Imaginary Landscapes
One way
Copyright © Pierre Baëlen
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Polixeni Papapetrou: The Ghillies
Australian photographer Polixeni Papapetrou engages part reality, part fantasy moving through the Australian landscape, using the rich terrain as a backdrop for her narratives about the transitional space of childhood. Papapetrou's art practice has involved an intimate collaboration with her children and their friends for over a decade. As they have grown and transformed, so too have the roles they perform and spaces they inhabit.
In Papapetrou's most recent body of work, The Ghillies, organic figures emerge from the ground, creating an almost symbiotic relationship with the landscape; the figures change color and shape according to the different landscapes and costumes they inhabit. A ghillie suit was originally devised for hunting and combat, and they were taken into the field to act as a decoy, disguised with matter from that landscape in order to blend with their surroundings. Papapetrou's son introduced her to ghillies through his interest in the Call of Duty video game, in which players use ghillie suits in order to become snipers and conceal themselves within the terrain. Photographing her son in the natural Australian landscape, Papapetrou addresses a boy's transformation from a youth into adulthood, and the camouflages he must take on to fit in with his peers and society.
"I wanted to make a body of work that looked at what it felt like to be a boy going through adolescence."
~~Polixeni Papapetrou
In Papapetrou's most recent body of work, The Ghillies, organic figures emerge from the ground, creating an almost symbiotic relationship with the landscape; the figures change color and shape according to the different landscapes and costumes they inhabit. A ghillie suit was originally devised for hunting and combat, and they were taken into the field to act as a decoy, disguised with matter from that landscape in order to blend with their surroundings. Papapetrou's son introduced her to ghillies through his interest in the Call of Duty video game, in which players use ghillie suits in order to become snipers and conceal themselves within the terrain. Photographing her son in the natural Australian landscape, Papapetrou addresses a boy's transformation from a youth into adulthood, and the camouflages he must take on to fit in with his peers and society.
"I wanted to make a body of work that looked at what it felt like to be a boy going through adolescence."
~~Polixeni Papapetrou
The Ghillies
Salt Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Desert Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Study for Hattah Man and Hattah Woman
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Grasstree Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Magma Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Ocean Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Scrub Man
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Study for the Ghillies, 2013
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
© Polixeni Papapetrou
Courtesy of the artist
The Ghillies is currently on view at Jenkins Johnson Gallery, NY
April 4 - June 1, 2013
March 28 - May 4, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Stephan Brigidi's Carnevale Series in New Book Project; Afraid of the Dark, A Venetian Story
Afraid of the Dark, A Venetian Story is a book project containing Stephan Brigidi's photographs and stories based upon his many sojourns to Venice, and will include his prominent Carnevale series.
Afraid of the Dark speaks of Brigidi's personal spiritual quest propelled by some discovered family mystery with ties to the freemason secret society known as P2. The book is about coming to terms with darkness and fear, exploring those sensations, and accessing the powers of fear. Brigidi's Carnevale series, which has shown in the Witkin Gallery in NYC, the Kathleen Ewing Gallery in Washington, D.C., and Gallery Z in Providence, R.I., will be featured as a centerpiece of the book. This series of photographs taken in Venice exemplifies the mysterious Carnevale festival, taking place the twelve days preceding the Lenten Catholic season, and begun centuries ago as a way of release and pleasure- taking in preparation of the forty days of sacrifice.
Stephan Brigidi is a widely published artist whose work has been exhibited through out the United States and Europe. He lives and works in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Stephan Brigidi is a widely published artist whose work has been exhibited through out the United States and Europe. He lives and works in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Afraid of the Dark, A Venetian Story
Carnevale Series
Copyright © Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
© Stephan Brigidi
Monday, April 15, 2013
Photo of the Day
The Pop Object: The Still Life Tradition in Pop Art
Wayne Thiebaud: Lipstick Row, 1964
© Wayne Thiebaud / Licensed by VAGA, New York
On view at Acquavella Galleries, NY
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
In search of the Wild Man; Wilder Mann by Charles Fréger
Between 2010 and 2011, French artist Charles Fréger traveled to eighteen European countries, from Italy to Poland, Scotland to the Czech Republic, in search of the Wild Man. A centuries-old, legendary figure, the Wild Man continues to be an important symbol of transition associated with festivals that mark the cyclical patterns of life: the changing of the seasons, special religious holidays, rites of passage, life and death. In full-length portraits, Fréger photographs celebrants dressed in traditional costumes crafted from layers of animal skins, local plants, bones and antlers, which visually transform the masqueraders into a wooly bear, a long-horned goat, a demon or man of straw.
The Wilder Mann series explores man's complex relationship with nature and how vestiges of these costumes and past rituals continue to influence contemporary life, even in the digital age.
Charles Fréger lives and works in Rouen, France.
The Wilder Mann is currently on exhibit at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
April 11 - May 18, 2013
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The Wilder Mann series explores man's complex relationship with nature and how vestiges of these costumes and past rituals continue to influence contemporary life, even in the digital age.
Charles Fréger lives and works in Rouen, France.
The Wilder Mann is currently on exhibit at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
April 11 - May 18, 2013
Charles Fréger
Wilder Mann
Babugeri, Bansko, Bulgaria, 2010-2011
© Charles Fréger, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Caretos, Lazarim, Portugal, 2010-2011
© Charles Fréger, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
© Charles Fréger, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Cerbul (Stag), Corlata, Romania, 2010-2011
© Charles Fréger, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Laufr (Jumper), Trebic, Czech Republic, 2010-2011
© Charles Fréger, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
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Ursul (Bear), Palanca, Romania, 2010-2011
© Charles Fréger, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Courtesy the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Charles Fréger, Wilder Mann
Friday, April 5, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
" Empty Spaces " by Katerina Belkina; A Fascinating Self-Portrait Series
Russian photographer Katerina Belkina puts the 'self-portrait' phenomenon in a new setting. With unprecedented technical precision, Belkina uses the refined possibilities of digital photography in order to present a disquieting image of the new woman in a postmodern world.
In her work, Belkina shows herself as a distant character in different roles, thus putting her own individuality into perspective, while at the same time addressing the viewer. As a modern, makable creature, the woman is turned into a new heroine in the story which is both recognizable and mysterious. Does she coincide with the archetypal figures from age-old fairy tales and folk tales (Blue Beard, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, Odette, Rose Red and Snow White) in which her role as a woman seemed clearly defined, or does an underlying layer appear, which disrupts this assumed familiarity?
Empty Spaces takes on the form of a metropolis. However, this urbanized world is artificial and purely materialistic and, as a tiny dot in this constructed whole, man feels even more lonely and abandoned. In Belkina's vision, the metropolis has created a new type of human, in which only a hint of consciousness of the connection with the true universe is present.
Katerina Belkina lives and works in Moscow.
In her work, Belkina shows herself as a distant character in different roles, thus putting her own individuality into perspective, while at the same time addressing the viewer. As a modern, makable creature, the woman is turned into a new heroine in the story which is both recognizable and mysterious. Does she coincide with the archetypal figures from age-old fairy tales and folk tales (Blue Beard, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, Odette, Rose Red and Snow White) in which her role as a woman seemed clearly defined, or does an underlying layer appear, which disrupts this assumed familiarity?
Empty Spaces takes on the form of a metropolis. However, this urbanized world is artificial and purely materialistic and, as a tiny dot in this constructed whole, man feels even more lonely and abandoned. In Belkina's vision, the metropolis has created a new type of human, in which only a hint of consciousness of the connection with the true universe is present.
Katerina Belkina lives and works in Moscow.
KATERINA BELKINA
Empty Spaces
Red Moscow
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
The Flight
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
Enter
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
Fly
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
Metro
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
The Road
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
Weighing
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
Morning Message
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova
