As his new exhibition sits in quarantine at New York City’s ClampArt gallery, Joseph Desler Costa writes a letter to Humble’s editors about his experience in this uncertain time.

We at Humble are long time fans of Joseph Desler Costa’s work. I originally caught wind of it when he submitted to Radical Color, an exhibition I curated in 2015 at Portland Oregon’s sadly defunct Newspace Center for Photography. I was drawn to his dreamy, mysterious use of color and smart riffs on branding, cultural icons, and even (though he might not outwardly say it) references to stock photography.

I followed Costa’s work through his partnership with Foley Gallery and was eager to see (assuming I could travel to NYC) his latest solo exhibition at ClampArt this spring. Sadly, like so many 2020 photography exhibitions, his work hangs on ClampArt’s walls with no one to see it in real life.

In lieu of a Q+A about the exhibition, Costa shared the following letter with me about his life as an artist with a suspended exhibition in the time of COVID-19. We are publishing it below, unedited, alongside the images we wish we could see in person.

Costa will also be giving a virtual exhibition tour and discussion with Allen Frame and Stephen Frailey this Friday, April 24th at ClampArt . RSVP HERE for the Zoom link.

PostedApril 23, 2020

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Galleries

Tagsquarantined photography exhibitions, Joseph Desler Costa, ClampArt, NYC 2020 photography exhibitions, artists reflect on COVID-19, art in the time of COVID-19, new photography, abstract photography

Our Lady of Guadalupe © Amanda Lopez. From DiversifyPhoto’s Print Relief Sale. — *Our Lady of Guadalupe* © Amanda Lopez. From DiversifyPhoto’s Print Relief Sale.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve received many requests to help spread the word about print fundraisers for COVID-19 relief. Some aim to help artists make ends meet as work dries up. Others specifically benefit medical workers and others at the front lines. We want to support them all. Below is an ongoing list of print sales for COVID-19 relief that caught our eye. We’ve organized these into two sections:

1) Fundraisers from organizations: these include prints from multiple artists.

2) Fundraisers organized by individual artists - some are raising money to support specific organizations; others to support these artists directly during unemployment / limited work.

We look at this as a continuously refreshing resource and plan to update as new leads come in. If we missed you or you have something in the works, please get in touch with a link to the print sale and a few words about your benefit project. Most of these sales are photography-based, but some include other media as well.

In health, warmth, and solidarity,

Humble Arts Foundation

PostedApril 13, 2020

AuthorEditors

CategoriesArt News, Artists

TagsCovid-19 Benefit Print Sales, print fundraiser, contemporary art, art for covid-19, covid-19 fundraiser

Oakland, 2020 © Nicole White (After Kenneth Josephson, Chicago 1964) — Oakland, 2020 © Nicole White
(After Kenneth Josephson, Chicago 1964)

At the end of March, with the shelter in place plan in full effect, Bay Area photographers Jenny Sampson, Colleen Mullins, Nicole White, and Christy McDonald embarked on a creative approach to self-quarantining. They started making daily homages to their favorite photographs – in toilet paper.

“Thinking about the seriousness of the moment combined with the surreal quality of what was occurring around us,” the photographers say in their statement, “we thought that we should make images to occupy our time and give us something to work on while in our homes."

PostedApril 8, 2020

AuthorJon Feinstein

Tagsart during Covid19, Colleen Mullins, Nicole White, Jenny Sampson, photo history, appropriation, photo appropriation

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

© Ben Alper - from his series An Index of Walking

A lone walker is both present and detached, more than an audience but less than a participant. Walking assuages or legitimizes this alienation.” - Rebecca Solnit, from Wanderlust: A History of Walking.

There is something therapeutic about going on walks and taking pictures – sometimes aimless, sometimes with calculated, project-based parameters in mind. It's a road trip on foot. It's about pause, introspection, mindfulness, and maybe some visual mile-marking.

In today's socially distant, quarantined world, walking (safely!) can be a form of personal liberation – one of the few things we can do outside. Editors note: we acknowledge that these statements about “liberation” may be dependent on certain forms of privilege — we hope to reflect this respectfully in the final show.

For Humble's next online exhibition, we'd like to see your images related to walking.
Interpret this however you like. This will be co-curated by Bryan Formhals and Humble's co-founder Jon Feinstein, with curatorial advisement from Humble’s senior editor and curatorial advisor Roula Seikaly.

Deadline: May 20th, 2020

PostedApril 2, 2020

AuthorEditors

CategoriesOpen Call, Exhibitions

TagsOpen Call, no fee open call, photography about walking, wanderlust, wanderlustography, photography inspired by Rebecca Solnit, Bryan Formhals, Jon Feinstein, Ben Alper

A Letter to the Editor From an Artist in the Time of COVID-19.

A Running List of Print Sale Fundraisers Benefiting COVID-19 Relief

Famous Photographs Remade in Toilet Paper

Artists Reflect on the Sudden Closing of San Francisco Art Institute

Open Call - Group Show #65 – Easy Spirit: New Photography On Walking