WILLIE DOHERTY – PHOTO/TEXT/85/92

Posted on 2012-04-09

Doherty’s ongoing concerns with the complexities and contradictions of contested terrain were firmly established early on. These works probed the tensions and anxieties of what was visible and invisible, of what could be said and what could not. The works in the exhibition reveal something of the social and political conditions of the period that saw the entrance of the Irish Republican movement into the political process and negotiations with the British government over the North of Ireland. They also bear traces of the artistic possibilities and debates at the time of production, which sought to politicise conceptual art practice.

The specific content of these works – of boundary building and the pervasive nature of surveillance, the apparent incommensurability of polarized political factions and the scars these divisions leave on the landscape – remain relevant today.

Opposite – Shifting Ground (The Walls, Derry), 1991

Exhibition runs through till May 27th, 2012

Matt’s Gallery
42–44 Copperfield Road
London
E3 4RR

www.mattsgallery.org

  

PETER RAND

Posted on 2012-04-09

This display focuses on ten key works from this period which are exhibited for the first time, and includes photographs of actors Fenella Fielding, Ian Holm, Anna Massey, Sarah Miles with her brother Christopher, Corin Redgrave, Peter Wyngarde, Mike Sarne; playwright Harold Pinter with the cast of The Caretaker, singer Dusty Springfield, and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Peter Rand continues to specialize in portraiture and fashion photography.

Born in Dorset, Rand attended Ealing Art and Photographic College, before working as an assistant to Peter Peck at Woburn Studios (1958-9). In 1960, he joined the John French Studios, and in 1962 two of his photographs appeared on the cover of the September and December issues of British Vogue. An editorial contract with Vogue followed, and Rand remained with the magazine until 1970, photographing the leading figures of the 1960s.

Opposite – Sir Richard Branson, 1 February 1968

Exhibition runs through till September 16th, 2012

National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
London
WC2H 0HE

www.npg.org.uk

  

HERB RITTS – L.A. STYLE

Posted on 2012-04-09

He revolutionized fashion photography, modernized the nude, and transformed celebrities into icons.
Through hard work and a distinctive vision, Herb Ritts (1952–2002) fashioned himself into one of the top photographers to emerge from the 1980s. Ritts’s aesthetic incorporated facets of life in and around Los Angeles. He often made use of the bright California sunlight to produce bold contrasts, and his preference for outdoor locations such as the desert and the beach helped to separate his work from that of his New York-based peers. Ritts’s intimate portraiture, his modern yet classical treatment of the nude, and his innovative approach to fashion brought him international acclaim and placed him securely within an American tradition of portrait and magazine photography that includes Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Irving Penn.

From the late 1970s until Ritts’s untimely death from AIDS-related complications in 2002, his ability to create images that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce was not only a testament to the power of his imagination and technical skill but also marked the synergistic union between art, popular culture, and business that followed in the wake of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Opposite – Christy Turlington, Versace 3, Milan, 1991

Exhibition runs through till August 26th, 2012

J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles
CA
90049-1687

www.getty.edu

  

THE SAMARITAN

Posted on 2012-04-09

After twenty years in prison, Foley is finished with the grifter’s life. When he meets an elusive young woman named Iris, the possibility of a new start looks real. But his past is proving to be a stubborn companion. Stars Samuel L. Jackson, Luke Kirby and Ruth Negga.

In theaters April 20th, 2012

www.thesamaritanfilm.com

  

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

Posted on 2012-04-09

Three beautiful girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of theircollege campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind…. Directed by Whit Stillman, starring Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody and Analeigh Tipton.

In theaters April 27th, 2012

damselsindistress

  

LOOPER

Posted on 2012-04-09

In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper”, a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.

The film is written and directed by Rian Johnson and also stars Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, and Jeff Daniels. Ram Bergman and James D. Stern produce.

In theaters September 28th, 2012

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