Brad Carlile Photo Blog

Dutch Artist Hans Eijkelboom is showing at Aperture Gallery (547 West 27th Street 4th floor). I’ll must admit it but at first I wasn’t impressed. But the work really grew on me! Now I really appreciate it and enjoy it. This show runs until 3-Jan-08. There is also an Aperture monograph that accompanies the show.
The work is entitled “Paris – New York – Shanghai”. Each of these contemporary metropolises was select for being or promising to be the cultural capital of its time. As the artist statement says,

“Paris during the nineteenth century; New York, the twentieth; and Shanghai the twenty-first. The work reveals how culture has become universal and instant communication has united East and West, diminishing individuality and collapsing geographic boundaries. As Eijkelboom writes, ‘Globalization, combined with the desire of cities for visually spectacular elements, is leading to the appearance everywhere of city centers that look the same and where identical products are sold.’”

Andrea and I were talking about various grid-based work. And also reflected on the work of photographer August Sander who in 1912 show many of his portraits in the same layout so similarities can be clearly compared and a more intimate exploration reveals the differences. The images are arranged throughout the gallery to take an intoxicating visual pulse of these cities.
Each grouping has everyday people grouped by basic appearance detail of a portion of the camouflage prints are above.

We managed to see the last day of Jill Greenberg’s “Ursine” show at ClampArt Gallery (521-531 West 25th Street, ground floor). I know this show will be very popular. In the project room there were images from Jill Greenberg’s “End Times.”

We also got a bit of a chance to catch up with Brian Clamp as he is busy getting ready for several shows, including December’s show of John Button’s work (1929-1982) from his estate, and of course Miami. I imagine you’ll be able to see Ursine at Miami. I first met Brian at Photolucida 2004 when I showed him some of my early work during a portfolio review.

Here is another gallery view of the Ursine show, all works are “untitled”.

Here is a short video about Jill’s work.

A stand out for me was Swedish artist Eva Hild show “In Between” at Nancy Margolis Gallery (523 West 25th). Unfortunately for New Yorkers, this show ended on 24-Nov, but again we managed to catch the last show. These clay works are so wonderfully lyrically strong and delicate. These sculptures take 4 to 6 months to create and are hand constructed from clay coils. They are then carefully sanded and covered with a kaolin slip. The surfaces lusciously fold and curve from to one to another. They have a enticing complexity and at the same time engaging simpilicity. The spaces between the folds are as important as the solid surfaces.

To me this manifold remind me both of the Calabi-Yao manifold of string theory as well as Umberto Boccioni’s – Dynamism of a Soccer Player. The gallery press release says, “Hild Expresses space and mass, light and shade, construction and destruction and the constant tension between them in her work”

From a strictly physical point of view I guess I agree with that, but I bring more to it in both an intellectual sense and an emotional connection. Am I projecting too much? I’m not sure I really care.

Paul V Furfaro is showing “Genesis II” at the Robert Steele Gallery (511 West 25th) until 1-Dec. This work uses India ink in combination with other dyes on rag paper. I found the squared circular forms quite engaging. His artist statement says, “The natural occurrences of staining, bleeding, and water-based resisting are fundamental elements in my current work. As my exploration has unfolded, these occurrences have informed the next series of drawings. In this way the whole process has become a cycle of intention, observation, and intention again…” For much of his career he has started with the structures of sea shells as a launching point.

…tomorrow I’ll cover a few more Chelsea galleries, then after that maybe what is showing at MOMA and the Met.

Tags: art, photography