Miles Aldridge: I Only Want You to Love Me @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 20 large scale color photographs, framed in white and unmatted, and hung against white walls in the North and South gallery spaces and the side alcove. All of the works are c-prints, made between 2005 and 2012. Print sizes range from 14x14 to 56x75 (or reverse), in editions of 6 or 10. A monograph of this body of work was recently published by Rizzoli (here) and is available from the gallery for $75. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Miles Aldridge's complex sense for brash stylized color sets his work apart from other contemporary fashion photographers. As seen in this retrospective show of work from roughly the past decade, his precisely staged images are over-the-top exercises in color theory, where every detail and prop is carefully orchestrated for maximum intensity. When added to satirical scenes of blanked eyed women in oddly glamorized domestic situations, his distinctive eye for color makes the photographs even more dynamic and vital.

In Aldridge's hands, female stereotypes are pushed beyond the edge of exaggeration into a surreal world of dark social commentary. A desperate red lipped homemaker stabs an imperfect birthday cake with a huge kitchen knife, a woman in plastic lingerie breaks down over a sliced half grapefruit, a deadpan woman in a tight green dress and red heels is stuffed into the under sink area normally reserved for rubber gloves and toilet cleaner, and a robotic mother in thigh high boots and a perfect black ensemble strides through a gaggle of soccer playing boys (a weird futuristic "soccer mom"). In nearly every situation, the subject has been pushed to an emotional extreme: either anesthetized like a mannequin or on the verge of losing control.

A scene of a smashed dinner tray, an overstuffed Cadillac full of shopping bags and packing trunks, or an overdone dinner party dripping in glamorous boredom all have their own sense of cliché, but Aldridge takes them somewhere new with his use of color. In nearly every image (even the most muted ones), it's as if he has consciously taken out the color wheel to target complementary pairs. A zoned out woman dries her hair in a bathroom full of acidic greens and orange pinks: green tile, red towel, green slip, pink slip, green curtains, orange hair dryer, plastic rings in both colors - it's a symphony in hot, matchy matchy contradiction. These kinds of opposites are everywhere in this show: a bright yellow and red checkerboard floor, blue water behind an orange bikini clad woman, orange soccer uniforms against electric green turf, a dramatic red dress against a green floral carpet; they all add visual tension to the already inflated scenes.

While at first glance it might be easy to mistake these fashion images for fun-loving visual camp, I like the way they grow darker and more depressing with more sustained looking. Everything is just so but blown to the point of parody, like scenes of zombies in overdone gilded prisons.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced between $5150 and $15500 (with many intermediate prices), generally based on size. Aldridge's work is not widely available in the secondary markets, although a handful of lots have come up for auction in recent years; prices for those lots ranged between roughly $6000 and $12000.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Features/Reviews: New Yorker (here)

Miles Aldridge: I Only Want You to Love Me
Through June 8th

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011

Daido Moriyama: Now and Now @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 59 black and white and color photographs, variously framed and matted, and hung against white walls in the North and South gallery spaces and the side alcove. The exhibit also includes 7 silkscreen paintings on canvas and a glass case containing a selection of Moriyama's photobooks. Most of the photographs on view are arranged into three contiguous bands of images, hung edge to edge and pinned directly to the wall, unframed but under plexiglas. There are 2 sets of black and white works and 1 set of color works. The black and white images are a mix of gelatin silver and archival pigment prints, all made recently from negatives taken between 1971 and 2011. The color images are all archival pigment prints, made recently from negatives taken in 2010 and 2011. Print sizes for all three sets are either roughly 17x13 or 17x22. The exhibit also includes 4 larger archival pigment prints, ranging in size from 22x33 to 41x55. The alcove holds a selection of earlier Moriyama favorites, all gelatin silver prints made recently from negatives taken between 1969 and 2001. Moriyama doesn't edition his prints, so there is no edition information available for any of the photographic works on view. The silkscreen paintings were made between 2007 and 2012; they range in size from 43x54 to 43x65 and are available in editions of 3 or 5. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: If the new photographs in this show are any indication, Daido Moriyama is leading quite a jet set life these days. While Tokyo and New York might be expected locales, his destination list goes quite a bit further, to Los Angeles and Italy, Taipei and Antwerp, all seen with Moriyama's signature shadowy grittiness. Like a visual DJ, he has then sequenced these images into linear strips, mixing old and new, West and East, into one continuous, global mashup. The high contrast graininess he perfected in his Provoke days is still there, but his photographic world has now grown larger and more multicultural.

The darkness in Moriyama's images gives the impression that we are traveling through the underbelly of life, so when his eye catches on something and brings it into brightness, it's hard not to be captivated. A tanned back in a shining dress, a blurred baby's face, a feral kitten, a pair of eyes on a TV screen, the edge of a truck tire, they all draw your attention with muscular roughness. Whether its a girl on the side of a bus in Taipei, lingerie in a window in Italy, sunglassed women in LA, or a tangle of overhead wires in Osaka, Moriyama has a knack for sifting cultural signifiers through his own filter, finding the eclectic and the universal in equal measure. There is a noticeable rhythm to these series, with beggars and street sleepers sharing the same space with shining skyscrapers and glorious city lights, a swaying from high to low and back again. His color sequence of Times Square, an alligator, an up-close doll's face, a bloody Christian Louboutin shoe, a nude Japanese stripper, and a bunch of yellow irises mixes seemingly disconnected moments into a surreal summary of modern life, altogether familiar but vaguely unsettling.

The back gallery shows another new body of work - silkscreened Warholian enlargements of some of Moriyama's most famous images. Given their graphic power, the menacing dog, the abstracted tights, and the extra large lips all function effectively in this medium, and the tiny bit of sparkle in the grey paint adds a dose of glamour to Brigitte Bardot posed on a motorcycle. That said, these images are aimed at a different person than a photography collector, and I couldn't help but come away with a bit of a feeling that some of his most iconic images were undergoing a poster shop style dilution.

All in, this show does a solid job of presenting Moriyama's newest work while also providing some background and context to help trace his ongoing artistic evolution. It's clear that his eye continues to be restlessly original, turning increasingly broad and varied subject matter into a brash, uneasy meditation on 21st century urban existence.

Collector's POV: While many of the works on view are shown in carefully sequenced series, all of the images are available as individual prints. The photographs in the three series are either $4000 or $5000 each. The handful of larger photographs are either $7500 or $10000, based on size. The gelatin silver prints in the alcove are all $6800 each. And the silkscreen paintings range from $13000 to $25000. Moriyama's work has become more available in the secondary markets in the past year or two. Recent prices have ranged between $2000 and $40000.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Features/Reviews: Wall Street Journal (here), Animal New York (here)

 

Daido Moriyama: Now and Now

Through May 4th

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011

Everyday America: Photographs from the Berman Collection @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 115 black and white and color photographs, variously framed and matted, and hung against white walls in the North and South gallery spaces, as well as the alcove and the smaller viewing room in back. A total of 32 different photographers are represented in the show. Sizes range from 6x4 to 55x45 (or reverse), and negative dates range from 1929 to 2004. All of the works come from the Berman collection. (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers are included in the show, with the number of prints on view and their dates in parentheses:

• Margaret Bourke-White (2 gelatin silver prints, 1935/1996, 1936/1996)
• Harry Callahan (1 gelatin silver print, 1948/1970s)
• William Christenberry (1 digital pigment print, 1976/2005)
• William Clift (1 gelatin silver print, 1970)
• Robert Dawson (1 chromogenic dye coupler print, 1985/1990)
• William Eggleston (2 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1970s)
• Mitch Epstein (8 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1973/2005, 1983/2005, 1996/1997, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 1 Fujicrystal archive print, 2004)
• Terry Evans (2 archival inkjet prints, 2003, 2004)
• Walker Evans (22 gelatin silver prints, 1929/1971, 1930/1971, 1931/1971, 1931/1974, 1930s/1971, 1935/1960s, 1935/1971, 1936/1971, 1936/1974, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1962/1960s, 1969)
• Robert Frank (3 gelatin silver prints, 1953/1970s, 1956/1980, 1950s/1979)
• Todd Hido (1 chromogenic dye coupler print, 2000)
• Evelyn Hofer (4 gelatin silver prints, 1963/later, 1965/later)
• John Humble (5 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1991/2006, 1995/2003, 1995/2005, 1997/2005, 1998/2005)
• David Husom (2 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1981/2002, 2001, 1 Ektacolor print, 1978/1994)
• Birney Imes (4 chromogenic dye coupler print, 1986, 1986/2004, 1989/2003)
• Dorothea Lange (13 gelatin silver prints, 1930/1935, 1930s, 1935/1950, 1936/1950s, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1942, 1951/1965, 1952, 1957/1960s)
• Russell Lee (4 dye transfer prints, 1940/1986)
• Helen Levitt (2 gelatin silver prints, 1937/later, 1939/later)
• Martin Parr (1 chromogenic dye coupler print, 2001)
• Christian Patterson (1 chromogenic dye coupler print, 2003)
• Sheron Rupp (2 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1983/1990s, 1990/1990s)
• Gene Peterson (9 gelatin silver prints, 1950)
• Stephen Shore (1 dye transfer print, 1981/1982)
• Aaron Siskind (3 gelatin silver prints, 1935/later, 1937/1976, 1938/1976)
• Mike Smith (2 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1996, 2000)
• Joel Sternfeld (2 Ektacolor prints, 1983/1986, 1993/1994, 2 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1997, 2005)
• George Tice (1 gelatin silver print, 1970/1993)
• John Vachon (1 dye transfer print, 1940/1985)
• Chris Verene (1 chromogenic dye coupler print, 1993/2002)
• Camilo Jose Vergara (4 chromogenic dye coupler prints, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1988)
• James Welling (4 gelatin silver prints, 1990/1990s, 1991/1990s)
• Henry Wessel (1 gelatin silver print, 1974)

Comments/Context: By its very definition, the word collector implies a focus on hunting, gathering, search and acquisition. It's a forward looking, accretive mindset, generally adding up rather than subtracting. But at the end of every collecting road, there is a less well publicized unwinding, where artworks once treasured by the collector must find new homes. The three classic Ds (debt, death, and divorce) often act as catalysts for the breaking up process, but we tend not to spend much time talking about the best ways to actually make this disassembly take place smoothly.

The unpacking of the Berman collection of photography has been a particularly public example of the dispersion of a large collection. Once tallying up at over 2500+ photographs, its break up has been and continues to be a huge undertaking. To date, the remonetization of the collection has included donations to various Los Angeles museums (LACMA, MOCA, and the Getty), a series of auctions at Christie's, and now the first of likely a few gallery shows of additional slices of material, with the overall process measured in years and heading for an end to end duration of nearly a decade.

This show combines lower priced and lesser known material that was likely not a terrific fit for auction with a number of vintage gems that somehow avoided earlier pick throughs. As a reminder, the Berman collection had a focus on American photography, with particular interest in built structures and vernacular architecture, mixing 20th century and contemporary work. This particular selection is heavy on work by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange (both vintage and later prints), with a solid dose of Mitch Epstein and a sprinkling of Frank, Sternfeld, Siskind, Levitt and many others, known and unknown. Building facades, commercial signage, and sidewalk storefronts are common subject matter, mixing urban and rural locales with equal measure. The rigid geometries of Evelyn Hofer's stone windows give way to John Humble's saturated color California strip architecture, and Walker Evans' New England interiors connect to Birney Imes' vibrant Southern juke joints. Dorothea Lange's Funeral Cortege, End of an Era in a Small Valley Town, from 1935 is the star of the show, with its classic pained expression caught in the hearse window.

All in, this is a lively compendium of American photography, covering roughly 75 years of artistic history. Hung up and down in jumping pairs and groups, there's plenty to catch your eye and compare.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced as follows:

• Margaret Bourke-White: $3000 each
• Harry Callahan: $12000
• William Christenberry: $4000
• William Clift: $3500
• Robert Dawson: $2000
• William Eggleston: $12500, $20000
• Mitch Epstein: $7500, $9500
• Terry Evans: $3500 each
• Walker Evans: $5000, $6000, $8000, $8500, $12000, $12500, $15000
• Robert Frank: $8500, $12500, $25000
• Todd Hido: $4800
• Evelyn Hofer: $7500, $8500
• John Humble: $5000 each
• David Husom: $1800 each
• Birney Imes: $1500, $2000, $4000, $5500
• Dorothea Lange: $6000, $7000, $9000, $10000, $12000, $15000, $20000, $40000, $50000
• Russell Lee: $3000 each
• Helen Levitt: $6000 each
• Martin Parr: $5500 
• Christian Patterson: $2500
• Sheron Rupp: $1800 each
• Gene Peterson: $1200 each
• Stephen Shore: $9000
• Aaron Siskind: $6000, $15000
• Mike Smith: $2000 each
• Joel Sternfeld: $5000, $12500, $15000
• George Tice: $3000
• John Vachon: $3000
• Chris Verene: $15000
• Camilo Jose Vergara: $3000 each
• James Welling: $5000 each
• Henry Wessel: $7000

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Features/Reviews: Wall Street Journal (here), Le Journal de la Photographie (here)

Everyday America: Photographs from the Berman Collection
Through March 23rd

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011

Leon Levinstein @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 49 black and white photographs, framed in black and unmatted, and hung against white walls in the North and South gallery spaces. All of the works are vintage gelatin silver prints, made between 1950 and 1975. The prints are sized between 11x11 and 13x17, with most roughly 11x14 or reverse. No edition information was provided on the checklist. (Installation shots at right.)

 

Comments/Context: Following on the heels of 2010 exhibits at the Met and Howard Greenberg (reviews of both linked below), this show continues the methodical reemergence and reconsideration of the work of Leon Levinstein. At this point, Levinstein's talent for capturing the funky diversity of 1960s and 1970s New York street life is decently well known, so what we have here is more of a deepening of this now familiar story, via another selection of energetic sidewalk pictures. 

 

Levinstein is perhaps best known for his undeniably keen eye for the quirks of personal fashion, and this show has plenty of gems from this genre, covering the spectrum from a sleek white blazer to dirty work coveralls. Women in patterned dresses strut down the street like it was a catwalk, and men unabashedly turn to check out the action. Skew camera angles freeze effusive hand gestures mid motion, whether from suit wearing businessmen or a screaming woman in front of a pizza joint. A trio of pictures focus on the angles of men's feet: perched on a fire hydrant, pulled up on a lamp post, or crossed leaning against a railing. And a group of stately women's faces recall Lisette Modell, with fur coats, dark hats, and veils (and even one chihuahua), framing stoic upper class wrinkles.

This particular edit also brings in a broader sample of local neighborhoods, getting beyond the swagger and grit of Times Square: couples lounging on the beach at Coney Island, serious nuns from the Lower East Side, grim faced workers from Harlem, and wide eyed street boys from Brooklyn. It also discovers plenty of unlikely city moments: a man with a pack of stray cats, a girl in a tutu following a nun, two older ladies talking though a window with Jesus underneath, a smiling family posing in front of a wall of psychedelic op art posters, and men slumbering in the shade under a scrawl of Fuck the Pigs.

 

All in, this is a solid sampler of Levinstein's street photography; not perhaps his most notable or recognizable images, but a worthwhile extension and addition to the larger ongoing education process surrounding his rightful place in photographic history.

 

Collector's POV: The prints in the show range in price from $6000 to $11000. In recent years, Levinstein's work has only been sporadically available in the secondary markets, with prices ranging

between roughly $1000 and $9000.

 

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

 

Transit Hub:

• Features/Reviews: NY Times Lens (here), Wall Street Journal (here), New Yorker (here), Elle (here)
• DLK COLLECTION reviews of 2010 exhibits: Met (here), Howard Greenberg (here)

 

Leon Levinstein

Through December 22nd

Steven Kasher Gallery

521 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011

Marc Asnin: Uncle Charlie @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 23 black and white photographs, framed in black and unmatted, and hung against white walls in the side alcove and the back viewing room. All of the works are modern gelatin silver prints, made between 1981 and 2010. The prints are sized either 16x20 or 20x24 and are available in editions of 9. A monograph of this body of work was recently published by Contrasto (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Rarely has a long term family portrait been as brutally conflicted as Marc Asnin's unflinching documentation of the life of his Uncle Charlie. In shadowy black and white photographs spanning more than thirty years, Asnin cuts to the raw bone of Charlie's existence, exposing a dark, downward spiral of poverty, violence, depression, loss, and isolation. But even as the crushing weight of bad choices, delusions, and madness piles up, Asnin's tenderness and affection for Charlie never falters. As sideline viewers, we continue to somehow root for Charlie's success, even when it is altogether clear that the deluge of personal tragedies is going to win.

With the benefit of the context of the entire project, Asnin's early pictures from the 1980s feel pregnant with clues to the impending disasters to come. Charlie humps his wife in the kitchen with a crazed look in his eye, and lies like a corpse in his convertible bed in the living room. Images of his five young children hint at disquiet and unrest: a lonely look through a scratched glass door, a triangle of boys with resigned stares, and a daughter flash lit and haunted. The penetrating photograph of Charlie sitting naked in the dark, holding a gun and smoking a cigarette, looking out the bright window is surely evidence that his struggles were already starting to overwhelm him.

By the 1990s, the cycle of destruction engulfing Charlie had clearly intensified. His kids begin to rebel with more harshness and venom; Brian gives his dad the finger while Jamie talks trash on the front stoop. Family celebrations like birthdays and baptisms are hollowed out pantomimes, and his new young girlfriend openly smokes crack in the living room. Charlie is now mostly seen resting, lost in a decline of frail depression. The death of his son to AIDS in 1996 seems to have been the last straw; his face hardens into a deranged mask, and he sits curled up in a chair, the picture of utter despondency.

The most recent images in the series plumb the depths of sadness and despair in ever more punishing ways. Charlie scrawls sorrowful messages in chalk on his walls, trudges by his son's grave site in the snow, and sits alone in his empty apartment on moving day. A close up picture of his now older and weathered face is heartbreaking, a diary of best intentions, broken dreams, and dreary outcomes.

Even as his life crashes down around him, Charlie remains surprisingly sympathetic as a subject. While many of his injuries may have been self inflicted and the larger cycle of life had him trapped, we're still left hoping for an unlikely, snatched from the jaws of defeat happy ending which doesn't of course come. All in, Asnin's family portrait is undeniably woeful and distressing, but it's cracklingly and memorably alive with the genuine emotions of his one of a kind uncle.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced based on size; the 16x20 prints are $1800 and the 20x24 prints are $2500. Asnin's work has very little secondary market history, so gallery retail is likely the best option for those collectors interested in following up.

 

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

 

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Features/Reviews: Independent (here), Photo Eye (here), New Yorker (here)

 

Marc Asnin: Uncle Charlie

Through December 22nd

 

Steven Kasher Gallery

521 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011

Brett Weston @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 73 black and white photographs, framed in black and matted, and hung against white walls in the divided North and South gallery spaces. All of the works are gelatin silver prints, made between 1920 and 1985. Most of the prints are vintage, and range in size from roughly 7x9 to 11x14 (or reverse). No edition information was available on the checklist. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: According to the press release, it's been more than a decade since the last time Brett Weston had a show in New York. The various galleries that have represented the estate have been skimming the cream off the archives for years now, so perhaps it was once again time for a set of fresh eyes to scour the flat files and storage boxes in search of some overlooked or under appreciated treasures. The exhibit that has emerged from this process has the thematic scope of a retrospective but with the feel of something slightly more jumbled and eccentric, with both known and unknown examples from sixty years of picture making densely mixed together on the walls.

Given his famous father, and even though Brett was appropriately labeled a child prodigy (and if you don't believe the label, search out the gnarled cypress trees made when he was 9 or the lily stalk from when he was 14, both on view here), I feel like Brett often gets taken for granted. Fairly or unfairly, his father's shadow is extremely long, and especially when they shot the same subject matter, it's nearly impossible to see Brett's work without making mind's eye comparisons to his father's. Brett was more routinely fond of high contrast, deeper blacks, and all-over abstraction (using natural forms), but crisp formalism and superlative, sometimes astonishing craftsmanship are never far from view, regardless of the subject matter and even when he drifts a little too far toward derivative cliche. This show includes a little of everything: dunes, cacti, and California desert landscapes, New York bridges, buildings, storefronts and city streets from the 1940s, vegetal forms and specimen trees from various locales, and visual abstractions made from ice, mud, rock formations, water drops, and smeared paint. In Brett's hands, climbing vines, air vents, hub caps, scrubby yucca, vertical poplars, and a black window, they all become bold sculptural motifs, and he had strong eye for compositions that were simultaneously pared down and complex.

Regular readers here will know I'm a lover of strict chronology, since I think it helps clarify how an artist has changed over time, so few will be surprised that I found the subject matter groupings here less effective in terms of showing Brett's overall aesthetic evolution. Many of his images also have the emotional volume turned up a notch or two via extended contrast, so they feel a bit cramped and manic when hung so close together as they are here. I'm guessing that this a result of wanting to unearth as many gems as possible, at the expense of giving the photographs more competition from their neighbors and a little less room to breathe.

In general, while this show doesn't teach us anything particularly new about the career of Brett Weston, I certainly enjoyed seeing such a robust sampler of his vintage work. Fans of 20th century Modernism and black and white excellence will find much to admire.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced between $4000 and $20000, with most under $10000. Brett Weston's prints are routinely available in the secondary markets. Recent prices have ranged between $1000 and $66000, with the vast majority finding buyers under $10000.

Rating: * (one stars) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Brett Weston archive (here)

Brett Weston
Through November 3rd

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011

Phyllis Galembo: Maske @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 16 large scale color photographs, framed in black and unmatted, and hung in the divided gallery spaces. All of the works are Ilfachrome prints, made between 2004 and 2009. The images come in three sizes: 20x20 (in editions of 12), 30x30 (in editions of 5), and 50x50 (in editions of 3). There are 11 medium sized prints and 5 large sized prints in the show. A monograph of this body of work has been published by Chris Boot Ltd. (here) and is availble from the gallery for $45. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Phyllis Galembo's vibrant images of African and Haitian figures in indigenous masquerade costumes inhabit the convergence point of three rivers of photographic practice: anthropological documentary, fashion photography, and formal portraiture. Each image can be read in all three modes, providing a depth of experience that goes far beyond the eye-catching, fun exoticism of the exuberant bright colors and the hand crafted found materials.

The most straightforward interpretation of these photographs is to see them as simple facts, as evidence of the diverse social and cultural traditions of particular peoples, brought back from afar for our education. In the larger context of rituals, festivals and ceremonies, they show how different groups have approached common human questions of the power of spirituality, the battle of good and evil, and our interconnected relationship to the natural/animal world. As such, these masquerade costumes represent a form of shared experience, even if they seem foreign and even perplexing to our Western eyes.

If we were to take these images out of this obvious anthropological context and place them amidst pictures of haute couture fashion, I think they would take on a different set of meanings; the line between fashion and costume is altogether blurry wherever you live. These costumes were creatively made from a dizzying variety of materials, from shredded bags to intricately woven cloth, with adornments of antlers, feathers, and exaggerated painted headpieces; colors and textures have been carefully placed together for maximum impact. The skill on display is impressive, and the results are often overtly theatrical, the costumes an integral part of a larger cultural framework of story telling and myth making. Like any genre of fashion, they allow the wearer to inhabit an alternate personality, or to symbolize some facet of life applicable to all, while highlighting beauty in its many forms. 

Galembo's photographs are of course more than deadpan images of costumes; they are portraits of individuals, not unlike Irving Penn's portraits of Moroccan guedras or mudmen from New Guinea, or even his images of rock groups, Hell's Angels, and small tradesmen. In each case, we see a formal portrait against a non-descript background, where the attire of the subject informs our understanding of who they are and what they believe. Galembo's portraits are full of respect and genuine curiosity, taken with a sense of honor and trust, rather than an exploitative search for the extremes of wild and weird.

All in, I think these photographs are quite a bit more powerful than just an anthropological catalogue. They merge the documentary and the artistic in complementary ways, allowing the viewer to get beyond the vivid colors and patterns to more durable levels of understanding and empathy.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced as follows. Ratcheting editions are used for the two larger sizes; the 50x50 prints are either $8500 or $10000, and the 30x30 prints are either $5000, $6500, or $7500, depending on the place in the edition. The 20x20 prints are $3000 each. Galembo's work has not yet reached the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

While I liked many of the images in this show, my favorite was Ringo (Big Deer) Masquerade, Kroo Bay, Sierra Leone, 2008; it's the smaller middle image in the top installation shot. I liked the sharp color contrast of the yellow circles that cover the body of the costume and the electric blue wall in the background.

 

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Reviews: Time LightBox (here), Telegraph (here)

Phyllis Galembo: Maske

Through April 2nd

Steven Kasher Gallery

521 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011

The World in Black and White: Vintage Prints from the National Geographic Archive @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 167 black and white images, generally framed in black and matted, hung in the entry and the two main gallery spaces. A small glass case in the first room contains books, magazines, and documents. All of the prints are vintage prints from the archives of the National Geographic Society (here); most are gelatin silver. The negative dates range from 1890 to 1950. A book, National Geographic Image Collection, is also available (here). (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers are included in the exhibit (with the number of images on view in parentheses):

Clifton Adams (5)
Alexander Graham Bell Collection (5)
Hiram Bingham (6)
Pierre Daye Collection (9)
Captain Frank Hurley (6)
Willis Lee (7)
A. B. Lewis (10)
Charles Martin (1)
Herbert Ponting (20)
J. Baylor Roberts (7)
Joseph F. Rock (15)
Vittorio Sella (13)
George Shiras III (7)
B. Anthony Stewart (12)
Georges Tairraz (5)
Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (22)
Volkmar Wentzel (1)
Maynard Owen Williams (10)
Edwin Wisherd (6)

Comments/Context: The big show of vintage prints from the National Geographic archive now on view in Steven Kasher's new ground floor space has the feeling of a Natural History museum exhibit wrapped in the trappings of the Chelsea art world; documentary images from exotic cultures, heroic expeditions and far flung places are hung salon style in the cool environment of a white cube. Beyond the inherent curiosity generated by the subjects themselves, the photographs present a thought provoking and prickly set of questions: when (and how) does photojournalism somehow become art? Can (and should) images originally made for historical or anthropological purposes be recategorized as art based on their inherent aesthetic merits? As I walked around the galleries, I found myself asking these same questions over and over again as I looked at each grouping of images. Are these particular pictures worthy of "crossing over"? Or are they just amazing historical artifacts?

The surprising answer to my continual questioning was often yes, many of these prints can indeed be thought of in an art context without too much of a stretch of imagination. Of course, the history of photography is full of pictures that were originally made on assignment (whether photojournalism or commercial commissions) that have evolved into the category of art; the resonance of the images themselves and the passing to time have combined to move them beyond their original contexts into an altogether different realm.

I think that hung by themselves, most of these pictures would retain their National Geographic documentary patina, but placed in the context of a larger art/photography collection, many of the images could take on additional meanings or create interesting connections. While each viewer will see different associations given the diversity of imagery on display, here are a few relationships that I saw:

• For landscape and nature collectors, the early panoramas of the Swiss Alps and Peru, by Georges Tairraz and Hiram Bingham respectively, could be stunning complements to other mountain scenes.
• Herbert Ponting's images of the discovery of the South Pole and other Antarctic adventures foreshadow the current wave of contemporary iceberg and global warming photography.
• The flash lit albino deer images of George Shiras III would be a nice pair with Caponigro's famous Running White Deer.
• Willis Lee's images of the stalagmites and stalactites of Carlsbad Caverns are a direct precursor to Ryan McGinley's current body of work.
• Vittorio Sella's botanical images from Uganda would fit into a collection of early flowers and plants (like ours).
• Alexander Graham Bell's flight experiment photos would fit well with a selection of Berenice Abbott's scientific images.

Overall, this exhibit is quite unlike the normal run of vintage and contemporary work to be found in the city's art galleries and museums. It forces the visitor to consider the nature of the medium itself, and how certain images traverse different categories over time. While not all of the works on view can credibly make the jump to art status, those that do are a strong reminder that not all the images that move us come out of the art establishment, and great pictures, regardless of their origin or maker, are worthy of a place on our walls.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced between $3000 and $8500. Herbert Ponting and Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden are the only two photographers in the show with relatively consistent action in the secondary markets: Ponting's images have generally ranged between $1000 and $15000; von Gloeden's from $1000 to $5000, with an outlier or two a bit higher.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Reviews: NYTimes (here), Art in America (here)
• Lens feature (here)

The World in Black and White: Vintage Prints from the National Geographic Archive

Through October 17th
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Steven Kasher Gallery

521 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011