from Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars)

Issue two of Alec Soth's Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars) was a challenge for me to digest. I originally wrote about this title in photo-eye's New Arrivals newsletter, and had to spend a fair amount of time contemplating the bizarre scenarios inside the book. When writing the original draft for the newsletter, Melanie McWhorter and I had a spirited discussion on my inability not to pass judgement on the work, as I thought the photographs  (which are fantastic) were dismal, taking me to places I wasn't completely comfortable being. And it was hard for me to leave these thoughts out of it, indicating to me that Soth has compiled another successfully intriguing publication and that I had more to say in the personal format of a blog post.

The new issue starts off with Todd Hido's Suburban Souls, a dark series of dreary exteriors and erotic interiors. Through these photographs, one can imagine sneaking through seedy streets and low-income neighborhoods, seeking cheap sex and unfulfilled fantasies. Hido's voyeuristic approach grabs the viewer in an arresting manner, creating an uneasy tension while also probing a fundamentally inherent male delusion. I have long been a fan of Hido's work and his ability as an editor, and considering the confines of this short magazine format, the photographer is still able to portray an ominous story that is also very direct.

from Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars)

from Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars)

Breaking up the dark ambiance established by Hido are five dioramas by Peter Davidson. The dioramas – created inside cutout novels – are a narrative of each novel title. Titles such as The Girl from Montana and Does God Exist form the overall structure of each individual piece. The odd humor displayed in Davidson's dioramas continues the theme of LBM's eclectic taste, sometimes steeped in the dingy underbelly of sexual fantasy and sometimes celebratory of pop culture's embrace of sexuality.

from Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars)

from Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars)

Diving back into illicit behavior is Chad States' series Give or Take. A series of photographs taken of public male hook-up spots, including parking lots, underpasses and heavily wooded forests, the viewer is drawn into a world many would consider to be sexually deviant. Public sex spots, barely hidden from the view of a family enjoying a picnic in a local park, immediately registers in my mind. As when looking through the previous issue of Lonely Boy Mag, long forgotten childhood memories have come back to life. I remember that the park I was dropped off at everyday as a kid was a local male hook-up spot and one day a friend and I walked in on two men in the bathroom thoroughly enjoying their short lunch break. We bolted through the bathroom doors at first horrified at witnessing a public sex act and then laughing about the new story we could pile onto our childhood tales. What interests me about this work is how commonplace it is to see men seeking sex in public spaces, most everyone has stumbled upon one of these locations, but it still belongs as a fringe element of society. Included with this work is a short narrative of a young teenage boy meeting and ultimately losing his virginity to an older man at a spot similar to those depicted in these photographs.

from Lonely Boy Mag (No. A-2 Boys and their Cars)

Lastly is Alec Soth's The Most Beautiful Woman in Georgia, a series previously published in the Magnum publication Georgian Spring. This work continues LBM's voyeuristic approach, with Soth seemingly stalking attractive women on side streets often from his car. Some photographs are taken through the car window, while in others it appears Soth has tracked them down for a more formal portrait. Including short text and descriptions of the story, this is a light-hearted but intriguing series, portrayed here in a context completely different to that in which it was originally published.

Thoughtfully designed by Jenny Tondera, the new issue continues along the lines of its predecessor by balancing between quirky humor and very real impressions of explicit behavior. And while some of the content may be hard to digest, it is also very much worth the challenge of engagement. -- Antone Dolezal

Purchase a copy of this title here.

Stephen Shore Lecturing on LA BREA MATRIX at PHOTO L.A. 2011 (Part 2), from photo L.A. + artLA projects on Vimeo.

Stephen Shore Lecturing on LA BREA MATRIX at PHOTO L.A. 2011 (Part 1), from photo L.A. + artLA projects on Vimeo.

photo-eye is pleased to announce a portfolio from Luigi Fieni -- The Room of 1000 Demons:

The Student -- Luigi Fieni

For The Room of 1000 Demons, Luigi Fieni took his inspiration from an old Buddhist legend about transformation through the confrontation of one's deepest fears. He explains the tale like this:

“Every hundred years, Buddhist students could undergo a ceremony in order to attain enlightenment.

Those students had to pass a test consisting of walking through the room of a 1000 demons: an empty dark room guarded by 2 guardians.

Once inside, the 1000 demons would take the forms of the students’ worst fears, and the students would have to fight them in order to walk through the room. If they succeeded, they would attain enlightenment.”

As we look through the images, we walk through the tale; we meet the young-looking but confident warrior, the imposing guardians and a collection of strange and colorful demons, alive with movement. And in the end, the warrior breaks free and returns to the world enlightened. Shot in Nepal, Fieni first came to the region through his career as an art restorer. Since that initial trip he has frequently returned, working on the restoration of ancient art work in a variety of locales in Asia and teaching locals the craft of art restoration. With his background in painting, Fieni is specially skilled in reproducing a variety of styles and techniques with a paint brush, and that ability that makes him especially well suited to restoration, but that also comes through in his photographic images.

The Fears I -- Luigi Fieni

Fieni's mastery of these skills is evident in his photography. Photographing using a low shutter speed, Fieni rotates, zooms and pans his camera while shooting, capturing an image, but also streaks of color and light -- motion blurs that give the images an otherworldly feel. The effect is exceptionally painterly -- the strokes of light enhancing the tone and timbre of the images. They are almost impressionistic under the painterly definition, with their fine but visible strokes, and focus on light and movement. "As my background is mostly painting, my work is constantly trying to merge photography with painting, trying to produce photographs that are as pictorial as possible: my personal view of things," says Fieni. That personal view is certainly full of magical beauty.

See Luigi Fieni's portfolio The Room of 1000 Demons on the Photographer's Showcase here.

For more information, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

Behind the Zines

Behind the Zines: Self-Publishing Culture, edited by Robert Klanten, Adeline Mollard and Matthias Hübner and published by Gestalten, is a canny look at the self-publishing industry, covering small indie publishers like Rollo Press, to periodical publications like 200% to prolific self-publishers like Erik van der Weijde. Opening with an understated preface, the body of the book is divided into five sections -- Gallery, Laboratory, Kiosk, Archive and Theater -- Gallery representing those zines that are little artistic ventures in and of themselves, Laboratory being those more experimental in nature, Kiosk representing the zines that are actual magazines, Archive describing those that are constructed from collections or found material, and Theater speaking to those books that aim at telling a story or narrative. As the book editors note, there are "plenty of overlaps."

Visually fascinating, Behind the Zines presents covers and interior pages from an enormous number of books, showing innovative layouts and use of space. Thick and with cloth covers, but without cover boards or cloth-covered spine (which shows the beautiful guts of the book), the book lays satisfyingly flat when opened, an important feature considering the detail in these pages. Each page captures a variety of photographs, illustrations and text, all notable for their graphic design. It's a treasure trove of resource material for anyone looking for design inspiration. Real credit is due to the book designer who didn't get tired of the possibly mundane task of showing similarly sized rectangular objects over and over again -- the book is dynamic in its layout, making each page lively. Yet Behind the Zines doesn't treat its subject matter as something too precious -- the books are an art form, a mode of expression to be explore and investigated. Judging from some of the publishers interviewed in this book, the general mindset of self-publishers seems to be focuses around design more than object, doing the most with limited means and notoriously finicky printers.
 

from Behind the Zines

from Behind the Zines

 Behind the Zines is not just an interesting look at the interiors of books, it's also filled with engaging commentary on the practice of zine-making itself. As clearly evidenced six months ago in our Best Books of 2010 feature, the self-published book has exploded, a fact that Behind the Zines engages, bringing up the aspect of self-publishing as a trend. "While it's very comforting that self-publishing, small publishing, independent publishing, or whatever you want to call it is experiencing a healthy boom right now, it brings back memories of a certain phase in the mid to late nineties when everyone became a DJ for a year or two -- and swapped their MK2 for a skateboard once they lost interest," says Rollo Press' Urs Lehni. Behind the Zines can be seen as an early formal attempt to separate the wheat from the chafe -- a protohistory of the movement -- but perhaps just before the bubble bursts in 2012, as Lehni predicts.

from Behind the Zines

from Behind the Zines

The five sections all open with an interview: Urs Lehni of Rollo Press for Gallery, Christopher Jung & Tobias Wenig of Jung + Wenig for Archive, Freek Lomme of Onomatopee for Laboratory, Thierry Somers of 200% for Kiosk and Erik van der Weijde of Rollo Press and 4478ZINE.COM for Theater. Each book featured includes a brief description and is accompanied by general publication information, and also includes the occasional publisher bio, giving a bit more background on featured projects. The book closes with a comprehensive index, providing the name and contact information for each book featured. Four of the books presented in Behind the Zines were selected as part of photo-eye's Best Books of 2010 -- Blindschleiche und Riesenblatt by Anne Schwalbe, Coney Island Baby by Anna Haas, See You Soon by Maxwell Anderson and Der Baum by Erik van der Weijde. Cabin and Woods by Coley Brown and Cristiano Guerri are also featured, as well as a number of titles from Erik van der Weijde. -- Sarah Bradley

Purchase a copy of Behind the Zines

Pangnirtung, Photographs by Robert Frank.
Published by Steidl, 2011.

Pangnirtung
Reviewed by Ellen Rennard
_______________________________
Robert Frank Pangnirtung
Photographs by Robert Frank
Steidl, 2011. Hardbound. 40 pp., 27 black & white illustrations, 9x12".

I agreed to review Robert Frank's Pangnirtung with not a little trepidation. Where is Pangnirtung, anyway? The last page of the book has a map. One way of knowing. Northwest Territories. Cold. Isolated. Gray, like the photographs. Unrelenting gray on perfect, heavy, matte paper with plenty of white space. Overcast. The cover: "stones - maybe the balance of a big sky above..." The texture of the boards, rough. Simple, but not. Frank's text: sparse. The land: sparser.

Frank tells us he flew in from Iqaluit, formerly Frobisher Bay, in a four-passenger plane. Stayed with friends. A quiet time. Five days in 1992, 27 images in a book published by Steidl almost 20 years later. A book that sounds like silence, a journey that feels like stillness.

Pangnirtung, by Robert Frank. Published by Steidl, 2011.

 "The people's language is INUKTITUT," Frank writes. "One Man is INUK. More - the people INUIT." Okay. But there are no human beings in these black-and-white Polaroid photographs. 1,325 people in Pangnirtung in 2006, the book says. But none visible. Wait. There is one. A tiny figure in the distance on the right in the book's opening image of Pangnirtung Harbor. I get out my loupe to make sure. It appears to be a man. All but lost in the vastness, a figure dwarfed by the stark landscape that could be from the nineteenth century if not for a small motorboat floating in the calm water.

Pangnirtung, by Robert Frank. Published by Steidl, 2011.

Maybe the Inuit don't want to be photographed. They've lived here for thousands of years. Now in prefabricated houses photographed by Robert Frank. The windows are mostly covered: a Canadian flag, a tiger, curtains. Who's home? The same facade repeated on two facing pages with just a slight variation. For emphasis, but emphasis of what? A moment and then another moment. The compositions in this section vaguely reminiscent of Frank's "Trolley," the cover of Steidl's 2008 publication of Frank's seminal work, The Americans, but with no people, no movement. Being nobody, going nowhere.

Sad? Maybe. Or just hermetic. So what can I tell you to think about this book? You'll feel as you feel. It's a little journey. It starts in the harbor. The airplane lands at the community airport. A pile of rocks behind a chain link fence: "way in, way out," the caption reads.

Pangnirtung, by Robert Frank. Published by Steidl, 2011.

 You can feel the coldness of the air. You can smell winter. Another caption: "telephone post above perma-frost." Perma-frost: soil below freezing for two or more years. The last four pages are of graves marked by white wooden crosses. A cemetery by the bay. The final frame: "End of Pangnirtung Road System."

I keep returning to this book. Then to The Americans. I see Frank's early work differently now, all those cars, the motorcycles, and Jack Kerouac's introductory description of "the mad road, lonely, leading around the bend into the openings of space . . ." And continuing, here, in Pangnirtung: the main road, desolate, leading past the small village into the end of something.—Ellen Rennard

purchase book

_____________________________

Ellen Rennard is a writer, photographer, and teacher of writing and literature at Groton School in Groton, MA. She graduated from Princeton, where she wrote her thesis on images of Native Americans; she also holds an MA in English from Middlebury. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Fraction Magazine and Photovision; her photographs have appeared in numerous publications, including Black and White and Orion. Images from Rennard’s book project on The Downs at Albuquerque were nominated for a New York Photo Festival Book Award in 2009 and won first place in the 2010 Px3 People’s Choice Awards for Book Proposal and Documentary Photography. www.ellenrennard.com 

The current exhibit at photo-eye Gallery is Stories from Underground by Colette Campbell-Jones. Also in this exhibit in our "gallery artist" section is a selection of new work by Jo Whaley and husband and wife team Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek. I thought you would enjoy a little extra insight in the images that are hanging at the gallery.

Jo Whaley

Smerinthus Saliceti and Papilionidae -- Jo Whaley

Portraits of Transformation

For the Ancient Greeks, the word for butterfly was the same word for soul.

That word was Psyche, the root of our term psychology, as well as the name for the goddess of love in ancient Greece. The age-old mystery of death and transformation was linked to the metamorphosis which occurs when a caterpillar emerges from its cocoon as a stunningly beautiful butterfly. Ironically, the processes by which this transformation of the insect takes place is still unexplained by science.

One certainty is that a butterfly's life, like that of a human's, is short and fleeting.

Asterope Markii: Verson -- Jo Whaley

The photographs in this exhibition depict butterflies and moths paired with the portraits of anonymous individuals whose souls have long ago departed. In fact, the tintypes and glass plates that carry their visage show signs of decay, so that even the portraits themselves are disappearing with the passage of time. The result is the haunting melancholy of entropy, mixed with the exquisite perfection of the butterflies.

Science and art, mystery and fact are intertwined. -- Jo Whaley


View more of Jo Whaley's work here.




Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek

Arc of Departure Diptych 09-1 -- Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek

The Arc of Departure Diptych Series combines photogenic drawing, the process we have most recently been using, with cyanotype - another photographic printing process from the early beginnings of the medium. This territory – the realm of early formulas, recipes, and half-failed alchemical attempts at permanent imagery – is where we feel most at home. We see these diptych "tiles" as representatives of the visual language we have been using in the larger Arc of Departure prints – an alphabet of sorts – where individual elements stand alone, having been removed from their larger context. The cyanotype speaks of the cerebral in conjunction with and in contrast to the photogenic drawing, which results from the corporeal. This work is all about leaving the garden as we begin our last stages of working almost exclusively with photogenic drawing as the way by which we have been facilitators in the process of nature making images of itself. -- Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek

Arc of Departure Diptych 09-4 -- Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek

Arc of Departure -- Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek

View more of Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek's work here.



For more information about Carol Panaro-Smith & James Hajicek or Jo Whaley you can reach me by phone at 505-988-5152 x121 or by email at anne@photoeye.com.

Thank you!

--Anne Kelly, Associate Director, photo-eye Gallery

Horizonville, Photographs by Yann Gross.
Published by JRP|Ringier, 2011.

Horizonville
Reviewed by Colin Pantall
___________________________________________
Yann Gross Horizonville
Photographs by Yann Gross. Edited by Yann Gross. Text by Joël Vacheron.
JRP|Ringier, 2011. Softcover. 70 pp., 50 color illustrations, 9-1/2x11-1/2".

Slip through a wormhole in space and there are an infinite number of possible worlds you could end up in. The world Yann Gross found himself in was Horizonville. It's the kind of town that confirms the suspicions held by many of Switzerland's fellow Europeans; that there is something odd about Switzerland, odd beyond the oddness of France or Italy or England, odd with 'great big fecking bells on it.' Not only is the country home to pharmaceutical companies, banks and the Federation of International Football Associations, for Yann Gross it is also a center of a skewed American culture; American culture with Swiss characteristics.

Horizonville, by Yann Gross. Published by JRP|Ringier, 2011.

In Horizonville, Gross photographs the people he encounters on a moped-mounted road trip through the Rhone Valley. Lovers of all things American, the people he meets wear US Air Force uniforms and cowboy hats, patronize saloon bars and monster truck rallies. All well and good, it's a classic simulacral experience; a re-enactment of the odd and alien in an odd and alien environment. When this happens in photography, the odds and the aliens often cancel each other out, leaving you with something dull and commonplace. With Horizonville, things aren't that simple. There is something innately other about the people and places Gross photographs. These are community pictures, of faces and ways of thinking that have some family resemblance to the USA.

Horizonville, by Yann Gross. Published by JRP|Ringier, 2011.

Horizonville, by Yann Gross. Published by JRP|Ringier, 2011.

 Horizonville is Tolkienesque, but in a well-trimmed way that mirrors the uncannily clean streets. There is an un-American sexualization of affairs throughout the book, a sexualization that involves mustard smeared bratwurst and bizarre erection tests, a 'Lesbo Show' with a delighted bearded biker in the foreground and a Harley Babe in a transparent tiger-patterned vest. Gross adds a sinister touch with a portrait of Murielle, a waitress who stopped serving at the Yukon Cafe after a patron "asked if she had ever been raped, adding that if not, he'd gladly do the honors." Terribly clean, terribly tidy and terribly odd.—Colin Pantall

purchase book

_____________________________

Colin Pantall is a UK-based writer, photographer and teacher - he is currently a visiting lecturer in Documentary Photography at the University of Wales. His work has been exhibited in London, Amsterdam, Manchester and Rome and his Sofa Portraits will be published as a handmade book early next year. Further thoughts of Colin Pantall can be found on his blog, which was listed as one of Wired.com’s favourites earlier this year.

Not Seen | Not Said

The second volume of Orchard series, Not Seen | Not Said, contains photographs by Raymond Meeks and Wes Mills, along with the minimalist drawings of Mills. The book shows Mills wandering in a barren land as Meeks follows, documenting the artist's inquisitive steps with his camera. The photographs were taken by Meeks between 2008-2010 in two locations, an orchard owned by Mills' family (apropos to the series title) and the John Day fossil beds near Kimberly, Oregon. Accompanying Meeks' photographs are 17 reproductions of text and drawings by Mills. Lovingly and carefully printed on green colored paper though also seemingly aged and discolored, they have been tipped into the books pages after binding. The cover of Not Seen | Not Said is a silver halide transparency of one of Meeks' portraits of Mills in the fossil beds and is straight-stitched onto the front of the book with, what the publisher calls, a "really big sewing machine and steady hands."

From Not Seen | Not Said

Like the first volume of Orchard, the book is available in three versions: Contributor, Sustainer and Patron. Accompanying both the Sustainer and Patron editions is a second book titled India, containing images photographed by Mills in 2007 while on a motorcycle trip around the country. Aesthetically and rhythmically, the images feel like they could have been made by Meeks had he been along for the journey. Mills' photographs, although not a travelogue or documentary project, provide a realistic and sincere perspective of India and the people he encountered. For the Sustainer version, Not Seen | Not Said is presented along with India in a slipcase with a hand typeset letterpress cover, like the cover of India.

Sustainer edition -- Not Seen | Not Said and India

The deluxe version of the three editions, the Patron version, includes both Not Seen | Not Said and India along with an original drawing by Wes Mills and a silver gelatin print by Raymond Meeks. The print by Meeks is an outtake from the book, and although showing bias here as I have not yet seen it, I'm sure it will be both a beautiful image and print. Mills' drawing will be presented in a custom-made wood frame sized to match the book. Instead of presenting a simple reproduction, Mills is cutting out the elements of his drawing and attaching them to the paper, effectively creating each piece by hand. All of these elements will be gathered and presented in a handmade cloth-covered slipcase.

Patron edition -- Not Seen | Not Said, India, and framed Wes Mills drawing

The pairing of Silas Finch and Raymond Meeks for the Orchard series has allowed both partners to join their passion, sweat and love of bookmaking to bring to fruition the top-quality artist's books they strive to create. These publications are indeed book fetish objects, designed to be intimately acquainted with as you look through the silver halide cover, lift the tipped in plates of Mills' drawings, read the poems and wind through the hand crafted object. If you are so lucky to possess the Patron version, the journey also includes delicately holding the Meeks' print up to the light, watching the silver shimmer as it is lit from side to side, exploring all the tones in the gelatin print and proudly hang the understated and exquisite framed Mills drawing on the wall.

From India

The first volume of Orchard with photographs by Raymond Meeks and Deborah Luster is sold out in the Contributor version, but as of today a few copies of the Sustainer and Patron editions are still available. The Orchard series is on going and would be a wonderful addition to any library. The Contributor and Sustainer versions of Not Seen | Not Said, like the first volume of the Orchard series, are available in an edition of 100 and 75, respectively. The Patron version, however, has only been produced in an edition of 15 (the Patron version of the first volume was 25). All three versions are sure to sell out quickly. The publication date is tentatively scheduled at June 30th, although there may be a few production delays considering the meticulous quality of the production. We are happily reserving copies now. -- Melanie McWhorter

Pre-order a copy of the book here.

photo-eye is pleased to announce the newest addition to the Photographer's Showcase -- Fritz Liedtke and his portfolio Astra Velum

Georgia -- Fritz Liedtke

I speak from experience when I say that a freckled person often has a complicated relationship with the spots that dust their skin. Freckles have long been considered a blemish and sign of imperfection. Dorothy Parker listed them among love, curiosity and doubt as the four things she’d rather not have in her life. Even today many people still attempt to bleach them from their complexion, but as photographed by Fritz Liedtke, freckles appear as nothing other than a thing of beauty. In his portfolio Astra Velum, Liedtke presents a series of portraits that are a celebration of the freckle, showing the faces of girls and women decorated with exotic and intriguing spots and speckles, adorning their skin like a veil of stars.

Presented as chin-colle photogravures, the prints themselves replicate the fine nature of skin. In the photogravure process, a plate coated in a light-sensitive material is exposed to the photographic negative and then engraved. The plate is then inked and printed like an etching, but in these images, the photogravure is combined with chin-colle, in which a thin sheet of paper is pressed and glued between the backing paper and the plate. The marriage of these processes results in a print that has a tactile quality beyond a typical photogravure or photograph. The handmade Japanese Kitikata paper on which the image is printed creates a warm tone that contrasts with the crisp white of the traditional printmaking backing paper. The process works beautifully with these images. Each is inked and printed by hand, making all subtley unique. In an age of mechanical and digital reproduction, Liedtke is interested in the handmade and drawn to processes that show the artists’ hand in the final print. He describes the subtle inconsistencies inherent in the printmaking process as being like freckles, they are beauty marks, not flaws.

Navae -- Fritz Liedtke

Liedtke also presents this body of work as a limited edition portfolio, available at photo-eye’s bookstore. The set of 12 photogravures are presented in a custom clamshell box. For more information on this beautiful portfolio, click here. The portfolio is a limited edition of 12 and as of today, there’s just one portfolio remaining in the base price tier.

To learn more about Liedtke's process, see his PDF on the creation of Astra Velum here.

See Liedtke's portfolio Astra Velum on the Photographer's Showcase here.

For more information, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

Skate Park, Photographs by Arthur Tress.
Published by Birch Books, 2010.

Skate Park
Reviewed by Daniel W. Cobrun
___________________________________
Arthur Tress Skate Park
Photographs by Arthur Tress
Birch Books, 2010. Hardbound. 100 pp., 78 duotone illustrations, 12x12".

In Skate Park, photographer Arthur Tress begins by describing the park itself, presenting each curve and undulation of this concrete landscape as a sculptural work of art. Dreadlocks and tattoos appear shortly thereafter; tanned and leathery skin stretched tightly over the lean frames of young men competing for air and glory. Tress romanticizes their condition. Wheels become wings as they use gravity and momentum to launch a fleeting attempt at freedom. Each skater casts his shadow over the unforgiving surface below as he momentarily achieves weightlessness. Tress unapologetically presents an idealized and sometimes erotic representation of the male form. These photos ooze grit, glory and testosterone.

The photographer uses his medium format camera in a way that captures the energy of these gravity-defying athletes, using motion blur and a toy-camera aesthetic to emphasize the velocity and rotation of each trajectory. At times his subjects seem to engage the camera but in other instances the photographer becomes an anonymous and invisible observer. Careful attention is paid to the details of each skater's accessories, glamorizing the fashion aesthetic of the skatepark. Baggy pants, bling, ball caps and bushy hairstyles seem standard issue for those navigating this maze of concrete waves and chain link fence. While Tress dramatically captures these skaters upon their ascent, he gives equal attention to the hard landings. Bloody elbows, broken boards, and bandages hint at the physical sacrifice made for bragging rights. Most of these photos are taken under the reign of mid-day sun, adding an additional layer of intensity to the heat and sweat of the skatepark narrative. The artist masterfully frames and crops these images, sometimes masking the identity of the skater, but emphasizing the physicality of the sport.

Skate Park, by Arthur Tress. Published by Birch Books, 2010.

Skate Park, by Arthur Tress. Published by Birch Books, 2010.

 Tress describes the skatepark as a male dominated arena governed by the laws of machismo and bravado. He simultaneously objectifies the male body, in many instances presenting these figures as if they were carved in stone by a Classical sculptor. The overtly masculine aura of this work is underscored by the complete lack of a female presence in any of the photographs - the only representation of a woman in this monograph appears as a topless mermaid in tattoo on the shoulder of one of Tress' subjects. One begins to wonder if the artist is celebrating or critiquing the patriarchal nature of the skatepark.

Skate Park, by Arthur Tress. Published by Birch Books, 2010.

This 100-page volume includes 78 black and white photographs. The book and the images are square format, which represents a welcome departure from the typical rectangular photo book. The cover is wrapped in a black fabric and one of Tress' glossy images is fixed to its surface, making the exterior of this monograph just as sexy as its contents. While the narrative seems relatively superficial, this book will undoubtedly appeal to those who enjoy skateboarding, but it also celebrates masculinity and the beauty of the athletic male form in a way that can be appreciated by both sexes. As someone who fumbled around on a skateboard as a teenager, this album offered a nostalgic return to the wasted summer days of my youth. This collection of images will surely be treasured by photography lovers and those looking for a bit of eye candy.—Daniel W. Coburn

purchase book

_____________________________

Daniel W. Coburn is a contemporary photographer whose visually arresting images have garnered national and international praise. Selections from his body of work have been featured in prestigious exhibitions, including Top 40 at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art and the National Competition at SOHO Photo Gallery in New York. His photographic works are held in the permanent collections of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, the Mariana Kistler-Beach Museum of Art, the Mulvane Museum of Art and the Moraine Park Museum. Daniel has published two monographs of his work: Between Earth and Sky and Rediscovering Paradise. His most recent body of work, OBJECT:AFFECTION, represents a photographic study on the process of self-objectification. Coburn received his BFA with an emphasis in photography from Washburn University and is currently studying photography as a graduate student at the University of New Mexico. 

Filmmaker Brad Kremer has collaborated with photo-eye Gallery photographer Michael Levin to produce an atmospheric short film of Levin shooting in Japan.The film highlights Levin making photographs in a number of locations, visually describing his process with a beauty similar to Levin's own photographs, which can be seen here. It's a special behind the scenes look at this photographer's stunning work. The film features a song by Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp. You can read more about Kremer's project here.

David Trautrimas at the Seoul Art Center

We also wanted to share with you a few images from the installation of gallery artist David Trautrimas' work on exhibit at the Seoul Art Center in South Korea. The exhibit, called Imagine Earth, features work from Trautrimas' Spyfrost series, which you can see on photo-eye Gallery here.

David Trautrimas at the Seoul Art Center

Burke + Norfolk

Dewi Lewis’ new publication Burke + Norfolk may be the best book I have seen come out this year. When taking into account content, design, reproduction quality and sequencing, this monograph is an exceptional over-sized object.

Loosely rephotographic in nature, this book is Simon Norfolk’s revisitation of the work of little known 19th century Irish photographer John Burke. Burke was the first photographer to make images in Afghanistan while accompanying British forces during the years of 1878-1880. The result of Burke’s travels produced several photographic albums the photographer sold following the British invasion. Carrying a large wooden view camera and using a wet-collodion process, the shear task Burke undertook in the conflict-ridden country is worthy of great intrigue. But process aside, Burke’s stunning photographs are richly printed and the details from his large negatives are exquisite.

from Burke + Norfolk

from Burke + Norfolk

Paired alongside Burke’s photographs, Norfolk’s images are equally brilliant. Taken with a 4x5 view-camera, many of the photographs were shot at night or dusk, giving an ambiance that transcends traditional documentary photography. And while the photographic atmosphere is unique to conflict photography, Norfolk’s approach to retracing Burke’s steps grabbed my attention. Using history books, maps and the ‘terrain tilt’ feature in Google Earth, Norfolk loosely gauged where Burke’s camera must have been. In many ways these stylistic approaches created a book that is wrapped very much in the history of the photographic medium – climbing to high vantage points in order for the viewer to understand the full topography of a region.

from Burke + Norfolk

from Burke + Norfolk

from Burke + Norfolk

Containing three distinct sections, the city, portraits and military the book gives a well-rounded view of both the changes Afghanistan has endured, as well as the changes that have not occurred. The reality that there has been, as Norfolk refers to it, four Anglo-Afghan Wars, is a sobering actuality. And as Norfolk states, many of the British fighters currently involved in the Afghan conflict know little of their country's deeply rooted history in the region. In a time when many in this country are questioning the relevance of a continued war in Afghanistan, this book sheds a small light on both countries’ violent history and current state of existence. -- Antone Dolezal


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Maske, Photographs by Phyllis Galembo.
Published by Chris Boot, 2010.

Maske
Reviewed by Sarah Bradley
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Phyllis Galembo Maske
Photographs by Phyllis Galembo
Chris Boot, 2010. Hardbound. 208 pp., 108 color illustrations, 8-1/2x9-1/2".

I found a promotional flyer for Phyllis Galembo's work a few years ago and tacked it prominently to my wall at home. It has received more comments than any one image in that collage, prompting a range of responses though mostly centered on profound curiosity. The flyer depicts several men in head-to-toe knit garments, brightly colored and intricately patterned. No one was quite sure what to make of it - the mysterious unusual nature of the image is captivating, but also familiar. These are intrinsically enthralling photographs, an impressive project rooted in Galembo's own long-term fascination with costumes and their transformative power. The over 100 photographs in Maske capture the fantastic costumes of masquerade in Africa and the African Diaspora.

The artistry, creativity and ingenuity of the designs and materials shown in these wearable creations are intriguing and inspiring. The massive range of materials represented in these pages include leaves and grasses, wildly patterned fabric, leather, quills and shells, wood, cardboard and plastic, and on and on. Costumes range from ancient traditional fabrications to garments with a clear colonial influence, yet each is its own, each haunting. The forms are simultaneously human, yet other: some impressive constructions of vines and sticks; some more simplistic garments with hoods, a small carved head resting atop that of the wearer; some elaborate representations of animals, taxidermy heads stretching out from cloaks heavily adorned and ornamented. Children model self-made animal masks constructed from stitched cardboard, and some maskers come decorated in paint, brilliant green and scarlet contrasting vibrantly on their bodies.

Maske, by Phyllis Galembo. Published by Chris Boot, 2010.

Maske, by Phyllis Galembo. Published by Chris Boot, 2010.

 With a book like this, it is easy to focus solely on the overwhelming quality of the subject itself rather than the photography. Galembo, however, has not just found a compelling topic for her work - she also takes fabulous photographs. The images are lit as well as most studio shots, but are taken on site. By deciding not to remove her subjects from their everyday surroundings and simply selecting an appropriate background, the costumes and their wearers stay in context while highlighting their spectacular nature. They are not exoticized - they appear as impressive creations of wearable art, but do not become fetishized objects. Yet Galembo does indulge in using those costumes to make stunning images. While seemingly captured with an ethnographer's care, the images are not merely a document of each garment. The subjects are often posed expressively, and not all shots are full length. Each makes a good portrait, not just a complete representation of the costume. The colors are bright and well saturated - each page a delightful morsel for the eye.

The opening essay by Chika Okeke-Agulu, who participated as a child in his town's masking festival in his native Nigeria, frames the book as an important ethnographic document, noting that it is astonishing that so many of these festivals still survive, particularly under the pressure of religion. The book is also a stunning affirmation of Galembo's tenacity and skill in undertaking and orchestrating a project such as this. With images taken in 7 countries, each section opens with a description from Galembo of the group of people she photographed, the significance of the costumes pictured, and the circumstances of her shoot, which, in and of itself, is an intriguing tale.

Maske, by Phyllis Galembo. Published by Chris Boot, 2010.

 But, at least for me, the book is more than this -- the interconnectedness goes beyond the African Diaspora and the colonial influences immediately visible in these costumes. I see a resemblance in the traditional costumes worn in the Balkan festival captured by photographer Estelle Hanania in her book Parking Lot Hydra, constructions that are surprisingly similar to some of the costumes in Maske, despite cultural and geographical distance. And those Balkan costumes immediately bring me to the work of contemporary American artist Nick Cave, whose sound suits are wearable sculpture that come alive with dance. This in turn reminds me of the fact that one of my visitors guessed that the Galembo flyer on my wall was performance art from New York, and indeed, I did stumble upon an image of just that, a person in a similar knit costume in the city. There seems to be a universal nature to masking, a resonate core and a lineage that is as much human as cultural. While Maske is an important record for posterity, it is also proof that this tradition is living and breathing, and still creating and inspiring.—Sarah Bradley

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Sarah Bradley is a writer, sculpture, costumer and general maker of things currently living in Santa Fe, NM. She is a member of the Meow Wolf art collective and has worked for photo-eye since 2008.