Everything about him suggests an anarchic temperament, capable of playing any worldly system to the hilt and then throwing away its benefits. Brought to ASX by Errata Editions. Full essay included in Books on Books #5 William Klein: Life is Good…New York! By Max Kozloff, Excerpt from William Klein and the Radioactive Fifties, originally appeared […]
Leather, spikes, face paint, and brandished weapons are standard and go along with a clearly stated stance of outsider-dom. King of Hell Intro from True Norwegian Black Metal, 2008 By Johan Kugelberg and Peter Beste Over the last two decades, a bizarre and violent musical subculture called black metal has emerged in Norway. Its […]
Looking at Eggleston’s Before Color pictures, newly reborn, requires an odd energy of de-colorization. By Tim Davis For years, Tod Papageorge, the head of the Photography Department at the Yale University School of Art, would begin student critiques of color pictures with the question, “Why color?” Color was an aesthetic choice and Papageorge felt […]
With his garish images, David LaChapelle holds a mirror up to a hedonistic, lust-oriented and affluent society. By Matthias Harder, originally published in Sleek Magazine for Art and Fashion, No. 13, Winter, 2006-2007 It is as if we were staring into the faces of Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor, as only Andy Warhol could […]
For Avedon’s program is supraindividual. He wants to portray the whole American West as a blighted culture that spews out casualties by the bucket: misfits, drifters, degenerates, crackups, and prisoners-entrapped, either literally or by debasing work. Richard Avedon’s “In the American West” By Max Kozloff “Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of […]
Gestapo Informer, Dessau, Germany, 1945 For some twenty years now Cartier-Bresson has been doing just that. He carries a camera with him constantly. Every picture which he has taken is a very personal record of something which is already taking place. He has no studio, does not employ models, does not even direct those he […]
“The first series of pictures had caused varying reactions from people – inquisitiveness, disbelief and repulsion. People were fascinated by them, just as I had been by that first cellphone photograph.” The Dog’s Master By Pieter Hugo These photographs came about after a friend emailed me an image taken on a cellphone through a […]
By Doug Rickard William Eggleston is a “Southern” artist. Without a deeper explanation, this statement itself could mean a few things. If you look at the body of his work on the whole, the majority of it (almost all) is set within the Southern environs of the US… places like Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and […]
Photography is a generous, abundant medium and Parke is a voracious photographer. By Geoff Dyer I was introduced to the work of Trent Parke (born in Australia in 1971, a member of Magnum since 2007) by a mutual friend, the photographer, Matt Stuart. He showed me two books by Parke, both self-published. The first […]
Gay Burke, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, October 28, 1973 As a collection, the Polaroids are remarkable in their consistent and determined attitude. They are bald presentations of individuals without mannerism or style and yet they are distinct, they are compelling, and their directness is palpable. By Jane Tormey, originally published in Afterimage, July 1, 2003 During […]
“When two people make love, both people have to be naked. This (photography) is exactly the same thing.” By C.B. Liddell, The Japan Times, November, 2006 Usually reviews of Nobuyoshi Araki’s work start by pointing out the contradictions “monster,” “genius,” “pornographer,” “artist,” etc. The greatest negative routinely cited is his attitude toward women, photographed […]
Stephen Shore. Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California, August 13, 1979 In 1982, a slender yet hugely impressive version of Uncommon Places was released. Its impact was felt almost immediately, forever changing the course of art photography, and securing Stephen Shore a place within the canon of photographic history. By Aaron Schuman, originally published […]