THE PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION:
- ROBERT FRANK
- DANDY LIONS
- HERB RITTS
- VICTORY TISCHLER BLUE
- INTERVIEW: ALEX HARRIS
- LETS ROCK: MIAMI
- INTERVIEW : DAVID FAHEY
- INTERVIEW: JAMES GABBARD
- INTERVIEW: LORNA STOVALL
- BEST OF PHOTO 2015 : Schneider Gallery . Catherine Edelman Gallery . Aline Smithson
ROBERT FRANK: VISUAL POET
Photographers around the world revere Robert Frank's contributions to the image pool. Museums of the National and International variety create anthologies, catalogues and booklets attempting to put into perspective the precise importance of Mr. Frank's work. Art galleries and private dealers invest tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in reproducing and reselling the Robert Frank catalogue to new collectors at higher and higher prices each year. Robert Frank's photographs have become iconic, the images are American to the core and yet, he was an outsider, a beatnik, an immigrant, a visual poet. It is almost impossible to define why and what and how the impetus, the formula, the motivation surfaces within an individual artist, but within the example of Mister Robert Frank, it is safe to say that this honest man, with a most basic and unadorned tool in hand, was indeed on a quest for that rare and delectable entity known quite simply, plainly & rather straightforwardly as: The TRUTH.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Robert Frank travelled the United States in search of America and Americans: he found both. Seeking the truth, leads to knowledge, with knowledge comes responsibility, with responsibility comes wisdom and somewhere within the wisdom, sits some version of truth. What if the truth you find has something in it that is just the slightest bit askew ? What if your parents fled a dictator for a place that was safe and secure and then you were to gamble all that away for a place that spoke of a much larger idea and when you went out to find that idea, it didn't actually exist ? Like many immigrants, like my ancestors and many of your ancestors, we as a people came to discover America and quickly, we realized that America didn't really exist in the way we thought it did. Within that realization also comes a comprehension that although America is not everything we were told, it is now ours and as Americans, we can collectively & individually make a contribution, and in that offering, in that very active step forward into our lives, we make America what it is: You and me. Frank turned his eye on America and took its picture. He did not flinch, he did not turn away, he did not judge, he did not separate, he did not categorize, he did not modify, he did nothing but document, and in that study and within his vignettes, his so-called snap shots, something quite real surfaced, it expounded well beyond the veneer and eventually he found what many of us can only hope to fathom: Mister Robert Frank had simply discovered America & made it his own. He was not the first to, 'discover,' America. Columbus had discovered America in 1492. Washington and his boys followed suit and decided they liked the place more than they did their own homes. Who could blame them ? This place is awesome. The big difference with Robert Frank's discovery is that he did not conquer, nor did he enslave, he just simply captured the image and after all: image is everything. When America actually viewed it's own portrait shortly after World War II and in the decade to follow, it was somewhat shocked at the signs of poverty, the segregation, the somewhat disheveled look. The melting pot of life had seen it's own reflection and turned away, blaming the mirror. The Portrait of America and Americans by Mr. Robert Frank has gone onto have a lasting effect on the populist, the politics, the entire cultural landscape, which in the mid fifties was about to undergo a major shift in values. These images of America immediately influenced an entire generation of writers, artists and activists that had both preceded and coincided with this very new and emerging America. A recent exhibition presented by The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University unveiled many works from Mr. Frank's famous AMERICANS Series that had never been publicly displayed.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
At seventeen years of age, Frank learns to develop and print photographs with a neighbor who also introduces him to modern art, the apprenticeship lasted a year. At about this same time, fascism and the rise of Hitler's influence in Germany, where his family emigrated from, his father is German, his mother Swiss, effected the young man's perspectives. Frank, who was of Jewish descent, surely knew, growing up in Sweden, that he was different. His parents were both culturally astute, his father could quote Goethe in two languages, his mother created drawings. When a cousin of Frank's came to visit, her parents, who had stayed behind were eventually victims of the holocaust. The memories of Frank's parents recoiling from the sound of Hitler's hatred remained with him forever. In 1942, Robert Frank studied at Wolgensinger studio in Zurich, where he became influenced by the New Photography and an ethic that, in his teacher's own words, "Photography is the representation of reality - its mission is to convey essence, form and atmosphere." Frank learns to light, print and organize his works as well as contact sheet his 2 1/4 negatives. Two years later, he lands a job developing works for the largest photo studio in Switzerland, by day, he prints their work, by night, he prints his own. By 1946 Frank produces an impressive portfolio entitled, simply 40 Fotos. With the end of World War II, he travels to Paris, Milan and Brussels and by 1947, with a rebellious streak of independence and stories of American culture engrained in his psyche by literature and world events, Mr. Frank boards a ship to America. He recalls sitting between a wild, gangster-hatted American who eats with his hands and a Bishop with rosary and red sash: a scene straight out of a movie. Frank briefly worked for Harper's and a year later, he travelled to Peru and Bolivia. By 1949, he was back in Europe traveling to Spain, France, Italy and later that year is published in Camera magazine, with a prophetic declaration, "We believe Robert Frank can teach us how to see …"
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Robert Frank travelled between Europe and America several times in the early nineteen fifties. He married, had a child, applied for and received a Guggenheim grant & drove across the United States documenting a very real America. He had already captured iconic images in England, Scotland, Peru and Spain, including top hatted Londoners, coal miners in Whales, workers in LaPaz, bullfighters in Barcelona. He was now in search of the American image, outside of the big cities, rural America. It is fitting that the author of, "On The Road," Jack Kerouac and Robert Frank would eventually collaborate on a film. Kerouac also wrote the preface to Frank's seminal mid fifties survey work that was eventually published in 1958, entitled simply, "The Americans." Mr. Franks entry into America in 1947 and his many travels coincided exactly with author Kerouac's own pursuit and invention of a New Prose language in America. It was the perfect alignment. Frank's search for the truth in images, his abhorrence of commercial situations, where he quickly realized that, "There was no spirit there … the only thing that mattered was to make money," was in total unison with the emerging beatnik movement. Which eventually led to the cultural revolution and a new generation of values that included women's rights, civil rights and alternative lifestyles. Frank was also very much in line with the new school of painting that had taken hold by the likes of New York action painter Jackson Pollock, who had graced the cover of time in 1947, the year Frank first arrived in America. He states, regarding the new found style, after a conscious exodus from his New York commercial assignments, "I was very free with the camera. I didn't think of what would be the correct thing to do. I did what I felt like doing. I was like an action painter… I was making a kind of diary."
The tools Frank selects become even simpler when he begins using a point and shoot 35mm Leica, suggested by his boss and mentor at Harper's Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch, rather than his 2 1/4 inch box camera. It is very possible that Robert Frank was one of the few modern photographers to be fully conscious of his intuition, utilizing a philosophy of following one's heart as opposed to one's mind. The 35mm camera made this very particular and personal transition that much easier. Frank was also very aware of the myths that had surrounded photography since World War II, with the adventurous roving journalist tradition of photographers such as Robert Capa, who later co-founded Magnum Photo Agency, the first agency to be run by and for photographers. There were times in Frank's early career when lack of sales and rejection from the large magazine publications only fueled his motivation. He strived to break free of the style, story concept and basic mainstream presentation of imagery that pervaded the publishing industry: the beginning, middle & end formulas that LIFE magazine so heartily represented. Frank began to present his layouts and book design works without many words or narration and juxtaposing images such as Christ on the cross with a Ballon at a parade, titled : Men of Wood & Men of Air. Though, even more effective and minimalist are images presented with no text at all and no image juxtaposed, simply an image on one page and a blank page next to it. In this way, Robert Frank elevated the conversation by allowing the viewer to do some thinking, to read the symbols, to project themselves into the image and decide for themselves what was going on. By doing so, he also added a much needed element that had been missing from the photography of the nineteen fifties, Mr. Frank brought back a sense of curiosity to photography and in doing so, he created a new visual poetry with various meanings to each viewer.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
No Less than ten minutes into the documentary entitled, "Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank," Mr. Frank rejects the films process, unveiling a glimpse into his very true character as a kind of idiosyncratic jazz purist. Up to this point in the film, the filmmaker's have decided to do a, 'connect the dots' biographical take, asking Mr. Frank to discuss and recall all the known biographical facts that have been so well explored before in books and catalogues, such as the very detailed essays by Sarah Greenough of The National Gallery of Art in Washington D. C. where much of Frank's photographic work resides for future study. These biographical essays can also be found in the very extensive book entitled, "ROBERT FRANK Moving Out" on Scalo Press. In the middle of a question and answer session, Mr. Frank is asked to repeat an earlier observation, because the film crew had actually run out of film. He responds with a fiery exchange: "Well, look, forget it. Look, I'm not an actor, you know. I can't go through this shit, you know. I mean… theres no spontaneity in this, it's completely against my nature what's happening here. So, if the crew can't get it together with the film, let's go out to Coney Island, lets play a Beckett play there and lets look at the landscape with my photographs and see that this man is looking for something he did fifty years ago." In the next shot of the film, Mr Frank is seen on the street in Coney Island asking a cop on a horse, "Sir, do you know where this is ? I took this picture almost fifty years ago," The cop answers, "No, I don't know." Mr Frank turns to the camera in response, "Let's find a real old guy, he would know." Suddenly we get some authenticity and a peek into what it Is that Robert Frank does so well: He connects with real people. Eventually, a young african american man points out the location, "It was right there," he points across the way, "So then, you knew it as a kid ?" Frank asks and the young man answers, "Yeah." There is a very heart felt parting glance, Franks says, "Thanks a lot." Then, suddenly, the young man reaches out his hand and Mr. Frank grabs the young man's wrist, their eyes meet and they relate. It's a small, yet beautiful moment where two strangers have connected. We get the sense that
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Mr. Frank's pictures, his early and entire catalogue were also indeed created with this special human need, for a man, alone with his art and his ideas, to connect with his people, with his immediate surroundings and with the world at large. At another point in the documentary, Mr Frank is riding a bus, looking out the window, recalling an earlier series of works taken from the windows of moving buses. He looks out the window quietly reminiscing in a solitary manner. As an admirer of Mr. Frank and his work, to watch him with no camera in his hands, was literally, for me, quite painful. When a human being you love turns ninety years of age, as Mr. Frank currently has, it is high time to celebrate his life, his work, his experiences. It is also time to ensure that this human being has everything he needs, that he knows how very well loved, well respected and well deserving he is of life's gifts. When both of my Grandfather's had turned ninety, I dropped everything I was doing and focused on them, we made documentary films together, we created images, we conducted interviews, we ate together, we discussed their lives, we set the story straight. Now, both of those men no longer walk the earth, they have moved on to another world. As I look at Robert Frank's world of images, as I look at Robert Frank's life, as I look at Robert Frank's experience at my own 'middle age', I get invigorated, I get inspired, I get turned on to life again and a new phase of creating begins. The power of the Individual is awe inspiring. Very few singular Artists, Writers or Filmmakers have set the bar to a new standard in the way in which Mr. Robert Frank has done. He is stubbornly passionate, defiantly individualistic, decidedly authentic, unabashedly truthful, culturally curious and it is very safe to say that Mr. Robert Frank did not sell out. He influenced and continues to influence The Arts, Advertising, Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers and of course photography, every single decade since his first appearing on theses shores. He is a living legend and most likely, he would shun that appraisal. Which is neither here nor there, the fact is, he did his job, the images remain, end of story.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
ROBERT FRANK
VISUAL POET : In His Words
ON PHOTOGRAPHS: "I like images and so to make images became kind of natural."
ON PARIS: "I never really had a concept for something. It was really the intuition before I really saw it. So, Paris was very good for me.
ON LONDON: "It was wonderful, because, they didn't pay any attention to you. Which, today, they would tell you to fuck off or turn away, you know."
ON NEW YORK CITY: "New York is a very good city, wherever you look around, it has a character. and you know, It isn't a pretty life, it isn't a sweet life, it's, it's the real life, that I looked for, and that I got.
ON AMERICA: "In America I wanted to do it differently. There was no more romanticism really, a look at a country that I didn't really know, I had only been here a couple of years. The Americans was the first time I made a trip across the country… I really felt something very strong from the people. I looked at poor people, how they tried to survive, what a lonely time it can be in America, what at a tough country it is."
ON EARLY INFLUENCES: "You grow up in a place and the culture of that place or your parents or your situation, it influences you. There was a war going on, Switzerland was a place that was closed off from everywhere, you couldn't get out and you were afraid that the nazi's would invade … so of course, it had an influence on a jew."
ON RACE RELATIONS: "Also, I saw for the first time the way blacks were treated, it was surprising to me, but it didn't make me hate America, it made me understand how people can be. You know, you learn a lot traveling and you learn a lot when you are a photographer and thats what probably what makes the difference, if you have some brain and some feeling for people, you are going to be a good photographer."
ON PERCEPTION OF HIS IMAGES: "The reaction surprised me, because people thought it was an anti-American story, so then, it took ten years till that changed, but I do like America, so I became an American and thats what I know best."
ON CREATING PICTURES : "The Pictures have to talk, not me, and so be it."
ON PARIS: "I never really had a concept for something. It was really the intuition before I really saw it. So, Paris was very good for me.
ON LONDON: "It was wonderful, because, they didn't pay any attention to you. Which, today, they would tell you to fuck off or turn away, you know."
ON NEW YORK CITY: "New York is a very good city, wherever you look around, it has a character. and you know, It isn't a pretty life, it isn't a sweet life, it's, it's the real life, that I looked for, and that I got.
ON AMERICA: "In America I wanted to do it differently. There was no more romanticism really, a look at a country that I didn't really know, I had only been here a couple of years. The Americans was the first time I made a trip across the country… I really felt something very strong from the people. I looked at poor people, how they tried to survive, what a lonely time it can be in America, what at a tough country it is."
ON EARLY INFLUENCES: "You grow up in a place and the culture of that place or your parents or your situation, it influences you. There was a war going on, Switzerland was a place that was closed off from everywhere, you couldn't get out and you were afraid that the nazi's would invade … so of course, it had an influence on a jew."
ON RACE RELATIONS: "Also, I saw for the first time the way blacks were treated, it was surprising to me, but it didn't make me hate America, it made me understand how people can be. You know, you learn a lot traveling and you learn a lot when you are a photographer and thats what probably what makes the difference, if you have some brain and some feeling for people, you are going to be a good photographer."
ON PERCEPTION OF HIS IMAGES: "The reaction surprised me, because people thought it was an anti-American story, so then, it took ten years till that changed, but I do like America, so I became an American and thats what I know best."
ON CREATING PICTURES : "The Pictures have to talk, not me, and so be it."
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Mr Robert Frank's Images are Archived in The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. USA
The BUREAU PICK: MIDWEST
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE BOOK PICK:
ALINE SMITHSON: For Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography
The BUREAU PICK: MIDWEST
Melissa Ann Pinney NOW at Schneider Gallery
770 North LaSalle Dr. 401 Chicago IL 60654 312 988 4033
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New Interactive Electronic Edition Of Bureau Of Arts And Culture Magazine Is Extremely Popular With A Readership That Is Loyal, Hip, Educated And Buys Product Regularly: Art / Music / Sports / Etc... This New Edition Is Mailed Directly To Thousands And Downloaded And Shared By Thousands More Via Social Media ... Over A Million Readers At All Google Sites And The Bureau Of Arts And Culture Network Sites 5000 + Immediate Direct Mail And 3500 + Through Our Google Followers.Interviews . Photographic Essays . Literature . Fiction . Film Reviews . Architecture . Design . Surfing . Cuisine . Biking . Travel . Culture The Bureau Magazine Regular Icon Essay . The Guest Artist Interviews With Well Over A Million Readers On All Sites Combined Including : L. A. San Francisco . New York . Seattle . Midwest . San Diego . Santa Barbaraand The Bureau Of Arts And Culture International Literary Site As Well As Social Media And A High Profile Mailing List That Includes An Upscale And Culturally Astute Group Of Artists . Filmmakers . Home Owners And Socially Conscious Readers Who Get The E Mag Directly In Their Mailboxes In Pdf Format With E - Links To All Our Advertisers.Exclusive Interviews With Top Of The Line Artists, Writers, Film Makers And Photographers. The Photo Essays By World Class Photographerswe Provide Extensive And Original Content That Gets Your Products Seen By Thousands Of Readers And Buyers And Associations With Some Of The Most Interesting Artists And Writers In The World Today Plus We Provide Hip Street Team Give Aways Of Music . Film . Posters In An Abundance Of Locations Including Beverly Hills . Santa Barbara . The Bay Area . New York City . The Mid West: Milwaukee . Chicago . Detroit. San Diego . Seattle + We Mail Direct To Bookstores Throughout World.The Future Of Publishing Is Through Electronic Media And With Our Pdf Edition We Have Twice As Many Pages As Our So Called Competition. We Cover Surfing . Art . Fashion . Film Like No Other Specialty Magazineintellectually Hip Content With An Edgy And Street Smart Sensibility.We Even Translated Special Editions Into German And Spanish And Hadan Abundance Of Readers Throughout The World Translate This Site !We Are Official Media Sponsors At Art Fairs . Photo Fairs And Film Fests. We Distribute Posters . Cards And Flyers Door To Door Every Edition.
CONTACT US DIRECT WITH YOUR BUDGET / EVENT DATES / QUESTIONS NOW The Editor JOSHUA TRILIEGI 323 734 2877 / JOHNNYMILWAUKEE@earthlink.net
Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography is an almost 20 year culmination of portrait photographs captured by award-winning photographer Aline Smithson. Beginning with her early forays into black and white work, produced as darkroom silver gelatin prints, she photographed the world around her considering the poignancy of childhood and the pathos of aging and relationships. The book continues with her hand painted photographs featuring her defining series, Arrangement in Green and Black: Portrait of the Photographer’s Mother, where she combines humor and family to create a universal expression of motherhood. The book is completed by her color projects that revisit beauty, the essence of childhood, and an examination of created realities. Aline brings a background in painting and fashion to her images, but at the heart of her work is her ability to recognize the inner self of her subjects. The photographer considers all her portraits a reflection of herself and the stories she wants to tell, and in that way, she has created a visual language that is her own unique autobiography.
Dandy Lion: (Re) Articulating Black Masculine IdentityNow Through July 12, 2015
All too often in America and across the world, we are exposed to a negative image regarding people of color. Within the mainstream media and often times in films and publications, we are given cliched versions of life on every level. Stories and images are pushed in our faces with a determination to send a larger message to the populist about the populists.Anyone who is pretty hip can see through this device and yet, after a while, we have to simply oppose this tool by simply showing the world a whole other side of the coin. These images from the Exhibit, Dandy Lions:(Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity, are on View at The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity features work from emerging and renowned photographers and filmmakers from the US, Europe and Africa, including Hanif Abur-Rahim, Jody Ake, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Rose Callahan, Kia Chenelle, Bouba Dola, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Russell K. Frederick, Cassi Amanda Gibson, Allison Janae Hamilton, Akintola Hanif, Harness Hamese/Loux the Vintage Guru, L. Kasimu Harris, Jamala Johns, Caroline Kaminju, Charl Landvreugd, Jati Lindsay, Devin Mays, Terence Nance, Arteh Odjidja, Numa Perrier, Alexis Peskine, Radcliffe Roye, Sara Shamsavari, Nyugen Smith, Daniele Tamagni, Richard Terborg and Rog Walker. This exhibition is guest curated by US-based independent curator Shantrelle P. Lewis.
The Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College in Chicago 600 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60605 USA Tap to Visit the Exhibition online Now : http://www.mocp.org
PHOTOGRAPHER: VICTORY TISCHLER BLUE
There are Rock Star Photographers. There are Photographers who shoot Rock Stars. There are even Rock Star Photographers who shoot Rocks and Stars, Victory Tischler Blue is a combination of all three. We discovered this image and knew nothing about the photographer who apparently has been a bass player for The Runaways, made an appearance in Spinal Tap and is a serious photographer with some of the most interesting images of the American Desert Landscape that we have seen lately. Ms. Blue's desert is haunted, hallucinated and hallowed. This is Sam Shepard's desert with long lost gas stations, deserted automobiles from other decades, satellite response gear, dried out cacti and ancient artifacts that still provide the mysteries that behold the great American West. Defunct signage from an old cafe that once hosted stories such as The Petrified Forrest stand defiantly like an erect statue in Time Square. And yes, as is so often the case, there is just a hint that maybe , somewhere out there, some living being has landed, will land or is just passing by on it's way to another galaxy not so far, far away. This incredible Image was originally exhibited at The Spot Photo Works Art Gallery in Los Angeles, California U. S. A.
Spot Photo Works 6679 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90038 USA
HERB RITTS
25 YEARS:NOW A CLASSIC
ON VIEW NOW THROUGH TO NOVEMBER 8, 2015
The Herb Ritts catalogue is now over twenty-five years young. A recent Exhibit at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts gives us a chance to reassess the work of a fundamentally commercial photographer who wanted dearly to shatter the worlds perceptions of Art, Commerciality and Fashion. He had access to the worlds best models, personalities and locations and through it all, had the simplicity and potency to create iconic imagery that harkened back to the earliest days of photography. In looking at The HERB RITTS catalogue, we can see the influence of another great American photographer, Walker Evans, whose work was first celebrated 50 years before Herb Ritts would go onto create some of his most exemplary images that actually defined the times he lived in. Although Walker Evans subjects included the downtrodden and the disparaged, due to the very struggles that occurred economically in the 1930s, Ritts takes that clean, straight ahead style and points his camera at celebrities and clothing in the way that Evans might document a wrench or a trowel. The excesses of The 1980s allowed Ritts, budgets and portfolio commissions, that to this day, seem extreme. And yet, he filtered it down into something very basic, taking a creative note from the architect Mies Van Der Rohe's ever famous quote: "Less IS More."
Considering other influences, we must also mention photographers such as Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz who had both fought a tedious battle to affirm that photography, in the hands of an artist, could indeed be an 'art' and that the by product of this new instrument called a camera, was indeed an Art-form which could rival and compare to great paintings created by great painters and therefore photographs could, should and would be considered: a great art.
The very fact that Herb Ritts' work is now residing within the walls of an institute such as The Boston Museum of Fine Art is a testament to those early battles.It is often said that an object becomes valuable and collectible at its 25 year mark. Many of the images in this exhibition were valuable the day they were taken, but we can also see, with that mellowing, like a good whiskey in the barrel, that yes indeed, The Herb RITTS Portfolio is gathering a value that is now vintage value and all the while his works are earthy, sleek, deceivingly simple & purely classic.
Madonna, Tokyo Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) 1987 Photograph, gelatin silver print
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Herb Ritts © Herb Ritts Foundation
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Mick Jagger, London, 1987 by Photographer Herb RITTS at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
1.Naomi Campbell, Face in Hand, Hollywood, 1990 2. Backflip, Paradise Cove, 1987 3. Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen, Long Island, 1987 Images Related to this Bureau Article : Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Herb Ritts © Herb Ritts Foundation Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Floriane de Lassée Now at Catherine Edelman Gallery
300 W Superior St Chicago 312-266-2350
ALEX HARRIS : PHOTOGRAPHER
Alex Harris's Photographs are Quintessentially and to the Core: American. He is a Master Photographer with decades of consistently important, relevant and revelatory images. From the early Nineteen Seventies with a socially conscious black and white portfolio and a degree from Yale, Harris captured images on the front lines of culturally significant moments. In The Nineteen Eighties he founded the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. In the Nineties, he co founded the groundbreaking photographic magazine, Double Take. He has received fellowships from The Guggenheim & Rockefeller, has published fifteen books and is a Professor for the Practice of Public Policy and Documentary Studies at Duke. His work in CUBA was very Influential to many of his contemporaries. We are very pleased to bring you the very first of several Photographic Essays Celebrating The Art, The Experience and The Conversation of One of America's Best and Brightest Living Photographers, Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mister Alex Harris.
Joshua TRILIEGI: What initially attracted you to Photography ?
Alex HARRIS : I was attracted to photography before I really had the words to express that attraction. My grandfather Alexander Eisemann, used his camera with great wit and precision to chronicle my mother’s life before I was born, and then the life of her young children and family – me included. I was so attracted to the stories he told with his pictures and the albums he put together, the stories of an intact family living together, full of joy and humor. In fact I was more attracted to that story than the reality of my family life, which must have been fraught with difficulty as my parents separated and divorced by the time I was six and moved to separate homes. When I graduated from high school, I can’t think of one family in my neighborhood that had remained intact or remained in their original homes. Looking back I see its not an accident that my first projects as a required me to immerse myself in some of the most intact, long-lived communities in the United States, the Hispanic villages of northern New Mexico and the Inuit villages in Alaska.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Describe how one image leads to another in creating a Series.
Alex HARRIS : I began shooting color landscapes and interiors in New Mexico in 1979 with the premise that I didn’t want the photographs to be about color so I would try to ignore color with my camera entirely, to photograph color blind. And for about six months I successfully photographed colorblind while making absolutely uninteresting color photographs! One evening at dusk I saw the way the light was hitting my neighbor George Romero’s yellow front porch, and I stopped to photograph it. The porch post visible in the picture was painted blue, white, and red. A shadow from a second post off-camera made it appear that shadows were falling in the wrong direction. I allowed myself to respond to this scene and to color. From then on I looked for color as an aspect of culture, as an essential part of the way the people express themselves with their homes. I was able to go back to the people, homes and fields I had visited over the years as a black-and-white portrait photographer and to photograph would have been the backgrounds to those portraits, now as the foreground and subject of the picture, making what I began to see is another kind of portrait, a portrait without people. I tended to work with one theme at a time:, so bedrooms and other interiors of homes, close-ups of objects and possessions, photographs of villages from a distance, landscapes with signs of human presence, landscapes as seen through automobiles. And I would move back and forth between those series.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Lets talk about this series we are currently sharing with our readers. Tell us how the dashboard images came about and describe the juxtaposing the interior with the exteriors.
Alex HARRIS : When I had the idea to photograph the landscape of northern New Mexico through the interiors of the cars of people who lived there, I’d been living in northern New Mexico on and off for almost 15 years and working in color there for about five years with a view camera. I saw myself as making the portrait of this region without including any actual people in the pictures. So I photographed extensively inside homes, whose decoration was primarily the domain of women, and the outsides of homes and in the fields, which was primarily the domain of men. In photographing these spaces, in a sense I was portraying the people who had created or shaped those spaces over the years. I wanted to represent the younger generation, and the spaces they controlled and decorated were the interiors of their cars. It seemed uninteresting simply to photograph the dashboards and interiors wherever the cars happened randomly to be parked. I had the idea that if I could balance the light inside and outside the car, I could use my camera to make a connection between the car interior and the landscape that person lived in or often drove through. I thought my pictures could represent what it felt like for people in the villages to see their own landscape and community, for the viewer of the photograph to see their world through the frames they had decorated and that they themselves often peered through. The best portraits make a connection between a person’s interior world – in a sense their life history – and the world that surrounds them. That’s what I was looking for in these pictures.
To Download The Entire INTERVIEW WITH A FABULOUS PHOTO ESSAY AND TEN QUESTION INTERVIEW WITH ALEX HARRIA Tap This Link : SUMMER EDITION
Norman Seeff : The Ramones New York, 1977 © Norman Seeff Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Miami
LET'S ROCK
Now Through JUNE 13, 2015
Rock & Roll Music has always been affiliated with the medium and Art of Photography. Performances only last a few minutes, hours or the duration of the current tour. Musicians found early on that the power of the image from last years tour could sell tickets and albums to next years tour and the fusion or marriage between the camera and the music was complete. Let's Rock, the current exhibit at Fahey / Klein's new Gallery in Miami, Florida takes us through the History of Modern Rock and Roll with photographs by the best in the biz. Including: Jim Marshall’s iconic shot of Johnny Cash flipping the bird, Barry Feinstein’s image of fans peering into the window of Bob Dylan’s limo, Frank Stefanko’s Bruce Springsteen at the beginning of his career and Harry Benson’s playful photograph of a Beatles’ pillow fight.
Led Zeppelin (In Front of Plane) New York, 1973 © Bob Gruen, Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Miami
Lets Rock, is an important photographic exhibit because it balances the grit with the glamour, the guts with the glory and the guys with the gals in all that bare truth that Rock and Roll Music was originally meant to express. Lets not forget that this was a music in touch with it's anger, in touch with it's passion, in touch with it's feelings, it's roots, it's working class upbringing. Surely Mick Jagger is the face of the Stones, but without a working class pal such as Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones might just have been another Hermans Hermits. As Rock & Roll becomes more and more appropriated by millionaires, museums and extremely wealthy non profit entities, it may be a good time to remind them all, that Rock & Roll, belongs to The People. We saw these same trends with William Shakespeare, who originally wrote for the people and Classical greats such as Ludwig Van Beethoven.We The People Own Rock & Roll, we own Rap, we own Country, we own The Blues, we own Jazz. This is All Peoples Music, much of it originated in America, so then, we own America. Take pride in great music America, you made it happen. It's Yours : Lets Rock.
Norman Seeff Keith Richards Los Angeles 1972 Courtesy Fahey / Klein Gallery Miami
Gered Mankowitz : Jimi Hendrix (Classic), 1966 © Gered Mankowitz, Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Miami
FAHEY / KLEIN GALLERY in MIAMI 4025 Northeast 2nd Avenue Second Floor Miami Florida 33137 U.S.A
On 2nd Avenue, between 40th and 41st St. In the Miami Design District. Across 2nd Ave from the newly established Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Fahey/Klein Gallery Miami is on the Second Floor of the Chrome Hearts building. Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am – 7pm.
Shigeo Gochō, Self and Others Series, 1975–77, printed 1992, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum © Hiroichi Gochō
MUSEUM OF FINE ART HOUSTON TEXAS
The Museum of Fine Art Houston is home to The Films of Robert Frank as well as a fabulous permanent collection of Art and Temporary Exhibitions that rival any Art Institute across the United States. Currently on View through to July 12, 2015
FOR A NEW WORLD TO COME: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968–1979
The late 1960s and early 1970s marked a period of political and social turmoil in Japan. The country was struggling to forge a new identity on the world stage, and Japanese artists were seeking a medium that could adequately respond to these uncertain times. For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968–1979 explores in depth, for the first time, the role of photography in the formation of Contemporary art in Japan. 250 works: photographs, photo books, paintings, sculpture, and film-based installations. The unprecedented survey demonstrates how 29 Japanese artists and photographers enlisted the camera to make experimental and conceptual shifts in their artistic practices during a time of radical societal change.
Tap The Link to Visit: http://www.mfah.org
The Photography Section: The Archive INTERVIEWS
DAVID FAHEY : Fahey/Klein Gallery
Listen To The Entire Audio Interview at BUREAU MAGAZINE By Joshua A. Triliegi
Spending time with a man like David Fahey is sort of difficult to describe. He's affable, funny, irreverent, but also knows exactly what he's doing and he's pretty damn aware of what you are doing too. Several days prior to our visit with David Fahey, a picture of Brad Pitt exiting the Fahey/Klein gallery was splayed across the internet. The image was taken by the current Hollywood paparazzi. It is safe to say that this image was not created by an artist and most likely will not be hanging in a gallery in twenty-five years. So what is it that makes some images art and others simply images ? Thats a rather difficult question to answer as, much of what we like as a society and as individuals, is subjective. One thing we learn rather quickly while spending time with Mr. Fahey is that the art of selling an image is equally as important as the art of creating one. Our ongoing series of Interviews with the owners, art dealers and curators attempts to lift the veil of mystery that shrouds much of what we call the art world. Were not giving away trade secrets or formulas, that would be sacrilegious. What we are doing is simply creating a common dialogue and taking you, the reader and now via the internet, the listener, into a world you may not likely access otherwise. So, lets step into the back office with Los Angeles' top Photographic Art Dealer.
The Phil Stern catalog is a gold mine. Growing up with a fascination for film, art, music and even literature, one could not help but notice and appreciate, through the years, what Phil Stern did with the camera. His subjects often knew he was there, but still, he captured the essence of their character and the very style and inner qualities that we so love about these people. Dean, Brando, Marilyn, Frank, Ella : we know these people on a first name basis, how is that ? Much of it has to do with the camera, the image, be it still or be it moving. Stern got his subjects to share themselves with us.
" I Really Understood The Power Of The Image… "
- David Fahey
Images mean something to us as humans, they capture a time and they capture a place, forever. Being a human is a frail and transitory experience, it just doesn't last forever. For whatever reason, having an image of a loved one, an entertainer, a particular location can mean quite a bit and in the case of the image becoming a valuable collectible commodity, Mr. Fahey has been on the front lines in more ways than one. David fought in the Vietnam War and when iconic photos of that war hit the front pages, he noticed the effect the images had on society. Upon returning home, he began teaching the History of Photography, assisted in a Gallery for over ten years, meeting and befriending many of the established photographers and most of the up & comers too. Finally and quite successfully launching his own Art Gallery located on La Brea in what is commonly called the Metropolitan Section of Los Angeles in the Original Art Gallery Row, South of Beverly and North of Wilshire.
Mr Fahey explains, "Back in those days, there were no galleries showing photography, photography wasn't even accepted as an art form." People laughed when Mr. Fahey demanded that the photograph was ART. He befriended Ansel Adams and later sold a single image for a record amount of money. "We sold an Ansel Adams photo for 80,000 dollars and people thought it was a joke, they just didn't understand, and so, this was back in the seventies, there was no market, there were no collectors, there were a handful who were well known in America."Decades later, everyone now knows that Photographs are indeed an accepted Art Form and current museum budgets can barely keep up with their value. Imagine what it must have been like to know a certain truth, before anyone else and finally: justification in commerce.
" It's really about the best photographs in all the genres. "
- David Fahey
The gallery catalogue is so incredible and extensive that we found it difficult picking and choosing images. The history of Art, Music, Film, Fashion and the counter culture of America itself is housed within these images. For decades this gallery has provided a home for photojournalists, and photographers of all sorts, styles and bodies of work that are important and enduring, exacting and entertaining, collectible and sometimes heartbreaking.
Photographer: William Claxton John Coltrane at The Guggenheim Museum
Thirty years later and some forty-five books in design, it is time to reflect. "You have to trust your instincts right away and so, if you believe in the artist, if you believe in the work, there's a point in time where it's going to click and it's going to happen."
" You have to trust your instincts right away and so, if you believe in the artist, if you believe in the work, there's a point in time where it's going to click "
- David Fahey
+on+the+Set+of+Apocalypse+Now,+Pagsanjan,+Philippines+1976.tif "DENNIS HOPPER MARY ELLEN MARK BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE NYC SITE")
Although Fahey / Klein represents a multitude of Fashion related photographers such as Herb Ritts and Ellen Von Unwerth, Mr Fahey explains, " The perception is that we have a heavy leaning towards fashion and pop culture images and an aspect of that is true. But I would say, we also have James Nachtway, Steve Schapiro, Gary Winogrand, Gene Richards : All the iconic Photojournalists." The list is daunting. In some cases the gallery represents the photographer directly, such as Phil Stern, in other cases, they may own a few images or are simply working directly with The Estate as they do with Diane Arbus.
"If the pictures are strong and unique and powerful, that will surface, that recognition will come your way and things will start happening for you." - David Fahey
Which brings us to a part of our conversation where David discusses the commitment one has with more challenging, difficult, controversial or even, ahead of their time photographers and images. When asked how he was able to stand by whole bodies of work that the public had not immediately understood or even appreciated, he explained it this way, " You have to trust your instincts right away and so, if you believe in the artist, if you believe in the work, there's a point in time where it's going to click and it's going to happen." When pressed to explain farther, he put it to us this way, "A lot of it has to do with juggling a lot of projects, you know, this isn't selling, so maybe it will next year, you still show it, present it, put it out there, but you've got three things over here that are working."
"Its fun to see the artist come from nowhere to becoming very well known, and to see the public being educated as to the importance of these artists." - David Fahey
Entire David Fahey Audio Interview at BUREAUofARTSandCULTURE.COM
Photographer: Steve Schapiro
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The BUREAU INTERVIEW:
PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND
SINCE THIS INTERVIEW, WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE MS. HOLLAND AS A REGULAR
PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTOR AND COLUMNIST WITH HER "NEW YORK STYLE"
Can you remember early on, the first time an image actually spoke to you, in a personal way ?
Of course I grew up surrounded by images (but in comparison to today’s childhood, it was a visual void)--TV (Flintstones, Jetsons), movies (Disney, Hayley Mills), Look, Life (I remember a strange, very blue image of Nixon shopping for real estate, peering into a window of the guest house at San Clemente, and on the cover of that issue, a black and white group portrait of three men in sharp suits (whom years later, coming across the magazine in my parents’ basement, I was surprised to recognize as John Cassavetes, Peter Falk and Ben Gazarra). But the first visual images that I remember wowing me were the portraits of Simon and Garfunkel (on the cover of “Bookends”--but it would literally be a decade before I knew it was shot by Avedon and who he was), and the Beatles (+ everyone) for “Sgt. Pepper.” But studying/working with images, for me, first, it was words, reading: Nikos Kazantzakis, Ai (Florence Anthony), Richard Hugo, Wendell Berry, Elizabeth Bishop--I studied literature and creative writing in school; writing: my attempts at poetry in classes with Ai, Milton Kessler and John Vernon. Some of the most powerful images for me are still words--I just watched (staying up way too late) “True Detective” (great performances, gorgeously shot) and the Handsome Family’s song over the opening credits, “Far From Any Road” has a line, “and when I touched her skin my fingers ran with blood.” Beautiful, horrible, perfectly paired with the visual images in the credit sequence. I actually became a photographer by fortuitous accident, but that’s a separate story.
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| DAVID MAMET BY BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
Your single image facial portraits are particularly strong; David Lynch, Amiri Baraka, George Clooney, David Mamet. What can you share with our readers about these images, the photo sessions and or your approach ?
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| JOSEPH BEUYS BUREAU NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
I’m nosy (I like to think that’s because I’m a journalist) and during most shoots we talk a lot, laugh a lot. I’m lucky (well, it’s not entirely luck) that I shoot people that I’m genuinely interested in, engaged with the work they’ve done. There’s often a specific intimacy that develops and then the person is gone (sometimes forever, sometimes only until another assignment--quite a few of my subjects have shown up repeatedly). (Anecdotes: I was supposed to shoot David Lynch on 9/13/01. Of course the shoot was cancelled, eventually rescheduled the following month, part of a junket. He called me “ma’am”--struck me funny, maybe he didn’t get my name; I kind of ambushed Joseph Beuys. I had an assignment to photograph Documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982 and was having an unusual amount of difficulty adjusting to the time zone. One morning I was up and photographing outside around 6:00 am. And there he was, raincoat, fedora, unmistakably Joseph Beuys. I approached him and herded him over to his piece (“7000 Oaks”), explaining I was working for Portfolio (now a long- extinct art magazine). I think he was surprised to see someone else up that early, surprised that an American (my accent gave me away) recognized him and was so obviously excited to photograph him. He offered to sit on his piece--I never would have asked. At another shoot Robert Rauschenberg jumped onto his “1/4 Mile or 2 Furlong Piece” at the Met--as horrified staffers looked on--but remained silent. Great for the photos that “don’t touch the art” doesn't apply to the artists.
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| CINDY SHERMAN BUREAU NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
I had shot George Clooney before, with the Coen Brothers, whom I had first met years earlier at a screening of “Blood Simple” before it was released and shot previously, at Cannes. I think that’s why he remembered me but I’m also sure that friendly, funny, smart, charming is his default setting. He kissed my assistant and me good-bye on our cheeks. She was gleeful but not for the obvious reason. The shoot was a few days before Thanksgiving and that evening she was returning home to spend the holiday with her Evangelical family in Texas, who was displeased about her living in New York, her career choice, etc. She knew that being kissed by Clooney could occupy a lot of conversation time that otherwise would have been devoted to disapproval.)
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| PUBLIC ENEMY BUREAU NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
The group shots are particularly creative: Magnetic Fields, The Composers, Ritz Chamber players. There is a real vitality, energy and genuine happiness to many of these images, but overall the composition remains very balanced. Will you share with us what one of these sessions is like and your general take on the challenges of photographing a group ?
Although I haven’t photographed anywhere near as many musicians as filmmakers, actors or artists, the majority of my group shoots has been with musicians. With groups, emotion too, sure, and great lighting, of course, but also I think about the bodies as forms to be organized in space. I really like doing it and as performers whose work is done live (and together), musicians are good “raw material,” can easily stand or sit as requested--and they bring beautiful instruments. And with rare exception they’re all focused, cooperative. But of course it’s the rare exceptions that stick in the memory.
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| TAYLOR MEAD BUREAU NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
You know the quote from Tolstoy about the sameness of happy families--all good shoots blend too. But I’ll probably always remember the young woman who was seized with “the vapors”each time I gave another young woman in the ensemble a prominent place in the set-up. My assistant called the time-waster “the fainting goat.” Do three people count as a group shot? When I was photographing Alfonso Cuáron, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna for a magazine, the distributor (of “Y Tu Mamá También”) arranged for a top-notch stylist and while there’s always a lot of clothes at a group shoot, that day it looked like the trendiest department for men at Barney’s had exploded in my studio. It was really fun. It’s less hard to get everyone looking good in the same frame than you’d imagine. I’m not sure why but it was true before digital too when I often shot fewer frames (budget constraints).
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| Five Boys Near Ground Zero BUREAU PHOTOGRAPHER Robin HOLLAND |
Three of my non-musician favorite group shots: five boys in their neighborhood (Tribeca), near ground zero on 9/12/01; director Laurent Cantet and the students who made up the non-professional cast of his great film, “The Class.” The French teenagers had never been to New York before and it took more energy to wrangle them than the dogs that were part of another favorite shot--gay artists, their partners and their canines for a Gay Pride issue of The Village Voice. I recently started shooting interiors (and landscapes and flowers too--really) and I think that my approach to groups (the sense of forms in space and the light throughout the frame) helped me hit the ground running. My first project was shooting eight houses in New York’s Hudson Valley, working with writer/editor Linda O’Keeffe on her new Rizzoli book, “Heart and Home: Rooms That Tell Stories” (which will be published this fall) and I’m thrilled that one of my images is on the back cover.
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| JENNY HOLZER BUREAU NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
Many of your images are in the square format, we spoke briefly about you utilizing non digital formats, tell us about your equipment and process through the years and how that has influenced your work to this day.
Photography has always been wedded to technology. But not committed--glass plates, tintypes, gum bichromate prints, etc., etc., are all relics of the past (but ripe for artists' revisioning/use) and now too film is receding into history. I don't miss the materials per se, except for Polaroid's 665 (b&w positive/negative), and although I was a very good black and white printer, my Epson 7900 made me forget my darkroom (most of which I recently donated to a small college that’s party of New York’s CUNY system). But I miss the esthetic--square (portrait's perfect format), b&w used without need for justification, without it seeming like a bid for attention.
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| KAREN FINLEY BUREAU NYC PHOTOGRAPHER ROBIN HOLLAND |
Pawel Pawlikowski’s recently released “Ida”--best film I’ve seen this year--needs to be b&w but other films’ (and photos) use of b&w is the equivalent of stunt casting. So I crop images (“The Class” group, Ritz Chamber Players, both shot with my Canon 5D Mark II, a camera I really like)--something that I was taught was verboten, but that was then--and shoot square with my phone. And I pine for my Hasselblad 500 C/M which I use sometimes with a Phase One P45 back. 3x4 isn’t square but it’s better than 35mm. But the two cords required to make the electronic/digital component work with the basic box camera can be annoying and unreliable. But I do get to use all my beautiful Zeiss prime lenses.
And I’ve made friends with 35mm again (I started with a Pentax Spotmatic, then two Nikon F2s, which I still have--big, black, sentimental pendants). My first 35mm digital was a Nikon D70 but I reluctantly abandoned Nikon for Canon, which won the race to make the first 35mm full-frame digital cameras. I’m crazy about my Canon zooms, 24mm-70mm and 70mm-200mm and amazed that I’m fine with them replacing primes. Great with just two lenses to have (almost) all lenses, all the time in my bag. (I also have 20mm and an incredible tilt shift lens, TS-E 24mm). And great too to have all the ASAs that are possible with the 5D. I also have a little Canon G10. I take it everywhere and I once dropped in the Groverkill (a stream)--actually a lot of me ended up in the stream--but it dried out. I think the different formats, cameras, iphone, digital, film, Polaroid, have, perhaps paradoxically, contributed to how I see my work (past and current)--I’ve stopped classifying which of my images are meant as journalism, which are portraiture, which are art. And it’s also time and history that scramble these things.
JAMES GABBARD Photographed Joshua Triliegi in 1996 / 97 at TRILIEGI STUDIO
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE : Flash Forward
Nearly Twenty years after his first exhibition at Bureau Art Center, Editor Joshua A. Triliegi
& Mr. Gabbard and share ideas about photography, travel, philosophy, his first art exhibit at The Original BUREAU ARTS Center and what he is doing now with his photographs.
Interview with BUREAU Photographer James Gabbard
JT: First of all, I would like our readers to know that You walked into The BUREAU about 18 years ago with a very serious catalog of images & we immediately agreed to show the work. Your influence was pretty intense. As I recall, you covered the entire gallery window space with vellum & exhibited the photographs in a slanted style reminiscent of The Classic Photographers of yesteryear : Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Walker Evans & that school. Since then, you've spent 12 years living in Hong Kong China, created a family & are now back in America. It's a pleasure to showcase your work again. Why did you choose the images that our readers are viewing and tell us something about this body of work ?
JG: I see it now as a sort of isolation series: a cultural ideology. The result of 12 years in Asia as a foreigner, living, working, breathing, in all that is China. The city of Hong Kong is filled with seven million tightly packed people all trying to make a mark and get ahead. Artistically the photographic views I gravitated towards were silent, motionless steel, concrete & glass, all very cold materials to be intrigued by. This gave me two very serious bodies of work to conclude with, one, a Visual Multi-Media motion graphic series in which I shoot digital motion, capture, then re-edit it through post psd graphics & visual software called vdmx5, then run various live feed camera programmed projections onto and throughout the city scape's & club interiors. The other is a purely architectural abstract study of Hong Kong using a film format camera & a perspective of unique in-camera modification. For this special series I built a 16 frame film roll back technique I call (M.I.M) by designing and modifying my medium it allowed the creation of multiple images to be captured in one continuous series of frames: a flow of abstract identity. As a result, I guess subconsciously, the intersections of multiple lines in these images represent the people crossing over one another each day culturally, the shapes and dark shadows could be the philosophy of consumerism, strong juxtapositions of motion set in stone while social media inter play and identity populate the direction of progress.
" It was regarded as a highly successful photo series
which lead to several shows in Rome"
JT: The show at BUREAU Art Gallery in 1996, " Delirium of Silence " showcased Portraits you took in Italy of people within a mental Institution. What drew you to that subject ?
" Some times to evolve internally
one must move at a glacial pace"
JT: America, Europe, China all seem to have had an influence on you. Does traveling and say, searching for life itself, play into your work?
JG: Most defiantly… Exploring, even if it's just by taking a different route home from a friends house has always given me a series of new ideas and complications to figure out. Thats been the drive for bigger and more complicated scenario's of achievement, I guess, like a move to the other side of the world. It's not really all about what happens while your there, its the process of departure and arrival once returned. I've always gone searching for trouble or situations that may cause conflict or mental diffusions from the norm. Learning chinese, altering your diet and physical condition are all good artistically diffused and challenged mediums to work with.
JT: I started the magazine a few years ago mostly with a desire to continue those conversations we had among each other and the interdisciplinary aspect of Photographers, Musicians, Dancers, Artists, Painters, Sculptors, illustrators, writers: sitting in a room together discussing each others craft. You brought a very keen sense of presentation to the scene and yet at the same time seemed deeply grounded in a respect for tribal rituals: Drumming, Hiking, Singing. How important is it to hone your craft and at the same time follow the path ?
JG: Ahh, the "path" and "presentation", for me, it's all the same. I make most of it up as I go. But,
I do notice when a fall - off or out is near. If by luck, its a radical new direction [then] after a while, if its a true radical direction, it fits and the path becomes one again or maybe it was never really divided & the direction is just a continuum in a newly presented presentation. I had a friend tell me once [that] I was a master of re-inventing myself, I thought that was weird at the time, but now take it as a compliment. Some times to evolve internally one must move at a glacial pace or go on line in search of Mars.
"… The art of photography, as a pure medium, was
the most important thing I could relate to …"
JT: As I recall, everyone [ The professionals ] on the scene, were very impressed by your work and yet, the local kids and neighbors seemed to understand it too. Does a show with Portraits as compared to say, Architecture create any certain challenges ? And how has your worked changed or evolved since that exhibit in 1996 ?
JG: Photography and the act of the art of photography, as a pure medium, was the most important thing I could relate to while shooting everything that my eye thought to be a part of a theory in category placement, [from] architecturally driven shapes of a nude to the gutter soaked cigar-butt. Developing a sense of style for a subject matter came from life experiences and maybe that was the substance of related interest. I aspired to the artists of my own generation and those from past, while looking into the future to make the next statement.
JT: What kind of philosophy do you adhere to while ' looking for the image ' ?
JG: I started out with this quote in my head from Henri Cartier - Bresson, " The Decisive Moment ".
After re-interpreting his ideas, to include a post production element, it made the expansion for broader practical sense & was used with every direction I turned while viewing a subject matter with a metal box against my eye. It, then and still is, a foundation for me to see, develop and manipulate motion graphic imagery.
" Im deeply routed in the old school theory
of shooting film …"
JT: Your photographs, back then, were very rooted in a 'real film' aesthetic, does the digital aspect now change your process at all ? If so elaborate, if not, discuss how we can retain the integrity of the image as digital aspects of technology creep up on us more and more .
JG: Im deeply routed in the old school theory of shooting film to express my more artistic still work but I'm all for progress & modern interpretation that the digital world has brought. That said, all of my art based photography is still shot with a film camera then scanned for larger output & cataloged to last beyond my lifetime. The work of (VJ-indef) which is an acronym for Inoperative - Defunct dot com a creative based art production studio I developed back in LA just before leaving to Hong Kong in 2001. Its a massive combination of multi media motion graphic digital production. I use everything from originally shot HD captured movies to digital stills, then mash it up with motion graphic software and out put it through large scale projectors onto club walls and art spaces.
" Music provides me with great latitude
while moving in - between art forms … "
JT: Do you remember all of the original BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE crew taking drumming lesson together ? This was after we had all been playing for over several years, many were actually professionals ? How important is it to continue education, even for professionals ?
JG: I truly believe in variety and the development of many forms of expression. Music provides me with great latitude while moving in-between art forms such as still photography to the multi-media motion graphics I've been creating and producing for the International DJ's in Hong Kong's club scene. For me its always the development of an instruments personality that I fall for, be it the African Djembe or the Jazz Trumpet, or the spin distortion an old Compact Disc makes that compliments my continuing education in music and way of life.
" I got a little older and realized that you must look at
or view all types of art works … "
JT: What words of advise do you have for our younger readers on The Art of creating an image and continuing with the creation of a body of work ?
JG: Art movements are just that, look at what the Chinese have done in the last ten years, and now they are getting half what was paid to them in 2008. Americans contemporary art scene is booming again, after the critics said painting was dead and the street art of London became the biggest profit margin for Capital flip investment groups. Shit, I'd never thought I'd give this type of advise. But, when I was a lot younger, I thought that looking at too much work would have a direct or indirect influence on my own work and that might be a bad thing, but then I got a little older and realized that you must look at or view all types of art works so you can be in control and diminish your own adverse perspective. View only good works and read only good reviews to better understand what shit is out there. so when you step in it and it's faithfully your own, you have the spirit to find a good shoe shine.
JT: We talked a lot about Philosophy back in my studio some years ago. What are you into these days and how does a person's belief system influence their work ?
JG: I have a three year old now, so I'm into Doctor Seuss … I think, subconsciously Watts and Nietzsche play intricate roles in defining my definition of life and parenting, these two problematic solutions are more than enough to explain to my daughter, while spending the afternoon inspecting lady bugs on flowers at the park. Although, to her credit, her child like symposium of the symmetry of red body and black spots or was it black spots and red body are more truthful than any Nietzsche quote I could ever live by…
James Gabbard lives and works in Austin Texas. James is an Honorary Board Member of
BUREAU of ARTS and Culture's Advisory Board.
The Bureau Of Arts And Culture Magazine Mid West
PHOTO INTERVIEW LORNA STOVALL

Lorna Stovall is an Original Member of BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE A participant of BUREAU Art Exhibitions in The Early Nineteen Nineties and an active influence on The BUREAU Graphic Style throughout the formative years.

BUREAU: You’re a graphic artist as well as a photographer with a career that has spanned a few decades, what would you say is the reason why we as artists have the need to capture and share images?
Lorna Stovall: Well, when talking about graphic design and advertising, it is all about the need to communicate a message in a manner that stands out—period. When we talk about personal work, it becomes more complicated. I believe it is a way for the artist to communicate a feeling—a feeling that otherwise they may not be able to communicate. Whatever the feeling is—of horror or peace, humor or sadness—the artist feels a need to remember and, by sharing it with others, hopes the viewer will empathize with her. The artist is more vulnerable since the message is her own, but the designer is a step removed from the images she is creating since the message belongs to someone else.
BUREAU: Your body of work is vast, experimental and interesting, having lived on both The West and East Coast, is there a difference, in how the cities speak to us as artists?
I would have to say yes, but that answer may also be a reflection of the different stages of my life while living in each place. In LA, during that time, there was cheap space available where artists could work and show art. I found there to be a fantastic sense of collaboration and support, a free flowing conversation between artists without the aid of Twitter, a social creative salon…and cars. Cars made it easy to go to out-of-the-way places for inspiration and tote materials around.In NY I feel you are constantly having your artistic conversation with the city. The difference in seasons, public transportation, pop-up everything, music, noise, people, walking—surprise and fascination is everywhere and it all influences an artist’s work somehow. There is also the influence of all the hundreds of museums, galleries, libraries and theater without going very far.I’ve also noticed the color palette of both cities is inherently different and must influence artists as they travel between the two places. The year round bleached-out sun colors and the blueness of the sky and ocean of LA vs. the changing colors of NY—Spring & Summer are oppressively green, Fall has its reds and browns, while winter is basic black, white & grey. With all that said, I love both cities for what they have to offer. They are unique, fascinating and inspirational in their own way.

BUREAU: I have some of your early photographs of the sunflowers and have always liked your black & white imagery. What are you working on in this most recent exhibition?
After I left advertising I was searching for what truly made me excited creatively. I looked back on my work and found it was the feeling of experimentation and chance that made me feel most alive. When I was in LA, I collected a lot of cameras that were “cheap” or outdated and played with what I could get out of those tools. After spending so much time with hyper-real retouched digital photos at work, I fell in love again with the imperfections these cameras offered. I had toyed with the idea of doing shows of photos taken with cameras under $20 and felt now it was a perfect time to explore this concept further. Since all of these cameras use film, I took courses to learn how to perfect a digital print so it looked like a darkroom print. With all the advances in printing and papers, I feel this is now possible. This particular portfolio is the beginning of the CU20$ series.
" I looked back on my work and found it
was the feeling of experimentation and
chance that made me feel most alive."
Growing up in Southern California, I spent a great deal of my childhood exploring the deserts of the southwest. To me, there was nothing more otherworldly than the Salton Sea, a failed yacht and beach resort in the middle of the desert. Without question, the Salton Sea had to be the first subject in my series—with it’s partially submerged neighborhood that brought a feeling of calm beauty within its never-ending tragic story. The stillness of the sea that day and the unconventional beauty of the salt formations on the weather-ravaged buildings was to me a bucolic landscape worth preserving in film. Most of the shots were done as panoramas to emphasize the vastness of the desert and the use of B&W infrared film exaggerated the desolation and otherworldliness of the location. I have been shooting other locations in this manner and am excited to continue on with the CU20$ series!

BUREAU: You’re a career artist that jumped into motherhood mid career. How has that influenced your work?
Lorna Stovall: I would say motherhood has influenced the way I work and what I work on more than the work itself. After taking maternity leave while a Creative Director in Advertising, I realized that I didn’t want to go back to that world. Since I waited so long to have a child, I was lucky enough to be able to stay home and focus on raising him. A co-worker once said to me (when he became an “older” father) that in advertising, you put your heart and soul into a campaign, working long ridiculous hours, only to have the work be left in a drawer. With parenthood, you see the results of all that hard work daily. Now, instead of working on this project or that, I must focus on one idea and create during the time I have free—when my son is in school. This show is the first I have done within this framework and I feel like I have accomplished something to be proud of.

BUREAU: Back when the Bureau of Arts and Culture was an unofficial art space and later a gallery, your innovative graphic designs had a big influence on my work, I always considered you a safe person to learn from and emulated many of your innovations, whether it was utilizing rivets, or mixed media or simply being open to experimentation. In fact, I have collected most of your invitations and works all these years. Who would you site as your influences?
Lorna Stovall; Thank you. It is nice to hear there is someone else out there that keeps design inspirations for so long! I would have to say my influences are vast and varied. In college, I was influenced the most by 4AD Records. The music and the artwork (with Peter Saville as Art Director) at the time was very different than what was going on in America. Also, the magazine THE FACE was new and exciting (the Neville Brody years—I had a subscription for quite a while and still have all those issues!). But I think my use of alternative materials came from a combination of financial necessity (ie. super low to no budgets) and also from my fondness with experimentation. When I worked for Henk Elenga of Hard Werken, he shared his gift of mixing medias and disciplines, doing type by hand, and his enormous passion for the creative process. Remember, this was the time before there were computers in the studios, manipulations were done on a Zerox machine and type was set at typesetting houses. Because of this, I feel there was more down time that enabled experiments, collaborations and creativity. Around this time I was also discovering the film work of the Quay Brothers and Fellini as well as photographers such as Jan Sudek, Joel Peter Witkin, and on the commercial side, Nick Knight and Anton Corbin. Also, I was (and still am) a devotee of hardware, stationery and grocery stores when I travel—funky and amazing stuff to be had in the oddest of places! Inspiration and modes of execution can be found everywhere.
ABOUT LORNA STOVALL and the Salton Sea Images Currently at B & M ARTS in NYC With a BS in Applied Art. Lorna has worked in the print design field for 20+ years. Starting her career in the Los Angeles music industry, she specialized in hand lettering, logos, packaging, branding and advertising. During this time, Lorna explored her passion for photography, experimentation and the element of chance. In ad- dition to her commissioned work, Lorna created assemblage pieces that encompassed her photography. It was also at this time that she indulged her curiosity of using alternative cameras and processes for her photo- graphs. The concept of only using cameras under $10 was soon born (later changed to $20 due to inflation!). She scoured garage sales, swap meets and 5 & 10 stores for cameras she could alter and adapt to her vision. In the Salton Sea Series, the panorama shots used an Ansco Panorama PIX ($7 at any drugstore) adapted for infra- red film and the square shots used a Holga (2 for $15 at Maine Photographic Resources).
INSIDE THE NEW YORK CITY ART GALLERIES
B & M Fine Arts Studios at www.bmfineartstudios.com
LORNA STOVALL PHOTOGRAPHS: THE SALTON SEA at B & M
The Panorama Images Vary from Approx 7.5 x 20" through to 15 x 41" An Edition of 15
Please contact The B&M Fine Art Studios for exact details / specific Image Measurements
All Rights to Images are Copyrighted and Belong Solely To The Artist Ms. Lorna Stovall
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An Electronic Interactive Version of BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine. 'Electronic' meaning you are reading it with a device, 'Interactive' meaning you can actually tap the featured interview or image & listen to extended Audio Interviews & Links. BUREAU Magazine can be read without being on-line, though it is much more useful and interesting if you are actually on-line or you may visit our website and enjoy a compendium of Interviews, Articles, Reviews and Essays. We suggest you view the pdf in the Two Page and Full Screen Mode options which are provided at the top of your menu bar under the VIEW section, simply choose Two Page Layout & Full Screen to enjoy. This format allows for The Magazine to be read as a Paper Edition. The BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE has been a respected ART Institute since the early Nineteen Nineties. Many of the original BUREAU members have gone on to have stellar careers in The ARTS. Artists, Filmmakers, Musicians such as: Lucas Reiner, Spike Jonze, Alex McDowell, Martin Durazo, James Gabbard, Christina Habberstock, Lorna Stovall, Heather Van Haaften, Chris Greco, Don Harger, Ron Riehel, Joan Schulze all had very early collaborations with The BUREAU Projects. Our relationship with ART spaces who have been interviewed / reviewed by BUREAU: Jack Rutberg, Susanne Vielmetter, Tobey C. Moss, Shoshana Wayne, Known Gallery, Sabina Lee, The Bowers Museum, The Geffen Contemporary, Hammer Museum, RED CAT, The Skirball Cultural Center, Museum of Contemporary Art in L A, San Diego and in Santa Barbara help to create well earned future partnerships, distribution as well as a 'word of mouth' that is priceless. Collectively, they have been in the business for hundreds of years. Not to mention the thousands of public readers that have received the magazine on their door steps. Our coverage of the MIAMI Art Fairs with in depth audio & slide presentations allow us to create a lasting relationship with the ' National Big Tent ' art events that allow for fundraising activity. We recently interviewed the Grammy Museum and are creating a lasting relationship. The same pattern applies for THEATER: Edgemar, LATC, Circle Theater, Cygnet, Robey. MUSIC : The Echo, The Redwood, The Roxy, Grammy Museum, Origami, Vacation, Record Collector, LA Philharmonic & The San Francisco Philharmonic. BUREAU has created relationships with Film, Music and Art festivals, National & Local Radio Stations, continuing the tradition created with BUREAU Film projects and the utilization of Print, Radio and Web to facilitate publicity, fundraising & awareness. Triliegi Film programs were discussed on KCRW 89.9, KPFK 90.7 and Indie 103 FM within the non profit umbrella in the past and we plan to sustain & develop those ties. We were invited to Cumulus Radio's Commercial Rock Formatted KLOS 95.5 FM [ Bureau mentioned on air] to consider an affiliation. We recently interviewed Miles Perlich of KJAZZ 88.1 FM and we were given tickets to Classical Music concerts by K-MOZART Radio & we invited a guest reviewer to attend. The BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine will continue to create a lasting relationship with the Art Institutes, Media & Schools that drive the Arts in America. We distributed Paper Editions to OTIS Art School & The Campus at USC to support alignments with faculty, staff & students who will become future entrepreneurs & participants in the Arts. Our upcoming interview with Barbara Morrison and her connection with UCLA Jazz music department with Herbie Hancock & The Thelonius Monk Institute is solid.We delivered the first edition of the magazines to: Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Palos Verdes, West Hollywood, Los Feliz, Malibu and The beach communities: Hermosa, Redondo & Manhattan beaches. We received financial support from the arts & culture communities by creating a dialog about the arts, reviewing their art exhibitions, theater plays & films. Art Galleries from Culver City to Bergamot Station to Glendale approved of and supported Edition One. Now we have an online READERSHIP that grows exponentially. BUREAU sites in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, New York City and very soon Seattle, allow for anyone, anywhere, to see what is going on in the arts in that particular city. Which we feel will allow for us to apply for support, distribution and grants within those particular cities and for local businesses to buy ads. We add new cities quite often and create a lasting relationship with the established Arts Foundations in ART, MUSIC, THEATER. Which usually includes Classical music, Art Galleries, live Theater and Film. We added Surfing , Skateboarding and Biking to get the interest of a younger readership and indeed it worked. We have also celebrated those subjects with our fundraisers, selling artworks in relation to Biking & Skatng. We partnered with local & national businesses that assisted & we provided logo affiliation & coverage on the web: Chrome Bags, Jarrittos, LA Skate, DTLA Bikes and The Los Angeles Bikers coalition, to name a few. Older Established Artists from diverse cultures also participate in the BUREAU of Arts and Culture Exhibitions and Interviews. We brought together Native American, African American, Chinese American, Armenian American and Mexican American elder artists in a single exhibition: a financial as well as critical success with "Gathering The Tribes: Part One". We hand delivered the first paper Edition throughout Southern California and select neighborhoods in San Francisco. We introduced the magazine & created Popular Cultural Sites. We are an official media Sponsor for L A Art Fair & PHOTO LA Photo Fair. We extensively cover and or interview galleries at Art Fairs such as, Platform LA, Pulse LA, Untitled Art, Basel Miami, Art Miami, Miami Project, LA Art Book Fair. We provide an extensive overview, Audio walk throughs, visual presentations with 100+ images per on-line feature. If that doesn't convince you, nothing ever will.
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