Clint Woodside, Taylor Galloway, and William Karl Valentine - LAABF 2023 at The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA

"I Can Feel You Dreaming" - Taylor Galloway

September 9, 2023

The Deadbeat Club publishers have been crushing it lately with some amazing titles. I have a few of their books in my collection so when I went to Printed Matter’s Los Angeles Art Book Fair one of my top priorities was to find their booth, introduce myself to Clint Woodside - the founder, and see what new titles they had out.

Once I got to their booth, I was immediately drawn to Taylor Galloway’s book “I Can Feel You Dreaming” (Deadbeat Club publication #85). The book looks simple at first, but it so well printed and has a handcrafted feel to it. The images are wonderful, they allow the viewer to have their own interpretations of them, and they allow for unique experiences every time you revisit the book. The copy on display was a special edition with a small print from one of the images in the book which I loved. I like trains to begin with but the way the image is framed is absolutely perfect, I dig it. Taylor’s book gave me the opportunity to introduce myself to Clint.

Clint made a solid first impression, he knows his craft and is passionate about it. I told him how much I enjoyed owning a copy of Ave Pildas’s book Star Struck and I told him how I met Ave and Ian Bates at their book signing at Arcana Books. We started talking about Taylor’s book and how the Special Edition version was editioned to only 30 copies. Clint was showing me an artist proof and the other person in their booth said that AP copy was all they had left, that the edition had sold out. I guess I made a good impression on Clint because when I said I would still buy an AP copy because I liked it that much, he turned around and pulled out #30 of 30 which he had apparently set aside. I like to think Clint wanted to find a good home for the last copy of the special edition. If that’s the case, I am thankful I struck up that conversation. I am still pumped up about adding this book to my collection.

I have had a number of conversations with publishers over the last few years, Clint definitely stands out. I know I will be adding more of Deadbeat’s titles to my collection over time and I understand why Ave decided to publish one of his most important books with Clint.

The Archival Pigment Print included with the Limited Edition book.

Deanna Dikeman - "Leaving and Waving" - Chose Commune Publishing

September 9, 2023

I discovered Deanna Dikeman’s Leaving and Waving at the LA Art Book Fair last month. I was looking over publisher Chose Common’s booth when I saw Leaving and Waving. The book is a collection of photographs over a 27-year period documenting Dikeman saying goodbye to her parents in Sioux City, Iowa. The images have a vernacular quality and look as if anyone could have made them. They are simple, snapshots of Dikeman’s parents as they waved goodbye to her after visits home. Some are photographed through car windshields, seeming like a last second remembrance to document the goodbye. The first photograph in the series is from July 1991 and the last image is from October 2017 when there is no one at the house to wave goodbye anymore. For most images both parents are waving goodbye, we seem them age over the years, then in 2010 we only see Dikeman’s mom after her father died. Her mom is last seen at home in March 2017, in May we see her mom in a care facility, then in October her mom passed away. It didn’t take me long to decide to add the book to my library.

When I got home, I looked into Dikeman’s work. I was not surprised to find that Aline Smithson had already authored a Lenscratch article about the book two years ago, as soon as Leaving and Waving was released. Aline’s article is a perfect review of the book and Dikeman’s approach to the project, please follow the previous link to read her review.

Chose Commune described themselves as this in the 2023 LAABF directory: “Founded in 2014, Chose Commune is a French independent publishing house primarily focusing on photography. Chose Commune curates, edits, and produces book-objects, with a strong interest in unpublished material.”

As simple as this book is, it is also so powerful. I read reviews of the book saying it documented “the sadness of saying goodbye”, and I completely understand that, especially for Dikeman that lived so far away from her Parents’s home. For me I get the feeling these images are Dikeman’s attempt to hold on to the present because it is about to become the past. Why do I feel this, it’s because that is how I am with most all the subjects I photograph. A few years ago, I found myself photographing my parents almost every time I left their house. I realized then what I was doing, I was trying to hold on to time. I knew that each visit realistically could be the last time I saw my mom or dad and I wanted to hang on to them. I even live relatively close to my parents’ house too and saw them often. My father died in early 2020 and my mom is now 97, I’m more than blessed to have had them in my life for such a long time. I still take photographs of my mom on occasion just in case. I think retaining memories is a big part of why I am a photographer, probably the biggest reason for anyone who takes a photo..

Other people must have also been moved by this book because it is in its third printing of the first edition. The book is well crafted and designed. The printing quality is good, and the dimensions of the book are appropriate for the subject. Leaving and Waving would be a good addition to any photography book collection.

Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair - Geffen Contemporary at MoCA

September 8, 2023

I was able to make it out to Printed Matter's 2023 LA Art Book Fair on August 13th at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA which did not disappoint. This was the first LAABF since 2019, which was fantastic, so I wanted to get up there for it. Ticket demand was high, so I ended up going up on Sunday during the masked-up visitor time which actually worked out great because there were less people there and I was even able to find a parking spot after driving around for half an hour.

The organizers did a fantastic job bringing the fair back to life after the pandemic. I saw lots of great material, things that were innovative ways for sharing art, and lot of well-crafted print on demand or self-produced works. I saw work I thought was amazing and had strong artistic value and there were things that saw which I thought were weak. A lot of the sexually explicit works seemed to fail as art in my opinion. Solid erotica for some folks I guess, I just didn’t see much more value in a lot of it. One of the most beautiful aspects of art is every visitor brings their own background to the viewing experience so everyone’s take on something can be different. I will also say that most all the booths were professional and tasteful about the display of their work so most people could enjoy LAABF without being offended.

The organizers remembered their past layouts in this epic facility and once again it was outstanding how the exhibit was set up. Photo books in their own area, and the traffic flow throughout the show worked well. I roamed around the entire exhibit a couple of times.

Below is a gallery of images from my visit, I am also authoring a couple other blog post about two books I bought there and my visit with Clint Woodside founder of Deadbeat Club publishing. If you are in Los Angeles, the next time LAABF is up you need to check it out.

LACMA’s Wallis Annenberg Photography Department Curator Rebecca Morse by Robert Heineken’s images.

"Objects of Desire" - curated by Rebecca Morse - LACMA through December 18th 2022

November 16, 2022

On October 7th I had the incredible opportunity to spend two hours talking one on one with Rebecca Morse at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art viewing the exhibition “Objects of Desire”.

Rebecca Morse is coming up on her 10-year anniversary as a Curator in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at LACMA. Prior to LACMA she spent 15 years as a curator at MOCA in Los Angeles. Originally from upstate New York, Rebecca worked for a commercial photographer in New York City and earned her Master’s degree at the University of Arizona before moving to Los Angeles. Rebecca curated the “Objects of Desire” exhibition and authored the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition.

Here is LACMA’s Statement for the exhibition:

“Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising traces the artistic manipulation of advertising, the most powerful, mainstream visual language. Since the 1970s, creative innovations led to dramatic shifts in the possibilities for photography as artistic expression, as photo-based artists reworked advertising strategies to challenge the increased commodification of daily life, and later to appropriate the command these images have over the viewer/consumer. By exploiting advertising’s visual vocabulary and adopting its sites and formats, and through re-photography, appropriation, and simulation, artists create a shared photographic language that puts the onus on the viewer to determine what exactly these pictures are asking of us.”

I appreciate diversity in photographic styles although I always gravitate toward documentary images because that is my style. I think it is important that all genres of photography are showcased, and I try to view as many different types of photographs as I can to keep up my knowledge of the medium. Viewing other images and talking about photography always helps me refocus on my own work. My expectation in viewing Objects of Desire was that I would learn something new and hopefully see a couple images I could connect with.

The Objects of Desire exhibition exceeded my expectations. It is truly amazing, one of the tightest exhibitions I have seen. It has some images I was familiar with, some work by photographers I had never heard of, and some totally unique pieces like Urs Fishcer’s “Mirror Box” series. What made this exhibition so outstanding is how Rebecca Morse curated and designed the installation such that seemingly eclectic works when put together are in fact totally congruent with the goal of the exhibition. The pairings make perfect sense when you follow the chronology and sequence of the installation.

Obviously, there is nothing like viewing an exhibition with the curator who is sharing insights on how they constructed the exhibition. That was a huge advantage for me. But if the average viewer follows the wall signage the story is laid out in a clear, concise and easy way to understand manner. I don’t think Rebecca missed a single detail; the show accomplishes exactly what the statement says.

I had never met Rebecca before, and I earned this private tour by winning a fundraising bid for the Los Angeles Center of Photography, so I didn’t fully know what to expect. What I discovered is an amazing photography professional.

I gained a ton of insight into the curator’s mind with this visit, which was one of my goals. Rebecca talked about how the concept for the exhibition formulated over many years, and as I expected her interests and experience were the foundation. There was one specific image (Ericka Beckman’s 1987 image “Spoonful”) I had never seen before. Rebecca explained that she had seen the photograph years ago, how the image stayed in the back of her mind, and when she had the right exhibition for it, she remembered it. We also talked a lot about presentation and design of the space. I loved hearing about the many details and fine adjustments, and I could see how each thing she mentioned made the exhibition better. We ended up talking about every piece. I knew that Rebecca had worked with Robert Heineken when she was at the University of Arizona and the Center for Creative Photography was adding Heineken’s archive to their collection. I enjoyed the opportunity to talk to Rebecca about his work given her firsthand connection to it and that’s why I made a point to photograph Rebecca by Heineken’s work.

Sarah Charlesworth: Figures, 1983-84, Cibachrome with lacquered wood frame, 2 panels, 42 by 32 inches each

Vikky Alexander’s “St. Sebastian”

Urs Fishcer’s “Mirror Box” series

Asha Schechter’s 2020 print “Junk Drawer”

I found it particularly interesting when Rebecca pointed out the reflective qualities of Sarah Charlesworth’s Cibachrome “Figures” and Vikky Alexander’s “St. Sebastian” and how the viewer’s reflection on the surface of the prints was such an important element of the viewer’s experience. The importance of the reflective quality of Urs Fishcer’s “Mirror Box” series was more apparent, but in talking with Rebecca I learned the placement of each box had been carefully considered. If a box was moved one way or another the reflected background would be completely different. Asha Schechter’s 2020 print “Junk Drawer” is unlike any other exhibition photograph I have ever seen. It is an inkjet print on adhesive vinyl and it was made specifically for this exhibition and the precise location in the gallery where the print hangs. The drawer which was photographed to create the image has reflective surfaces although the print itself does not have reflective qualities. But when you look at the print it appears those reflective surfaces are mirroring the lights and other objects in the room because Schechter actually photographed the room during installation and added those elements to his print to appear as if they are reflections. The perspective of the drawer also seems off with the back of the drawer appearing to be bigger than the front of the drawer which is closest to the viewer. In the catalogue Rebecca describes this print as being based on reality but feeling “off kilter”, she’s right, I found it to be subtly bothersome and I respect that.

I also enjoyed listening to her thoughts on the scale of certain pieces and the overall design element regarding placement of work. I know how much effort I put in to editing my own work, it takes a lot of time and focus, but to hear Rebecca talk about her curatorial process for an exhibition of this scale is a completely different level.

One other thing I enjoyed on my visit was watching other patrons view the exhibition. Rebecca also liked being in the gallery when no one realized she was the exhibition curator so she could stand back and see what people were drawn to and how they experienced the exhibition.

Rebecca also authored the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition which is one of the best exhibition catalogues I have ever seen. It explains the overall exhibition nicely and showcases many details about individual works. If you get the book and read the Acknowledgements you also get insight in to how many people are involved in producing an exhibition of this scale too, it definitely takes a good team. David Karwan designed the catalogue and he did a fantastic job capturing the magazine / advertising spirit in a beautifully published book. LACMA co-published the book with DelMonico Books.

The Exhibition runs until December 18th, and I highly recommend a visit.

Here is LACMA’s Statement for the exhibition:

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