Julian Faulhaber, Tulips @Hasted Kraeutler

Still working my way through the summer backlog.
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JTF (just the facts): A total of 8 large scale color works, framed in white and unmatted, and hung against white walls in the back room of the gallery. All of the works are Lambda prints, sized 32x47 or reverse. The images in the show were made in 2011, and are available in editions of 3. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Earlier this year, the New York Times commissioned the German photographer Julian Faulhaber to make images of the spring time ritual of blossoming tulips in Holland (the article can be found here). Countless tourists visit the farms and fields each year to witness the riots of color, and the endless rows of bright flowers have become a post card cliche.

Faulhaber's novel way into this subject was to take to the air and make abstract aerial shots of the fields themselves, cropping out the surroundings and sky to focus solely on the fragmented lines of color. The result is a set of images that are dramatically striped and linear, where variations of orientation and angle (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal) create rhythmic geometric patterns. It is a reductionist approach, turning the strict rigidity of agriculture into simple arrays of pigment, the texture of the tulips creating a mottled surface not unlike ribbons and bands of pastel.

Faulhaber is not the first to employ an aerial vantage point when looking at the flatness of the Dutch countryside; Gerco de Ruijter has made related images using a kite camera. The difference here is the emphasis on painterly color, and on how the rows of vibrant tulips can be transformed into delicate, perfectly straight lines when seen from afar. Instead of opting for the obvious and saccharine, Faulhaber has highlighted the intensity and exacting rigor of this surprisingly unnatural visual spectacle.
 

Collector's POV: Each of the works in this show is priced at either $6000 or $7000 (likely a ratcheting edition price). Since Faulhaber's prints have little secondary market history, gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

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

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)

Julian Faulhaber, Tulips
Through August 19th

Hasted Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Julian Faulhaber, Lowdensitypolyethylene II @Hasted Hunt Kraeutler

JTF (just the facts): A total of 11 large scale color works, unframed and hung against white walls in the three front rooms of the gallery. All of the prints are digital Lambda prints, mounted on aluminum Reynobond and covered with white plexi. Sizes range from roughly 32x26 to 47x60. The works in the show were made between 2005 and 2010, and all of the prints are available in editions of 7. An unrelated show of 11 black and white fashion images by Richard Avedon is on display in the back gallery. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: German photographer Julian Faulhaber's images of futuristic candy-colored architectural details capture unexpected places in the moment before they are actually put into use. Before the wear and tear has begun, before we ordinary humans inadvertently scratch the paint, scuff the floors, and dent the walls, Faulhaber has documented these malls, parking garages, and locker rooms in their pristine, antiseptic perfection.

While these locations will all eventually be high-traffic public spaces, in Faulhaber's world, there is a chilling unreality in their current emptiness, their vivid colors and super cleanliness full of expectant optimism. Fragments of parking meters, toll booths, merchandise racks and cabinets have become abstracted, eye-popping compositions, reminiscent of the pared down diorama effect in the work of Thomas Demand or Josef Schulz. They have an air of utopian purity, an unblemished, disinfected clarity that hopes for an immaculate and uncontaminated time to come.

Unfortunately, life is altogether a messy affair and these dreamlike spaces will soon be less than extra perfect (as an aside, it might be intriguing to pair these works with some of Brian Ulrich's images of end of the line malls to see the before/after contrast more sharply). As such, these pictures work on a couple of levels: as vibrant, decorative architectural abstractions and as more subtle commentaries on the difference between the streamlined future we imagine for ourselves and the actual, rougher truth.

Collector's POV: All of the works in this show are priced in rising editions. Most start at $7500 and continue to $10000, depending on the place in the edition. Two of the smaller works range between $5500-8000 and $6500-9000 respectively. Faulhaber's prints have not yet made their way to the secondary markets, so no pricing history is readily available. As such, gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point. An earlier piece from this same series was also included in the Reality Check show at the Met in 2008 (here).

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

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Reviews: New York (here), Conscientious (here), Artforum, 2007 (here)
• Profile: Foam (here)

Julian Faulhaber, Lowdensitypolyethylene II
Through June 26th

Hasted Hunt Kraeutler
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011