I am helping out with a benefit to help stop the rampant destruction along the Bowery. For those of you new to town, the Bowery only recently became home to all of those swanky hotels and high rises. Its history is much more colorful and sordid than what it has become.
In addition to music and performances, there will be a silent art auction---great opportunity to score a great piece of art and help support a grassroots organization. Artists include Mette Madsen, Aimai Reporter, Anna Sawaryn, Gilda Pervin, Phillipe Solomon, Sally Young, and an 11" x 14" by yours truly, from my ongoing photo project examining the rapid destruction of Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Hope to see you there!
Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
BAN
presents
An Evening to Save The Bowery
Saturday, September 27, 2008
6:30 - 9:30 p.m
at
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
one block north of Houston St.
music, poetry and film
--art auction--
--raffle--
proceeds benefit the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN)
a grassroots organization working to protect
residents, small businesses - the neighborhood
&
the historic character of the Bowery
admission: $10 per person
additional donations welcome
checks payable to:
Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
184 Bowery #4
NYC, NY 10012
∼ boweryneighbors.org ∼
Sep 26, 2008
BUCKMINSTER FULLER AT THE WHITNEY MUSEUM
A big part of American worlds fair history is the geodesic dome, the creation of a wildly brilliant engineer / inventor named Buckminster Fuller.
The show currently open at the Whitney museum is a brilliant portrayal of two creator's interpretations of how we experience space --- and domes. Buckminster's dome was featured prominently in the Montreal 1967 worlds fair.
In addition to Fuller's drawings, models, photographs, and other such paraphernelia, there was also an exhibition of Paul McCarthy's work. Instead of the performance art involving condiments and cooks 
which most people are so familiar with, this was installations examining how we understand space. One piece involved standing in the middle of a small, square room which slowly rotated. Each wall had one door in the center. As it slowly rotated---viewers standing inside and spinning along with it---each wall started slowly opening up, the door opening slowly and then slamming shut violently. It was disorienting and an interesting examination of our perception of structure as a solid and non-moving entity.
The show currently open at the Whitney museum is a brilliant portrayal of two creator's interpretations of how we experience space --- and domes. Buckminster's dome was featured prominently in the Montreal 1967 worlds fair.
In addition to Fuller's drawings, models, photographs, and other such paraphernelia, there was also an exhibition of Paul McCarthy's work. Instead of the performance art involving condiments and cooks which most people are so familiar with, this was installations examining how we understand space. One piece involved standing in the middle of a small, square room which slowly rotated. Each wall had one door in the center. As it slowly rotated---viewers standing inside and spinning along with it---each wall started slowly opening up, the door opening slowly and then slamming shut violently. It was disorienting and an interesting examination of our perception of structure as a solid and non-moving entity.
JOEL STERNFELD AT LUHRING AUGUSTINE
As many of my colleagues know, a day gallery hopping is never completely awe-inspiring or rewarding---in fact, it can be often downright depressing.
So, I was extremely pleased to see the show at Luhring Augustine of Joel Sternfeld's large-format photographs around Oxbow in upstate New York.
I find it very fulfilling to find work like Sternfeld's still so solidly holds its own in the contemporary art world, as opposed to trendier, flashier photography with less gravitas. These photographs depict the subtle nuances which nature presents in one tiny corner of the world over a period of time. The work is sincere, beautiful, and perhaps a bit obsessive---my favorite type of photography. Even if the work is a 'break from the sublime' as the press release describes, the pictures are luscious just in their scale and perfect composition. Each photograph is obviously the product of a very slow, meditative picture-making process.
So, I was extremely pleased to see the show at Luhring Augustine of Joel Sternfeld's large-format photographs around Oxbow in upstate New York.
I find it very fulfilling to find work like Sternfeld's still so solidly holds its own in the contemporary art world, as opposed to trendier, flashier photography with less gravitas. These photographs depict the subtle nuances which nature presents in one tiny corner of the world over a period of time. The work is sincere, beautiful, and perhaps a bit obsessive---my favorite type of photography. Even if the work is a 'break from the sublime' as the press release describes, the pictures are luscious just in their scale and perfect composition. Each photograph is obviously the product of a very slow, meditative picture-making process.
THE GRAHAM FOUNDATION
The Graham Foundation is an organization whom sponsors scholarly works in architectural research. This past week I submitted this proposal for continuing work on my world's fair project. I sincerely hope the Foundation can help support 'Future Passed:'
Into the London sky soared an incredible structure; 900,000 panes of glass delicately strung together by thin bands of iron, surrounded by an impeccable display of landscaping. Designed by Joseph Paxton, this massive structure was the architectural equivalent of total imperial might, the crowning achievement of industrial Victorian England. This was the great Crystal Palace of the first world’s fair, the Great Exposition of 1851.
Future Passed is an examination of how the sites and structures of world's fairs---conceived and built for a temporary, specific purpose---interact in today's unforeseen environment. World’s fairs were considered ‘timekeepers of progress,’ indicative of each era's greatest human achievement. Some of the most important architects of the 19th and 20th century were commissioned to construct fair pavilions, dazzling, unusual structures incorporating the most cutting-edge materials and engineering prowess possible at the time. Among them are Daniel Burnham, McKim, Mead, and White, Louis Sullivan, Eiffel, Le Corbusier, Ando, Mies Van der Rohe, and the landscaping of Frederick Law Olmstead.
But, what happens after the fair leaves town? Tragically, these extraordinary structures are often immediately demolished, reappropriated for far less grand ambitions, or simply neglected. There is a seeming arbitrariness to what survives. In Philadelphia, two of the four remnants from 1876 are fair toilet buildings. In Paris, we have such national icons as the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais, and the Palais de Tokyo. In Flushing Meadows Park of New York, Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion of 1964 sits in sad decrepitude, its stocky concrete support columns chipped and covered in ivy. As an architectural photographer, I became entranced with the fantastical buildings overgrown with weeds, often neglected and ill-fitting among the sleek, modern high-rises looming around them. I use time of year and day---as well as a lush or stark color palette---to further convey the atmosphere of these sometimes-ghostly sites.
To date, I have photographed 15 fair sites, including Paris, Brussels, Seville, Barcelona, Spokane, New York, New Orleans, San Diego, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Due to financial constraints, I have not yet had opportunity to photograph sites in Asia. With the support of the Graham Foundation, I would expand the project to include important architectural spectacles in Japan and Korea, such as Kenzo Tange's Festival Plaza in Osaka of the 1970 Expo.
The ultimate function of Future Passed is to serve as the definitive---albeit subjective and conceptual--- archive of photographs of world's fair sites. The final goal involves a five-year plan: to photograph 3-5 sites a year for the next five years (projected end date: 2013). When I have photographed 40-50 sites, I will approach museums and galleries for exhibition of large-scale color prints; ideal venues would be museums originally constructed for world’s fairs, such as the Queens Museum in New York and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Additional plans involve a hardcover book. (I have worked with Kiki Bauer of Powerhouse books on preliminary layout.) Future Passed has been exhilarating and challenging, and I sincerely hope the Graham Foundation can help to further this project.
Into the London sky soared an incredible structure; 900,000 panes of glass delicately strung together by thin bands of iron, surrounded by an impeccable display of landscaping. Designed by Joseph Paxton, this massive structure was the architectural equivalent of total imperial might, the crowning achievement of industrial Victorian England. This was the great Crystal Palace of the first world’s fair, the Great Exposition of 1851.
Future Passed is an examination of how the sites and structures of world's fairs---conceived and built for a temporary, specific purpose---interact in today's unforeseen environment. World’s fairs were considered ‘timekeepers of progress,’ indicative of each era's greatest human achievement. Some of the most important architects of the 19th and 20th century were commissioned to construct fair pavilions, dazzling, unusual structures incorporating the most cutting-edge materials and engineering prowess possible at the time. Among them are Daniel Burnham, McKim, Mead, and White, Louis Sullivan, Eiffel, Le Corbusier, Ando, Mies Van der Rohe, and the landscaping of Frederick Law Olmstead.
But, what happens after the fair leaves town? Tragically, these extraordinary structures are often immediately demolished, reappropriated for far less grand ambitions, or simply neglected. There is a seeming arbitrariness to what survives. In Philadelphia, two of the four remnants from 1876 are fair toilet buildings. In Paris, we have such national icons as the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais, and the Palais de Tokyo. In Flushing Meadows Park of New York, Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion of 1964 sits in sad decrepitude, its stocky concrete support columns chipped and covered in ivy. As an architectural photographer, I became entranced with the fantastical buildings overgrown with weeds, often neglected and ill-fitting among the sleek, modern high-rises looming around them. I use time of year and day---as well as a lush or stark color palette---to further convey the atmosphere of these sometimes-ghostly sites.
To date, I have photographed 15 fair sites, including Paris, Brussels, Seville, Barcelona, Spokane, New York, New Orleans, San Diego, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Due to financial constraints, I have not yet had opportunity to photograph sites in Asia. With the support of the Graham Foundation, I would expand the project to include important architectural spectacles in Japan and Korea, such as Kenzo Tange's Festival Plaza in Osaka of the 1970 Expo.
The ultimate function of Future Passed is to serve as the definitive---albeit subjective and conceptual--- archive of photographs of world's fair sites. The final goal involves a five-year plan: to photograph 3-5 sites a year for the next five years (projected end date: 2013). When I have photographed 40-50 sites, I will approach museums and galleries for exhibition of large-scale color prints; ideal venues would be museums originally constructed for world’s fairs, such as the Queens Museum in New York and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Additional plans involve a hardcover book. (I have worked with Kiki Bauer of Powerhouse books on preliminary layout.) Future Passed has been exhilarating and challenging, and I sincerely hope the Graham Foundation can help to further this project.
WORLD'S FAIR SEATING CHARTS
My current body of work involves shooting world's fair sites around the globe. I am completely obsessed with this project. I have tried 'casually shooting' other subject matter, but it fell flat. My goal is to shoot 4-5 sites each year for the next five years, and then put out a huge book, and exhibit the work in various locales both along the way to that end and at the culmination of the project.
There is no way my wedding could escape unscathed from my world's fair project. I have designated each table a specific fair structure. To the end, I designed Victorian style pseudo-postcards using my photographs.
I also created a seating chart depicting each of the fair-pavilion-tables and who sits at them.
There is no way my wedding could escape unscathed from my world's fair project. I have designated each table a specific fair structure. To the end, I designed Victorian style pseudo-postcards using my photographs.
I also created a seating chart depicting each of the fair-pavilion-tables and who sits at them.
MARRIAGE and GROWING UP
I am finally marrying my boyfriend of 6 years, a sweet, Filipino painter named Lambert. The families mutter 'it's about time' under their breath while smiling and hugging us. I never was the type of lady whose goal it was to get hitched - it wasn't something I actually ever thought about. But it seems like the right time to take on this new commitment. Lambert and I have been through a lot: 3 different apartments in Brooklyn, 5 weeks in a car traveling around the American west, countless photo shoots, and bike rides through the Bronx dressed in costume.
THE CLOSEST THING TO A DIGITAL 4 x 5 : THE CAMBO
Being unemployed gives me a lot of time to think about my photography, as I can't afford to actually go on a proper shoot at the moment.
Every day during breakfast, I leaf through the Calumet catalog that has not made it's way into the recycling. In the newest one was this beautiful instrument:
So, my birthday is in November. If any of you are wondering what to get me, you can get me this camera. And some lenses.
This is the closest thing I have seen to a digital large format camera. The design looks great. I do appreciate the vigour and suffering of traveling with 30 film holders, lugging them from shoot to shoot, and huddling in a yucky hotel room with my arms in the changing tent, loading and unloading film. This camera would probably save me a lot of time---and that would be amazing.
Every day during breakfast, I leaf through the Calumet catalog that has not made it's way into the recycling. In the newest one was this beautiful instrument:
So, my birthday is in November. If any of you are wondering what to get me, you can get me this camera. And some lenses.
This is the closest thing I have seen to a digital large format camera. The design looks great. I do appreciate the vigour and suffering of traveling with 30 film holders, lugging them from shoot to shoot, and huddling in a yucky hotel room with my arms in the changing tent, loading and unloading film. This camera would probably save me a lot of time---and that would be amazing.
ABOUT MYSELF AND WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS BLOG
This is a very brief intro to myself and why you should find this blog so utterly fascinating.
I am a recent-ish MFA photography graduate from the School of Visual Arts (May 2008).
I am unemployed.
I am getting married in 8 days.
I live in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
I have serious goals for this blog. It is not going to an obnoxious, typical, fine-arts-shmoozing photography blog. Yes, I will link to my friends who make kick-ass work. Yes, I will go on and on about geeky photo stuff which I find fascinating. But there will be no cheesy 'photo comparisons' by various famous photogs, or links to every trendy photographer out there, or any type of rhyme or reason...it will much be much more subjective than all of that.
WHERE DOES IT BEGIN
I've been meaning to start a blog for quite a while.I've started maybe five that I never followed through on. This one, I have the fullest intentions of following through on. For today, anyway.
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