Francis Bacon and ‘Narrative’, the Natural Enemy of Vision

“I do not want to avoid telling a story, but I want very, very much to do the thing that Valery said – to give the sensation without the boredom of its conveyance. And the moment the story enters, the boredom comes upon you.” – Francis Bacon By Ernst Van Alphen, brief excerpts from Francis […]

Lee Friedlander: Photography and the Aesthetics of Abstract Painting (2012)

New York City, 1963. Lee Friedlander (Fig. 2) What I have been trying to argue is not intended as a criticism of Friedlander’s work nor as a challenge to his status within the world of (art) photography. If anything it is a challenge to the ideas that held such sway through the fifties sixties and […]

Luigi Ghirri: ‘Kodachrome’ (2013)

Egmond am Zee, 1973     Despite exposure in Europe during his lifetime, Ghirri remained relatively unknown outside of Italy. More than a decade after his death in 1992, galleries throughout Europe presented his work, and Aperture published his first monograph in English. By Allie Haeusslein, Associate Director at Pier 24 Photography, June 2013 The […]

Bill Owens: “American Photography and the American Dream” (excerpt) (1991)

The people in Owen’s book Suburbia, are still under the “spell” of the American Dream. They live in California suburban communities where, according to Owens, “everyone… lives ‘the good life’, which means having attractive homes, high paying jobs, swimming pools and shiny cars.”   By James Guimond, excerpt from American Photography and the American Dream, […]

John Szarkowski On Robert Frank’s Book ‘The Americans'” (1986)

I saw it I suppose very shortly after it was published, when I was still working as a photographer myself, and it was, frankly, shocking. I sensed the power in it, and the authority about it but there was much about it that I didn’t like… The Americans was received with mixed critical reaction. Not […]

An Interview with Cristina de Middel (2013)

“My work is more based on sequencing than in experiencing the aesthetics of the images so the book seems to be my perfect solution, plus, it is and object and the possibility of translating a concept or idea into something you can touch, smell, tear apart or archive makes it really interesting and complete.” Brad […]

An Interview with Fred Herzog – ‘In His Own Words’ (excerpts)

“I was aware I was taking art. That’s the conceit of young people. I knew that what I am doing is not only unique, but that someday I’m going to unpack that and shock people with it.”   Fred Herzog In His Own Words, from interviews with John Mackie of the Vancouver Sun in June, […]

Walker Evans – The Poetry of Plain Seeing (2000)

“While Evans gave much effort to photographing poor people, their houses, rooms and the things they made, it is far from clear that poverty is the point of his best pictures.”   By Leo Rubinfien, originally published in Art in America, December 2000 A traveling retrospective (2000) prompts the author to recall the austere formalist–and […]

Antoine d’Agata – Until the World No Longer Exists

“A photograph is nothing but a lie. The space is cut off, the time, manipulated. They are two uncontrollably false appearances of an image condemned to choose between hypocrisy ­ and good conscience ­ and being fake.” – Antoine d’Agata  “What we see is not made up of what we are seeing but rather from […]

An Interview with Walker Evans Pt. 1 (1971)

“I was damn well going to be an artist and I wasn’t going to be a businessman.”   Interview Excerpt from, Leslie Katz with Walker Evans, 1971. Leslie Katz: You took photographs of whatever interested you? Walker Evans: Oh yes. I was a passionate photographer, and for a while somewhat guiltily. I thought it was […]