What should a photography fair be? Invited to the vernissage (opening) of AIPAD one of the world's premiere photo fairs. They moved 2 years ago to the piers where the March Armory Show is now. Ironically AIPAD moved from the Armory as did the Armory Show. I remember AIPAD at the Armory. Congeniality, wine flowing, food. AIPAD at the Piers is somewhat austere. Shouldn't a vernissage be fun?! Pay your own way all the way. I understand. But if I'd paid $150 for early view or $75 for a vernissage some gratis something wouldn't be asking too much. It's the principal. But then, nowadays, where on earth would you find principles in NYC?!
All that said: everyone seems to have far more space at the Piers compared the Armory. And wide aisles. So what's not to like? Well: dare I say but my last AIPAD 2 years ago at the Armory I felt more frisson. The frisson at the Piers this year is a massively underused center space for All Power: Visual Legacies of the Black Panther Party. All great but ….could have been so so much more. You have the attention. USE IT! You'll all hate me for writing that but it's true. The more impact you give it in terms the grander lesser, ironically the lesser it becomes. Just my opinion.
I did struggle to find much that yelled at me. Even quietly. You know Walker Evans is so now revered untouchable old hat that MoMA is selling off loads of stuff at Christie's. But at one time Walker Evans did yell. You spy a Philip-Lorca diCorcia and he yelled. He yelled all the way to the US Judicial system and won when he took a photo of an Hassadic Jew on NY streets (that is strictly totally legal). 55bellechasse are still yelling Niloufar Banissdr (as they should be, thank…) who I made the acquaintance of many years ago at an art satellite fair. In fairness: where is your new blood? A revolution always needs new ideas otherwise it becomes…well u know.
That said: stalwart photo gallerist Howard Greenberg didn't disappoint with old wondrous fair as well as Alex Majoli and Jungjin Lee
The must see photo show of the year IS at AIPAD: . Mr Baio has created Sir John Soane Museum.... There are collectors who invest to collect, to invest. Then there are collectors who just: are passionate. And who love something …uuuuuummmum. more than their dogs. well maybe equally in due measure.....fascinating selections from The Mysterious Photo Album of a Country Priest (Catholic, rural Auvergne, c.1950)
p.s. I love the photo link but it in no way represents Mr.Baio's collection. Nothing could represent but the entire collection! And these are just selections...
Of course, you can yell quite loudly very quietly and still be heard amongst all the voices. Hiroshi Sugimoto is often hung all by himself. Yet so powerful are his images, the story would get heard just as well on a crowded wall, as Joe Baio's exhibit so powerfully illustrates. London dealer Michael Hoppen has been a forthright voice for decades in the photography world and introduces us to Siân Davey. She had no intention of following in Sally Mann's steps but she does so vividly and boldly on a different path.
tbc…
So-is my original question really: is photography always sculpture? If so then where does that leave sculpture? I didn't leave former AIPAD comment unrequited simply there was a bigger picture, not me just being a bit grumpy;) I harken back to a comment that one influential dealer made to me many moons ago that AIPAD was once full of of street photography 'now we have class'- my quotation in single quotes;) When you think about it, what a great impetus for a dissertation. N'est palm?
I feel very bad not getting out to more galleries..hey ho. So here's where my thoughts started: with Cy Twombly at Gagosian (a museum worthy show of his works on paper). I met Mr. C.T. many millenian moons ago in London. Were 'they' recording me then :(). Nah- you were never that smart! I was tres jejeune. I just that is the ultimate definition of tautology.
I can't/couldn't ever love his early squiggles. But if ever there was a C20th artist that deserved patience for 'squddles' Cy Twombly's your human. (great contemp art intro for kids- do they get it …) I would think so. If Paul Klee took a line for a walk Twombly takes it for, well not a rollercoaster. No. But certainly a dance. He was contemporary of Merce Cunningham. Though they never…nor were ever probably influenced by each other.
And then tonight. An absolutely extraordinary exhibition at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery of Claire Falkenstein Matter in Motion. I did not know of Ms. Falkenstein. But EXTRAORDINARY is the word for her work. Sculptor Lynda Benglis showed up tonight and concurred with me EXTRAORDINARY! She painted, she sculpted, she drew, she fired ceramics. And apparently she even made some little films starting in the 1950's (they are still unearthing)- Terry Riley did the soundtrack to one in the 1970's. She was and was always 'on the map'. Martha Jackson gallerist….uptime/all America exposure in gallery shows…but time moves …was it that she was female?…was it that she moved West Coast when only NY centricity mattered? Time moves on.
Or ...does it?
Claire Falkenstein: Shapes in Transition, 1948 (painted, cut and incised aluminum mounted to wood frame)
Photo: Andrew Lucre
So what has this to do with photography? Well everything. What is so fascinating about 'snappers' Helen Levitt and Vivian Maier is that they sculpt with their camera. Or rather they see ordinary lives that there sculpture and somehow better or worse capture. It is choreography. The skill and eye is seeing what gets hidden or is that rather revealed by the everyday. Or is the everyday consistently fascinating? Hello Albert Maysles and Fred Wiseman. Every documentary is an edit (even if u r Frederick Wiseman;) The moment one tries to 'capture' something life moves rapidly on.
Could any sculpture possibly ever be an 'edit'? Photography is ALWAYS an edit ! But can photography ever be sculpture?
Photo: Andrew Lucre
tbc - I need a 'gnome break'…..,,,,,,,,,
allora...Aurora never arrived...dispiace....;(
Anyone heard of:
"The Center for Italian Modern Art is proud to present the first exhibition in the United States of the work of Alberto Savinio (1891–1952) in over two decades. Hailed by poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire as the paragon of a Renaissance man, Savinio was not only an exceptional visual artist and member of the Parisian avant-garde, but also a gifted pianist, composer, musicologist, set designer, critic, and writer. Yet despite his achievements, Savinio, the younger brother of Giorgio de Chirico, is today virtually unknown outside of Italy." There's a lecture at the Italian Cultural Institute Mon (April 9). And more photography.
Just goes to show all that glitters of your brother is not…
This is not an excuse for a show. It IS THE SHOW!
...
I feel La Strada coming on...so help me...no relation but how could it be not in a parallel Italian world.
I'll post thus far-just in case a bit of errant Chinese space junk hits me on the head (more likely I'll suffer a heart attack watching the daily news….) ..
Itbc - need a 'gnome -tree-break'…..,,,,,,,,, met a 'beech tree' in the u know and we got talkin'...as you do...
i did was thinking of more to say about AIPAD...maybe all is enough said.
Let me sleep on that.....
oooh ....but there's amazing new work of Stan Douglas using cosine algorithms and lacqure ink printers at David Zwirner....
u know what is a segue here is The Florida Project-a widescreen movie directed by Sean Baker who made the camera-phone Tangerine. It's an artist filming reality and yet: is it wrong for the kids after all THAT to finally run off to their near God-like neighbor that embodies both the problem and yet ironically the ultimate artistic solution with all that incredible talent?
