Wes Mills © Raymond Meeks
Sonder, Raymond Meeks’ first exhibition at Casemore Kirkeby in San Francisco through August 17, 2019 features multiple projects centering on youth, adulthood, and the experiences that link them.
Exhibition Review by Roula Seikaly
Hannah Wilke Gum in Cherry Tree 1976 Califonia Series Archival Pigment Print 2019 24x36
Hannah Wilke’s Sculptures in the Landscape exhibition showcases previously never-before seen photographs from the 1970s feminist icon.
Walking into Sculptures in the Landscape at Temple Contemporary, knowing only that the late Hannah Wilke was a second wave feminist artist and that these works were positioned to explore femininity and nature, I anticipated seeing a passé, narrow representation of the female body standing in for the experience of womanhood itself. Chalk it up to my coming-of-age in the twenty-first century, but art that substitutes biological female anatomy, as opposed to other experiences shared by women, doesn’t come across as particularly brave or bold in the way it must have in the late 20th century. Despite these concerns, the exhibition is an expansive, playful, and sometimes psychedelic exercise in feminist art’s sculptural malleability, and subverted the preconceptions I had going in.
Sculpture in the Landscape does center the form of the vulva, but the materials used to recreate it– chewing gum, ceramics, metal – in ways that comment on both common women’s experiences as well as the natural surroundings where these pieces of gum are placed. Most significantly, Wilke’s photographs don’t raise the form of the vulva as something unknowably magical or mysterious, but presents them in matter-of-fact contexts to emphasize their ordinariness and naturalness.
Exhibition Review by Deborah Krieger
A Harvest of Death. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania July 1863 © Timothy O’ Sullivan (public domain)
Humble announces two (radically unrelated) summer open calls: one book and our next online group show.
Following last year's online group show On Death and our latest online group show Loss, Kris Graves invited Humble to team up for a sequel: On Death, the book – set to publish later this year.
What’s it about?
Death has a rich place in the photo history. For critics and philosophers including the late Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes, the medium itself was “a kind of death," or as Sontag put it in On Photography, a "memento-mori that enables participation in another's mortality, vulnerability, mutability." Sure, Sontag and Barthes' wisdom is decades old, but we continue to see it transcending time and shifting attitudes towards the medium.
The book will present contemporary photographic takes on the end of life, not only as it passes, but in the sometimes abstract metaphors entangled in the practice – how time and life arrest within a frame. Submissions are open to anyone, including those who were featured in either prior exhibition.
© Aneta Bartos
The artist’s latest exhibition gives an unexpected look into family dynamics and the nature of aging.
New York City-based Aneta Bartos’ adolescence in Poland was shaped around her dad's bodybuilding career. Starting at age thirteen, she'd often travel alongside to assist him with various competitions, sometimes competing herself. Into her adulthood, she continued visiting him every summer, and in 2013, he asked her to make a few portraits of him to capture his physique "at his best" before his body began to deteriorate. While these were initially photos of him alone, they evolved into a collaborative, father-daughter series about the dynamics of their relationship.
Bartos' latest exhibition, Family Portrait 2015-2018, on view at Tommy Simoens Gallery in Antwerp through May 25th depict the artist with her retired bodybuilder dad, often in their underwear or bathing suits. Their mix of scenarios range from getting ice cream and playing on the beach to performing various behaviors of emotional comfort for the camera. In some images they stare into the lens, engaging directly with viewers, while in others, they seem to act out, recreate, or be entranced by memories from Bartos’ childhood. While the various states of undress might make some viewers uncomfortable, a deeper look reveals a tender, thoughtful window into family bonds and the fragility of life itself.
I emailed with Bartos to learn more about the series and her family dynamics.
Jon Feinstein in conversation with Aneta Bartos
© Jason Lee
Jason Lee’s careers in skateboarding and acting pave the way for a distinct vision of the American road as it unravels (and decays) across Oklahoma.
You're likely familiar with Jason Lee from film and television projects such as MallRats, My Name is Earl, and The Incredibles. Prior to his acting career, Lee made a name for himself as a pro-skateboarder traveling internationally in the 80’s and 90’s, and co-founding Stereo Skateboards which is still in operation today. It’s now been more than fifteen years since Lee acquired a serious interest in photography, picking up tips on set from the crew. Despite having his first museum solo on the horizon, Lee’s already covered a lot of miles from several exhibitions, sold out photo books and a growing online presence.
Jason Lee in conversation with Amy Parrish
