Phillip and Edward Toledano: Days with My Father
Gallery 339, Fine Art Photography, Philadelphia
Through November 6, 2010
Days with My Father on view at Gallery 339 in Philadelphia is an exhibition of works by Phillip and Edward Toledano which accompanies the recent release of “Days with My Father”, Phillip Toledano’s photo journal of caring for his aging father, Edward.
After Edward Toledano’s wife died in 2006, Phillip Toledano realized that his mother had been shielding him from his father’s mental deterioration. While he did not have Alzheimer’s, and was often quite lucid and sharp, he no longer had any short-term memory, which led him to be easily confused and lost. Phillip Toledano found himself suddenly charged with the care of his 96-year-old father. While challenged by this responsibility, and unsettled by his father’s condition, Phillip Toledano found that the time together allowed him to see things about his father that he had forgotten or never known. During the three years that he cared for Edward, Phillip began to take photographs of his father and to post these photographs on a blog. He would write about the frustrations and happy revelations of assisting an elderly parent. He did this as a personal exercise, expecting little or no interest in his particular situation, but to his surprise, the blog received hundreds of thousands of hits and many thousands of comments. The blog ultimately led to the publication of Days with My Father in June 2010 from Chronicle Books.
EDWARD TOLEDANO, who died in March 2009 at the age of 99, was a remarkable man who pursued a series of careers over his long life. During the 1930s, he was a stage and screen actor; later in life, he was a successful business man, and by the time Phillip was born (1968), Edward was pursuing a full-time career as an artist. His work is in the collections of the Smithsonian and the Tate.
PHILLIP TOLEDANO is a successful commercial and fine art photographer. His first book, Bankrupt (photographs of recently vacated offices) was published by Twin Palms in 2005. His second book, Phonesex, was published (again by Twin Palms) in December of 2008. Toledano’s commercial work has appeared in a broad range of publications, including Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Wallpaper, The London Times, The Independent Magazine, Le Monde, and Interview. His fine-art work has appeared in Aperture, Eyemazing, Raw, IdeaFixa, Ojodepez, Harpers, The British Journal of Photography, and La Republica.
GALLERY 339
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 15 - November 6, 2010
http://www.gallery339.com
