Frank Gohlke, One Thing and Another @Greenberg

JTF (just the facts): A total of 34 black and white photographic works, variously framed and matted, and hung in the main gallery space and the book alcove. The main exhibit includes 8 diptychs and 10 single images hung in pairs, while the book alcove has 16 single images. (Installation shots at right.)

The works in the show come from the following projects/series. For each, the number of works on view is listed, accompanied by additional print details:

• Ten Minutes in North Texas (5 gelatin silver prints mounted to aluminum, each 53x38, in editions of 5, taken in 1995 and printed in 2011)
• Unpacked (3 pigment prints, each 24x60, in editions of 5, taken in 2008-2009 and printed in 2012)
• Aftermath (3 pairs of 2 gelatin silver prints, each 14x18, edition AP, taken in 1979/1980 and printed in 1980/1982)
• Mt. St. Helens (2 pairs of 2 gelatin silver prints, each 10x24, in editions of 15, taken in 1983/1990 and printed in 1993)
• Grain Elevators (9 gelatin silver prints, ranging from 7x7 to 14x11, taken and printed between 1972 and 1974)
• Landscape/Untitiled (4 gelatin silver prints, ranging from 9x9 to 14x11, taken and printed between 1973 and 1975)
• Untitled (3 Polaroid type 50 series prints as a set, each 3x4, unique, taken and printed in 1971-1972)

Comments/Context: I'm not sure if it is a larger trend or just a quirk of New York gallery scheduling, but this is the third show I've seen in the last month or so that has used paired images to explore the idea of elapsed time in photography. Frank Gohlke's use of this conceptual structure is altogether different than that of Paul Graham and Eve Sonneman however. In contrast to the jump cut, attention shifting jerkiness of these two, Gohlke's images are astonishingly calm and meditative. Time passes in Gohlke's works as well, but it does so deliberately, with ample time for reflection and investigation. The other glaring difference is that both Graham and Sonneman are primarily interested in activites and perceptions of the humans (or themselves), while Gohlke is centered on the evolution of the land.

Aside from a group of vintage grain elevators and other landscapes in the book alcove, all of the works in this show are diptychs or pairs, with varying amounts of time between the first and second images. In both his Mt. St. Helens volanco eruption photographs and in those made in the aftermath of a Witchita Falls tornado, Gohlke turns the usual "before and after" motif on its head, making it "after, and then later". The first image in each pair is a catalog of destruction: blown down trees, piles of ash and deep craters, or houses turned to rubble, roofs ripped off, and neighborhoods decimated. The second image is a story of healing, rebirth, and starting over, years later. New evergreens have sprouted up and craters have silted over, or straight sidewalks and new one story houses have once again become neat and tidy communities. Both man and nature are seen to be remarkably resilient in the face of disaster.

Gohlke's newest pictures shorten the interval between shots down considerably, in one series down to just ten minutes. In these deceptively unassuming images of broad Texas scrublands and prairies, the changes are extremely subtle: the path of the clouds, the wind on the grass, the movement of a river, or the shading of the sunlight. They require patience, and quiet, and contemplation, and they reveal a kind of solemn, pared down poetry of ever shifting tiny details. Their pleasures reside not in the cleverness of their conceptual framework, but in their deep and humble respect for the texture of the land itself.

 

The final set of pairs are a real surpise in the context of Gohlke's photographic history: paper abstractions made from carboard packing boxes. Piled up in clusters and jumbles of angles and geometries, and then alternately seen at different times of day or from slightly different viewpoints, they are intricate puzzles of lines and planes, full of formal realignment and dilation. What started out as a pile of throw away debris clearly turned into a more complicated exercise in photographic seeing.

Gohlke's work has an old school sense of nuance that we seem to be forgetting in these fast paced times. He still values rhythm and lyricism, tempered by thoughtfulness and a sense of history. He continues to look intently at the world around him, eschewing the interruptions and distractions, seeing the details that only come from consistent, sustained attention.

 

Collector's POV: The works in the show are priced as follows. The diptychs from Ten Minutes in North Texas and Unpacked are $10000 each. The pairs of prints from Aftermath are $20000 or $25000, while the pairs of prints from Mt. St. Helens are $10000. The vintage Grain Elevators are $10000 each, while the vintage landscapes are $15000 each. The set of Polaroids is $15000. Gohlke's work has only been intermittently available at auction in recent years. While prices have ranged between $3000 and $6000, this may not be entirely representative of the market for his best work. As such, gallery retail is likely still the best option for those collectors interested in following up.

 

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

 

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Interview: Terrian.org (here)

Frank Gohlke, One Thing and Another
Through May 5th

 

Howard Greenberg Gallery

41 East 57th Street

New York, NY 10022

Auction: Photographie, June 10, 2011 @Van Ham

Later this week in Cologne, Van Ham finishes up the Spring season in Germany with a various owner Photographs sale. As usual, there is a generous selection of lower end German/European material, with a special section of vintage architectural images of Cologne headlined by Werner Mantz and Hugo Schmölz. Overall, there are a total of 398 lots on offer in this sale, with a Total High Estimate of 793380€.

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 383
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 626380€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 15
Total Mid Estimate: 167000€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 0
Total High Estimate: NA
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The top lot by High estimate is lot 1146, Floris Neusüss, Sabine, 1961, at 16000-18000€.

Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by five or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Hugo Schmölz (21)
Albert Renger-Patzsch (16)
Werner Mantz (14)
August Sander (11)
Weegee (7)
Margaret Bourke-White (6)
Brassai (6)
Germaine Krull (6)
Paul Wolff (5)
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(Lot 1035, Joachim Brohm, Franzosische Zeitzone, 1985, at 2800€ , at right, top, lot 1074, Frank Gohlke, Landscape, Moorhead, MN, 1977, at 2800€, at right, bottom, and lot 1149, Arnold Odermatt, Stansstad, 1966/Later, at 2800€, at right, middle, all via Van Ham.)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographie
June 10th
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Van Ham Kunstauktionen
Schönhauser Straße 10 - 16
D - 50968 Köln

Book: Frank Gohlke, Thoughts on Landscape

JTF (just the facts): Published in 2009 by Hol Art Books (here). Subtitled Collected Writings and Interviews. 300 pages. Contains essays, book introductions, interviews, artist statements, lectures, and other writings from 1976-2007. (Cover shot at right, via Amazon.)

Comments/Context: Frank Gohlke's writings are quiet and clear, the record of a photographic life lived with a sense of measured humility and thoughtful attentiveness. The fact that Gohlke has a written voice of genuine eloquence has perhaps gone unnoticed by many during his long career, as his careful words have been intermittently scattered between descriptions and interrogations of his own work and acute observations of the work of friends, students and colleagues. This volume gathers together the photographer's varied writings over a period of three decades, and provides a chronological history of the progression and evolution of his artistic thinking.

What I found most interesting in these consistently articulate writings was the underlying and ongoing process of Gohlke searching for meaning in the intersection of humanity and nature. While Gohlke was included in the now famous New Topographics exhibit, his personal explorations of the meaning of the land around him across his career go far beyond the implications of the "man-altered landscape". As these writings reveal, every one of his projects comes back to the same central subject: the patient and affectionate study of the roots of the landscape, trying to understand its subtleties and nuances with intelligence and gratitude.

In each successive essay, Gohlke's world view can be seen changing, becoming synthesized and transformed by intersections and refinements of ideas. His famous grain elevators start out as studies of structure and surface, but soon become investigations of function, space and the relationships between society and the land. Images of the aftereffects of a tornado in his North Texas hometown document patterns of erasure and rebuilding. His pictures of the land surrounding the Mount St. Helens volcano investigate the power of nature and the scale of destruction with the sympathetic eyes of a combination artist/scientist. And his intimate study of the less than glamorous Sudbury River asks hard questions about our actual understanding of the land around us and its history. In every case, we see Gohlke approaching his subject with intellectual rigor. What is really going on in this particular landscape? What do its surface clues tell us about its underlying structure? What are the relationships between the people and the geography and how can they be manifested in an image? He treats the land with respect and dignity, and asks his questions with both conviction and optimism. Each project represents a set of decisions, a sense of going deeper into a meaningful conversation with the world around him.

I also found Gohlke's reflections on his life as an artist to be personal and insightful. He expresses genuine excitement in his discovery of photography and his subsequent freedom from a life of academia. His story moves through several different cities and towns, as well as a parallel journey of figuring out how to be an artist and which creative paths to follow. All along the way, he proves to be a person who is thinking deeply and maturely about his craft, its connections to his own individual history, and its place in the larger society of humanity.

After reading these essays, I only wish Gohlke had written more, especially about other artists. His introductions, prefaces, and reviews of the work various other photographers are incisive and graceful, getting underneath superficial surface observations into more thoughtful and nuanced readings of intention and execution; he paid attention and drew insightful and original conclusions.

As a collector, this terrific book is a good reminder that there are no short-cuts to understanding the motives for photography. One must look, and look again, and then actively think, and think again, before we can even hope to understand. Frank Gohlke has made a career out of this kind of steady, persistent looking, and his work and writings teach us to calm down, engage our brains, and see what the landscape around us really has to say.

Collector’s POV: Frank Gohlke is represented by Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York (here). Prices for his works (both vintage and more recent) have ranged between $4000-7500 at retail and between $3000-6000 at auction, although very few of his best works have come up for sale in the secondary markets in past few years. We have two images from Gohlke's 1970's grain elevator series in our collection (here).

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Reviews: Design Observer (here), The Online Photographer (here), Englewood Review of Books (here)

Frank Gohlke and Joel Sternfeld @Queens College, CUNY

JTF (just the facts): A total of 58 images, taken in 2003 and 2004, framed in blond frames, hung throughout the 3 floors and basement of Hortense Powdermaker Hall (the main classroom building at Queens College). Images are printed in two different sizes: large (approximately 4x5 feet) and small (approximately 8x10 inches). The total group seems to be divided generally equally between the two artists. Gohlke's works are gelatin silver prints; Sternfeld's are C-prints. The entire exhibit was commissioned by the college. (Various installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: With the kids and their mother packed off for an afternoon at the grandparent's house, I found myself with a few free hours this weekend and decided to head down to Queens to see the Gohlke/Sternfeld show at Queens College. After parking my car and finding my way through campus to Powdermaker Hall, I was ready to see the combined effort of these two great photographers, part of which I had already seen at the Gohlke show at Howard Greenberg last summer (original review here).

I pulled one of the side doors open and wandered into the building, hoping to find a sign or some other pointer to where the images were hung. No such luck. The building was completely and entirely empty, not a single person anywhere (a few classrooms were inhabited but no random people hanging out), the linoleum echoing as I clicked down the hallways. Powdermaker Hall is roughly shaped like a fork, with three tines, and I finally found my way to the center where I discovered a lone security guard. Along the way, I had spied a couple of photographs, hung in puzzling locations, often by themselves, and indeed these were part of the exhibition. I told the guard that I was here to see the photography show and inquired about where the images were, if there was a map or other literature etc. She looked at me like I had just asked her when the next shuttle to the moon was leaving. Finally she just laughed and said that the pictures were all over the building and that I should start up on the third floor and work my way down.

So I trudged up the stairwell and worked my way down to the end of one long hall to what I thought seemed like a good place to start. Again, there were no other people there. It was completely deserted, the white press board walls lit with buzzing fluorescent lights (eerie installation shot at right), the epitome of soul sapping institutional architecture. I felt like I had a stepped into a Haruki Murakami novel; who knew when some odd person might arrive and lead me to another dimension.

So to be clear, this is not an "exhibition" in the normal sense of the word. The works are spread all over this massive classroom building, sometimes alone, often in pairs or groups, but without any pattern to their display. You often need to walk a good distance (perhaps a minute or two of steady walking) between pictures. Seeing the entire show is like going on a scavenger hunt. I found 56 of the 58 works that are supposedly in the show; where the other two are remains a mystery, as I think I did a pretty systematic search. Probably three quarters of the wall labels have been removed by vandals (a few business cards have been stuck in as replacements), so while you can tell who made the images (black and white = Gohlke, color = Sternfeld), there often isn't any other information available. The discouraging state of this exhibit is exemplified by the image at right: an amazing Gohlke photograph, with the glass broken and the wall label gone.

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So far I have spent the entire body of this review talking about the environment and not the art, and unfortunately, the staging of these works is so distracting that it is hard to get any complete view of the commission. With so much space between the works, the interrelationships and patterns are hard to discern (was this Sternfeld like a Gohlke I saw up on the third floor? What does this large Sternfeld have to do with the small ones in the basement? etc.). I truly wonder what any student, blowing by on the way to class, can gather from these photographs given the way they are installed.

That said, Gohlke has focused his camera primarily on single family homes and snippets of nature, finding patterns in fences and ironwork, door frames and brick. His images are angled, standing outside, looking in at an evolving neighborhood. The front door portraits that have been enlarged to the big print size are striking, crisp in detail and dense with information.

Sternfeld's images are much more interested in the cultural melting pot that is Queens. All of his works are straight, frontal shots, accenting bold colors, multilingual signage and unusual building styles, often populated with a diverse set of locals staring directly into the lens. Koreans, Bolivians, Muslims and a variety of other ethnicities, nationalities, and religions are represented and mashed together, often with his signature subtle hint of irony hiding underneath. Again, the large prints hold their own better in this environment. (Large print near the elevators at right.)

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Together, the works of Gohlke and Sternfeld tell a surprisingly rich and successful picture of Queens. If these works were hung in a museum, they would likely expose many more contrasts than they do here in these empty halls.
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Frank Gohlke's artist site is here. He is represented by Howard Greeenberg Gallery (here).

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Joel Sternfeld is represented by Luhring Augustine (here).

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Collector's POV: While I was bit slow in coming to understand and appreciate these Gohlke images, evidenced by my struggles with the Greenberg show, given some time and a second look, I think many of the images of homes and their barriers are quite strong. This was my first look at the Sternfeld body of work, and I believe there are a handful of excellent pictures here as well, especially if printed in the large format, where the complexities of the color relationships are more apparent. While the work in this show merits at least two stars, the Where's Waldo installation makes this a show for only the most devoted fans.

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

Frank Gohlke and Joel Sternfeld

(permanent commission)

Queens College, CUNY

65-30 Kissena Boulevard

Flushing, NY 11367

Frank Gohlke: Where We Live - Queens, New York 2003-2004 @Greenberg

JTF (just the facts): 20 images of Queens, New York, in the main gallery. (See image at right, copyright held by artist.) Images are 20x24 (or the reverse), in editions of 15, most taken in 2003 and printed in 2008. A group of vintage material from the 1970s and 80s, entitled Frank Gohlke: Houses, is found in the smaller gallery with bookshelves. There are 11 images in this gallery.

Comments/Context: Going into this show, I was really primed to like it. We have been fans of Gohlke's work for many years now and have two images from the 1970's grain elevator series in our collection (see here). I had actually stuck the opening announcement card up on a bulletin board in our house, so as not to forget to see the exhibit.

So it was surprise for me to find, after wandering around the gallery a time or two, that I was underwhelmed. The introductory wall text (written by Gohlke) referred to the idea of "urban tomography", where an image of the city would be assembled "in slices" (like the medical instrument does). This seemed to me to be another example of obtuse, overly analytical artist-speak. So I looked carefully again and again, hoping one or more images would jump off the wall at me. But they just stayed there, showing me quiet moments, of semi-suburban houses and street corners (with very few people, if any) in mixed neighborhoods. These are very well made pictures, with precise framing and meticulous printing, but I couldn't, in the moment of seeing them for the first time, get my head around why this point of view mattered, and whether it had already been done before.

It seems this project was a commission by Queens College, where Gohlke and his friend Joel Sternfeld made a proposal to work in conjunction (where and when Sternfeld's views of these same streets will surface isn't known by me). So later that night, I started to think more about where I might have seen this work "before" (especially since he was a member of the original New Topographics exhibit) and where it might fit into a more historical context. After a quick dash over the bookshelves at home, I came up with half a dozen potentials to compare with the recent Queens work:

• Robert Adams, 1970s images of Colorado from The New West: Adams' images are much harder, with much more comment built in on the harshness of suburbanization. Gohlke's Queens pictures are softer and more assimilating. Not a great match.
• Lewis Baltz, late 1960s/early 1970s images from Tract Houses: Baltz' work is also harder, with more geometry and fragmentation. Gohlke's images are more inclusive and less about pattern (although a few have fencing/latticework that provides visual interest). Not a great match.
• John Divola, contemporary images from Isolated Houses: Divola's large color images speak very much to isolation (hence their title I'm sure). Gohlke's work seems to be more community-oriented. Not a great match.
• Joel Sternfeld, early 1980s images from American Prospects: Sternfeld's work has much more narrative going on, with people carefully placed and a edge of wry humor. The narrative in Gohlke's work is much more subtle. Not a great match.
• Lee Friedlander, contemporary images from Sticks and Stones: While there are some somewhat comparable images in this group, no one would ever mistake Friedlander's flattened picture planes and patterns for the Gohlke work. Not a great match.
• Henry Wessel, 1990s images from Real Estate Photographs: Wessel's images of homes in Richmond, CA, taken with a straight forward approach seem to be closer in terms of noting how a community evolves its own look and feel. But they lack the tenderness that Gohlke has brought to the Queens pictures. Closer, but still not a great match.
• Stephen Shore, mid 1970s images from Uncommon Places: Shore's work of houses in this series, although in color, was the closest I could find in terms of aesthetic approach and overall tone.

So I found myself, standing in the living room, having exhausted my avenues of exploration (who did I miss?), slowing coming to the conclusion that there may have been more to these Gohlke pictures of Queens than I originally gave them credit for. While they fit into a larger context of work about suburbanization, assimilation, and Americanization, they are quieter (less showy), with more emphasis on community, and more generally positive than any of the other work I have identified. Certainly, they make sense in the context of the rest of his career. And maybe this "urban tomography" idea wasn't so ridiculous after all. These images, taken together, provide an interesting window into Queens (and into America more generally), even if they aren't as earth shaking in my view when taken as individual images.

So go and see this show before it closes. And don't to the hit-and-run flyby we are all apt to do once in a while. Take the time to be patient with the work and allow it to bring you in.

Collector's POV: Gohlke is generally under appreciated by collectors I think. The new images in this exhibit are retailing for $4000, with the vintage material in the other room ranging from $4000-7500. At auction in the past few years, Gohlke's pictures have found their way to a range of about $3000-6000, although there haven't been too many sold, and not many were his best images, so perhaps it is hard to plot a line from so few data points. The travelling retrospective of his work Accommodating Nature currently at the CCP, having started at the Amon Carter Museum, will likely increase the interest in his work.

The catalog from this retrospective show should go on your Essential Reference list, as should Measure of Emptiness, which focuses on the grain elevators.

Rating: * (1 star) GOOD (rating system defined here)

Frank Gohlke: Where We Live
Through August 22nd

Howard Greenberg Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022