State of the Art

Ode to the Oasis

Sometimes it seems like a lowly editor can't do too much to change the world. After all, it's politicians, builders, activists, teachers, criminals...or sometimes entertainers who usually make things happen, right? But once there was a not-so-humble newspaper editor, William Cullen Bryant of the New York Evening Post, who wrote that the burgeoning city of New York should create a big public park as a place to escape urban life. This was in 1844, when such a concept was novel in America.

The idea caught on, land was purchased, a design was selected, and now the park is celebrating the 150th anniversary of that design — Greensward, the Plan for Central Park. To mark the occasion a host of public events continue through the summer, and the Central Park Conservancy has set up a fascinating photo-driven Website detailing the park's long and winding history.

Annals of Advertising: Gap’s new Art Chic

Over the years the Gap has been genius marketing tee shirts. Photographers like Herb Ritts and Annie Leibovitz shot brilliantly graphic black-and-white campaigns showing just the right people wearing the white tees—those people being cool actors and musicians, and especially artists. In fact, it seems to me that the Gap (along with Absolut vodka and some others) really helped usher in the era of artist-as-fashion icon.
    Lately the Gap has faltered a bit, but now in its newest campaign the company has recaptured its art-world glory. Now the marketing involves not just individual artists, but an entire museum. The new campaign focuses on artists whose work has appeared in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s biennial show. The artist appears in the black-and-white ads, wearing a Gap Artist Edition tee shirt that he or she designed. Chuck Close (above right) appears in one of the ads, for instance. In other ads, art collectors wear tee-shirts designed by their favorite artists—for instance, model Stephanie Seymour wears a Jeff Koons shirt. (I’m not a big Koons fan, but that shirt looks really good on her.) In another ad, model Shalom Harlow wears a Barbara Kruger-designed shirt. (That’s the one I’ll be buying.)—David Schonauer

Fab Four Reunion, Of Sorts

The photograph above is what I call "The One That Got Away." It's a rarely-seen picture of Beatle George Harrison with his first wife, Pattie Boyd, shot by Henry Grossman on the occasion of the couple's 1966 wedding. They both look young and fab. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Pattie Boyd — photographer, former model, and rock-and-roll muse — for an article that will run in the July/August issue of American Photo. We just sent the piece to the printer. Alas, this picture didn't make the final mix — so I'm posting it here. (More about Pattie Boyd below.)

What's more remarkable is that in the photo world, nearly four decades after they disbanded, the Fabs — as Harrison sardonically called them — are still going strong. Never mind what John Lennon sang in 1970: For those of us who can't get enough of it, the dream still ain't over.

Recent reports  reveal that Christie's is to offer Lennon’s lyrics for "Give Peace a Chance" — plus never-published photos from the 1969 Montreal Bed-In staged by Lennon and wife Yoko Ono — for auction this summer, with early estimates between £200,000 and £300,000. The pictures, by UK-based comedy writer Gail Renard, had a unlikely beginning: Renard and a companion befriended John and Yoko after requesting an interview for their university magazine. This led to series of rare bed-in shots including the one at right. Lennon also signed and presented Renard the hand-written lyrics to his peace anthem, saying, "One day they will be worth something."

Meanwhile, the two surviving ex-Beatles, Paul and Ringo, recently showed up for the opening of an exhibit of platinum prints of Linda McCartney photographs at the James Hyman Gallery in London, on view until June 7. (Presumably McCartney is more pleased these days about revisiting memories with his first wife than with his second one.)

Film Is Officially Dead in Japan

Film has gone the way of the tintype, at least in Japan. According to this report, hardly any film camera were made or bought in Japan in the last two months—so few, in fact, that a trade organization, the Camera & Imaging Products Association, has decided to stop compiling sales figures for film cameras. The question is, are you sad about this?--David Schonauer

Where to Go and What to See

The headlining act at this week's photo shows is undoubtedly the New York Photo Festival going on in Brooklyn from May 14 to 18. NYPH is the offspring of powerHouse Books and VII Photo Agency, and consists of all the usual festival fare: special exhibitions, portfolio reviews, an awards ceremony, and, of course, lots of after-parties. What sets it apart may be its location in the up-and-coming, big spaces still available DUMBO area of Brooklyn...and which should nicely compliment the hip, underground flavor powerHouse is known for. Check out the full schedule here.

I'd also like to give a shout out to a couple of worthy photographers who have graced American Photo's pages in the last year. Timothy Fadek was one of our Heroes of Photography for his dogged work in Juarez Mexico so we're happy to see his City of Missing Women is on display at The Half King in NYC. Stop by tonight to hear from the photographer in person.

Camille Seaman, who was one of our 2007 Emerging Photographers, has a show at Candace Dwan in NYC for her Where There Should Be Ice series, a few images of which appeared in the magazine.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Camille Seaman)

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

Shia LeBeouf Gets Big Head on GQ

This must be either an example of weird perspective or one of the worst cut-and-past Photoshop jobs ever. Actor Shia LaBeouf, one of the stars of the new Indiana Jones movie due out next week, is on  the cover of the new  issue of GQ, and it looks like success has  gone to his head, which to me looks way bigger proportionally than the rest of his body. What do you think? Wrong lens? Bad angle?  Bad  retouching?  (If digital retouchers want their names on credits, they have to do better than this!) Or maybe the guy just has a very big head. By the way, the picture is by one of my favorite photographersm, Peggy Sirota. --David Schonauer

Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dies at 82

The great American artist Robert Rauschenberg died yesterday at 82. You can read the New York Times obit here. As critic Michael Kimmelman puts it, Rauschenberg obscured and blurred the boundaries between almost every artistic medium: "Building on the legacies of Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell, and others, he thereby helped to obscure the lines between painting and sculpture, painting and photography, photography and printmaking, sculpture and photography, sculpture and dance, sculpture and technology, technology and performance art — not to mention between art and life."--David Schonauer

Annals of Fashion: Meisel+Mendez=Art

Steven Meisel has done it again, this time shooting actress/model Eva Mendez for a story in Italian Vogue. In the various images, she wears corsets, sucks her toes, and exposes her breasts. No doubt "Access Hollywood" will be all over this story, which I suppose is justification enough for the photos. But they don't need any other justification--they're pretty great, period. Is it me, or is Meisel getting better and better? Mendez has  already bared her bottom for a PETA ad. She's also signed on to be the face of Calvin Klein Underwear--so we're wondering what's left for her to show?--David Schonauer

Question of the Day: Should Retouchers Get Photo Credits?

Yesterday I bumped into the inimitable Laurie Kratochvil, photo editor par excellence, who told me to make sure and read the profile of digital retoucher Pascal Dangin in this week’s issue of The New Yorker
   The profile is interesting, in the thoughtful, thorough, and long way that New Yorker articles tend to be. But it raises some important points about the art of photography now.
     Dangin is the owner and resident genius of Box Studios in New York, the place where lots of big fashion photographers, magazines, and advertisers get their images perfected for print. “His success lies…in his ability to marry technical prowess to an aesthetic sensibility: his clients are paying for his eye, and his mind, as much as for his hand,” writes the article’s author, Lauren Collins.
     At this point I think we’re all aware of how important retouchers have become to the photographic process. Often, as the article points out, it is Dangin who creates a successful image by altering the work a photographer has already done.
     So I have a question I’d like to put out into the world: Should retouchers like Dangin be given photo credits when their work results in something useful? If it truly is his artistry that makes an image work, shouldn’t we know that? Of course that might upset lots of photographers. But what do you think?
     (Above: A photo of Dangin for the New Yorker by Josef Astor. I don’t know if it was retouched.)—David Schonauer

Moscow in May: Why So Serious?

Maybe the partying came later, I don't know. But the stage looked pretty dreary in this photo as Dmitri A. Medvedev spoke after being sworn in as Russia's new president. At left, of course, is Vladimir V. Putin, the former president, who has already been named prime minister by Medvedev. The two pale power brokers don't look like this arrangement is going to be much fun for either of them. The space between them is odd, at least to my eyes, suggesting some emotional if not political distance. (On the other hand, if Putin had been standing right next to Medvedev, it might have looked as if he were working a puppet.) As it is, both men seem to be striking identical rigid stances, which might be reassuring to Russians who prefer a strong and closely controlled state. Still, Putin's the man here--the darker coat and hands clenched for a fight. (Maybe it was just cold there.) Meanwhile, Medvedev has those furry microphone breasts. The press pool image, which ran on the front page of today's New York Times, was taken by Dmitri Astakhov. I suppose this is what they call red carpet photography in Russia.

This Day In Photographyy, 1937: The Hindenburg

On May 6, 1937, the German zeppelin Hindenberg exploded while attempting to moor in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people. The disaster resulted in the death of the commercial trans-Atlantic zeppelin service and the rise of the mass news media. On this date, still photographers, filmmakers, and radio broadcasters put together a perfect storm of coverage that set the stage for the future of communications.
     At least it seems that way to me, but I’m no historian. Yet I can’t think of any event before the Hindenburg explosion that equaled it’s multi-media coverage.
     There are a couple of angles here that are interesting for photographers today.
     (And lots of interesting trivia: According to this article, the Hindenburg was to have been filled with non-flammable helium; however, the United States owned all the world’s helium and had placed an embargo against selling it to Nazi Germany. The Graf Zeppelin Company, which built the Hindenburg, turned to hydrogen as an lifting agent. Kapow!)

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.