Exhibitions & events - April
April 1st, 2009, by Tom
The clocks have gone forward, the temperature is rising and spring is ready to kick off. Here’s what you can go and see this month here in London.
And as a very special treat, our very own Andy (Shotage) is holding an exhibition of his work in Tunbridge Wells this month:
More info can be found on one of his blogs.
The Photographers’ Gallery
16-18 Ramillies Street, W1 (www)
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 - until 13th April
Now in its thirteenth year, this annual Prize of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe, through either an exhibition or publication, over the past year. This year’s prize was won by Paul Graham (b. 1956, UK), for his publication A Shimmer Of Possibility.
The other shortlisted artists in this year’s Prize, each awarded £3,000, are:
Emily Jacir (b.1970, Palestine) nominated for her installation, Material For A Film, presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale (7 June – 21 November 2007).
Tod Papageorge (b.1940, USA) nominated for the exhibition Passing Through Eden - Photographs of Central Park at Michael Hoppen Gallery, London (7 March - 12 April 2008).
Taryn Simon (b.1975, USA) nominated for her exhibition An American Index Of The Hidden And Unfamiliar at The Photographers’ Gallery, London (13 September -11 November 2007).
The Photographic Object - from 24th April
The internationally renowned photographers in this exhibition use stitching, cutting, piercing, punching and moulding, to explore the potential for photographs to exist as an object between two and three dimensions.In this digital age, The Photographic Object reflects a renewed interest in the physical and tactile qualities of photography.
Painter Gerhard Richter (Germany, b.1932) has always worked closely with photography. His Overpainted photographs use thick paint to add further narrative to found holiday snaps and family photos.
Andy Warhol’s (USA, 1928 – 1987) stitched photographs are unique, fetishistic objects that subvert the objective aims of photography.
In his Lighter series Wolfgang Tillmans (Germany, b.1968) physically intervenes with the works and folds, creases and punches large colour field photographs into sculptural shapes against the wall.
In Catherine Yass’ (UK, b.1963) ongoing series Damage (2005 –), the artist drowns, burns and scrapes colour transparencies of urban scenes, these acts echoing the subject matter.
Walead Beshty (UK, b.1976) explores the separation between the physical and image world. Using photograms, Beshty folds, creases and rolls the photographic paper through a variety of processes, creating images that are both abstract and material.
By stitching intricate patterns onto old discarded family portraits, Maurizio Anzeri (Italy, b.1969) creates dark, psychological collages.
Annette Kelm denies photography its traditional role by reducing the image to a flat surface, creating near identical works or close-ups of textiles.
Atlas Gallery
49 Dorset Street, W1 (www)
Mario Giacomelli: Puglia - until 16th May
Widely regarded as the greatest Italian photographer of the twentieth century, Mario Giacomelli was born in Senigallia, Italy, in 1925. Following a poor formal education, he began his working life as a jobbing printer, before training as a typographer and did not fully embrace photography until he was 30 years old.
Above all, Giacomelli saw himself as a poet with a camera. “Photography is not difficult, as long as you have something to say”. Giacomelli’s famous statement underlines his casual disregard for the technical intricacies of the photographic process. This rawness of approach is a key characteristic of his work and his obliviousness to accepted dark-room practices resulted in the creation of works which were completely unique in style.
Giacomelli’s work in Puglia in 1957 is one of his most celebrated series. The photographs depict an almost idealistic fantasy of how we today imagine the Italian village to look. The prints themselves display Giacomelli’s characteristic use of strong contrast and striking use of form and texture. All the prints in this exhibition come directly from his estate in Sassoferrato, Italy, and were made by the photographer in his dark room.
Proud Galleries - Central
32 John Adam Street, WC2 (www)
Buddy Holly - until 26th April
Fifty years on from his tragic and untimely death this exhibition shows a collection of unseen Buddy Holly images.
Described by critics as the single most creative force in early Rock & Roll, Holly pioneered a style that resonates far and wide – counting luminaries such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan as devotees. This exhibition will celebrate the star’s immense talent and shine new light on his short life, as seen through the lens’ of a collection of photographers including Lewis Allen, Harry Hammond, Bill Francis, Robert Illingworth and more.
Proud Galleries - Camden
The Horse Hospital, Chalk Farm Road, N1 (www)
AC/DC: Let There Be Rock - until 31st May
A photographic portrait of a band so prolific their sales figures rank second only to the Beatles. This exhibition will take place to coincide with the UK culmination of the arena tour, and marks the anniversary of the original singer Bon Scott’s untimely death.
In reaction to the reception AC/DC have received throughout their career, this exhibition will look not at the musical super power as they are today, but instead at a young AC/DC, a band who themselves could not have predicted the phenomenal worldwide success they were to achieve.
Shot through the lens of celebrated rock photographer Philip Morris, this collection shines new light on members of the original line-up, including unseen images of the late Bon Scott alongside his iconic band mates. In his career as a rock photographer Morris has amassed an unrivalled archive of Australian rock photography, this will be the first time these images are showcased in the UK and includes images not previously seen anywhere in the world.
Withnail And Me - until 7th June
Marking a return to the film’s spiritual Camden home, this exhibition will present the most recognisable images alongside those that have never been seen before and will be the very first show of its kind in the world. Shot through the lens of legendary film photographer Murray Close, this exhibition will expose the immense talent of both those behind the camera and those in front of it, painting a telling portrait of the most iconic movie in cult British cinema.
Hoopers Gallery
15 Clerkenwell Close, EC1 (www)
John Swannell: Landscapes - until 8th May
John Swannell was born in 1946. After leaving school at 16, he worked first as an assistant at Vogue Studios and then assisted David Bailey for four years before setting up his own studio.
Various exhibitions of his work in London and Europe confirmed his growing reputation as a photographer. In 1989 he had a one-man show at the Royal Academy in Edinburgh, followed in 1990 by an exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In July of the same year, the Royal Photographic Society held a retrospective of his fashion work.
On the landscapes in this exhibition, John comments: “This is the first time I’ve exhibited my landscape pictures in London. Some of them go back twenty years and most of them confirm my love of the countryside over the city. On my travels, whether on holiday or shooting a fashion story in some far flung place like Bhutan, I like to have a day off to explore the country and take a few snaps – I find it quite liberating.
Standing on the edge of a mountain, looking down at the ancient city of Machu Picchu when the sun comes up at six o’clock in the morning, I feel very privileged just to be there with my camera – no models or make-up artists, just me and the real thing, rather than this wonderful sight on a postcard somewhere.”
Magnum Photos Print Room
63 Gee Street, EC1 (www)
The Reluctant Photojournalist - until 15th May
The 16th May 2009 marks fifty-five years since Werner Bischof’s untimely death. An important early member of the Magnum Photos agency, Bischof’s roots were not in the photojournalistic tradition. Born in Switzerland in 1916, he studied photography with Hans Finsler, a proponent of the modernist tradition and a key figure in the “Neue Sachlichkeit” (New Realism). Bischof then went on to build his career in studio photography before documenting Europe in the aftermath of World War II. He went on to join Magnum Photos in 1949 and continued to think of himself as an artist for the rest of his life.
The exhibition features a variety of vintage and modern prints from Bischof’s well know humanitarian photography including the Bihar famine, Europe post WWII and the South Korean war. Alongside these sit Bischof’s equally beautiful but perhaps lessor known early experiments with abstracts and nudes.
Host Gallery
1 Honduras Street, EC1 (www)
Still Human, Still There - until 4th April
An exhibition by photographer Abbie Traylor-Smith that shines a light on the underground world of destitute asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.
Still Human, Still Here is a coalition of 29 organisations campaigning to end the destitution of refused asylum seekers.
Aaron Schuman: Once Upon A Time In The West - from 14th April
The photos in this exhibition were made on the eroding sets and locations of Sergio Leone’s celebrated 1960s ’spaghetti Westerns’ deep in the Almerian deserts of southern Spain. For several years, Aaron Schuman has pursued work concerned with the propagation of American myths abroad, as well as notions of how the “American vision” has been applied to landscapes and cultures throughout the world. He is particularly interested in trying to discover what these set - flimsy, worn, and weathered, but still standing forty years on - might insinuate about the state of America, its ideals, reputation, ambitions, visions, and illusions today.
Photofusion
17a Electric Lane, SW9 (www)
Leah Gordon: Kanaval - until 24th April
British photographer and film-maker Leah Gordon first visited Haiti in 1991 and has built an extraordinary body of work over thirteen years. Jacmel, a coastal town in Southern Haiti, holds pre-Lenten Mardi Gras Festivities as part of a yearly carnival. Troupes of performers act out mythological and political tales in a whorish theatre of the absurd that courses the streets, rarely shackled by traditional parade. Whatever the carnival lacks in glitz and spectacle, it makes up for in home-grown surrealism and mythical metaphor.
Consisting mainly of medium format, black and white portraits, the exhibition includes stand alone pictures of iconoclastic individuals, themed sets and series presented as short narratives. It is significant that they are posed photographs, taken through negotiation with troupe members and influenced by traditional portrait photography. They represent snatched moments of calm freed from the dirt, sweat and colour of the chaotic ambience of the streets during the festivities.
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place, SW3 (www)
Miyako Ishiuchi: Mother’s/1906 To The Skin/Yokasuka Story - until 16th April
The first European retrospective of work by Miyako Ishiuchi, Japan’s foremost female photographer. It will be the first time images from the series Mother’s (2000-2005), 1906 To The Skin (1991-1993) and Yokosuka Story (1976-1977) have been shown in Britain. Curated by Dutch photographer and Japanese photography specialist Machiel Botman.
Miyako Ishiuchi was born in 1947 to a country whose culture had been infiltrated by the influence of the US servicemen living on the naval bases in major ports and cities during the military occupation post World War II. The presence of the western soldiers had a profound effect on Ishiuchi’s early childhood, and inspired her to produce her first body of work- Yokosuka Story. Miyako Ishiuchi was one of a renowned group of Japanese photographers, including Shomei Tomatsu and Daido Moriyama who confronted the trauma of post – war Japan and the dawning of a new era by using their cameras as tools to express, record and explore what it meant to be Japanese at this pivotal moment in history. Her work is much admired by both her mentors.
In 1906 To The Skin, Ishiuchi creates portrait of Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, who was born in 1906. For this unusual exploration of a man, Ishiuchi turns her attention to human skin –studying Ohno’s scars and the effects of aging on his body, the patina of which convey a person’s history. No shot captures his face or personality; instead the series is an intimate study of the strength and vulnerability of a man through close up images of his skin. The results are celebratory and full of warmth. Ishiuchi says: “His skin is unusually beautiful. It is smoother than silk, warmer than wool, suppler than cotton, stronger than canvas.”
Ishiuchi’s work is included in many important museum collections in Japan and America, but it was with Mother’s that she was chosen to represent Japan at the 2005 Venice Biennale.
She began to photograph her mother systematically and intimately in the last years of her life until 2000, when she died suddenly. Although their relationship had been strained, Ishiuchi was deeply affected. She proceeded to document her mother’s possessions in order to come to terms with her death, and in an attempt to understand the bond between them.
After her husband was reported missing in World War II, Ishiuchi’s mother had earned her living as a truck driver. When she became pregnant by another man, her first husband suddenly reappeared. Divorce followed a week before Ishiuchi was born.
The objects documented tell the story of a fashionable and resilient woman; elegant close-ups of intimate personal effects- make up, hairbrushes and underwear that still bear the evidence of recent use, showing a life that was painful but not without beauty.
AOP Gallery
81 Leonard Street, EC2 (www)
AOP Photographer Awards 2009: Part One - until 24th April
The AOP Photographers Awards are the professional photographic awards for members of the Association of Photographers. They are regarded as THE awards for professional photographers and being selected for entry into the book and accompanying exhibition is considered one of the highest accolades for professional photographers around the world.
Part One consists of photos in the categories Classic Landscape, Documentary and Portrait.
AOP Photographer Awards 2009: Part Two - from 28th April
Part Two consists of photos in the categories Still Life, Fashion, Personal Project and Interiors & Architecture.
