BRYAN GRAF – FIELD RECORDINGS

The title of the show refers to a term for audio recordings made outside of the studio, sometimes involving the ambient sounds of nature. In this instance it refers to the onsite interactions of photographic materials with a particular place.

The body of work, Wildlife Analysis, was made in the woods and swamps around New Jersey. While photographing these places with black and white film, Graf used unexposed color film to record the direct contact of ambient light flooding onto the film without the use of a lens. Graf then uses the exposed color film as a composite layer in the darkroom. Using these tools he take us on a hallucinatory trip through his native landscape. The images themselves are obstructed by a river of intoxicating hues, blending and shifting as they wash across the prints.
Additionally, a selection of Polaroids, from The Sun Room: Interchanges, B-Sides & Remixes series gives us a glimpse into Graf’s studio practice. He refers to these images as “sketches” made in and around his studio, which doubles as a sun room for plants in the spring and summer months. These images are small-scale experiments made over the past four years while he was working on various projects.

Exhibition runs through to July 15th, 2011

Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 West 22nd Street 3rd floor
New York
NY
10011

www.yanceyrichardson.com

AXEL HÜTTE – FRANKFURT 2011 // EMETH

In the show Frankfurt 2011 // Emeth (in Hebrew Emeth stands for “truth” – Meth means “death”), the works as a whole focus on the rapid changes of environmental reality, the alteration of urban and natural landscapes and the reception of the visible reality. In “Tableau Frankfurt am Main”, 2011 Axel Hütte brings together postcards picturing the city before the 2nd World War with his own photographs of the present views of the city. By opposing images from different decades the artist hints us towards the diverse modes of representational images and the changes within the visual perception. Consequently and in an ironic way, Hütte chooses the format of an overdimensioned postcard – an out-dated medium of mass communication in today’s society.

The perfectly composed photographs of nighttime cityscapes integrated by Axel Hütte feature the particular skyline of Frankfurt. Like all nighttime photographs of Axel Hütte those pictures were taken with extremely long exposure time – also in details one can find the examination of the notion of time which reveals the hidden and focuses the perception.The artificial lights illuminating the darkness in “Ratskeller”, 2011 create a shifting moment in the perception and constitute an irritating, magical atmosphere. Although the scene is deserted, or precisely because of the absence of people strong energy emanates from the image.

Opposite – Frankfurt, (Night), 2011

Exhibition runs through to July 23rd, 2011

Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf Frankfurt
Hanauer Landstrasse 136
60314
Frankfurt

www.wilmatolksdorf.de

LAURIE SIMMONS – THE LOVE DOLL: DAYS 1 – 30

This will also be the artist’s first solo exhibition in London. Over the last 30 years Simmons has garnered a significant reputation internationally as one of the leading artists to emerge from the New York ‘Pictures Generation’ during the 1970’s and 80’s.

Laurie Simmons moved to New York in 1973, with her close friend and photographer Jimmy De Sana. The two artists converted an old sweatshop in Soho into their studio and living space. Together the pair set up Laurie’s first darkroom, and under De Sana’s tutelage, Simmons came to understand, with a far greater awareness, the intricacies of the camera and the complexities of production techniques. From 1975, Laurie began to photograph her dolls in these evocative nourish black-and-white scenarios. Whilst the resultant images were beautifully intricate alter-realities, the artist was amazed by their apparent realism – ‘I actually believed that the rooms I was shooting could be mistaken for real places’. Simmons was immediately struck by the camera’s propensity to lie – and indeed the role images constitute in our own construction as subjects – whether it be as sons, daughters, family members or citizens.

Opposite – The Love Doll / Day 27 / Day 1 (New in Box)

Exhibition runs through to July 10th, 2011

Wilkinson Gallery
50-58 Vyner Street
London
E2 9DQ

www.wilkinsongallery.com