30/09/00

The Hasselblad Calendar 2001 - a gallery of photographic masterpieces

The Hasselblad Calendar 2001 - a gallery of photographic masterpieces

At the photokina 2000 exhibition, Hasselblad presents the forthcoming Hasselblad Calendar 2001. Its new concept and format is embodied in a fresh and contemporary graphic design. The primary aim of the carefully selected pictures is to present excellent photography that reflects current interest and creates a lasting impression on the viewer. The calendar will no doubt strongly appeal to both photographers and others interested in the visual arts. 

The calendar contains just over 40 images of various sizes, in colour as well as black & white, representing many fields of application without being linked under a specific theme. 

The Hasselblad Calendar 2001 presents the work of twelve highly skilled photographers, hailing from different parts of the world, all with various backgrounds and photographic styles. The majority are well established of worldwide repute, but the calendar also presents a number of up-and-coming photographers, with a fresh and exciting approach to photography. 

The photographers participating in the Hasselblad Calendar 2001 are: 
Anton Corbijn / England, Bernhard Edmaier / Germany, Isabel Muñoz / Spain, Hans van Ommeren / Holland, Mario Cravo Neto / Brazil, Michael Grecco / USA, Matilda Lindeblad / Sweden, Ian Patrick / France, Per Nagel / Denmark, Phyllis Galembo / USA, Howard Schatz / USA and Xie Mo / China. 

The chosen photographers, known as the Hasselblad Masters, will each be the subject of an in depth feature article released by Hasselblad on a monthly basis, starting with Anton Corbijn in October 2000. 

Victor Hasselblad AB, Göteborg, Sweden 

17/09/00

James Abbe Photographer, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk

James Abbe Photographer
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
June 23 - November 5, 2000

James Abbe Photographer -- currently on view at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia -- is the first American retrospective to feature the work of the international photographer. A native of nearby Newport News, James Abbe (1883-1973) made a name for himself photographing stars of the stage and cinema in New York, Paris, and London in the 1920s and '30s. He also traveled throughout Europe as an early photojournalist recording the turbulent power struggles of the early 20th century.

Many of his singular black-and-white images are portraits of famous celebrities that capture the "lure of the limelight." Rather than working in his studio, Abbe photographed actors -- including Charlie Chaplin, Tyrone Power, Gloria Swanson, and Josephine Baker -- in full costume on the stage. His unconventional technique set him apart from his contemporaries, and led him to effectively revolutionize the art of publicity stills. His silvery photographs capture the surreal quality of the makeup and lighting that is so unique to silent movies. While the stars used his sophisticated images for publicity purposes, James Abbe also sold his photographs to popular magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, making him an early catalyst for media-induced celebrity.

In addition to his portraiture of the famous, James Abbe's impressive portfolio includes coverage of the Spanish Civil War and the Nazi's rise in Germany during the 1930s. He photographed all of the notorious European leaders of the time, and in 1928 and 1932 he documented events taking place inside the Soviet Union. His famous portrait of Joseph Stalin was used to stop widespread rumors that the Soviet leader was dead. His book entitled I Photograph Russia was published in 1934.

While working in Europe, James Abbe traveled constantly and called himself "the tramp photographer." He submitted his work to major publications such as London Magazine, the Berliner Illustrire Zeitung, and the French magazine VU. These periodicals were early prototypes of LIFE Magazine in that they featured lengthy stories with multiple illustrations that came to be known as "candids." As an early practitioner of documentary reportage, James Abbe was a trendsetter.

A catalogue accompanies the exhibition with texts by Brooks Johnson, curator of photography at the Chrysler Museum of Art, and Terence Pepper, curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART
245 West Olney Road, Norfolk, VA 23510

15/09/00

Andy Warhol series and singles - Fondation Beyeler


L’exposition « Andy Warhol - series and singles » se penche sur le principe génératif marquant de la série et retrace, avec plus d’une centaine d’œuvres exposées, l’ensemble de la création de cet artiste, dessinant une courbe impressionnante. Les tableaux les plus significatifs des principales séries (series) entretiennent ici un dialogue fécond avec de remarquables œuvres isolées (singles).
L’exposition suit le cheminement des six différents ateliers new yorkais de Warhol. Le Townhouse préside à la naissance des tableaux de comics et de biens de consommation peints à la main, à celle des images schématiques des séries Do It Yourself et Close Cover Before Striking ainsi qu’aux premières sérigraphies photographiques. Au Firehouse, un loft sans chauffage, Warhol a réalisé les séries de grand format Disaster et celle des œuvres argentées. La Factory bien connue n’a pas seulement servi de lieu de rendez-vous à l’avant-garde : c’est également là que les grandes séries de Jackie, Flowers et boxes, ainsi que les célèbres Marilyns ont vu le jour. Dans les années 1970, les ateliers d’Andy Warhol témoignent de ses réflexions sur une peinture expressive, tandis que les années 1980 sont essentiellement celles de sa propre rétrospective, des tableaux de poudre de diamant ainsi qu’à la série du Last Supper, à connotation religieuse.
Les premiers films intégrés dans cette exposition, comme Screen Tests, Empire, Blow Job, Kiss, Couch etc., grâce auxquels  Andy Warhol a laissé son nom dans l’histoire du cinéma, montrent à quel point ces deux moyens d’expression n’ont cessé de se nourrir mutuellement à travers toute son oeuvre.
Les oeuvres prêtées pour cette exposition, qui a pour commissaire Georg Frei, co-éditeur du catalogue raisonné de Warhol, proviennent d’importantes collections privées et des plus grands musées internationaux d’Europe, d’Amérique, d’Australie et du Japon. On pourra également admirer des œuvres longtemps considérées comme perdues ou qui n’ont plus été présentées au public depuis une trentaine d’années.
L’exposition Warhol coïncide avec l’inauguration des nouveaux locaux de la Fondation Beyeler. Les nouvelles salles semblent faites sur mesure pour rendre justice à l’importance de la série Disaster, qui comporte un certain nombre d’œuvres de grand format.
Catalogue: Andy Warhol - series and singles. Essais de Ernst Beyeler, Georg Frei, Peter Gidal et Edward Sanders. 210 pages, 106 ill. couleur. Edition allemande / anglaise, DuMont Verlag Cologne, 2000, 58.- CHF édition brochée.

Exposition Andy Warhol — series and singles
Fondation Beyeler
17 septembre - 31 décembre 2000
Heures d’ouverture : du lundi au dimanche de 10h00 à 18h00, le mercredi jusqu’à 20h00.
Fermé les 24 et 25 décembre
Entrée : CHF 15.- et CHF 11.-, 5.- (tarifs réduits)

10/09/00

Rebecca Lewis, Büro für Fotos, Cologne - South Park

Rebecca Lewis: South Park
Büro für Fotos, Cologne
8 September - 21 October 2000

Highway Nine goes through the state of Colorado. It stretches along the foot of the Rocky Mountains and bisects the valley of South Park - a magical, neglected nowhere in the middle of the western United States. In the fall of 1999, on assignment from the magazine The Face, London-based photographer REBECCA LEWIS spent five days in the place that lent its name to that cult cartoon created by two guys from Denver.

Of the typically American, one-horse towns you find in the region--such as Alma and Fairplay--one of the cartoonists said, "A very specific kind of person lives in South Park. In many ways, you don't get more isolated than these people get. Unless you actually live in the area, there's not a single, solitary reason for you to be there."These oddly assorted remnants of the Gold Rush, towns that own up to their outsider status, where your next-door neighbor might be a bear or a wolf, are still each imbued with much local color.

Rebecca Lewis got to know a few of the inhabitants; personalities to whom the characters in South Park owe many thanks. Her investigation, "What is South Park" begins where a new world began: a car trip away from the big city to a valley in the Rocky Mountains where buildings--some abandoned--wrestle with the wilderness and echoes of wilder times, where cars and vending machines punctuate zones larded with signs and symbols, where the inhabitants have either just arrived or lived here for an eternity. There is reticence and restraint in the faces of these men, but they also possess a capacity for stubbornness and comical high-spirits. Most folks who live in a place like South Park have crazy-quilt histories, sewn of parts that have little to do with each other, yet Lewis's photographs provide us with clues to solve the often-tragic puzzles of their lives.

The exhibition at Büro für Fotos shows fifteen works from Rebecca Lewis's South Park series.

Rebecca Lewis was born in 1970 on the Isles of Scilly and studied from 1995-98 at the London College of Printing, graduating with honors and a BA in photography. Her work on the London Mod scene, some of which was shown in her first exhibition at Büro für Fotos (6 March - 10 April 1999), earned her runner-up prize of the Observer Hodge Award. She lives and works in London.

BURO FUR FOTOS
Ewaldistraße 5, 50670 Köln
www.burofurfotos.de

Kathrin Van Dyke & Nancy Rexroth, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco - New Paintings & Iowa. Photographs (1970-1976)

Kathrin Van Dyke: New Paintings
Nancy Rexroth: Iowa. Photographs (1970-1976)
Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco
September 6 - 30, 2000

The STEPHEN WIRTZ GALLERY presents exhibitions of photographs by NANCY REXROTH and new paintings by KATHRYN VAN DYKE.

In the main gallery, are exhibited the intimate, vintage black & white photographs from Nancy Rexroth's series, IOWA. Rexroth used a "Diana" camera (a plastic toy camera) for this six-year long project. These selenium and gold toned prints are vignettes that unlock the Midwestern atmospheres of her childhood. Nancy Rexroth discovered the Iowa of the past in the Ohio of the present where she currently resides. Her photographs are subjective and autobiographical, finding children in the act of flying, old white houses that wave and shutter, and her mother.

NANCY REXROTH (b.1946, Washington, D.C.) has had numerous solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Her photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, among others. Rexroth was represented by Light Gallery in New York during the 70's and 80's.

In the small gallery, new, richly textured paintings by KATHRYN VAN DYKE are exhibited. Van Dyke was the recent recipient of the SECA Art Award (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, an auxiliary of SFMOMA) and will have an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in February 2001.

Kathryn Van Dyke's interests lie in structure, texture, form, and color. She seeks contradictory spaces and multiple perspectives. For instance, she has painted a number of works using metallic paint resulting in the surface shifting and changing according to the viewer's perspective. Her juxtapositions create situations and forms that are unstable, ephemeral. In her painting she looks for a kind of disorientation, followed by a reorientation into a place that we have never seen but that is familiar to us.

KATHRYN VAN DYKE (b.1957, Wisconsin) received her M.F.A. from Yale School of Art in 1993. Her work has been in numerous shows including the "1997 Bay Area Now show" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and more recently at The Lab and Four Walls.

STEPHEN WIRTZ GALLERY
49 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
www.wirtzgallery.com

08/09/00

Ian Dawson: Sculpture, James Cohan Gallery, NYC

Ian Dawson: Sculpture
James Cohan Gallery, New York
September 3 - October 7, 2000

James Cohan Gallery presents the first U.S. exhibition of British artist Ian Dawson.

Ian Dawson creates large-scale sculptures from everyday, mass-produced plastic objects. Plastic chairs, crates, bins, buckets, hangers and tubs are transformed and reconfigured by the exposure to intense heat. The notion of entropy is evident in the work, as Ian Dawson asserts, "I build and destroy in one neat cycle."

"There is something very physical about putting fire to a petrochemical substance and then seeing the chemical reaction. It was the weird science of seeing a molecular structure being altered before your eyes that really got me into melting," says Ian Dawson, who completed his studies at London's Royal College of Art in 1993.

For Ian Dawson there is an ambiguous position between painting and sculpture, echoing Abstract Expressionism and the meltdown ready-made. The result is often a mass of colorful, molten conglomerations that can measure seven feet high. There is a further reading of the work in its
play between violence and beauty, and the apocalyptic and the lyrical. Like a Pollock drip painting, the eye is kept in constant motion.

James Cohan Gallery also exhibits several of Ian Dawson's Spirograph drawings. Using the commercially popular toy of the late 1960s and 1970s, these large works are executed on meticulously prepared surfaces. In contrast to the sculptures these drawings, emblematic and mechanical, further exemplify Ian Dawson's interest in structure and its dematerialization.

JAMES COHAN GALLERY
533 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001

04/09/00

Restructuring of Nikon in the United States - October 1, 2000

Establishment of new companies and strengthening the holding company- Restructuring of the subsidiaries in the United States
Nikon Corporation (YOSHIDA, Shoichiro president) will divide Nikon Inc., sales and marketing subsidiary in the United States, and separate both the Instrument Division (including the Surveying Department) and the Eyewear Department from it to establish two independent sales and marketing subsidiaries.
Nikon Inc. will remain as sales and marketing subsidiary for the imaging products including the sports and recreational optics.
The new companies will start operation from the coming October. This separation is in line with the in-house company structure which has been introduced at Nikon Corporation last October, and aims to further complete the integrated system of full authority and responsibilities for each product business sector and promote the decentralized management.
At the same time of this change, three companies function of financing as well as tax-related operation like consolidated tax payment will be centralized to Nikon Americas Inc., holding company established in 1981, which will strengthen such function and broaden its operation.
Outline of the new companies

Name of company: Nikon Instruments Inc.

Head office: Melville, New York

Representative: HIRAI, Takeshi President & CEO

Principal business: sales, marketing and after-sales service of microscope, measuring instrument, inspection instrument, surveying instrument in the North and South America

Start of operation October 1, 2000

Name of company: Nikon Eyewear Inc.

Head office: Melville, New York

Representative: HANAGATA, Masaki President

Principal business: sales, marketing and after-sales service of eyeglass frames in the United States

Start of operation: October 1, 2000

Outline of the holding company effective October 1, 2000

Name of company: Nikon Americas Inc.

Head office: Melville, New York

Representative: FUKUCHI, Hideo President & CEO

Principal business:

  1. Integrated financing in the United States
  2. Consolidated tax payment
  3. Coordination of new business in the United States which any in-house company does not cover
  4. Publicity including the IR
  5. Legal matters such as brand protection

Subsidiaries:

  • Nikon Precision Inc.
  • Nikon Research Corp. of America
  • Nikon Inc. Nikon Instruments Inc.
  • Nikon Eyewear Inc.

Outline of Nikon Inc. effective October 1, 2000

Name of company: Nikon Inc.

Head office: Melville, New York

Representative: ABRAMS, Jack President & CEO

Principal business: sales, marketing and after-sales service of photo imaging products and sports and recreational optics in the North and South America

The information is current as of the date of publication : (c) Nikon - Investor Relation News - 04.09.2000

01/09/00

Ilya Kabakov at The Contemporary, Atlanta

Ilya Kabakov
The Contemporary, Atlanta
September 9 - October 21, 2000


ILYA KABAKOV emerged from the tight-knit underground community of dissident artists in Moscow in the 1980s into one of the most celebrated international artists of the 1990s. Expatriated from Russia, Ilya Kabakov lives primarily in New York and creates installations (often involving extensive narrative texts written by him) in museums and exhibitions.

Ilya Kabakov has shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (The Bridge, 1995) and in the Venice Biennale (The Red Pavilion, 1993 and We Were in Kyoto, 1997). He focuses on the tiniest scraps that one encounters in the ordinary course of a day—a crumpled gum wrapper, a bent nail, a snapshot or a common postcard. His paintings, stories and installations are fantastic tales, provoked in this way by the trivialities of daily experience.

Ilya Kabakov’s installation The Boat of My Life, addresses his flight from the Nazis to Samarkand at the age of 9 with his parents as well as his internal exile. It also speaks to the persecutions of a "Jewish national" within postwar Russia, and his emigration to New York in the spring of 1988 at the beginning of the Cold War thaw. The show was organized by Jonathan Fineberg, Professor of Art History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is accompanied by a catalogue.

THE CONTEMPORARY, ATLANTA
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
535 Means Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318
thecontemporary.org