David Bowman

I first saw David Bowman's images a while back when he did a wonderful series of images of the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Then today I saw these images over on Flakphoto and it brought him back to my attention. I grew up in Minnesota but never went to the Minnesota state in spite of the fact that it is the second largest state fair, and everyone else seems to go, I guess even as a child the idea of hot, and crowded never really appealed to me. lots of people have shot state and county fairs in a pretty straight forward documentary style to great effect, but it's kind of been there done that territory not that there aren't great stories to tell there with images but it's hard to see it in a different light. David Bowman has seen the state fair in a different light and it's a wonderful light, by using a long exposure and shooting at twilight he is able to achieve both movement and stillness in images that both tell a story and create a mood. Visit his site to see lots of really wonderful stuff, maybe it's the Minnesotan in me but I really connect with so many of his images, in spite of the fact that I haven't lived in Minnesota full time since 1989. David Bowman is a great artist with a camera. Also make sure you read his blog there are some great stories about the State fair and other images.

visit

the fourth

the 4th of July is pretty crazy around where I live here's a short video I made showing the fun.

neighborhood fireworks show from doug mcgoldrick on Vimeo.

Chris Mccaw

I first saw these images at 2008 fotofest in Houston, I can't remember if he was there showing them or if Michael Mazzeo showed them to me, either way they made quite an impression. This work is just so wonderful it's hard to see online but on the real actual prints there is an amazing amount of subtle tone and detail in the dark images. And the burns, oh those burns when you see them online you don't get to see that the burns are actually burned through the paper there are holes in the paper, it is so cool it really sets you back when you see the prints. Because of this each print is unique there are no editions, which I as a recovering painter love. The process for making them is semi secret although explained sort of on his website, my favorite part is where he describes who cool it is to watch the smoke coming out of the camera. Lot's of times I like to write about people who I feel are kind of under exposed, and with gallery's in NYC,LA, and San Fran representing his work he's doing good but dang nabit I think he should be in the next Whitney biannual, or venice biennale although his work is probably to good looking to get in that show. Enjoy the images. Oh and someone please buy me one.

Matt Siber

A couple things I like in photography are, people who use large format cameras, people who manipulate or construct or do something with the final image besides a straight print on the wall and obsessiveness. Matt Siber's work does all of this. The things which fit him the best though are obsessiveness and manipulations. In the "untitled" project Matt photographs typical urban and suburban views city streets etc. . . but then he goes in and very carefully removes all the text on the image and has a separate panel next to the image which has the text recreated exactly as it was in the original photograph. The text is recreated so exactly that he has been know to recreate fonts to make it match some crazy custom font on a product. One the the craziest of these images is one where he photographs a shelf in a drug store and then recreates all that text in it's minutia on the panel opposite. I still remember the first time I came across one of the images, I found a postcard sitting around the school we both teach at it was a photograph of a wall in Europe with a perfume ad in it that I remembered seeing when I was in France the summer before, I couldn't place my finger on what was wrong with the image right away since it was just the image panel on the postcard but when I figured it out it was quite a eureka moment, there aren't a lot of people work who I can say so clearly when I first came upon them, a few others would be Louis Gonzales Palma, Richard Avedon, the Starns, Lorna Simpson and Dawoud Bey. I also remember taking a class to see some of his work in a show and watching the students study the panels so carefully looking for mistakes it was great to see students really examining images so closely even if it was in hope of a gotcha moment, which the did find by the way there was a reflection of a sign on the surface of a car but it was pretty small. A lot of photography has always had its detractors with there anyone can take a picture comments, I don't think anyone will ever say that about one of matt Sibers works. I also really love the floating logo's series on his site as well.

Siber art

the "project"

Maybe it's because I got my fotofest entry today or maybe it's something else but I've been thinking about the nature of the photo project lately. When I'm at fotofest talking to reviewers people will always ask how far along I think the project is, I always think it's such a strange question to ask, maybe it's because I have a painting background I'm not sure why but people don't really talk that way about paintings they might ask how developed the series is but not the project. I think it's it the legacy of documentary work or something, people even in the photo world still kind of expect a story with a start middle and end, personally I think that's a pretty confining box for art to be put into I mean can you imagine someone walking up to jasper johns at an opening and saying "so jasper how far a long is this target painting project?" it just wouldn't happen. I think it's not a bad thing in the documentary world at all, where you are trying to tell a story but I think a lot of photography doesn't fit into that box anymore, be it abstract work or something else the neat project doesn't work all the time. Who you are also effects the question as well I doubt people ask William Eggelston so still taking pictures of memphis eh? Hey Avedon stilling doing those black and white portraits on a white background? Heck Shelby Lee Adams has been shooting the same couple families in basically the town he grew up in for something like 30 years. How long have the Beckers been shooting those water towers? I guess I'm pretty much just griping but it feels good to get it out there anyway.

Lucia Ganieva

These photos are so fantastic, they hit me on a lot of levels, first they are great portraits, and if you check out here site you'll see lots of other great portrait series as well. These are however more than portraits for the use of the triptych format brings in other elements to play, like the images of the fabric and the images of the factories, combining these elements brings the story of the images to life. When I first came across the images I was struck by the story, or maybe stories of the images first there is the look on the faces of the Women in the images hard, tired, proud then there is the fabric itself each pattern and color brings different things to life then finally the images of the factory interior it's self which in a lot of ways reflects the images of the women at the other end of the piece. I just love the way the patterns and colors of the fabrics play off the patterns and colors in the clothing the woman are wearing. The flat direct lighting highlights the colors and patterns in a lovely way and brings a hard edge documentary look to the images, kind of Martin Parr ish, in a weird way. I find it interesting as well that in all the photos I read them right to left which is just the opposite of how we read text, for me though I'm just drawn into the faces. The images are made at a textile factory in Russia which is in the process of fading into memory as factories shut down, it was once though the center of the Russian textile industry and called the city of brides since the population was almost all women. These dramatic images pay great homage to the work that is done there.

http://www.luciaganieva.com

Opening in Cleveland

The show had it's first Showing last weekend in Cleveland MS, and it was a great kick off, the people of Cleveland where really excited and yes I'd say honored to have to the show starting it's whirl wind tour in there town. There was a great turn out from people from Delta State University, which is in town, as well as other local schools and local arty folks. Will Jacks was a great host and put on a great opening the show was written up well in the Cleveland Current paper and is probably going to get some more coverage as time goes on. The Gallery is connected to a place called the Warehouse which is a popular lunch dinner place in town, because of show turn out the got slammed really hard with dinner orders and where going a little crazy in the kitchen. This was a great start for the show and I hope it gets the ball rolling, for lots more shows to come. A lot of people asked why I choose that town to start the show in, well first off my buddy Will was the first to offer his space for the show, but there's more Cleveland is the heart of the Mississippi delta and the true birth place of the blues it's right off HWY 61 the blues high way and center piece in the great migration of African Americans from the Delta to Chicago a lot of Chicagoans can trace there roots to this area, we are two cities connected by many things, I thought it was a great idea to bring a show about the first African America presidents election to the deep south for even though his heritage is not from that reason in a sense it is sort of full circle. I just hope the next show doesn't involve 22 hours of driving in a weekend while coughing up a lung and having no voice. One last note if you ever go through Memphis and think wow the heartbreak hotel across from Graceland that has to be cool, it's not the place is a dump.

Yes I know this is double posted on "the night hope won" but not everyone has time to read all my blogs.