This feels like a companion piece to the Ray Mortensen post from earlier in the year. New York Times Columnist David Gonzalez's gives us - Revisiting the South Bronx, 35 Millimeters at a Time - images he created 30 years ago on returning to the South Bronx after graduating college.

Benefit for Nicole: A Postcard Show

Postcard show and sale of original postcard-sized pieces of artwork created by both emerging and established artists to benefit Nicole Gagne, a fellow artist seriously injured in a staircase collapse in LIC.

Artwork will be sold at $40 per piece. Artists who donate will get excellent exposure in a show in NYC, and collectors walk away with a great piece of original art. All funds raised will go to help Nicole with her immediate expenses.
Submission Deadline: July 23, 2009

Event Location: Priska Juschka Fine Art, 547 W. 27th St. New York City. http://www.priskajuschkafineart.com

Event Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2009. 5:30P to 9:30P

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=97224180094

Exhibition follow ups

Two pieces on Sleeping Giant came out the same same day. Both Editors picked two different images they wanted to use. Very interesting

TONIGHT AT FXFOWLE GALLERY

T Minus and Counting

So we have just under one month to go before the opening reception for my solo exhibition, Sleeping Giant | 11101 Rezoned. May 7th has been slated for the event, which runs through June 19th, at FXFowle Gallery in NYC.
At the start of this taking photos as a career business, it is in the back of ones mind that one day your work may be seen hanging on a wall somewhere, with the right people musing and nodding their heads in appreciation of the images you broke your heart creating. It rarely seems to work out that way, as photography, just like most everything in life, is a lot of hard work, and actually paying the bills gets in the way of this great affection for your artistry. But Sleeping Giant has been an interesting journey so far, because at the start of this project the ultimate objective was possibly a show. Well low and behold an objective in photography attained. The hallelujah chorus comes after the opening I'm sure. The project itself has been reasonably smooth sailing to this point. Conception-shooting- printing- Blurb Book- to the Noguchi Museum here in NYC, picking it up for their book store. But the production of this show seems as hard as any commissioned job. I have seen friends and other artists get gobbled up in negotiating the time frame it takes from signing the contract to getting everything on the wall, so I have bee trying to timetable this down to the nth degree. You are of course relying on many other people to come through for you as opposed to running the whole shoot yourself. With Printers, Matters, Framers, Galleries, Cards, you have to be so ahead of the curve. Add in a little Murphy's Law for good measure, and this thing will creep up on your ass, and quick. Next thing you know, its heeere. One thing you learn when your shooting on the road or in the studio is be prepared. The arse will fall out of everything now and again but if you know this, the surprises aren't so...surprising. I have also been good about reaching out to people. Asking for help is not my forte but everyone I've asked has been more than willing to help the cause and it as been a great comfort to know people have your back. So major shout out to, Steve West at Moma, George LaCovera at Atelia4, Clint Downing at Downing Frames, Ken Allen at Ken Allen Studios, Aaron Rezny and of course the good people at FX Fowle, Brien and Andrea who as we get closer to the day will be sick and tired of me.
At this point all the prints are made. They are being mounted as we speak and will then go the framer, with about 2 weeks to go before the show goes up, all should be complete. That's the plan but I am absolutely positive one of these places will burn to the ground, sorry guys I prey not, and leave me holding the bag with a couple of days left to fix it all.
So if you hear a howl through the blogisphere in the next three weeks I'm sure it will probably be me, screaming at the photo Gods for playing such a shitty joke on me, but until that part of Murphy's Law raises it ugly head, its full steam ahead to May 7th.

Mary Ann Fahey of Umbrella Arts along with Juror Harvey Stein have sounded the call, National competition everyone - NYC gallery - subject "BED", go here for submission details.

http://www.umbrellaarts.com/content/view/12/26/

FROM HERE TO THERE, in less than 5 hours

On the left Anguilla, British West Indies and on the right Columbia County, New York.
Images taken the same day.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK photos of Ray Mortenson

I came across artist Ray Mortenson through his show at the Museum of the City of New York, where I worked for all of two days about 16 years ago. Those were the days when nobody in photography had yet really discovered 601 west 25th street and its amazing size loft spaces, the museum used a space the size of a football field just to store extra art. Which brings me to said Mr Mortenson's exhibition at one of our most underrated Museums. Broken Glass, photographs from the South Bronx, are images taken between 1982-1984. This is the era right when I arrived from Ireland, all googly eyed about the city. The images are an amazing document of a city in the throes of guess what, a social and economic crisis. The heart of the Regan years. So to say this show is prescient might be hyperbole but..... The then city, still struggling to regain its footing after the Blackout of '77 and the "Drop Dead" from President Ford, has never looked so desolate. Ray's work focuses on the miles of post apocalyptic neighborhoods, drained of almost any human nurturing, the poster child for urban decay. The buildings seem to stare back at you, the windows just empty eye sockets, black holes. The once proud brownstones, rooftops, facades demoralized past recognition. Snake Plisskin was not that far off. My first subway ride in NYC was from West 4th street to 205 street in the Bronx. I took the local at rush hour in the middle of September. Air conditioning!!! what air conditioning, the windows were open weren't they. I remember distinctly, being jammed into the car but able to see out the window, the shells, remnants, of what used to be neighborhoods, block after block. I didn't know the politics, but I did know it scared the shit out of me. No wonder nobody went to Yankee stadium. Of course I was on the wrong train and didn't realize till I got to the wrong destination, the mantra "take the 5 stay alive, take the 4 dead for sure" playing in my head. Which brings me back to the work. If anyone feels that they have a handle on New York, masters of their own universe, good for you, but take a trip to MCNY and have a gander at a time when the "capitol of the world" was becoming an also ran in its own country, one step ahead of the bank. A collection of the beautiful and mournful images in one of our saddest times.

The Colorama

This is a great piece in the Times today about advertising in Grand Central Station or the lack there of. For about 40 years the east balcony was filed with a giant photographic mural, actually a 60 ft. chrome called the Colorama. Described as the worlds largest photograph, I remember it vividly the first time I arrived in the venerable station, the size that is. The image I believe was some birds?? I don't think I had ever seen an image that size before. You were really in New York now. By the time it was ready to come down it had lost its glory and to say it was dated would be kind. Kodak was the brains behind this, see all the various images through the years here. I love that photographer David Dunlap took both shots and by god he got pretty close to his original.

BLACK WATCH

If your still need some political psycho drama in your life, now that the two year vetting process for president is over, get you ass over to St Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn for the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Black Watch. Not only is it one of the most exhilarating nights of theatre you will have but it will also keep your blood boiling and break your heart to hear the first hand recounting of how these Scottish boys ended up in this man made mess, that is the Iraq war.

LYNN DAVIS

Lynn Davis's show continues at Edwynn Houk gallery until December. Again quality of the work is superb but I feel like I may have seen some of these images before.

BIFAS

The Boston International Fine Arts Show is starting on Thursday. I didn't recognise many of the galleries but Iris Gallery from Great Barrington MA, did contact me, they represent David Burdeny and their Boston gallery now has a show featuring Blurb Book winner Beth Dow. They should Have some interesting stuff. So if you are in Bean Town this weekend give it look.

ALL HANDS ON DECK AT DAWN

Echo and the Bunnymen made a triumphant return to NYC last night with a concert rendition, accompanied by orchestra, of their classic 1984 album Ocean Rain. The band are celebrating 30 years in the business and along with their home town of Liverpool and the Royal Albert Hall in London, they recreated the sound of our generation here in NYC. If they weren't THE seminal band, Joy Division were, they certainly were my favorite. This album, though not my favorite of theirs, HEAVEN UP HERE & CROCODILES are, contains one of my favorite lines ever, from the final song ocean rain "all hands on deck at dawn". If I play it I will sing that that line in my head for days. I just love the rhythm of it flowing off your tongue and the imagery of our Liverpudlian shipmates lost in a foggy sea of forlorn love, "sailing to sadder shores". I bought Crocodiles, their first album, my final year in high school, and wore the grooves out. This was the direction our music was going?, an 'aha' moment. Nobodies voice soared and drowned with melancholy quite like Ian McColloch's and nobodies hair soared quite like the Haystack he produced in the late '70s either, but here it was last night making a modest return like an old friend. Mac himself was in great form, compared to the surly crank that showed up at their last concert in Irving Plaza many years ago, this time joking and remarking on how great it was to be here, wondering if "Billy Crystal" was in attendance. Actually this is up for some conjecture as only a handful of people could understand what he was saying, but his singing voice was crystalline, seemly no different than the first time I saw them in 1982. The crowd jammed the famous old hall. Full of expats, half the NYC photo and film community, they didn't sit all night, the bar being open till almost the end of the show also help to fuel the crowds regressing to their formative years. Images were shown on both sides of the stage on large screens, taken by guitarist Will Sargent, at the beginning of the Bunnymen journey. Man they were so young, Christ. Not unlike Corbjin's in the quality, deep grained B&W, they were quite moving as they included pics of drummer Pete Defreitas who died many years ago. I remember seeing some of those images for the first time in music mags as a teenager and being spellbound by the bands seemingly natural abilities to play to the camera, now in hindsight they seemed like happy go lucky kids, pups, all mood and drama posturing. Fantastic. The sound was fab, or though the drums could have been harder, and the album sounded as new and fresh as it did twenty odd years ago. So it feels our favorite scousers have another couple of years left in them, great, as long as their calling for all hands on deck it gives us all a little more time to make our mark.

FLAK ANDY

Andy Adams sure did get around last week. I love when someone comes in from out of town, just has an allotted amount of time to see people.... and off they go. Andy is the creator of FlakPhoto, where he designed a terrific Blog on photography. To call Flak a blog is a disservice to the Site as Andy is far more advanced in the tech dept. than most of us photo bloggers. The site Curates an image a day as well features on individual, group shows, and in Print books. He coraled not only myself, but Amy Stein, Andrew Hetherington, Jonathan Larson, Joshua Lutz to name few. He was all inquiries on how the business model is working for us and how can we move forward in the new tech /photo age, and brought and outsiders opinion to our struggle, which is always eyeopening. He also likes a little Jameson which endears him to almost everyone. Hope to see him for the photo festival in May

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

So after forty four years the curtain is finally coming down. The Stadium that William Shea built to bring National league baseball back to NYC will close its doors for good. Shea Stadium along with Yankee Stadium will both be demolished at the end of the season, to make way for gleaming new/old ball parks. As a Metropolitan fan since arriving here from Ireland, obviously Shea's ending has a far more personal effect on me than the decrepit place in the South Bronx. Actually many times I prayed that the Babe's house would implode all on its own, but I digress. After spending many a night out in Flushing I went on Sunday, probably for the last time. The auld joint was buzzing, the game was great, but I found myself reminiscing, to myself and anyone else who would listen, about specific nights that had Shea as its backdrop. All were baseball related but not all the stories were between the lines, like the night after too much crap beer I fell asleep on the subway and woke up in Coney Island, fell back to sleep and woke up in the last stop in Queens, and, you guessed it all the way back again. The night I was chased all the way around the upper level by Cardinal fans after I called Terry Pendleton something reminesent to McCains wife name calling. The night I saw Ronnie Darling pitch a complete game to win the pennant. The day I tried to figure out when they would clinch the pennant, I had a rain delayed ticket, only to be off by a day. I show up for the day game anyway with 5,000 other poor souls, watching the triple A team play in a cow patch. The sod had been dug the night before by the rampaging fans, BG, before Giuliani, when you were aloud to invade the field to show you gratitude for 14 seasons of ineptitude. The night I took James Doyle to his first game, we got stoned and couldn't find the car in the parking lot. To this day I think he holds it against me for introducing him to the blue and orange instead of pinstripes, as he has wallowed in the many years of woe along with me. My favorite players, Doc, Lenny, Wally, Coney, Piazza, Mex, Seaver #41 the Franchise, Mook. The craziness from the '86 team - Ojeada and the hand, Hernandez and Stawberry throwin punches. "The worst team money could buy" in the '90s. The bad trades - Lenny for Juan Samuel, I almost cried in the car when I heard it, my brother on vacation from Ireland howling with laughter at me - Nolan Ryan for Jim Fragosi, Cone for Ryan (5 tool,tool is right) Thompson and Jeff Kent, the worst trade in Met history. And of course we don't mention last year, never mention last year. Shea was the first stadium I entered in the US, its colors so vibrant, its size immense, I had never seen anything like it and yet I felt like I had been coming here all my life. But for all its pennant futility it still gives me the greatest of pleasure to say I'm a Met fan. To put the radio on in the middle of a summer night and hear Howie Rose float faintly across the airwaves could not make me happier. Goodnight Bob Murphy and Gill Hodges, Hello Citi Field.
Click on image for enlargement.

BLURB & SLEEPING GIANT

The self publishing Giant Blurb have decided to have a competition for all the newly pubbed photographers, that's insider publishing talk. Yours truly has entered Sleeping Giant, and many counterparts have also put their wares for judgement. Blurb has also added a peoples choice award, where one can go to the web site, here, and vote for your favorite. If your reading this blog you may then want to go and vote for me. Pure shill, so what, well were all sick and tired of trying to be coy. Go vote. I don't know what the award is but it will be coming to me, so there.

GOODFELLAS AND SLEEPING GIANT

Henry Hill and Juniors!!!!! Yes indeed, the leading figure in the tell all mobster tale Goodfellas is a devotee of Juniors restarurant. Now many people may think that its the Juniors diner chain that have been dotted around Manhattan for years, but one would be wrong. Chris McLallen pointed this out to me as he noticed, while scouring the BBC, that it was the little family owned, heavy on Italian joint, in Long Island City. He remembered the shot from my project SLEEPING GIANT. I have looked at that building many different ways while working on SG, trying to find my quintessential angle, but could never get over the fact that here was a restaurant with silos emerging from its roof. I read the book Goodfellas long before the movie came out and Henry Hill was so clear and concise in his retelling of the crimes and there proximity to where I lived, I felt as if they happened just down the street. Well I'm sure some of them did. Now that Signora Hill is apart of the local lore, that image takes a slightly different tone for me. Listen to the interview, don't know if its just bravado or lunacy but that guy is still not someone to mess with. And of course look for the shoot of him outside Juniors

IT IS WHAT IT IS!!!!

I think maybe its time to knock the whole self publishing problem on the head. After Joerg's post and APE's intervention, in regards to the hazards associated with trying to reproduce a Rizzoli product for $30.00, here's where we stand. In the same place as yesterday and the same place 15 months ago. Its self publishing for Christ's sake. Nobody has the perfect answer. For $20 to $60 what do you really expect. You have a book in your hand that that you didn't have a week before. Could that have happened 3 years ago, NO. Some people thinks its great, some don't. Its just another tool. If you cant get the color right, try another company. Is that a pain and really quite disappointing, Yes, but since when has anything come easy in the arts and especially in photography. Only a few months ago I had to go back to my printer 4 times to get a print right that I was making, and these guys are one of the best in the city, and I was standing next to the to the printer. It happens. Oh, in case you wanted to shell out more that $30 you could go to LeLivre d'art, and get the most beautiful color reproduction. I'm sure there wouldn't be any bitching and moaning. You got $10,000.00. It is what it is.

SUMMER PROGRAMES, continued

Early last month I listed some of the great galleries and shows in Upstate N.Y. for this summer, well on that thread here are two long running programmes that I have never had the chance to attend until this week.
The first is in Garrison N.Y., a little ways from my upstate haunts, but really worth the effort, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. The group performs on the grounds of Boscobel, one of the finest examples of Federalist architecture in the country. It is quite breathtaking to walk onto the grounds and have the Hudson river greet you in such a a majestic manner. The stage is situated so that when you are seated the backdrop is the panoramic Hudson valley view in the image above. Very dramatic. The rest of the season is Twelfth Night, go if you can.
The other event I have been remiss in attending is the Music and Film night, back in the city, at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. A banner turnout Wed night for the Red Balloon, their largest in their 10 year history. Along with the Museum of the Moving Image, the Socrates gang put on a very intimate big city evening. It has 4 more showings into Sept. I have to say we are very lucky to have such terrific organizations working for us locally.

McCARREN POOL (over and out)

A couple of weeks ago I started to shoot some work in McCarren Park, Brooklyn, and posted some images with the feeling that I could put together some sort of project or at least create a collection of interesting images. Not long after, word came back that the Architecture agency, who were getting the designs ready for the new look pool, they weren't so crazy about my project anymore. Whaaaat??? The police had asked a member of the management team to leave the premises even though he had keys and id. So another project falls through, wasn't the first wont be the last.I then find out yesterday that the reason behind all the police activity is.... DEAD BODY in the park. Nobody is quite sure who it is yet or how long it was there but I had stuck my head into a few if the old changing rooms, just to have a look. That would not have been fun. The Gothamist blog reported it back in July. I have only come across one other dead body in all my time in New York. I took a photograph. It wasn't my best day. So, the remaining images of McCarren Pool circa 2008 will be some nimrod, in a stone cold stupor, shakin his ass to a reformed Devo. Wooooooo