VoxPhotographs Weblog

Noah Krell! Don’t go…!

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Maine, OUT THERE - MAINE PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT on July 5, 2009 by voxphotographs

Funny when you’ve never heard of someone or something and you hear about him/it twice in a week…

Such was the case recently with Portland artist and master printer Noah Krell. First I heard about his printing skills from Nathan Eldridge and René Braun at my 6/25 photographers’ salon at the gallery. They raved about him as an important part of their work as photographers – they’ve had Noah print their work at his digital-imaging business called Pure Photographic Goodness in Portland. Unfortunately, remembering names is not a skill I can claim. Obviously.

Krell_Anina at rest Anina at Rest © Noah Krell

A few days later, I was blown away by a photograph “Anina at Rest” in the current show “Island Artists: Fairfield Porter and the Great Spruce Head Island Artists” (through July 14) at Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth. Hmmm. Artist: Noah Krell. Never heard of him. Where ARE these people hiding? In another room was a dynamite “Self Portrait” image. Guess what? Also by Noah Krell. Karin Wilkes, Director at Courthouse Gallery said she had heard he was leaving for the west coast soon. So, when I got back to my laptop that evening, I googled him, e-mailed him and asked him for the images electronically to include in a posting about him and could he send more info. about himself? When he responded he mentioned his business Pure Photographic Goodness and yes, he is leaving Portland in August and will land in San Francisco to pursue his MFA.

Although the image “Anina at Rest” is beyond stunning (I think my friend Susan Davens would have stolen it if she could have gotten away with it. But then I would have stolen it from her house on my next visit, so the friendship might have become strained), I’m not sure the impact can be felt from the reproduction here, but it’s better than nothing.His “Self Portrait” has the impact here it has on the wall at Courthouse Gallery:

Krell_Self Portrait

Self Portrait © Noah Krell

Much of Noah’s work on his website is not for the faint of heart. I do remember seeing his image “In the Kitchen” recently somewhere – where??? CMCA 2008 Bienniel? I have no clue, but it’s unforgettable, trust me. Some would say Krell’s work is controversial. I say it’s obvious he doesn’t take public sentiment into consideration when he’s setting up a shot or engaging in performance art. He’s making very provocative, clear-eyed images about domestic arrangements and sexuality in today’s world. This artist is focused on making terrific pictures, period. Look. Look at the details. Look again. You’ll see what I mean.

Noah grew up in South Hiram, Maine and was graduated from College of the Atlantic in 2001. But…. he’s ready to fly west. Noah, will you stay in touch and send me an image from time to time so I can post it here and keep us all up-to-date on your work and where it’s going? And when you’re ready, come back and stir it up for us again, okay?

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New in Portland – Two Point Gallery…

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Maine on June 25, 2009 by voxphotographs

Two Point Gallery is new on the scene and now exhibiting its second show which features the work of 20 members of the Bakery Photographic Collective based in Westbrook now. The show is open until July 12.

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There are some standouts and we all know their names: Scott Peterman, Justin Van Soest and Tonee Harbert. And oddly enough, the other four artists I made notes on, because I was impressed with their work, are all women.

Tara 3 by Rachel Schwartz Tara 3 © Rachel Schwartz

Strong images from Rachel Schwartz are included: Tara I, II and III. How does anyone sell framed fine art photographs for $125? But here they are. These approx. 7″x10″ black and white beauties are clever and confident and I almost felt there was something going on here I couldn’t see. The artist’s explanation made no sense to me with respect to the pictures, but I’m not big on artists’ statements, so I shouldn’t have read it to begin with!

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Self-Portrait © Brittany Marcoux

Brittany Marcoux, a student at MECA, has some cool, fresh 10″x10″ portraits, but her self-portrait is the best – less self-conscious than the other three posers! It’s a good picture.

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peter.eprom.night. Peter, under the streetlight with a headache © Natalie Conn

Speaking of portraits, Natalie Conn has four 3″x5″ pictures in the show and her two portraits are funky and successful. Here are the titles – and these alone should get you in to see the show: “Molly, at the restaurant that no one goes to.” and “Peter, under the streetlight with a headache.”

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AtterburyElizabeth02(2008) Betty’s Mother and the Pink Pillow, 2008 © Elizabeth Atterbury

I’m wracking my brain to think of who Elizabeth Atterbury’s work reminds me of (Eggleston?). Her two 10″x10″ portraits in the show are terrific. Clean and engaging work, to say the least. The the portrait of a portrait (painted and framed, hanging over the bed) in “Betty’s Mother and the Pink Pillow, 2008″, together with the subject’s bed, adds a rewarding complexity to the whole idea of a portrait. The subject is missing, but – is she really? These may be “portraits” but they go much further if you take the time to “read” them.

Looks like portraits are a strong part of this show.

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harbert_tonee-WASHINGTON_COUNTY Washington County © Tonee Harbert

Well, on to the big guys. Tonee Harbert has three large soft focus inkjet prints in this show that demand your time and attention. I love them all, but especially the “Washington County, Maine” image. It reminds me of the “Pie” image I saw last year at the plastic camera show curated by Bruce Brown in Rockland. It was my favorite image in the show.

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Justin Van Soest is a seasoned photographer and, as usual, it shows. I’d seen the “Bridge Study 2″ somewhere recently, but enjoyed it thoroughly again. Look at “Bridge Study 1″ and “Bridge Study 3″ on his website home page. What a set of images! There are two more of Justin’s images in the window of the gallery – I totally missed them! One of them is another of the “Bridge Study” series.

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Loved Keith Lane’s small “Red Jam” underneath Justin’s photograph. I’ll let you go and see what that’s all about!

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Bonneville_7_150 Bonneville 7 © Scott Peterman

A couple of photographers had already told me about Scott Peterman’s smaller images in this show – they said they were amazing. They weren’t wrong. In keeping with his often minimalist approach, “California” and “Bonneville 7″ are so abstract when you’re 10 feet away, but give you more and more for each step closer you get to the images. You just have to wonder how he gets those exquisite tones. Go and study them for a while. Have you ever seen a boring or bad Peterman image? I haven’t, truly. The man knows how to cull – something many photographers need to learn how to do. Just because you took it, doesn’t mean the picture is any good.

And to Chris Shaw and Melissa Smith – the two owners of the brand new Two Point Gallery? Good luck to you both – although we all know luck doesn’t have much to do with success.

By the way, Susan Maasch Fine Art has moved her gallery from Forest Avenue directly across from Two Point Gallery and shows some stunning fine art photographers based in Maine. Check it out. And Ed Pollack is moving his print gallery, A Fine Thing, two doors down on Forest Avenue to Susan’s former gallery space. And… Maine violin maker Jonathan Cooper’s new shop and gallery Acoustic Artisans at 1 Forest Ave. close to the corner of Forest and Congress and shared with two other instrument makers, opened this spring. Cool area to spend an afternoon soaking up the arts, including, of course, a visit to the Portland Museum of Art a few feet away. Soooo many galleries gathering on and around Congress Street! What a city…

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A Nostalgic Digital Camera?

Posted in HOT NEW STUFF! on June 17, 2009 by jimnickelson

After a series of now traditional leaks before the official announcement, Olympus finally announced the first camera in their new Micro 4/3 System I blogged about a while back - the E-P1. And it is a looker.

Olympus E-P1 Now, looking great is subjective and it doesn’t make the camera perform well- but it is certainly a nice start. Olympus is finally taking advantage of making a smaller camera and camera system – hence this homage to their classic Pen film cameras and the retro feel.

You can spend hours reading details and looking at sample images at the DPReview site if you are so inclined. They announced it with two new lenses as well – a 17mm f2.8 pancake lens (34mm, or slightly wide, in traditional full frame 35mm terms) as well as a standard zoom. The pancake lens and optical viewfinder are shown on the body in the picture above.

So what’s so special? It’s tiny. With the pancake lens, it really isn’t much bigger than the larger point & shoot cameras, meaning it is a camera that is easy to have with you all the time. And since it will have Olympus’ latest sensor – one that is larger and can produce higher quality output than those other small point & shoots – it will likely produce images with a very high technical quality. The new Sigma DP-1 and DP-2 do a similar thing (and have a great and even larger sensor), but seem to be flawed as cameras and tools (and don’t have interchangeable lenses). Time will tell on this Olympus, but I’m optimistic they’ll get the operation right. It will also do a few tricks that are now becoming commonplace, such as shooting in multiple aspect ratios (including square!) and HD video and such.

What are the downsides? Well, you have to use the LCD for framing unless you are using the pancake with optical finder. With small size comes compromises. I suspect the autofocus won’t be as fast as the top of the line DSLRs. The lens line-up is limited as of yet. It will probably be hard to get for a while and a little overpriced when it comes out (maybe $900 with the pancake and finder?). I’m sure other faults will come out and the competition certainly won’t stand still. But if it performs as promised, it will fill this niche like no digital camera before it. And with quite a bit of style.

You can find an early look at The Online Photographer in addition to the DPReview site linked above.

- Jim Nickelson

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Rockport this Saturday?

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Maine on June 9, 2009 by voxphotographs

The CHROMA show featuring six midcoast fine art photographers and installed in the gorgeous Cider Barn at Carver Hill Gallery in Rockport closes on Saturday (June 13). The show was co-curated by Jana Halwick, Director of Carver Hill Gallery and myself. Three midcoast artists are included in the contemporary artist stable at VoxPhotographs and I wanted to get their work out there on their home turf.

The show opened May 2 but ends this Saturday, June 13, so plan a trip there to top off your week.

Cig 7-Typewriter Typewriter © Cig Harvey

The three artists selected by Jana Halwick for CHROMA are Cig Harvey, Tom McConnell and Sarah Szwajkos. VoxPhotographs is represented by Susan Guthrie, Jim Nickelson and Liv Kristin Robinson and their individual webgalleries can be found at www.voxphotographs.com.

Carver Hill Gallery is pretty unique and it’s time to spent an enjoyable hour there if you haven’t already done so. Located just a hop, skip and a jump off Route 90 in Rockport and about 15 seconds from Camden downtown, the gallery is full of surprises and high end ones at that. Besides this photography show, you’ll find custom furniture, fabric, ceramics and glass, and paintings and more photography in the cape part of the gallery.

But the midcoast area is also hosting several other truly memorable exhibits, so a nice day spent there looking at great art, eating excellent food on the waterfronts of Camden, Rockport and Rockland would be kind of a dream come true, don’t you think?

CMCA (Center for Maine Contemporary Art) in Rockport has another photography exhibit ending this Saturday (6/13) – On and Off the Midway, curated by Bruce Brown and written about in this blog earlier. In the main floor gallery is a restrospective of paintings by my esteemed husband Linden Frederick: YOU ARE HERE – Paintings and Studies.(Yes, after 37 years together, I DO have bragging rights! -wow, are we old!!)

And at the FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM is the very exciting new body of work by Jamie Wyeth - Seven Deadly Sins. We went to the members’ opening, but I can not WAIT to get back into that gallery and study these amazing paintings with hopefully fewer people in front of me!

Our best friend, Glenn Priestley of Fredericton, NB, who Linden met at art college (Ontario College of Art) in the 70’s (holy moses- we are really so old!!) will be visiting us this weekend. Guess where we’re headed on Saturday? You got it. See you there. Join us for lunch?

(Glenn Priestley – keep an eye out for him this weekend in the vicinity of Rockport-Rockland… we’ll be tagging along.)

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A blog about a blog…

Posted in ONLINE AWESOME on June 3, 2009 by voxphotographs

Well, the weeks fly by. It’s been approx. 6 of them since I’ve written on this blog and I can’t believe it. Suffice it to say, it’s been a particularly busy time.

My friend Susan Davens sent me a note about LENS, the photographs blog for the NY Times. I know I live on another planet here in Belfast, Maine, but I had never heard of it. I figure that’s what friends are for – to expand my horizons.

Here is the description copied from the LENS web homepage:

“Lens is the photojournalism blog of The New York Times, presenting the finest and most interesting visual and multimedia reporting — photographs, videos and slide shows. A showcase for Times photographers, it also seeks to highlight the best work of other newspapers, magazines and news and picture agencies; in print, in books, in galleries, in museums and on the Web. And it will draw on The Times’s own pictorial archive, numbering in the millions of images and going back to the early 20th century.”

I was pretty impressed when I got on there this morning to find several postings from yesterday – quite a different attitude than my slack approach to this blog lately! But… that’s what journalism is about, these days more than ever – instant news. Instant photographs. It’s terrific. When I read last month that journalists are under tremendous pressure to provide fresh news every four hours to feed an impatient public, I scoffed. Then I realized that I check Google News 3-4 times each day and never read any article that is more than two hours old. I’m a perp.

Read the posting about the hundreds of Polaroid images sent in at the editor’s request, after the recent article in the Times about the Dutch group trying to reproduce polaroid film. The editor was so astounded at the quality of the almost 1000 pictures he rec’d he had to put 406 of them online. There’s a portrait of Walker Evans included, and that’s really good. Evans was a huge fan of Polaroid cameras.

As a highly rewarding “it’s the middle of the night and I can’t sleep” exercise, click on the “Photos that are worth more than a thousand words” feature and then see the PICTURE PERFECT feature inthe NYT store. Immediately you can start wading through endless iconic images categorized by subject, more or less.

The big question is: How to find time for anything else WITHOUT staying up all night? Well, pick and choose, I guess. LENS is definitely worth bookmarking and checking in on weekly- at least.

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UNE Gallery-Photography in Maine…

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Maine on April 21, 2009 by voxphotographs

I swear the art gallery at Univ. of New England is Maine’s best kept art world secret. Unfortunately, it is tucked away out of sight, just as if it wants to hide, but do not read a gallery by its location. Drive into the campus on Stevens Avenue and keep going. Nope, keep going further. And there it will be – a square, two story building at the very, very end of the road.

If you enjoy art, make a point of signing up for their e-marketing notices of upcoming exhibits. Every one I’ve attended there has been worth the effort and the gallery is a very unique space – two floors (and a lower level room as well) of gorgeous light that show off everything installed to its best possible advantage. Plus… it’s free admission. Consider becoming a member.

PHOTOGRAPHY IN MAINE: NEW WORK is the exhibit there now (through June 7) and it’s just a beautifully done exhibit in every way. (Disclosure: two VoxPhotographs artists, Stacey Cramp and David Brooks Stess are included) Curator Steve Halpert worked with twelve well-known fine art photographers to select cohesive bodies of work from each, and the installation of all those photographs is expertly done.

The photographs are from everywhere and each artist’s work is really different from any other work in the exhibit. Tanja Alexia Hollander was represented by several contemporary images and I saw as well, for the first time, three images that she shot ten years ago as part of her “Windows” series. Her black and red 20″x20″ image titled “When Morgan was Sleeping, Barcelona, Spain, 1999″ is a picture I would very much like to own and it hasn’t lost its power for me with time or distance.

when-morgan-was-sleeping-barcelona-spain ©Tanja Alexia Hollander

Jon Edwards is well represented by his haunting black and white photographs of octogenarian John Ryan. Both Edwards and David Brooks Stess have an deeply genuine empathy for their subjects – you can’t fake this stuff.

11151_mediumlarger Praying to the Pie Gods © Jon Edwards

They are both willing to invest years spending time getting to know their subjects (Edwards with 5 years working alongside Ryan, and Stess with twenty years raking blueberries in Washington County). The results for both photographers are extensive, gorgeous bodies of work. All of their images are selenium toned silver gelatin prints.

Rose Marasco is debuting a fantastic series of images at this show – INTERIORS, which is part of a larger “Projections” series. The “Projections” series includes the mixed use of many different photographic media – from cyanotype to 4″x5″ color. The INTERIORS images are archival digital prints that are very large and presented in a very interesting way. Exciting, inspiring and visionary, the entire group.

projection00 INTERIOR series 00 (Proejctions) © Rose Marasco

Also featured in the exhibit are Jim Daniels, Yuri Marder, Stuart Nudelman, Victor Romanyshyn, Mason Philip Smith, Jan Pieter van Voorst van Beest and Fran Vita-Taylor. What a treat to stand in that great space and soak up such terrific images. If I’m gushing, I don’t care. I’m impressed.

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Jim Nickelson is sooooo good…

Posted in HELP!! Doing it right..., MAINE RESOURCES I LOVE... on April 9, 2009 by voxphotographs

Jim Nickelson has a printer the size of a piano in his walkout basement office – yes, you guessed it – it’s the Epson Stylus Pro 9900 (it prints up to 44″ wide). And does he ever know how to use the thing.

Number one: Jim is an extraordinary photographer himself (and is represented exclusively by VoxPhotographs) but the fact that his photograph “Moonrise, Penobscot Bay” just won BEST OF SHOW and FIRST PLACE IN COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY at the Maine Photographic Show in Boothbay (100 photographers included in the show) and that he is an extraordinary photographer is not the point of this note. Number two: Jim is simply an incredible technician when it comes to handling negatives, scanning and printing the finest digital prints you’ll see anywhere.

He knows his stuff and he clearly understands that it’s all in the details (he’s earned degrees in aeronautical engineering degree and patent law) when it comes to printing artist’s work – whether it be fine art photography or reproductions of paintings, or prints of any photograph you may need a print of.

And Number three: Jim can photograph your paintings, sculpture, furniture – even your kid if you want him too. So he’s pretty much a one-stop shop. His own fine art photographs are the work of a skilled colorist and technician – talents and insights that go a long way toward understanding what makes a great print. He truly gets this stuff.

David Mishkin (see a blurb on David under the blog category: Maine Resources I Love) of Black and White, based in Portland, came to the gallery to see the black and white prints Jim made of Mason Philip Smith’s vernacular Maine Heritage images from the 60’s and 70’s (originals are now owned by the Maine Historic Preservation Trust) and pronounced them some of the finest digital prints he had ever seen. Jim has replicated hand-painted images created by Ralph Farnham Blood in the 1930’s and JC Bicknell hand-painted images from the 1910’s – and they are so beautifully rendered, they take your breath away.

With Jim working for you the results are never good. They are great. They are perfect.

And Number four: he’s an awfully nice guy.

Contact Jim at: jim@nickelsoneditions.com, or 207-322-1351.

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On and Off the Midway at CMCA…

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Maine on April 9, 2009 by voxphotographs

Bruce Brown has done his usual schtick: curated a very comprehensive show that includes a ton of artists - 25 to be exact. (Disclosure: two artists in this exhibit, Liv Kristin Robinson and David Brooks Stess, are represented by VoxPhotographs).

On and Off the Midway, through June 13 at CMCA (Center for Maine Contemporary Art) in Rockport, demonstrates why we need artists: everyone has such a different take on things and if some of us can make this a visual statement, it broadens the horizons of us all to see it their way.

Let’s take Tom Birtwistle for example (did you see his giant canning jars at the Falmouth photography show A Picture’s Worth? – they are spectacular and Tom tells me he does all his own printing. I’m really impressed). Tom had a gorgeous print (Linden’s favorite image in the show) of the Exhibition Hall, Piscataquis Fair,

AND a cool grouping of car detail shots, printed 5″x5″. Huh? Well, it IS the same photographer, and if you get on Tom’s site you’ll have a few more schizophrenic moments – he’s impossible to categorize, but that’s what makes his idea of what’s important so interesting.

Above images © Thomas Birtwistle

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Dee Peppe’s four images were some of my favorites.Here’s the one that was on the exhibit invitation, but I can’t find any more of Dee’s images anywhere online.Dee…where are you?

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Tickets, Union Fair, Maine, 1995/2003 © Dee Peppe

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Ilya Askinazi is also in the Falmouth “A Picture’s Worth” show – his images of Bangor showing there are pretty amazing and he’s a master darkroom printer. I wasn’t as crazy about the images in the Midway show, but would recommend you take a tour NOW through his website. His urban shots, his fog shots…wow. There’s some seriously masterful work on that site.

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Liv Kristin Robinson started out in the early 80’s taking black and white images and then hand-painting them. She’s a truly gifted photographer who is now making hay out of digital technology as witnessed by this featured image in the Midway show:

lkr118 Old Orchard Beach, #6 © Liv Kristin Robinson

She has an extensive series of images of Maine’s industrial waterfronts – bold and gutsy work that no one else is capturing at all in Maine.

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René Braun is another favorite photographer of mine – he has an archive of work that will blow your socks off – edgy, haunting, raw – what an eye this photographer has. He just sent me links to his tatoo images and his boxing images. Amazing. His images in this show are softer and you’ll like them. But for more Braun, take a look at his website: www.widereach.net.

1444849511_fc1dba628f_o-1 Fair Lull, Cumberland Fair, 2007 © René Braun

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GO. You’ll spend one of the most enjoyable hours of your week wandering through 26 different Maine fairs and festivals and hey, it’s almost summer.

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AIPAD Highlight #1…

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, NYC on April 5, 2009 by voxphotographs

AIPAD is my idea of heaven on earth. In fact, I would much prefer it to the biblical concept of heaven. Eighty photograph dealers, showing works from Talbot to… well, Larry Towell (who the heck is Larry Towell you might ask? Or maybe it’s just me who was unfamiliar with his work?) The world gets shut out when you walk in the Armory doors at AIPAD and you are allowed to simply wallow in photographs. Every kind of photograph.For three days. Not only fabulous historic images, but who’s new and now all over the globe.

AIPAD was March 26-29 this year (here’s an article about it from ArtInfo) – it’s always in NYC and draws dealers from all over the globe.

That’s why I know about Larry Towell. Not only is he a fellow citizen (confession: I’m a Canadian) but he is one unforgettable photographer.

I wanted to meet Stephen Bulger, of Stephen Bulger Gallery to ask him if his gallery was actually the only photography gallery in Canada. Yes. (It’s these kinds of things that make me forever grateful I live here.) But as we talked, my eyes kept straying to a very large black and white image behind him of a little girl in a tree reaching down to her cat.

lt-fp-23 Naomi in Hollow Tree with Cat, Lambton County, Ontario, Canada, 1990 © Larry Towell / Magnum Photos, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Larry Towell is represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery and is a member of the venerable MAGNUM and that is an interesting story in itself. In the late 80’s he sent a huge portfolio of photographs to them he had taken while in El Salvador, rather than just leave them to lie fallow in a drawer. He didn’t consider himself a photographer at the time and had never heard of MAGNUM before. In a nutshell, they invited him to join MAGNUM and he kept telling them he had no idea who they were, just archive the photographs, and why would he want to join them? He knows why now.

So, Larry Towell shoots pictures all over the world. But his collection of images of his family at home on their rural 75 acres in Ontario are truly some of the most genuine images I have ever seen.

I love Sally Mann’s work and Towell’s images included in his 2008 show called “The World from My Front Porch” are of that ilk. Great angles, really gutsy risk-taking in many ways and completely un-selfconscious – both photographer and subjects. The word I keep coming back to is…tender.

It is a memorable body of work, these private photographs of a family’s life. And it’s very clear this small circle of people does not need the world outside of their 75 acres to augment or complete their lives in any way. As you delve into the work you’ll see it’s not all innocence, however. There’s a slight sense of menace that can’t be discounted in many of the images, as in the one below.

lt-fp-4 Naomi in an Abandoned House, Lambton County, Ontario, Canada, 1992 © Larry Towell / Magnum Photos, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

One of my favorite shots in this series is “Moses and Cows, Lambton County, Ontario, Canada, 1995″. Get online to the Stephen Bulger Gallery and check it out, along with many others on the same page.

It’s April – the month of rain. So take your time and root around on the Stephen Bulger Gallery site while you wait for spring to come (hope springs eternal). It may be the only photography gallery in Canada, but with an artist list like it has, who cares?

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Culture vs Art – heading off the stage at the Portland Museum of Art

Posted in EXHIBITS/SHOWS, Exhibits/Shows, Maine, REVIEWS on March 22, 2009 by voxphotographs

I know it’s the last day for BACKSTAGE PASS, Rock & Roll Photography exhibit to be viewed at the Portland Museum of Art. I had trouble getting over to see it the first time, and even more trouble the second. Some of that trouble was lack of time, being away, etc… but some of it was reluctance. Popular culture and “stars” just bore me silly.

(This Feinstein shot is my favorite portrait in the exhibit. Elsewhere online it’s called Soundcheck, Albert Hall.)

I think the staff and Curators at the Museum won’t be forgetting this exhibit any time soon, though. Public response to it has been phenomenal. February was the most attended and most successful February the Museum has ever seen. For that I am thrilled. The reviews don’t focus much on the photography or photographers, but on the culture, the groups, the stars and why shouldn’t that be the focus? That’s what the exhibit is about. Some reviewers seem to be making the discovery for the first time that history for the last 150 years IS photographs, IS the visual recording of events and for that I’m grateful they are finally enlightened.

But the second time I went back – late last week – I wanted to know if there was any real art in the exhibit. In amongst the crotch-grabbing excess and self-absorbed exhibitionism, there were about 15 gems and I won’t forget them anytime soon. To say this is an exhibit of candid shots and private moments is wishful thinking for the most part. Most of the photographs in the exhibit, even though they didn’t capture ON stage presence, were definitely unabashed publicity stunts and poses for these stars.

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Half of the finest images as far as memorable and brilliant portraiture was concerned, were in color. Very little of this exhibit is in color, so I double-checked my notes before I left; yes, 8 out of the 16 truly brilliant shots in the exhibit were color. Almost all of the 16 portraits I noted were posed, careful photographic studies of people. If you didn’t know who these stars were, it wouldn’t have mattered. The images were beyond gorgeous. This is what I went back to hunt down in that jungle of hedonism.

Take Jean-Marie Périer’s images for example. Here is a guy who knew how to shoot, how to capture character. His image of Chuck Berry, Atlanta, 1964, (above) was something that made me go very still, regardless of the swirling crowds. I went back to study it four times during last week’s visit. Two more of his memorable images in this exhibit are below.

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Art Kane’s bold, arresting image of Janis Joplin was color, and here’s another of Kane’s remarkable images – this one of Louis Armstrong – this latter image was not included in the Portland Museum of Art Backstage Pass exhibit…but it’s so perfect I included it anyway.

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Baron Wolman’s great color photograph of Joni Mitchell in 1968 – comfortable and at ease at home in Laurel Canyon – says it all:

Linden tells me Joni Mitchell started smoking at age 9, and became a musician to get cash to buy cigarettes! And here’s Wolman’s famous image of Johnny Cash at the Circle Star Theatre in 1967. Read about it here.

Philip Townsend’s iconic image of the early Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham holding up a photo of the original five musicans (in suits!) is on the cover of the exhibition catalog and one of my favorites in the exhibit…the composition is great, Oldham has just the right stance to make this memorable.

alo-stones

An antidote to all the “love me, look at me” stuff is the great image by Ian Tilton of Kurt Cobain – “Kurt Crying, Seattle, 1990″ (click here to read about this shot – it’s interesting):

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A simply beautiful portrait is William Claxton’s image of Tony Bennett in 1958. This is straightforward presentation, but from a master of the lens. Google Claxton to see more of his work – he deserves your time.

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Claxton’s unforgettable image of John Coltrane at the Guggenheim:

I wanted to go around the exhibit and pull all the brilliant portraits and re-hang them separately from all the other stuff. I longed to do it. I pictured myself doing it. And also pictured taking a very immediate, escorted trip to the Curator’s office to be expelled from the Museum permanently.

But here they all are in this blog posting, so I’ve been able to make a mini-exhibit of my own. Feinstein, Périer, Wolman, Kane, Townsend, Tilton, Claxton and Levine. Worth exploring, every one of them. And I hope you will agree, just from looking here, that an exhibit of these images would have been art. More, please.

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