Happy Holidays and New Year!

Holy Shit!

During this annual holiday season, one can find some of the most outrageous and ridiculous shopping window decorations here in New York. I would like to share my personal top three with you: polar bear Knut-look-alike sniffing the Virgin, Nutcrackers amongst lingerie, as well as a x-mas tree made of neckties. Hmmmm.
(click on image to enlarge)

T Magazine Blog (New York Times)

Just a brief note in regards to my commercial work: the New York Times' T Magazine used one of my portraits of Richard Phillip in a recent post on their blog.

Holiday Extravaganza

A friend, who works for the New York office of the German magazine Stern, invited us to tonight's Holiday Extravaganza, co-hosted by the before-mentioned magazine and Magnum, the famous New York photo agency, at DUMBO's powerHouse Arena. Magnum launched its new book titled ... uhm ... "Magnum Magnum". And of course, it's another heavy-weight coffee table book (if you even have space for the required size of coffee table in your New York apartment). Is there some sort of arms race going on between publishing houses? Couldn't we just hand Taschen the crown for most ridiculous book formats?

Anyway. Stern hosted what the magazine called its First Annual Photo Forum, which basically consisted of a continuous slide show of images by invited photographers on large flat screen monitors. Unfortunately, it was merely a back-drop for the drinking and elbow-rubbing in the Arena. Nothing spoke of "holiday" (except for the light snowfall outside the large windows) and very little seemed truly extravagant. It was just another typical New York event with lots of people drinking free booze. Prost! Yup.

Well, it was nice to see a friend, though. That's what really matters anyway, right?

Review: New Photography 2007?

On Sunday, I went to the MoMA to see the showcasing of the museum's annual New Photography, recently acquired works of "emerging" photographers. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to admit, it was rather disappointing.

First, there is Tanyth Berkeley. One cannot help to feel uncomfortable looking at these images. Not that the people who she portraits are more odd than the rest of us New Yorkers, but Berkeley seems to pick her models for specific traits, like extreme paleness, skinny bodies or a certain gender ambiguity. It is her close distance from which she shots, the collapsing of personal space, that makes looking at these apparently voluntarily posing models such an disquieting task. I assume the examples of Diane Arbus' work in the next room are no coincidence.

Then, there is a strong trend in current photography -- started, or at least co-started, like many other trends in this medium by the Becher School "Strufskys" -- where several images are digitally seamlessly combined into one. Although some of these photographers are more successful in doing so (e.g. see Beate Gütschow's intriguing landscapes), in most instances nothing new is gained by this digital practice. Sure, it's another inquiry into the truthfulness of photography -- with some admittedly perplexing results -- but the arguments about the manipulation of reality remain the same. So, when Scott McFarland shows a garden scene in which he photographed the same location during different seasons and edited them into one view, with fall-colored trees and spring blossoms side by side, one cannot help but feel somewhat indifferent about it.

In the end, I was most drawn to the quiet, pensive and rather sensual images of Berni Searle, depicting a woman in a huge pile of what appears to be grape skins. She photographed the woman in different places within the pile and then combined the images to form a continuous wave of piles from one frame to another. The beauty of these images along with their allusions to various contemporary issues makes this series a generous invitation to linger, look and contemplate.

New York's first snow this season

Central Park, NYC (12/02/2007)

Last Chance: "mixed messages" in DUMBO

Okay, this is the final weekend for "mixed messages". If you haven't seen it yet, this is your last chance. At least for 2007. ;) The gallery will be open on Thursday from noon until 8 pm, as well as Friday and Saturday from noon until 6 pm. I hope you can make it. And please feel free to share your feedback about my work here. In any case, thank you for your interest and support!

Also still available: my book "Critical Distance" (2007). It's a signed limited edition of 50. You can get it at the gallery or directly through me.

Safe-T-Gallery
111 Front Street
Suite 214
DUMBO/Brooklyn
T: 718.782.5920

Artists Meeting Website

The new website for the artists group, simply called Artists Meeting, is up and running. I am co-founder and member of this collective. It has been an interesting and productive experience so far and I look forward to more of the same next year. Please check out the website and keep an eye open for our group projects.

Artists Meeting

Tim Griffin

I'd like to quote Tim Griffin who expressed so eloquently -- in the context of an article on Paul Chan's staging of "Waiting for Godot" in New Orleans (Artforum, 12/2007, p.51) -- what so many of us feel and seek: "In light of a booming market whose culture of investment is continually eclipsing any sense of art's speaking meaningfully to society at large, and against the backdrop of political developments whose increasing gravity only underscores that diminished relationship, many artists are seeking venues beyond the conventional circuitry of the art world (and scutling any vestiges of the myth of art's autonomy) to obtain a renewed sense of relevance and consequence in practice. Art is, it seems, in want of a little airing out." However, most artists' reality is too precarious, of course, to afford them before-mentioned "outside" opportunities. So, we grudgingly keep breathing the stale air for a bit longer. Perhaps, all the Tim Griffins in the art world can open some windows.

This (shopping) Season ...

The turkey sandwiches are still occupying the refrigerators, and yet, this week was the official opening of the (next) holiday season, complete with lighting of x-mas trees, music and ridiculous looking Santas & co. But of course, all this is simply dress-up for the biggest shopping season of the year. Reading the signs ... well ... and the newspapers, one gets the sense that the holiday spirit is desperately prayed for but not really shared on Wall Street and in the White House. It seems only consumer spending will pull the US out of the slump, and thus, save the country and world from a recession. And while hedge-fond managers and their entourage already got their excessive holiday bonuses and are on their way to Art Basel Miami Beach to spend it and party, the rest of us eat warmed-up turkey and listen to motivational tapes. Yeah, we can do it! Spend all your money and more! Apropos, some people seem desperate enough for cash that they offer their kids in special stores, as seen here (pic above) on the Upper West Side.