© Lauren Silberman. From the series The Opposite of Salt — © Lauren Silberman. From the series *The Opposite of Salt*

Lauren Silberman has been photographing communities and subcultures in New York City, its outer boroughs, and across the United States for nearly two decades. While technically “documentary,” her work is full of narrative and metaphor, and often is more enigmatic than the straightforward reportage one might expect. I recently had the opportunity to dig into her work when selecting her as a finalist for the juried exhibition American Splendour at New York City’s Iloni Art Gallery this past summer.

Her latest series, The Opposite of Salt is Water, which opens this Friday at Calico Brooklyn in Brooklyn, NY pushes this further, with a new sense of magical ambiguity. Photographing in Amboy, an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, in California's Mojave Desert, Silberman uses images from the region to represent symbols of ideology and mythology associated with the evolution of the American dream.

In advance of her new exhibition, I emailed Silberman to learn more about her work.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Lauren Silberman

PostedSeptember 27, 2018

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Exhibitions, Portfolio

TagsLauren Silberman, Black Label Bicycle Club, documentary photography, New York City Photographers, afterparty photography, interviews with photographers

Marcel Duchamp with Shaving Lather by Man Ray

An exhibition of rare photographs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art shows how photographers helped shape artists' public personas.

Face to Face: Portraits of Artists, up through October 14th, is a curious exhibition in terms of what it reveals about the way its curator and the other exhibition planners think about their audience. What do they assume the viewers already know before they walk in the door? What do they expect the audience will want to learn from the show?

I always prefer curators to give an audience as much information as they think they can handle. In my mind, if you’re coming to a show of largely black-and-white photographs (versus an attention-grabbing headliner like Van Gogh or Monet), you’re probably already a little interested in art, and thus interested in learning about the artists responsible for the photographs. Unfortunately, the gaps and lacunae in the display of Face to Face come together to present a rather muddled, unsure portrait of who the anticipated audience for this show is, and leads to some frustration and, ultimately, a sense of unfinished business for this avid museum visitor.

Exhibition Review by Deborah Krieger

Melania Trump, 2018 © Bean Gilsdorf. Velvet, cotton, polyester, chenille brocade, wood, paint; approx. 66x 37 x 29 in. — *Melania Trump, 2018* © Bean Gilsdorf. Velvet, cotton, polyester, chenille brocade, wood, paint; approx. 66
x 37 x 29 in.

Bean Gilsdorf is an interdisciplinary artist, critic, and editor based in Portland, Oregon. In late July 2018, her solo exhibition State Dinner opened at Cincinnati, Ohio's Anytime Department. The installation reveals a three-year examination of female political figures - First Ladies who served in the last thirty years more precisely - and how “soft power” is both produced and mediated by mass media imagery.

HAF Senior Editor Roula Seikaly spoke with Gilsdorf about image sourcing from history books, covert political power and how it is exerted, and crafting three-dimensional objects that convey the public personas of women we think we know but do not.

Roula Seikaly in conversation with Bean Gilsdorf

PostedSeptember 6, 2018

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Galleries

TagsBean Gilsdorf, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Soft Power, State Dinner Exhibition, Art in Cincinnati, New Photography, Appropriation, political art, Roula Seikaly

Wisconsin photography exhibition highlights 10 Midwest photographers you need to know.

There's a rapidly-expiring misconception that in order to "make it" in the art and photography world, one has to live in New York City, London, Los Angeles or another dense metropolitan area. The most world-renowned museums, institutions and bluest of the blue-chip commercial galleries reside there alongside those who can afford to buy art and support artists' careers. The trope of the "art-world-hustle" is most commonly attributed to making it in New York City. In the United States specifically, with the exception of Chicago, there's often a "fly-over" attitude towards the Midwest.

For Wisconsin-born and raised producer, curator, founder of FlakPhoto and champion of all things photographic, Andy Adams, these assumptions – while first limiting – were not a problem, but an opportunity to fill a lack and make something new. Andy too, grew up thinking he'd need to make a pilgrimage to one of the coasts to find success but stayed put, using his various digitally-driven projects to build an influential community of photographers from around the world. This September, Adams narrows his focus to Midwest photographers with the exhibition at Madison Wisconsin's James Watrous Gallery aptly titled "New Midwest Photography." The show is a survey of 10 photographers living and working in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio. It's a broad range of approaches and subject matter, but what brings them all together is the photographers' blending of, in Adam's words "personal observation and regional knowledge to produce photography that reflects the contemporary American Midwest."

The exhibition opens September 7th and is on view through October 28.

I emailed Andy to learn more about what's fueling this exhibition and his larger curatorial practice.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Andy Adams

Vision, 2018 © Rachel Stern — *Vision, 2018* © Rachel Stern

Rachel Stern's latest photographic series, More Weight uses Arthur Miller's classic play as a metaphor for the chaos of present-day media, culture, and politics.

"More weight," Giles Corey's famous last words spoken while stones were being piled upon him at the end of Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a historical symbol of resistance to the tyranny of the Salem witch trials. Philadelphia-based photographer Rachel Stern uses these words as the title for her latest exhibition – on view at Brandeis University through October 26th – a metaphor for our current uncertain, often logic-free times. Her photographs are unapologetically staged and intentionally contrived, casting our current political and cultural climate as a theater of the absurd. I spoke with Stern to learn more about how this brightly colored pastiche of confusion relates to her ongoing practice and reflections on the world in which we live.

Rachel Stern in conversation with Jon Feinstein

PostedAugust 15, 2018

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Galleries

TagsRachel Stern, RISD Photographers, Columbia University MFA Photographers, art inspired by literature, studio photography, conceptual photography, performance in photography, 2018 photography exhibitions, queer photography

Lauren Silberman Photographs Afterparties, Punk Rock Bike Clubs and the Mystery of the American Dream

Marcel Duchamp With Shaving Lather on His Head and Other Photographic Portraits of Artists Exhibited at Philadelphia Museum of Art

Soft Power – State Dinner: Bean Gilsdorf's Latest Exhibition Uses Objects and Found Images to Rethink How We See and Understand the Role of First Ladies

Theater of the Absurd: Staged Photographs Reflect Witchcraft, Trumpism, and The Crucible

Lauren Silberman Photographs Afterparties, Punk Rock Bike Clubs and the Mystery of the American Dream

Marcel Duchamp With Shaving Lather on His Head and Other Photographic Portraits of Artists Exhibited at Philadelphia Museum of Art

Soft Power – State Dinner: Bean Gilsdorf's Latest Exhibition Uses Objects and Found Images to Rethink How We See and Understand the Role of First Ladies

Refreshing the Map: How Andy Adams is Changing the Perception of Contemporary Midwest American Photography

Theater of the Absurd: Staged Photographs Reflect Witchcraft, Trumpism, and The Crucible