Made of Iron

Rigging Eye, Ironworks, 2001, 24 x 20 in, gelatin silver print

Taking as his subject a selection of hoary and venerable blacksmith-made objects (a rigging link, a rigging eye, and a measuring device called a “traveller”) each of them pitted with use and pocked with the decay, Thaddeus Holownia positions each of these objects against a velvety background. The intimacy of detail is made possible by the photographer’s use of the large negative format (8” x 10”) presenting each tool as an intriguing artifact.

Rigging Link, Ironworks, 2001, 24 x 20 in, gelatin silver print

Traveller, Ironworks, 2001, 24 x 20 in, gelatin silver print

Photography by Thaddeus Holownia

The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans

Woman and Man at Amusement Park, 1929. Gelatin silver print, 6 x 8.5 in

Walker Evans (1903-1975) created defining images of America. His work has influenced not only modern photography but also literature, film and visual arts in other mediums. Evans took up photography upon his return to New York in 1927, following a year in Paris when his aspiration to become a writer faded in the shadow of Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Joyce. Best known for social documentary photography, Evans worked for the Farm Security Administration recording the effects of the Great Depression. Much of his work from this period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera. Commenting on his work at the time, Evans noted that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that were literate, authoritative and transcendent.

Church of Nazarene, Tennessee, 1936, Gelatin Silver Print, 7.5 x 9.5 in

In 1936 he traveled with the writer James Agee to illustrate an article on tenant farm families for Fortune magazine and the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men came out of this collaboration. Evans continued to work for the FSA until 1938. That year, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held the exhibition, Walker Evans: American Photographs. This was the first exhibition that MoMA devoted to the work of a single photographer.

Throughout his career Evans contributed photographs to numerous publications, including three devoted solely to his work. In 1965 he left Fortune, where he had been a staff photographer for twenty years, to become a professor of photography and graphic design at Yale University. He remained in the position until 1974, a year before his death.

Alluring Beauties

Floatin' Foxee from the series: Lure, 2001. Colour print, 20 x 16 in

Lady Lipstick from the series: Lure, 2001. Colour print, 20 x 16 in

Tiny Miss Crazy Crawler from the series: Lure, 2001. Colour print, 72 x 48 in

Hot'n'Tot Pygmy from the series: Lure, 2001. Colour print, 20 x 16 in

Mann Dancer from the series: Lure, 2001. Colour print, 20 x 16 in

Photography by Lori Newdick

New York: Portrait of a City

Herald Square, 34th and Broadway, 1936, Gelatin Silver Print, 8 x 10 in

 Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself. -- Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) was one of many Americans drawn to live as expatriates in Paris in the 1920s. It was there that she became interested in photography, initially working as an assistant to Man Ray, a role she held from 1924-1926. She later photographed many of the great writers, artists, and eventual cultural icons living there, including James Joyce, Jean Cocteau, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Max Ernst. Her portraits from this period are direct, seeking less to flatter the sitter than to present unveiled, fascinating faces.

In Paris, she discovered the photographer Eugène Atget, whose work had considerable influence on her own. Abbott fought not only to secure recognition for Atget’s major contribution, but also for the preservation of his work, much of which resides today at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

When Abbott returned to the United States and New York at the end of the decade, she did commercial work for Fortune magazine. At this time she embarked on the most important of all her life’s work, a portrait of the city of New York. The Federal Art Project’s “Changing New York” became an important document historically and artistically, and secured Abbott a major place in 20th century American photography.

Tempo of the City, 1938, Gelatin Silver Print, 8 x 7.5 in

Many of the buildings and landmarks she caught on film have since been demolished. Her varied images of New York in the 1930s display impressive high-rises and quaint street fronts, wide avenues and unpolished back alleys, docks and ferries, businessmen and street people. She took views from below, capturing the wonder and pride of looking up at a confident, strong city built out of the hard work and imaginations of peers and ancestors. She soared above it and shot glimpses of the life below, capturing the soul of the city both in tight compositions and in expansive views. Her use of light and shadow is as complicated and exciting as her range of subjects and perspectives. 

Last week to view the exhibition Berenice Abbott: Photographs at the AGO ending August 19, 2012.

The Lovers

Silber by Frank Mädler may be understood as a reflection on romances and affairs that lay under a sheet of time and dust – once ‘golden moments’ now silvered with age. The series derives from postcards which the artist collected over several years in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Weathered by sun and rain and neglected on the rack, Mädler enlarges the photographs on Kodak Metallic paper, transforming kitsch ephemera into enduring works of art.

Silber, L2, 2007, colour print on metallic paper, 13 x 23 in

Silber, L3, 2007, colour print on metallic paper, 23 x 13 in

Silber, L13, 2007, colour print on metallic paper, 13 x 23 in

Silber, L10, 2007, colour print on metallic paper, 23 x 13 in

Silber, L6, 2007, colour print on metallic paper, 13 x 23 in

Wrappers Delight

 

These photographs of candy wrappers by Chad Gerth make explicit the difference between our physical reality and the fiction of the plane. Though meant to wrap around candy, these plastic and foil wrappers are actually 2-dimensional surfaces. As they lose their intended shape, they gain new significance as objects of consumption and seduction.

“Winnie the Pooh” (Candy Wrappers) 2002, colour print, 24 x 20 in

“Dubble Bubble” (Candy Wrappers) 2002, colour print, 24 x 20 in

“Pingu” (Candy Wrappers) 2002, colour print, 24 x 20 in

“Big Deal” (Candy Wrappers) 2002, colour print, 24 x 20 in

“Magic Stars” (Candy Wrappers) 2002, colour print, 24 x 20 in

“Devil” (Candy Wrappers) 2002, colour print, 24 x 20 in

an Egg a Day Five

Northern Harrier, 2001, colour print, 24 x 20 in

White, nearly round as a cue ball, your egg might

roll true on that green tableland banked behind dykes –

Tantramar, maritime prairie the sea laid down,

grain by grain, when the tide was ‘asking high.’

You tilt above this reclaimed place

like a bubble in a spirit level,

tipping by degrees, as if pondering

a question of loyalty, reparation for past injustice.

You yourself suspend the laws of nature,

hanging in the sky, stalled

on upswept wings,

calling all the shots.

Photograph by Thaddeus Holownia. Poem by Harry Thurston. 

From the catalogue Ova Aves published by Anchorage Press, 2011

Dog Day Afternoon

Tojie, 2006, gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in

Owen, 1999, gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 in

 

Molly; Lesvos, Greece, 1994, gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in

Dog Shot, 1988, gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in

True, 2005, gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in

Photography: Burt Covit

Aedh extended until August 31 2012

Aedh, No.1, 2012, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in

Françoise Sullivan: Aedh

Extended until August 31 2012
Corkin Gallery
Distillery District 7 Tank House Lane
Toronto, ON M5A 3C4
http://www.corkingallery.com


In the series of paintings titled Aedh, an Irish/Gaelic term which connotes fire that does not consume itself, red is the springboard for what has been created. Often associate with harshness and aggression, the colour red in Aedh becomes voluptuous and tender.

Since the earliest days of her career, Françoise Sullivan has explored the relationship of the unconscious with painting and dance. Born in Montréal, she was a founding member of the Automatiste movement, ushering in dramatic cultural change to Québec.

an Egg a Day Four

Black Headed Gull, 2001, colour print, 24 x 20 in

I saw one once, tracing an arctic circle, a rarity,

Another entry for the list I do not kep.

Funny thing, its head was not black at all,

but brown, which is how you know it is not

Laughing, Sabine’s, nor Bonaparte’s all black-headed.

Once I hurdled the literal, I liked the irony

of describing a thing for what it is not.

For once, science takes a flier.

Look, look there! ‘What?’ A black-headed gull!

‘Where?’ See! ‘Which one?’ The one with the black cap.

Photograph by Thaddeus Holownia. Poem by Harry Thurston. 

From the catalogue Ova Aves published by Anchorage Press, 2011

an Egg a Day Three

Ring-Billed Gull, 2001, colour print, 24 x 20 in

‘Land gull,’ my friend says. Evolve backwards,

if you will, abandon the mothering sea,

follow in the chocolate wake of the plow,

forsaking the clean, blue line the keel makes.

Pick worms. Perhaps that is how you acquired

that indelible signature at the bill tip,

from too much probing in the black earth.

I am like that, too, carrying smudge words

at my fingertips. Loafing, waiting

for something to turn up, to swallow it whole.

Photograph by Thaddeus Holownia. Poem by Harry Thurston. 

From the catalogue Ova Aves published by Anchorage Press, 2011

News of the World

Newspaper, Hair, 2011, 13 x 19 in

Barbara Astman takes time to read the newspaper every morning. She enjoys the experience of coming upon information about the world that she would not instinctually seek out. The ritual of reading the paper, flipping through each page, and reading about diverse events and cultural critiques reminds her that she exists in a larger world.

The Newspaper Series deals with a fascination veering towards obsession with mass media communication and its influence on reality, memory and history. Seen from a distance, the individual strips resemble strips of human DNA. On closer examination, Astman has deliberately chosen to highlight, through the folding and marking of certain pages, stories of tragedy, celebrity scandal, political upheaval, fashion trends, triumph and everyday life. The artist notes her images play on our obsession with media and the contradictory aspects of newspapers as vehicles of compromised communication.

The Newspaper Series visually encapsulates the physical processes of sifting through a magnitude of information, and perspective on the significance of media in the formulation of our notions of the world. Astman collected the Newspapers she read for one year. She made 52 unique strips. Conceptually, an installation of seven vertical strips represents a week.

Station to Station with Sharon Switzer

 Sharon Switzer is running 13 projects this year on the TTC screens, some lasting months, others two weeks or in the case of Nuit Blanche, a 12-hour takeover of the screens. Switzer is the arts programmer for Pattison Onestop, the advertising space company that owns and operates the screens in the TTC. Read more about underground art on Toronto subway screens here

an Egg a Day Two

Ova Aves, Thick-Billed Murre, 2001, colour print, 24 x 20 in

A ghost is clasped within your inked cameo, the blue funk

of extinction, ancestral memory of all those who came ashore,

scurvy navvy and curator alike, club in hand,

to batter the Great Auk into oblivion.

Tuxedoed and noble, you preside at the continent’s edge,

rejoicing at every empty wave.

The Atlantic roils below, while your egg, clever dervish,

twirls on its precarious ledge – without a great fall.

You gargle and mumble your complaint;

your guttural chorus erects a sentinel of sound,

to remind us of the cost of silence.

Photograph by Thaddeus Holownia. Poem by Harry Thurston. 

From the catalogue Ova Aves published by Anchorage Press, 2011.