Review by Gerhard Clausing • What’s life all about? When all is reversed – the real seems fake, the fake seems real – what can we still count on? What does a reality full of errata (printed errors) look like, and how are we to function? Are we like a book, with old pages, as... Continue Reading →
Photobook Highlights at Photo LA’s Virtual Collect and Connect
By Gerhard Clausing • Even though we are somewhat isolated due to the coronavirus situation, we certainly can still share our work. It can be a more personal experience to virtually visit with our fellow photographers and authors and to hear and see them tell about their projects in an atmosphere of comfortable professionalism. To... Continue Reading →
Dieter Keller – The Eye of War / Das Auge des Krieges
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Why do some still consider war a useful method of dealing with conflicts? Armed encounters between groups of people, whether within a country or between countries, do not seem like a very sophisticated way of solving problems, or of improving the human condition. Where are the boundaries between “necessities” and... Continue Reading →
Tomas Wüthrich – Doomed Paradise
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In this photobook the documentary photographer Tomas Wüthrich provides us with a visual glimpse into our own past, into a world without supermarkets that supply us with our meat, fruits, and vegetables. It is a fascinating journey into the disappearing world of the Penan people of Borneo, who were discovered... Continue Reading →
Kathleen Y. Clark – The White House China
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Overcoming the past is a prerequisite for a better future. While we cannot change any of the things our predecessors have done, our obligation is to open ourselves to an honest assessment of the past and to bring about improvements. An honest acknowledgment of historical events and of cultural shifts... Continue Reading →
Charlie Koolhaas – City Lust
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Charlie Koolhaas likes to see the world and share her observations in photographs and in writing. She was born in London, is of Dutch origin, has also been educated in the United States, and has lived in a number of countries for extended periods of time. Thus she is truly... Continue Reading →
Masculinities – Liberation through Photography
Review by Gerhard Clausing • We are not all the same, and it would be naïve to expect others to be or to become exactly like ourselves and to share identical visions. So the notion of what is represented by the concept “masculinity” also requires many diverse responses; hence the title of this retrospective of... Continue Reading →
Jacob Loewentheil – The Psychological Portrait: Marcel Sternberger’s Revelations in Photography
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Once in a while one makes a truly surprising discovery: the work of Marcel Sternberger certainly fits that category. Iconic portraits of 20th century luminaries, depictions that were relatively unknown for many decades, have now been unearthed from his archive, thanks to the work of Jacob and Stephan Loewentheil of... Continue Reading →
Steve McCurry – Animals
Review by Gerhard Clausing • We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. – Immanuel Kant • Everyone photographs animals, but very few do it well. While we can capture cute expressions of our pets, to understand and depict our fellow creatures from a more comprehensive perspective and with all... Continue Reading →
Joyce Fischer Rohrmoser – Rent a Foreigner
Review by Gerhard Clausing • China, the country that mass-produces for the rest of the world, has also undergone many internal changes in the 21st century, and this project illuminates one such aspect: the upscale desires of China’s rising middle class. For several years Joyce Rohrmoser was hired as a foreign ‘presence’ for the marketing... Continue Reading →