Karabekian Continued

Just Before I go away for a week, i thought I would continue what the painter, Karabekian, said after this (blog two down)... Purely as, strangely, it reminds me of my favorite words ever, written by Henry Luce ( you can read it here)...
So Karabekian continues in Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions:

"I now give you my word of honor," he went on, "that the picture your city owns shows everything about life which truly matters, with nothing left out. It is a picture of the awareness of every animal. It is the immaterial core of every animal -- the 'I am' to which all messages are sent. It is all that is alive in any of us -- in a mouse, in a deer, in a cocktail waitress. It is unwavering and pure, no matter what preposterous adventure may befall us. A sacred picture of Saint Anthony alone is one vertical, unwavering band of light. If a cockroach were near him, or a cocktail waitress, the picture would show two such bands of light. Our awareness is all that is alive and maybe sacred in any of us. Everything else about us is dead machinery."

Small Ecologies

Last Saturday I went to The Rhubarb Rhubarb festival in Birmingham where I was reviewing work, this is a portrait I rather like by photographer fresh out of studying called Damian Hughes, its from a series called small Ecologies: The Personality of Space..
The above pictures are from another series of work on Tunstead Quarry, Derbyshire...

Kurt Vonnegut and a rant!

So many times I have heard people say something along the lines of " Yeah but I could have done that..." or even recently from a very well established photographer: "But really my four year old could have taken those pictures", when looking at photographs.....
I have always found this a frustrating type of comment, because it is of no use whatsoever, and yes, maybe you could have taken that picture, but the bottom line is you didn't!...
So recently I have been reading novelist Kurt Vonnegut's (above) Breakfast of Champions and came across a section where a painter ( Karabekian ) is questioned about his abstract (and minimalist) painting selling for a colossal amount of money... And in response Karabekian says:

"I have read the editorials against my painting in your wonderful newspaper. I have read every word of the hate mail you have been thoughtful enough to send (to me) in New York..... .. The painting did not exist until I made it.. Now that it does exist, nothing would make me happier than to have it reproduced again and again, and vastly improved upon, by all the five year-olds in town. I would love for your children to find pleasantly and playfully what it took me many angry years to find."

And that kind of sums it up for me.....

Katharine MacDaid's Oman Revisited

At one of the Portfolio review sessions we hold at Foto8 on a monthly basis, I was lucky to see Katherine's work, she is currently teaching photography in Oman, here are some of here pictures and a few words from her...
"The photographs come from my time spent, so far, living and working in the Sultanate of Oman, a country on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsular. I moved to Oman in December to teach photography at a Government run technical college in Muscat. Having spent my early childhood growing up in Oman, I have long wanted to return to see the place again and to photograph my experience of it now. The work has developed without a fixed agenda. Preferring to photograph as I explore the place, observing what is presented in my daily life and weekend adventures, I am recording a personal encounter as I learn how to place myself in this distinct culture and unfamiliar landscape. "The above picture is a bus stop in case you were wondering.... H

The Party 09!

Here are a few pictures taken by Dougie Wallace of The Foto8 Summer Show Party that happend last Friday here at the gallery, we estimated 800 people passed through our doors that night, and luckily we were nearly prepared for it.... More pictures are trickling in so more will be posted in the next while.... Thanks for everyone who came and supported us

Whitney Hubbs..

I came across the work of Los Angeles based photographer Whitney Hubbs, whilst looking through the first issue of LayFlat Magazine, these pictures are taken from two different bodies of work: To Fill the Unforgiving Moment and Nothing Happens in June..

122 Photographs and a party

So we have just finished hanging the Foto8 Summer Show, and I hope that everyone is aware of the party that is to happen at HOST/Foto8 this Friday, if not please get your tickets here....
Once again its a spectacle and a celebration of photography in all it's guises...
If you can't make the party please come and see the show. All prints are for sale and at Summer Show prices....
Be sure to let us know you are coming by emailing summershow(at)foto8(dot)com..
Anyway here is a sneak preview of the hanging of the show.

Ian J Whitmore's Channels

Here is some work by Ian J Whitmore entitled Channels, of which Ian says:
" The overall premise of this work is to look at the reality of everyday people in a way that challenges the use of entertainment (television) as a means to be voyeuristic. In large part this project came out of a response to reality television and it endless (mindless) attempts to portrait the world "unfiltered". The basic question I asked myself when I started was how could a portrait be made using television that turns it on its head a bit and potentially (although not completely) offers a more practical and real image of that person..".
Ian is also Art Director for the Proximity Magazine..

Avalanche

Currently showing at PhotoEspana (not that I am there..) is the work of Yann Gross, mainly from his fantastic body of work on the inhabitants of the Swiss Rhone Valleys, but he also has this ongoing work on avalanches "Lavina"...

Zuzana Salajkova

Here is some work by a young Czech photographer currently working in the UK, look here to see more of her work from various series....
Zuzana also has work in a show opening at the Impressions Gallery

Lay Flat: Remain in The Light

Good news, I now have copies of issue one of Lay Flat magazine! which is now sold out, I have 5 copies for sale, its a beautiful thing, included in the inaugural issue of Lay Flat are four essays, an interview and a poem, all accompanied by 20 unbound photographs from a selection of international photographers....
Lay Flat is bought to you by Shane Lavalette and Karly Wildenhaus...
Shane is a photographer himself and I very much like his work.... See below

Making do and Getting by

I just had to post a couple more pictures from Richard Wentworth's Making do and Getting by series, if you can get the book it is well worth it, one of my favorites of all time, I have some copies in the gallery bookshop at the moment too....

Drew Jarrett

A friend at Wire Magazine introduced me to the work of Drew Jarrett, and english Photographer working out of New York, there is lots to see on his site here......

Clang

Another discovery for my in New York was the work of Clang, I particularly like this series entitled Fear of Losing the Existence....

LIFE! always an inspiration.....

"To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things — machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see man's work — his paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the women men love and many children; to see and to take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed…. "
Henry Luce
Luce, (aka Father Time) wrote this to explain the objectives of LIFE Magazine, I always find it such a beautiful thing to read....
Luce was founder of Time Magazine, Fortune and of course LIFE, I think he gets the award for best Magazine names.....