Where to Go and What to See

There are lots of good shows going up this week (Bruce Davidson at Jackson Fine Art, Saul Leiter at Howard Greenberg, Jerry Schatzberg at the Rizzoli Bookstore...). But it was a no-brainer to decide which I was most interested in, since my photo is part of the show (what? we editors are allowed to be self-interested occasionally).

Jose Picayo found out about the demise of Polaroid a little ahead of the curve and immediately began buying up every box of 8x10 Polaroid film left on the market. Then, with about 900 exposures compiled, he began making mug shots of New Yorkers. The brown-toned, split images will be displayed unframed and "edge-to-edge" at the Robin Rice Gallery starting May 7.

American Photo's editor, David Schonauer, and I both sat for mug shots (see above) -- but my interest in the show is not solely personal. First off, I'm fascinated by portrait photography and was excited to be part of a portrait shoot. But I quickly realized that in many ways this mug shot project creates anti-portraits. Picayo gives his subjects no direction, changes nothing about their appearance, and does absolutely no post-production manipulation. As the show's press release states, "Picayo seeks to revive the concept of  pure and unadulterated beauty, spontaneously captured."

I also love the idea of capturing a moment in time -- both the end of Polaroid film as it has been known and the few months in the history of New York City during which the images were made. Aside from the 8x10 mug shots, Picayo also made smaller Polaroids of each subject and pasted them in books where the sitter was asked to record their thoughts, especially about their ethnic and cultural background and what brought them to New York. I love the idea of recording a slice of New York through the faces of its inhabitants; and the use of a disappearing medium to do that underscores the constant mutability of those faces, and the city, and thus the ultimate impossibility of recording either.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Jose Picayo)

Follow the link below for details about these and many more photography events around the country.
 

New York Events

May 6, 6-8
Gabriel Orozco: Recent work
Opening reception
On view through June 14
Marian Goodman Gallery
24 W. 57th St.

May 6, 6-8
Bobby Virga: The Humanist Landscape; Richard Shevlin: On the Road: From Delhi to Udiapur; Duane Rakestraw: J'Accuse; John Custodio: Washington and Oregon in Infrared; Gary Duehr: Interstices: The City at Night; Eva Shaderowfsky: 1938-2007
Reception
On view through May 31
Soho Photo
15 White St.

May 7, 5:30-8:30
Jose Picayo: Mug Shots
Opening reception
On view through June 22
Robin Rice Gallery
325 W. 11th St.

May 7, 6-8
Kent Rogowski: Love = Love
Opening reception
On view through June 14
Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St.

May 8, 5:30-7
Paris 1962: Jerry Schatzberg
Booksigning
Rizzoli Bookstore
31 W. 57th St. (between 5th and 6th Ave)

May 8, 6-9
Gregory Chatonsky: The Invention of Destruction
Opening reception
On view through July 5
Galerie Poller
547 W. 27th St.

May 8
Stuart Hawkins: Deluxe
Opening
On view through June 7
Zach Feuer Gallery
520 W. 24th St.

May 8
British Photography: Bill Brandt, John Blakemore, Keith Collie, Fay Godwin, Nigel Henderson, David Hurne, Paul Hill, Chris Killip, Roger Mayne, Don McCullin, Raymond Moore, Tony Ray-Jones
Opening
On view through June 21
Alan Klotz Gallery
511 W. 25th St.

May 8, 6-8
Saul Leiter: Women
Reception for the artist
On view through June 21
Howard Greenberg Gallery
41 E. 57th St., Suite 1406

May 8, 6-9
Julio Bittencourt: In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building
Opening reception
On view through June 15
Point of View Gallery
638 W. 28th St.

May 8, 6-9
Ronan Guillou: In Between Exhibition
Opening reception for the artist
On view through June 20
Sous Les Etoiles, The Gallery
560 Broadway, #205

May 8, 6-8
Czanara: The Art and Photographs of Raymond Carrance
Opening
On view through June 21
Wessel + O'Connor Fine Art
111 Front St., Suite 200, Brooklyn

May 8, 6-8
Daido Moriyama: The 80s, Vintage Prints; Peter Beste: True Norwegian Black Metal
Opening reception; Peter Beste reception and book signing May 9, 6-8
On view through June 7
Steven Kasher Gallery
521 W. 23rd St.

May 10, 7-10
Jodie Vicenta Jacobson: Hint
Artist reception
On view through July 31
The Wild Project
195 E. 3rd St.

May 11
Celestial Nights: Visions of an Ancient Land, Photographs by Neil Folberg
Opening
On view through August 24
Popper Gallery
Yeshiva University Museum
15 W. 16th St. (between 5th and 6th Ave.)

Other Events

May 7, 6pm
Terence Gower and Josef Schulz
Gallery talk with exhibiting artists
Museum of Contemporary Photography
600 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago

May 8, 7-9
William Wegman
Opening reception
On view through June 28
Lisa Sette Gallery
4142 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ

May 9, 6-8
Bruce Davidson: Time of Change & East 100th Street
Opening reception, artist talk May 10, 11am
On view through July 5
Jackson Fine Art
3115 E. Shadowlawn Ave., Atlanta, GA

May 9, 3pm
Looking at Leaves: Photographs by Amanda Means
Gallery Talk, also May 10, 10am
On view through February 8, 2009
Harvard Museum of Natural History
26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA

May 10, 5-8
There's No Place Like Home: Bill Owens, Chris Verene, Misty Keasler, Peter Riesett, Tom Atwood, William Greiner, Delilah Montoya
Opening reception
On view through June 14
Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery
1202 Dragon St., Suite 103, Dallas, TX

May 11
Aerial Portraits of the American West: Photographs by John Shelton
Opening
On view through November 2
San Diego Natural History Museum
1788 El Prado, San Diego, CA