Gregory Halpern

Gregory Halpern In NYC

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Shows seen- Impressions @ Fotografiska, July 20, 2023 and
Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks and Vasantha Yogananthan @ ICP, through January 8, 2024

Gregory Halpern, right, giving a brief overview of his career to date as an introduction to his work including this well-known image from his PhotoBook,  ZZYZX, with Magnum Photos President, Photographer, and fellow exhibitor, Cristina de Middel, center, and narrator Jessica Nabongo at Impressions @ Fotografiska, July 20, 2023. Click any image for full size.

Two shows featuring the work of Gregory Halpern provided all-too-rare opportunities to see his work here in what were the NYC debuts of both his newest work, and his most recently published work. While familiar to most from his remarkable series of PhotoBooks this past decade as a “book Artist,” the shows provided the chance to see him as a “wall Artist.” Though neither was a Gregory Halpern solo show, they proved revelatory1.

 Immersions installation view

On September 26th, Immersion opened at ICP, where I was last for William Klein: YES. Immersion is the name of a commission program involving an amalgamation of French and American organizations awarding selected Photographers, called laureates, a sponsorship to create a body of work either in France or the US. Gregory Halpern was a laureate in 2018. Raymond Meeks and Vasantha Yogananthan are the other two laureates included in the show. For his part, Mr. Halpern decided to go to Guadeloupe, a former French colony, a daring and somewhat ground-breaking choice (Raymond Meeks chose two regions in France, and Vasantha Yogananthan chose New Orleans).

So, why Guadeloupe?

 Immersions installation view.

“I think I knew I would find a certain form of Surrealism there,” Mr. Halpern explained in an interview with Curator Clément Chéroux2.

The stage set, after research and a number of trips to Guadeloupe to take the Photographs, he undertook the rigorous selecting and arranging process he outlined during a talk when I saw him last at The Strand Bookstore in September, 2019. Aperture published the resulting body of work, indeed perhaps his most surreal, in Let the Sun Beheaded Be (a NighthawkNYC Noteworthy PhotoBook of 2020). In Immersion NYC finally gets to see the work as Photographs.

The show was concise, typically open-ended, and bookended by the Artist’s first foray into Video(!) and a stunning, leaning, Sculpture3. It opens with one of the most compelling images in the book.

Untitled, as all the images are in the book, is described by Mr. Chéroux- “Shot in a former slave prison in the town of Petit-Canal, northwest of Grande-Terre, it shows the tentacular development, right inside the building, of a tree commonly known as a strangler fig because the strength of its wide roots destroys everything on which it grows4.”

Christ Columb, 2023, Marble, cement, stainless steel, wood and cinderblock. An “exact replica of a bust of Christopher Columbus that currently stands in Guadeloupe,” per the wall card. “Exact” in that it even mirrors the vandalism to the real bust’s face.

It serves to define his terms. In these Photos, Mr. Halpen consciously avoided tourist trappings, saying in the book’s conversation with Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa that after seeing how the tourists acted and treated the locals, he realized his burden as another white outsider with a camera would be even heavier, especially because he wasn’t fluent in either French or creole. He chose instead to focus on the stormy history, the place, the human, the animal, and the vernacular, in what are the five unofficial “chapters” of the book.

History/the place, the human…”The tattoo is a replica of the 1848 decree abolishing chattel slavery in Guadeloupe (the second, final abolition, after Napoleon reneged on his 1815 abolition,” from the wall card regarding the work on the right.

Surrealism runs throughout all of them, yet in Let the Sun it’s, perhaps, an overriding mood as much as it is actually on view. Possibly, this is due to the inherent surrealism Mr. Halpern said he was expecting to find, or perhaps it was also due to his reading material during his visits. The title “Let the Sun Beheaded be” comes from Soliel cou coupé (or Solar Throat Slashed) by Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, who was influenced by the concluding lines of “Zone,” the first poem in Guillaume Apolliinaire’s Alcools, 1913, “Adieu Adieu / Soliel cou coupé” (Farewell, farewell / Let the Sun beheaded be). Apolliinaire coined the term “surrealism” circa 1917. Césaire’s earlier work found its way into the hands of André Breton, one of the leading surrealist theorists, and the two became long-time friends. Speaking of Solar Throat Slashed curator Clément Chéroux points out in his essay the numerous connections between the guillotine, which was brought to Guadeloupe with the French after the French Revolution and put to extensive use in the colony, and Photography- down to the “guillotine shutter.” Thankfully, the guillotine shutter is the only use of the notorious device in the work, though death takes many forms.

Stills from Triangulation, 2-channel video(!), duration 4:20.

Yet, after finishing his Photography, he subsequently returned to make a 2-channel Video titled Triangulation, which meditates on the coming and going of the cruise ships and their cargo. The Video, his first to be shown in public, startled me for having a different approach than his Photography does! Whereas he goes to great length to speak with his Photographic subjects, even collaborating with them to an extent in his Photo Portraits, in Triangulation, he’s an observer. Highlighting the risks of this, at one point, staged or not, a cruise ship employee with “Photographer” emblazoned on his shirt, ironically moves towards the camera making a “STOP” signal . The Video added a counterpoint to the show. At once showing that side of Guadeloupe most known to the outside world, but showing it not from the standpoint of the tourists, but almost from the viewpoint of the locals if and when they watch these foreigners arriving & disembarking on their island. 

Appropriately hung near the floor. Seeing it this size created a completely different impression than the image in the book.

Another thing that struck me seeing this work was size. Images have a tendency to live in our minds in the size they appear in in a book. Unlike a Painting or Drawing, we may tend to forget Photographs can be printed larger or smaller. I heard from readers when I named Mr. Halpern’s Omaha Sketchbook a NoteWorthy PhotoBook of 2019 who disagreed, saying they were unhappy with the size of all the images in it- each a reproduction of a Photo cut from a medium format contact sheet, done to remain true to his original mockup- a “sketchbook.” Let the Sun returned to full page images to stunning effect (I happened to love the daring in the design of Omaha and the sizes of the Photos therein). At ICP, the Prints ranged from slightly larger than page size to very large, probably 40 inches or larger. The added real estate enabling the images to begin to attain a “life-size” presence. 

“In Guadeloupe, slavery memorials are everywhere, so the weight of that history is much more perceptible than in the United States.” Gregory Halpern in the Conversation.

In my 2019 overview of his work, “Gregory Halpern’s America,” I wrote about his work’s hold on me. I still can’t think of any other living Photographer whose work speaks to me as much as his continues to. Given that his instant classic book ZZYZX is now in its 4th printing, and his three subsequent books have sold out, I’m apparently far from the only one it speaks to. I went in to Immersions believing that Let the Sun is somewhat underappreciated compared to his U.S. based books (i.e. all of his previous books). I came out feeling I may have underestimated it. Let the Sun is a book that could inspire change on a number of levels- from opening the eyes of people who’ve never been to Guadeloupe (like myself), to increased possibilities for the Photographic Portrait, to publishers who have neglected the Caribbean (& it’s Artists) to this point in Art & PhotoBooks, to the shame that the history of slavery in this country has been so ignored. For those reasons, it’s something of a landmark book in my view.

On the road, again. Gregory Halpern looking for subjects in Oklahoma City as he talks in the voice-over about his Instagram announcement seeking Portrait subjects. Still from a fascinating video short about his week in OKC at Fotografiska, July 20, 2023.

A few weeks earlier, at Fotografiska in the Flatiron on July 20th, Mr. Halpern was joined by 3 Magnum Photos Photographers, of which he is now also a full member, in a show sponsored by a hotel chain titled Impressions. The Photographers were ensconced in separate hotels around the world and asked to document what they experienced. Mr. Halpern went to Oklahoma City, and exhibited 4 Photos (as did each of the others- Cristina de Middel, Jonas Bendiksen, and Alessandra Sanguinetti) in what is the first new work I’ve seen of his since Let the Sun Beheaded Be, 2020.

Here is Mr. Halpern’s presentation-

I find the arrangement particularly interesting. We see animals, a Portrait of a young man in a barber’s cloth, some sort of structure, and a torso bearing a tattoo. Looking at these, yes, Let the Sun came back to me. Each of the four images “represents” one of its unofficial themes- animals, a human, the evidence of the land/history, and another human. The surreal is also represented in all four (at least for me).

It would be easy to say they “harken back” to what we saw in Omaha Sketchbook. That book featured images of masculinity (along with images of animals, the land & history and other themes), like Douglas, Army Jurnior Reserve Officer Training Corps, Bellevue, 2005-18, to cite one example out of many; the young man getting a haircut harkens back to those societal expectations and traditions. Ostensibly, it’s a straight-ahead image of an event that parents are fond of documenting during childhood. Yet, there’s an air of mystery around it. The young man stares at the camera with a somewhat stoic look that gives away little. The barber cloth hiding anything the might tell us more about him. His haircut appears to be finished and he’s ready to face the world again. Yet, I’m reminded of Clément Chéroux’s essay in Let the Sun when he speaks about the guillotine, Guadeloupe, and the mechanics of Photography. He mentions Photographers refer to Portraits as “cutting heads.” Here we see just that twice- once with only the head (in a Print mounted on a red background), and once of a torso sans head. Notice how the Print of the young man is mounted higher than the others- at a height where the young man’s head just about “completes” the Portrait of the tattooed torso on the right.

Detail of the far right Photo, showing the tattoo. Speaking of recurring themes, t’s interesting to contrast this with the very first image in this piece from ZZYZX.

It reminds me of some of the games the Surrealists used were fond of playing, like the one Kerry James Marshall based his recent show on.

Mr. Halpern discussing two other images from his OKC series.

Of course, this is only my reading of it- your results may differ, as Mr. Halpern’s intentions may as well. In the end, I’m lucky I never have to leave NYC to find Surrealism. It finds its way here from all over the world.

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Captains and Cruise Ships” by Owl City.

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  1. As far as I know, there has not been a Gregory Halpern solo show in NYC since the auspicious Gregory Halpern: A at Clamp Gallery from January 5th to February 11th, 2012, as hard as that is to believe. If you know of one subsequently, please let me know. ↩
  2. From 2019, per Clément Chéroux, “GH/971” in Let the Sun Beheaded Be. ↩
  3. Which is not his first. He showed Sculpture for the first time earlier this year in Gregory Halpern: 19 Winters/7 Springs at Transformer Station, Cleveland. ↩
  4. ibid ↩

Ahndraya Parlato: Magic, Mystery, Love & Death

Written by Kenn Sava. Photographs by Ahndraya Parlato.

Photographer & Professor Ahndraya Parlato is also a mom to two young daughters and a wife. That’s more to juggle than I can even begin to imagine. Yet, somehow, through it all, she’s managed to create, and co-create, three PhotoBooks that linger in the mind and place her among the more interesting Photographers to emerge in the past decade. In fact, these past five years, any time someone has asked me who was either a very over-looked Photographer, or the Photographer deserving wider recognition, her name was the first I mentioned.

The cover of Who is Changed and Who is Dead

In 2021, she released her third PhotoBook, Who is Changed and Who is Dead, a NighthawkNYC NoteWorthy PhotoBook of the Year, published by Mack Books, her second monograph following 2016’s A Spectacle and Nothing Strange, published by Kehrer. They were preceded by a collaboration with Mr. Parlato, Gregory Halpern, published by Études Books in 2014 titled East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon. Ostensibly, the subject this time is Ms. Parlato’s mom’s suicide. A victim of parental suicide myself, somewhat amazingly, her’s is the first book I have come across to address the subject. She deserves much credit for daring to broach this topic few are apparently willing to speak about (understandably). All three of Ahndraya’s books have two part names. In the case of Who is Changed and Who is Dead, the subject has three parts: her late mother, herself, and her 2 young daughters (most frequently addressed as a pair, even when she starts out referring to one of them. Ava and Iris Halpern-Parlato are the only two of the three to actually appear in person in the book’s Photos, though all three subjects appear equally in Ahndraya’s extremely personal & revelatory text. 

From Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead. “SPOILER: THEY DIE,” the text reads…

When I first got Who is Changed, I delved right into the text, the first Ahndraya has written in one of her books. The fellow victim in me was looking to see how her mother’s suicide effected her and how she handled it. (Disclaimer- Of course, the book is not intended or designed to be read this way. It’s a PhotoBook!) Reading the text as a whole gave me the chance to hear her voice without interruption.

From Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead

It turns out the book is more a “snap shot” of Ahndraya in 2021: her life to this point, and her life with her children. As such, it’s a book that will provide comfort and reassurance to new moms, particularly those who are also Artists. Though the text is written in compact sections, there is a lot to unpack, and more to process. Part 1 is titled “To My Children,” and starts with a wish for a long and happy life for both of them followed, after a coma, by an acknowledgement of understanding the “desire to go out together,” apparently born in her mother’s suggestion that the two of them jump out of a window of a NYC building when Ahndraya was in 3rd grade! It’s in moments like this that the subject of suicide bubbles to the surface, like it quite possibly does in the lives of other suicide victims. Tender reminiscences of her grandmother and mother follow, before she goes on to reveal her own fears of dying-

“I want to be alive. I need to be alive. I’m scared of dying because you need me.”

Part 2 is titled “To My Mother,” but both parts quickly revert back to the thing that is always on her mind (understandably): her children’s well-being. Ava and Iris appear, singly, in a number of her Photos, in at least one instance the appearance was unplanned1. They add hope (and stress), to the aftereffects of tragedy, and a reminder that life is a continuum. Life is also incredibly precious and incredibly fragile, and perhaps there is no one more vulnerable than the very young, or the very old. This comes through on virtually every page of her text.

From Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead

In my reading, it turns out that her mom’s suicide is more of a subtext that is always there, yet, her book offers much more than the reassurance that we victims are not alone, as valuable as that is. In it, we learn that Ahndraya’s mom’s mom (Ahndraya’s grandmother) also died horrifically, murdered by someone she knew, and we get glimpses of life with a mother who was sent to a psychiatric hospital after drinking ammonia, when Ahndraya was in 3rd grade, and then was diagnosed as a as a paranoid schizophrenic. As she weaves episodes from her own biography into the text, never far from her mind are her worries are her fears for her young daughters, understandably. Reading them, I was struck by how she never mentions her own mother’s worries and fears for her, at how she ALWAYS appears to be an adult, and usually  the parent. Even when she addresses us at age 3. Perhaps, this is because there is almost nothing of her mom in her own younger years here. When we meet her, she is already suffering from the illness that may have led to her death. The text is not linear and flows across time as it will, and reads in ways that are partially reminiscent of a diary, partially as conversations in thought with the subject. Her own chronology gets disjointed as a result, and I gave up trying to plot her geographical life’s course, yet the point is always, firmly, in the immediate moment. Born in Kailua, Hawaii, Ahndraya went on to earn a B.A. in photography from Bard College and an M.F.A. from California College of the Arts, where she studied with Todd Hido, in who’s class she met Gregory Halpern (Mr. Hido told me with obvious pride). 

From Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead

I got so lost in the text that weeks, then months, went by before I actually looked at her Photographs! When I did, I quickly found that many are striking and linger indefinitely in the mind. Nothing Strange there. I’ve been taken with her Photography going back to her first monograph, A Spectacle And Nothing Strange, published in 2016. The Photos include images of her mom’s ashes sprinkled on photo paper, printed glossy, to show-stopping effect as shown above. Elsewhere, her daughters pose by themselves or with plants, in ways that look nothing like Sally Mann’s iconic images of her children.

The end result is a unique book that allows the reader to begin to piece together the Artist’s life’s journey from childhood, through difficult years with a mother who was ill before her suicide, to the struggles to process her mother’s death (part of which never ends), to her own motherhood and the worries and fears omnipresent in the crazy world we live in now. It’s hard enough to survive today without, also, trying to raise, care for, and protect children!

From Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead

And ALSO be an Artist! Reading Who Is Changed took me back to my readings on Alice Neel, who was able to keep her Art career going, though at the cost of her personal life, in very hard times and difficult circumstances. In some ways, she was a role model for Contemporary female Artists. In other ways, perhaps she’s not an ideal role model. At least, by having children and having a long Art career, she proved it CAN be done. Today, Artists like Ms. Parlato have found ways to achieve a healthier balance between Art & family, even in these insane times, which makes them all the more admirable.

The other sub theme of Who Is Changed is the author’s verbal and visual efforts to make peace with her mom and her death. This is the real work for all survivors, and something, I for one feel, the person committing suicide probably never thought about how long and hard the road ahead would be for their victims- those who loved them they leave behind. In Ahndraya’s case, I only hope it helped.

As I mentioned, Who is Changed is not the only wonderful PhotoBooks Ahndraya has published. 

East of the Sun, West of the Moon, A Spectacle and Nothing Strange, Who is Changed and Who is Dead, left to right.

Her initial release, the collaboration East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon, published in France by Etudes in 2014, saw its 300 copies disappear before I became aware of it and started looking for it. Luckily, in late 2021, the publisher found some unsold copies and I was able to finally see it. It turned out to be worth every moment of the anticipation.

From *East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by Ahndraya Parlato & Gregory Halpern

At the time they collaborated, Gregory Halpern had already released Harvard Works, the first, small edition, of Omaha Sketchbook, and A. East Of The Sun is a magical book full of mystery. I quickly gave up trying to figure out its biggest mystery- attempting to determine which image bore more of the mark of one or the other- it’a a true, and seamless, collaboration. East Of The Sun loves to present straight forward Photos with a twist.

Of course the city boy would particularly like this one…*From East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by Ahndraya Parlato & Gregory Halpern

Every single image is chocked full of questions for the viewer to get lost in. So far, I haven’t found a narrative, and the Photographers provide no written insights in the book itself. Elsewhere, I’ve read comments about it being shot on the Solstices and Equinoxes in 2012 and 2013, wherever they happened to be. Far be it for me to be able to tell from the Photographic evidence.

From *East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by Ahndraya Parlato & Gregory Halpern

I’m only left to think I sure missed a lot of mystery going on around me on those days.

From A Spectacle and Nothing Strange

A Spectacle and Nothing Strange, Kehrer Verlag, 2016,  was my introduction to Ahndraya Parlato. A terrific book, It’s another book of magic and mystery though this one is firmly grounded in the earth, regardless of what may be going on in the calendar or the heavens above. Though it consists of Portraits, Landscapes and Sill Lifes, every image is a Still Life of life: moments that are not “decisive” in the Cartier-Bresson sense but are decisive in the sense of capturing the moment that linger in the mind: the stuff of memories. Both alien and familiar, they are the kind of images that remain in the mind as souvenirs of an experience. I’m sure there’s a story to each one, but I’m glad I don’t know them so each becomes new to me, again, every time I page through it, as I have often, particularly during the past two years I’ve spent in isolation.

From A Spectacle and Nothing Strange

The past few years have seen the Artist receive quite a bit of well-earned recognition. In 2017, Ahndraya was a Nominee for the prestigious ICP Infinity Award. In 2013, she was a New York Foundation for the Arts grant recipient, Magenta Foundation Emerging Photographer Award winner, and was also shortlisted for the MACK First Book Award. She has also been a Light Work grant recipient and a nominee for the Paul Huf Award from the FOAM Museum in Amsterdam, as well as the SECCA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art2.

While Ahndraya Parlato has received well-deserved recognition from the powers that be in the world of Photography, I still believe there is a bigger audience for her work out there.

My piece on Gregory Halpern’s PhotoBooks may be found here. 

*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Sacrifice” by Björk, track 8 from her classic album, Biophilia, 2011. In the Biophilia app, the presentation for “Sacrifice” reads-

“Inspired by animal magic rituals and female sacrifice, Björk’s lyrics urge the listener to recognize the sacrifice made by all women for the sake of love.”

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  1. The Artist mentioned on social media. ↩
  2. Here. ↩

Gregory Halpern’s America

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (except *)
Late one March afternoon, winding up a long day of looking at The Photography Show/AIPAD, 20171, having seen thousands of Photographs and almost as many PhotoBooks, I was stopped in my tracks when I saw this at Aperture Foundation’s booth-

Gregory Halpern, Untitled (from Buffalo), 2017 *Gregory Halpern/Magnum Photos Photo

Who is Gregory Halpern, I wondered? That night I researched him and saw about 30 of his Photographs. While it’s not unusual to see 1, 2 even 5 pieces by an Artist unknown to me that catch my eye, once it gets to more than 10, the Artist has my attention. Here, were threefold that many and I hadn’t seen one that didn’t speak to me. I went back to AIPAD the next day and bought the piece. Mr. Halpern happened to be there and I got a chance to meet him and speak with him. Living with the work for almost 3 years now, I find myself as intrigued by it as I was the first moment I saw it. Everything about it compels me. But something nagged me about the composition. I must have seen this elsewhere, right? It’s ostensibly such a simple subject- what appears to be a man eats a meal at a table- it’s one of the more common subjects in Art History, and any number of Painters and Photographers have mined it. Then something a bit remarkable happened. Try as I might, to this moment, I haven’t found a direct predecessor for it in Art or Photo history.
There’s this by Edgar Degas-

Edgar Degas, The Absinthe Drinker, 1876, Oil on canvas *Photographer unknown

This by Edward Hopper-

Edward Hopper, Chop Suey, 1929, Oil on canvas *Photographer unknown

Though, perhaps these two Photographs by Constantine Manos of Magnum Photos (of which Mr. Halpern became a Nominee Member of in 2018) come closest of those known to me-

Constantine Manos, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, 2000, Photograph *Constantine Manos/Magnum Photos

Constantine Manos, Miami Beach, Florida, USA, 2003, Photograph *Constantine Manos/Magnum Photos

A similar thing has happened to me with innumerable Photographs by Gregory Halpern since. Somehow, he manages to skate through Art history without repeating what’s already been done2. I’ve come to think this isn’t by accident. When I’ve spoken to him or read his interviews, I’ve found that he has a veritable encyclopedic knowledge of Photographers and PhotoBooks, and is an avid student of Art History as well.

15 years of work in Omaha, edited down to 150 images. Now? Sequence and arrange these into a classic PhotoBook.

While I was introduced to him as a “wall Artist,” he’s said the PhotoBook is the best medium for his work- “It definitely is. I love the space between images. The things that happen when you turn the page, when you are looking at a new image with the ghost of the previous image lingering in your mind… I love the feel of being swept up, as if by a stream, by a book of photographs.” So, after my introduction to Gregory Halpern, as a “wall Artist,” it was time to explore his PhotoBooks. I’ve spent the past two and a half years doing so.

Gregory Halpern, front right, in his element, discussing a PhotoBook. Here, he happens to be introducing the limited “Book Edition” of his brand new Omaha Sketchbook, while publisher Michael Mack, behind him, unwraps copies of it for waiting customers during a signing at The Strand Bookstore, September 21, 2019.

His latest PhotoBook, the MACK Books edition of Omaha Sketchbook, was released in September, completing a 15 year project that was initially published in a book of the same title in 2009 in an edition of just 35 copies by Jason Fulford’s J&L Books. As it was released, I was ready to dig into Omaha Sketchbook when a chance sighting at The Strand Bookstore got me thinking a bit more broadly.

Strand Bookstore, September 25, 2019.

It was the day after Mr. Halpern had been back to the Strand speaking to an audience about the new MACK Books edition of Omaha Sketchbook, the timing of its September release was a bit unfortunately coincidental coming a few weeks after the passing of Robert Frank. There in front of me was an appropriately well worn display copy of Mr. Frank’s landmark PhotoBook, The Americans, next to The Photographer’s Playbook, edited by Mr. Halpern and Jason Fulford. It got me thinking about the last five PhotoBooks Gregory Halpern has now released3 particularly because the new MACK Edition of Omaha Sketchbook happens to bookend this (unofficial) body of five Photobooks, that includes A(2011), ZZYZX (2016), Confederate Moons (2018), and the original, 2009 J&L Books edition, of Omaha Sketchbook.

“Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America.”^

A dog stands watch silhouetted on the first spread in Gregory Halpern’s latest PhotoBook, Omaha Sketchbook, 2019, MACK Books. Interestingly, this was the final image in the J&L Books edition in 2009. If that’s not the definition of “open-ended,” I don’t know what is. Note the color of the paper, which changes with each turn of the page.

Pondering them, his five most recent PhotoBooks do have some things have in common with The Americans. Both Mr. Frank’s and Mr. Halpern’s books resulted from extensive travel through the country, though Mr. Frank’s is a concise look at America as a whole, in his inimitable style, and each of Mr. Halpern’s more local, and even taken in toto, doesn’t cover the country. A close comparison is not the intent of this piece. Besides, it’s dangerous to read too much into this. Mr. Halpern has said “there aren’t honestly any specific ‘models’ I could point to“ for Omaha Sketchbook, specifically referring to The Americans. Leaving aside any question of influence then, particularly after the exercise I undertook with Untitled (from Buffalo), above, I will say I find it utterly fascinating to look through The Americans and then look through each of Gregory Halpern’s books. Sixty years have passed since Robert Frank created the work in his classic book4, and yes, times have indeed changed, but how much has America, or Americans, changed? Have we gone forward, stayed in the same place, or gone backwards since the late 1950’s? This is one question I ask myself as I go back and forth between The Americans and Mr. Halpern’s books, particularly since his body of books now covers 15 years of work. 15 is one of those nice round numbers I like to use as a signpost to consider where we’ve been.

“Greg” Halpern, Harvard Works Because We Do, 2003, his first PhotoBook predates the books under discussion here. It features words(!) and Photos by Mr. Halpern for a cause. Harvard Works is an important book in my view, sadly, every bit as relevant today, Filled with excellent, black & white(!) portraits, like the one on the cover, Don’t miss it if you are interested in his work, or the cause.

Actually, it’s worthwhile to go back one book further, to Mr. Halpern’s first PhotoBook, Harvard Works Because We Do, published by Quantuck Lane Press in 2003, which addressed the issue of the lack of a living wage for University food workers, custodians and security guards. For those who only know his later books, Harvard Works is a fascinating look at Mr. Halpern’s beginnings, one that holds up every bit today, including unfortunately, the importance of the issue he’s addressing, as can be seen in the fact that others, like the fine Artist Ramiro Gomez, have been focusing on the same subject. The book includes transcripts of interviews conducted by Mr. Halpern and edited down into concise statements accompanying the pictured subject. (By the way, I’m taking this as an opportunity to mention that Gregory Halpern is, also, one of the finest writers on Photography today known to me.)

“The work itself sucks, all right?,” so begins the statement of Carol-Ann Malatesta, accompanying her portrait in Harvard Works

For this overview of his work to date, the Photographic portraits are strong, straight forward, though, to my eyes, there are a number that show signs of the Artist within. It’s a significant book, both for the situation and conditions it documents, and centrally, those struggling with them it portrays, as well as for being Gregory Halpern’s first PhotoBook, and for both reasons, it’s a book that will remain important. “Greg” Halpern, as he is listed on the book, came away from Harvard Works feeling he wanted to take a more Artful, open-ended approach that would allow the viewer to react to the image in his or her own way. And this is what we see in each book he’s created since.

“‘Kathy,’ I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I’ve come to look for America”^5

An extremely rare pristine copy of the first iteration of Omaha Sketchbook, published in 2009 by J&L Books. *Photo from @Gregoryhalpern

Moving forward to 2009, with the publication of the original Omaha Sketchbook by J&L Books,  the stage was set for all that has come after in Mr. Halpern’s PhotoBooks. At The Strand on September 24th with Jason Fulford, he spoke about the genesis of the project. After winding up a teaching job in California, he cast around for residencies, finding one at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha. And so began a what would become a body of work that would take 15-years to complete.

Gregory Halpern, left, explains his working process and the creation of the original, large, construction paper book dummy for Omaha Sketchbook, which Jason Fulford holds. Note the spots on the pages from prints being mounted and removed as the Artist assessed them and possible arrangements. Strand Bookstore, September 24, 2019.

A few years in, after deciding to make a book dummy of the work he’d done, he went to an art supply store and looked at paper. Failing to find inspiration in the sterile white acid-free paper that was de rigueur, then and now, he discovered some faded construction paper in an abandoned school he was shooting in, and in a flash of inspiration realized he could use its rainbow of colors in a myriad of ways. He constructed a large book and mounted his prints- hand-cut from medium format contact sheets(!) with various sticky media that allowed him to place and remove the images and see how they “reacted to each other, for lack of a better word,” he said at The Strand. I find this whole idea ingenious.

Omaha Sketchbook, 2019, MACK Books edition, front cover.

He discovered that when he removed an image after a few days, a “ghost” of that image remained on the paper. Over a decade later, that effect would be recreated on the cover of the new MACK Books edition. After making his book dummy on the colored construction paper, he showed it to publisher Jason Fulford who decided to publish it through his J&L Books imprint. The J&L edition was produced a short time later, on white paper for expediency’s sake, with the 2009 New York Art Book Fair looming. Though it only sold “a few copies,” at the show, Mr. Halpern spoke of his pride at having created an actual book. He hasn’t looked back. But, he’s gone back. Though three other excellent books followed over the next 9 years, he kept returning to Omaha. I find this absolutely remarkable when you consider that along with this, Gregory Halpern is married (to the terrific and terrifically underknown Photographer, Ahndraya Parlato), he’s a father with young children, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, a Nominee Member of Magnum Photos, the co-editor (with Jason Fulford) of The Photographer’s Playbook, a contributor to The New York Times, The New Yorker, California Sunday Magazine and Aperture Magazine (among others), an exhibiting Artist who’s mounted shows on two continents, has a “mid-career” Retrospective coming in 2020 at no less than SFMoMA (Hello, NYC Museums? Is this on?)- ALL while creating 3 of the most memorable PhotoBooks of recent years along the way (A in 2011, ZZYZX in 2016 and Confederate Moons, 2018)- each of which involved extensive travel, two took a number of years. My fingers got tired just typing that list. Time for a paragraph break.

Eventually, Gregory and Jason got what was about 4 years of work at the time down to the 37 images I counted on the 44 pages of the original Omaha Sketchbook (OS, 2009, henceforth) when I was lucky to be able to look through an extremely rare copy for a few minutes. There should be a term for “rarer than rare ” when you’re dealing with something THIS rare. I counted 18 images (about 50%) that do not appear in the MACK edition. That OS, 2009 is remarkably concise becomes apparent when you see the new MACK Books edition (which I call OS, 2019). I found the overall effect of the two books remarkably similar, even though we now get over 100 additional images and Mr. Halpern has been Photographing in Omaha for a further 10 years. How to feel about this? Is the place and its residents, apparently, so little changed? Even though we’re looking at 15 years in the new edition, both books feel like time capsules.

This startling image taken inside a meat plant is the only image in OS, 2009 taken indoors, one of 23 portraits I counted in this edition. Note the white paper.

OS, 2009‘s first 5 images include a house or apartment building, but there’s no “domestic” feel- we don’t go inside them. The feel is we’re visiting, passing through. Instead, the only interior shot in the book is in a meat processing plant. One thread I note in OS, 2009 that continues from Harvard Works– Gregory Halpern is a master portraitist. By my count no less than 23 Photos in OS, 2009 (more than half of the 37) are (or include) portraits, dual portraits, group portraits or “portraits” of animals.

“Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said “Be careful his bowtie is really a camera”^

A, published in 2011 by J&L Books. A look at the “Rust Belt” in images taken from 2008-11.

This continued in his next book, A, also published by J&L Books, in 2011, consisting of work created in the American Rust Belt in cities like Baltimore, Cincinnati and Detroit, from 2008-11. Here, over 96 pages of large Photographs on its 9 1/2 by 11 3/4 inch pages, we see people and places who have seen better days, alongside some gleaming office buildings- greatly simplifying. A number of the portrait subjects look right into the camera, almost seeming to confront the viewer for a reaction.

From A, 2011. *Gregory Halpern/Magnum Photos

And, speaking of “confronting,” the animal “portraits” continue, too, like this memorable one, the first Photograph in the book.

The first image in A, 2011 *Gregory Halpern/Magnum Photos Photo

In my view, A is an overlooked classic. Perhaps, it’s only “overlooked” because its 1,000 copies have long since disappeared and those who have one aren’t parting with it because they appreciate how good it is So, the masses have yet to experience it. As a result, it’s a prime candidate among important contemporary Photobooks to be reissued. What began with OS, 2009, was furthered exponentially in A, before being carried even further, reaching a crescendo of sorts, with Mr. Halpern’s next book, the instant classic, ZZYZX, a look at Los Angeles and its vicinity shot between 2008 and 2015, published in 2016 by MACK Books.

“Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat”
“We smoked the last one an hour ago”
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field”^

ZZYZX, 2016, one of the most influential PhotoBooks of the decade, now in its 3rd printing in 3 years.

Is it only 3 years since ZZYZX was published? For a book I hear mentioned and referred to so often, it feels as if it’s been around much longer. Today, I can’t tell which is bigger- its influence or its popularity. From the incredibly succinct editing and tight sequencing, to the beauty of its images, it’s a true epic in the Hollywood sense, mirroring the time it took to create. (Speaking of Hollywood- A ZZYZX fun fact- There’s a film named ZZYZX, that’s directed by a gentleman named Halpern. Richard Halpern.)

From ZZYZX, 2016 *Gregory Halpern/Magnum Photos Photo

ZZYZX features more of Mr. Halpern’s memorable portraits, unexpected moments, like the one above, and something I can only describe with one word-

From ZZYZX. “And the moon rose over an open field”^*Gregory Halpern/Magnum Photos Photo

“Magic.”

There are any number of Gregory Halpern’s images that have a “magical” quality for me, including both of these shown above. I know. I was about to agree with you in questioning my own sanity, when I came across this image by his wife, Ahndraya Parlato-

Gregory Halpern, youngster in tow, admiring Charles E. Burchfield’s Moonlight in a Flower Garden, 1961, Watercolor and charcoal on paper at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in his hometown of Buffalo, NY. *Photo by @ahndraya_parlato

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), was an Artist Edward Hopper greatly admired, perhaps as much as any other contemporary, and said so when he was asked6. Mr. Burchfield was “best known for his romantic, often fantastic depictions of nature,” according to the Burchfield Penny Art Center site. Other words used to describe him are “visionary,””one of the most inventive American artists of the 20th century,” “fantastic,” mystically poetic.” It’s easy to imagine Mr. Halpern being influenced by Artists like Charles E. Burchfield, and Ms. Parlato’s image would seem to provide an insight as I try to understand these “fantastical” elements in his work.

Like this one on the cover of Confederate Moons, 2018, TBW Books  Charles E. Burchfield might be proud of this shot. Incredibly beautiful, ethereal, and equally daring- he’s shooting directly into the sun, a professor “breaking the rules,” which he’s said film has the latitude to allow him to.

These images are even more present in his next PhotoBook, Confederate Moons, TBW Books, 2018, which I singled out as the one PhotoBook I’d recommend for 2018 in my roundup of books for last year, a year of very strong PhotoBooks. Issued as part of the 4-volume TBW Annual Series 6 in a limited edition of 1,000, it’s now sold out which may explain why I feel it’s a bit overlooked, too. Unlike his other three books, Confederate Moons was shot in North and South Carolina in just one month, August, 2017, the month of the solar eclipse.

From Confederate Moons. *Gregory Halpern/Magnum Photos

While created in a shorter span, and a shorter book than the others, don’t let its brevity fool you. It has every one of the elements that make his 2 preceding books classics and a good deal of experimentation to boot. Living with it since April, 2018, it’s every bit as open-ended as his other books. One time, I read it as a “reminder” that nature, in the form of the sun, is a much more powerful “controller” of life than anyone’s hopes, wishes, or agenda, coming at a time when the nation was as divided as it had been in years. Then, the next time through, I just marveled at how busy Mr. Halpern must have been during those few minutes of the eclipse! Still, it’s another important, and beautiful, book in my opinion, and one I wouldn’t want to be without.

Gregory Halpern and Jason Fulford, with the wrist band, and a selection of the cut up contact sheet prints that appear in Omaha Sketchbook laid out for a talk on the book at The Strand on September 24th.

So, the stage was set for this unofficial set of books to be completed and come full circle when MACK Books announced a new edition of Omaha Sketchbook, now with a whopping 152 images. Also in my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of 2018 piece, I singled out MACK Books for praise for their excellent series of reissues, which enables PhotoBook lovers to buy new editions of classic and now incredibly rare (prounced “expensive”) PhotoBooks in beautifully produced new editions at regular prices. Omaha Sketchbook is the poster boy of this program, given that only 35 or so people got to see it the first time around. Michael Mack and MACK Books Head Designer Morgan Crowcroft-Brown have done a beautiful job from A to Z with OS, 2019, leaving me with only one caveat- I page through it so often, I wish it was a hardcover. But, that would probably add $10. to its $50. list price…MACK’s limited “Book Edition” of OS, 2019, takes the influence of Mr. Halpern’s book dummy literally, hand mounting the 152 prints into a handmade book, in the spirit of the original. (100 signed/numbered copies, $750. per as I write).

Another spread from the MACK Omaha Sketchbook. *MACK photo.

Immediately apparent as you dig into OS, 2019 are its revolutionary aspects- First, the ever-changing color of the pages, like the original book dummy shown earlier. I asked Morgan Crowcroft-Brown what we’re seeing here as I was curious about the paper in the regular edition. She told me, “They are actually scans of US construction paper. The paper was imperfect, covered with scuff marks and sun fading, but it made for an interesting backdrop to the contact prints. So these backgrounds were scanned then printed onto a textured offset paper, in an attempt to mimic the construction paper.” She, MACK and Mr. Halpern have given us the book as close as possible to what it was originally in the early days of the project, now at its completion with 152 images. It brings the project full circle in more ways than one. Given that they take up so much of the page relative to the images, the color is an element that’s impossible to ignore. It’s used in a wide variety of ways. First, to pick up a color in the Photograph, at other times a color that’s in a very small part of it. At still other times it reinforces or contrasts the mood of the Photo. Then there is the way OS, 2019 appears to be in sections- on light color paper in the beginning of the book, followed by a center section in red, leading to a gradual darkening in the last part. This gives the book a flow that reminds me of a Musical composition.

Projected overhead view of the table seen previously, with my ever-present nemesis, glare. During the talk Jason and Gregory created their own spontaneous 3 image arrangement from the pile and assessed how they “reacted” to each other, providing fascinating insight into their editing and sequencing processes. Mr. Halpern added that he would leave 2 and 3 image arrangements up on small shelves for, maybe, a week or a month to see how they worked.

Second- While there are numerous books of contact sheets, try as I might I can’t find another PhotoBook done using prints cut out of contact sheets! If you know of one, please let me know. If you look closely, you can see evidence of the prints being hand cut in their margins in things like uneven borders, which add to the “handmade” feel (the trade edition is, of course, not handmade). While some may prefer larger prints, I’m fine with them at this, smaller, size. Having just spent 5 months researching Jean-Michel Basquiat for a series of pieces on the 5 shows of his work going on around town this year, I recall he once said that he crossed out words to get people to look closer. I get the same feeling here. The small prints make you look closer.

Mr. Halpern has said the diptych on the right “exemplifies” the MACK Omaha Sketchbook for him. *MACK photo.

Another fascinating thing about OS, 2019 is though there are over 100 additional Photos, and though the body of work took 15 years to shoot, it’s impossible for me to tell when the Photos were taken. The only way I’ve found to tell if an image is earlier so far is if it appears in OS, 2009! In fact, if you didn’t know this was 15 years of work, I doubt you’d be able to tell that these weren’t all taken at the same time. Even more remarkably, as I’ve shown a taste of above, Mr. Halpern’s Photographic style has “changed” with each of his books, reaching its most experimental so far (to my eyes) in his most recent book, Confederate Moons. Yet, here, we are right back squarely in the same style he used in OS, 2009! All of these things add to the many levels in the book. Only a few weeks in, I’m sure there are more waiting to be discovered.

“Kathy, I’m lost,” I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America”^

From A. Taken in the American Rust Belt, this image has haunted me since I first saw it. Today, I find it extraordinarily beautiful, a subject countless Painters might dream of.

In the end, all of those levels help create a different experience, with new discoveries, each time you look at it. Yet, each time I page through it, one thing hasn’t changed. As an Art lover, I find beauty in his work, as I’ve said, in the “picturesque” images as well as in the “grittier” ones. There’s a good deal of both here. No matter what his subject is- portrait, landscape, building or object, I find a full range of beauty in his work, that calls me back to look at and ponder again and again. And yes…there’s that “Magic.”

I was about to look for the French Painter who created something like this when I stopped remembering this was done by an American, and not Monet, or the Camilles- Pissarro or Corot. Though in bright sunlight, it has an air that makes some of its exceptional beauty subtle, down to the way the left side of the roof is framed by the two trunks.

In the now three years this month of my “deep dive” into Modern & Contemporary Photography, which I define as being the period after the publication of The Americans, I have yet to find another Photographer who’s work speaks to me like Gregory Halpern’s does.

Some discuss whether or not he’s a “documentary” Photographer, and I’m blessed to have come to Photography years after that discussion was rampant. I’m glad I missed it. As always, I prefer to let the work speak for itself. Gregory Halpern is an Artist, one of the most compelling working today, in my view, so I approach his work the same way I would that of any other Artist- without the baggage of any “boxes” in the way. Though each of his books stand on their own, considered as a “body” they paint a fascinating picture of where he’s been so far- literally and creatively, where you can already see the growth and the amazing things the man has accomplished already, in 15 short years.

Omaha Sketchbook, now available in the “Nature Photography” section of your favorite store. ? Over 450,000 people live in Omaha. Looks like someone else, besides me, needs to get out of town and “discover America.” On behalf of whoever did this…Sorry, Omaha!

Whether it be Robert Frank, Paul Simon, Gregory Halpern, or any number of the rest of us. People have been “looking for America” for a long time. It seems to me that if it were that easy to find? “America” would have been “found” long ago. In The Americans, as well as in A, ZZYZ, Confederate Moon, and Omaha Sketchbook, you get the sense that it’s here. Hiding in plain sight.

^-Soundtrack for this Post is “America” by Paul Simon and recorded by Simon & Garfunkel from their classic album Bookends, released in 1968.

My thanks to Gregory Halpern, Kellie McLaughlin of Aperture Foundation and Morgan Crowcroft-Brown of MACK Books. 

My prior pieces on Photography are here.
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  1. My complete coverage of AIPAD, 2017 is here, which includes more on Gregory Halpern. ↩
  2. Yes, there are “echoes” in his work. In his new Omaha Sketchbook, I note works that show the influence of The Bechers’ isolated Water Towers, Walker Evans’ Main Street of Pennsylvania Town, 1936, Robert Adams and his former teacher, Todd Hido, among others. I take these as conscious referencing- echoes, as I like to call them. ↩
  3. Not counting East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which he did with his wife, Photographer Ahndraya Parlato, since it is a collaboration. ↩
  4. The Americans was first published by Robert Delpine in France in 1958, and in the USA by Grove Press in 1959. ↩
  5. On the bootleg album entitled Village Vanguard, a collection of live recordings, in their performance of “America” in 1969, Simon & Garfunkel changed this line from “I’ve gone to look for America,” to “I’ve come to look for America,” which I opted to use here. ↩
  6. Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography, P.265. ↩

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2018

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*except as credited)

Let’s go book shopping! As I list PhotoBooks I consider NoteWorthy, let’s remember the Bookstores that are still left where you can actually see these books. The Strand Bookstore, NYC, is one of those I frequent. I hope there is at least one near you. Click any Photo for full size.

Another day. Another chance to look at PhotoBooks, to see life, and the world, through someone else’s eyes, to learn something and just maybe have a revelation. I look at A LOT of PhotoBooks (and Art Books). Nary a day passes that I don’t see one/some somewhere. In bookstores, used bookstores, museum stores, galleries, book fairs, pop-up shops, garage sales, online- you name it. Both, just released PhotoBooks and those I’ve only known through legend. I’m getting close to eating, sleeping and breathing Photo & ArtBooks. Why? I use them to research my pieces, to learn about Artists known & unknown to me, and to explore that fascinating phenomenon that is the PhotoBook- which, in its ultimate form, is a work of Art unto itself. A third of those I see I never look at, or think about, a second time. About 40% I do either look at again or think about again. And, far too many of them I purchase. (For the record- Yes, I’ve put my money where my mouth is. I bought every book on this list.)

MoMA PS1, Long Island City, scene of the recent New York Art Book Fair. In case you don’t know, there’s a quite good full time Art & PhotoBook store tucked inside, in addition to the excellent magazine shop off the lobby, right behind that grey wall to the right.

So, after all of this looking, I’ve decided to share a few of those here that have turned out to be especially memorable, or “NoteWorthy,” as I’m fond of saying (There’s no such thing as “best” in the Arts, in my view. I don’t believe in comparing Artists or creative work). Compiling this has been very hard.

Depth of Field. The scene in just one of the many rooms at the New York Art Book Fair (NYABF) @ MoMA PS1, Long Island City, September 21, 2018. I handed my camera to Kris Graves who took this Photo with it from behind his table.

First, we live at a moment when there are more PhotoBooks being produced than ever before. It seems there are an incalculable number of publishers and Artists creating books at a speed I doubt anyone can keep up with. So, as many PhotoBooks as I look at represents only a small percent of those released. Hey, I really tried!

William Eggleston: Black & White. The cover image shown on pages 82-3 of Steidl’s Fall/Winter 2017/2018 Catalogue. I was very much looking forward to seeing what revelations this might hold  in 2018 after the showing of Eggleston’s black & white work at The Met a few months back. Where are you? Phone home. *Steidl Photo. 

Another thing is a bit complicated. Publication dates have become hard to figure. Some of the bigger PhotoBook publishers announce books and show them in their catalogs up to one year before they ever show up in stores here (physical bookstores). The brand new hardcover version of Steidl’s Fall/Winter 2018/19 catalogue now even contains a section featuring “Previously Announced” Books (i.e. books originally scheduled to have been out this year)! Some “Previously Announced” books never do show up (Steidl now completely omits the “Previously Announced” William Eggleston: Black and White. ?). And then, a book that appears as a newly released book in a bookstore here may have come out to the rest of the world in 2016 or 2017. How to treat those books? Do they “count” as eligible for 2018 lists? After mulling this over the past few months, I’ve decided to give lesser priority to publication dates and go by when I first saw the book appear in stores. So, one or two of these may have been released over the past few years, though most of them say “2018” in them. For me, the date of the book isn’t as important as the impact its had on me. That’s my criteria. Maybe, you’ll agree, maybe you won’t. Either way, I encourage you to make your own list.

The Rare Book Room at Strand Bookstore. How many books released this year will end up here?

Ok. With all of that out of the way, here they are, listed in no particular order, in a special edition of my regular BookMarks feature. (First, a special note-If you like what you find on NighthawkNYC, I hope you’ll consider supporting it so that I can continue to spend the countless hours and pay the expenses its taken to keep it going these past 3 years- without running ads. If you would like to, you can make a donation through PayPal by clicking on the box to the right of the banner at the top of the page that will take you to the Donation button. Your support is VERY much appreciated.)

***NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2018***

How do they do it? Teamwork. Lester Rosso, left with Paul Schiek, the creative masterminds behind TBW Books, and in front of their sign, reveal one of the secrets of their magic that, it seems to me, a number of others are now trying to emulate. Good Luck with that! Their secret? They consistently make excellent books with top Artists. NYABF, September 21, 2018.

-Gregory Halpern, Confederate Moons with Jason Fulford’s Clayton’s Ascent, Viviane Sassen’s Heliotrope and Guido Guidi’s Dietro Casa, part of TBW’s excellent Annual Series 6. If I were to recommend one new book this year, Gregory Halpern’s would be it. When I look at it, I see a frozen moment in life in America, 2017, seen in the shadows of the solar eclipse, an instant when nature reminds us that everything we stress out about or fight about pales alongside the power IT holds. My look at Confederate Moons is here. 

Gregory Halpern, left with the beard and the glasses, and Jason Fulford, right, in the green striped shorts, authored two of the four volumes in this year’s TBW Annual Series here sign them at TBW’s booth, NYABF, September 21, 2018. PhotoBook Business 102- You know you’re doing something right when Artists like these two want to work with you. Mr. Fulford has his own respected publishing house, J&L Books. Mr. Halpern, the 2016 Paris Photo-Aperture PhotoBook of the Year Award Winner, is fresh off his nomination to join Magnum Photos.

–Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs, Aperture. The only portfolio Diane Arbus produced during her lifetime is beautifully reproduced from the only set in a public collection, which happens to be the only one with 11, not 10, Photographs. This is one of the books that will be essential for anyone interested in Diane Arbus henceforth. Aperture says “it will never be reprinted.” Nuff said.

Instant classic. Diane Arbus: A box of 10 photographs. Seen at Aperture Gallery & Bookstore, an NYC Photo mecca.

-Harry Gruyaert, Harry Gruyaert (Retrospective with the red cover), and Harry Gruyaert: East/Westboth Thames and Hudson- Two books that solidify the Belgian-born Photographer’s place alongside the better-known “early masters of modern & contemporary color Art Photography,” including Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Saul Leiter, et al. (A term that puzzles me since color in fine Art Photography can be traced back to, at least, Sarah Angelina Ackland, circa 1900). More on both books in my recent conversation with Harry Gruyaert, here.

One of the irreplaceable things about physical book stores are its people, like Miwa Susuda of Dashwood Books, seen here. Miwa is, also, a writer and a PhotoBook publisher with her Session Press. In 2017, Session Press and Dashwood Books released the fine Blue Period / Last Summer by the legendary Japanese Photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki, a copy of which she holds. Seen at Dashwood on October 24, 2018.

-Cristina de Middel– The Perfect Man. Cristina de Middel is an Artist who should win an MTV Video Vanguard award. Huh? What I mean is that I can think of no other Photographer who’s books are consistently pushing the boundaries of what a PhotoBook is and can be. This is just the latest in her series of compelling books, most of which are built around subjects that only the most imaginative would say “There’s a PhotoBook in this!” While that certainly wins her major points in my book, if she wasn’t, also, a world class Photographer, she would just be a curiosity. She is. But, you don’t have to take my word for it- Magnum Photos nominated her to join the world’s leading Photographic collective in 2017. The Perfect Man starts with looking at the largest Charlie Chaplin impersonator festival (with many of its subject posed in scenes reminiscent of Mr. Chaplin’s immortal “Modern Times”), and winds up being a broad look at Indian masculinity, and then a look at social customs Indian women are faced with interacting with them. It’s another book that surprises, and another book, like her classic The Afronauts1, that shows the new and old worlds colliding at full speed in unexpected ways.

Kris Graves holding the contents of LOST, which comes as a set in the spiffy orange box with blue lettering under his hand at his +Kris Graves Projects booth at the NYABF, September 22, 2018. His newly released A Bleak Reality is seen in the foreground.

-Kris Graves, et al, LOST +Kris Graves Projects. A ground-breaking (sorry!) work in a number of ways. First, it’s a daring, TEN volume box set by a smaller publisher featuring the work of a number of established Artists (including Lois Conner and Lynn Saville) along side that of others who are on the way up (like Zora J. Murff, Joseph P. Traina and Owen Conway), each contributing a PhotoBook on a different city around the world. Second, typically for +KGP, the cost is quite reasonable, for both the individual books or the set. And last, taken as a whole it’s a stunning example of what a well-run, Artist-run publishing house can achieve. Did I mention that each component book stands, and stands out, on its own? Also in 2018, A Bleak Reality by Kris Graves from +KGP is a powerful look at 8 sites where young black men were murdered by police officers, a collection of his work that first brought Kris to my attention at AIPAD this past April, as I wrote about here.

Multi-talented Artist & Gnomic Book publisher, Jason Koxvold, center, with Gnomic Book Artists Shane Rocheleau, left, and Romke Hoogwaerts, right at the Gnomic Book booth at the NYABF, September 22, 2018.

-Shane Rocheleau, You are Masters of the Fish and Birds and All the Animals (or, YAMOTFABAATA as it reads on its spine), Gnomic Book. A book that looks at the legacy of being white and male in America, quickly expands in scope to include any number of related effects, artifacts and institutions. It also reveals that the words “think small” apparently do not exist in Mr. Rocheleau’s vocabulary. The results are a first PhotoBook that’s extremely ambitious in its scope, biblical in its effect, gorgeously shot with a magical combination of subtlety and abstraction, edited like a Stanley Kubrick film, and exquisitely produced down to the smallest detail- (like its beautiful, hypnotic, and seductive to the touch, cover)…Phew! Along the way, it’s also chock full of indelible images that combine to make it linger and linger on in the mind later. A remarkable achievement, particularly for a first PhotoBook- the only first PhotoBook in this Noteworthy PhotoBooks, 2018 section. Limited edition of 500 copies. My recent Q&A with Shane Rocheleau is here. 

Rosalind Fox Solomon, Liberty Theater, MACK. Something of a marvel, another entry in this Post of a book that consists of a body of work decades in the making, this one is special. Culled from 400 Photographs taken in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, across the south, these 77 show a wide range of glimpses into the complex issues of race and racism, class and gender divisions that could be pivotal moments from 77 films that each stand on their own while provoking a world of feelings and reactions. Except comfort. The title speaks to a performance, and her website says the images are “poised between act and reenactment…” Now 88, Rosalind Fox Solomon, who like Diane Arbus, studied with Lisette Model in the 1970s, shares something of Ms. Arbus’ mystery and power in images that demand repeat viewing, here, in a tightly edited volume that quietly stuns as often as it shocks, aided by yet another powerful essay by Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, who’s first PhotoBook also appears on this list.

***Noteworthy First PhotoBooks***

–Shahrzad Darafsheh- Half-Light, Gnomic Book. Iranian Photographer Shahrzad Darafsheh was diagnosed with cancer at age 36. But? She hasn’t let it stop her creativity or her work! It seems to me that anyone who’s been through cancer, or knows someone who has, can relate to her new first PhotoBook, Half-Light. It’s, at once both intimately personal, and universal, a book that looks inwards and outwards at the same time. Designed to be read either in western style left to right, or right to left, the custom in Farsi, one time I went through it it felt like an out of body experience. Cancer changes your life- forever, and it also changes how you see life, forever. Here is a Photographic record of the early days of this very talented young Artist’s cancer experience, seeing the world anew and turning her lens on herself, and her surroundings with wondering eyes. Its 300 copies are far too few to reach the audience this book deserves, so don’t wait long. It’s somewhat miraculous that Gnomic’s Jason Koxvold somehow found this work and overcame all the layers of problems inherent in working with an Artist living in Iran to produce such a beautiful and important book.

Shahrzad Darafsheh’s Half-Light.

-Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa – One Wall A Web. Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa has been one of the most astute and urgent voices writing about Photography and PhotoBooks for some time now. His writing has appeared in a wide range of places, including in a number of PhotoBooks, like Jason Koxvold’s excellent Knives. With One Wall a Web the world gets to see his first collection of his Photographic work. Born in Uganda  and living here for a number of years, One Wall is a far ranging look at American life, culture and society with a focus on the black reality in this country in two sets of original Photographs surrounding a section of appropriated vintage archival Photographs. It’s so wide-ranging it even masterfully weaves Allen Ginsberg’s classic poem Howl in. It’s already clear to me that One Wall a Web is one of those books that define this moment, as his friend’s Shane Rocheleau’s does in its way. It’s a book people will be discussing, referring to and looking at for many years to come. As I write this, about 70 copies remain of the first edition.

 

Roma Publications co-founder Roger Willems holds a copy of One Wall a Web, by Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa at Roma’s booth at the NYABF, September 22, 2018.

-Jo Ann Walters- Wood River Blue Pool, ITI Ithaca  Named after a river and a pool near her hometown of Alton, Illinois, a journey through its 120 pages it makes it quickly apparent that yes, still waters run deep. A book over 30 years in the making, it’s a veritable time capsule of people and places, seen with a strong and singular eye, here largely cast on women and girls around her hometown, and elsewhere from Minnestoa to Mississippi cry out for extended pondering- on the women and/or children depicted, their situations and surroundings, and the moment. Coincidentally, Ms. Walters also teaches at Purchase College on the same Photography faculty with Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa. My thanks to Kris Graves for  making me aware of this book. He did so purely on the book’s exceptional merit as something I should see. Modestly, he did so without mentioning that he was once one of her students, which I found out later. Jo Ann Walters’ tree has many branches. Now? We finally get to sit under another one with wonder at her achievement. I’ve found it makes an interesting pairing with the following-

-Petra Collins- Coming of Age, Rizzoli. A minor sensation when it was released, causing first printing copies to instantly vaporize, surprising no one more than its publisher, Rizzoli, who scrambled to produce a second printing, which finally materialized after a few months absence. Coming of Age, (a perfect title in more ways than one), touched a nerve with its subject generation, and with the esteemed Artist, Marilyn Minter, who interviews Ms. Collins inside. It’s easy to see why. Petra Collins Photographs her subjects the way they would like to be seen, and shows sides of them and their lives the rest of us never see. While other Photographers have garnered more attention for more contrived work in this genre, Petra Collins is the one to watch, in my view.

-Rose Marie Cromwell, El Libro Supremo de la Suerte, TIS Books/LightWork. I lived in Miami and South Florida, where it’s impossible to escape the flavor and influence of nearby Cuba. Here’s, an amazing look at the real thing, shot over 8 years while the Artist lived in Havana. It’s a thunderbolt, filled with color, as  you’d expect, but it’s also full of a poignant intimacy that surprises. Another book with an instant buzz that saw copies flying out the door, and a long line for signed examples at TIS’ Booth at the NYABF. El Libro Supreme de la Suerte (The Supreme Book of Luck) supremely deserves it.

If you are able to pick only one book from that group? You are a better man or woman than I am.

PhotoBooks are all we sell! One wall of titles at Dashwood Books.

***NoteWorthy Photo Related Book without Photos***

In this “decisive moment,” the foreshortening got the better of my auto-focus.

-Henri Cartier-Bresson- Interviews and Conversations, 1951-98, Aperture. I picked up The Mind’s Eye, Cartier-Bresson’s writings on Photography and Photographers, which didn’t have the insights I was looking for. Interviews and Conversations does. On every single page. Essential. A reference book for the ages.

***NoteWorthy Reissues***

The New Arrivals wall at Printed Matter, presenters of the New York Art Book Fair. An amazing store that contains multitudes of worlds in the form of Artist’s books by umpteen thousand Artists and Writers. How do they know where all of them are? I never bother to try to find something- I just ask. Extra credit if you can spot the next book to appear on this list.

-Masahisa Fukase Ravens, MACK. (Pictured almost smack dab in the middle, above, in its grey slip case). Believe the hype. Shot in the aftermath of a divorce, this is an unforgettable masterpiece, one of the great achievements in PhotoBook history in my view. It says 2017 inside. I don’t care. I’m listing it here as a public service announcement. After being first published in 1986, it was out of print for the better part of 30 years! The word is copies are running low. Get it before it goes out of print. Again. I’m listing Ravens, also, to acknowledge MACK’s excellent series of reissues that has seen Alec Soth’s classic Sleeping By The Mississippi and Niagara, among a number of others reissued, making them affordable to students and Photography lovers, again, after long absences that has made them available only at very high prices on the rare book market. Bravo! The next selection is another one…

Paul Graham, center, with Lesley A. Martin of Aperture, left, discuss a shimmer of possibility at its re-release. AIPAD, April 13, 2018.

-Paul Graham, a shimmer of possibility, MACK. Though reissued once before, as a one volume paperback, MACK has finally released the book Paris Photo-Aperture gave their “The Best PhotoBook of the Last 15 Years” award to in 2012, in its original 12 volume format (which sold out in less than 3 months in 2012). A revolution when it was first released, its influenced countless books that have come since. Including a few on this list. Limited edition of 500 hand signed sets.

-Daido Moriyama: Record, Thames & Hudson, A selection from Nos 1-30, beginning in June 1972 of the magazine, Record, that the great Japanese Photographer continues to release to this very day. At age 80, he’s now up to No. 39. When I added them up, Numbers 1-30 would cost a thousand or so dollars, IF you could find them all. This beautiful selection from them sells for about 50.00, and is sure to bring many more eyes to the work of one of the most admired, and influential, living masters of Street Photography.

-Luigi Ghirri- It’s Beautiful Here, Isn’t It… Aperture. With 2008 1st Printings selling for over 300.00 per, my thanks to Aperture for issuing a 2nd printing this year otherwise I would have never seen it! Ghirri’s Kodachrome is the place to start exploring his work (especially in MACK’s gorgeous reissue, which seems to be disappearing), but this is a very nice selection of works from throughout his career. Intro by William Eggleston.  

Roy DeCarava & Langston Hughes- Sweet Flypaper of Life, First Print Press/David Zwirner Books. Roy DeCarava is one of the unsung masters of contemporary Photography, who is quietly undergoing a renaissance that’s seen a few of his books reissued at long last in honor of the Photographer’s 100th birthday in 2019. First published in 1955, it features 141 DeCarava Photographs chosen by Langston Hughes who then supplied an accompanying narrative. His aim, he said, “We have so many books about how bad life is. Maybe it’s time to have one showing how good it is.” It’s that, and more, as it shows life “Uptown” in the mid-1950s in a way unlike that seen in any other book. 

***NoteWorthy Catalog of the Year**

-Sally Mann- A Thousand Crossings. It’s going to be a while before another book coming along surpassing this as a one volume reference/summary/monograph of Ms. Mann’s work to date. Beautiful. Throughout.

-Saul Leiter- All About Saul Leiter– It came out in Japan last year, and has just been released here. I’d still recommend Early Color as the place to start exploring Saul Leiter, but this is an excellent second choice and provides more of a complete sense of the man’s work over his career. With all due respect to his black & white work- Saul Leiter is a supreme Photographic Artist with color and the effects of light, and that is the work of his I will always be drawn to, and there’s a lot of it in this beautiful volume. My look at the recent Saul Leiter: In My Room show and book is here.

-Luigi Ghirri- The Map and the Territory, MACK. Focused on his work from 1970s and 1980s this is a beautiful almost 400 page look at a visionary Photographer, who, was the only name Stephen Shore mentioned when I asked who he felt deserved more attention. He told me Luigi Ghirri was the Artist he used to recommend, before the internet did away with little known Artists. Which brings me to…

***NoteWorthy “Non-PhotoBook” of the Year/ Holiday gift of the Year***

The 3 Stereograph viewing stations, each containing 10 different stereo Photographs of New York, 1974, at the Stephen Shore Retrospective at MoMA, May 23, 2018.

–Stephen Shore, Stereographs, New York, 1974, Aperture. Hey, it counts- its got an ISBN number…and 30 Stereo Photographs! I don’t know how many other visitors to the Stephen Shore Retrospective at MoMA were thinking, “Wow. This is COOL!,” when they sat at one of the 3 stations, each containing 10 of Mr. Shore’s Stereographic Photographs. Well, I was. Now, you can have your own! Hurry. Aperture only produced 400 sets each containing a “Stephen Shore” signature model viewer (cool!) and all 30 of the works seen at MoMA (ditto). Each set includes a card hand signed by Mr. Shore. Don’t sleep on it. I hear they’re going fast. All of those who already own it that I’ve spoken with said they hoped more images would be made available. Hear, hear. My piece on the monumental Stephen Shore Retrospective at MoMA is here. 

Stephen Shore: Stereographs, New York, 1974, published by Aperture.

***PhotoBook Discovery of the Year (Regardless of Publication Date)***

-Lewis Baltz, WORKS, Steidl, 2010. WORKS is THE most extraordinary box set I have yet seen. Period.

When you look at it like this, it could have been called “MONUMENT.” Note- There are two editions of WORKS. Mine is the first edition, 2010. the later WORKS- Last Edition edition adds the subsequent Candlestick Point (2011) and Texts (2013), which they just lay on top of this box. Both of those books are available separately, so you can create your own Last Edition. Their Last Edition also comes with a booklet containing Lewis Baltz’ Last Interview, which, unfortunately, is not available elsewhere.

Since discovering WORKS, Lewis Baltz has become one of the few Artists who have effected the way I see the world, and one of even fewer to effect how I think about what I see. Mr. Baltz passed away in 2014 at 69 and this was a project he worked on when he, apparently, knew the end was coming. The result is that WORKS is the complete 10 volume edition of his Photography as the Artist wanted it to be seen. The care and attention to detail he brought to this edition, matched by Gerhard Steidl and his team, make it the definition of “definitive.” It houses the career work of an Artist who’s work expanded from the so-called “New Topographic” approach to Photography to including how the forces that control man’s uses of the land have extended into virtually every realm of human life. Inside, the entire journey can be taken in one place, where its continuity and interconnectedness can be fully appreciated as it can be nowhere else, in drop-dead beautiful quality printing. Lewis Baltz was an Artist who while producing Art based in what he saw around him created a body of work that, also, warns about where this was (and is) all heading. In my view, this makes him one of the most important Photographers of our time. Each of the 1,000 copies is hand signed by the Artist!

For those not wanting to make the investment in WORKS (currently 600.00 and up), there is the one volume Lewis Baltz– the catalog published in 2017 to accompany the first posthumous retrospective of Mr. Baltz’ work in Madrid, and so another entry for NoteWorthy Catalog, 2018. (It reached me in January, 2018.) The best one volume survey of his work is a great way to get the feel of both his accomplishment and the interconnectedness of the various series he produced, (and yes, they are interrelated). Even more than A Thousand Crossings, it’s very hard for me to see another book surpassing Lewis Baltz as a one volume monograph, especially given its particularly beautiful Steidl production and superb essays by Urs Stahel and, particularly, Artist Walead Beshty.

And so, in my book, there are no “winners,” no “losers” among Artists. ALL Artists who have created a PhotoBook (since that’s what we’re talking about here) this year are Winners in my book! CONGRATULATIONS! Seeing so many books and speaking with so many Artists & publishers has given me a real sense of how hard it is to produce a book today, particularly in this country.

For the rest of us? Get out there, look at some PhotoBooks and see what speaks to you. For me? I look forward to seeing what’s coming next. And? I will be looking for it…

11pm, East 17th Street @ Union Square. It can be a lonely road seeking PhotoBooks in the dead of night, which I actually was. But, wait! “Hey, man. Got any PhotoBooks there I should know about?”

*-Soundtrack for this Post is Impossible Year by Panic! at the Disco from Death of a Bachelor.

My previous pieces on Photography are here.

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  1. Both Ms. de Middel and Vivienne Sassen, mentioned earlier, have come under controversy for their work in, and about, Africa. ↩

The Photography Show: Memorable Meetings, 2018

One of the great things about The Photography Show (aka AIPAD) is beyond the staggering amount of Photographs to be seen, it’s rich in in the presence of Photographers, themselves. In this second Post on The Photography Show, 2018, I’m going to take look at some of those I saw, met and spoke to. Going in, I thought last year’s list of those I met would hard to top- Bruce Davidson, Mike Mandel, Gregory Halpern, Jim Jocoy, Raymond Meeks, Paul Schiek, Tabitha Soren, among others. But, this year’s edition turned out to be equally rich. Here are some highlights.

First, the legendary Elliott Erwitt, a former President of Magnum Photos, still going strong at 89, was on hand to sign “Pittsburgh 1950,” a new release of work unseen these past 68 years at GOST Books-

Elliott Erwitt joined Magnum Photos in 1953 and is still a member. Here, he signs the Special Edition of his book, “Pittsburgh 1950,” which comes with the print seen in the right corner, at GOST Books.

The equally legendary Susan Meiselas,  also a Magnum Photos member (since 1976), was on hand, graciously signing her classic Aperture book, “Nicaragua” for me at Damiani-

Susan Meiselas at the Damiani booth on Thursday

Dayanita Singh signed her newly minted Paris-Photo Aperture PhotoBook of the Year, 2017, “Museum Bhavan,” at Steidl’s table. It consists of a unique box that contains 10 smaller books that the Artist conceived as a portable museum-

Photographer Dayanita Singh, signs “Museum Bhavan,” at Steidl. As you can see, each copy comes in a unique box. The Artist graciously selected one for me she thought was particularly beautiful.

Jungjin Lee signed her beautiful book, “Opening,” at Nazraeli Press-

Jungjin Lee at Nazraeli Press’ booth.

The renowned and influential Paul Graham spoke about his classic 12 volume set, “A Shimmer of Possibility,” then signed the newly released MACK Limited Third Edition-

Paul Graham at MACK Books.

Along with MACK’s third edition of “A Shimmer of Possibility,” the most highly anticipated book release of the show was, perhaps, the debut of TBW Books 4 volume “Annual Series #6,” which resulted in the biggest book release crowd I saw. Last year’s “Annual Series #5,” which featured volumes by Lee Freidlander, Mike Mandel, Bill Burke and the aforedepicted Susan Meiselas, was shortlisted for the Paris-Photo Aperture PhotoBook of the Year, 2017. Both Gregory Halpern (“Confederate Moons”) and Jason Fulford (“Clayton’s Ascent,”) were on hand to sign their two books. Like many others, I was anticipating Mr. Halpern’s first book since “ZZYZX,” which won the Paris-Photo Aperture PhotoBook of the Year for 2016. Would this one, titled “Confederate Moons,” considerably shorter in the making, measure up?  No pressure.

TBW’s “Annual Series #6,” debuting at AIPAD, consists of new books by Guido Guidi, Jason Fulford, Gregory Halpern and Viviane Sassen, from left to right.

He didn’t seem to be worried when I spoke with him, first at MACK’s booth, where he signed “ZZYZX,” and later at TBW Books-

Gregory Halpern was a popular man. First, he was on hand to sign his classic, “ZZYZX” at MACK Books, ..

Then, like a blur, Mr. Halpern was over at TBW Books signing his terrific, new, “Confederate Moons.” Here’ he’s seen behind Artist & Publisher, Jason Fulford, who also has a book in “Annual Series #6,” titled “Clayton’s Ascent.”

I’ve said before that Gregory Halpern’s work speaks to me as much as any Photographer from the younger generations of Photographers I’ve discovered these past 18 months. I now live with his work on my walls. Seeing new work by him was an event for me, the way music lovers look forward to a new album/CD by an Musician or group that inspires them. So, I made a conscious effort to put any resulting bias aside and live with “Confederate Moons” for a week.

The first Photo in “Confederate Moons,” by Gregory Halpern, courtesy of the Artist and TBW Books.

It turned out to be very easy to do. I opened it, was presented by the first image, and just went on the trip from there. There is no text in “Confederate Moons,” beyond the title page and the colophon. The Photographs are not titled or dated. A few days after AIPAD ended, Mr. Halpern posted an “About” on the “Confederate Moons” section of his website. It revealed that “Confederate Moons” is a collection of Photographs taken in North and South Carolina, in August, 2017, the month of the solar eclipse. I find it a beautiful meditation on unity, difference and something that unites everyone, regardless of their location, demographics, beliefs, age, or race- the sun, the source of life. A good many of the Photos are portraits in one way or other, many show the subject looking up.

Photo from “Confederate Moons,” by Gregory Halpern, courtesy of the Artist and TBW Books.

Whereas “epic” is a word I’d use to characterize “ZZYZX”- as in an epic journey filled with epic images.  “Confederate Moons,” strikes me as something of a “love letter” to nature, including humanity, while also serving as a reminder that whatever our differences are, we are united by things like our dependency on the sun. Along with striking images of the eclipse and the darkened world (Mr. Halpern must have been EXTREMELY busy during those very few minutes) there are images of the south and it’s natural beauty and uniqueness, during what I assume may be before and after.

Photo from “Confederate Moons,” by Gregory Halpern, courtesy of the Artist and TBW Books.

It’s easy to make up your own story as you move through it. Or multiple stories. I find it’s enhanced by not having any texts or even titles for the Photographs, though I usually insist on titles (even if it’s “Untitled,” or “No Title”). It’s another extraordinary book, every bit as evocative as “ZZYZX,” though it feels more personal to me. Mr. Halpern mentioned to me that he still believes in the power of a Photograph or a work of Art to change the world. I hope he’s right. I do, too.

At TBW’s Book release, Mr. Halpern was joined by his friend, the accomplished and well-known Photographer & Publisher, Jason Fulford, who’s “Clayton’s Ascent,” is, also, one of the 4 volumes in “Annual Series #6.”

Jason Fulford puts his official stamp, appropriately of two men in a hot air balloon, on his wonderful, new, TBW Book, “Clayton’s Ascent.”

In addition to all of these renowned Artists, there seemed to be more Photographers present in gallery booths, on hand to talk to show goers about their work, something I think is just terrific. As I’ve said in the past, personal contact with an Artist is one of the great joys of buying Art. More often than not, priceless insights, stories and details are shared, which I’m sure help sales, but become cherished memories for both buyers (a sort of verbal/experiential provenance) and visitors.

Stephane Couturier discusses his “Paris 9- ilot Edouard VII- Photo no 10, 1998” at Les Douches la Galerie, Paris’ booth, where Tom Arndt followed discussing his work.

Over the course of the show, I noticed that Stephen Wilkes was on hand over multiple days at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, graciously discussing his monumental landscapes and answering questions from visitors. I know firsthand that he made fans out of some of those who heard and met him.

Stephen Wilkes at Bryce Wolkowitz was on hand for 3 days by my count to discuss his massive, extremely intricate landscapes.

The work Stephen Wilkes is discussing- “Lake Bogoria, Kenya, Day to Night, 2017.” This is a composite of over 1,000 Photographs taken in a single day, from morning to night. The black birds in the front are circling their prospective dinner while the prospective prey gets nervous. Courtesy the Artist and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery.

Over at Jorg Maass Kunsthandel, all the way from Berlin, Gilles Lorin was also on hand over multiple days to discuss his classical/modern still lifes. As if that wasn’t enough, he also did a terrific job designing the layout of the booth, one of the most beautiful I saw, that, in addition to a wall of Mr. Lorin’s darkly mysterious works also included Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Painter Sean Scully(!), and a marvelous William Eggleston.

Gilles Lorin at Jotg Maass Kunsthandel, Berlin, where he also designed the booth’s layout superbly.

Still-lifes by Giles Lorin at Jorg Maass. One or two struck me as having a small bit of Durer’s “Melencolia.”

Ok. Quick quiz time- What do Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Georgia O’Keeffe, JFK, Greta Garbo, Fellini, Jackson Pollock, Elaine and William DeKooning, Grace Kelly, Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio DeChirico, and World War II have in common?

All were Photographed by Mr. Tony Vaccaro.

So, there I was…

Monroe Gallery booth, AIPAD, April 7, 2018

Henri Cartier-Bresson is famous for his Photography, and for the title of his most famous book- “The Decisive Moment,” 1952. It’s a cryptic, mysterious phrase that has become both a mantra for countless Photographers since, and something of a phantom for those seeking “it” in the real world. Adding to the mystery, and magic, of the book, beyond the 126 classic Photos within, is the fact that the original French title of the book translates as “Images on the sly.” Talk about a moving target!

Standing in Sydney Monroe Gallery’s booth on Sunday, April 7th in mid-afternoon, I was faced with the scene above. In front of me sat the living legend, the Dean of Photographers, ninety-six years young, Artist Tony Vaccaro, the subject of an amazing HBO Documentary, “Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro,” enchanting all who came within earshot of him with astounding and unforgettable tales of the classic Photo lining the wall above him. What was I saying about the value of personal contact with the Artist?

I yearned to say “Hello,” to tell him how much I admire his work, and congratulate him on an incredible life…

But? This was my third attempt at doing so.

Flashback. Last year, at 2017’s AIPAD, Mr. Vaccaro was present at Mr. Monroe’s booth, but the crowd was, understandably, unrelenting. This was as close as I got to him-

AIPAD, April 1, 2017. Tony Vaccaro at Monroe Gallery’s booth.

Going into AIPAD, 2018, he was scheduled to appear on Saturday, April 6th. But, delayed in traffic, I missed Mr. Vaccaro’s appearance! Darn! So? I stayed to look at his work on view.

Wall of Photographs by Tony Vaccaro seen at Monroe Gallery’s booth at AIPAD, April 6, 2018.

Before me was a history of much of the 2nd half of the 20th century. On the left, combat Photos taken, literally, in the trenches during World War II! To their right, a gorgeous Photo of the old Penn Station. Next to that, two Photos taken in Europe after the War. Next to that a model wears a hat very similar to the immortal rotunda of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in 1960, a year after it opened! Each work was hand titled, numbered and signed by the Artist. And, to the right of that, the amazingly off the cuff Photo of Georgia O’Keeffe seen later.

I mentioned to Mr. Monroe my disappointment at having missed Mr. Vaccaro. “He’ll be back tomorrow afternoon,” he replied. “Really?,” I replied in shock. The third try might be the charm. Returning as soon as I arrived at the show, I was faced with the scene up top. This time, I stood patiently, waiting for the seas to part. Finally, I took a hard swallow. (Hey, I’m a pretty shy guy. It’s hard for me to approach strangers.) I walked forward and grabbed my own “decisive moment.”

Then, all of a sudden, I was face to face with a chance to talk to a legend. He couldn’t have been nicer….more gracious…more welcoming. Wow… I asked him if I could take his Photo. Not only did he agree, he posed, then after I did, he even decided to remove his glasses.

I’ll never forget the next few moments. Though I have already forgotten just how many passed.

After taking the Photo, I asked him about his work. Regarding the one of a kind Photo of Georgia O’Keeffe he was sitting under, he said that he had spent a few days around her and she was not responsive to the idea of being Photographed. That’s understandable. Earlier in her life, Ms. O’Keefe had been the muse of legendary Photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Together, O’Keefe & Stieglitz created a unique, perhaps unequalled body of work, characterized by her haunting, ethereal beauty and a very rare intimacy. But, suddenly, she looked at him through a piece of cheese, and voila! I can’t recall ever seeing one as unguarded as this. The fact that she’s still not smiling, makes it all the more special. She’s only letting the viewer in so far. The cheese is in the way, acting like a shield. Of course, Mr. Vaccaro took other Photos of her, in color, which are now quite famous, but this one is the only one I’ve seen that shows another side of her.

Mr. Vaccaro graciously posing for yours truly under his classic Photo of the greeat Georgia O’Keeffe. I’m amazed you can’t see the camera shake in the Photo.

Next to it, the wonderful Photo of the model in front of the Guggenheim, elicited a question about it from a visitor. “I was there when Frank Lloyd Wight was designing the Guggenheim,” Mr. Vaccaro answered. Wait. What??? Sure enough. I remembered the famous shot, one of my favorites of Frank Lloyd Wright, standing in his work room, with his arms raised and outstretched, standing behind his desk. A spontaneous moment that became something of a “perfect” portrait of the great Architect. Blown away, I had to ask a follow up question. “What was Frank Lloyd Wright like?,” words I never expected to ask any one. “Hard worker. Hard worker,” Mr. Vaccaro said. “What was it like to Photograph him?” “He never told me anything. I told him just go about your work, do what you want to do, and I’ll take the Photographs. And that’s what we did. He never told me anything.” I asked him about his amazing World War II Photographs. He told me he was always able to get film, and he carried a small film developing set with him, with chemicals and small nesting trays that were easy to pack. He developed his film as he used it. As is shown in the Documentary, he went from Normandy to Berlin. “Mrs. Roosevelt was waiting for me when I got to Berlin,” he said. He moved on to the beautiful shot of the “Old Penn Station,” “It was lucky I photographed it. A short time later, they destroyed it. What a shame. What a beautiful building,” he said. I asked him if he had a favorite among the countless Photographs he’s taken. “The G.I. kissing the little girl.(“The Kiss of Liberation”) I think that’s marvelous.The French also thought that was super and they gave me the “Legion of Honor” (in 1994).

“I was there when Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim,” Mr. Vaccaro said. That sound you heard was my jaw hitting the floor.

He mentioned having worked at Life Magazine after the War, and I asked him if he knew Gordon Parks, who would have been at Life at the same time. “Gordon was a good friend of mine,” he recalled. These days, Mr. Vaccaro and his family have the Tony Vaccaro Studio, in Long Island City, where Mr. Vaccaro was headed when he stopped to take the Photo of the “Old” Penn Station, which maintains and manages his archives, as Mr. Vaccaro continues to work. His daughter in law, Maria, who manages sales and the archive was on hand as well. I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful Leica Mr. Vaccaro had around his neck. He told me it was a gift to him from the great German camera maker. Well, you can’t get better advertising than what he’s created with one, that surrounded him on “his wall,” as he called it. Then? He talked about looking forward to his 100th Birthday!

A beautiful Man, and his beautiful Leica.

Right before I bid farewell, Mr. Vaccaro was discussing his work with a couple who promptly made a purchase they’ll never forget. Not privy to the conversation, he leaned back next to me and I heard him say, “I was at the right place at the right time.”

I leaned over and, smiling, said to him,, “Yeah. A LOT of times.”

*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Time In A Bottle,” by Jim Croce (for Sv)-

This Post is dedicated to Susan Meiselas, Paul Graham, Gilles Lorin, Dayanita Singh, Gregory Halpern and, the one and only, Mr. Tony Vaccaro, for their Art, for the beauty of their spirits, and for sharing both, with me, and the world.

The Photography Show/AIPAD, 2018, is my NoteWorthy Show for April.

Once again, for the second year, I’m proud to bring you THE most extensive coverage of The Photography Show anywhere. This is Part 2. The rest is here.

My coverage of The Photography Show, AIPAD, 2017 (including “Memorable Meetings, 2017”) is here, and my prior Posts on Photography are here.

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Art In Manhattan, 2017- And Then There Were Five

It was a year of discovery. A year where I discovered some great Artists I previously hadn’t known, finally caught up with some I knew about but hadn’t gotten to see much of their work, and got lost exploring some remarkable Retrospectives- for Raymond Pettibon and Robert Rauschenberg, both accompanied by memorable satellite shows. Most of these are represented in my monthly NoteWorthy Show selections throughout the year. But? There was more! So, I’m going to take this moment to pause and look back at the revelations of 2017, look at some memorable shows I didn’t write about at the time, and finally, highlight a pair of men who, I feel, had an exceptional 2017 in Manhattan Art.

No doubt about it- the biggest discovery this year was a long overdue deep dive into the world of Contemporary Photography. From seeing well over 100 Photography shows, to spending five long days at “AIPAD: The Photography Show” (with well over 120 galleries from all over the world showing work), to going through hundreds of PhotoBooks, and meeting many Photographers, legendary, famous, or not quite yet, along with the staffs of two of the world’s leading Photography organizations- Aperture and Magnum, both celebrating major anniversaries this year. Rarely did a week pass when Photography wasn’t in the the picture. Of course, in a world were there are now more cameras than people it’s impossible to get to see everyone who’s doing great work. As happens each year, NO matter WHAT I do to prevent it, this year too, there were shows I didn’t find out about until they closed. UGGGH!!!! Along the way, there were quite a few revelations, and a good many other things solidified…at least for the moment.

First, the revelations. In Photography, particularly among those younger than 50 (I say 50 only because I seem to know/have heard of many of those over) and unknown to me, Gregory Halpern was the biggest revelation I had this year. His book “Zzyzx” won the prestigious Aperture Best Book Award for 2016, but I didn’t know that when I discovered his work at Aperture’s booth at AIPAD. I had never heard of him.

Gregory Halpern, “Untitled,” 2016, from his “Buffalo” series. Click any Photo for full size.

The work, “Untitled,” was a Photograph Aperture had run in the Spring, 2017 issues of it’s excellent quarterly magazine, in a pictorial by Mr. Halpern, titled “Buffalo.” I didn’t know that then, either. I simply saw the work, and then couldn’t get it out of my mind. It now hangs a few feet away. Out of everything I saw at AIPAD, particularly by those younger than 50 and unknown to me, this work grabbed me and didn’t let go. I went home that night with one thought on my mind- “WHO is Gregory Halpern?” After researching him most of the night, (including finding his incredibly honest and insightful answer to one very important question), serendipitously, I got to meet him the next day, and spoke to him about his book. It turned out to be a classic case where some things are better left unexamined. Gregory was so forthcoming in his answers about specific images I came too close for comfort to losing some of their mystery.

Gregory Halpern standing next “Untitled,” at Aperture’s Booth at AIPAD, March 31st.

In addition to being, in my eyes, one of the most talented Photographers of his generation, he is, also, one of it’s best writers. He’s the co-author of one of the most popular and respected Photography Manuals of 2017, “The Photographer’s Playbook,” and his occasionally published articles always enlighten and leave me wanting more. A Harvard grad, he’s now a professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology for some very lucky students. As if all of that isn’t enough, his wife, Ahndraya Parlato is, also, one of the revelations of the year as a Photographer. Her Photographs “glow”- in one way or another. Her most recent book, “A Spectacle and Nothing Strange,” is ethereal…mesmerizing…magical.

Leaving aside age or era, the work of Fred Herzog was, also, unknown to me. Early pioneers of color Photography have taken decades coming to the attention they deserve, such was the disdain color held among the Photographic cognoscenti for color Photography. With the publication of “Fred Herzog: Modern Color,” in February, 2017, an Artist who was fairly well-known, and appreciated, in his native Canada finally began becoming wider known in the USA. His work was memorably shown by Equinox Gallery of Vancouver at AIPAD this spring, where, I felt, it stood out.

Fred Herzog, “Main Barber,” 1968, seen at Equinox Gallery’s AIPAD booth.

Fred Herzog considers Saul Leiter THE master of early color Photography, and even with a giant like William Eggleston to consider (who’s 1976 MoMA show, “Photographs by William Eggleston,” which can be “visited” here, is widely credited with making color Photography “acceptable” in the world of “Fine Art”), it’s hard to argue with him. No Photographer new to me, regardless of age or period, had a bigger impact on me this year than Saul Leiter.

Saul Leiter, “Through Boards,” Circa 1957. This image appears (cropped) on the cover of the now classic book, “Saul Leiter: Early Color,” 2006, which launched the “Saul Leiter Renaissance.” It’s, perhaps, my very favorite Photobook. Sadly, now out of print, it would take real diligence to find a very good copy for less than $100. But, there are many worse uses of time. Photo by the Saul Leiter Foundation.

It took until 2006 for Saul Leiter to be recognized- FIFTY EIGHT years after he started taking color photographs. As with William Eggleston, Mr. Leiter was, also, a devoted Painter. I can see it in both of their work, and I believe it’s part of the reason their work speaks to me, perhaps, more than the work of any other Photographer of any period. It was his friend, no less than the great Artist Richard Pousette-Dart (who’s also an under appreciated Photographer), to encouraged him to pursue Photography.

“Walk with Soames,” 1958, This was 20 YEARS before William Eggleston’s ground breaking MoMA show “legitimized” color Photography in the Art world! Photo by Howard Greenberg Gallery.

Mr. Leiter saw and used color in his Photography in ways no one else has, achieving effects that today’s finest digital manipulators can only dream of. Saul Leiter didn’t need Photoshop to get his results. As very good as his Black & White work is, like Turner or Van Gogh, Saul Leiter was a true Poet of color, perhaps the greatest Master of Color in Photography, though it’s, of course, impossible and pointless to qualitatively compare.

“T,” Circa 1950(!).Photo by the Saul Leiter Foundation. Daring. Gorgeous.

A number of established Photographers had terrific shows in NYC in 2017 that I didn’t get to write about here. Among them are Mark Steinmetz, Mike Mandel, Raghubir Singh (though marked by controversy), Richard Avedon, Herman Leonard, Michael Kenna, and Edward Burtynsky. But, I’m going to address one I simply can’t let pass, because I continue to think about it.

Richard Misrach’s Photo, “Effigy #3, near Jacumba, California,” 2009, Pigment print mounted to Dibond, right rear, with Guillermo Galindo’s Musical Instrumet/Sculpure “Effigy,” 2014, center2014. Barely visible are two strings between the forearms. The grey rectangle on the lower left side of the pedestal is where a speaker is mounted.

“Richard Misrach: Border Cantos,” (at Pace, 510 West 25th Street), was an utterly remarkable and serendipitous collaboration between renowned Photographer Richard Misrach & Composer/Sculptor Guillermo Galindo on the subject of our southern border, those protecting it, and those trying to cross it. To accompany Mr. Misrach’s large, atmospheric Photographs, Mr. Galindo created a whole orchestra of Musical Instruments out of objects found along the border, and proceeded to compose and record a 4 hour score that was looped in the show’s back room to meditative effect, ingeniously installed so that the music being played was coming from speakers mounted inside the display of the specific instruments that were playing at any given moment. (The Artists have an excellent website for this show where you can, also, hear these remarkable instruments.)

Instruments, like this. Guillermo Galindo, “Tortillafono/Wall Vibraphone,” 2014, Metal. The discarded metal cap of an electrical box from the failed SBInet (Secure Border Initiative) surveillance program was turned into a mallet and string instrument sits in front of Richard Misrach’s “Artifacts fround from California to Texas between 2013 and 2015,” 2013-5, 86 x 57 inches, Pigment prints mounted to Dibond. Photos of items found along the border.

And this- Guillermo Galindo, “Teclata,” His description- “On this keyboard, empty cans, bottles, and a plastic cup act as piano strings. The surface of the instrument is decorated with Border Patrol ammunition boxes.”

The surround sound effect was like sitting in the middle of a small chamber music group. The instruments, themselves, were beautiful as sculpture, and the music, which sounded to me like a cross between Harry Partch (who, also, made his own instruments) and John Cage, on instruments that looked like Rauschenbergs, had me asking if it had been released on CD. Why not?

Richard Misrach, “Playas de Tijuana #1, San Diego,” 2013, Pigment print mounted to Dibond, 42 x 160 inches.

Mr. Misrach, who has spent forty years working in the American Desert on his renown “Desert Cantos” project, showed a remarkable selection of images taken since 2004, but more intensely since 2009 (the collaboration with Mr. Galindo dates back to 2012), that told the story in slices. The effect of the music, the images and the sculptures (musical and non) was hypnotic, and ultimately meditative on the situation, the people protecting the border, and the refugees, while at the same time, even for those directly untouched by this story, the show spoke to a larger sense of walls, borders and refugees, and resilience. The Artists found, or created, beauty in this situation, reflecting the very perseverance that is at the essence of survival.

Richard Misrach, “Wall, east of Nogales, Arizona,” 2014, 68 x 84 inches, Pigment print mounted to Dibond

On the Painting & Drawing front, the most important Painting/Drawing gallery show I haven’t addressed was Kara Walker (at Sikkema Jenkins and Co.). Before it opened the buildup was downright intense. First, these posters began appearing, which certainly raised eyebrows until you notice (along the lower left side) that the text was written by the Artist. The show was also featured in a cover article in one of the last print issues of the Village Voice. I can’t remember the last time an Art show made the Voice’s cover, but this was the last time one did.

 Kara Walker sounds a bit weary in the poster, and particularly in the “Artist’s Statement” that appears on the show’s page on the Sikkema website.

“Dredging the Quagmire (Bottomless Pit),” 2017 Oil stick and Sumi ink on paper collaged on linen, 18 feet long, seen in the show’s first room. A “bottomless quagmire” is what the history of and current state of race and gender relations does feel like at this moment in time.

In the lower right side, this almost submerged head seemed to echo Ms. Walker’s weariness in her Artist’s Statement. “But frankly I am tired, tired of standing up, being counted, tired of ‘having a voice’ or worse ‘being a role model.'”

After all the anticipation and buildup, at the packed opening, Ms. Walker, herself, was only to be seen for a little while, at least while I was there.

Kara Walker at the opening, September 7, 2017, with part of  “U.S.A. Idioms,” 2017, Sumi ink and collage on paper, almost 15 by 12 feet, in the background.

While she continues to create her signature Silhouettes, showing a gorgeous 2017 work titled “Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something),” that’s almost 18 1/2 feet long, the bulk of the show consists on her ink and collage works, that have increasingly come to the forefront of her shows as time has gone on, most recently in her Cleveland Museum show, “The Ecstasy of St. Kara,” 2016, and at MoMA’s “Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection,” which closed on July 30, 2017, where her “40 Acres of Mules,” a Charcoal Drawing on 3 sheets totaling almost 18 feet long that was acquired by the Museum the year before, was on view in what was something of a one-work preview for her Sikkema show.

“Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something),” 2017, Cut paper on canvas. For me, one thing Ms. Walker’s Silhouettes all seem to ask is “Why do you see, what you see?”

Whereas it’s hard for me to imagine the care, patience and deliberation it must take for Ms. Walker to create one of her silhouettes, her Drawing & Collages look like they are done in bursts of raw energy and passion. At times the images approach the quality of a caricature of an event. No matter the differences in creation, when you see her Silhouettes and Drawings side by side they’re unmistakably by the same Artist.

While the Silhouettes, mostly, seem to leave quite a bit to the imagination, including the race of each character, her Drawings & Collages do not, especially when it comes to violence. Nothing is held back, hinted at or hidden. In the Drawings and collages, she has taken away the curtain inherent in Silhouettes in depicting racism and gender crimes. We see the faces, skin color, eyes, and what each one is involved in doing.  You can choose to look away, but otherwise, it’s pretty hard to “miss” what’s going on. The results are shocking, though they have precedent going back to Goya’s “Los Caprichos,” and “The Disasters of War,” and Daumier through Warhol, as well as in the work of Photojournalists and “Conflict Photographers” from all over the world. In Kara Walker’s work, though, the time is centered between 1788, when slavery was legalized in the US, through post Civil War “Reconstruction.”  Where the Silhouettes present a shadow of the figure, and the actions, the Drawings shine direct light. In fact, there are almost no shadows in her drawings- there’s no where for the perpetrators to hide.

“The Pool Party of Sardanapalus (after Delacroix, Kienholz,” 2017, Sumi ink and collage on paper, Almost 12 feet long.

Eugene Delacroix, “The Death of Sardanapalus,” 1844, Oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris. Kara Walker is, also, an astute student of Art History. In her work, Sardanapalus lies horizontally near the upper left corner, apparently, taking no interest in the orgy of death going on, as he does, lying arm on elbow on a huge red bed in Delacroix’. Her Ed Kienholz reference is a bit harder to track down, but it might be this one.

In “Christ’s Entry into Journalism,” 2017, the ground is, also, gone. The figures hang in the space of the paper, though some sense of perspective remains- as you get closer to the top of the sheet, they get smaller.

“Christ’s Entry into Journalism,” 2017, Sumi ink and collage on paper, 140 x 196 inches.

In this work, Ms. Walker’s figures cut across time, with some appearing to be contemporary. To the right of center, a figure “rocks the mic.” In the lower center is a figure that appears to be a modern riot trooper, in a helmet with face shield and body armor. He appears to have clubs in each hand. Right next to his left hand is what appears to be a black head, in a hoodie, on a platter, being carried by a woman, who looks away, while others nearby watch, some with shock on their face, some pointing to the scene. Just behind them, an extended arm holds and American flag, while above them a figure gives a Nazi salute with one hand while holding a Rebel flag with the other. Up top, a lynched figure hangs from a tree branch while women on either side of him perform acrobatics, with Klansmen standing next to them. In front of that naked black women are attacked by a group of men, while, again, others see what is going on. In the center of the work, the decapitated hoodied head looks straight across at a Civil War soldier pointing a gun at him, across time. Is this 1863? Or 2016?

“Storm Ryder (You Must Hate Black People as Much as You Hate Yourself),” 2017, Oil stick and Sumi ink on paper collaged on linen.

The primacy of Drawing in her work was reinforced with the recent release of one of Ms Walker’s Sketchbooks from 1999, when the Artist was 29, as a book appropriately titled, “MCMXCIX.” It contains Drawings that, in style and subject, visitors to the Sikkema show will immediatley recognize. Interestingly, as Raymond Pettibon does in his shows (the latest concluding on June 24th, shortly before Ms. Walker’s opened), she prefers her larger works be tacked to the walls.

“Future Looks Bright,” 2017, Oil stick and Sumi ink on paper collaged on linen.

Kara Walker may be growing tired of being a “role model,” of being “a featured member of my racial group and/or my gender niche,” (as she says in her Artist’s Statement referenced above). Of course, I can’t imagine being Kara Walker, but I can understand that it gets to be “too much.” I’m not sure, however, what her other choice is. I mean, I’m sure she COULD do something else if she REALLY wanted to. After seeing all the work and passion she put into this show? I guess I’m just not convinced that she really DOES want to do something else. Yet.

Finally…Looking back on 2017… Last year I wrote that I felt Sheena Wagstaff had the best year in NYC Art. She’s had a very good 2017, too. But, this year, I think that The New Museum’s Massimiliano Gioni & Gary Carrion-Murayari. had special years, highlighted by the truly exemplary, and revolutionary, “Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work” retrospective, which they then remounted simultaneously in Maastricht and Moscow. I feel it was “revolutionary” because totaling an unheard of 800 works, including brand new works created by the Artist for this show (some on the very walls of the New Museum), they gave an exhaustive look at Pettibon’s career, yet the show never slowed, never failed to keep and even raise interest. It even included work Pettibon did as a small child that he has now ammended in his own, unique style. Word has recently come that Gary Carrion-Murayari, who kindly answered my questions on the Pettibon Moscow show he co-curated, has also been named as a co-curator for the New Museum’s 2018 Triennial, so he could be ready to have another “big” year. Stay tuned!

The end result is that Massimiliano Gioni, Gary Carrion-Murayari, and the New Museum have served to put the “Big Four”1 Manhattan Museums on notice that, on their 40th anniversary, we are going to have to get used to saying the “Big Five.”

———————————–
A Special “Thank You!” to all the Artists who gave me their time and shared their thoughts with me in 2017, and to David White & Gina Guy of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Gary Carrion-Murayari and Paul Jackson of the New Museum.
“Thank you!” to the Hattan Group and Kitty for research assistance, and to The Strand Bookstore for being open until 10:30pm seven nights a week. R.I.P. Owner, Fred Bass this week.

*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Heroic Elegy, Op. 36,” (1918), by Ernest Farrar, in honor of the 100th Anniversary of WW1, which was featured in another memorable show, “World War 1 & The Visual Arts” at The Met this year, as a way of honoring it, and all the Artists, and Musicians, lost during it. Shortly after “Heroic Elegy’s” premiere, Second Lieutenant Farrar was ordered to the Western Front. Two days after he arrived there, he was killed at the Battle of Epehy. He was 33. I first heard it while I was driving in Florida on September 11, 2002. The classical station there played it in honor of the first anniversary of 9/11. So taken with it was I that I pulled over and listened to it with my eyes closed, then immediately set about researching it’s composer. Though he wrote other fine works, “Heroic Elegy,” is special. It’s lightning in an 8 minute bottle. As beautiful as it is, there’s a quality, a confidence, in it that seems to promise so much more to come that he, tragically, never got the chance to give us, like the other Artists & Musicians lost far too early in this most senseless of wars.

“On The Fence, #17, The Good Riddance” Edition.

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  1. With all due respect to The Frick Collection, who the powers that be that came up with “the Big Four” left out. ↩

AIPAD SnapShots: The Photographers- Memorable Meetings

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

This is the third of my Series of Posts on “The Photography Show 2017” aka AIPAD.

I gave up trying to count how many Photographers of note were on hand over AIPAD’s 5 days. But, it’s with great pleasure I recount the opportunities I had to speak with many of them. Along with Jim Jocoy, the subject of the second Post in this series, here are some of my most memorable encounters…

Gregory Halpern-

Gregory Halpern standing next to his work, “Untitled” from his “Buffalo” series, at Aperture’s Booth at AIPAD, March 31st.

Gregory Halpern was the biggest revelation I had at AIPAD. Another Photographer I had never heard of until I saw this piece, “Untitled,” at Aperture’s booth on Wednesday night. I was immediately taken by it. I went home and spent the night researching him and his work. Every single example of Mr. Halpern’s work I saw held me…fascinated me…spoke to me, and downright compelled me to look again. This doesn’t happen often (the last two times being William Eggleston and Todd Hido), so I pay attention when it does. Later, I discovered that his monographs “A”,  and 2016’s “ZZYZX,” (which won Aperture’s 2016 Best Book Of The Year Award), were sold out. Hmmm…I’m not the only one his work speaks to.

This was not posed. Gregory Halpern, “Untitled” From ZZYZX. Courtesy Gregory Halpern & AIPAD.

Luckily, thanks to Kellie McLaughlin of Aperture, I was very fortunate to get a chance to meet Mr. Halpern and speak with him Friday afternoon. A cerebral, thoughtful and humble man, who also teaches Photography to very lucky students at Rochester Institute of Technology, he was so forthcoming, I found myself pulling back on asking him about certain of his works because I began to worry about losing some of their mystery that I love. Even in this brief time I could sense the depth of what is going on under the surface of this Artist. Beyond this, it seems to me that his work often has a magic to it that is incredibly rare. I came away on Wednesday night believing “Untitled” was the most compelling work I saw in the entire show by a Photographer unknown to me. During my research, I came across an absolutely amazing interview with him that anyone interested in his work must read, here. Not only might he become one of the most important Photographers of the next few years, he may, also, become one of it’s key writers. For my part, I was very surprised when he told me that Todd Hido was one of his teachers! Hmmm…Is Todd Hido (who I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting) teaching his students how to get to me? He seems to have the secret. Maybe if I ever do meet him, he’ll tell me.

Mike Mandel-

Mike Mandel signs his classic book, “Evidence.”

I met the co-author of “Evidence,” (which is listed in Martin Parr & Gerry Badger’s 3 volume set “The Photobooks,” widely considered one of the two standard references to the best PhotoBooks ever created), in passing and spoke to him briefly. My impression was that he may be a bit surprised at the ongoing importance and relevance of “Evidence,” which was first published 40 years ago in 1977. Perhaps, even he didn’t see that coming. The first book created from found and repurposed photos, the branches that have come off of it’s tree just seem to go on and on, and given the world’s current situation, show no sign of ending.

Lee Friedlander and Tabitha Soren-

Lee Friedlander, with TBW’s Lester Rosso, left, peruses his new book, “Head,” part of TBW Books Subscription Series No. 5

Tabitha Soren, who was with MTV back in the day, now a Photographer, with Lester Rosso and Paul Schiek (left and center) of TBW Books.

I met both (separately) in passing at the TBW Booth. The legendary Mr. Friedlander was looking over his new book by TBW, and Ms. Soren was perusing their latest releases, while 3 of her Photo-works were on view over at Aperture’s booth, along with her Baseball-themed book.

Jo Bentdal-

Jo Bentdal, with 4 of his portraits from his series “Common Sensibility.”

I met the Portraitist at Shoot Gallery, Oslo, Norway’s booth. I couldn’t believe it when I got home from the show and looked at the shot I took of him. It so looks like one of his portraits he’s standing alongside of, right? Did he do this knowingly? I don’t know, but meeting him was full of fascinating insights into the state of Photography in this country most New Yorkers know almost nothing about. Mr. Bentdal’s Portraits of young women (part of a series of 11 works of girls ages 13-15 titled “Common Sensibility”) hang in the collection of a large bank in Norway, which I found very interesting, and hopeful, as a statement of responsibility to (the) next generation(s), who are watching us. I couldn’t help but think back to the Northern European Painted Portrait tradition, which share some similar poses, but always with more going on in the background (usually religious). There is a hint of them here, for me, but more, there was a purity New Yorkers don’t often see in portraits, surrounded as we are by the Nan Goldins and others who have come along since Diane Arbus here. I found Mr. Bentdal’s work a refreshing reminder of other possibilities, and that there is a big world out there, I hear. More about him, here.

Continuing to explore Shoot Gallery’s booth, right next to four of Mr. Bentdal’s Portraits, were two double exposures by Dag Alveng-

Den Alveng with “This is most important/Table Cloth,” a double exposure from 2001, before 9/11.

Mr. Alveng was born in Oslo, but commuted between Oslo and NYC between 1986 and 1996. Even New Yorkers would call that a heck of a commute! Both works he showed were shot in NYC, the one above in pre 9/11 2001, which I found an interesting choice to show here. When I mentioned that, Mr. Alveng said that 9/11 had the same impact everywhere. The work has an image of dining tables in the forefront, with additional tables seen in the same shot through the window. This leads to the second exposure, which takes us further and further back, until we reach the World Trade Center all the way in the center rear. Even though 9/11 was almost 16 years ago, I still find it hard to look at pictures of the Twin Towers without thinking about that day- in spite of the fact that I have many many other, earlier, memories of them. This one was no different, with it’s juxtaposition of fine dining, which is a pleasure for most, the looming tall towers in the back, make it hard to enjoy anything, leaving me with the overriding feeling of impending doom. Like the saying “he who doesn’t remember the past is doomed to repeat it.” But, that’s just me- Your results may differ. As he explained to me, the resulting image from the double exposure was pure chance. Remarkable, indeed. It is exceedingly well done, with a subtlety that rewards multiple viewings, especially at this generous size. Depth of field seems to be a key element in Mr. Alveng’s work- be it single or double exposure. His use of the latter technique led to fascinating results in both works he showed, the other work features children frolicking in the City, an interesting “bridge” to Mr. Bentdal’s Portraits next to it. The children’s mother magically appears in the work, in double exposure, insights I could only get by being fortunate that Mr. Alveng was there, and was gracious enough to tell me about the work’s genesis, and to pose for a photo with “This is most important/Table Cloth,” a piece I will forever think of when I think of him. More of his work is here, and at Shoot Gallery, Norway’s site. I have a feeling we will be seeing more of his work in NYC. I hope so.

Right next to his work was a small set of unique works- glass negatives on black sheets by Eric Antoine, priced at 5,000. each. Mr. Antoine, who was unknown to me, and who I did not meet, is a Master of this medium, and the extraordinary detail contained in each of these very beautiful works made me feel the price was a bargain.

Raymond Meeks-

Raymond Meeks’ “Cabbage White” Folio (in progress). He asked I photograph his work instead of him.

Another Photographer I had never heard of until meeting him at the booth he shared with TBW. I should have heard of him. He’s had a few books released by prestigious Nazraeli Books, including one in their renowned “One Picture Books” series, and a darn good one, as well as a book in their very first “Six By Six” (Series 1), where he was joined by no less than Todd Hido, Anthony Hernandez, Martin Parr, Mark Stenmetz and Toshio Shibata- heavy hitters, all. He’s also been published by TBW Books, and if you hurry, a classic example of his work is available at Light Work, the fine non-profit organization that supports Photographers, here, for 300.00. Mr. Meeks was showing a gorgeous hand made Artist Book entitled “Cabbage White,” a folio that includes a hand made box, a book, a broadside, a silver gelatin print, mostly shot near his upstate New York home that alternates intensely lyrical Black & White shots of nature and people- singly or in groups. The effect is transportive, like a trip to another place where people swim, hang out, jump and leap into the water and live, like people Live, like the exceptionally beautiful trees he seems to be known for live. Though accompanied by text, Mr. Meeks is a visual poet, who’s work possesses a rare lyricism that has the power to take you out of yourself on journeys his work suggests. This may be best experienced in the Artist-controlled context of this precious boxed set, of which he has only created 30 copies, so this strikes me as, perhaps, the ideal way to experience Raymond Meeks. Beware- this work will get inside you, sprout roots and grow inside of you, like one of the trees he renders with a beauty and skill reminiscent of classic Photography. Like his work, he’s an equally down to earth and forthright man, who’s looming, quiet, watchful presence mirrors his work.

Bruce Davidson-

 

Bruce Davidson signs his book “Central Park” for yours truly.

(As I mentioned in the first Post in this series.) I asked the man who I consider the Dean of New York City Photographers how he survived shooting the 1980 photos that became his classic book, “Subway,” back when the trains were like the Wild West. He cryptically told me “It was because I looked like a photographer.” I spent the rest of the day thinking this over. While this was the fist time I’d met Mr. Davidson, I own two of his pieces, and a number of his books, and along the way, I’ve spoken to many people who know or knew and/or who worked with him. The one thing I remember all of them saying was, “Ohhhhhh…..Bruce…”, with an utter fondness in their voice, that’s rare in my experience- not about Photographers. About people. I came away feeling that Bruce Davidson has a presence, a persona that people just like, and/or don’t feel threatened around. Looking at his work, how else to explain how so many of his subjects show us parts of themselves they probably don’t show everyone? Mr. Davidson sat and signed at Steidl’s booth for a solid hour, and I took the chance to have him sign his extraordinary collection of many of his greatest books, “Black And White,” for me. It’s a set every lover of great Photography should have, in my opinion, before it goes out of print, like the original versions of all the books it contains did.

Other Photographers seen, but unmet-

Builder Levy, the social documentarian and street photographer seen in front of some of his work.

Richard Rinaldi, right, discusses his new book “Manhattan Sunday,” about night owls in Manhattan circa 2010. Hey! Wait just one minute there.

Paolo Ventura, left, with Kellie McLaughlin of Aperture (center), shows a copy of his latest book, “Short Stories.” I can’t imagine how much work goes into one of Mr. Ventura’s pieces.

And finally, the amazing Tony Vaccaro, who’s lived an unfathomable life in Photography. Famous for iconic shots of Georgia O’Keeffe, Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Frank Lloyd Wright, among many others, oh, and World War II, which France gave him the Legion D’Honneur for his photos of, seen at Monroe Gallery’s Booth.

Had enough of AIPAD? Me neither. Over 5 days, (and I was there for all 5), there was a lot to see. More to come!

This is Part 2 of the most extensive coverage of AIPAD, 2017, available anywhere! The rest of this 4-part series is here.

*-Soundtrack for this Post is “Every Picture Tells A Story (Don’t It?)” by Ron Wood and Steve Harley and recorded by Rod Stewart.

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