31/03/01

Annika von Hausswolff, Victoria Miro Gallery, London - Spöke

Annika von Hausswolff: Spöke
Victoria Miro Gallery, London
28 March - 12 May 2001

The Victoria Miro Gallery presents for the first time the work of Swedish artist Annika von Hausswolff. Spöke (Ghost) 2000, consists of five colour photographs of a nearly empty house as well as an installation of every day objects - chairs, fire extinguishers, a carpet, a pot plant. Until recently von Hausswolff's work has reflected the human body, more often than not expressing signs of damage and exploitation. In Spöke the body is absent altogether and the viewer is left with mere traces of human presence - a coil of electrical cords, a ceiling lamp, a pair of shoes, a flesh-coloured bra in an empty closet. These carefully staged tableaux are heavy with narratives of violence and mystery. Much of the tension in her photographs relies on their visual resemblance to documentary photography and photographs of reconstructed crimes. As a viewer you feel something has happened but exactly what remains unclear.

Born in 1967 in Göteborg, ANNIKA VON HAUSSWOLFF is one of Sweden's best known younger artists.She studied photography in Göteborg and later Stockholm, where she now lives and works. Her work has been exhibited widely internationally, including, in 2000, a group show with Jane and Louise Wilson and Weegee at Magasin 3 Stockholm and Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; in 1999 she was included in the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; other exhibitions have included Sightings (1998) and Belladonna (1997) at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London and the 23rd São Paulo Biennial, Brazil. Her work is included in public and private collections, amongst others KIASMA, Helsinki; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Astrup Fearnley Collection, Musseet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo.

VICTORIA MIRO GALLERY
16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW

Erika Wanenmacher at SITE Santa Fe - Grimoire

Erika Wanenmacher: Grimoire
SITE Santa Fe
March 31 - May 27, 2001

SITE Santa Fe presents ERIKA WANENMACHER: GRIMOIRE, a large-scale installation designed especially for SITE Santa Fe. The exhibition is organized by SITE Santa Fe.

For GRIMOIRE, Erika Wanenmacher presents an exhibition of personal spell-making; a journey of gathering and storing magic. In a preliminary exhibition description, Erika Wanenmacher writes:
"Although the term grimoire usually denotes a traditional encyclopedia of western magic, this show really describes my own personal territory of art-making. Several years ago I realized that what I was constructing -- physically and mentally -- were spells. My favorite definition of magic comes from Dion Fortune who declares it "the art of changing consciousness at will." In considering my work as spells, the most important aspect is the intent. It is imperative to be clear. What do I want this spell to do? The intent is out in front of any action. As a storyteller, if I can get my story (intent) across, then I have acted upon the consciousness of the viewer. Magic."
In her exhibition, Erika Wanenmacher shows both early two- and three-dimensional pieces and newer installation work made especially for SITE Santa Fe. She will present a large installation featuring her car -- a 1972 Volvo station wagon with a Chevy 350 engine that runs on propane -- in the middle of a 16 foot pentacle sand painting, covered with a net held by 5 large cast aluminum heads. The heads, (a recurring image in her work and based on the likeness of Erika and the Aztec goddess Teoloztatl), will hold the ends of the net clamped in their teeth. The car will be loaded with pieces of art packed in found boxes. On the walls will be 4 videos, each one representing a different element (earth, air, fire, water).

The exhibition also features light boxes, showing x-rays of the box pieces in the car and individual sculptures that are magical tools; including a trickster box containing raven and coyote arms; a post-apocalyptic travelling magic tool set; and a giant necklace of the Hindu goddess Kali.

Erika Wanenmacher is a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based artist who works in multi-media. She has attended the Feminist Studio Workshop, The Woman's Building in Los Angeles, California and the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri. Erika Wanenmacher has been involved in many one-person exhibitions including Terrible Beauty, Tangibles, Storyteller, Grace, and Buzz at Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Galisteo, New Mexico; and Devotionals at Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California. She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions around the world including Contemporary Botanica, Tweed Museum, Duluth, Minnesota; Ship from the Desert, The Moorings Project, Schiffbauergasse, Potsdam, Germany; El Mundo Del Arte De Nuevo Mexico, Guadalajara, Mexico; and Edgy: Five Contemporary Northern New Mexico Artists, Coconino Art Center, Flagstaff, Arizona.

SITE Santa Fe
1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico

30/03/01

Alex Hartley, Victoria Miro Gallery, London - Case Studies

Alex Hartley: Case Studies
Victoria Miro Gallery, London
28 March - 12 May 2001

Case Studies is an exhibition of new work by the British artist Alex Hartley. Presented in the upper space of the new Victoria Miro Gallery, this is the artist's first major show in London since his solo exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery and Sensation at the Royal Academy in 1997. Alex Hartley is primarily known for his glass encased photographs of gallery spaces, tower blocks and fictional architectural constructions. In this exhibition he pursues his dialogue with iconic modernist architecture. The centre piece of the exhibition is Case Study, which is Hartley's most ambitious work to date. This monumental installation takes a nine-meter slice through a steel and glass building and is based on the houses of the Californian Case Study Programme started in 1945. Encased in a giant wedge shaped frame of etched glass that inhibits our view Hartley has created a disorientating fictional space which both perplexes and seduces the viewer. The exhibition also includes Randomised Double Blind, a vibrantly coloured series of polished acrylic blocks which give the illusion of containing more space than their volume allows.

Born in 1963, ALEX HARTLEY lives and works in London. He has exhibited at, amongst others, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; The Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize, The Photographers' Gallery, London and the Ludwig Museum of Modern Art,Vienna. His work is currently on display at the Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds until April and he will be exhibiting at The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan at the end of the year.

VICTORIA MIRO GALLERY
16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW

29/03/01

Tracey Moffatt, Victoria Miro Gallery, London - Invocations

Tracey Moffatt: Invocations
Victoria Miro Gallery, London
28 March - 12 May 2001

The Victoria Miro Gallery presents a solo exhibition of TRACEY MOFFATT's latest series Invocations. The exhibition coincides with a mid-career survey show at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh and a major presentation of her film and video works at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station as well as the existing works on display in the permanent collection at Tate Modern. Invocations is a return to the large scale format and rich colour of her earlier classic work, Something More. Grand in both scale and execution, Tracey Moffatt hired film studios and had elaborate sets constructed evoking a 'Disney meets Goya' landscape. The central character is at once a young girl in a menacing enchanted forest and a seductive fully grown woman in a barren desert, juxtaposed with demonic figures and the sensuous muscularity of a naked male protagonist. The work recalls any number of storybooks from childhood with the grittier fictional landscapes of adulthood.

Born in 1960 in Brisbane, TRACEY MOFFATT is Australia's most successful artist internationally. She has had over 50 solo exhibitions in Europe and the US, and is regularly curated into major group shows, including the 1997 Venice Biennale, the 1992/93, 1996 and 2000 Sydney Biennales, Prospect '96, and the 1996 and 1998 São Paulo Biennales. Her films have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and many articles and several books have been written about her work. In 1997 a major show was held at the Dia Center for the Arts, New York, and in 1999 a large survey was held at Fundacio "la Caixa" in Barcelona and the Centre Nationale de la Photographie, Paris. Moffatt lives and works in Sydney and New York. New and Recent Work 1990 - 2000 The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (7 April -19 May 2001); Film and Video works Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London (4 May - 3 June 2001)

VICTORIA MIRO GALLERY
16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW

24/03/01

Marcel Duchamp, Zabriskie Gallery, New York - Optics, Exhibition Installations, Portable Museums

Marcel Duchamp on Display: Optics, Exhibition Installations, Portable Museums
Zabriskie Gallery, New York
March 22 - May 5, 2001

Zabriskie Gallery presents Marcel Duchamp on Display: Optics, Exhibition Installations, Portable Museums, an installation of objects, texts, photographs, and drawings from the 1920s to the 1960s that trace Marcel Duchamp's preoccupation with how we look at art, its display, collection, and exhibition. Working as a "generator-arbitrator," he was instrumental in curating the International Surrealist Exhibitions of 1938, 1942, 1947, and 1959. Epitomized in works such as his miniature museum - the Box in a Valise -, Marcel Duchamp's ideas of how perception is effected through display continue to show their panoramic influence on contemporary art making, viewing, and showing.

Purveyor of optical illusions, collector, draughtsman, curator: one is hardly used to these categories to describe Marcel Duchamp, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Zabriskie Gallery explores some of Marcel Duchamp's more curious personae through a less examined optic: his sustained preoccupation with the art exhibition and questions of display. The French-born, American-by-adoption artist is perhaps best known for his enigmatic opus on glass, The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (also known as the Large Glass), or his elevation of ordinary "readymade" objects to works of art (urinal, snow shovel, bottle drier, typewriter cover...). But less known is the Duchamp that spent the 1920s and some of the 1930s constructing swirling, pulsating optical devices, and then went on to challenge ways of experiencing the art exhibition when he curated and conceptualized idiosyncratic, chaotic exhibitions for the Surrealist movement beginning in the late 1930s. And, during this same period, he began a project that would keep him busy throughout the Second World War and into his exile in the United States: making painstakingly detailed, miniaturized copies of "approximately all the things" he had produced and boxing them up into more than 300 Lilliputian retrospectives (each Box in a Valise was, as the artist admitted, a kind of "portable museum"). These various works are not as unrelated as they might seem, concerned as they all are with the dialectics of seeing and displaying, the viewer and perception, and ultimately, the museum and how and what it makes us see. The exhibition at Zabriskie Gallery turns on these various pieces - showing sketches, photographs of exhibition installations, miniature museums, miniaturized objects, boxes of carefully reproduced notes, optical contraptions, catalogue designs...works from the 1920s to the 1960s that are at once ironic and incisive, humorous and far-reaching, meticulously crafted and serially reproduced. Together, these objects put Duchamp's concern with display on display.

A catalogue is published on the occasion of this exhibition, containing reproductions with an accompanying essay by the exhibition's guest curator, Elena Filipovic.

ZABRISKIE GALLERY
41 East 57 Street, New York, NY 10022
www.zabriskiegallery.com

21/03/01

Olympus Camedia C-700 Ultra Zoom Digital Camera

Olympus introduce the CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom, a compact, easy-to-handle digital camera equipped with a bright, powerful, F2.8 - 3.5 10x optical zoom lens. The lens has a zoom range that is equivalent to 38 - 380mm on a conventional 35mm, and when used in tandem with the built-in digital zoom function, offers the equivalent of 1000mm telephoto power. The camera offers full-auto shooting convenience, and its compact size makes it extremely easy to handle. Olympus introduced its first 10x optical zoom digital camera, the CAMEDIA C-2100 Ultra Zoom, in August 2000. It was a camera that made the most of the inherent advantages of digital technology, and made the light-gathering power and versatility of a bright, F2.8 - 3.5 10x optical zoom lens accessible for the first time -- because on a conventional silver-halide film camera, such a lens would have to be extremely large and costly to produce. The new CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom makes this power even more accessible and affordable. Although it is even lighter and more compact than its predecessor, it offers the same high image quality because the lens is specifically designed to match the performance characteristics of the camera's 2.11-megapixel CCD. In addition, the 10x optical zoom can be used in tandem with the digital zoom function to achieve maximum telephoto power of 1000mm.
The CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom also features iESP* auto focus, iESP auto white balance, digital ESP light metering, as well as Portrait, Sport and other auto exposure modes. As a result, it makes high quality, 10x zoom photography extremely easy to enjoy. It also features manual exposure control, auto bracketing, multi-spot metering, one-touch white balance settings, and a range of other features for greater creative control. Ease of use is enhanced by a new settings menu that can be displayed on the camera's built-in color LCD monitor, and the AE lock button can customized by the user to provide instant access to frequently used settings. Other features include motion JPEG recording, sepia and monochrome shooting modes, and a White/Black board shooting mode.
With its light, compact body and 10x optical zoom lens, the CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom combines superior image quality with the inherent performance advantages of digital technology to offer consumers an entirely new photographic experience.
* iESP=Intelligent Electro Selective Pattern
Main Features
Bright, High-Performance 10x Optical Zoom Lens in a Compact Body
The CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom measures only 107.5mm (W) x 76mm (H) x 77.5mm (D) (excluding protrusions) and weighs only 310.5 grams. The lens incorporates one glass aspherical element and one element that is aspherical on both sides. As a result, it is extremely compact despite offering the advantages of a bright F2.8 - 3.5 aperture range and powerful 10x optical zoom. The camera's light, compact design makes it easy to carry, while the lens allows photographers to shoot everyday subjects in dramatic new ways, and capture subjects that they never could before. When used in combination with the digital zoom function, a maximum of 27x magnification is possible (equivalent to 1000mm telephoto on a 35mm film camera).
Built-In High-Performance Features
High-Performance Zoom Lens and 2.11-Megapixel CCD for Superior Image Quality
Image quality is outstanding because the lens is specifically designed to maximize the imaging potential of the camera's 2,110,000-pixel, 1/2.7-inch CCD. In addition, users can shoot in either JPEG or uncompressed TIFF mode, at sizes ranging from 1600 x 1200 pixels to 640 x 480 pixels.
High-Accuracy iESP* Autofocus
iESP autofocusing improves conventional center-weighted contrast analysis accuracy by dividing the center portion of the image into a greater number of sectors when performing analysis. As a result, focusing accuracy is less likely to be affected by background elements when the primary subject is not in the center of the frame.
* iESP=Intelligent Electro Selective Pattern
iESP Auto White Balance for Accurate Color
Proprietary iESP auto white balance technology compares average values for the entire frame with values for the area immediately around the subject to accurately determine subject color and surrounding lighting conditions. As a result, users are assured of natural colors and skin tones under a wide range of lighting conditions.
Easy Handling and Operation
New, Easy-to-Use Settings Menu
The settings menu displayed on the camera's built-in color LCD monitor has been significantly improved for greater ease of use. The top-level directory displays one gateway that gives users access to all of the advanced settings, and three gateways that users can customize to provide quick access to the settings they use most frequently. Even when using the full-function advanced settings gateway, a new four-tab menu display (Shooting, Image Quality, Card, Settings) makes it easy for users to find the setting they are looking for.
Convenient User-Programmable Custom Button
The AE Lock button does double duty as a custom button that users can set to perform a particular function. It's a convenient way to access features with a single touch.
Easy-to-Operate Control Buttons
Separate buttons are provided for flash, light metering and macro mode controls to allow these frequently used features to be activated at a moment's notice. A separate ON/OFF switch is also provided.
0.55-Inch TFT Color LCD Monitor
A built-in, 0.55-inch TFT color LCD monitor provides parallax-free viewing across the entire 10x zoom range. In addition, information about essential settings is displayed inside the regular viewfinder so that users can keep their eye to eyepiece when shooting ultra-telephoto pictures, moving subjects and motion JPEGs.
Storage-Class* USB Interface
A storage-class USB interface and USB cable are provided for fast easy downloading of large image files. In addition, image files in the camera can be manipulated using Windows Explorer or other third-party software applications.
* Supported operating systems: Windows 98; Windows 2000 Professional; Windows Me; Mac OS 9.0 or higher.
Versatile Modes for Enhanced Creativity
Versatile Exposure Modes
In addition to Program AE, Aperture-Priority AE, Shutter-Speed-Priority AE, Manual exposure modes, the CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom features full-auto Portrait, Sports and Landscape Photo exposure modes. In Manual exposure mode, shutter speeds of up to 16 seconds can be set. An AE lock function is also provided.
A Choice of Light Metering Modes
In addition to digital ESP metering (for backlit and high-contrast situations), spot metering is also offered. In Spot mode, users can take up to eight readings and fine-tune their exposures to get the precise results they want.
Exposure Compensation and Auto-Bracketing
Exposure compensation of up to +-2EV can be set in 1/3-step increments. In addition, a convenient auto-bracketing function is provided to automatically adjust the exposure settings up and down from the standard setting to ensure that a perfectly exposed picture is always captured.
Versatile Flash Mode Settings
In addition to Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Off and Fill-In flash modes, a Slow Shutter Synchronization mode (with first- or second-curtain effect) is offered. As a result, photographers can capture natural-looking images of people with a darkened room or city lights in the background, as well as 'trails' created by moving lights or other subjects.
4-Step Pre-Set White Balance Settings
In addition to Auto White Balance, pre-set white balance settings are provided for daylight, overcast, tungsten light and fluorescent light. As a result, users can obtain correct color balance even if lighting conditions are too complex to be handled by the Auto White Balance function.
Sharpness Settings
Hard, Normal and Soft image sharpness settings allow users to choose the level of image sharpness that best suits their purpose (i.e., printing, image manipulation, etc.).
Contrast Settings
Image contrast can be set to High, Normal or Low according to the user's preference.
ISO Sensitivity Settings
ISO sensitivity can be adjusted to facilitate flash-free indoor photography, eliminate blurriness caused by camera shake at high telephoto settings, or otherwise achieve the user's creative goals. The settings are approximately equivalent to ISO 100, 200, 400 and 800.
Other Convenient Features
2.7x Digital Zoom for Telephoto Power Equivalent to 1000mm
2.7x digital zoom can be used in tandem with the 10x optical zoom lens to achieve seamless 27x zooming that offers maximum telephoto power equivalent to 1000mm on a conventional 35mm camera. The digital zoom can be used for both still and motion JPEG shooting.
Convenient File Name Setting
Consecutive numbering can be applied even when memory cards are removed and replaced, greatly simplifying image file management. Duplicate file and folder name problems are eliminated, and downloaded image files are much easier to organize and manage.
Special Shooting Modes
In addition to regular color images, the CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom can be used to take sepia or monochrome photos. There are also special White and Black board modes that automatically ensure maximum legibility when photographing text written on a white board or black board.
Continuous Shooting Mode
Continuous shooting is possible in all modes except TIFF. In HQ mode, more than six shots can be taken at a speed of approximately 1.5 frames per second.
Rotated Image Display
Captured images can be rotated by 90 degrees or 270 degrees for viewing. Pictures taken with the camera rotated for vertical framing will therefore be displayed with the correct orientation when viewed on the camera's LCD monitor, or as a slideshow displayed on a TV.
Audio Recording Capability
A built-in microphone is provided for audio recording. Sound can be recorded during motion-JPEG shooting, and a 4-second (approx.) sound byte can be recorded immediately after a still picture is taken. Still-image sound memos can also be recorded or re-recorded later, and recording can be switched off during motion-JPEG shooting if it is not needed.
External Flash Connection Terminal
An optional Olympus FL-40 dedicated external flash unit can be attached to the CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom via the optional FL-BK01 flash bracket and FL-CB01 bracket cable. With the FL-40 linked to the camera, photographers can take advantage of an expanded range of creative flash functions.
AV Output Terminal
An AV output terminal and cable are provided for sound and image playback on a standard TV set.
LB-01 (CR-V3) Lithium Battery Pack Included as Standard Equipment
Two CR-V3 lithium batteries are included as standard equipment. The batteries provide sufficient power for approximately 150 pictures under normal operating conditions; if the camera is operated continuously, over 4,000 pictures can be taken.1 NiMH batteries and an AC adapter are also available as options. If necessary, the camera can also be used with commercially available NiCd or alkaline batteries.
* Test conditions for continuous operation: SQ (640 x 480) mode, LCD monitor off, flash off, no image display or file downloading. Test conditions for normal operation: repeated 2-shot shutter release followed by 10 minutes of rest, HQ mode, LCD monitor on when shooting, flash used on 50% of shots, continuous AF off, Zooming for each shoot, no image display or file downloading.
Optional Conversion Lenses
By attaching an optional lens adapter CLA-4 to the CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom, photographers can extend the camera's shooting capabilities with the optional WCON-08 wide-angle conversion lens and MCON-40 macro conversion lens.
The company names and product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of each company. Image (c) Olympus Corporation - All rights reserved - Olympus Press Release - 21.03.2001

20/03/01

Nancy Rubins, Paul Kasmin Gallery, NYC

Nancy Rubins: Drawings
Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
March 24 - April 21, 2001

Nancy Rubins, known primarily for her monumental, gravity-defying, towering sculptures of airplane parts, hot water heaters, mattresses and cakes, is one of the most innovative American artists working today. This exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery consists of nine of her drawings which are themselves, sculptural. Nancy Rubins' drawings engage the space which holds them; wrapping around or straddling corners, climbing to the ceiling and extending outwards from the wall up to three feet. 

Tacked to the wall with push pins, the three-dimensional works consist of large, irregular, torn sheets of heavy paper which twist and overlap each other. Heavy gestural marks cover the entire surface of the paper, building layers of graphite up to a high luster which resemble sheets of metal rather than paper. This labor-intensive process which is implicit in the creation of the drawings, exudes an energy, much like her sculptures. The scale of each work varies from small, single sheet drawings to monumental, multi-layered sheets that cover the entire wall of the gallery.

Nancy Rubins' drawings are in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

A catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

PAUL KASMIN GALLERY
293 Tenth Avenue @ 27th Street, New York
www.paulkasmingallery.cm

18/03/01

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Hasselblad Award in Photography 2001

Hiroshi Sugimoto receives the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography 2001

The Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation has selected Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto as the winner of the 2001 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. The prize, consisting of SEK 500,000 and a gold medal, will be awarded at a ceremony held in Göteborg, Sweden on October 20, 2001. A new exhibition of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work, curated and organized by the Hasselblad Center, will be opened in conjunction with the ceremony.

The Foundation’s decision to award the 2001 prize to Hiroshi Sugimoto was motivated with the following statement:
“Hiroshi Sugimoto is one of the most respected photographers of our time. In his main photographic themes - the interrelated disciplines of Art, History, Science and Religion - Sugimoto combines Eastern meditative ideas with Western cultural motifs. In the past 25 years Sugimoto has reached audiences around the world with his distinctive, carefully composed series in black and white. Inspired by Renaissance paintings and early 19th century photography, and using a large format camera, Sugimoto achieves a wide range of tones in a body of work that reflects his great love of detail, his outstanding technical mastery and - above all - his fascination with the paradoxes of time”.
The Jury for the 2001 Award, which submitted the proposal to the Board of Directors of the Foundation, consisted of: Mr. Hasse Persson, (chairman) photographer, Hyssna, Sweden, Mr. Régis Durand, curator, Paris, France, Professor Tuija Lindström, Göteborg, Sweden, Mr. Shimizu Toshio, curator, Tokyo, Japan and Ms. Hripsimé Visser, curator, Amsterdam, Holland.

Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1948. He received his education at St. Paul’s University in Tokyo. In 1970 he left Japan to study photography at the Art Center of Design in Los Angeles, California. This was at a time when Minimalism and Conceptual Art - both of which influenced Sugimoto's work - reigned. As his own technique developed, Hiroshi Sugimoto came to conceive of subjects in such conceptual depth that they have continued to merit his attention ever since. Taking photographs for his Dioramas, since 1976, in a number of natural history museums, Sugimoto has concentrated on illusionistic three-dimensional displays, designed for the benefit of children and adults - to bring life to the evolutionary years.

For the Theaters (begun in 1978) Hiroshi Sugimoto spent several months in American movie houses built in the 1920s and the 1930s as well as in the drive-in theaters that opened later. Keeping the shutter of his camera open throughout the whole movie Sugimoto at the same time recorded both the screens and the architectural surroundings. The resulting photographs show the screen as a bright, white gateway to infinity.

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s third focus of interest has been his Seascapes, dating from 1980 and onwards. In photograph after photograph Sugimoto has captured seascapes all over the world. Whether photographing the Caribbean, the Baltic Sea or the Dead Sea the horizon line precisely bisects the image, dividing two basic elements - water and air - into two optically equal but not identical halves.

In his seascapes Hiroshi Sugimoto creates images of great spiritual value. His photographs of the sea show a time existing beyond our own sense of time. The sealine has not changed for millions of years. What we see today in photographs is the same view our forefathers saw millions of years ago - and coming generations will see thousands of years from now.

As mentioned in the Foundation’s citation, Sugimoto has been able to communicate his imagery to audiences all over the world. His photographs of famous people in the Wax museum 1 and 2-series, that Sugimoto began in 1976 are, of course, easy to relate to from a Western standpoint. Here he travels between centuries, photographing Napoleon Bonaparte on his deathbed (1821) and Sophia Loren in a 1960s movie in super-realistic scenes that look particularly lifelike in Sugimoto’s black and white photographs.

In his Architecture-series, begun in 1997, Sugimoto re-interprets eminently familiar buildings, subverting his signature of clarity, deliberately blurring the images to create a different kind of precision. Out of the fog, the buildings rise like beautiful objects occupying the landscape. The blur slows time down and evokes the more subtle nature of architecture. It seems as if the photographer has gone backwards in time to recreate the visionary stages of these world-famous architectural masterpieces.

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s latest series, Portraits, from 1999, presents life-size photographs of mostly historical personalities - Henry VIII and each of his wives, Benjamin Franklin, Vladimir Lenin, Sir Winston Churchill, Emperor Hirohito and recent political figures such as Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro - photographed in wax museums. They are all isolated against a black background and dramatically lit, creating hauntingly beautiful images. The series which also includes a 25-foot photograph of a wax version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, emulates the grand tradition of portraiture and recalls the wax figures’ sources in famous paintings by David, Van Dyck, Vermeer and others.

Time is what fascinates Hiroshi Sugimoto the most, and Time Exposed (Thames and Hudson, 1995) is also the name of his first book. His most recent book, Portraits, was published in 2000 by the Guggenheim Museum.

Hiroshi Sugimoto travels most of the year looking for new motifs for his ongoing series of photographs. When he is not on the road, he shares his time between New York and Tokyo.

ERNA AND VICTOR HASSELBLAD FOUNDATION
Ekmansgatan 8, SE-412 56 Göteborg, Sweden
www.hasselbladfoundation.org

Kate Breakey, Julie Saul Gallery, New York - Small Deaths Exhibition

Kate Breakey: Small Deaths 
Julie Saul Gallery, New York
March 15 - April 21, 2001 

The Julie Saul Gallery presents Australian born artist Kate Breakey’s first solo exhibition in New York. The exhibition includes a selection of large painted photographs of birds from the series Small Deaths with works from 1997 to the present. Kate Breakey describes her interest in "these individual creatures...little representatives of all the lives and deaths that we disregard." She is concerned with expressing a reverence for nature and life. The dead things that she finds or is given, plant, fowl, reptile and mammal, possess a fundamental spirit beyond the shell that is left behind. In collecting and examining these "small deaths" she invokes the role of the naturalist and artist. Her titles which are inscribed on the print provide the Latin scientific taxonomy, followed by the popular name. Kate Breakey enters the realm of text and image, and references the nineteenth century practice of assembled collections of specimens into natural history collections.

Like the photogenic drawings of Henry Fox Talbot, Kate Breakey’s coloration varies considerably from the reddish tones to the pale grays, lemons and lilacs. Her use of transparent photographic oils and pencil, subtlety applied to a toned gelatin silver print, create lush soft focused surfaces and depths. The large scale format of the images monumentalizes the seemingly small bearing of her subjects and furthers the commemoration of their fugitive aspect.

From early Daguerrean funerary portraits, the pictorialist acceptance of the classic subjects like cemeteries, or the nature morte and vanitas traditions in art, these still life’s of dead birds are allegorical novellas. The depiction and interpretation of death’s presence whether for documentary or expressive purposes conciliates a vision of self with more than the nullity of death.

A monograph of Kate Breakey’s work will be published in October of 2001 by the University of Texas Press and her work is included in the collections of Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego and numerous private collections.

JULIE SAUL GALLERY
535 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
www.saulgallery.com

09/03/01

Expo Photos - Ulla Jokisalo, La mémoire de mes images (1980-2000)

Ulla Jokisalo, La mémoire de mes images (1980-2000)

Musée d'Art de la Ville d'Helsinki, 9 mars - 3 juin 2001

Exposition rétrospective consacrée à une figure marquante de la photographie en Finlande sur un thème central de son oeuvre. Les photographies exposées ont été réalisées depuis les années 1980. Certaines ont déjà été présentées au public au cours d'expositions, d'autres sont inédites. Un livre sur l'oeuvre photographique d'Ulla Jokisalo est publiée à l'occasion de cette exposition. Cette dernière a bénéficié du soutien de la FINNFOTO, Fédération centrale des associations photographiques finlandaises.

Meilahti Art Museum
Helsinki, Finlande

Expositions suivantes au musée d’Art d’Helsinki :

DIY - Do It Yourself - Lives. L'art brut contemporain en Finlande, 16 juin - 28 octobre 2001
Sept identités finlandaises. Une maison multimedia dans le musée, par Mario Rizzi, 11 novembre 2001 - 3 mars 2002
L'Altaï bleu. Johannes Gabriel Granö, photographe en Sibérie 1902-1916, 15 mars - 9 juin 2002

01/03/01

Katharina Fritsch, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago - Heart with Wheat

Katharina Fritsch: Heart with Wheat 
Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago 
March 3 - May 27, 2001 

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, presents an installation created especially for the Museum by German artist KATHARINA FRITSCH.

Heart with Wheat (2000), presented in the MCA's second floor Bergman Gallery, consists of 40,000 greenish-gold aluminum multiples formed in the shape of shafts of wheat and configured to form an enormous heart, 45-feet in diameter. Sitting directly on the floor, the work resembles a literal field, creating an environment that relates to landscape and minimalist sculpture. The exhibition is curated by James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator Elizabeth Smith.

Recognized as one of Germany's most prominent artists to emerge during the past 20 years, Katharina Fritsch works in a variety of media, but is best known for her meticulously crafted sculptures that are inspired by both mass culture and high art sources. Katharina Fritsch's work gives form to images with associations rooted in American culture, while challenging the viewers' understanding of the meanings of those images.

"Heart with Wheat is dramatic, even overpowering in scale, while singularly commingling the representational and abstract to crystallize an idea, experience, or memory completely," said Elizabeth Smith. "Most importantly, it reveals Fritsch's ongoing quest to find new forms for old symbols."

Katharina Fritsch has recently created other works based on the heart shape. Herz mit Zahnen (Heart with Teeth) (1998), is made up of molars cast in red plastic, juxtaposing the warm symbol of the heart with threatening teeth. Herz mit Geld (Heart with Money) (1998-99), consists of artificial silver coins, producing a different effect as it shimmers in the light. In Heart with Wheat (2000), the golden wheat raises the concept of everyday objects-in this case staple foods-being reflected upon and transformed into works of art.

KATHARINA FRITSCH was born in Essen, Germany, in 1956 and studied at the Art Academy in Dusseldorf under sculptor Fritz Schwegler. In 1995, Fritsch-alongside Thomas Ruff and Martin Honert-was chosen to represent Germany in the Venice Biennale. In 1996, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented a retrospective of her work. She has also presented solo exhibitions at venues such as Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London; DIA Center for the Arts, New York; Ludwigforum, Aachen; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; and White Cube, London, and has been represented in numerous group exhibitions. Katharina Fritsch lives and works in Düsseldorf.

An accompanying 32-page full-color catalogue with an essay by James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator Elizabeth Smith is available.

MCA - MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, CHICAGO
220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago