PETER HUJAR

Posted on 2014-07-08

Working in black and white, Hujar vividly documented a New York that has been all but lost to us today. Hujar was a contemporary and friend of Diane Arbus, and both were admirers of Weegee and shared his dark vision. Regardless of subject matter – from the catacombs in Palermo to abandoned, wrecked cars; Hujar is a classicist whose distinctive style echoes further back to historical figures such as Atget and Brassaï. Hujar was a mentor and friend to the artists David Wojnarowicz and Paul Thek and his work would go on to influence photographers like Nan Goldin and Robert Mapplethorpe. His sensibility, concentration, eye for detail, and feel for light and texture enabled him to find mystery where none is apparent, beauty in the mundane, and grace in disintegration. All of Hujar’s work is imbued with a deep sense of mortality and he makes visible an awareness of life and death as forever enmeshed… a depth of soul.

Opposite – Great Dane, 1981

Exhibition runs from July 19th to August 24th, 2014

Maureen Paley
21 Herald Street
London
E2 6JT

www.maureenpaley.com

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DENNIS HOPPER – THE LOST ALBUM

Posted on 2014-07-08

Dennis Hopper carved out a place in Hollywood history, with roles in classic films like Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, True Romance and Easy Rider. He is less well known, though no less respected, for his work as a photographer. This exhibition brings together over 400 images, taken during one of the most creative periods of his life in the 1960s. Every image you’ll see was chosen by Hopper himself for his first major exhibition in 1970 and is the vintage print he produced for that occasion.

This was a decade of huge social and political change, and Hopper was at the eye of the storm. With his camera trained on the world around him he captured Hell’s Angels and hippies, the street life of Harlem, the Civil Rights movement and the urban landscapes of East and West coast America. He also shot some of the biggest stars of the time from the worlds of art, fashion and music, from Andy Warhol to Paul Newman.

Together, these images are a fascinating personal diary of one of the great countercultural figures of the period and a vivid portrait of 1960s America.

Opposite – Irving Blum and Peggy Moffitt, 1964

Exhibition runs through to October 19th, 2014

Royal Academy
Burlington House
Piccadilly
London
W1J 0BD

www.royalacademy.org.uk

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NOT ALL DOCUMENTS ARE RECORDS

Posted on 2014-07-08

The exhibition, curated by Lorenzo Fusi, looks at three key international visual art platforms through the lens of photography, moving between the past and future. The main theoretical question underpinning the project is: “Can photography be the site where the history of an exhibition is produced and still retain its independent artistic autonomy, thus overcoming pure documentation?”

The exhibition starts its journey from two of the most important art events in the world. Documenta in Kassel is a survey of modern and contemporary art, established in 1955 by Arnold Bode as a means for reconnecting Germany with the most recent developments in the arts after Nazi obscurantism and censorship. The prestigious Venice Biennale is the oldest exhibition of its kind, founded in 1895. These forums greatly contributed to and informed the so-called ‘biennial model’. International in relevance and ambition a biennial unfolds and manifests periodically with the aim of ‘photographing’ the status of the arts at a specific moment in time and anticipating the trends of the future. It is in this model that the Liverpool Biennial originates.

The show introduces the viewer to this format by presenting two seminal photographic series – Hans Haacke’s 1959 photographs of Documenta 2 and Ugo Mulas’ images of the 1968 Venice Biennale.

Exhibition runs through to October 19th, 2014

Open Eye Gallery
19 Mann Island
Liverpool Waterfront
Liverpool
L3 1BP

www.openeye.org.uk

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ROBERT MELEE – A DOZEN ROSES

Posted on 2014-06-30

Shown in the past as an element in the artist’s multimedia installations, photo works and video sculptures, this marks the first exhibition focusing on the photographs as individual pieces.

The myth of the modern family is played with and ridiculed, ultimately giving way to dysfunction and beautiful catastrophe. Rose, the heroine and muse of Melee’s depravity is caught in seemingly absurd casual acts including romping naked in the snow, drinking in the bath tub and positioning herself on all fours with pots and pans on her back on the kitchen table, each time intoxicated.

The works featured represent freedom from taboos and a twisting of the human psyche. Unbridled and absurd, Melee’s depiction of domesticity and memory tampers with notions of real life versus theater. The traditional roles of mother and son in the familial bliss of calm are shattered as Melee constructs both punishing and affectionately sensational portraits.

Opposite – Floor, 1999

Exhibition runs through to August 1st, 2014

Higher Pictures
980 Madison Ave
Upper East Side
New York City
10065

higherpictures.com

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LARRY CLARK – PHOTOGRAPHS FOR £100

Posted on 2014-06-30

Printed mainly at pharmacies and one hour photo shops by Clark from 1992 – 2010, these unique 4 x 6 in. and 5 x 7 in. colour prints will be on sale to the public priced at £100 each. Visitors will be able to flick through handfuls of snapshots at a time, gaining new insights into his working method as well as having the opportunity to come away with an original Larry Clark.

The photographs in the collection and were taken by Clark on or around the locations of his films from that time – including Kids (1995), Bully (2001), Ken Park (2002), and Wassup Rockers (2005), among others. The pictures document the people, kids and friends he was interacting with during this period, many playing leading roles in his films. The collection of photographs also includes outtakes from a calendar shoot for the street brand Supreme, as well as many unique portraits, self portraits and various snapshots.

Having recently turned 71, Clark found himself faced with the question of what to do with the thousands of unique prints he had accumulated over the years. Instead of gifting to museum archives, or selling at auction, Clark has decided to distribute a large portion of his archive to the friends and fans that have played a central role, sometimes literally, in his career to date. In his words, the sale is for ‘all the kids that come to my shows in their thousands and could never afford 10 to 15 thousand dollars for a print (…) this is a pay back to all the skate rats and collectors who would like a souvenir so I can die happy.’

The sale runs through to July 1st – July 6th, 2014

Simon Lee Gallery
12 Berkeley Street
London
W1J 8DT

www.simonleegallery.com

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SKYE PARROT – KINDS OF WATER

Posted on 2014-06-30

Kinds of Water, Parrott’s most recent body of work, uses water as a thread to connect seemingly disparate imagery, from the water of the ocean lapping at a ship’s bow as seen in Ukraine’s Port of Odessa, to the plump promise of water beneath the skin of an apple, to the water of a child’s tears on a cloudy beach in Maine. The images, taken both during Parrott’s daily life and extensive travels, approach the familiar and the other democratically, with a deep intimacy and a carefully framed composure. These are a departure from the snapshots of youth; rather, they are a more thoughtful, considered presentation of the beauty that is to be found in the every day.

Exhibition runs through to July 20th, 2014

Dossier Outpost
South Street Seaport
New York
NY

www.dossieroutpost.com

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