Where to Go and What to See

One of my first photography exhibitions in New York was an Abelardo Morell opening at Bonni Benrubi a few years ago. I remember being amazed, and not only by the ingenious camera obscura photos of apartments' views reflected upside down on their own walls. Bonni Benrubi is a small uptown space and it was absolutely crammed with admirers. Hot and fidgety and loud, the crowd left little room to view the images...which was just fine since no one was even trying. I've since learned that this experience was exemplary of openings: both the breathtaking work and the widespread understanding that the opening is no time to actually appreciate it. Now I enjoy the openings for the people and return on a week day to enjoy the images.

I bring this up because this will be my last Where to Go and What to See for American Photo and Abelardo Morell once again has an opening at Bonni Benrubi, on Thursday. It feels very full-circle to me. Anyway, AP's new associate editor, Lindsay Sakraida, will be posting WtGaWtS starting next week, so you won't miss a show. As for me, details to come, but you haven't heard the last from me either.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: Grand Canal Looking West Toward the Accademia Bridge in Palazzo Room Under Construction, 2007, © Abelardo Morell)

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Where to Go and What to See

My easy pick for this week is the opening at the International Center of Photography of four exhibitions, on Susan Meiselas, Cornell Capa (who died this year), W. Eugene Smith, and American tintypes. ICP always puts up impressive shows, but especially tuned into photojournalism as I am since returning from Perpignan, I'm excited to see what they've found from these masters.

I'm also looking forward to seeing recent work from Dave Anderson, opening at ClampArt in NYC on Thursday. Anderson's first book, Rough Beauty, was one of our favorites, so I'm eager to see where he's gone from there.

And in Venice, California, a new environmentally minded gallery, G2, is putting up a retrospective of Robert Glenn Ketchum I wish I could see. The gallery "showcases nature photography by today’s most gifted artists, and partners with local and international conservation and educational organizations, donating all proceeds to environmental charities." A cool idea, and a perfect match for Ketchum, who has built his career on pushing for environmental protection with his images.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: The effects of logging on Alaska's Tongass Rainforest, © Robert Glenn Ketchum)

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

Where To Go and What To See

So I missed the big opening week for galleries while I was at Visa  pour l'Image. I'm bummed, but luckily this week is just as packed. With SO many openings and events going on, I can't begin to tell you about all (or most) of them (especially with jet lag still sticking it to me). Needless to say, when we're looking at shows from Avedon, Christenberry, Walker Evans, Michael Thompson, David LaChapelle, and Garry Winogrand, we're looking at a BIG week for photography. Find your favorites, and have a good time.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © David LaChapelle)

Where to Go and What to See

It's another quiet week at the galleries, but I wanted to give a shout out to the Young Curators, New Ideas show going up at Bond Street Gallery on Wednesday. It is a simple but insightful premise: To examine where art photography is headed, why not ask some of the young curators who tackle that question daily, mostly on their own online forums including Humble Arts Foundation, Fjord Photo, and I Heart Photograph. While I'm eager to see the images included in the the show, I'm especially impressed by the foresight of organizer Amani Olu (of Made By Brown), who recognizes that today's art photography revolution will be shaped as much by new means of distribution as by the images themselves.

~Miki Johnson

Where to Go and What to See

As usual in early August, there isn't exactly a flood of shows this week, but there are three very good ones that you should know about. Q. Sakamaki's documentary project on the late 80s/early 90s clean up of Tompkins Square Park in NYC is a fascinating window into how different the city was not so long ago (at powerHouse Arena Wednesday). Keba Armand Konte's life/career retrospective, 888 Pieces of We, includes images printed on interesting materials, particularly the covers of vintage books (at the Oakland Art Gallery in California on Friday). And Bob Willoughby's Vintage Hollywood prints include probing images of silver screen stars on and off the set (Stephen Bulger in Toronto on Sunday).

New York Events

August 6, 6:30-9
Q. Sakamaki: Tompkins Square Park
Book launch and slideshow
powerHouse Arena
37 Main St., Brooklyn

Other Events

August 8, 8pm-12am
Keba Armand Konte: 888 Pieces of We, A Photo Memoir
Artist reception
On view through September 8
Oakland Art Gallery
199 Kahn's Alley, Oakland, CA

August 9
Bob Willoughby: Vintage Hollywood
Opening
On view through September 20
Stephen Bulger Gallery
1026 Queen Street, West Toronto, Ontario

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: "Director Anthony Harvey watches Katherine Hepburn rehearse." 1967. © Bob Willoughby)

Where To Go and What To See

It is usually about this point in the summer that "Hot town, summer in the city..." starts running incessantly through my head and I seriously question my die-hard anti-airconditioning stance. Seems like the NYC galleries have a little summer fever too. Point of View is putting up its Summer Group Show and Jenkins Johnson its Celebrate Summer show, both on Thursday. SCOPE art fair has maybe the best idea, to head for the shore for SCOPE Hamptons.

If I weren't stuck in the city, though, I think I'd prefer the approach Sundaram Tagore in Beverly Hills has taken. Why celebrate this oppressive season when you can look at Subhankar Banerjee's giant, beautiful pictures of frozen plains and imagine you are there instead.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Matt Hoyle, courtesy Point of View Gallery)

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

Where To Go and What To See

I think the galleries have officially entered hibernation mode. If you get overwhelmed with too many openings usually...now's your chance. Really, there's no excuse to not see all of these shows, so without further ado...

New York Events

July 16, 6-8
Original Books
Opening reception
On view through September 6
Cohen Amador Gallery
41 E. 57th St.

July 17, 6-9
Ryan James MacFarland: almost
Opening reception
On view through August 30
Merge Gallery
205 W. 20th St.

July 17, 6-8
Asako Narahashi: half awake and half asleep in the water
Artist's reception
On view through August 22
Yossi Milo Gallery
525 W. 25th St.

July 18, 6-9
Livia Corona: Enanitos Toreros
Book launch
powerHouse Arena
37 Main St., Brooklyn

Other Events

July 18, 5-8
Daniel Traub: City's Edge
Opening reception with the artist
On view through August 29
Catherine Edelman Gallery
300 W. Superior St., Chicago

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: "Scaffolding, East Beijing, 2006," © Daniel Traub)

Where to Go and What to See

Despite the fact that galleries tend to get a little sleepy over the summer, there are quite a few interesting projects going up this week, so I'll just start right in.

If you're in the mood for lots of big names brought together under a loose general idea, check out When Color Was New at Julie Saul in NYC (Callahan, Christenberry, Eggleston, Epstein, Goldin, Levitt, Meyerowitz, Martin Parr, Siegel, Shore, Sternfeld, etc.) or The Good Life at Yancey Richardson (Arbus, Barney, Epstein, Erwitt, Hilliard, Owens, Papageorge, Parr, etc.).

If you want to see some new talent, check out Eight Photographer, Four 2-person Exhibitions at Randall Scott in Washington, D.C. or the SVA photography show in NYC.

If you want to see the show I'll be going to, check out the common objects transformed into magical talismans by Elaine Guigenan at Klompching in NYC. If you want to see the shows I would go to if I lived somewhere other than New York, go to the Lee Miller exhibition at the SFMoMA (she's a badass) or William Greiner's exhibition at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum (he's a friend).

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: From Elaine Duigenan's Net series)

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

Where To Go and What To See

Despite the pre-Independence Day four-day week, several galleries are putting up interesting exhibitions this week. The Pace/MacGill Gallery in NYC is actually opening on July 4 with Larry Fink's holiday-appropriate images of the Democratic presidential campaigns. Robert Mann Gallery, also in NYC, is putting up an interesting show that explores the "formal repetitions and shared motifs of photographers working with commonplace genres such as portraiture and commercial still life during the first half of the 20th century." And at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, a show examines the historical landscapes of Peter Henry Emerson.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Larry Fink, "Barack Obama, TX, 2008")

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

Where To Go and What To See

This week's openings are all about the group shows. The Sasha Wolf Gallery in NYC is putting up its first group show ever, curated by Wolf and Peter Kayafas and including work by Kayafas, Harry Callahan, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, and Katherine Wolkoff. In Our Dreams sounds like a fascinating survey of how photographers dialog with cultural and personal ideas of dreams.

The Brooklyn Museum is going way conceptual in its group photography show called Click! A general call was put out several months ago for photographs, professional and non, that illustrated the idea, "The Changing Face of Brooklyn." They were uploaded to an online storehouse and then the general populace was asked to log on and rate each image. Then the show was hung with sizes dictated by how much the public liked each image.

In Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Photography has put together an interesting show that is appropriate to the summer season: Beyond the Backyard. Another group show, the exhibition includes work from Dorothea Lange, Bill Owens, Larry Sultan, and Todd Deutsch that examines the American ideal of a peaceful domestic backyard and the ways that ideal succeeds and fails to be realized.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Peter Kayafas, "Highpoint, North Carolina, 1993.")

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