When talking about my new work “Tempus Incognitus,” John described it as “Technicolor Noir.”  I love that description and asked him if I could use it when talking about my work.  He graciously agreed.

John is currently curating a show about the South. If you are in the Atlanta area you should see this show. http://slowexposures.blogspot.com/2010/05/southern-memory-part-i-inside-and-out.html.

John is busy working on the 2nd edition of the Hearst Biennial.  He also teaches a course in collecting at the New School in New York City.

PhotoMedia Magazine June 2009 - Brad Carlile’s “Veg” captures the passage of time over the course of two days. Copyright © Brad Carlile

Photomedia writes:

Portland, Ore.-based photographer Brad Carlile was one of eight recipients of the Hearst 8×10 Photography Biennial Award this year. The competition, which announced its winners in April, recognizes upcoming photographers in the media industry.

Carlile’s winning series, “Tempus Incognitus,” explores the nature of light and color within the realm of rented rooms and will be on display at the Hearst Museum Gallery in New York City through September. Carlile was also featured at the Flanders Gallery in Raleigh, N.C., earlier this year.

The first stop was at Yossi Milo Gallery (525 west 25 Street, NYC) to see Myoung Ho Lee’s photographs.  The concept is simple but powerful, Lee singles out one tree in each of his images in Korea, he then separates the tree from nature by putting a huge white sheet behind it.  I like the way it questions subject, representation and art itself.

Myoung Ho Lee at Yossi Milo

I found the backlight one below to be particularly interesting. But I must admit that after reading that the following in his artist statement.

To install the large canvases, which span approximately 60 by 45 feet, the artist enlists a production crew and heavy cranes. Minor components of the canvas support system, such as ropes or bars, are later removed from the photograph through minimal digital retouching, creating the illusion that the backdrop is floating behind the tree.

I was a bit dismayed I would have like an even more process heavy that would require no heavy crane and the digital after removal of them. The industrial nature bothered me and subtracted a bit from my experience.

Myoung Ho Lee at Yossi Milo

Below is an image by Philippe Azaud at FOLEYGallery (547 W 27th Street, 5th floor, NYC).  I loved this image from the group show.  Michael Foley also stopped by the opening at the Hearst Biennial show that I’m in, so we had a couple of chances to talk this month, which was quite nice.

Philippe Azaud at Michael Foley

From there we went to ClampArt (531 West 25th Street, Ground floor, NYC). At FotoFest in Houston I meet Frank Yamrus, who recently had several shows with his “Rune Lagu” which is a series of water bottle portraits.  A new series of his is self-portraits as he turns 50.  They are excellent and you can see them in the back room.  Take a look below…

Frank Yamrus Clampart

The main show at ClampArt is well curatored show called… “Kids behaving badly”

Clampart

Larry Clark at Clampart

Von Lintel Gallery (555 West 25th street, NYC) has the work of Japanese photographer Izima Kaoru. “In this work, Kaoru asks famous Japanese models and actresses to describe fantasies of their own deaths and then stages them for the camera. …
human figure in a landscape juxtaposed against the shock value of death is even more pronounced in this latest endeavor.”

This solo coincides with the publication of Izima Kaoru: Landscapes with a Corpse, a 192-page monograph published by Hatje Kantz.

Izima Kaoru at Von Lintel

Aperture has a very strong and moving show by Jonathan Torgovnik that you must see and read more about.
“Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape” From the press release.

During the 1994 genocide, hundreds of thousands of Rwandan women were subjected to massive sexual violence by members of the infamous Hutu militia groups, known as the Interhamwe. Among the most isolated survivors are women who have borne children as a result of those rapes. Due to the stigma of rape and “having a child of the militia,” the women’s communities and few surviving relatives have largely shunned them. Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape brings together Jonathan Torgovnik’s remarkable portraits of these women and children, and their harrowing first-hand testimonies.

Jonathan Torgovnik Aperture

Jonathan Torgovnik at Aperture

Prolific blogger Ed Winkleman has a show at Winkleman Gallery (637 West 27th Street, NYC) by Jennifer Dalton called “The Reappraisal.”

From the press release:
In “The Reappraisal,” everything in the house Dalton shares with her husband and four-year-old son is for sale, provided would-be collectors are willing to pay the price arrived at through her family’s level of attachment to a particular object. Every household item—from graduate student paintings to the cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink to the planter in the back yard—has been photographed and appraised by both her and, again, Christie’s auction house.

Jennifer Dalton The Reappraisal at Winkleman Gallery

Cheim & Read (547 West 25th Street, NYC) has a wonderful exhibition of new paintings by Louise Fishman.

Louise Fishman at Cheim Read

At Derek Eller Gallery (615 West 57th, NYC) is a show where Alyson Shotz investigates issues of perception and space with highly sophisticated sculptures. This is a interesting show where I spent some time just enjoying.

Alyson Ahotz - Phase-shift at Derek Eller

Alyson Shotz - Phase-shift at Derek Eller

Alyson Shotz - Phase-shift at Derek Eller

STUX Gallery (530 West 25th, NYC) has the show “Phantom Landscapes,” by Israeli-based multimedia artist Penny Hes Yassour. The space is is transfored by this rubber-like sculpture.

Penny Hes Yassour Stux

Winston Wächter Fine Art ( ,NYC) has the recent paintings by Angelina Nasso entitled “Miwis.” Great work in a great space.

From the press release:

Angelina Nasso’s oil on paper works are inspired by nature using gem-like circular forms that reference pixilated images and draw upon the theory of subatomic particles in space. She views space as a container of vibrational forces. Nasso describes, “I grew up in the bush in Australia where the nights were very dark. There were no streetlights and hardly any cars went by. In the darkness of a moonless night I would watch space. In this blackness I saw circular forms dancing and vibrating.”

Angelina Nasso miwis Winston Wachter

Angelina Nasso miwis Winston Wachter

Brad Carlile’s series that was chosen for the Biennial is called “Tempus Incognitus.” This series explores a mysterious world of rented rooms in which the day’s liminal times exist concurrently. Breathtaking in their tonality and vibrant colors, Carlile’s series “Tempus Incongitus” explores the realities of impermanence in light, color and the passage of time. Where Cubists’ landscapes show several perspectives at a single moment in time, Carlile’s interiors show various times from a single perspective. All work is done in camera without digital creation or manipulation. Creating the images in camera on film allows Carlile to capture the energy of change while maintaining a mystifying grounding in reality.

There are ten distinguished judges for the biennial, half of which include leading photographers and museum curators, that selected the eight award recipients from more than 1,000 entries from photographers in 47 different countries. The judges are:

• John A. Bennette, III, curator/writer;
• Judith Bookbinder, VP, creative communications, Hearst Magazines;
• David Granger; editor-in-chief, Esquire;
• Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, photographer;
• Virginia Heckert, associate curator of photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum;
• Debra Shriver, VP/chief communications officer & SVP/Magazines, Hearst Corporation
• Peter Lindbergh, photographer;
• Mary Ellen Mark, photographer;
• Steve McCurry, photographer; and
• Charles Stainback, curator of photography, Norton Museum of Art.

The eight biennial winners are: Brad Carlile, Andy Freeberg, Mark Kessell, Edith Maybin, Louie Palu, Benedikt Partenheimer, Nicholas Prior, and Hiroshi Watanabe.

In the Hearst biennial press release they say:

“We were impressed by the work of all of these artists, and selecting the winning entries was not an easy task,” said photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. “I was amazed and excited to see the energy of these promising photographers, each one with an original point of view. I believe their images will be shaping the way we see things in the years to come.”

“For professional photographers just starting out, a competition like this is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said photographer Mary Ellen Mark. “It is a chance to have your work seen by curators, editors and creative directors—people who can really help shape your career.”

EXHIBITION: Hearst 8×10 Photography Biennial
OPEN/CLOSE: March-September 2009
LOCATION: Hearst Tower
Alexey Brodovitch & Hearst Galleries
300 West 57th Street (enter 8th Ave)
New York, New York
www.hearst8×10.com

The Hearst 8 X 10 Photography Biennial is open to photographers who have at least two years of professional experience, both in the United States and abroad. The next competition will be held in 2011.

Hearst site of images in the show: http://www.hearst8×10.com/carlile.html

See more of my work at: http://www.bradcarlile.com

Charlie Wilmoth In Dusted Reviews writes, “Extra Life’s ridiculously complex instrumental parts … are sometimes quiet, sometimes brutal, but when they’re at one extreme, there’s always the sense that the other is a possibility.”

Wilmoth goes on to say, “The thing with Extra Life is that their music is about 18 times more accomplished and complex than most math rock bands could ever hope to be. And yet their music isn’t the least bit ironic, and its complexity nearly always sounds like it’s in the service of some broader idea.”

Extra Life’s MySpace page is:

http://www.myspace.com/extralifetheband

Extra Life 2009 tour dates
02.05.09 – Middletown, Conn. (Wesleyan University)
02.07.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Death By Audio) *With Made in Mexico
02.12.09 – Amherst, Mass. (Hampshire College) w/ Little Women
02.13.09 – Toronto, Ontario (The Boat) w/ Little Women
02.16.09 – Chicago, Ill. (Empty Bottle) w/ Larkin Grimm + Lichens
02.18.09 – Minneapolis, Minn. (Nomad World Pub) w/ Vampire Hands
02.20.09 – Vancouver, British Columbia (Peanut Gallery) w/ Certain Breeds + Shearing Pinx
02.23.09 – Portland, OR (the Tube)
02.24.09 – Portland, OR (East End)
02.25.09 – Eureka, Calif. (Auntie Moe’s)
02.26.09 – Oakland, Calif. (The Parkside)
02.28.09 – Los Angeles, Calif. (The Smell) w/ Abe Vigoda
03.01.09 – San Diego, Calif. (Radio Room)
03.03.09 – Denver, Colo. (Rhinoceropolis) w/ These Are Powers
03.04.09 – Lincoln, Neb. (Box Awesome)
03.05.09 – St. Louis, Mo. (Lemp Arts)
03.06.09 – Oberlin, Ohio (Oberlin College)

Zaha Hadid 168 10th Ave

Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born British architect, was showing her work in two locations in Chelsea. At 168 Tenth Avenue (at 21st Street) in an open space as well as at Sonnabend (536 W 22nd St, NYC).

Zaha Hadid 168 tenth Ave

The warehouse space at Tenth Ave is filled with organic designs individually lit in this dark interior. These objects live somewhere between sculpture, design, and architecture. The exhibitions run through December 13.

At Hasted/Hunt (529 W 20th St, 3 Fl, NYC) we get a different view of architectural, this time interiors.

Julian Faulhaber lowdensitypolyethylene at Hasted Hunt

Julian Faulhaber, the German photographer, has a show called “Lowdensitypolyethylene”

Julian Faulhaber lowdensitypolyethylene at Hasted Hunt

This work has been recently acquired by New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and will be in an upcoming show there.

Julian Faulhaber lowdensitypolyethylene at Hasted Hunt

These are images of created spaces that are often saturated with color and appear almost abstract.  Some of the compositions remind me of various Hopper images if he painted today.

Next, we have flowers and firearms, the perfect combination? Martin Klimas, another German photographer has a show at Fowley Gallery (547W 27th Street, NYC).

Martin Klimas Flowers at Fowley Gallery

The beauty of the vase of the flower is caught in a Harold-Edgerton moment of the bullet exploding a vase. All support is at the moment of disappearing. The “Flowers” exhibition will remain on view until January 17, 2009.

Continuing on a sculptural is Mia Westerlund Rosen show at the Betty Cuningham Gallery. A nice contemplative work is “Mettawee”. It is a spiral sculpture that invites you inside its spiral.

Mia Westerlund Rosen

Westerlund Rosen has been had New York solo shows of her sculptures since 1975.  I also quite liked “Splash On” and “Hell’s Gate” which are felt and resin. works on the wall.

Mia Westerlund Rosen

Mia Westerlund Hell s Gate Betty Cuningham Gallery

Let’s continue with a curving visual. William Steiger’s has a show called “Transport” is at Margaret Thatcher Projects (511 West 25th Street Suite 404, NYC).

William Steiger Transport

These paintings focus in on the geometric aspects of the American landscape.

William Steiger Transport at Margaret Thatcher Projects

Alexander Kaletski’s show “Wet Dreams” at Dillon Gallery ( 555 West 25th St, NYC) have a lyrical quality.

Alexander Kaletski Wet Dreams

Wet Dreams” which has its genesis in those naive Moscow studies. The current paintings have the old patina of Russia combined with the heroic loneliness of an outsider artist. Characters, subjects and narratives taken from the early figurative work brilliantly coalesce with innovations the artist subsequently developed in America.

By the way, I really like this Dillion’s space for some reason.

At Clampart (521-531 West 25th Street, Grd Flr, NYC) we have an installation by Mark Beard called “Gracious Dictator: The Seduction of Power”.

Mark Beard at Clampart

Mark Beard at Clampart

How grand is that.

Charlie Wilmoth In Dusted Reviews writes, “Extra Life’s ridiculously complex instrumental parts …  are sometimes quiet, sometimes brutal, but when they’re at one extreme, there’s always the sense that the other is a possibility.”

Wilmoth goes on to say, “The thing with Extra Life is that their music is about 18 times more accomplished and complex than most math rock bands could ever hope to be. And yet their music isn’t the least bit ironic, and its complexity nearly always sounds like it’s in the service of some broader idea.”

Extra Life’s MySpace page is: www.myspace.com/extralifetheband

For me some of the standout work was… Cecily Brown’s paintings at Gagosian Gallery, Lee Ufan, Gary Simmons, Diana al Hadid’s “Reverse Collider”, Mark Wagner’s collages of cut up currency, Oliver Blackart @ PPOW (the old woman manaquin has a sign that says “Critic”), Dave Anderson & Joshua Lutz photographs @ Clampart, and Allison Schulnik, and Raphael Dallaporta images of anti-personal weapons at Silverstein photography.

Rothko’s work must be seen in person.  Little jpgs just are blocks of color, but his paintings are really so much more.  Rothko painted intimate paintings, that is why there were painted so large.  He once said that the ideal viewing distance was 18 inches.  I’d suggested seeing work in person and just standing looking at one for half a minute then explore the painting.  It can be amazing.

Now that I’m living in both New York and Portland I get both of these connections.  Rothko attended Lincoln high school in Portland and had his first solo show at the Portland Art Museum in 1933.  He spent the rest of his life in New York.  The Portland Art Museum (PAM) should really get a major Rothko.  Any big collector willing to step up for a permanent one?

I can spend lots of time looking at his work.  I can lose myself in a very good way.  Regardless of what is happening or who is talking around me, I can often feel solitary in front of a Rothko.

It was great to see Rothko’s “Homage to Matisse” visit PAM.  Matisse’s use of color profoundly influenced Rothko. When Matisse’s “Red Studio” was installed at MoMA in 1949, Rothko visited it every day for months. By the end of that year, Rothko’s work that was started in 1946 became more clearly what we all recognize. At one point Rothko told his 2nd wife that he owed his achievements in art to Matisse and especially “Red Studio”.

A couple of years ago I visited the Rothko Chapel in Houston.  There is a writeup in the guardian about a visit to the Rothko Chapel that is worth a read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/01/art

As I right this I’m listening to Mogwai’s new album “The Hawk is Howling.”  The songs somehow fit how I feel sometimes when I’m in front of his paintings.  I think I’m going to have to put it on my shuffle and head over to MoMA this week.

I’ll end this with a couple of Rothko’s quotes:

“A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer, it dies by the same token. It is therefore it is a risky act to send it out into the world.” Mark Rothko

“It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing.” Mark Rothko

“And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point.” Mark Rothko

…on need to demolish the usual identity of things

“in order to destroy the finite associations with which our society increasingly enshrouds every aspect of our environment.” Mark Rothko

The snow is really stacking up. At Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort they report 204″ to 214″ of consolidated base. At Mt. Hood Meadows it took a season total of 640 inches of snow fall. You can see what the road to the resort looks like in the last image.

Now I’m in New York. I will be blogging about AIPAD, Whitney Biennial 2008, Chelsea, and more this weekend and next. I can’t wait to see some of my photographer friends at AIPAD. For friends that I haven’t got a hold or don’t know your plans, drop me an email or comment if you are in New York and we can get together.