photo-eye Gallery LIGHT + METAL:
David Ondrik on the Sublime Nature of Inheritance photo-eye Gallery is very pleased to feature two abstract ephemeral photograms from David Ondrik's Inheritance series.

Primordial by David Ondrik installed at photo-eye Gallery for LIGHT + METAL
28x30 inches, Unique, $2,000 Framed

photo-eye Gallery is very pleased to feature two abstract ephemeral photograms from David Ondrik's Inheritance series. Spurred by the death of his father, Ondrik describes the work as an exploration of "the Sublime through the inheritance of tools both real and metaphorical," as well as his personal journey to process loss and understand the lasting effects of his father's influence.

In Inheritance, Ondrik employs the 19th-Century Romantic definition of sublime, which unlike the contemporary expression of pure joy, refers to “experiences of awe, terror, boundlessness, and divinity” – a wave of powerful complex emotions that overwhelm the senses. Ondrik uses his father's woodworking tools, some still stained by his hands, to create the hard-edged forms present in the photograms.

Many of the works in this series, such as Primordial above, are unfixed, allowing light to continue to alter the work over time, echoing the changing nature of personal relationship and memory. Ondrik sees the artworks as providing "room for quiet meditation and reflection, an opportunity to safely confront the traumas of existence," an experience we find truly sublime.

We reached out to David to share a few thoughts on the process of creating Inheritance, and why making unique work has become an important part of his practice.

A collection of pre-assembly Inheritance photograms pictured in David Ondrik's studio

photo-eye:     What inspired you to create the pieces that are included in LIGHT + METAL?

David Ondrik:     They’re an expression of my efforts to process and express the experiences of a loved one’s terminal illness, environmental degradation, and the vastness of the cosmos.

photo-eye:     Why did you choose the specific process or materials you used?

DO:     There is substantial unexplored potential within gelatin silver paper as its own artistic media, not just a medium for turning film-negatives into paper-positives. I’m attached to the quiet, meditative space within the darkroom, as that’s what initially appealed to me with photography. I’d probably be remiss not to mention that I was given around 2,000 sheets of slightly-to-very fogged Kodak Azo paper and wanted to make something with that material, rather than add it to a landfill.

David Ondrik, Erosion 1, 2018, installed at photo-eye Gallery for LIGHT + METAL
28x30 inches, Unique, $2,000 Framed

pe:     What type of work did you make prior to the work you are making today, and if the work was different, what inspired the change?

Works in progress at
David Ondrik's studio

DO:     I’ve been making cameraless photographic artworks since 2013: pinholes, exploded CDs on photo paper, and photograms made with my father’s carpentry tools. The two pieces in LIGHT + METAL are recent results of that exploration. I was inspired to get away from lens-based works after being dissatisfied with the literalness of a documentary project I completed in 2011. I wanted to move in the opposite direction — total abstraction.

pe:     Why are you making unique works, and is the fact they are unique important to you?

DO:     My wife and I saw a musical performance of a piece written for a cello and piano, I think it was one of John Cage’s works. What made this piece stand out is that it is scored in such a way that the musicians must interpret for themselves how to play it, so no two performances are the same. I wanted a similar situation in my visual art — one that has to be experienced in-person — which is what led to making unique, large-scale, and sometimes ephemeral, artworks.

David Ondrik
Print processing

pe:     Who are your influences?

DO:     My early influences are from UNM: Tom Barrow, Betty Hahn, and Patrick Nagatani, who all three pushed the definition of “photography.” More recently, Chris McCaw got me thinking of photo paper as an object; Walter Kitundu showed that a familiar object (a turntable) could be adapted into a completely unexpected instrument by exploring and subverting the consequences of the object’s inherent qualities. The Abstract Expressionists showed how line, shape, and color could combine to create profound experiences.

pe:     What is your favorite dessert?

DO:     Cherry cayenne pie!

David Ondrik at photo-eye Gallery
Image courtesy of Melanie McWhorter

David Ondrik is an artist, educator, and writer. He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and now lives in Bloomington, IN. He received his BFA in studio art with an emphasis in photography from the University of New Mexico in 1998. From 2004-2014 he taught art in public high schools, specializing in photography but covering the gamut of drawing, painting, art history, and computer graphics. In 2009 he achieved a National Board Certification for Early Adolescent / Young Adult Visual Art Instruction. His artwork has been exhibited across the country, appears in numerous publications, and is in the collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art, the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and multiple New Mexico public art collections. He received his MFA in photography from Indiana University in 2017 and is currently a Visiting Professor of Photography at Indiana University.

––––

LIGHT + METAL has been extended at photo-eye Gallery 

through Saturday, September 22nd, 2018. 

For additional information on David Ondrik's work, 

and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at 

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

» View LIGHT +  METAL

» Read More about the Exhibition

» Favorites from LIGHT + METAL 

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   541 S. Guadalupe St.

   Santa Fe, NM 87501

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Book Review Expired Paper By Alison Rossiter Reviewed by David Ondrik Alison Rossiter’s monograph Expired Paper is a beautiful photobook published by Radius Books and Yossi Milo Gallery. It reproduces Rossiter’s recent photographic oeuvre of abstract, camera-less photographs that conceptually and visually owe more to minimalist and abstract painters than to photographers.

Expired Paper. 
By Alison Rossiter. Radius Books/Yossi Milo Gallery, 2017.

 

Expired Paper

Reviewed by David Ondrik

Expired Paper.
Photographs by Alison Rossiter. Text by Leah Ollman.
Radius Books/Yossi Milo Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 2017. 196 pp., 90 illustrations, 11x12¾".

Alison Rossiter’s monograph Expired Paper is a beautiful photobook published by Radius Books and Yossi Milo Gallery. It reproduces Rossiter’s recent photographic oeuvre of abstract, camera-less photographs that conceptually and visually owe more to minimalist and abstract painters than to photographers. As such, Rossiter’s non-objective abstraction may not find its primary audience among photography devotees, as there are no straight photographs. Instead, there’s a range of (mostly) monochromatic images that are fundamentally about light, shadow, contemplation, and marks made with the passing of time.

Because her work uses photographic materials in an unorthodox manner, it’s essential to address her process. For the most part, Rossiter uses antique, black-and-white silver-gelatin paper manufactured (and expired) in the early-20th century. Though the artist’s hand is present in the work, the images are very much in line with the Surrealist movement’s Automatic Drawing, where rational control was relinquished to allow the subconscious to come forward. Instead of exposing her expired paper to light through a negative and an enlarger, the images in Expired Paper rely on the latent image exposed over the long life of the paper. Even though silver paper may have been kept out of direct light, over decades the still-sensitive emulsion can be exposed to wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that don’t normally cause a visible impact. The images Rossiter coaxes from the chemicals are visually abstract records of the paper’s history — how well it was preserved, the stability of manufacturing, temperature, humidity, cosmic rays, muons, etc. These vagaries are what has produced the resulting image.

Rossiter’s titles reflect this, as well as playfully riffing on the convention of fact-based photographic titles. Rather than use the names of people and places, she lists the brand of paper, its date of expiration, and the date she processed it. This data-driven categorization, rather than a Pictorialist poeticism, harkens back to the photo traditions of observation, organization, and comparison that her work otherwise leaves behind.

Expired Paper is separated into chapters that correspond to different bodies of work. While they all share the same process, each body differs in how the developer is applied. Latent resulted from immersing the silver paper fully in developer and accepting whatever image came up with minimal intervention by the artist. These works most directly reference Rothko and Ad Reinhardt, though they are intimate in scale rather than immense. The images in Tarnish all exhibit metallic silver precipitating out of the silver bromide (or chloride) in the emulsion. These are intimate photo-objects, which is emphasized by the unexpected inclusion of the hand holding each piece of paper. The opening image in this chapter, Defender Disco, expired October 1911, processed 2016, is a sheet of pure texture that simultaneously suggests Vija Celmins’ Night Sky drawings and Hubble Telescope images of nebulae and gas clouds. Landscapes, Pools, and Dips + Pours are all made by submerging part of the paper in developer to create the images.

The way the Pools chapter is presented breaks with modern photo book conventions, as the reproductions of the images are folded and tipped in, rather than printed on the book paper. This allows the reproductions to be the same size as the original image without crossing the gutter awkwardly. It also changes the way a reader interacts with the book, as even the minor effort to pull back the folded paper to see the image demands a different type of attention and engagement that is very welcome, much like the intimacy of unfolding a letter. As an added surprise, at the end of the book is a tipped in catalogue of photographs of the original boxes within which the antique papers Rossiter used were stored.

In keeping with a book of photo-images made with very specific materials, Expired Paper shows a high level of attention to material. The embossed text on the dust jacket is a subtle touch, and the three types of paper within the book — a thinner paper for the introductory text by Leah Ollman, a thick, substantial paper that takes ink well for the images, and finally, light gray paper for Rossiter’s closing essay — come together to make a true art object that amplifies the images within. — David Ondrik

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DAVID ONDRIK is an artist working with light sensitive media. He has an MFA from Indiana University and is currently a visiting assistant professor of photography at IU. His website is  https://davidondrik.com/.

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Book Review Passage By Linda Foard Roberts Reviewed by David Ondrik Passage is an elegiac portrait of the artist’s family, infused with an open, tender love seen through flesh, cherished objects, and landscape. The care and attention required to use a large format film camera is evident — this is the product of labor and craft combined with a deep connection to what’s being photographed.

Passage. By Linda Foard Roberts.Radius Books, 2016.

 

Passage

Reviewed by David Ondrik

Passage.
Photographs by Linda Foard Roberts. Text by Billy Collins, Russell Lord, and Deborah Willis.
Radius Books, Santa Fe, USA, 2016. 176 pp., 80 black-and-white illustrations, 10x12".  

If you enjoy Pictorialism, the 19th century movement of soft focused photographs concerned more with emotion and mood than representation, Linda Foard Roberts’s debut monograph Passage will be deeply satisfying. The book is a hefty 10” x 12” with 80 nuanced, warm-tone reproductions of Roberts’s black and white gelatin silver prints. It opens with a brief statement by Roberts, followed by eminently readable essays by Russell Lord and Dr. Deborah Willis.

Passage is an elegiac portrait of the artist’s family, infused with an open, tender love seen through flesh, cherished objects, and landscape. The care and attention required to use a large format film camera is evident — this is the product of labor and craft combined with a deep connection to what’s being photographed. Each of the five sections (Passage, Grounded, Simple Truths, Alchemy, and Becoming) is introduced by thick, textured paper embossed with Roman numerals. Immediately following each embossed page is a photograph on translucent vellum that overlays the image on the next page. This veiled, double exposure effect is a thoughtful accent that enhances the tactile interaction of turning through the pages. It shows an attention to the possibilities of the book as an interactive object, rather than a “pocket gallery” of photographs. There are short introductory statements from the artist that set the tone for each section.

Passage. By Linda Foard Roberts.Radius Books, 2016.

The quality of the images, and their reproductions, is immediately seductive and enhanced by expert sequencing and book design. On pages 30 and 31 are facing images, Soulmate Moths and My Mother’s Grace, one is of two dead moths and the other is of the artist’s mother’s hands. Tonally the images echo each other — the dead moths are light patches against a dark ground, while the hands are stark against a similarly dark ground. There’s also a wistful conceptual entwining — the moths have worn out and perished, while the mother’s elderly, worn hands imply inevitable mortality.

Passage. By Linda Foard Roberts.Radius Books, 2016.

While there’s a melancholy tone to most of the images in this book, there are some notable departures, like A Measure of Time, Both Thirteen Years Old. This portrait of the artist’s 13-year-old son leaning against a 13-year-old tree, presumably planted on the occasion of his birth, illustrates the connection the mother has to the child as well as the landscape she’s created at home. The motion blur of the swaying leaves obscures the young man’s face and works as a metaphor for his impending transition from childhood to adolescence. The tree is a sturdy support, a reminder that, despite the impending changes and chaos of growing up, there will quite literally be a foundation to lean against.

Passage. By Linda Foard Roberts.Radius Books, 2016.

One somewhat jarring element is the fold-out page of four photographs of a tree on the artist’s property, each taken during different seasons and constructed with multiple negatives. While I sympathize with the problems unusual image dimensions mean for books, the fold-out is an awkward solution that diminishes the photos by creasing them. Also, the dust jacket feels thin, like ordinary copy paper, which is a surprise considering the high quality of materials and printing in the rest of the book. Under the jacket is a wonderful, white cover with a tipped in image of a gnarled and ancient oak.

Passage. By Linda Foard Roberts.Radius Books, 2016.

Passage is a real find for fans of “old fashioned” photographic imagery. I’d not been familiar with Roberts's photography before the book came my way, and I’m really pleased that it did. It’s an excellent retrospective of her career, and an exquisite object that book lovers are sure to enjoy. — David Ondrik

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DAVID ONDRIK is an artist working with light sensitive media. He has an MFA from Indiana University and is currently a visiting assistant professor of photography at IU. His website is  https://davidondrik.com/.

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Book Review Resonantia By Louviere + Vanessa Reviewed by David Ondrik Resonantia, by New Orleans artists Louviere + Vanessa, is a puzzling, fun, interactive artwork that doubles as an exhibition catalogue. Limited to 400 copies, it’s not really a book, but a vinyl 33 1/3 record with a gatefold cover. It’s also more than a record.

Resonantia. Louviere + Vanessa.

Louviere + Vanessa, 2015.

 

Resonantia
Reviewed by David Ondrik

Resonantia
Photographs by Louviere + Vanessa.
Louviere + Vanessa, New Orleans, USA, 2015. In English. four pp., 15 four-color offset illustrations, 12x12".

Resonantia, by New Orleans artists Louviere + Vanessa, is a puzzling, fun, interactive artwork that doubles as an exhibition catalogue. Limited to 400 copies, it’s not really a book, but a vinyl 33 1/3 record with a gatefold cover. It’s also more than a record. Sliding the record from its archival bag, the viewer is greeted with a luscious reproduction of the duo’s newest experiments in visual art: abstract patterns that are visualizations of sound. The cover is distinguished by smartly applied spot varnish to create a black-on-black image on the otherwise matte surface. Opening the gatefold reveals more sound-based visual abstractions reproduced here with golden ink that sparkles under the spot varnish, shimmering like the original mixed media art works. The LP is wrapped in a paper sleeve printed with more yellow-gold imagery, and there is a sheet with the artist’s statement and a 12” x 12” sheet of mirror-like paper to make a spectrometer. The vinyl itself is visually arresting: a reproduction of the cover image is lacquered into side B, and side A is half sound-grooves and half lacquered images of birds.

Book Review M By Misha Pedan Reviewed by David Ondrik M is a book of photographs made by Misha Pedan from 1985-1986, taken during his lengthy daily subway commute in Karkov, Ukraine. M opens with an introduction by Vagrich Bakhjhanyan that immediately sets an unusual tone for the book: it is not the traditional introductory essay intended to shed light on the photographs and the artist who made them.

M. By Misha Pedan.

Khimaira Publishing, 2015.

 

M
Reviewed by David Ondrik

M
Photographs by Misha Pedan
Khimaira Publishing, Sweden, 2015. In English/Russian. 124 pp., 80 illustrations, 10¼x7¾".

M is a book of photographs made by Misha Pedan from 1985-1986, taken during his lengthy daily subway commute in Karkov, Ukraine. M opens with an introduction by Vagrich Bakhjhanyan that immediately sets an unusual tone for the book: it is not the traditional introductory essay intended to shed light on the photographs and the artist who made them. Pedan’s photographs are not mentioned at all. Instead the piece is a fantastic account of the city of Karkov, so far removed from reality that it becomes more of a poem or piece of short fiction than an academically useful window into the pictures. Its fanciful nature calls into question the veracity of the photographs to come.

Book Review The Hereditary Estate By Daniel Coburn Reviewed by David Ondrik Daniel W. Coburn’s The Hereditary Estate is his first monograph, and serves two functions. It is a career retrospective combining ten years of Coburn’s imagery and it also re-imagines the family photo album.

The Hereditary Estate. By Daniel Coburn.

Kehrer Verlag, 2015.

 

The Hereditary Estate

Reviewed by David Ondrik

The Hereditary Estate
Photographs by Daniel Coburn
Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, 2015. 112 pp., 9x11½x¾".

Daniel W. Coburn’s The Hereditary Estate is his first monograph, and serves two functions. It is a career retrospective combining ten years of Coburn’s imagery and it also re-imagines the family photo album. Published by Kehrer Verlag, the book has 112 pages with 76 superb duotone photographic reproductions. It is hardcover with a “Swiss binding,” which means that the signatures are not attached to the spine of the book. Upon swinging the book open, the viewer is confronted with the red-tinted photograph of Coburn’s father holding a gun against his head juxtaposed with a found photograph of a woman, hair in curlers, holding her head in her hands in an ambiguous expression of angst, embarrassment, or maybe laughter.

Book Review The Homestage By Jessica Todd Harper Reviewed by David Ondrik The Home Stage is a tender book of family photographs that refine the personal style of Jessica Todd Harper’s first book, Interior Exposure. In The Home Stage, the domestic scenes of twenty-somethings have morphed into domestic scenes of newish parents adapting to life with children.

The Home Stage. By Jessica Todd Harper.

Damiani, 2014.

 

The Home Stage

Reviewed by David Ondrik

The Home Stage
Photographs by Jessica Todd Harper
Damiani, 2014. 112 pp., illustrated throughout, 11x9½".

The Home Stage is a tender book of family photographs that refine the personal style of Jessica Todd Harper’s first book, Interior Exposure. In The Home Stage, the domestic scenes of twenty-somethings have morphed into domestic scenes of newish parents adapting to life with children. The images are so well done that they should engage even those who are not usually seduced by pastoral photographs of charming urchins and glowing parents.

Book Review On a Wet Bough By Keliy Anderson-Staley Reviewed by David Ondrik On a Wet Bough is a collection of Keliy Anderson-Staley’s black and white portraits. The eighty four sitters reflect the tremendous diversity of humanity — young, old, gay, white, black, brown, big nosed, pierced, disheveled, straight, coifed, slick — it’s all here in crisp detail.

On a Wet Bough. By Keliy Anderson-Staley.

Waltz Books, 2014.

 

On a Wet Bough

Reviewed by David Ondrik

On a Wet Bough
Photographs by Keliy Anderson-Staley
Waltz Books, 2014. 144 pp., 85 duotone illustrations, 11x14".

On a Wet Bough is a collection of Keliy Anderson-Staley’s black and white portraits. The eighty four sitters reflect the tremendous diversity of humanity — young, old, gay, white, black, brown, big nosed, pierced, disheveled, straight, coifed, slick — it’s all here in crisp detail. Each portrait is reproduced at about 8”x10”, except for the few group portraits, horizontal images scaled to fit the page. There’s no information about the physical images themselves, so it’s not clear if we’re looking at one-to-one reproductions or not.

Book Review Slow Talk By Bohnchang Koo Reviewed by David Ondrik South Korean artist Bohnchang Koo’s Slow Talk is a quiet book of meditative, abstract black and white photographs and a catalogue of his exhibition at Ivorypress Space in Madrid, Spain. This is a book that is meant to be held and experienced physically.

Slow Talk. By Bohnchang Koo.

Ivorypress, 2014.

 

Slow Talk
Reviewed by David Ondrik

Slow Talk
Photographs by Bohnchang Koo
Ivorypress, 2014. 96 pp., color and black & white illustrations throughout, 8x9½".

South Korean artist Bohnchang Koo’s Slow Talk is a quiet book of meditative, abstract black and white photographs and a catalogue of his exhibition at Ivorypress Space in Madrid, Spain. This is a book that is meant to be held and experienced physically. The sliver-gray cover is very tactile — toothy paper with the artist’s name and book title subtly embossed on the surface invites the reader to feel as well as see. The interior pages are equally tactile, delicious to touch.

Book Review Art Fare By Andy Freeberg Reviewed by David Ondrik Andy Freeberg’s second monograph, Art Fare, is a typology of the interminable and ubiquitous art fairs that are now an entrenched part of the contemporary art market. The homophone title works as a wonderfully to-the-point artist statement: art entertainment is art money.

Art Fare. By Andy Freeberg.

Sojourn Books, 2014.

 

Art Fare

Reviewed by David Ondrik

Art Fare
Photographs by Andy Freeberg
Sojourn Books, 2014. 88 pp., 42 color illustrations, 11x14".

Andy Freeberg’s second monograph, Art Fare, is a typology of the interminable and ubiquitous art fairs that are now an entrenched part of the contemporary art market. The homophone title works as a wonderfully to-the-point artist statement: art entertainment is art money. The photography is well done, although like all typologies shooting the subject in a consistent, analytical manner trumps other concerns. There are a few clever compositions, like where installers look to be holding back the crush of an anxious mob, or where an artist’s head is almost literally stuck up his own naked posterior. How a viewer responds to the images will depend more on how they respond to art fairs than any quality of the photography itself. Each picture of sales booths staffed with gallery owners, assistants, and the art they’re hocking are presented as “walk-by shootings.” They can’t really be spontaneous since Freeberg would need to acquire model releases and convince the artists to agree to have their art appear in the pictures. It’s entirely possible the behind the scenes legal wrangling was an extremely complicated part of this project.

Book Review Bücher Books By Boris Mikhailov Reviewed by David Ondrik Boris Mikhailov’s Bücher Books (like most text in the book, the German precedes the English) is a ponderous tome of 334 pages that reproduces two of his artists books, Structures of madness, or why shepherds living in the mountains often go crazy and Photomania in Crimea.

Bücher Books. By Boris Mikhailov.

Walther König, 2013.

 

Bücher Books

Reviewed by David Ondrik

Bücher Books
By Boris Mikhailov
$59.95
Walther König, 2013. 336 pp., 270 color illustrations, 9x12".

Boris Mikhailov’s Bücher Books (like most text in the book, the German precedes the English) is a ponderous tome of 334 pages that reproduces two of his artists books, Structures of madness, or why shepherds living in the mountains often go crazy and Photomania in Crimea. There are also essays, in both German and English, by Inka Schube, Helen Petrovsky, Bernd Stiegler, Tobias Wilke, Boris Groys, and Oksana Bulgakowa. Unfortunately, the essays are reflective of much academic writing on art and are verbose, lugubrious, and dull; nearly 80 pages that you’ll most likely skip unless you are a dedicated fan of Mikhailov’s work or in the unfortunate position of working on your MFA or a PhD in Art History.

Book Review So Far By Sonja Braas Reviewed by David Ondrik So Far is Sonja Braas' second book, following 2004's Forces. It is a survey of selected images from four different series: The Passage, The Quiet of Dissolution, Forces, and You Are Here. Braas uses photography to make her art, but not in the way that currently overflows digital services like Flickr and Instagram. Instead, most of the photographs are made from carefully constructed models of landscapes that recall 19th century Romantic paintings.

So Far. By Sonja Braas.
 Hatje Cantz, 2013.
 

So Far

Reviewed by David Ondrik

So Far
Photographs by Sonja Braas.
Hatje Cantz, 2013. Hardbound. 122 pp., 97 color illustrations, 11-3/4x10-1/2".

So Far is Sonja Braas' second book, following 2004's Forces. It is a survey of selected images from four different series: The Passage, The Quiet of Dissolution, Forces, and You Are Here. Braas uses photography to make her art, but not in the way that currently overflows digital services like Flickr and Instagram. Instead, most of the photographs are made from carefully constructed models of landscapes that recall 19th century Romantic paintings. I see more in common with Caspar David Friedrich and Joseph Mallord William Turner than I do William Eggleston or even other constructed-reality photographers like Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewdson.

Book Review The City By Lori Nix Reviewed by David Ondrik The City is artist Lori Nix's first monograph. Limited to 1,200 copies and published by Decode Books, it's 76 pages with 37 reproductions of Nix's photographs made since 2005. The cover image, Library, is stunning and tells you everything you need to know about the rest of the images contained within. The titular library is in the midst of prolonged decay; three trees, possibly aspens, are growing up from the ground, fed natural light and presumably water, through a gaping hole in the roof of the structure.

The City. Photographs by Lori Nix.
Decode Books, 2013.
 

The City

Reviewed by David Ondrik

The City
Photographs by Lori Nix.
Decode Books, 2013. Hardbound. 76 pp., 37 color illustrations, 13-3/4x10-3/4".

The City is artist Lori Nix's first monograph. Limited to 1,200 copies and published by Decode Books, it's 76 pages with 37 reproductions of Nix's photographs made since 2005. The cover image, Library, is stunning and tells you everything you need to know about the rest of the images contained within. The titular library is in the midst of prolonged decay; three trees, possibly aspens, are growing up from the ground, fed natural light and presumably water, through a gaping hole in the roof of the structure. The decay of the library itself is in various stages: some of the art on the wall isn't holding up too well, and the walls themselves are discoloring. Dust covers everything, and library chairs are scattered as if they were hastily abandoned before the unknown cataclysm that precipitated the abandonment, and thus decay, of the place.

But overall, given the time it would take for the central tree to grow so tall, the room is holding up remarkably well. In fact, the mood of the image is more whimsical than depressing. The visual realization of a grove of aspens sprouted in the concrete floor of an abandoned library is completely charming. As a viewer, I'm almost glad that the humans left so that something so magical could take place.

The City, by Lori Nix. Published by Decode Books, 2013.

The City, by Lori Nix. Published by Decode Books, 2013.

Of course, the entire thing is a fabrication. The photograph is not of a long lost book depository, but a model hand-built by Nix and her partner Kathleen Gerber for the express purpose of being photographed. Together the pair create complicated dioramas of the interiors of abandoned buildings. Devoid of their human caretakers, the images are akin to an artist's interpretation of Scientific American's An Earth Without People. They are so labor intensive that Nix only produces five models/photographs each year. This obsessive attention to detail and veracity makes each photograph a believable depiction of an incredibly compelling fictional space. There are a mind-boggling number of books in both Library and Circulation Desk, creepy miniature organs preserved in Anatomy Classroom, and a Museum of Art overrun by Africanized honeybees. Moss covers the floor in Map Room and the Space Center is inexorably turning into a botanical garden. Electricity still powers the fluorescent lights in Laundromat at Night, but a small rat is the only living inhabitant of the otherwise wrecked store.

The City, by Lori Nix. Published by Decode Books, 2013.

The City, by Lori Nix. Published by Decode Books, 2013.

It's these surreal touches that make Nix's work so charming. A documentarian would have to wait an eternity for the crows of Majestic to arrive, or for the raccoon exploring Clock Tower. And while some of her photographs have similar subject matter to Brian Ulrich's dead retail or Robert Polidori's Chernobyl images, by working with fictions, Nix infuses a playfulness that is missing in real world decay. I don't think of this work as a cautionary tale about a looming global disaster, a heavy-handed cri de coeur to change our wicked ways. It is more of a meditation on the fall of a civilization, a visual acknowledgement that George Harrison had it right: all things must pass. But don't miss the chance to pick up The City and experience the beauty of this calculated disintegration.—DAVID ONDRIK

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DAVID ONDRIK is an artist, high school art teacher, and writer who grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and now lives in Portland, Oregon. http://www.artisdead.net

Book Review Mitakuye Oyasin By Aaron Huey Reviewed by David Ondrik Aaron Huey's Mitakuye Oyasin is a challenging book of photographs, heavy with the weight of history, of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. The English translation of the title is All My Relations, but, as you might expect, something is lost in that translation, which doesn't cover the depth of the phrase's meaning. Relations is not just your blood. It's community, land, sky, plants, insects, friends, enemies. Everything is connected. And you have a responsibility for your Relations.

Mitakuye Oyasin. Photographs by Aaron Huey.
Radius Books, 2013.
 

Mitakuye Oyasin

Reviewed by David Ondrik

Mitakuye Oyasin
Photographs by Aaron Huey.
Radius Books, 2013. Hardbound. 208 pp., 134 color illustrations, 9x12-1/2".

Aaron Huey's Mitakuye Oyasin is a challenging book of photographs, heavy with the weight of history, of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. The English translation of the title is All My Relations, but, as you might expect, something is lost in that translation, which doesn't cover the depth of the phrase's meaning. Relations is not just your blood. It's community, land, sky, plants, insects, friends, enemies. Everything is connected. And you have a responsibility for your Relations.

Understanding the full meaning of the title is imperative to understanding where Huey is coming from. He's dealing with an extremely difficult subject. The history of white people photographing brown people is usually the history of power politics, ethnic and cultural bias, and preconceived notions. Despite his good intentions, Edward Curtis's iconic 19th century photographs of Native Americans are now widely understood to reflect the photographer's ideas of what his subjects were, rather than their reality. The popular example of this is the removal, via retouching, of a clock from In a Piegan Lodge. In Curtis's mind, Little Plume and Yellow Kidney told time by the position of the sun, or maybe a deep spiritual understanding of the world, but certainly not with a clock. Couple this with the fact that Huey is an outsider, by nature of being a photographer for National Geographic and Harper's. He comes from privilege so far removed from life on the Pine Ridge Reservation that he may as well be from outer space. Perhaps more dangerous than an alien invasion, Huey could also be yet another Concerned White Person (school teacher, priest, energy company executive) with pity in his heart and good intentions in his head, out to save the Indians from themselves.

Mitakuye Oyasin, by Aaron Huey. Published by Radius Books, 2013.

As well as transubstantiating his book into a spiritual ceremony, titling his book Mitakuye Oyasin is Huey's way of acknowledging his difficulties in representing, in speaking for, the Oglala. To paraphrase Andrew Ironshell's introduction, Huey is firmly aware of his responsibility to the humans around him, the land, the environment, enemies, family, and history. He knows he's an outsider, but over the course of seven years he has formed powerful Relations with the Oglala and he has been welcomed in a way that, I imagine, few outsiders are. And the fact remains that, because of his position, Huey's voice will be louder than anyone on Pine Ridge. With support and encouragement from his Relations, he may be able to be a voice for the voiceless and call much needed attention to our broken Reservation system. 

Mitakuye Oyasin, by Aaron Huey. Published by Radius Books, 2013.

Mitakuye Oyasin, by Aaron Huey. Published by Radius Books, 2013.

The photographs in Mitakuye Oyasin show that Huey was eventually welcomed into the intimate spaces of Pine Ridge. The 134 images include interiors, portraits, and landscapes; all are made with the degree of exceptional skill you'd expect from someone with Huey's background. Some photographs seem candid, while the subjects are active participants in others; all are startling and moving. We are treated to images of tattooed 21st century gangsters (warriors?), a still-life with a portrait of Red Cloud, the gin blossoms of alcoholics, young men on horses, a tremendous pile of discarded clothing, a double rainbow over sweat lodges. Although there are some uplifting moments, Huey's portrayal of the Reservation is a place of staggering poverty and hopelessness with very few moments of light or uplift. In a place with 90% unemployment, a male life expectancy of 47 years, and a median household income of $21,089, it's difficult for this outsider to criticize his viewpoint. But I can't help but wonder if the residents of Pine Ridge view this as a fair portrait of their home.

Mitakuye Oyasin, by Aaron Huey. Published by Radius Books, 2013.

The editorial choice was made to leave out captions, titles, or any information about the people in the photographs. I recognize the preparation for a Sundance, but if you are not familiar with that particular ceremony, there's nothing to tell you that is what you're seeing. Left on its own, the meaning of a photograph is malleable and often reflects what the viewer already believes. Is this level of poverty in the United States a national embarrassment or an example of an inferior culture? People with either viewpoint can look at the photograph of the child standing on a red Power Wheels car and see confirmation of their pre-existing belief. This is more a shortcoming of the medium than anything Huey has interjected himself, but by leaving out written contextual information he misses the opportunity to inform the uninformed. Is the child bathing in the kitchen sink completely fine to be doing so or is this a portrait of neglect? The photograph contains evidence for both readings.

Mitakuye Oyasin, by Aaron Huey. Published by Radius Books, 2013.

The lack of written information is frustrating in another way. Those of us that come away from Mitakuye Oyasin with the "lump in your throat and the tear in your eye" that Buffy Sainte-Marie sang about will find no guidance here in turning thought into action. It's not even clear if buying this book in any way supports Pine Ridge. I personally believe that Huey is not enriching himself with photographs of poverty, but it would be reassuring to have some confirmation.

I don't envy Huey in his task. I believe this type of work is easy to criticize, as there are as many different viewpoints as blades of grass in a field. I'm certain he receives requests to tell the story on other reservations, but similarly, there are too many stories for one person to tell. All in all, Mitakuye Oyasin is good, important even, but flawed. We should all be fortunate enough to have made something that so accurately reflects life.—DAVID ONDRIK

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DAVID ONDRIK is an artist, high school art teacher, and writer who grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and now lives in Portland, Oregon. http://www.artisdead.net