Month: April 2022

Caslon Bevington’s Counterfeit Weather

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*unless otherwise credited)

Caslon Bevington, Sunstorm II, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 16 by 20 inches.

“I can hear the nation cry
You will set the world babe
You will set the world on fire
You will set it on fire”*

The late David Bowie was, along with everything else he was, a passionate Art collector. As far as I know, he never got to see the work of Caslon Bevington, so I am willfully borrowing his words in speaking about her Art, and her stunning new show, Duping False Landscapes, at both of Ki Smith Gallery’s new East Village locations. In it, she has set the world on fire. More about that in a bit. 

Flashback: Installation view of Caslon’s 2017 show at Mana Contemporary. *Photo by Roman Dean.

I, however, am not a stranger to Caslon’s work. On September 20th, 2017, I actually left Manhattan(!) to see her show at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. I wrote about what I saw here. Her show has stayed with me. In these intervening five years, my appreciation of it has continued to grow. At that point in early Fall, 2017, eternally & forever a “Painting guy,” I was 2 months away from being completely consumed by Modern & Contemporary Photography (i.e. from the 1958-59 publication of Robert Frank’s The Americans, to the present) for the next 5+ years to the present moment. When I saw what Caslon was doing with her Photo-based pieces, I was coming at it from Painting and Print making. Now, I also see it through the lens of the past 5 years, the x-thousand PhotoBooks and hundreds of Photo shows that have passed in front of my eyes, and what those Photographers have been doing these past 60+ years. Of course, there is some overlap: many Painters are, also, Photographers, and vice versa. As I wrote, she was on the edge of what Artists were doing with Photography. Five years later, I can’t say I’ve seen anyone else doing quite what she was doing then. Caslon was making what strikes me as ground-breaking work. It turns out I missed her 2019 show, her first for Ki Smith Gallery, and my vague impressions of it comes from a few installation shots. 

Duping False Landscapes, Ki Smith Gallery, East 4th Street, Installation view.

Fast forward to April Fool’s Day, 2022. I had a deja vu experience all over again when I walked in to see Duping False Landscapes at Ki Smith Gallery, stopping in to their East 4th Street location first. The wall facing the front door was lined with 8 striking image or Photo-based prints, seen to the right above. Robert Rauschenberg, Wade Guyton, Jeff Elrod, Nico Crijno, Chris Dorland, and others crossed my mind, but I immediately stopped myself when I realized these were an evolution from what I saw in her own work in 2017. I stopped caring how the images were manipulated or printed and just enjoyed looking at them. These were new, fresh, exciting pieces, and most of all, they are just beautiful- a word seldomly, if ever, applied to such work. Some are vibrantly colored & printed. Some look like snap shots in a family album that has been thumbed through so often the prints have faded from light and time. But, it all just works and holds together as a group (though they are separate works). For me, at least, these new prints provided a bit of  continuity with what I had seen before, and they set the stage for the rest of the show.

Sunset from Moving Cars (Revisited), n.d., Acrylic on canvas, 70 by 53 inches.

On the left wall of the gallery was the show stopper of both shows. “Sunset from Moving Cars (Revisited),” 70 by 53 inches, Acrylic on canvas, with about another 6 inches of Painted canvas exposed on the sides(!). It turned out to be a bit of a harbinger of what I would see in Part 2 of the show on East 3rd Street. The Artist seems to be drawn to fleeting images taken on the fly, like from a moving car, here. It was also the first “weather-related” piece in the show. Ki Smith mentioned to me that Caslon was a Painter when he met her circa 2015. Then, she moved away from Painting to explore other mediums. I didn’t realize her history and experience with Painting from seeing her 2017 show and images from her 2019 show. Between the two new shows I counted 15 Paintings ranging in size from 4 by 6 inches, to 70 by 53 inches that mark her return to Painting in a big way. There are about a dozen prints and 2 works on Terracotta also on view.

Counterfeit Weather, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 29.5 inches square, left, and Untitled, 2022, Inkjet on archival vellum, 8.5 by 11 inches, right.

Moving over to the East 3rd Street space, there were more Prints on view, with the same effect. However, at the far end of south wall was something else. On the corner wall was a large Painting, Counterfeit Weather, 2022, that was seemingly influenced by the print, Untitled, 2022, Inkjet on archival vellum, hanging just to its right. Paintings have been translated into Prints going back to the invention of printing in an effort to get them more widely seen. It’s rarer to see a Print translated into a Painting. In fact, I can’t recall seeing anyone do something like this. It’s utterly fascinating to contemplate one and then the other. Here was the largest Painting in the show that is a translation into a Painting of a work in another medium. In all of them, the Artist depicts source images that are distorted, (intentionally or not), or so small as to make detail almost impossible to make out, allowing for “Artistic license” in their translation.

Three Untitled pieces, each from 2022, each Acrylic on canvas, seen in the windows of Ki Smith Gallery’s East 3rd Street location.

Three prime examples of this are featured hanging in the East 3rd Street Gallery’s windows. In them, the Artist has taken Photos that most of us would throw out or erase. Pictures where either the camera’s technology had its own mind, or the Photographer moved while the shutter was open, blurring the resulting Photo beyond recognition of its subject. The Artist has decided to render these images, as they are, in paint! Thinking back through the history of Painting, Kerry James Marshall’s 7am Sunday Morning, 2003, came to mind. In it, Mr. Marshall has devoted almost half the 120 by 216 inch canvas to depicting the lens flare from his camera pointed at the morning sun. I can’t really think of another instance where an Artist has done this, and certainly not one where the Artist has made it the subject of an entire piece, in this case at least 3 pieces.

Sunstorm II, 2022, Acrylic on panel, Frictions (Variation B), 2022, Acrylic on Panel and Frictions (Variation A), 2022, Acrylic on panel, left to right, seen during a tea party held at the gallery on April 9th.

Back inside, on the far walls, the Artist proceeds to set the world on fire. A series of four Sunstorm Paintings, each dated 2022, and two that appear to be somewhat related, titled Frictions, literally burn up their panels and canvasses. Apparently, they are based on an old, small Photo, which doesn’t lend itself to enlargement, and hence allows the imagination to complete their details.

Sunstorm (Expanded), 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 39 x 49 inches, the largest of the series.

Frankly, I don’t want to know much more about them lest the mystery evaporate. Anchored by the ground, we see the outline of what might be a part of a fence in a few along the bottom, but almost all of the rest of each work consists of a huge ball of flame, ostensibly, given the titles, from a sun looming all too large in the sky.

Sunstorm, 2022, Acrylic on canvas. 11 by 14.5 inches.

This series adds an ominous atmosphere for the first time (that I’ve seen) in her work. Exactly what is going on in these works is a mystery. In the two Sunstorms above the storms appear to be tornadic. What really stands out for me are the multiple layers each Painting features. Multiple Paintings, or part-Paintings, superimposed on the one picture plane. This is a continuation and expansion of the idea the work in her 2019 show presented, and at least one earlier Painting, and again (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) is something I can’t recall seeing in Paintings before. It’s also remarkable that these and so many other pieces on view date from 2022, a year that was exactly 3 months old when they were hung here.

Frictions (Variations A), 2022, Acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 inches.

Having created further innovations that blur the lines between, and show new possibilities of, the image and the Photograph, Painting, and the relationship between Photography & Painting, I’m left to wonder where Caslon is going to take her work next. It’s still very early in the Artist’s career as she embarks on her 3rd decade of life. Yet, she’s already broken quite a bit of new ground in her work- something very few Artists, of any age, can say.

In 2017, I left her show believing that she was on to something. In 2022, it’s apparent to me that Caslon is now on her way to establishing herself as one of the more interesting Artists working today.

*-Soundtrack for this Post is “(You Will) Set the World on Fire,” by David Bowie, from his 2015 album The Next Day.

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Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

Highlights of the 2022 Whitney Biennial: Matt Connors

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

There I was, wandering the 5th Floor of the Whitney Museum on my first visit to the 2022 Biennial edition, filled with my usual trepidation, when about 10 minutes in I discovered Matt Connors. I was immediately captivated.

Ahhh…That rarest of rare things: Great Painting on view in the Whitney Biennial. Six works by the amazing Matt Connors line one of two walls given to him on the 5th floor of the Whitney Biennial. After Scriabin (Red), 2020, Untitled, 2021, Body Forth, 2021, I / Fell / Off (After M.S.), 2021, Number Covered, 2021, Fourth Body Study, 2021, left to right.

He was generously given parts of 2 walls and I came away feeling that every one of his works displayed was strong. A feeling I only had one other time on the floor- that for the Paintings on view by Jane Dickson. Ms. Dickson has been working somewhat under the radar of many documenting a time and place in Paintings & Photographs, that no one else has- the Times Square area, before its Disneyfication (which makes it as loathed by locals today as the area was before. No small feat!). When I left, I stopped into the bookstore, as I usually do on my way out, and discovered this huge Matt Connors monograph with the cryptic title, GUI(L)D E. (Hmmmm…If the means the “L” is silent, it becomes GUID E.?) I looked through it to see if my intrigue would grow into more, and I couldn’t put it down. But I had to when they closed.

Body Forth, 2021, Oil and acrylic on canvas

That night, I did some research and discovered that Mr. Connors is not new by any means, but he’s not even in mid-career yet. In fact, his most recent show just closed days before the Biennial opened. Drat! I would have loved to have seen it.
Not only is he not new, he is, apparently, exceptionally prolific. GUI(L)D E is, apparently, part 2 of a retrospective of his work to date, following 2012’s A Bell Is Not A Cup, reprinted in 2016. GUI(L)D E covers his work since in almost 500 pages! His auction prices put him in the “established” category. 30 to 50 grand, or more, for his Paintings were the prices I saw. Even considering what I’m about to say next, my feeling is those prices are likely to hold for the time being. Being so prolific might work against him in this regard. Fewer, of anything, equals more expensive.

Though his work to date is abstract, these two works only hint at Matt Connors’s range. First Fixed, 2021, and How I Made Certain of My Paintings, 2021, left to right. I stood in front of How I Made for quite a while, getting increasingly drawn in to the composition’s unique geometry…

I have seen enough to call Matt Connors one of the “stars” of this Biennial. 

Let’s get lost. About to dig into my copy of Matt Connors GUI(L)D E, published by Karma in 2019, for the first time…

Not being able to get it, or his work off my mind, I went back to the Whitney just to buy GUI(L)D E the following night. After its 464 pages, plus the dozen works I saw the day before, my intrigue solidified into love, as in: “I love his work!” What? So fast? Why? First, I am extremely impressed with his color sense. In my view, Matt Connors is a true master of color. His choices are just gorgeous, rich, ripe, and work together brilliantly (not meant as a pun, but I’ll take it). Proof of this can be found in the Special Edition of GUI(L)D E, which comes with a Limited Edition print that seems to be based on his 2019 Painting Bird Through a Tunnel, or After Scriabin (Red), 2020 (seen in the first image in this piece) in any one of TWENTY-FOUR color ways! I’ve spent hours arguing with myself over which one I like best! Then, his compositions are unique and run the gamut from, apparently, completely free, perhaps improvised, to based on more representational scenarios. Then, there’s the way he manages, and reimagines, shapes. Fond of basic shapes, and multiples of them, “perfect” geometry is not always what he aims for, and that helps to leave his pieces fresh, in my view. His work continually surprises. At times I think he’s another Mondrian, on the next page another Matisse. All the while, he is as prolific as Jasper Johns, and as creative with paint as Paul Klee, as his work shape shifts from one to the next. Though some, many, all, or none, may be influences, he resolutely follows his own sense. In the end, that’s what I admire most, along with there being real variety in his strokes and mark making that is stunning.

Good luck(!) to those “isms” lovers trying to “box” Matt Connors! His work proves the folly in that. Why bother? Just sit back and enjoy looking for a change.

I / Fell / Off (after M.S.), 2021

Though he works in what most would call “abstraction,” his work strikes me as being accessible to virtually anyone. Accessible, perhaps. Understandable is another matter. His work is (almost) fiendishly inventive, leaving the viewer to ponder “what it all means,” while his color sense, which can be breathtaking, is going to seduce many an eye and surprise even those who think they’ve seen every palette an Artist ever invented.

One Wants to Insist Very Strongly, 2020

It’s nice to see Matt Connors, and Jane Dickson (along with what may still lie ahead on the 4th floor, yet unseen), like Jennifer Packer in the 2019 Biennial, holding the Painting flag high in these two Biennials, which have far too much video and installation work for my taste (not meant to disrespect these mediums or the Artists who work in them- I’m forever a Painting guy, who also has a passion for Modern & Contemporary Photography), and way too little Painting and Photography. Painting (especially Painting by Americans) has made a grand resurgence this century, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the past few Biennials. You’d have to go up to the 8th floor to see the landmark Jennifer Packer: The Eye Isn’t Satisfied With Seeing (until April 17th) for living proof of that. And, hey wait- Isn’t Photography now the most popular medium in the world? WHY are there so few Photographers represented, again, at a time when virtually EVERYone is a Photographer? A good number of those I see are doing excellent, even ground-breaking, work.

First Fixed, 2021

A terrific, and large, Biennial could be mounted just from these overlooked American Painters and Photographers. Someone should do one! Message me if you want my suggestions.

As with Jennifer Packer, I’m sorry I missed the boat on Matt Connors’s work when I may have been able to afford it. Those days are likely gone forever. So, I will continue to explore & enjoy his work on the printed page, and just be happy I got a copy of GUI(L)D E before it went out of print and sells for $500.00 per, like the 2012 edition of A Bell Is Not A Cup does.

*-Soundtrack for this post is “Sister I’m a Poet,” by Morrissey from Beethoven Was Deaf and My Early Burglary Years.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded and ad-free for over 6 years, during which over 250 full length pieces have been published. If you’ve found it worthwhile, you can donate to keep it going & ad-free below. Thank you!

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
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Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them.
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The Brutal / Smells Like Teen Spirit Mashup

Written, and with a Photograph, by Kenn Sava

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in full effect. I was with a date on the (uncharacteristically) not-packed-for-a-moment dance floor of the legendary NYC club, Area, in 1991 when its opening guitar chords were suddenly overwhelmed by Dave Grohl’s drums bringing the band in hit us like howitzer shells exploding from the speakers over our heads. I’d heard it before, but under this mega-system, it literally lifted me out of my skin.

Screencap of the opening scene of the “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Music video, 1991, Directed by Samuel Bayer, includes cheerleader with pom poms in a school gym.

“Hello, hello, hello, how low”*

Though Nirvana had been making great Music on record since their debut Lp, Bleach, in 1989, that was the opening “Hello” of the biggest movement in Rock since Punk. It exploded countless millions of times everywhere on planet earth that year, and Rock was never the same after…

The Music video, also appearing in heavy rotation, was a work of Art every bit on the level with the song, and just as revolutionary, paving the way for “Grunge,” Music & fashion. Recently, Nirvana dummer, now Foo Fighters leader, Dave Grohl, credited the video with having a bigger impact than the record1. The video adds a bit of another dimension to the lyrics and helps center them.

Besides love & sex, Rock has been about nothing if not teen angst, anxiety, feelings of inadequacy, and depression, alongside a yearning to rebel or break free, these past 70 years. “Teen Spirit” felt like the ultimate Musical expression of teen angst.

“I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us”*

In 1994, Kurt told Rolling Stone that he was “trying to write the ultimate pop song,” saying he was strongly influenced by the Pixies in writing “Teen Spirit2.”  On more than one level, he succeeded, in my opinion. On other levels, like everything else involving Kurt Cobain, it’s pretty complicated. “Pop” Music is supposed to be light and disposable, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” who’s title may a possible reference to a popular woman’s deodorant of the time that a one time Kurt girlfriend may have worn3, is anything but. For some, it was a call for a revolution- a rejection of what had become staid, overly processed and boring- in Music and beyond, and one that certainly happened in Rock Music and fashion over the rest of the decade in its wake.

I only got this ticket thanks to a friend who worked at Geffen, the band’s label. Enduring thanks, that is!

When I saw Nirvana in what turned out to be their final NYC show at Roseland on July 23, 1993, they didn’t play it, by far their biggest hit, during their set, unheard of for just about any other band. I found out later that Kurt was growing tired of playing it, and the expectation that they would play it. They played it as the encore, to the relief of everyone in the sold out house. I grew up playing in garage bands, and Nirvana was certainly the ultimate garage band. Seeing them was not just about their raw power. The nuance of their performance and the power of their lyrics took them to an entirely other level, one that very few bands have ever matched. Of the thousands of shows I’ve seen in my life, I count myself extremely lucky to have seen them that night.

Fast forward 30 years from 1991…to 2021. I couldn’t help having much of the same reaction watching another remarkable Music video- that for Olivia Rodrigo’s “Brutal,” directed by the ground-breaking Photographer Petra Collins, even though I’m far from my teenage years, and not female. Though so much has changed in those intervening 30 years since “Teen Spirit”, the things young people go through and how they feel about them, hasn’t changed at all. If anything, it’s only gotten more complicated. 

As I thought about it, I couldn’t escape thinking about the parallels between both songs, and their videos, on a number of levels.

First, some basic stats-
Kurt Cobain, B. 2/20/1967 (D. 4/5/1994- 8 months after I saw Nirvana at Roseland). “Teen Spirit” released in 1991, when Kurt was about 24.
Olivia Rodrigo, B. 2/20/2003. “Brutal” released in May, 2021, when Olivia was 17 or 18.

Breaking out! Screencap from the 8 1/2-ish final scene of “Brutal.” I can’t help wondering if the ballet dancers are autobiographical on the part of Director Petra Collins, who started out to be a ballet dancer.

“They say these are the golden years
But I wish I could disappear
Ego crush is so severe
God, it’s brutal out here.”^

“Brutal” begins with a video game player selection screen over a repeated power synth line that could have been straight out of a 1990s video game, that in some ways is a 2021 equivalent of Kurt’s immortal opening power guitar riff on “Teen Spirit,” and serves much the same purpose. The scenes quickly change from showing her insecurities in ballet class and collapsing to the floor grabbing her ankle4, to a pseudo news broadcast, before taking us to a school classroom and corridor. Both songs feature the soft/loud dynamic, that Kurt Cobain said he took from The Pixies, to aural, lyric and visual dramatic effect. The whole things ends up on a freeway parking lot and a pretty cool “homage” to the beginning of Fellini’s 8 1/2 that ends the “Brutal” video! We see Olivia “breaking out” by getting out of her car and walking over the cars in front of her, a bit like 8 1/2′s hero who flies above the parked traffic in front of him in that classic opening scene that announces a masterpiece to follow. Nirvana’s video famously takes place in a gym auditorium, and features cheerleaders in pleated skirts with pom poms. In “Brutal,” Olvia wears a pleated plaid pleated skirt for much of it. Then, in the video for “Good 4 u,” which is also Directed by Petra Collins, she wears a full cheerleader’s outfit and much of it takes place in a school gym!

Screencap of “Good 4 u,’ also Directed by Petra Collins in 2021. A cheerleader’s outfit in a school gym and pom poms…Hmmm….

Kirt Cobain, Nirvana, and Frederico Fellini? Pretty heady company for any 17 or 18 year old.

Then, I took a closer at the lyrics to both songs. I decided to mash them up. The results are below.

“Brutal,” by Olivia Rodrigo & “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Kurt Cobain/Nirvana
A Mashup By Kenn Sava

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” on this margin-

“Brutal” on this margin-

[Chorus]
With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

[Verse 1]
I’m so insecure, I think
That I’ll die before I drink

[Verse 2]
I’m worse at what I do best
And for this gift, I feel blessed

And I’m so caught up in the news
Of who likes me and who hates you
And I’m so tired that I might
Quit my job, start a new life
And they’d all be so disappointed
‘Cause who am I if not exploited?

And I’m so sick of seventeen
Where’s my fucking teenage dream?

If someone tells me one more time
“Enjoy your youth,” I’m gonna cry

[Pre-Chorus]
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello

[Chorus]
With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

And I don’t stick up for myself
I’m anxious, and nothing can help
And I wish I’d done this before
And I wish people liked me more

[Chorus]

I’m worse at what I do best
And for this gift, I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

All I did was try my best
This the kinda thanks I get?
Unrelentlessly upset (Ah-ah-ah)
They say these are the golden years
But I wish I could disappear
Ego crush is so severe
God, it’s brutal out here

[Outro]
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial

And lately, I’m a nervous wreck
‘Cause I love people I don’t like
And I hate every song I write
And I’m not cool, and I’m not smart
And I can’t even parallel park

“Got a broken ego, broken heart
And God, I don’t even know where to start”^

*- Soundtracks for this Post are *”Smells Like Teen Spirit,” by Kurt Cobain from Nevermind by Nirvana and ^”Brutal,” by Olivia Rodrigo from the album Sour.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded and ad-free for over 6 years, during which over 250 full length pieces have been published. If you’ve found it worthwhile, you can donate to keep it going & ad-free below. Thank you!

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here.
Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them.
For “short takes” and additional pictures, follow @nighthawk_nyc on Instagram.

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  1. Here. ↩
  2. Here. ↩
  3. https://genius.com/Nirvana-smells-like-teen-spirit-lyrics ↩
  4. Interestingly, Director Petra Collins started out to be a ballet dancer before an injury led her to go into Photography. ↩

Nick Sethi’s PhotoBook Release In Canal Street

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (unless otherwise credited)

Canal Street often feels like what New Delhi must be like. Bustling shops on one side, with as many street vendors out front hawking everything under the Sun you can imagine, sandwiching an endless stream of pedestrians as bumper to bumper traffic inches along, or doesn’t, on Canal Street itself. Yet on this April 2nd Saturday afternoon things were surprisingly chill as I headed over from The Bowery, walking East through Chinatown. It seemed downright sleepy at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There was actually room on the sidewalks and a paucity of traffic on Canal as I made my way to dimes square for the release of renowned Photographer Nick Sethi’s new PhotoBook, CIRCLE OF CONFUSION.

That’s right. We’re standing right in the middle of one of the busiest streets in NYC- which is open in both directions (gulp)- for a PhotoBook release! April 2, 2022.

There, on the north side of the street, RIGHT IN CANAL STREET ITSELF was a flatbed cart, the kind they feature at mini storage places, holding a bunch of brown cardboard boxes. A small group huddled around the cart. In the center was a man with a white Max Fish sweatshirt, brown work pants and yellow kicks, a virtual blur of activity. Bending to fetch books from boxes, thumbing through one until inspiration struck, then summoning a fairly spent Sharpie to draw a circle, symbolic of the title, and then append his signature. Personable and amiable to all who approached, Nick Sethi was a man on a mission to get his new book into the hands of fans and interested parties, directly, al fresco. Like they probably do in Delhi. And so it was at the “book release” for CIRCLE OF CONFUSION. 

“Hey! Mind that UPS truck. They stop for no one!”

The amiable Nick Sethi chatted with everyone who approached.

I’d never met Mr. Sethi, who has single-handedly put India on the map of recent Contemporary Photography here in the West in a big way (in addition to doing numerous fashion and editorial shoots). His debut magnum opus, Khichdi (Kitchari), published by Dashwood in 2018, saw 1,000 copies vaporize, quite a feat for a 1st PhotoBook on India. A sensation the moment it dropped, it’s now both rare and legendary. Though I’ve never been to India, the energy, vibrancy and color he found comes through on every page. As we chatted, the topic inevitably turned to it. I asked him about a possible reprint or new edition.

Nick Sethi’s epic, Khichdi (Kitchari), 2018.

He spoke about the unique collaboration that went into making the book with his Indian printers and how that would be extremely hard to replicate. Translation- Hold on to, and take good care of, your copy! Intriguingly, he mentioned having “behind the scenes” materials that he would like to append, IF, such a thing ever did come to pass.

from Khichdi (Kitchari)

Then, the conversation turned to his new book, the self-published CIRCLE OF CONFUSION . He said-

“CIRCLE OF CONFUSION was photographed chronologically in two short bursts in and around Sadar Bazaar, New Delhi’s largest and most hectic wholesale market. In an impressive display of organized chaos, porters transport goods through the labyrinth of alleyways, intersections, and roundabouts with handmade carts that they adorn to distinguish ownership.

In photographic terms, the CIRCLE OF CONFUSION refers to an optical spot used to determine the depth of field, the part of an image that is acceptably sharp. When photographing in Sadar Bazaar, it’s impossible to stop, observe, and compose a photo without disrupting flow of traffic. So as I feel situations unfolding, I just point and click, allowing technology, chance, and intuition to choose the crop and focus, and in turn expose the final image.”

Nick Sethi, Circle of Confusion, 2022, self-published. The only text anywhere inside or out is the Photographer’s name and the book title on the cover. No colophon. Nothing else.

Born and raised in the USA, his parents hailed from New Delhi, so he has a special connection with the city. He spoke of the chaos of Sadar Bazaar and how Photographing was a unique challenge requiring creative techniques to capture the sudden coalescing of people, things and colors. He demonstrated what he meant using the bright red Covid testing stand next to us with a neon green cord running somewhere behind us and different colored shirts people were wearing nearby, and how it all changed in the blink of an eye.

“Hey, buddy. Wanna buy a PhotoBook?” Naw…he didn’t have to say a word. They sold themselves.

I asked him about his influences, and the first name he mentioned was the great Ukrainian Photographer Boris Mikhailov.

Boris Mikhailov, Untitled (From the Red Series, 1968-75). *Boris Mikhailov Photo.

He also told me that in New Delhi they don’t mind you taking Photos, just DON’T stop moving! Holding things up is a no-no! That’s the way it usually feels on Canal Street. But, today, Nick was able to perform a Push-cart ballet without fear. 

Note to self- Having a big piece of steel in your hands is a one way to make it across a busy street safely.

Interrupted only by hugs to greet old friends arriving, all the time we chatted, Mr. Sethi was a whirling dervish as books continued to fly out of boxes, then under his Sharpie, and off to new homes. Each one memorialized in a Photo by the Photographer of the new owner and their book. And best of all: no one was hit, hurt or injured…at least while I was there.

I didn’t have a chance to ask him the backstory of how his cart got that paint job.

*-Soundtrack for this Post is “India” by The Psychedelic Furs, the first track on their debut, self-titled Lp, released in 1980.

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Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
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