Busola, 2016. From the series Testament © Kris Graves — Busola, 2016. From the series *Testament* © Kris Graves

A new online exhibition will look to portraiture’s empathetic potential, to be curated by Kris Graves, Roula Seikaly, and Jon Feinstein. This will be the first in a series of exhibitions benefitting social justice causes.

What can a portrait tell us about the subject? What does it mean to fall under someone's gaze? Can the dynamics of power be equal for both the artist and subject? What is the audience's role in establishing this sense of power? Does the word “subject” imply a power imbalance?

Photographic portraiture has a long history of reinforcing problematic or false narratives. This discussion and the previous questions are centuries old. They’ve been dissected by scholars from Susan Sontag to Teju Cole. They frame a panoptic eye in academic critiques and beyond, yet portraiture goes on - sometimes continuing in harmful directions, other times with critical awareness.

For Humble’s next open call, we want to see your photographic portraits as tools of empathy: images that offer an equal exchange between the photographer and the photographed. Portraits that may not reveal “truth,” but demonstrate a new and open engagement. A way of looking “with,” rather than “at.”

Interpret this however you like.

Deadline: August 10th, 2020

PostedJune 9, 2020

AuthorEditors

CategoriesOpen Call, Artists, Exhibitions

Tagsphotography open call, humble arts foundation, contemporary portraiture, new portraiture, photographic portraiture, Kris Graves, Roula Seikaly, Jon Feinstein

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

© 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

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

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

Open Call: Two Way Lens

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

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

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

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