Laurence Miller Gallery, NYC…
When in New York in January, I discovered Fred Herzog, Vancouver photographer extraordinaire. Where I discovered him was the Laurence Miller Gallery at 20 West 57th St in New York (www.laurencemillergallery.com). They were having an exhibit – which ends today, 3/29 by the way – called Post-War Perspectives and it was fascinating. Fifty photographs depicting life in the world between 1945-1960 could have kept me occupied for two hours had I had the time.
Cat in Window with Flat © Charles Harbutt, courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery/NYC
Barber © Fred Herzog, courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery/NYC
Tracks© Fan Ho, courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery/NYC
You know what else I liked about the gallery? They are friendly. I had spent the day going to galleries that were featuring photography shows and had to have nerves of steel at times. Okay, I wasn’t a buyer, but an appreciator and I can imagine that rankles. But you either get totally ignored at many NYC galleries, which, of course, everyone already knows, or if you are acknowledged, you are quickly summed up as worth their time or not.
Not so at the Laurence Miller Gallery in my experience. Not only did the woman in charge of the gallery ((was it Vicki??) not some recent grad from art school, thank goodness) discuss the show and in particular Fred Herzog at length with me, she taught me a lot. She showed me a copy of the now out-of-print recent book of Herzog’s works (and, as per my first posting, I was able to find the last new copy available in North America it seems, at Mirvish Books in Toronto) and genuinely enjoyed passing her time with us discussing his work and other photographs featured on their walls. It made an impression.
Imagine my delight when I opened the current issue of PHOTOGRAPH (www.photographmag.com) to see Laurence Miller Gallery’s ad on the inside front cover listing its upcoming shows through August 2008 featuring three of my all-time favorite photographers, being an afficionado of street photography – Herzog, Cartier-Bresson and Levitt. Then I got an e-mailed newsletter from the gallery telling me more – I had left my card with Vicki (??) and been promptly added to their newsletter list. The one photographer in the upcoming two shows I’m not familiar with is David Plowden and I’ll be researching online this weekend to learn about him.
Laurence Miller and staff – you are expanding my horizons and I thank you for it.
