DISHEVELED

Great work from New York’s Chadwick Tyler. Inspired by his life as a "farm kid," Chadwick produced original black and white portraits remniscent of the Dust Bowl, but with a modern twist "the juxtaposition of the meticulous and the disheveled."

http://www.ouruse.org/journal/page/6/

UNADORNABLE

The photographs featured in this book tell the story of Alexander Gnadiger's search for authentic beauty. It is the result of my conviction that our current ideals of beauty are increasingly being influenced by the widespread use of image retouching and manipulation. Contemporary fashion photography is seemingly obsessed with optimizing our visual environment and enhancing our physical appearance. Although there is a growing awareness of the realities of image manipulation, we still tend to perceive manipulated images through an unfiltered lens - as if they were real. However, I've come to believe that such an idealized world is only a substitute for my longing for true unadorned beauty.

book: 100 Girls On Plaroids, by Alexander Gnadiger

DAMN GOOD PICTURE

 

Shown is “Untitled”, 1981, (from the rich and poor series) from Jim Goldberg. Allowing the subject to write their own description and include it in the presentation of the image clearly breaks the distance between subject and viewer. I’m always surprised how frank the comments are on the photos. It remains to be seen how long the art world will support a non-ironic stance that only a few photographers are using to address complex social issues.

newspaper: De Volkskrant

SURREAL GRACE

This iconic pose is immediately striking but also impossible, and actually the result of creative compositing. The photograph made by jean paul goude for her compilation album "Island Life" in 1985. This Grace Jones project is clearly fantastic, and the airbrushing is flawless.  But so few examples of modern photoshopping comes anywhere close and it's not realistic at all.

http://iwilcope.wordpress.com/

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJBdDSTbLw

Streetartist Banksy's 1st documentary "Exit through the gift shop" was already last april in cinema in the US, finally he made it to the Dutch theater. Banksy got world famous by his graffiti art as a political activist, but his identity is the best kept secret. Go check out this movie about his own work and other streetartists, the new punkmovement.

http://www.artsy.nl/2010/04/film-van-banksy/

AVEDON

Although, in the course of a sixty-year career, Richard Avedon was known mainly for his originality in portraits and fashion photography, he also confronted the realms of politics, power, suffering, and war. He documented the civil-rights movement in the South, the Vietnam War, mental institutions, and, in a portfolio called “The Family,” the Washington establishment of thirty years ago.

http://www.designboom.com/history/avedon.html

INDIAN GLOW

Known for her captivating photographs of the less obvious side of Indian society, Dayanita Singh's images range from the life of a Delhi eunuch to portraits of upper middle class families to the empty interiors of homes and museums. Publishing has also become a significant part of her practice: in her books, often published without text, she experiments with different ways of producing and viewing photographs. Until now Singh has used primarily back and white photography  'Dream Villa', her new show in London, presents the largest single body of the artist's colour work shown to date.

newspaper: NRC Handelsblad

PASSIONS BLANCA

Paul Blanca, Amsterdam 1958, who is self-taught, lives and works in Amsterdam and New York. Since 1983 his work has been shown in Dutch and foreign galleries. His images and articles about his photography have appeared in magazines such as Perspektief and Man.Interesting about his work is that he works anolog in a way that he combines his passions for documentary and styling with a message.

Magazine Fotofestival Naarden

I LIKE AMERICA AND AMERICA LIKES ME

Joseph Beuy's most famous Action took place in May 1974, when he spent three days in a room with a coyote. After flying into New York, he was swalthed in felt and loaded into an ambulance, then driven to the gallery where the action took place, without having once touched American soil. As Beuys later explained: "I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see nothing of America other than the coyote." This work "I like America and America likes me" was exhibited in De Keukenhof, a cultural heritage in Lisse, The Netherlands, an exhibition of contemporary art in historic environement. The title of the work is filled with irony. Beuys opposed American military actions in Vietnamm, and his work as an artist was a challenge to the hegemony of American art.

exhibition: Van Bij De Buren, Kasteel De Keukenhof te Lisse

MAJOLI CONFLICT

At the age of 15, Alex Majoli joined the F45 Studio in Ravenna, working alongside Daniele Casadio. While studying at the Art Institute in Ravenna, he joined Grazia Neri Agency and traveled to Yugoslavia to document the conflict. He returned many times over the next few years, covering all major events in Kosovo and Albania. He continues to document various conflicts worldwide for Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, Granta and National Geographic. 

http://www.alexmajoli.com/