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I wanted to share some photos of the collaborative installation process employed for "black and white and... all over" at H&F Fine Arts. See below:
I'm going to save images of the final installation with proper lighting for after the opening reception on Saturday night (5-8pm). Maybe that will encourage you to come out and see it for yourself in person this weekend.
"black and white and... all over," a show that I curated, opens to the public tomorrow at H&F Fine Arts. There will be a reception for the artists (all 19 of them) on Saturday evening from 5-8pm.
This past Sunday the artists and I gathered at the gallery to collaboratively install the show. We were able to install all 106 photos that I selected for the exhibition. The result, I think, is a salon style show that feels professional yet loose, and dives deeply into the black and white photography being made by D.C. artists today.
Please see below for the press release:
“black and white and… all over”A group exhibition of Washington, DC-based black and white photographers
Curated by J.T. Kirkland
February 27 – March 29
Opening reception: Saturday, March 1 from 5–8pm
H&F Fine Arts is pleased to announce a group exhibition of Washington, D.C.-based photographers. Taking its name from the old standby about newspapers (“What’s black and white and read all over?”), the show presents a survey of black and white photography from the D.C. metropolitan area.The exhibition features dozens of photographs hung salon style throughout the gallery. The artists themselves will assist the curator in hanging the show, collectively attempting to author a visual narrative that explores the voices and concerns of today’s Washington photographers by constructing a mosaic of styles and perspectives. To highlight the joint articulation of the various works, the identities of individual artists will be subordinated; the price of each piece and the initials of its creator will be presented on a brightly colored sticker meant to contrast with the dominant black and white palette. With the names and reputations of the artists subtracted from the exhibition, the work of seasoned veterans will hang alongside that of newcomers just finding their footing in the art world. The curator challenges viewers to try and tell the difference while posing the question of whether the distinction is even significant.
Artists included in the exhibition are Erin Antognoli, James W. Bailey, Danny Conant, Max Cook, Stephen Crowley, Justin Hoffmann, Michael Dax Iacovone, Nick Jbara, Jane Jeffers, J.T. Kirkland, Angela Kleis, Prescott Lassman, Thomas Paradis, Aleksei Pechnikov, Susana Raab, Alexandra Silverthorne, Jim Tetro, Bryan Whitson, and Lloyd Wolf.
High resolution images are available upon request.
I hope many of you can make it to the show. See you on Saturday!
Tomorrow we install the "black and white and... all over" show at H&F Fine Arts. It's going to be a lot of work but I look forward to it.
In the meantime, I thought I would share with you a photo I captured tonight while at my future in-laws' house. This is the light fixture hanging above the dining table. I'm always in awe with the light interacting with the cut glass. This picture does a pretty good job (I think) of capturing that.
I'm just back from Kentucky where I attended a funeral for a family member. While I rest up, I wanted to share some more photos with you that I recently scanned. Here they are.
Continuing on yesterday's post of newly scanned photos, here is batch number two. These were all taken of and around the Home Depot in Reston, VA. They've all been printed at 7.5" x 7.5".
Click here to see them and be sure to scroll down.
This week seems to be photo week on TAA. I've been sharing images from shows around D.C. and also of some of my newer work. Recently I found the time to scan some of the prints that have come from my photographic pursuits with film, specifically images from my Holgas.
Now that all of the images are scanned I definitely see some weaknesses in earlier shots. However, those earlier shots informed the later shots and because of that all the images, regardless of "quality," are extremely valuable to my development.
I'm going to try to share these photos with you in rough chronological order. Here's the first batch (all images printed 7.5" x 7.5").
[Note: due to some problems with Typepad I had to post the images on another web page for viewing.]
I just received the following press release about artDC:
WASHINGTON, DC (February 13, 2008) – artDC organizers regretfully announced today their difficult decision to cancel the 2008 show due to the recessionary nature of the present economy.artDC was set to return to the Washington Convention Center May 16 to 18 following last year’s inaugural success, but uncertain economic conditions were the deciding factor in cancelling this year’s show.
The world of art fairs has expanded globally while galleries and dealers are narrowing their field of participation to the proven markets, such as New York and Miami.
“We were excited to be bringing this modern and contemporary art show back to our nation’s capital, but current indicators show that the return on investment is not there for our exhibitors in this economic climate,” said Eric Smith, Vice President of Summit Business Media, which runs artDC.
However show organizers plan to continue other events in more established markets, including New York and Miami, and have not ruled out bringing artDC back in the future.
Although this obviously stinks for the galleries that had already signed up and for us D.C. folks who were looking forward to attending, this is probably good news in the grand scheme of things. There are simply too many fairs in the world today.
Although artDC is far from the biggest, most prestigious, fair in the world, I am curious what this means for the art market as a whole. Have any other fairs been canceled this year? Armory is coming up in late-March. I guess we'll see how that goes.
Food for thought... just how bad did the organizers of artDC have to think the art market is for them to forfeit what surely is a large amount of deposits and sunk costs?
Also, I have to wonder how much of this is really based on the economic climate for the exhibitors. After attending artMiami and almost breaking my ankles several times on the awful flooring, I'm not too surprised by this.
Continuing what I started with the Arlington Arts Center post, what follows are some images and thoughts about gallery shows in D.C. that caught my eye.
Up at Hemphill is a solo show by Joseph Mills. The work demonstrates Mills' unique vision of mixing photographs with found wooden implements. Gritty at heart, the glossy finish gives the pieces - sculptures, really - an elegant glow.
Here Mills uses an interesting wooden object as the mount for the photograph. I loved the shadows cast by the legs(?). An obvious, yet compelling, correlation between the legs of wood and the figure's arms, sealed the deal for me liking this piece.
At Irvine is a solo show of Phil Nesmith's old-school-meets-new-school photographs. These should be familiar (in broad terms) to readers of this site as I presented his work last year at H&F Fine Art as part of a three-person group show called "Place, Space and Time."
Nesmith is quite concerned with the presentation of his work and this installation bears that out. The photos are strong, as always, but the presentation is where the show stands out. The framing relates to the work very well.
One small thing I noticed with the framing was that the brass corners holding the glass plates in place were sometimes out of square by a few degrees. I didn't notice it often but when I spotted it, it was distracting. It's a minor detail, but with such exacting presentation, slight issues like this stick out.
In the front room at Irvine is a group show of gallery artists. This painting by Lori Esposito was the most interesting to me.
Local artist Matthew Langley has a solo show up at DCAC. Based on images I had seen online I thought I would enjoy the show. And I certainly did. I think it's one of the more interesting shows up in D.C. right now.
Kriston Capps wrote about the show in the City Paper. I think he captured the show pretty well. I agree with his assessment.
The paintings call back to the days of minimalism but Langley's touch introduces some intriguing painterliness. Details abound. Black isn't just black. These minimalist paintings aren't just minimalist.
One thing I did notice in the show was that the works were hung awfully low. After installing several shows in the last year (almost always with a center line of 60"), I am attuned to the height at which paintings are hung. I noticed immediately how low Langley's works were hung and assumed that it was done intentionally for some purpose. After checking with Langley via email, the show was hung at its present height intentionally but I was not given any specific reason except that it seemed about right. This is a perfectly fair reason for hanging works at any given height, but for me, it was a bit distracting. Had the work not been as good or as powerful, I think it would have impacted my take on the show. As is, it's only mildly distracting.
Titled "Stylus," this piece was easily my favorite in the show. It's a stable composition knocked off balance by the three black squares, and infused with a sense of life as a result. The yellow, gray and black color scheme is unusual but simply works.
Based on Langley's art resume online he has not had extensive solo show experience (his last solo was in 1995). Something tells me that will change going forward.
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