THE LAND BETWEEN HERE AND MOUNTAINS
The Land Between Here and Mountains is a London based collective of photographers held together by Jess Gough and Hannah Davis. Their photo essay project is about capturing the inbetween moments of their journeys rather than their destinations. Check out some of my favorite images above or click on their blog to see the entire essay.
CHRISTIAN PATTERSON: “OUT THERE”
New York City based Photographer Christian Patterson, is now selling four images from his forthcoming second project “Out There” as limited edition prints. The proceeds from these print sales will be used to produce large-scale exhibition prints and book maquettes. Patterson’s first project, “Sound Affects” was a collection of color photographs exploring Memphis, TN as a visual and musical place. This new project ,”Out There” is a strikingly different project that is loosely inspired by the true crime story of real life Natural Born Killers Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, two teenagers who killed ten people in three days as they traveled across Nebraska in 1958.
Check out Christian Patterson’s “OUT THERE” here.
VISIONS OF “THE UNCANNY”
Some eerie images from a recent noir inspired photo project titled “The Uncanny” created by Discosalt artist Joe Vele.
LIFE ON THE RED PLANET…
It might look like an awesome sci-fi movie, but its actually just a photo essay from downunda, taken this week right after a dust storm “swept across eastern Australia, shrouding Sydney in a dramatic red glow.”- Mail Foreign Service
Not to be confused with the 50 year storm at Bells Beach but equally as impressive and you can read all about the storm HERE. While the storm seems to have caused some serious health and transportation problems, looks like it hasn’t really stopped people from hitting the beach…or taking these really surreal photos of the red sky. Thanks to Mail Foreign Service for the pics.
LOOKING AT MUSIC: SIDE 2 @ THE MOMA
Last week, I checked out the Moma exhibit, Looking at Music: Side 2; a first floor exhibit that catalogs NYC’s stripped-down, hard-edged, anti-establishment, experimental art and music scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s. The exhibit chronicles a time period in NYC when art and music were cross pollinating, when downtown artists plastered city walls with art, played in bands, squatted abandoned buildings in the east village and turned vacant garages into makeshift super 8 theaters and performance spaces. The punk ethos was alive. That energy seems to have been lost… but you can revisit it all through 120 photographs, music videos, drawings, audio recordings, publications, Super 8 films, and punk-film screenings from September-November at the Moma. This is a really great collection of punk rock memorabilia here but I just wish the exhibit had been a little longer. It was a bit of a tease and the two small rooms were just too small to leave me walking home satisfied. The photography by Dan Graham, Nan Goldin, and Jimmy DeSana and the record covers designed by Kim Gordon did make the trip worth it though. Not to mention my teenage bedroom wall fantasy. Some images i snapped from the exhibit above but check it out for yourself. Check the Looking at Music: Side 2 website for film details and show times.
JUST BECAUSE IT’S IN YOUR HEAD DOESN’T MEAN IT’S NOT REAL
Photographer Colin Dodgson, one of the Avantguardians from Surface has a new exhibit “Just because it’s in your head, doesn’t mean its not real” opening Wednesday September 9th 6-9 pm @ 243 Broome Street (Corner of Ludlow)
…IT TAKES US TO A PLACE WHERE WE ACHE TO GO AGAIN
Sunday nights with AMC’s Mad Men just can’t get here fast enough. I’m completely hooked on the vintage 50’s/early 60’s vibe, deep in the juju. Mad Men aren’t the only ones bringing vintage style back to life though. Rockabilly has always been a massively vibrant and active subculture in both the US and the UK, with love for both recordings by artists from the 1950s as well as vintage style aesthetics. Rockabilly culture is the antithesis to current trends, embracing it’s roots in “old school” societal fringes from the past.There is something undeniably alluring about those curvaceous women pin-ups, flip up dos, slicked back hair and nostalgically simpler times. You can always take a look back at this old school style, from the present through a new photo exhibit from Leonie Morse, a photographer based in East London whose work includes portrait and music photography that has previously been commissioned by The Face, X Ray Magazine and Sleazenation. She is currently exhibiting a photo project on the UK rockabilly scene called ROCKERS that includes 25 intimate portraits sometimes evocative and gritty documentary style photographs, taken over the last seven years on the UK rockabilly scene. While the exhibit contains contemporary photos, they can transport you to another time like a time machine. It will take you back and forward… to a place where you ache to go again. Its not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. Wait…what? Too much Draper for me. Make the scene 10th Sept – 29th Oct 2009 at Filthy McNasty’s 68 Amwell Street, London . While you are here, cast an eyeball at some of the images on display above and lay on some love for Leonie.
MOPEDS, MO PROBLEMS
Wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims and strap your hands across my engines…Bryan Derballa from Wired put together a striking photo essay capturing some rowdy images of a growing trend in Brooklyn: Moped Gangs.
The Orphans are Greenpoint’s “fearsome” two-stroke contingent (super easy) riders, and they’re obsessed with abandoned retro pedal-start bikes. While this 12 member low speed gang, certainly stir up an outlawish individualism vibe that we think is pretty sweet, at 30 mph from an engine displacement of 49 cc, don’t expect the Stones to hire these guys for crowd control anytime soon. These gangs are more like a social club, where rivalry with other bike gangs, like Bushwick’s Mission 23, is all in good sported fun.
The camaraderie of these gangs is more about bringing old bikes back to life, a task which requires constant tinkering and riding together as a social outlet. And aside from looking pretty sick, these retro bikes are also growing in popularity in part because they don’t require a special motorcycle license or insurance like riding a motorcycle or Vespa. But, just tell that to the cops, who according to riders don’t seem to know what a moped is or what the law is on riding them. Can’t swing a break out there from the Fuzz! Seems the “scene” just can’t seem to get any good press lately either. Wired’s unflattering tongue in cheek article “Rebels Without a Hog” has made the “gangs” an easy target at websites like DieHipster.com….Mo peds, Mo problems.
You can check out the Orphanage Moped Shop, a moped emporium on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint or peep some more of the photo essay HERE.
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I’M OUT THERE JERRY, AND I’M LOVIN’ EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!
Public nudity is the new empanada. This month, nyc artists and activists alike have been pushing the boundaries on acceptable nudity in public space. Maybe you checked out our blog last week featuring the “striphanger”, the photographer, Zach Hyman who took some steamy 30 second shots on the L train of 19-year-old actress Jocelyn Saldana pole dancing in her skinnies. Or you wandered through National Go topless day in Central Park on Sunday, where throngs of topless women marched side by side with Raelians, a cult “descendant from sexy aliens” to promote free boobage. Breast day ever! Then yesterday, Zach was at it again, photoging a completely nude 26 year old model, Kathleen Neill at the MET. This video was conveniently captured for NBC NewYork here. While Neill clearly had no panties, the stunt had some panties in a bunch. Neill was busty and busted in the Arms and Armour exhibit and arrested for public lewdness, raising the question, why and when is nude… lewd? How can a topless parade fly one day, and a form of nude art be illegal the next…and in a museum building full of nudity! The debate, like our obsession with nudity, is out there and will most likely continue to create controversy, hopefully dialogue. Free your beasts,free your mind.
TRANSPARENCY: KHRISTIAN MENDOZA
Transparency is certainly the buzz word of our era and there is always a need for simple transparent design. Through some rather ingenious photos, Khristian Mendoza, a student at Swinburne University in Australia visualizes this simple message…and rather effectively at that.
LOOKING AT MUSIC: SIDE 2
What: Looking at Music: Side 2
When: June 10- November 30th
Where: MoMA, New York
The Yoshiko and Akio Morita Media Gallery, second floor
Damage: $20.00 (Free w/student ID)
The Moma exhibit Looking at Music: Side 2, catalogs NYC’s stripped-down, hard-edged, anti-establishment, experimental art and music scene of the late ’70s and early ”80s. Back when art and music were cross pollinating in NYC, when downtown artists plastered city walls with art, played in bands, squatted abandoned buildings in the east village and turned vacant garages into makeshift super 8 theaters and performance spaces. The punk ethos was alive. That energy seems to have been lost… but you can revisit it all through 120 photographs, music videos, drawings, audio recordings, publications, Super 8 films, ephemera, live events, and punk-film screenings from September-November.
Some Highlights of the exhibition will include: drawings by Patti Smith; photography by Dan Graham, Nan Goldin, and Jimmy DeSana; experimental video by James Nares; issues of influential zines and magazines including Search & Destroy, Interview, and Punk; music videos with songs by Blondie and Suicide; record covers designed by Kim Gordon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Raymond Pettibon; music from Television, The Ramones, and Talking Heads; and live band footage from performances at Max’s Kansas City; Film screenings (Taxi Driver, New York Dolls – All Dolled Up, The Blank Generation, Blank City, Deadly Art of Survival, Underground USA, Downtown 81/ New York Beat Movie, Men in Orbit, G Men, She Had Her Gun All Ready, Rome 78, Stranger than Paradise, Variety, and Bob Gruen’s 1976 video “New York Death Cult (Live at Max’s Kansas City)”. Check the Looking at Music: Side 2 website for film details and show times.
HEDI SLIMANE: 2009 COACHELLA PHOTO DIARY
Hedi Slimane, Tunisan/Italian/Brazilian-French Fashion designer and cultural photographer has a new collection of some really compelling black and white portraits taken at Coachella 2009. Slimane whose diverse background includes studying Political Science and Art History also worked on the centenary exhibition of Louis Viton”s “LV” monogramme label in the mid nineties. His most recent photo-diary includes spontaneous shots, stark, intimate portraits and some scattered still life photographs that are worth checking out.