(courtesy Leo Kesting Gallery)

Looking at Ray Sell’s images is like walking into an American vintage pop culture magazine.  It’s my first encounter with Mr. Sell’s work, so I have a fresh eye for what’s up at Leo Kesting (been wanting to visit the gallery for ages). I was not disappointed to see Ray Sell’s mutedly vivid collages raising questions about American boyhood rising into manhood.  Perhaps some of the imagery comes from his own experiences.  Nonetheless, the subjects are stylishly positioned and he seems to work within a nostalgic color palette. Although the images that Mr. Sell uses are only a few decades old, it feels like some strange distant world. Television, pin-up ladies, cowboys, guns and Miller-Coors beer. Just about sums up the American (macho) “high life” before cyberspace came into the picture.

Ray Sell: Stand Yer Ground is on view from May 13 – June 13, 2010

The New York Academy of Fine Arts opens their 2010 MFA Thesis Exhibition tonight with a chance to meet and greet new talents in the fine art world. (above painting by Hudson Holly)

Opening on Friday at the Goethe Institute Wyoming Building is the exhibition “Nachleben” (translated literally it means afterlife and survival), bringing together a group of intellectual imagemakers, traditional and new media visual artists, photographers, and writers. There will be an interesting series of programs and events along with the show including film screenings and talks given by some of the artists such as the filmmakers Stan VanDerBeek, Lucy Raven, and Peggy Ahwesh (below).

“Nachleben” runs from 05/07/10 – 05/29/10.

The ISCP in Brooklyn is opening its doors again for studio visits from May 7th to 16th. The artists involved are both emerging and established artists from around the world. I have visited ISCP sometime back and visited a few artist studios for a show that I was working on curating. The building is divided into moderate sized rooms, enough for artists to work comfortably in (generally speaking).  There is an open communal space with a cozy little couch and kitchen for artists to gather and mingle, all under a pale skylight. I was also impressed by the books that were sitting on their shelf, full of art, theory, and rare philosophy titles.  Overall the ISCP studios are really thought out and inviting to both artists and visitors. I also had a pleasant experience with the staff when I inquired information about the programs that they offer.

Open Studios goes on for 10 days, with a chance to meet and talk with 41 international contemporary artists, residents, and curators at ISCP. It’s an opportunity to peek into the process behind dedicated artists and why they chose to be a residency of New York. (above image courtesy ISCP)

A group exhibition featuring six young female artists from around the world, Bedtime Stories monotone dreams is showing at the artist collective space The Fardom from April 9th to May 2nd, 2010. The concept of the show was to manifest the moment that exists between sleep and wake states of mind. It was interpretted in all different ways by the artists and the works they chose to represent the idea. This is the latest curatorial project that I’ve been working on, and there is still one week left before the show closes.

Artists include KATJA LOHER, SOL KJØK, CHAW EI THIEN, CARISSA PELLETERI, KELLY STURHAHN, ALIONA YURTSEVICH

Artcards is beta testing a new commenting feature from Facebook. The comments will appear both on Artcards show pages and Facebook along with the commenter’s name and profile picture.  The aim is to widen the discussion to more people in a credible way.

To post a comment on a show, find the show on the main events page or on the ongoing shows section if the show has already opened. Then click on the “comment” link at the end of each show listing.

Below is the most recent activity. More updates to come soon!

No More Tic, No More Toc, the new sound is hmmmmm……these are the three bursts of text from a Times Square marquee captured in Louis Fauer’s recently discovered 1960’s film, Time Capsule.   Four panelists conceded that his mindset was decidedly that of a photographer shooting stills. Present were Vince Aletti, critic and curator, Deborah Bell, Deborah Bell Gallery, Howard Greenberg, Howard Greenberg Gallery, Brian Wallis, Chief Curator, ICP, and moderator Lisa Hostetler, Curator of Photographs, Milwaukee Art Museum.  

The ICP-hosted panel discussion coincided with STREET SEEN: The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940-1959, being exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Museum through April 25, 2010.  The exhibition, according to Ms. Hostetler, makes “public use” of the space we call the street its subject, focusing on the role of the unconscious and the subjective experience, not the street itself.  

In addition to screening the film, made in an era when filmmaking was still not considered an art form, panelists described why American photography in the 1940’s and 50’s, specifically the street photography of Lisette Model, Robert Frank, Louis Faurer, Ted Croner, Saul Leiter, and William Klein looked the way it did.  

Several clues were given.  It was a time when photographers held day jobs with magazine publishers, one of the few places where photographers found employment.  Deborah Bell spoke to the high status accorded photographers whose work appeared in Harpers Bazaar or Flair, and the role magazines played a role in helping photographers transition their work.  Also, the “impulse to create books was missing”, according to Aletti, as was a market for photographs, let alone the galleries to exhibit them. Brian Wallis suggested how, with time, images become “something other than straight journalism”, citing Capa’s “slightly out of focus” style which created interest. 

But it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the credibility of photography hit stride, Hostetler added. 

Photos top to bottom:  Lisette Model, William Klein, Ted Croner, Saul Leiter