Imago Mortis translates to “Image of Death.” It is a concept that has representations as far back as the Middle Ages, likely exploding across imagery as an extension of the mood following years of bubonic plague, which killed off nearly 1/3 to 2/3’s of Europe’s population over the course of a decade. Over the years […]
This is certainly one of the most misleading photobooks that I have seen in some time, despite being a fan of the artist’s previous book. What appears on the outside as a simple reading of America’s vernacular signage is, in fact, a kind of premonition, or perhaps an acknowledgement of where things stand along the […]
I do not know that much about Hatleberg’s work. I did get a copy of his last book, River’s Dream, as I had missed out on Lost Coast, his first book with eminent American publishers TBW Books. My surface reading of River’s Dream suggested a post-Soth investigation of American topography. I was reminded of Doug Dubois, Alec Soth, Kristine […]
It is an interesting moment for the medium of the photobook. The boom dust is beginning to settle as inflation makes the market less navigable. The price of producing photobooks is ont he rise and coincides with a shrinking market size. This is based on a broader conversation with publishers and artists over the past […]
I am incredibly biased as I write this. I share a close connection with the artist Pieter Hugo through our Nearest Truth workshop programming. Although it might seem counterintuitive to the points I will raise subsequently, I have had a chance to hear Pieter talk about his work in detail, with all the challenging […]
When I received a copy of Michael Brodie’s new book Failing, I knew it would take me a while to organize my feelings towards it. Some thoughts take time to settle from a place of instinctive fondness and sentimentality, especially when you feel so strongly connected to someone’s previous work. As for many of us, my […]
How long should mourning last? Could you tell me the prescribed timeframe for a loved one’s passing to be followed by a resolution? The fallacy of the human condition regarding loss suggests that one can move on from a significant loss, when in reality, as the metric is difficult to ascertain, mourning, from my perspective […]
Gregory Halpern’s photobook King, Queen, Knave has been nineteen years in the making. The first images for the photobook were shot while Halpern was a student in the MFA program at California College of the Arts, where he studied under his mentor, the photographer Larry Sultan. At the time, Halpern felt lost and adrift, unsure […]
Letting my unconscious, rather than my intellect, dictate the progression was important. For reasons I don’t entirely understand, being nude became part of the project early on. And working against that white wall near the two front windows in the so-called living room became a central point. —Melissa Shook I might’ve mistakenly read Sally Stein’s […]
Carla Williams can make the world beyond us seem a simple place. Looking at the self-portraits she made over a fifteen year period, from 1984-1999, may briefly lull us into a false apprehension of the world as containing little interest of its own. Such is the poetic depth of these pictures, which, when edited and […]
“I hear the sound of victory. I hear the sound of victory. I hear the sound of victory”. 1976, the centenary-a procrastinator’s wet dream” The kids are smiling, their bodies are interlaced within the disused tire mound and the coyote snarls staring dead-eyed and hungry from the top of the bare picnic table. He […]
With Bottom of the Lake, Christian Patterson revisits his hometown of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (French for “Bottom of the Lake”) and weaves together visual threads related to his personal history and the town’s history, geography, climate and culture. Published by TBW Books, 2013. Available October 1, 2013.