Snapshot from the collection of Robert E. Jackson

We live in a time of political fragmentation and discord where cherished institutions seem under attack. America’s identity appears to be one of polarization, with a lack of common values to draw the country together. How does one define individual liberty during these times? What does the Statue of Liberty, which once inspired and beckoned individuals from around the world, mean to us on this celebratory Fourth of July?

It is an era of many questions and few answers. These snapshots of the statue from my collection are like shards of a mirror whereby the whole is elusive. They are abstractions which seem ghostly; a mirage thru which we are attempting and hoping to achieve some clearer vision of a brighter future for this nation. Photography can help elicit memories of better times, creating a nostalgia for what seems lost or missing and a hope for what will be. Patriotism isn’t an abstraction like these images. It is what this holiday is all about.

Images from the Collection of Robert E. Jackson. Follow him on Instagram to see more.

PostedJune 30, 2017

AuthorRobert E. Jackson

CategoriesPortfolio, Galleries

TagsSnapshots, Vernacular Photography, Statue of Liberty, July 4th, Independence Day, Patriotism

© Borjana Ventzislavova, I dreamed we were alive, 2012 / Bildrecht, Vienna 2017. Courtesy of Kunst Haus Wien.

I Dreamed We Were Alive, curated by Sophie Haslinger and Verena Kaspar-Eisert, on view at Vienna's Kunst Haus Wien through June 18th collects five artists described as “[exploring] intimate moments and personal experiences through the medium of photography.” The curators give each of the four of the artists a gallery wall, while placing the fifth among the others in a “meta-level” exhibition. There is a wide variety of photography on display from artists Yulia Tikhomirova, Lena Rosa Händle, Hanna Putz, Ekaterina Anohkina, and Borjana Ventzislavova: black and white, color, digital, film, snapshot-style, candids, portraits, landscapes. Despite some truly eye-catching and satisfying motifs and rhythms created by clever juxtapositions, the displays, taken on the whole, are a bit uneven. Some of the artists’ contributions stand out more than others, creating an experience that is unfortunately not more than the sum of its parts.

Exhibition Review by Deborah Krieger

PostedJune 9, 2017

AuthorDeborah Krieger

CategoriesExhibitions, Galleries

TagsYulia Tikhomirova, Lena Rosa Händle, Ekaterina Anohkina, Borjana Ventzislavova, New Photography, I Dreamed We Were Alive Exhibition

Earth Healing Ritual © Klaus Pichler. Courtesy of Anzenberger Gallery — *Earth Healing Ritual* © Klaus Pichler. Courtesy of Anzenberger Gallery

Klaus Pichler’s exhibition This Will Change Your Life Forever, on view at Vienna's Anzenberger Gallery through June 17th, is ostensibly a record of the artist’s two-year undercover stint as a member of various “new esoteric” groups, wherein he learned about—and participated in—their pseudo scientific and spiritual rituals and beliefs. Yet upon closer examination, Pichler’s investigation reveals the very real human emotions behind the strange flash and dazzle of it all. On display are staged photographs and digital collages of Pichler reenacting some of these cultish practices—sitting in a homemade “orgon accumulator” meant to transfer positive energy into his body, using the cardboard cylinder from a paper towel roll to suck negative thoughts out of his own head—as well as some of the objects used in these practices, all quotidian items with supposed mystical properties all ordered online at ridiculously high markups.

PostedMay 30, 2017

AuthorDeborah Krieger

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Galleries

TagsKlaus Pichler, Anzenberger Gallery Vienna, This Will Change Your Life Forever exhibition

A "transporter" is a common science fiction trope, a teleportation machine that can instantly send an individual or object from one place to another, popularized most commonly in Star Trek, or The Fly. One hypothetical concern was its potential "accidents," in which the device might incorrectly materialize its source. Like in Mel Brooks' classic Space Balls in which a "microconverter malfunction" accidentally places Brooks' head on backwards, giving him a better view of his behind.

Enter Transporter, a group exhibition curated by Katie Shapiro and Sean Higgins at Los Angeles' Paul Kopeikin Gallery, which includes photography, video, and sculpture that addresses these lapses and distortions in transportational movement.
The exhibition is up though June 17th, 2017.

I contacted curator Katie Shaprio to learn more about her and Higgins' ideas behind the exhibition.

Interview by Jon Feinstein

PostedMay 23, 2017

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesGalleries, Exhibitions, Artists

TagsKatie Shapiro, Art About Science Fiction, Sean Higgins, Paul Kopeikin

This Thursday, May 18, the seventh annual Long Island City Arts Open presents Disruption, a photography exhibition curated by Orestes Gonzalez, featuring five photographers from Cuba, Spain, and the United States. The show addresses contemporary environmental, political, and social issues as they relate to the feeling of being an outsider. Gonzalez selected work that he describes as encouraging viewers to empathize with the experience of physical, mental, and spiritual dislocations caused by immigration from one’s homeland and the sense of personal loss. Included are hard hitting images like Griselda San Martin's photographs of families embracing on each side of the wall at the Mexican border, and 2017 Aperture Prize nominee Kris Graves' photographs on the exact spot in various locations throughout the United States where black men were murdered by police last year.

Disruption opens Thursday, May 18 @ 6:00pm at The Factory in Long Island City, NY, followed by an artist talk on Sunday, May 21 at 2:30pm. Open through May 25. More details HERE.

Disruption opens Thursday, May 18th @ 6:00pm at The Factory in Long Island City, NY, followed by an artist talk on Sunday, May 21th at 2:30pm. Open through May 25. More details HERE.

PostedMay 15, 2017

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Galleries

TagsOrestes Gonzalez, Griselda Dan Martin, Long Island City Arts Open, Kris Graves, Veronica Cardenas

Abstract Vintage Snapshots of the Statue of Liberty: a Metaphor for Fading Freedom

Photography Exhibition "I Dreamed We Were Alive" Combines Eye-Catchers with Head-Scratchers

Klaus Pichler's Photographs Find Human Emotion In Cultish Practice

New Exhibition Uses a Science Fiction Failure as a Lens to an Optimistic Future

New Photography Exhibition Addresses Dislocation in The United States