Library of Congress meets Flickr

In the last year The Library of Congress has published much of their photography collection online. You can spend days looking through the images, and if you wish to make a print they offer high resolution files. The Library of Congress has now gone a step further by posting two of their most popular archives on Flickr. The links to both are listed below.

FSA/OWI Color Collection

These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944.

News in the 1910s

This selected set of 1,500 photographs is from a large collection of almost 40,000 glass negatives. The entire collection spans 1900-1920 and richly documents sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, and political activities, with a special emphasis on life in New York City.

Press Release

Humble Arts Foundation and Mark Batty Publisher announce “A Field Guide to the North American Family: The Exhibition.” Keeping with the collaborative, multi-media nature of the book, Mark Batty Publisher is proud to partner with Humble Arts Foundation, a not-for-profit that seeks to advance the careers of emerging fine art photographers by providing grants and exhibition opportunities.
Together, with the help of all the participating photographers, the Field Guide Exhibition showcases some of the freshest and most focused photographers working today, including Amy Elkins, Jonathan Gitelson, Jason Lazarus, Matt Nighswander, Tema Stauffer, Alana Celii, Alexis Pike, Ben Huff, Brandon Sorg, Brian Sorg, Catherine Gass, Chris Eichler, Christopher Salyers, Christy Karpinski, Colleen Plumb, Consider Vosu, Elizabeth Fleming, Grant Willing, Hans Gindlesberger, Jason Curtis, Jason Falchook, Jennifer Greenburg, Jessica Bruah, JJ Sulin, John Putnam, Kara Canal, Kevin Sisemore, Liz Kuball, Matthew Schenning, Maury Gortemiller, Michael Kwiecinski, Nicholas Meyer, Rebecca Blume Rothman, Sandy Carson, Shane Lavalette, Shawn Records, Stacy Arezou Mehrfar and Timothy Briner.

On view: December 6, 2007 – January 2, 2008
Gallery Bar
120 Orchard Street
New York, New York

Gallery hours:
Monday – Friday, 1 – 6 pm

A Field Guide to the North American Family

I was very excited last week to finally flip through this long awaited book by Garth Risk Hallberg. I am happy to report that the book looks fantastic. Garth and Mark Batty Publisher have done a wonderful job with layout and design. An Exhibition, curated by the Humble Arts Foundation has also been annouced.

Tinyvices - Kansas City

Tinyvices
October 19 - November 17, 2007
La Esquina Gallery
1000 West 25th Street, Kansas City, MO

Tim Barber
New Photographs
October 19th - November 17th, 2007
Paragraph Gallery
23 East 12th Street, Kansas City, MO

NYC Photo Events

TUES MAY 8 6:30pm
APERTURE GALLERY
MATTHEW MONTIETH: TALK AND BOOK SIGNING

THURS MAY 10 7pm
INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY
THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF STEPHEN SHORE
OPENING RECEPTION 7PM

MON MAY 14 6pm
ICP INFINITY AWARDS
(TICKETS $1000 EACH)

FRI MAY 18 7pm
INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY
A CONVERSATION WITH TIM DAVIS AND STEVEN SHORE

TUES MAY 22 6:30pm
APERTURE GALLERY
ARTIST LECTURE: BRUCE DAVIDSON

Taryn Simon

Nuclear Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, Cherenkov Radiation
Hanford Site, U.S. Department of Energy
Southeastern Washington State

Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless steel nuclear waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect or Cherenkov radiation. The Cherenkov Effect describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds.

Taryn Simon’s An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar opened today at the Whitney. A very exciting show indeed. I walked through the exhibition in astonishment. Many of the images I had seen online but still felt surprised when viewing the prints. If you make it to the show check out the book found next to the exhibition entry. A few recent articles on Taryn can be found here and here.

Jason Falchook

Jason Falchook is one of many exciting contributers to Garth Risk Hallberg’s project A Field Guide to the North American Family. In his stimulating series “Contours and Detours”, Jason questions “our connection to the spaces we develop and inhabit.” Jason Falchook has a show opening March 9th at Civilian Art Projects in Washington, DC.

Justine Kurland

Justine Kurland’s “Of Women Born” is currently showing at Mitchell-Innes & Nash. The New York Times has an interview with Kurland here.

Jeff Wall - The Luminist

Jeff Wall - MoMA February 25–May 14, 2007

From The New York Times Magazine:

Beginning in 1982, through the re-creations that he calls “cinematographic photography,” Wall circumvented the problem. Typically, he would see something, often a small event with compressed human drama and political overtones: two working-class women absorbed in a heated conversation; a man making a racist gesture to an Asian passer-by; a dejected Vietnamese man standing beneath a tree. Rather than snap it, he would go home, think about this glimpse of everyday life or popular culture and then, if he wanted to proceed, hire performers to re-enact the scene. He argues that the sharpness of his resulting image comes close to what the ever-adjusting and -compensating eye perceives, a precision that usually eludes the documentary photographer.

Read the full article here.

Humble Arts Foundation

March has brought a few changes and a few exciting additions to the Humble Arts Foundation. As you will see they have reshaped their web format. Now you will find all their projects and events on one site. They have also introduced Solo Show. This is their best announcement yet. Each month Humble presents a collection of images plus an interview from a photographer previously featured in Group Show. The March Solo Show belongs to Rachelle Mozman who “examines the lives of young children living in isolated “exurban” development communities in New Jersey and Panama.”
Humble Arts has also announced their first group exhibition in Chelsea at New Century Artist. This will be their second physical exhibition in just a few months. As you can see the curators at Humble are very serious about finding and promoting emerging photographers.

Misty Keasler

Last week I stopped by Jenkins Johnson Gallery to view Misty Keasler’s new work Love Hotels. Shot in Japanese pay-by-the-hour hotels, Misty provides views within these fantasy rooms. The interiors are colorful, playful, and mildly cartoonish. At times its hard to believe that you are not viewing some child’s playroom. “Love Hotels” is up through March 3rd. The book can be purchased here.

Kevin Cooley

Kevin Cooley is one of those fortunate photographers that walk the line between art and advertising. Currently Kevin is showing at Massinmo Audiello through Feb. 17, 2007.