50% Grey: Contemporary Czech Photography Reconsidered reviewed in NewCity!

February 25, 2010 | Details | Comments (6)

Jiří Thýn, Untitled, Composition No. 17, 2007

Check out Jason Foumberg's review of 50% Grey on NewCity's site.

Mitch Epstein Lecture and Book Signing

February 17, 2010 | Details | Comments (2)

On Thursday, February 18 at 6pm, Mitch Epstein visits Chicago for a lecture, book signing, and reception at Ferguson Lecture Hall and the MoCP on the campus of Columbia College Chicago. Copies of his latest publication, American Power, will be available for purchase.

Mitch Epstein, Green Mountain Wind Farm, Fluvana, Texas, 2005

American Power features images from Epstein’s series of the same name. Inspired by the sudden evacuation of an Ohio town after it was environmentally contaminated, images in American Power seek to document residential or other populated areas that are in direct contact with or have been affected by energy producing systems and structures. Epstein faced police resistance and worked around corporate security barriers in order to capture these peaceful, but highly loaded images. The book includes Epstein’s own essays in which he describes how the photographic experiences of this project deepened his political convictions and led him to reflect upon his role as an artist in U.S.

Mitch Epstein, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Nevada, 2007

In a review for Aperture magazine, Aaron Shuman says of Epstein’s American Power: “The selection [of photographs] revealed the diversity with which Epstein is both approaching and defining ‘power’ – from the use and abuse of natural resources, the societal implications of such actions and their environmental impact to the power of nature itself, and even that of sexuality within contemporary America. Epic in scale, rich in detail, Epstein’s compositions are easily located within the traditions of painting as well as those of photography.”

Read a NYT review of this series.
See a slideshow of images on the Guardian's site.
Visit Epstein’s site.

Valentine’s Day Image Set!

February 11, 2010 | Details | Comments (3)

Alexander Lapin, A Kiss (silhouetted figures), 1981

Remember our Thanksgiving and Holiday collection image sets? Well, Happy Valentine’s Day! Our third image set includes collection images related to this lovey-dovey, pink-and-red, heart- and candy-filled day.

The advanced search feature of the collections site allows for searches by artist, medium, title, date, description and even credit line. We entered the terms “love,” “heart,” “kiss,” “couple,” “valentine,” “holding hands,” and various others, into the description and title fields to yield 45 images, including those below.

By registering and logging into the MoCP collections web page, you can create and save your own sets and favorite images and share them with other users. Registration is simple - Just enter your email address and hit submit.

Log in today and enter share ID: 7qnzxhyg to see the rest of the images in our MoCP Valentine’s Montage set. Start creating your own sets today!

Alice Hargrave, Bleeding Hearts, P.E.T. Scan Brain, 1995

Stephan Levinson, Father with Children Dancing in Circle, c. 1960.

Catch up with MoCP collection artists

February 3, 2010 | Details | Comments (0)

Richard Misrach, via Artinfo

A photo by Richard Misrach was seen by millions of people internationally when it appeared as the desktop background on the iPad. Videos popped up internet-wide last week as Apple Corporation and Steve Jobs introduced the device while simultaneously giving Misrach some great exposure. Surprisingly, Misrach was unaware that the image would appear. Read more at Artinfo.

The City of Tampa has selected Karen Glaser as the 2010 Photographer Laureate. This is a program in Tampa modeled after those such as the Farm Security Administration’s Photography Program. Each year Tampa’s Public Art Program commissions a photographer via a juried process, to do a distinct project of the artist’s choosing and an archive is being built through these images about the life and times of Tampa. More at City of Tampa.

Eirik Johnson

Eirik Johnson has been named as a finalist for the 2010 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston's biennial award and exhibition. Read the press release at the ICA site.

Brian Ulrich, via amysteinphoto.blogspot.com

New work by Amy Stein and Brian Ulrich appears in their 2-person show “Instruments of Empire” at Caption Gallery in Brooklyn, through March 25. Stein says of the show: “On the surface our two series couldn’t be more different; one, portraits of stranded motorists and the other environmental landscapes of abandoned box stores. Look deeper and you’ll see two artists engaged in long-term projects examining the real and metaphorical effects of a country strained by the collapse and corruption of our social institutions.” Read more at both Amy Stein’s blog and Brian Ulrich’s blog.

Finally, you recently may have seen the shortened version of a television commercial starring Elliot Erwitt. The ad aims to boost tourism in Puerto Rico. See the extended version here, with extra commentary from Erwitt. And read more at PDN.

Artinfo reports that the print archive of Magnum Photo agency has been acquired by computer mogul Michael Dell and moved to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The archive “includes iconic images from the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Civil Rights movement, as well as celebrity portraits that helped define the look of postwar American consumer culture.” Work of 14 MoCP collection photographers appears in the archive, including that from Robert Capa, Eliot Erwitt, Dennis Stock, Alec Soth, and Susan Meiselas. Read more at Artinfo and the New York Times.