Review by Douglas Stockdale • The exhibition catalog that was developed for a traveling group show, Memory is a Verb, Exploring Time and Transience, which unlike many group exhibitions, is remarkable in its diversity by the eleven women who participated in this project. As stated in the foreword, “…brings together eleven women photographic artists exploring the liminal space between... Continue Reading →
Christian Kasners – Woodward
Review by Douglas Stockdale • The book cover for Christian Kasners recently released photographic book, Woodward, has an interesting graphic design, printed full bleed. The repetitive pattern stirs the memory until it is apparent that this is a tire tread pattern, a subtext for the location of Kasners photo-documentary of Woodward Avenue, one of the main urban... Continue Reading →
LA Art Book Fair 2023
LA Art Book Fair, entrance, copyright 2023 Jonas Yip Review by Douglas Stockdale and Gerry Clausing • This August we saw the return of the LA Art Book Fair 2023, which like many art and book fairs had been impacted by COVID 19 in early 2020. This book fair, sponsored by Printed Matter, looked and felt... Continue Reading →
Ruth Walz – Theater im Sucher / Theater Through a Lens
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Stage photography, especially when it involves theatrical productions, is both a craft and an artistic endeavor requiring great skills. Not only do you have to be in command of your photography, but you also have to be a talented communicator, dealing with the director of the play, with the actors,... Continue Reading →
Thomas Kellner – Kapellenschulen (Chapel Schools)
Review by Paul Anderson • Since 1997 Thomas Kellner has been exploring the artistic possibilities of the photographic film contact sheet, turning the grid structure of the sheet into his artistic playground. He designs and sequences the contact sheet frames in order to build dancing deconstructions of a larger scene. His prior deconstructions have included... Continue Reading →
Sky Wilson – Neighbours
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Portland, Oregon, is one of my favorite cities and has remained so, even as it is in transition, as many other cities are as well. My recollections are that it has the largest bookstore in the world, and that it is full of interesting people, many of whom have a... Continue Reading →
Tanja Engelberts – Forgotten Seas
Review by Matt Schneider • "fever days fleets erected at a dazzling pace rigs roaming the seas sonar boats scanning the ocean floor young men recruited fortunes made conquering frontiers establishing capitalism" (p. 77) Forgotten Seas, by photographer, Tanja Engelberts, is a hefty photobook. By this, I mean that it is large, yes. The book is 216 pages... Continue Reading →
Paul Caponigro – Visual Memories and Hidden Places
Review by Douglas Stockdale • This retrospective publication of Paul Caponigro is not meant to be in anyway inclusive of Caponigro’s entire body of work to date. This beautiful book encompasses some of his most wonderful, if not iconic, visual poems. Many of these same Caponigro’s photographs are what initially enticed me to consider the potential... Continue Reading →
David Bernstein – Walker’s Vein
Review by Steve Harp • Walker’s Vein by David Bernstein is a mystery masquerading as a travel guide. My immediate reaction in encountering the book object was to note its somewhat unusual dimensions – 8” x 13”, a tall, thin volume. These are proportions I usually associate with guidebooks; not a totally idiosyncratic connection, as the book presents itself... Continue Reading →
Ian Howorth – A Country Kind of Silence
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In his very perceptive essay for this photobook, Harry Gallon provides a very important insight: “Place exists as the altar of our everyday existence.” He goes on to discuss the multiple layers of history that weigh heavily on all the locations that were photographed by Ian Howorth for this astonishing... Continue Reading →