Spirit Pictures

For those who have been following this blog from the beginning, you may remember a post about Katherine Wolkoff and her silhouette portraits. Katherine has made a practice of alternating between pictures of people and landscapes but what connects them is always the specific physicality of the person or place and the technical virtuosity of the prints.

Katherine’s latest series are photographs of deer beds, and they are both subtle and stunning. (Deer sleep in beds of deep vegetation they press down with their bodies in order to hide from predators. They never lay down in the same bed twice, but the imprints can remain for several days.) What we see in the photographs are swirls of trampled grass, wild flowers, and a shadow outlining the hidden impression of the deer’s body. What we feel is the animal’s spirit, if not something deeper.

I spoke to Katherine for some background on the pictures and she explained that she had made the work on Block Island, following deer trails in the fields until she found the beds. It was an incredibly emotional experience. She chose to make the prints 40 by 50 inches - close to life size - so that the viewer can enter the space more easily and ponder the connection between what is there and what is not.

A number of the photographs can be seen for the first time in the Chisel exhibit curated by Kathy Ryan - part of the forthcoming New York Photo Festival which opens tomorrow.

Masked

It never ceases to amaze me how certain themes miraculously present themselves. Last week this card (above) arrived from Phillips auction house promoting their upcoming London sale, followed the next day by the catalog itself. The day after I was browsing in Rizzoli's bookstore and two different books on display presented photographs of masked women. They were both striking pictures so I snapped them on my iPhone and filed them in the back of my mind. This weekend I was in the gallery organizing j-pegs of some of the pictures in my collection and noticed that there were two mask pictures - an Arbus and an Elliott Erwitt. Finally I was looking up Adam Fuss on Artnet and discovered an entire series he had done on masks that I had never seen before!

If you were to ask me what my least favorite subjects for photographs are, I would say without hesitation: clowns and mimes. So you would think masks would be next in line, but there's something different and intriguing about masks - the play of concealment and revelation, the graphic boldness of the shape, the power they bestow on the wearer. The depiction and use of masks goes back as far as the cave paintings of Lascaux so there's something inherent in the human character that compels us to use masks. The making of elaborate masks was a vital part of Greek, Roman, African, Japanese and Chinese culture. Not so surprisingly, in America masks seems to have more sporting than cultural associations. Think catcher's mask, goalie mask, football helmets, etc.. I can't think of another country whose sports need more protection. The Canadian artist Brian Jungen made an enormous art world splash a few years ago with masks made entirely out of reconstituted Nike Air Jordans, tying together a critique of consumerism and the co-opting of native culture with the creation of compelling and original new works.

To finish off this mask round-up, I Just saw Iron Man which was as good as I hoped it would be and the metallic armor and mask the Robert Downey character creates is probably the best made superhero outfit ever. (Subject for debate?) In addition I pulled out a few of my other favorite mask pictures.

Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinez Matoodhin from The Phillips catalog

Peter Lindbergh

Albert Watson

Irving Penn

Diane Arbus

Robert Capa

Elliott Erwitt. Candice Bergen at Truman Capote's Black and White Ball.

E.J. Bellocq

An Adam Fuss photogram

Brian Jungen

Ironman

P.S.

A few hours after posting this mask story, I received the following comment:

While I agree that the image is powerful and beautiful; and I appreciate your discussion on masks and its socio-cultural context. There is an additional angle an image like this brings up - that is the "black face" of minstrels in America of not too long passed. This is just another context for this image, not a critique. To think about image is to understand it many meanings in a multicultural world.

I think the writer makes an extremely valid point and my only response was to agree, and also to point out that because of the hair and make-up etc., I saw the image only as a fashion update of the baroque use of masks in balls, opera, commedia, etc., similar to the styling of the masked ball scene in Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette". (See below.) The important lesson to me, though, is never to underestimate the different ways in which an image can be interpreted and to make clear no offense was intended.

Sofia Coppola. Kirsten Dunst in "Marie Antoinette"

Weekend Video - The Raveonettes

The Raveonettes are a Danish rock duo whose music is characterized
by two-part vocal harmonies inspired by early American pop coupled with hard-edged, distortion overlaid, electric guitar. Their songs juxtapose the structural simplicity of 50s and 60s rock with an intense blown-out sound, driving beats, and dark lyrical content similar to The Velvet Underground. "We are not scared of being blunt about what the references are in our music," says vocalist Sharin Foo. "For instance, if you look at our name, The Raveonettes, it's a complete direct reference to The Ronettes and Buddy Holly Rave On!" They’ve even had Ronnie Spector (lead singer of the Ronettes) guest on one of their recent albums.

I first heard their music on WFUV's "World Café" two nights ago and was mesmerized by the song “The Beat Dies” based on Angelo Badalamenti’s theme music for the t.v. mini-series Twin Peaks. For anyone who remembers that show and the music, this song connects straight to the subconscious. (On the radio Foo decribed it as burlesque meets rock and you can hear the bump and grind drum beat at the opening of the song.)

The sound quality is pretty bad on all the video clips available, in fact almost unlistenable, so this is more of a trailer to encourage you to go to iTunes and download the song, although be warned - the sound is somewhat murky on the album too. But I do really like the song and the color and unintentional verité feel of the film. I think the image that illustrates the clip (above) is pretty cool too - and even cooler for being randomly generated by YouTube.

Also below, a short clip of Sune Wagner and Sharin Foo talking about the song.

More Freedom

Catherine Burks

Many thanks to those who e-mailed with additional information on the Freedom Riders pictures. As Eric Etheridge pointed out in his e-mail, “I think the Mississippi Freedom Rider mugshots are a great addition to the Civil Rights visual record, especially given their provenance (they were collected and filed by the state agency dedicated to thwarting the Civil Rights movement.)”

And thanks to Frank Ezelle for providing the correct link (it’s hard to find) to where the The Mississippi Department of Archives and History keeps the full visual record of these mugshots.

I have made another selection of some of the pictures I felt were the most interesting as I can't keep from feeling what a beautiful portrait of America they make!

Finally, for those interested in attending the book launch for Eric Etheridge’s book Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, it will be at the Steven Kasher Gallery at 521 West 23rd Street, New York City. Wednesday, May 21. 6 – 8 pm.

Stokely Carmichael

C.T. Vivian

Jane Rosett

Jean Thompson

Charles Myers

Clarence White

Gwendolyn Green

Joan Trumpower

Mark Lane

Geraldine Edwards

Albert Lassiter

Jorgia Siegel

Reverend Grant Harland

Rita Carter

Jessie James Davis

John Lowry

Karen Kytle

Leo Blue

Alluring Images

Lisa Kereszy

From cherry blossoms to civil rights mugshots to photographs of the female figure. I know it’s sometimes a leap, but that’s what this blog was always intended to be – an appreciation of the kaleidoscopic breadth of photography that I am lucky to engage with in my daily life.

The pictures above and below are from a benefit auction I helped ALLURE Magazine curate, all proceeds of which go to fund skin cancer research. Nadine McCarthy, ALLURE’s Director of Photography worked with me on their end. The theme, based on the magazine’s May issue, is “Alluring Bodies”. The auction takes place tonight.

Above and below are a number of my favorites from the 60 pictures being auctioned. And no, I do not think these pictures objectify women in an inappropriate way. And yes, that is Carla Bruni, the first lady of France, at the end. (Last month the first nude picture of her to come up at auction since she married President Sarkozy sold at Christies for over $90,000 to a Chinese collector! And once the picture began to garner an undue amount of publicity the seller gave the entire proceeds to charity.)

Lillian Bassman

Michael Dweck

Flor Garduno

Susan Meiselas

Fernand Fonssagrives

Juergen Teller

Jeff Hornbaker

Craig McDean

A unique collaboration by Edward Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith

Annie Leibovitz

Regan Cameron

Pamela Hanson