photo-eye | BLOG: December 2017

Opening and Artist Reception for LOCAL EIGHT group exhibition.

As 2017 comes to a close, we're looking back at a few of our favorite highlights from the past year. We are thrilled with each of our represented artist’s exhibitions as well as the work by showcase artists and new friends.

We kicked off the year with LOCAL EIGHT an exhibition featuring a diverse group of eight photo-eye Gallery represented artists who live and work in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. The spring followed with Warm Regards, a solo show spanning 30 years of work from the incomparable Finnish treasure Pentti Sammallahti. In the summer months, we were excited to present Maggie Taylor’s first exhibition at photo-eye Gallery, A tale begun in other days, featuring her whimsical photomontages. Mitch Dobrowner’s powerful TEMPEST followed in the fall with a collection of all new storm images created during the past two summers. We proudly end the year with Rendezvous with Light an exhibition focused on nature, time, and origin featuring work by photographers David H. Gibson and Chaco Terada.

In the photo-eye Bookstore Project Space, we showcased gallery artist Steve Fitch's American Motel Signs in honor of his new monograph of the same title. In the spring, featured local photographer Karen Kuehn's black-and-white celebrity portraits from her amazing self-published book Maverick Camera, and come fall, we were proud to display Jeanine Michna-Bales' moving series Through Darkness to Light, photographs tracing the underground railroad. This winter the bookstore project space has been home to the gorgeous photogravure plates from Karl Blossfeldt's seminal 19th Century study The Architecture of Plants.

The photo-eye Gallery team would like to say THANK YOU to all of our artists for their hard work, and to our clients for their support and dedication in 2017! We're looking forward to working with you in the new year.

photo-eye Staff members (from left) Rixon Reed, Christopher J. Johnson (former), Christian Filardo, Savannah Sakry, Forrest Soper, and Anne Kelly

Zoë Zimmerman and Jamey Stillings at the Opening and Artist Reception for LOCAL EIGHT

photo-eye Booth at Art Palm Springs 2017

Installation View for Pentti Sammallahti's Warm Regards

Maggie Taylor at her 1st photo-eye Gallery exhibition A tale begun in other days

photo-eye Gallery Director Anne Kelly with represented artist Maggie Taylor
at the "Dining with the Artist" event at Hotel Santa Fe

Represented Artist Mitch Dobrowner stands beside Helix and Trees the signature image for his 2017 exhibition TEMPEST.

photo-eye Blog Editor Forrest Soper with a slice of the best chocolate cake ever.

Represented artists Chaco Terada and David H. Gibson at the Opening of their two-person show Rendezvous with Light

Photographer Chaco Terada with Gallery Associate Savannah Sakry

Waxing Crescent by Kate Breakey, Glass Plate, 24kt Gold Leaf, – $600, Framed

With only days left before December 25th, I know personally, I'm still looking to cross a few names off my list. If you live in the Santa Fe area or happen to be spending the holidays here, (which if you haven't, it's magic – you absolutely should) photo-eye Gallery has a unique ready-to-wrap gift perfect for the collector, photographer, or art lover in your life.

In this collection, Anne, Savannah, and I have selected small framed prints and handmade books, among other works, that can be carried out of the gallery the same day. Many of the works listed are one-of-a-kind or not available on our website and by some of our favorite artists like Kate Breakey and Keith Carter.

While it's too late for shipments to arrive before Monday, if you do need an item to be shipped we can provide a customized card with an image of the work to present the gift recipient. Or, possibly like myself, you have more than one Holiday celebration to attend, and the items listed in the collection are available to be sent out early next week in time for your second gathering.

Once again, our thanks for all your interest, support, and enthusiasm this year; enjoy the collection!

–Lucas Shaffer, Gallery Associate

Kate Breakey

Framed Orotones by Kate Breakey

From Left to Right

Lunar Eclipse, February 2008

Archival Pigment Print

Glass Plate, 24kt Gold

5x3.5 Inches

Edition of 20

$600 – Framed in antique daguerreotype case

Waxing Crescent

Archival Pigment Print

Glass Plate, 24kt Gold

5x3.5 Inches

Edition of 20

$600 – Framed in antique daguerreotype case

Full Moon

Archival Pigment Print

Glass Plate, 24kt Gold

5x3.5 Inches

Edition of 20

$600 – Framed in antique daguerreotype case

Keith Carter

Bogdog, 2014

Tintype

10x8 inches

Edition of 15

$1,925 - Framed by the artist

Bogdog is no longer being printed as a tintype by the artist, this print is the last available at photo-eye Gallery.

Four Moths, 2012

Tintype

8x10 inches

Edition of 15

$1,525 - Framed by the Artist

Four Moths is no longer being printed as a tintype by the artist, this print is the last available at photo-eye Gallery.

» Inquire

Pentti Sammallahti

Helsinki, Finland, 2002

Silver Gelatin Print

6.25x8.25 Inches

11x14 Inch Mat

SOLD

» Inquire

David Gibson

Sunrise Moments, Cypress Creek, Wimberley, Texas
Handmade Artist Book
3.75x4.5 Inches
$165 – ONLY ONE LEFT

This tiny tome is perfect for any collection and includes a clear acrylic display case.

» Inquire

James Pitts

FLOWERS
Mini Print Portfolio
2x1.5 Inches
55 Archival Pigment Prints
$250

This charming petite portfolio contains 55 black-and-white archival pigment prints of Pitts' flower images. We also have a few of these images as original Platinum Palladium prints as well. Please inquire if you are interested.

» Inquire

Ernie Button

Vanishing Spirits: The Macallan® Collection

photo-eye EDITIONS portfolio
10 Archival Pigment Prints
Engraved Aluminum Box, Lined with Silk, Foil Stamped Folder
Limited Edition of 30
$1,500

» View the Edition
» Inquire

Brad Wilson

Wild Life, Special Edition
Photographs by Brad Wilson
Prestel, Lakewood, 2014, 184 pp., illustrated throughout, 10x11¾"

6½x9½" Archival Pigment Print on 8.5x11" Paper
Signed by Artist on Verso
Protected by crystal clear acetate
Open Edition

Hardbound: $250

» Inquire

Maggie Taylor

No Ordinary Days
Photographs by Maggie Taylor.

Jerry N. Uelsmann, Inc., Coral Gables, Florida, USA, 2013. 168 pp., 120 color illustrations, 13x11".

Trade Edition Hardbound: $95

Limited Edition: $750 – Version A
100 signed and numbered copies housed in a custom clamshell box. Version A contains Moving On, an 8'x8' archival pigment print signed and numbered in an edition of 50.

» Inquire

—

Pricing for listed items was correct at the time this post was published. Price and availability are subject to change.

For more information, and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com.

photo-eye Gallery
541 S. Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501

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Tues – Sat 10am–5:30pm

photo-eye Gallery is located in the Railyard Arts District

FREE PARKING

Good Goddamn By Bryan Schutmaat. Trespasser, 2017.

Forrest Soper selects Good Goddamn by Bryan Schutmaat from Trespasser as Book of the Week.

“What can you leave behind when you're flyin' lightning fast and all alone? Only a trace, my friend […] A trace that will not fade in frozen skies.” — Townes Van Zandt

"Good Goddamn is Bryan Schutmaat’s third monograph. Shot over the period of 'a few unseasonably warm days in February,' it documents Bryan Schutmaat’s friend, Kris, and his last few days of freedom before imprisonment. These days are filled with drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, driving trucks and firing guns. Twenty-seven black-and-white photographs are contained within this intimate staple bound publication.

Good Goddamn’s pages reveal a myriad of emotions ensconced within the haunting stillness that is present throughout the book. Liberation, sadness, loneliness, uncertainty, and ultimately acceptance all make appearances. Truck tires spinout in the mud, light beer cans litter the ground, an antler rests among the leaves, and embers from the fire reach up into the night sky. Through the photographs, Leon County becomes something familiar — it becomes home. This book speaks to the last moments before you say goodbye. Goodbye to your home, to your freedom, to something you love.

It speaks to Kris’s character, that his last days of freedom were spent in the woods enjoying nature. The book aptly begins with an excerpt from Townes Van Zandt’s High, Low and In Between. Like an outlaw country song, this book is bittersweet, brief, poetic, and incredibly moving. Also like a country song, this book paints a chapter in a man’s life. Kris’s story and Good Goddamn alike are both traces that become legacies — legacies that become legends." — Forrest Soper

Purchase Book

Good Goddamn By Bryan Schutmaat. Trespasser, 2017.

Forrest Soper is an artist and photographer based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Forrest is the Editor of photo-eye Blog, a former photochemical lab technician at Bostick & Sullivan, and a graduate of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

David H. Gibson completing a panorama on location at Plaza Blanca, Abiquiu, New Mexico.
Image © Walter Nelson

David H. Gibson once defined his photographic work as "a constant process of experiencing the unexpected …like listening to music with its structure of sound forming and unfolding during performance." I love this quote because I find David's imagery, perhaps more than any other artist at photo-eye Gallery – melodic. From the staccato Jazz improvisation of Lotus Stems and Cloud Reflections to the low orchestral hum of Sunrise, Aug 26th, Gibson's photographs are rhythmic, lyrical, and harmonious possessing music's facility to arouse emotion.

In honor of Rendezvous with Light, Gibson's current exhibition at photo-eye Gallery, I had the privilege of interviewing the artist regarding his background, philosophy, and photographic practice.

– Lucas Shaffer

David H. Gibson – Lotus Stems and Cloud Reflections, Texas Gulf Coast, 1998 Toned Gelatin-Silver Print,
9.5x13" Image, Edition of 45

Lucas Shaffer: For clients with the privilege of viewing your work for the first time, how did you begin your career as a photographer, and what draws to you making images? Who would you list among your influences?

David H. Gibson: My first introduction to photographic process occurred as a child. My father had set up a temporary darkroom in our kitchen and I saw a print develop and appear as if by magic. I do not remember being invited back but the memory is as clear as yesterday. He was an experienced printer working for a commercial photographer to help put himself through the University of Louisville. He made photographs around Louisville and experimented with carbro printing. He made portraits of us in b/w until color film became available and from that point on he made slides. I had a Brownie camera for fun and later a 35mm camera for general use.

In 1965 my engagement with photography changed dramatically. We were given an exhibition catalog of The Family of Man. I came to the double page spread of Ansel Adam’s Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada from Manzanar, California. In the foreground was a massive boulder field of incredible rock forms. The mountains in the background light streams through backlighted clouds was a dramatic theatrical event captured perfectly. I decided at that point to try to learn how to make an expressive print. I purchased Ansel’s books, set up a dark room, and began the process. I finally began to make prints and decided to show the work to Bruce Barnbaum who was conducting a workshop in Dallas. I realized an artist critique would speed my process. This lead me to attend a workshop conducted by working photographers. My first formal workshop was with Bruce, and Jay Dusard and later with Michael Kenna, and John Sexton.

David H. Gibson - Cypress Island, Village Creek, Texas, 1987 Gelatin-Silver Print, 6x6" Image, Edition of 50, $600

LS: The landscape images currently on view in Rendezvous with Light span 30 years’ time, what draws you to go out and make your work in a natural environment. Why does much of your work revolve around the passage of time – both short sequences photographed over a few minutes and long stretches as you return to the same locations year-after-year for decades?

DHG: I was initially drawn to Caddo Lake in East Texas. The mysterious moss-covered trees reflected in the water and sometimes foggy mornings were a great attraction. The earliest photograph in the show is from Caddo. Water is often a presence in my photographs. It is dynamic and reflections are an important aspect of my work in the land.

David H. Gibson – Sunrise Sequence August 27, 8:37 AM Eagle Nest Lake, NM, 2016, Archival Pigment Ink,
10x40" Image, Edition of 25, $1200

David H. Gibson – Sunrise Sequence August 27 8:48 AM, Eagle Nest Lake, NM, 2016, Archival Pigment Ink, 10x40" Image, Edition of 25, $1200

David H. Gibson – Sunrise Sequence August 27 8:59AM Eagle Nest Lake NM, 2016, Archival Pigment Ink, 10x40"
Image, Edition of 25, $1200

I have returned often to Cypress Creek, Wimberley, Texas, the Texas Gulf Coast, Eagle Nest Lake, New Mexico, the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, and the Canyonlands in South East Utah. These places combined with annual trips to Japan are designed to experience the unexpected. My garden at home allows me surprise and wonder often as I walk out the back door.

Sunrise Sequence, December 24, 2016, Texas Gulf Coast, Archival Pigment Ink, 116x27" Image, Edition of 3, $8000

LS: Your signature piece in Rendezvous with Light is the gorgeous hand-made Sunrise Sequence Scroll. Can you share some details about when and where the images were made, the idea behind making a scroll, and the process of producing the object itself?

DHG: Sunrise Sequence Texas Gulf Coast was initially presented at the 2017 Dallas Art Fair in an accordion form housed in an acrylic box. I mentioned that to Vicki [Bohannon, photo-eye Co-Owner, and Gallery Preparator] and she suggested a scroll for the entry to the exhibit. I thought that it was a wonderful idea and proceeded to design the piece in the show. Harvey Phillips, a craftsman with whom I have worked for many years, crafted the piece. Harvey also made the box containing the scrolls used in A Tourist's Walk in Katsura Garden.

David H. Gibson – Sunrise, Eagle Nest, 2010, Handmade Artist Book This limited edition book is presented in a clamshell box. Box: 15 3/8"L x 6 13/16"W x 2"H Accordion Book: 14 1/4"L x 5 3/4"W x 1 3/8"H
The book contains 17 archival pigment prints. – $2,400

LS: Last week we featured your exquisite limited-edition artist books on the photo-eye blog, many of which feature your signature sequences, what is it that you love about photo books and building artist books in your studio?

DHG: I have always loved the tactile quality of books in all shapes and forms. The experience of holding a fine book and viewing photographs is a joy for me. As I moved into the digital world it was a natural progression to print books on the 44” printer. The accordion form lent itself well for presenting my work. Books printed on press are for a mass audience. Options are extensive with paper type, font options, unique bindings opportunities limited only by the imagination of the designer. My books are all original pigment prints and generally sequences of experiences over time. The books are designed to allow the viewer to be engaged in a personal way.

David H. Gibson - Grasses and Reflections, Eagle Nest Lake, New Mexico, Gelatin-Silver Print,
8x23" Image, Edition of 48, $800

LS: As I understand it, you are also an established photobook collector; do you have any favorite volumes or books that are particularly influential to your practice.

DHG: Rixon and Vicki began photo-eye in Austin and somehow I got on their mailing list and I have purchased unique and special books from photo-eye ever since. At some point, I discovered Nazraeli Press and my collection includes Chris Pichler’s publications from the very beginning of NZ Press.

LS: You are a prolific image-maker, what’s next for you?

DHG: My next projects are a continuation of work with current contact sheets and travels.

— PE

Images, Panoramas, Sequences
Photographs by David H. Gibson, Nazraeli Press
3 volumes, Signed Limited Edition, 500 copies
$250

In 2016 Coinciding with a major exhibition of David H. Gibson's photographs at Valley House Gallery and Sculpture Garden in Dallas, Texas, Nazraeli Press' gorgeous new publication comprises three separate clothbound volumes spanning some thirty years of work. Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies and presented in a custom-made clamshell box, Images, Panoramas, Sequences is a long-overdue survey of Gibson's highly-acclaimed photographic output.

Images, Panoramas, Sequences also includes an incredible introduction by John Rohrbach with an in-depth discussion of Gibson's background, process, influences, and place in the photographic timelines. If you are interested in Gibson's work this introduction is a must read, here's a small excerpt:

"I don't feel the need to enter his photographs, to stand there with the artist. Gibson gives me the freedom to stand there by myself and to revel in the scenes that cannot be described in words. Koans, one might call them. The early images keep my eye continually moving in their simple complexity. The panoramas engage not land and clouds but the space between. The sequences invite me to walk, stop, and notice how light and patterns are constantly changing. The photographs leave aside the domains of commerce, people, and the empirical age, even if they trumpet the pleasures of beauty in counter to an art world that for years regarded that quality as irrelevant. — John Rohrbach

» View Rendezvous with Light

» See more work by David H. Gibson

» Read more about David H. Gibson

Prices listed are subject to change and were accurate at the time this post was published.

For more information, and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com

We are delighted to present photo-eye’s Best Books of 2017. We have again asked numerous photobook lovers from across the world to share their favorite books of the year. Our contributors for 2017 are:

Adam Broomberg
Alec Soth
Alejandro Cartagena
Aline Smithson
Christian Michael Filardo
Daniel Boetker-Smith
Deanna Templeton
Ed Templeton
Forrest Soper
Fred Cray
Jim Goldberg
John Gossage
Joshua Rashaad McFadden
Larissa Leclair

Larry Fink
Laura M. André
Laura El-Tantawy
Martin Parr
Mike Mandel
Miwa Susuda
Rafał Milach
Rebecca Norris Webb
Rinko Kawauchi
Roger Ballen
Sara Terry
Thomas Sauvin
Todd Hido
Yumi Goto

photo-eye asked each contributor to select three photobooks that were significant to them on a personal or professional level, and to write a brief text about each selection. Among these diverse selections, you may recognize some of your own favorite publications, along with exciting new discoveries.

ADAM BROOMBERG