In 1925, United States Senator and industrial scion Simon Guggenheim, along with his wife and partner Olga Guggenheim turned a profound personal tragedy into extraordinary opportunity. Two years earlier, their eldest son John died unexpectedly as he prepared to leave home for college. The couple later endowed the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to honor the promise embodied in a life cut short. In the nine decades that have since passed, the Foundation has awarded more than 15,500 fellowships in fields ranging from African Studies to Genetics to Photography.

Announced in April, the twelve photographers in the 2017 cohort join an illustrious group from the past century including Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Roy DeCarava, Diane Arbus, Dawoud Bey, Rachel Sussman, Latoya Ruby-Frazier and An-My Le.

PostedMay 9, 2017

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesArtists, Portfolio

TagsGuggenheim Photography Fellows, Roula Seikaly, Marina Berio, Daniel Coburn, Ken Gonzales-Day, Michael Lundgren, Amanda Means, Shaun O’Boyle, Maggie Steber, Brad Temkin

Growing up in Long Island, photographer Chris Maggio's experience of New York City was limited to Midtown Manhattan, a tourist destination embodied by the outsider clichés one might expect. It was filled with crowds, sweat, billboards, Broadway shows, double-decker busses and more crowds. In the summer especially, the urban landscape largely untouched by actual New York City residents (except those who work in the neighborhood) resounded as a chaotic smattering of red-faced human sardines.

Settling in Brooklyn in recent years, Maggio channeled these visions into an uncomfortable, yet humorous series appropriately titled Hot As Hell in Midtown, making photographs "celebrating the end of a scorching summer in NYC" last year. Children paint their foreheads with melting ice cream cones, the sun beams down in apocalyptic crimson hues, people resemble the walking dead, their expressions falling somewhere between a vapid gaze and knowing smirk. I spoke with the Maggio to learn more about this work, and his larger commercial and personal practice.

Interview by Jon Feinstein

PostedMay 1, 2017

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesPortfolio, Artists

TagsChris Maggio, NYC Photography, Hot As Hell in Midtown

I first met Colin Stearns in New York around 2008, where we worked together in the Photography Program at Parsons. I was immediately a fan of his first book, Meridian, published by RITA in the fall of 2015. Small and full of deceptively simple, yet elegant black and white photographs, Meridian at first glance, reads as a traditional photobook. However, through beautiful sequencing and a series of semi-transparent images, the book unfolds as a more complicated meditation on memory, emotion and landscape.

His second book within a three book series, All That Cannot Be Said was just released by Kris Graves Projects. Departing in tone and place from his first book, All That Cannot Be Said shows the dark, layered, and often broken urban landscape of New York City. I recently talked with Colin about his process and the new book, which can be found at Kris Graves Projects or Photoeye.

There will be an official book launch on May 11th from 6:00pm - 8:00pm at Rubber Factory in New York City's Lower East Side.

Interview by Joy Drury Cox

PostedApril 17, 2017

AuthorJoy Drury Cox

CategoriesPublications, Artists, Portfolio

TagsJoy Drury Cox, Colin Stearns, Photobooks, Photography Books, New York Photographers, Black and White Photography

© Erica Deeman. Untitled 7 Courtesy of the artist and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco — © Erica Deeman. *Untitled 7* Courtesy of the artist and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco

The term “silhouette” activates a range of thought. Positive associations include the cut of flattering a dress or suit, or a vintage cameo pin that may have graced a grandmother’s sweater. Less than pleasant associations, particularly when the synonym “profile” is considered, suggest presumed or actual criminality, a harrowing passage through this country’s legal gauntlet, and the loss of one’s liberty. Enter Silhouettes, the debut solo exhibition of portraits by San Francisco-based artist Erica Deeman that plumb the intersection of race, gender, and cultural identity, on view through June 11th at Berkley Art Museum/ Pacific Film Archive in San Francisco.

PostedMarch 24, 2017

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesGalleries, Exhibitions, Artists, Portfolio

TagsErica Deeman, Silhouettes, race and gender in photography

Day 62: 2/3/17. The same world that made you feel so bad was the one that made you feel so good. — Day 62: 2/3/17. The same world that made you feel so bad was the one that made you feel so good.

The 2016 presidential election results left many feeling a wave of shock and unease. Seattle-based artist Serrah Russell channeled this disquiet into 100 Days of Collage, a series of daily meditations reflecting on the past and the ambiguous future of a newly changing world.

Russell’s collages are simple, yet layered - fusing disparate images from issues of National Geographic and various fashion magazines to build a narrative that combines defeatist confusion with a glimmer of Molotov, hope, and resistance. She captions each piece with titles like "And how we have kept quiet," "This is to protect you, they said," and "The stars have died, but we won't know for years to come," – words that could serve as their own book of poems or revolutionary wall scribblings, and recall many of the cryptic passages in Margaret Atwood's classic The Handmaid's Tale. An appropriate subtitle for the project could be the novel's line of resistance: "Nolites Te Bastardes Carborundorum" ("Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down.")

Behold Serrah Russell's 100 Days of Collage. We've included her statement at the end of this post, so scroll, look and read on.

To learn more about Serrah Russell's larger practice, read this interview on Lenscratch.

PostedMarch 16, 2017

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesGalleries, Artists, Portfolio

TagsSerrah Russell, 100 Days of Collage, Seattle Artists, political art

The 2017 Guggenheim Photography Fellows: Continuing a Tradition of Greatness

Chris Maggio's Photographs of Midtown Manhattan are Hot as Hell

All That Cannot Be Said: New Photobook Explores New York City's Broken Landscape

Erica Deeman's Silhouettes Tackle Race, Gender and Cultural Identity

Artist Serrah Russell Responds to 2016 Election With "100 Days of Collage"