Friday, June 24, 2011

"Henry Wessel, Vintage Photographs" Exhibit at Pace/MacGill Gallery

San Francisco, 1973
© Henry Wessel
Henry Wessel is a photographer of talent whose work is not seen often enough in exhibitions or in print. So it is most welcome that now on view at Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City is "Henry Wessel, Vintage Photographs" through July 8, 2011. Wessel, who has been photographing primarily in the American West since the 1960's, has the rare quality of being able to make pictures which perfectly blend both visual beauty and wry social commentary. No matter how diverse his subject matter, Wessel's work maintains a stylistic cohesion that marks the work as uniquely his own. Garry Winogrand once stated that the contention of content threatening to overwhelm form in his own pictures was what created their tension. The obverse is true in Wessel's photographs; it is the form which threatens to overpower the content. The art of Wessel's pictures is the delicate balance between these elements, teetering on the edge of formalism, yet always managing to draw us back to the significance of their meaning. They are simultaneously a celebration of the joys of seeing and and a commentary on the strange world which surrounds us.
Dog Show, Oakland, 1981 © Henry Wessel
Walapai, Arizona, 1971 © Henry Wessel

Click image to play video of a Henry Wessel interview.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Work in Progress, June 2011

This installment of Work in Progress features a selection of new photographs shot in and around New York City in April and May 2011.
Hasidic Family, Midtown Manhattan, 2011  © Robert Forlini

Cell Phone Photographer, Cinco de Mayo, Peekskill, NY, 2011  © Robert Forlini
Pharmacy, Chinatown, NYC, 2011 © Robert Forlini
Crossing Canal Street, NYC, 2011  © Robert Forlini
Father and Son, Cinco de Mayo, Peekskill, NY, 2011  © Robert Forlini
Photographer, New York Auto Show, NYC, 2011  © Robert Forlini
Overgrown House, Lake Peekskill, NY, 2011  © Robert Forlini
Garden, Lake Peekskill, NY 2011  © Robert Forlini
Flag, Lake Peekskill, NY, 2011  © Robert Forlini
Anne Reading Magazine, Croton-on-Hudson, NY, 2011 © Robert Forlini