By Gerhard Clausing • On Saturday, August 24, Douglas Stockdale and I spent a delightful day at LACP (Los Angeles Center of Photography) in Hollywood as jurors for the first LACP photographic book competition. Right from the start, we were pleased not only with the number of entries (well over 50), but especially with the... Continue Reading →
Madhu Joseph John – The Passenger
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This ambitious project by Madhu Joseph John raises some challenging questions: Who are we, and where does our journey take us? Are our differences in appearance, age, location, preferences and our levels of experience really so important that we will allow them to be used as a basis for dividing... Continue Reading →
Birthe Piontek – Abendlied
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Abendlied (Evening Song) is a project that is very personal, yet has universal meaning. The concept seems simple: as we gradually take leave of our parents we have memories of events and feelings from long ago; things come back to remind us of what we experienced with them in the... Continue Reading →
Alex Llovet – Beware of the Dog
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In these tumultuous times there is much to ‘beware of’ – many anxieties that have followed us since childhood and from centuries past are now catching up with us again and are turning into new existential fears. The archetypal nightmares from long ago, archaic and simple as they may have... Continue Reading →
Cristiano Volk – Sinking Stone
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook by Cristiano Volk is all about the mysterious and historic Venice, Italy. It is a novel view of a place that has been incessantly photographed, resulting in zillions of predictable tourist snapshots that imitate tourism brochures. The city is built on islands, always poised to battle the surrounding... Continue Reading →
Naomi Harris – EUSA
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In a 1953 episode of the very dated and otherwise questionable American TV series Amos and Andy, the character Kingfish is shown pretending to be a French teacher, incongruously using a poster of the old German-American entertainment/nostalgia “Schnitzelbank” song. He tries to convince his ‘student’ that it is the finest... Continue Reading →
SameSource – Reinterpreted
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Depictions of nudity have a long history, going back in painting for many centuries, and in photography to its beginnings as well. The reception of such works, which often could also be considered fine art, always depended on the circumstances and perceived artistic intent. If the context was a religious... Continue Reading →
Charalampos Kydonakis – Warn’d in Vain
Review by Gerhard Clausing • As we know from history, the Greeks are distinguished seafarers and explorers, going back to ancient times. Part of the transmitted past is the story of Jason and the Argonauts, made famous by the poet Apollonius of Rhodes in the third century B.C.; their mythical task was to retrieve the... Continue Reading →
Eamonn Doyle – Made in Dublin
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook is a delightful symphony, a cinematic kaleidoscope, and all of that to present a dynamic portrait of a city. Eamonn Doyle has his roots in photography and painting, as well as in music creation and production, and this certainly has greatly enhanced this special work, which combines his... Continue Reading →
Pixy Liao – Experimental Relationship Vol.1 (2007–2017)
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook was more than ten years in the making, and it is an engrossing experience for the viewers as well. Pixy and Moro are a young couple somewhat less predictably matched, if one goes by social expectations – she is five years older than he is; she is of... Continue Reading →