema Stauffer, Cara Phillips, Mary Mattingly and Sarah Small, will field questions, give advice and speak about their personal experiences as women photographers.

Moderator Amy Stein was awarded the Saatchi Gallery/Guardian Prize for her Domesticated series in 2006. In 2007, she was named one of the top fifteen emerging photographers in the world by American Photo magazine and she won the Critical Mass Book Award. A monograph of her series Domesticated will be published in fall 2008.

Reception will follow. Space is limited.

RSVP to: events@hafny.org

For additional information please contact Andrea Miller at press@hafny.org.

Wow, I just realized I have not posted in almost two weeks. Between shooting, post-production, having the stomach flu, a trip to the ER with my boyfriend and now putting the finishing touches on my book project I have been unable to get to blogging. I will have lots of stuff to write about soon, but I am going to have to attend to my photography for a bit longer. I hope everyone will bare with me. A few bits and pieces. If you have a chance check out the Humble Arts 31 under 31 at the 3rd Ward. I am really excited to see women photographers doing so well and the show has a lot of interesting work. Also, I will be speaking there on the 22nd of this month on a panel hosted by HA with some really talented ladies on women in art photography. More to come soon. If you have a chance, my friend Joshua Lutz has a show up at my Alma Mater, SLC, which is definitely worth the trip. He recently moved to Clamp Art and has a book coming out.

I will dig myself out soon and be back to GG.

I just want to give a special thanks to Casey, Alys, and everyone from SlideLuck Potshow Detroit. It means a lot that my project got its public viewing premier in my hometown, and that my parents got to be there. This Saturday is the Chicago Potshow debut, it should be really fun and I encourage anyone in the area to bake some cookies and head over (and I believe there will be plenty of alcohol involved.)

I am so impressed with the new and innovative ways people are finding to show photography. Humble Arts, Hey Hot Shots and SlideShow Potluck all provide great opportunities for artists to show work in a group and online setting. If you are working on a long term project, which takes a while to get to gallery/publication ready, these are wonderful ways to show work and get feedback along the way. What I was alluding to in my “Blog or not to Blog” post was not that Mr. Patterson was wrong to quit blogging, but to point out that even if there are an over-abundance of photo blogs, I think there is enough of value coming from them to make it worth sifting through the less successful attempts. The sad thing about Speak, See Remember going on hiatus, is that Christian had one of the most original voices and best graphic presentations in the blogoshere. But if he is taking a break to shoot more I can understand that entirely. But I continue to think that the community created online is well worth the influx of boring blogs that are really just being used as vehicles for self-promotion or bragging platforms.

And now back to me and my photos;)

SlideLuck Potshow Chicago

FEB 2ND AT MADRON GALLERY

1000 WEST NORTH AVENUE, THIRD FLOOR, CHICAGO,IL

POTLUCK STARTS AT 7PM, SLIDESHOW AT 9PM.

FOR QUESTIONS OR INFORMATION, EMAIL SLPSCHICAGO@GMAIL.COM OR VISIT WWW.SLIDESHOWPOTLUCK.COM

I have been a bit busy at my $$ job this week, so tonight was the first night I had to catch up on the Blogoshpere, only to discover I missed some good openings this week. To be honest, I rarely go, I am not an art world luminary and I can never actually see the pictures. The last opening I went to at Yossi Milo, someone dropped their red wine on one of the pics. But sometimes it is fun to go and run into people you want to catch up with. Also I wanted to put a link to a great New Years post by the Jackanory. Mr. Hetherington seems to have parlayed his blog into to an offer for a ‘real job,’ which has sparked his commitment to his photo career. I am a regular reader of his blog, and enjoy the little tidbits and thoughts he offers, and it is very polished, I am not surprised someone offered him a desk job doing it. The funny thing is, photography is supposed to be a purely visual form. But I find writing to be a big part of my process. Perhaps not art criticism, but writing here on Ground Glass pushes me to think about the medium of photography and art in general in a different way. For me, blogging is really more about community. I loved crit classes, being in a room full of people who were all working on projects. It was great to have people to discuss my work and photography with and it spurred me to work harder. One of the nice things about my day job, is that I spend time all day with really smart people who love (and know) about photography. And reading blogs and see what other photographers are thinking, reading, looking at, or showing is very helpful. So I am glad to here Andrew is not going away, but I totally understand how he feels the pressures of time wearing him down. Someone told me to have a successful blog you had to write every day or other day to boost your readership. I prefer to write when I feel that I have something I want or need to say. I hope those of you who read find that to be enough. Thanks for reading!

Also, those of you in NY, Peer Gallery is now featuring the work of Christopher Rauschenberg, Rephotographing Atget. I am intrested to see it, my first thought is that it is not such a good idea, but I am willing to go for a look. So many people already copy him, or copy those who copied him.

Today’s NY Times has a very interesting article on Richard Prince. Jim Kranz, a Midwestern ad photog, discusses his feelings about having his Marlboro ads lifted by the conceptual artist. While I can definitely sympathize with Mr. Krantz, if I walked into the Guggenheim and saw one of my photographs with someone elses name on , I would also freak, for lack of a better word. But I do understand Prince’s use of ad images. He is really lifting concepts from the American Media cannon, Mr. Krantz’s image is secondary. Also, because it was a commercial assignment, the original photographer has already been compensated for his work. What is more interesting to me, is that Mr. Prince’s work is actually outdated. When he was making his appropriated images, artist/photographer’s were not being hired to commerical assignments, and fashion photographer’s were not being heralded as artists. (See Art Basel & fashion article) So by borrowing from the commerical world at that time, Prince was not only saying something about American media culture, but about the nature of photography and what is means to be an art photographer. I think his work was very important, but now that the lines of art & commerce have blurred, and fine-art photographers are making so much money, perhaps his statement seems moot. I do not think that takes away from the accomplishment of his work, I just think it is hard to see it in the same context now. That is perhaps the danger of conceptual and really all art, the world changes, and if your work is very much of its time, how does it age? Prince is having his star moment in the art world, but it is happening when the statement is his work is less powerful. When he began, his ideas seemed radical, but now it is often difficult to distinguish between - art photographers, and commercial photographers. PL di Corcia has a contract with W Magazine. Taryn Simon, Collier Shorr and Elinor Carucci & Katherine Wolkoff are all repped by Art + Commerce agency. Molly Logan has started Fred & associates to rep fine-art photographers and she is very involved with Blind Spot Magazine. It seems that there are no longer any boundaries. Of course Walker Evans worked for Fortune Magazine, Steichen was a fashion photog and Diane Arbus started out shooting fashion. I think that the main difference is intent. Is your work being made to provoke or reflect culture, or is it begin made to sell something. Of course as the years go by, sometimes the commercial work begins to tell more about the culture then the art photo. This seems to be a time of transition for ‘art photography’ and perhaps that is why Prince is so much in the spotlight. His ideas about the blending of the two forms have come to fruition. I think what does remain most relevant in the Prince’s work is his statement on the commodification of art and exclusivity in ownership. Here is use of apropriation is still on target.

From the current Exhibit at the Guggenheim Spiritual America

Prince’s work has been among the most innovative art produced in the United States during the past 30 years. His deceptively simple act in 1977 of rephotographing advertising images and presenting them as his own ushered in an entirely new, critical approach to art-making—one that questioned notions of originality and the privileged status of the unique aesthetic object. Prince’s technique involves appropriation; he pilfers freely from the vast image bank of popular culture to create works that simultaneously embrace and critique a quintessentially American sensibility: the Marlboro Man, muscle cars, biker chicks, off-color jokes, gag cartoons, and pulp fiction. While previous examinations of his art have emphasized its central role as a catalyst for postmodernist criticism, the Guggenheim exhibition and its accompanying catalogue also focus on the work’s iconography and how it registers prevalent themes in our social landscape, including a fascination with rebellion, an obsession with fame, and a preoccupation with the tawdry and the illicit.

If you go to Mr. Krantz’s website, it is pretty clear that his ad work is very much about the iconography of the alpha American male. My guess it that he has profited quite a bit from his ability to create a certain kind of image. I am actually more afraid of what Mr. Krantz’s work say about our cuture, then what Richard Prince’s work reflects. This is of course not Mr. Krantz’s fault, it is a view into the heart of current American values.

Image of Mr. Krantz’s borrowed by Richard Prince

Source Images

Wow, Ronald is working off his Super Size meals, a good role model for McDonald’s customers.

Have you ever had a photo idea milling around in your head for a while, or done some preliminary shooting but have not quite gotten it right yet, only to step in to a gallery or open a magazine and see your idea realized by somebody else. So goes the world of photography. Sometimes you get beat to the punch. I shot a lot of stuff at salons and spas when I began my project, but it was during my technical training wheels period, while I learned 4×5. I have been planning to re-visit some of the sites to re-shoot. But low and behold, I opened up my NYMag this week and Elinor Carucci had a picture that has been in my mind for 2 years. And it was good! Damn her!

While the pictures are un-mistakenly her style and are designed to capture a very different mood, it brings up an interesting question. How do you deal with originality in photography? Is it enough to shoot with your ‘eye’ and apply it to any subject matter, even if it has been covered by someone else, or do you need fresh subjects? Or do you need to be innovative in your form & content. The current NY Times review of New Photography 2007 at the MoMA brought up this question. The review mentions what is a fantastic show of work from the permanent collection, which you must past through on the way to New Photography. The reviewer was at first confused and thought the Stieglitz & Co was the exhibit, only to be disappointed upon seeing the derivative nature of the newer work.

A consistently strong point of the “New Photography” series, including this edition, has been the international array of artists. But so far it has been weak in showcasing new developments and contextualizing contemporary photography within the collection, which helps explain the jarring transition from Stieglitz & Company to the current crop. You hate to be the spoiler, the insatiable art viewer constantly demanding that rush of something new. But when a show is called “New Photography 2007,” you feel within your rights.

In many ways I very much agree with Martha Schwendener, a lot of photography out there is uninspiring. While the work featured in the retrospective show really captured the pioneering and creative spirit of photography, much of the new work out there seems like a retread, of a retread of someone else’s image. The interesting question is why is photography recycling itself so much right now or focusing on process-driven work. I have a hunch that it the evolution of photography from an emerging art form into an institutionalized art is at fault. When most young photographers are going to the same 2 or 3 schools, get MFA’s and then work as assistants to established artists, is it a surprise that their work suffers from the weight of the photo cannon. I think it is unfair in a way to expect them to transform the medium, but perhaps photography will only start to grow when it is free from the art market and education system that is currently sustaining it. I often feel hindered before shooting, that I must deliver a fully realized project at bat, but maybe it is the willingness to fail that makes art move forward. We are not in a culture that embraces failure, but rather feeds on success.

In the midst of this confusion on original vs. referenced art, Tanyth’s Berkley’s employing the Arbus method of capturing societies outsider’s I think can be seen as an update on who is considered a “freak” in our current culture. While in Arbus’s time, she sought out people who were outside society by choice or by dramatic mental or physical difference, Berkley photographs people who our outside the current standard of beauty. Why I am personally uncomfortable sometimes with how her photographs make people even more ‘freak-like” I think she is trying to show the viewer their own prejudices about physical appearance. Much in the same way Peter Hujar made people confront their feelings about gay culture and lifestyle in the 70’s and early 80’s. And in that context, her referencing of Arbus makes sense.

Tanyth Berkley

Peter Hujar

Diane Arbus

I stopped by Gallery 303 over the holiday weekend along with a few other galleries to catch up on the Chelsea scene. I was not disappointed with Lynne Cohen’s show. Her work is complicated, yet her images are formally quite simple. And it was nice to see small, black and white images on the wall. There were a few large prints, but I was not quite sure why the particular images were blown up. It is an interesting question for an artist, what is the right size for an image. It is something I am currently grappling with. Some images do need to be big, while other are better small. Some work is great at any size. I guess it is more about how you want the viewer to experience the image. Thomas Demand’s show is very much about perception, but in another way. The images are large, in order for the viewer to see the detail of the paper recreations of the subjects. If they were printed smaller, it would be more difficult to see that there is something not quite right. The resulting images are unsettling. They do not quite look like photographs, nor do they look like anything else. The subject of the exhibit is the political obfuscation that was used as justification for the Iraq war. This is really a concept that cannot easily be photographed, so Demand re-created ’scene of the crime.’

Yellowcake consists of a series of 9 photographs about the location where this story, and its ‘smoking gun’ originated. Adding further intrigue to this saga, is the consideration that there has never been any photographic documentation that could illustrate these events and news as they came to light — no one had gained access to Niger’s Embassy in Rome. For Yellowcake, Demand –who has traditionally based his practice on existent imagery – had to access the source site on his own. Demand entered the apartment-cum-embassy and conversed with the embassy staff, and through these visits and interactions built his own memory of the place. Based on these recollections, Demand reconstructed the embassy site in his studio in order to create the images that make up Yellowcake.

The photographs are rather beautiful to look at, and I think it is an important subject. We expect the documentary photograph to portray the ‘truth’ in the same way we expect our President to tell the truth, but by creating these fiction/truths Demand is questioning the both of these cultural assumptions. Perhaps we are so jaded, that we have moved past the idea of actual truth, the only truth can be found where there is no pretense of it. These are very interesting ideas, but Demand creates such a distance between the event and his interpretation of it, that my reaction was 100% intellectual. In the current American political situation, it seems like work that provokes people’s hearts and minds is needed. We are rarely driven to take action from our intellect, which is unfortunate but true. But I do respect him and the intelligence of his work. And I think creating imaginary ‘documents’ is probably a closer representation of the ‘reality’ inside the current administration then any straight photograph could capture.

I will definitely be taking the train out to Princeton for this. I first saw Sheikh’s work at the The Tate Modern’s landmark photo exhibit, Cruel & Tender. His large, formal portraits of Somali woman with the accompanying text of the horrors they had survived, changed my understanding of photojournalism forever (and moved me to tears.) The exhibit at Princeton, is of his new body of work documenting the lives of women in India. The accompanying book is an extraordinary story of a country caught between its traditions and the modern world. What makes Fazal so special to me, is that he is never really present in his photographs, in the sense that the subject of his portraits is the subject of the portrait - they are named, and their story is told. Often in work that documents the suffering of others, despite the good intentions of the photographer, the work becomes about the artist, and the person in the image is objectified. Fazal Sheihk transcends these issues to make us think and feel about other people. I highly recommend you read Ladli, his Stedhl published book of the project available on his website for free. In a world populated with artists desperately concerned with their own importance, he is a rare gem. It is easy to say you care about what happens in the 3rd world, to poor people, to those who are truly suffering in the world, but it is quite a feat to give people there dignity, a voice and to make us look them in the eye and therefore show us that we are all the same.

Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh
September 29, 2007 – January 6, 2008

For almost two decades, artist-activist Fazal Sheikh has worked in communities of the displaced in Africa, South Asia, and the Americas. In 2005 he published his fifth book, Moksha (Heaven), which evokes, through photographs and testimonials, the lives of dispossessed widows in the northern Indian holy city of Vrindavan. Awarded both a MacArthur Fellowship and the International Henri Cartier-Bresson Grand Prize that year, Sheikh (Princeton Class of 1987) traveled to Delhi to create a new project, Ladli (Beloved Daughter), exploring the challenges that confront girls and young women in a fast-changing yet tradition-bound society. The two projects are combined in this eye-opening and thought-provoking exhibition.

This weekend’s events are a great mix of the old guard (PL Di Corcia, Paul Graham, Jack Pierson) and some newer and emerging photographers. Thanks to Andrew Hetherington aka The Jakanory, for becoming blogland’s premier provider of photo events, gossip & info. I must admit to have become completely dependent on his info, I am fascinated on how he finds all this stuff, he is the commercial photo world’s Walter Winchell. I am definitely going to go to this find:

Tomorrow:

Collapsing Images Forum

As a counter-point to the visual conversation provided by the magazine, the Collapsing Images Forum aims to give a voice to the issues surrounding photography, and discuss the role of photography in the media and popular culture. Collapsing Images presents three vital discussions led by leading photographers, filmmakers and critics.

Part I A Conversation between Jack Pierson & Jerry Schatzberg (2:00 pm)
Part II Money, Money, Money, Money (4:30 pm)
Part III Truth and Authenticity in Photography (7:30 pm)

This event is co-sponsored by Blind Spot in association with Fred & Associates.

Blind Spot is the international source book of photography-based fine art for artists, collectors, creative directors, designers, curators and art lovers. Blind Spot publishes new works by the renowned artists and discovers vital new work by up-and-coming artists. Fourteen years old, Blind Spot has gained an international reputation for being a visual magazine that does not talk about imagery—the content is imagery.

Tickets Type in “spot” to save 5 bucks!

And my pick of the week is:

Tonight

A Field Guide to the North American Family Book Launch. The exhibition will open at Gallery Bar (120 Orchard Street) on Thursday, December 6, but for now, we would like to invite you to attend the book’s launch party tonight at Housing Works Used Book Cafe.

Details

A Field Guide to the North American Family Book Launch
Tonight, Friday, November 2
Housing Works Used Book Café
126 Crosby Street (between Houston/Prince and Lafayette/Broadway)
7 – 9 pm

Reading and photo slide show begins at 7 pm

Free beer, wine and baked goods

We hope to see you there. Now, go buy the book:

http://markbattypublisher.com/servlet/book_view?number=52

The Field Guide opening is being curated by my Friends, The Humble Arts Foundation, which is a pioneering online photography gallery. In the flickr debates, they have emerged as a serious & thoughtful contribution to the fine art photo community. I think we will see a lot more from them in the future. The book features many of the photo blogging worlds most well known names. Some photogs worth a look from the book.

Shane Lavaette

Ben Huff

Gus Powell

Brian Ulrich - His show at Julie Saul last year was also a must see.

Sara Macel

Elizabeth Fleming

Blogs based art shows??  I just read on ArtCal about the third of these new and rather interesting developments in the cyberspace meets real world collaborations.  I heart photograph & Conscientious have both evolved from online curating to the real world shows, and it seems that now that blogging by artist’s is an art:

Excerpt from Bill Gusky’s article (Artblog Comments)

A number of artists have entered the blog arena, writing about art and the art world as they participate in it through their visual work. There have always been artists who write about art, and at times their writing has been highly influential; Donald Judd is one name that leaps to mind. As a new art narrative emerges, writers of all stripes – critics, historians, curators and even art bloggers — will play a large part in shaping, interpreting and defining it.

This exhibition focuses on the work of artists who are active art blog writers. The work you see here emerged in the studio in near-simultaneity with the artist’s written expressions. These twin efforts – art making and blog writing — sometimes appear to flow together and intertwine beautifully, and at other times almost seem to be in diametric opposition.

Personally I find blogging a great way, post art school, to keep myself researching and looking at other artists work.  But more than anything, I think blogging creates community and the flow of information.  It is not easy to keep up with everything happening out there, and I am starting to rely on some of my online cohorts to disseminate the art & photo worlds for me.  But blogging as an art, that I have to think about. 

The Blogger Show

Agni Gallery
East Village / Lower East Side

170 East 2nd street, 917-683-0643
November 3, 2007 - January 12, 2008
Opening: Saturday, November 3, 6 - 8PM

I just came across an interview on a blog with Lisa Kereszi. I worked at her lab for a while and I was always impressed not only with her extraordinary images, but with her hardworking attitude free style. I respect her as a person as much as her work, something I cannot say, unfortunately, for all of the successful artists I have meet.

For the interview with Kereszi go to: Cool Hunting

I also came across a body of portraits by a photographer named Jackie Nickerson, Steidl is about to release a book of her work documenting the life of nuns and inside the Catholic Church. I went to Catholic School for 2 years and Nickerson captures the strange and magical attraction of Catholic ritual. Her portraits are quiet, studied and beautiful. A very impressive body of work. I am excited to check out her show, which opened this week in New York at Jack Shaiman Gallery.

Nickerson’s bio for her first project, Farm, describes her as having a successful magazine career before heading to Africa for 2 & 1/2 years to document the life of African farm workers. It is nice to see people taking chances, and to see their sacrifices and commitment pay off. Not everyone gets out of an MFA program and gets a solo gallery show, I think there is something to be said for the kind of work that is produced by people with real world life experience.

Show Info:

Opening Reception: 18 October 2007, 6-8pm
11 October-10 November 2007
513 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011 map
tel. +1 212 645 1701

From Steidl:

Jackie Nickerson’s Faith is a compelling portrayal of a hidden world, the Catholic religious orders of Ireland. Her combination of gentle portraits and simple documentation of daily rituals and communal devotion suggest an austere existence grounded in optimism, strength and contentment.

The simplicity of Nickerson’s images invokes the muted and restrained palette of Fra Angelico, bringing an often beatific air to her tranquil subjects. Whilst never suggesting that she is able to divine or represent the veiled mysteries of faith, Nickerson does manage to honestly present a vocational life riven by clarity of purpose and personal courage.