Photography : EXIT

ANDRE KERTESZ IN EUROPE

Posted on 2015-04-13

The exhibition – the first of its kind to focus on Kertesz’s European work along – spans the photographer’s whole career and features well-known images as well as several unknown photographs which have never before been exhibited or published.

Born in Hungary in 1894, Kertesz was one of the most internationally significant photographers of the 20th century, influencing figures such as Brassai and Henri Cartier-Bresson and laying the foundations for photojournalism as it is known today.

Andre Kertesz in Europe begins with the artist’s earliest photographs, made in Hugnary in the 1910s, moves on to his pioneering Modernist work produced in Paris during the 1920s, and then presents later works, made in Europe after the Second World War.

Although it is often assumed that after Kertesz moved to New York in 1936 he seldom travelled, he did in fact return regularly to Europe. These trips to Europe include visits to London, France and Budapest in 1948; to Venice, France and Budapest in 1963, Hungary and Spain in 1971, London, Paris and Milan in 1972, and little known visits to England in 1972, 1980, 1983 and 1984.

Exhibition runs from May 13th to June 13th, 2015

James Hyman
16 Savile Row
London
W1S 3PL

www.jameshymangallery.com

THOMAS STRUTH

Posted on 2015-04-06

Between 2009 and 2014 Thomas Struth travelled to Israel and the West Bank six times and made images in a variety of locations, including Tel Aviv, the Golan Heights, Ramallah and Nazareth. Listening to the stories of his guides and other people he met along the way, “my exploration was about observing the human theatre and what seemed to touch me most. In essence, it was about the reading of the signifiers and the pictorial possibilities of the place”. Continuing in his pursuit of universal themes and visualisations of life, technology and the human condition, Struth encountered families, landscapes, architecture, and sites of new technology in the region – to create these images in the range of genres for which he is well known.

“A landscape doesn’t need me, you or anybody. It becomes interesting if it can be the ground plan for human experience, projection or desire.” TS

Exhibition runs from April 30th to June 6th, 2015

Marian Goodman Gallery
5-8 Lower John Street
London
W1F 9DY

www.mariangoodman.com

VEE SPEERS – BULLETPROOF

Posted on 2015-04-06

The new series follows six years after her infamous series The Birthday Party. Continuing the theme Speers now photographs these same children. Since then, much has changed – their bodies are taller, longer. Their faces have thinned and transformed. Speers has recorded it. She has taken them to imaginary lands, playing fields, and curious places where these characters are ever prepared and always win. Vee Speers eternalises the fragile beauty of adolescence. She photographs a time that follows the first loss: that of childhood.

Exhibition runs from April 28th to May 16th, 2015

The Little Black Gallery
13A Park Walk
London
SW10 0AJ

www.slowculture.com

JESSICA FULFORD-DOBSON – SKATE GIRLS OF KABUL

Posted on 2015-04-06

“She first caught my eye because she was wearing such a beautiful colour. She’s just immaculate. From the way she has tied her headscarf so beautifully and so naturally, you see that she has an innate sense of grace. Her little hennaed hand rests gently – yet possessively – on the skateboard, and how small she seems beside it! I love her assurance: her firm, steady gaze. One feels a sense of depth in her eyes, even though she is just 7 years of age.” Jessica Fulford-Dobson.

Wanting to capture the wonderful story of Afghan girls skateboarding, Jessica first approached Skateistan in 2012 to ask them if she could visit their site in Kabul.

Skateistan is an NGO founded in 2007 by Australian skate enthusiast Oliver Percovich. It now has over 60 staff in several countries. Percovich was enthusiastic about Jessica’s idea, and agreed to give her access to the schools in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.

The girls soon accepted Jessica’s presence, especially as she worked simply, without artificial lighting, and on her own. Photographing with natural light limited the shoot locations within the relatively dark skate park, but this actually helped the children’s natural personalities to shine through. Jessica says “I met so many impressive women and girls in Afghanistan: a teacher as tough and determined as any man; young Afghans in their early twenties who were volunteering at an orphanage and were passionate about being seen as strong and willing to fight for themselves, rather than as victims of circumstance; and girls who were being educated to be leaders in their communities and who were already thinking carefully about their own and their country’s future. And of course there were the young skate girls, so fun to be around and so totally unspoilt. I feel lucky to have met them. I hope that this collection captures something of their spirit: their joy in life, their individuality and their community.”

Exhibition runs from April 15th to April 28th, 2015

Saatchi Gallery
Duke Of York’s HQ
King’s Road
London
SW3 4RY

www.saatchigallery.com

HALSBAND PORTRAITS

Posted on 2015-03-30

Michael Halsband has had his hand (and eye) on the pulse of American culture since the 1970’s. His 1985 iconic portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol in boxing gloves became such a staple of popular culture that its appropriation by contemporary visual artists and street artists continues thirty years on. This was an auspicious moment in a career that saw Halsband photographing a canon of 20th century artists, writers and musicians including James Brown, David Byrne, Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop, and many more. Michael Halsband’s work has been featured internationally in publications from GQ to Vogue, ad campaigns for Calvin Klein and cover art for the top talent of his generation.

This exhibition will span over three decades of Halsband’s work and includes two never before exhibited works: a photograph from the 1985 Warhol/ Basquiat Boxing Gloves series and an up-close 35mm film of The Rolling Stones in live performance.

Exhibition runs through to April 25th, 2015

National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
New York
NY 10003

www.nationalartsclub.org

RICHARD MISRACH: BEING(S) 1975-2015

Posted on 2015-03-30

This survey exhibition traces the appearance of the human figure in Misrach’s photographs across the entire span of his career, from 1975 to the present.

Though primarily known as a photographer of the landscape, on occasion Misrach has placed the human figure as a focal point of his images since the mid-1970s. The people who appear in his photographs are rarely portrayed as specific individuals. Rather, they tend to weave through his work as ephemeral markers, a temporary presence in the continuity of the land.

The exhibition includes a number of works that have never before been exhibited or published: a 1976 self-portrait in White Sands, New Mexico; disorienting new images from his Color Reverse series; large-format photographs from the On the Beach project, and a remarkable 14-foot panorama of the U.S. border fence separating Tijuana, Mexico, from California.

Opposite – Night Fishing, Near Bonnet Carré Spillway, Louisiana, 1998

Exhibition runs from April 9th to May 30th, 2015

Fraenkel Gallery
49 Geary Street, 4th Floor
San Francisco
CA 94108

fraenkelgallery.com