Bridge the Gap

The Exhibition is Coming

So I have been busy running around China the past few months for work, but I am finally managing to make time to organize my photographs from the past several years. Still preliminary, but it looks as if at least one and likely two galleries will exhibit my work later this year in Shanghai. Some preliminary proofs below:

Gray Dawn

I was recently in Chicago and had the opportunity to visit the Catherine Edelman Gallery.  Conveniently located nearby to the place I was staying, the gallery is one of two in the US that represents Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison.  I've been a fan of the ParkeHarrison's works for a while and after doing some research was aware that they are embarking on a new photographic work series.

I was able to view two of the pieces from the new series while at the Edelman Gallery and also had the pleasure of speaking for a while with Catherine herself.  We talked about the evolution of the ParkeHarrison's oeuvre as well as the continuing development of the photographic market (n.b. it is still white hot).  Now I have wanted to build up a proper art and photography collection for a long time.  I am a serious amateur photographer and my grandmother was an accomplished painter, so you could say creativity has always been an important part of my life.  I liked the pieces on display at the gallery, but the real gem of the new series for me, a work called Gray Dawn, was not there.

Originally from the Midwest and now living in Massachusetts, the ParkeHarrison's show us an earth struggling to survive under the weight of pollution and development.  In what has become their most famous series, The Architect's Brother, an everyman travels through bleak landscapes trying to help the earth repair itself.  The works are notable not only for their creativity of subject, but also of process.  The primary pieces in past series have been large scale silver gelatin photographs treated with acrylic paints, gels, beeswax and/or other varnishes to create distinctive works.

The couple’s latest series is a major departure in that they are using color for the first time.  The pieces are amazingly striking in person.  The scale of the works (40x40 inches for smaller, 60x60 for larger) and the vividness of the medium (C prints and acrylics on aluminum) are phenomenal.  The two pieces on display at the gallery were beautiful, but I knew that Gray Dawn was the piece I really wanted.  So I headed back out into the 5 degree Fahrenheit Chicago winter having purchased a small work from Michael Kenna and thinking about Gray Dawn.

I had plenty of time the following day on the plane trip back to Shanghai to contemplate the new ParkeHarrison series, but I guess I had already known while at the gallery what I was going to do.  I arrived back at my apartment, booted up my laptop and emailed the gallery to purchase Gray Dawn.

It is just phenomenal.  A man lies in bed looking toward a window.  You cannot see his face but know that he is focusing on the two small sprigs that are desperately trying to grow, two small signs of regeneration. Outside, the gray sky dawns above two water cooling towers.

For me, it is a beautiful work that is not so much a criticism of humankind's development of the world, but rather the fact that nature will find a way to survive in even the bleakest of circumstances.  (Maybe I am just too much of an optimist, but so be it.)  Whatever we can do to help the earth the better.

So now my art and photography collection has taken a leap forward.  I am extremely excited and cannot wait to be able to look at this piece every day.

Another Apple Convert

I've been holed up recently with my new toy, also known as a MacBook Pro 17" laptop.  Although my ability to push technology's frontiers has meant I have found a way to screw up the vaunted OS X file system, overall the laptop rocks.  (Note: Do not try to manipulate 140 MB image files while running a BT client and several office apps simultaneously - this is apparently too much for even a C2D to handle.) The MacBook Pro is a real dream.  Comfortable, ergonomic keyboard, bright display, extremely easy to use, lots of well thought out features big and small; basically, what one would expect from Apple.  Booting up my old Dell laptop is just painful now.

To make my current technology nirvana even better, I also bought a Nikon 5000 ED scanner. All of my precious frames of film (yes, I still do use film) are in the process of getting digitized.

Now I know you will all say Ed, you are such a technology guy.  How could you still use film when digital cameras are so good nowadays?  The main reason is that Leica optics blow every other 35mm's offerings out of the water, with only Contax/Zeiss coming close.  Nikon and Canon digital cameras produce some beautiful images.  But I will take my Leica's detail and sharpness any day of the week. (Yes, Leica did just come out with a digital M8, but at $4,800 and without a full frame sensor I will save my money.)  Now, I am unfortunately learning that scanned 35mm film has major grain and acuity issues, but the results with a well shot photograph are extremely impressive.  For the others, there are software solutions with which I am experimenting.  I will probably add a digital to the line up sometime in 2007, but for now I still love my Leica.

Anyway, back to my new laptop and scanner. If you don't hear from me for a while, just ping me on Skype and tell me to get out for some fresh air...

Photographic Brilliance

Although the most interesting lots are out of reach of mere mortals, next week in New York Sotheby's is holding what is one of the most important photography auctions of this decade.  Masterworks from Weston, Stieglitz, Bourke-White, and Steichen, amongst others, will be on auction.  If you are in New York they are having pre auction viewing this weekend; if you want to be inspired I urge you to stop by the preview or the auction itself.  If you are not so fortunate, there is a decent site of the lots and descriptions here.