Where to Go and What to See

This week, gallery-goers should head out to Rochester, NY for a recreation of the significant 1975 exhibition, New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. Showing once again at the George Eastman House, the selection includes more than 100 photographs from the original show from photographers such as Robert Adams, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Frank Gohlke, Henry Wessel Jr., and John Schott (who took the above picture). New Topographics was revolutionary because it demonstrated a new way of photographing landscapes, marrying documentation with fine art aesthetics, and its influence is still felt today. The exhibit opens on June 13 and runs through September 27, after which it will tour the US and Europe.

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Dumb and Dumbo: A Brief Review of the New York Photo Festival

You think the New York Photo Festival in Dumbo was bad last year: Be reassured, it was even worse this year. Last year was the premier for the festival, so we could understand that it was somewhat disorganized. But there can't be an excuse for the  amateurism and incompetence on display this year. On the opening night,last Wednesday, four exhibitions were closed, and one had still the prints on the floor. Most offensive were the portfolio reviews: If you were a starving artist or student, you had to pay $500 to have your portfolio looked at—far too much in the current economy. In France we describe this kind of proposal by saying, Do not shoot on the ambulance. The organizers may well be unable to find any wounded suckers next year.--Jean Jacques Naudet  

The Lasting Impact of Bob Marley

Sometimes photographers have to work long hours for days on end just to get a handful of interesting images. And sometimes all it takes is a little quality time with a generous subject.
     In 1976, Time magazine sent photojournalist David Burnett to Jamaica to work on a story about reggae music, which was becoming a popular addition to radio play lists in the U.S. Burnett started his work by shooting a number of musicians around Ocho Rios, on the island’s north coast. “They all told me that if I wanted to get the story right, I had to go see Bob Marley,” says Burnett. Traveling with a writer, Burnett ended up spending a single afternoon with Marley at his home in Kingston.
     Thirty-three years later, the images he shot that day, combined with a number of photographs he took while following Marley’s Exodus tour in Europe in 1977, have been collected in a book, Soul Rebel: An Intimate Portrait of Bob Marley (Insight Editions, $39.95). The work was also featured earlier this year in an exhibition at the Govinda Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Avedon in Fashion: A Brilliant New Show

A long-awaited exhibition of Richard Avedon's fashion photography opens tomorrow at the International Center of Photography in New York City. Part of a series of exhibitions of fashion photography, the new show features wonderful prints of many of the Avedon images we have come to know so well over the years. More important than the show's range is its depth. The New York Times has a nice preview of the exhibition today, including an audio guide through the material by curators Carol Squiers and Vince Aletti. There is a great deal of interesting cultural history represented in the show, which Squiers admirably describes in the audio guide. In this particular case, the history is less important to me than the personality of Avedon himself—a personality that simply permeates the work in this show. In his fashion work, Avedon seemed to somehow transform energy into spectacle. The elegance, the beauty, and the physical description in the images are byproducts of this transformation. These are wonderful qualities for fashion images to have, and other photographers have copied Avedon in an effort to replicate his success. But the elegance and the beauty seem secondary in Avedon's own work, and not the primary quality. Fashion becomes a life force in his images, not simply art direction. He wasn't capturing a look, but the vibrancy of exquisite life itself. Squiers mentions that he became famous for having happy, smiling women in many of his pictures, and that is indeed where you can feel Avedon himself, at his most wonderful.--David Schonauer

Where to Go and What to See

The second annual New York Photo Festival—beginning today and running through the 17th—features exhibitions, portfolio reviews, workshops, film screenings, and presentations (as well as parties), all focused on "the future of contemporary photography." This year, the festival is curated by William A. Ewing (director of the Swiss Musee de L'Elysee), Chris Boot (a London photo book publisher), Jody Quon (the New York magazine photography director), and Jon Levy (director of Foto8). A ticket for all four days of programming costs a reasonable $30, and if last year's astonishing 15,000 attendees are any indication, it's worth the money. 

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Where to Go and What to See

This week, I wish I were in the Windy City so I could check out the Museum of Contemporary Photography's intriguing exhibit on the complexity of urban planning. Edge of Intent presents the concept of the city—and all the associated issues it presents for the public—as seen through the eyes of 10 different photographers. The timing of the exhibit is perfect: This year marks the centennial of the debut of the original Chicago city plans. Thus, with its exploration of the inflexible ideals of urban planning and the oft-overlooked repercussions for city dwellers, Edge of Intent serves as a dubious celebration.

(Photo: © Joel Sternfeld, courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography)

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Where to Go and What to See

As the weather gets warmer (theoretically), Andrew Bush's Vector Portraits—photos of drivers that were taken from his car while driving in Los Angeles—seem all the more appealing. (Some carefree cruising could do us good.) Since 1989, Bush has accumulated these stealthy photos by using a medium-format roll-film camera and a flash attached to a car door. Bush defines an automobile as a "private room on wheels" because we feel as if we are in a personal space while actually appearing in public.

Vector Portraits opens on April 23 at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York, with an artist's reception and book signing from 6-8:30 pm. Follow the link below for details about this and more photography events.

(Photo: © Andrew Bush, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery)

Madonna 1979 Nudes To Be Featured at Brighton Festival

Thirty years ago, a struggling dancer named Madonna Ciccone made ends meet by working as an artist's model for a couple of photographers. One was Lee Friedlander, the other Martin Schreiber. Neither photographer did much with the resulting images, until Madonna became a big star in the mid 1980s. The rest is history—bidding wars erupted between Playboy and Penthouse, and the black-and-white photos were seen by millions. Meanwhile, Madonna morphed into any number of cultural shapes and is now busy competing with Angelina Jolie to see who can adopt the most children. This May, the images by Schreiber (in my humble opinion, they were the best) will be featured at the renown Brighton Festival—or, rather, at the Brighton Fringe Festival, which runs alongside the main Festival. —David Schonauer

The Brooklyn Museum At Night

I was perusing various art and photo twitters this morning (since PopPhoto.com just set up a twitter of its own, which you can view here), and I came across this great picture taken by Amy Dreher on the Brooklyn Museum twitter. The museum has several bronze Auguste Rodin statues in the front atrium, and at night they get covered in plastic. It almost looks intentional, as if the silhouetted figure under plastic was itself the work of art. I love this image though because it confirms my childhood belief that it would be very cool to wander around a museum at night.  —Lindsay Sakraida

Where to Go and What to See

There's something about Mike Disfarmer: Theater people seem to love him. First, he was the subject of puppet theater in February. And now, his rediscovered body of work from the 70s has inspired an opera. For one night only at the Little Opera Theater in New York, you can view Edward Ficklin's exploration of what motivated Disfarmer's work—via aria monologues.

If you miss the presentation, don't worry: There are still plenty of other photo events going on this week. I'm planning on seeing Lisa Ross's work at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery for sure (see the above photo).  —Lindsay Sakraida

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(Photo: © Lisa Ross)