The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Steve Harp • obelisk: a tapering four-sided shaft of stone, usually monolithic and having a pyramidal apex; SYN: column, daggar, mark, monolith, monument, needle, pillar, pylon, shaft, tower. Gary Green’s 2021 monograph, Obelisk is a lovely book. Softcover, measuring 4 ½” x 9”, it fits comfortably in one hand, reminding me of nothing so much as a... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Composting is a process for recycling stuff no longer useful in its current form to let the mix develop into something more fertile for the future. “Make hay while the sun shines” is an old saying that implies that one should take advantage of moments that are still somewhat tolerable... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This impressive photobook starts with the well-known quote by George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And sure enough, the publication of this book is very timely, since we again find ourselves experiencing various similar expansive acts of aggression and a variety of autocratic... Continue Reading →
Review by Kristin Dittrich • While visiting the first “Photobook Fest“ on May 22, 2022, a new art fair at ICP New York dedicated to the contemporary photobook, I discovered this wonderful small photobook, like a zine, with the title Fragments. This project tells a strong and visually beautiful story about the immigration of a woman... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Summer … sunshine … the beach … nuances of reddish hair and warm skin colors: the perfect combination for a carefree holiday feeling – moments of relief from the tedium of everyday stress. These are the perfect ingredients for this project by Joel Meyerowitz; these features captured his attention for... Continue Reading →
Welcome to our 39th Issue • We again greet the summer with a selection of photobooks for you to consider for your holidays and vacations plans. We are also delighted to provide six photobooks supporting Ann Mitchell's latest Thinking About Photographyshowcase, Place. Concurrently we are aghast and severely disappointed with many of the recent American Supreme Court decisions that are being handed down by a super-majority of ultra-conservative justices. On... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The process of depicting simulated people in fake ‘portraits’ has reached new levels of perfection. The software programming known as GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) combines features from known human portraits to create endless new simulated ‘portraits’ depicting nonexisting pseudo-people, looking quite real. When I first came across this process in... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • While we at PhotoBook Journal tend to defer from broad thematic photobooks with a multitude of contributors, and in general the illustrated catalogs for exhibitions usually have little design and layout merit. I take exception with the recent exhibition publication in conjunction with Harvard Art Museums being very worth investigating. The exhibition and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • If you have had enough of the same old style of portraits, then get ready for something completely different. These meticulously produced portraits by the artist duo known as Koschies demand some new definitions, since they challenge our customary way of visualizing each other. We are used to seeing portraits... Continue Reading →
PBJ Issue Number 38 • With the transition into summer, we are providing some interesting reading opportunities for the poolside or on the beach. We also feature two recent in-person events that were inclusive of books to put on your radar for next year: the CODEX Book fair focused on artists books and the Medium Photo Festival 2022 included... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 