On Monday, March 23, San Francisco Art Institute announced that it will close its doors, possibly for good.

The institution home to the nation’s first fine art photography program, founded by Ansel Adams in 1945 and led by a luminary faculty cohort including Dorothea Lange, Imogene Cunningham, Minor White, Lisette Model, and Edward Weston.

If SFAI remains shuttered, it will be a loss to art communities both locally and across the globe. Humble’s senior editor Roula Seikaly asked SFAI alumni and instructors to share their thoughts on the time they spent on the North Beach campus, and why the school and the people they encountered there were important to their personal and creative growth.

PostedApril 6, 2020

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesArtists, Galleries

TagsSF Art Institute, San Francisco Art Institute, Lonnie Graham, Rafael Soldi, Eirik Johnson, Meghann Riepenhoff, Marcela Pardo Ariza, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Janet Delaney

The Masking Machine (Feathered) © M Eifler

In late 2017, which feels like a digital lifetime ago, I spoke with author Alicia Eler about her debut book The Selfie Generation. Our conversation culminated with a question about the selfie as an aesthetic and communicative form that still knows no boundaries. Eler’s cogent observation came to mind when looking at the work of M Eifler, aka BlinkPopShift.

Eifler, a Bay Area multidisciplinary artist and XR (extended reality) designer pushes the boundaries of selfies through applied technology. Using a landmark detection algorithm, the artist repeatedly subjects these humble self-portraits to intense editing and manipulation until the algorithm can no longer detect their face.

The series Masking Machine (2018), recently featured in Recoding CripTech at SOMArts in San Francisco, activates questions about identity, self-representation, and mechanical intervention and authorship that date to photography’s early years. I spoke with Eifler about the motivation and method behind this unique series.

Roula Seikaly in conversation with M Eifler

PostedMarch 26, 2020

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesArtists, Portfolio

TagsM. Eifler, Roula Seikaly, selfies, Selfie Generation, new photography

With the Coronavirus/ Covid19 crisis upon us, brick and mortar museums and galleries are pausing their exhibition programming, postponing openings, or, in the most unfortunate scenarios, canceling exhibitions entirely. In light of this, Humble will from time to time feature entire exhibitions from galleries we admire, trust, and call our friends. Right now, we bring you Axis Gallery’s Portraits Without People - curated by Roula Seikaly.

While Seikaly conceived the idea long before we could even consider the potential for today’s pandemic, the exhibition, and its theme seem unintentionally ominous.

Each image from the exhibition appears below, paired with Seikaly’s statement and some installation shots. We encourage you to reach out to artists that catch your eye (their website links are in each image credit), and to the Axis Gallery for any purchase inquiries and updates.

In health, safety, and solidarity,

Humble Arts Foundation Editors

PostedMarch 20, 2020

AuthorEditors

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Galleries

TagsPortraits Without People Exhibition, Roula Seikaly, art during Covid19, online exhibitions, Axis Gallery

Thought Series #2571 1998 © Bill Jacobson

Artist, writer and curator, Odette England asked more than 200 photographers, artists, and writers to respond to Winter Garden Photograph, Roland Barthes’ mythical image of his recently deceased mother when she was five years old. It was an image Barthes wrote extensively about in his book Camera Lucida but refused to reproduce, somehow building on its memory and mythology.

England’s resulting publication, Keeper of The Hearth, published by Schilt Publishing on the 40th anniversary of Barthes’ book, might be the best photobook of 2020– we’re betting on it.

Humble’s Senior Editor Roula Seikaly spoke with England (and a special guest!) about her motivation behind the book.

PostedMarch 17, 2020

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesPhotobooks, Artists, Portfolio

TagsRoula Seikaly, Odette England, Roland Barthes, Keeper of the Hearth, Winter Garden Photograph, Best photography books of 2020, photobooks

In his recent series, Dwelling, Matthew Cronin scans and warps 1970s JC Penny catalog photographs to create a sense of uneasiness on the construction of domestic scenes.

In 2018, Matthew Cronin came across an archive of large-format 1970s JC Penny catalog transparencies. Like much commercial photography then and now, these slick, elaborately lit commercial interior shots created a stylized illusion of domesticity to sell beds, sofas, and other household items.

Drawn to their peculiar, dated fantasies, Cronin scans, layers and subtly manipulates each image to subvert their narratives. Fake shadows appear where they shouldn’t and don’t where they should. Patterns mysteriously bleed from the fabric into other surfaces and formerly “inviting” interiors now hover in purgatory - somewhere between comfort and terror. Digital specters are clear and constant reminders that we are seeing their strings.

Having spent time with his work when I selected it for PhotNola’s “Currents” exhibition at the Odgen Museum of Southern Art last December, I reached out to Cronin to learn more about the artist and his work.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Matthew Cronin

PostedMarch 12, 2020

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Portfolio

TagsMatthew Cronin, Fake News, Photographic Truth, new photography, post photography, jc penny catalogs, found photography, appropriation, photographic manipulation, digital manipulation, PhotoNola 2019

Artists Reflect on the Sudden Closing of San Francisco Art Institute

M. Eifler Makes Selfies for the Eyes, Ears and Fingertips

Portraits Without People: An Online Companion to Axis Gallery Sacramento's Quarantined Exhibition

200+ Photographers, Artists and Writers Respond to Roland Barthes' Winter Garden Photograph

Subverting The Cold, Domestic Glow of 1970s JC Penny Catalog Photos