Photographer William Karl Valentine examines the influences of how he developed his photographic vision or photographer’s eye.
Read More
Boston Museum of Fine Arts - (Un) Expected Families
Review of the Boston Museum of Fine Art’s Unexpected Families exhibitions
Read More
Arcana: Books on the Arts May 26, 2018
Jason Lee & Aline Smithson at Arcana: Books on the Arts
Actor and Photographer Jason Lee at Arcana for the release of his book A PLAIN VIEW
Read More
The Process ...
My thoughts about the process of seeing and photographing.
Read MoreNew York Galleries - October 2017
I was in New York last month to show my work and to photograph. I also took some time to hit a few galleries in Chelsea, here is what I found:
Laurence Miller Gallery 521 West 26th Street, Fifth Floor, NYC
I loved the vintage work they had up (new exhibitions up now), some amazing images I had never seen before from the masters. W. Eugene Smith's image from the 1941 World Series at Yankee Stadium really got my attention. I have photographed a lot of baseball so I am always interested in how other photographers, especially a master, choose to document the sport. I also thought it was interesting this image was taken just before the start of WWII. Robert Frank's prints were another favorite. I am very familiar with the work but the style of printing for these prints was interesting, gave me more insight of him as a photographer. I also appreciated the photographic technique and craftsmanship of Erica Deeman’s prints. Her work has received a lot of attention recently. The gallery staff knows the medium well, I enjoyed talking with them.
Robert Mann Gallery 525 West 26th Street, NYC
What a cool space and I loved Julie Blackmon’s photographs. Her large prints are amazing, best way to experience her images, they allow you to see all the details. I especially like her new work, "Trapped" & "Holiday", and I really appreciate her humor. I also picked up a copy of Julie's book, great addition to the library. Gallery staff at Mann has energy and you can tell they love what they do. Can't wait to visit again.
Friedman Benda Gallery 525 West 26th Street, 1st Floor, NYC
I went to the opening of Misha Kahn's Midden Heap by accident while looking for Kasher Gallery's opening and am thankful I did. Friedman Benda describes Kahn's exhibition this way:
By allowing the illogical and the irreverent to take over his creative process, Kahn transforms a white-walled gallery space into a delightfully inventive alternate reality. “Each piece is part of a landscape I imagine as the earth gets swallowed by the sea,” he says. “No single object has any specific meaning. It’s all part of a feeling.”
I have no idea what it was but it was so cool, and describing it as a "feeling" is accurate, especially during the action of a New York opening. This exhibition runs through December 16, 2017, if you're in NYC it is worth experiencing.
Steven Kasher Gallery 525 West 26th Street, 2nd Floor, NYC
I enjoyed Jill Freedman’s work. The prints were obviously vintage based on their condition and the craftsmanship; I always like opportunities to see vintage prints because I can learn so much more about the photographer. Debi Cornwall's work definitely had merit too.
521 West 26th Street, 2nd Floor, NYC
I thought Matthew Pillsbury’s images were very interesting, unique, and well crafted. Definitely best to view prints because the images really work at that scale. I don't know if this will make sense, but for me, when I looked at these images for a few moments, their layers showed themselves and a deeper meaning came through. I see how it would be possible to move through the gallery quickly and think you saw these images but you really wouldn't have.
Strand Books 828 Broadway, NYC
Okay not a Gallery, and in a different part of the city, but this book store is amazing and worth talking about. I picked up a copy of Meryl Meisler’s book ‘A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick’. It's not the tightest edit or greatest printing of a book I have ever seen but I just liked a lot of her images, found it to be an interesting documentation of the New York during that era. Could have filled my suitcase with everything I found on their racks.
Pier 24 Gallery
William Karl Valentine's review, and images, of Pier 24 Gallery's exhibition "The Grain of the Present"
Read More
MoPA - Sebastiao Salgado exhibition
The Sebastião Salgado "Genesis" exhibition at MoPA in San Diego is wrapping up this weekend, luckily I was able to get to see it earlier this month. I am a huge fan of MoPA, and a member. Its a great space, always worth the trek south, and this was another solid exhibition.
I had seen silver prints from Sebastião Salgado's Workers series before and was impressed. I am pretty sure this is the first time I have seen prints from the Genesis series. All the prints at MoPA were digital prints either from original digital files or scanned negatives. The massive scale is impressive and appropriate for the subject matter. The quality of most of the prints were very good. I think MoPA did an outstanding job getting so much work up without it feeling crowded.
The The International Center of Photography was the first venue in the United States to host this exhibition in 2014 which was curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado. The ICP described the exhibition this way: "Genesis is the third long-term series on global issues by world-renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado (born Brazil, 1944), following Workers(1993) and Migrations (2000). The result of an eight-year worldwide survey, the exhibition draws together more than 200 spectacular black and white photographs of wildlife, landscapes, seascapes, and indigenous peoples—raising public awareness about the pressing issues of environment and climate change." A powerful body of work, relevant to today, and well worth the view.
Artmoi used my billboard on their feature about the 2016 Billboard Creative in Los Angeles
The Billboard Creative 2016 - Los Angeles
In December 2016 I had an image included in a very unique exhibition here in Los Angeles, The Billboard Creative. The exhibition takes unsold billboard spaces and features one artist, and one of their works, on each billboard for a month in December. My billboard was on Wilshire Boulevard and Dunsmuir Avenue just east of LACMA.
I am always happy to have my work seen, but I especially happy that Mona Kuhn included this image in the group of 45 selected artworks for the 2016 Billboard Creative. I love the concept of putting artwork on billboards in a place like Los Angeles which is such a car centered society. I also felt this was the perfect image for the venue and I get excited to think of the thousands of people who had a chance to see one of my most important photographs.
I also love the fact this image was displayed over a Thai Massage parlor!
HAFNY.org also used my image as the lead image to their feature on the project.
http://www.thebillboardcreative.com/gallery-1/#2016-show2
http://hafny.org/blog/2016/12/the-billboard-creative-turns-los-angeles-empty-ad-space-into-public-art
2017 Los Angeles Exhibitions - Bowers & Autry
This past year the Autry Museum in Los Angeles and the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana both had exhibitions of some amazing photographs by the masters. Bowers had its final exhibition in a series on Edward Weston's work and the Autry highlighted Group f/64 and Richard Misrach's photographs from the Bank of America collection. I believe it so important to see prints by the masters of our craft for a photographer to really have the understanding of what a good print looks like. I remember early in my career getting to see, and hold, a Weston pepper print and learning so much from that experience. Another important exhibition I saw was SFMOMA commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ansel Adams where they exhibited 100 of his prints curated by John Szarkowski. What I enjoyed most in that exhibition was seeing prints of the same image that were printed at different times in Ansel's career. It really highlighted how he honed his craft as a master printer.
My only criticism of these two exhibitions was the lighting in the galleries at both venues. At the Autry it was too dim and you couldn't see print detail. I especially remember two split toned images by Misrach which looked they were beautiful but there wasn't enough light on them to show the green and purple tones. The lighting at Bowers was inconsistent, one image would be lit perfectly then the next would have fall off that prevented the viewer from seeing the full beauty of the image.
As a side note, here are some favorite works I saw at the Autry on my last visit (I am Maynard Dixon) :
