Glen Erler's There Is Almost Always A Tree

Glen Erler's project There Is Almost Always A Tree oscillates between nostalgia and banality quite beautifully. Possessing the faded, pastel palette of many old snapshots, Erler's images, in certain ways, seem to circumvent the standard imprint of time. His subjects cannot easily be dated. They don't look terribly old, and at the same time, nor do they evoke the contemporary. Ultimately, these spaces seem to be stuck in sort of timeless pictorial state. In the statement, Erler discusses his experiences in the nameless New York towns these photographs were taken in:

"We stayed in small towns where the pace was slow but confident while trees still grew on industrial sites and the grass found a way through the cracks in the pavement. Where derelict government housing met a new airport and plans for a new shopping mall weren’t far away. I know that nature will always play the lead role in my eyes. We just have to look for it and not the buildings surrounding it."











All photographs from the series There Is Almost Always A Tree

Images © Glen Erler

Adam Lampton's Macao

Adam Lampton's project Macao, completed on a Fulbright in 2007, is a wonderful and complex look at the contrasting cultural, historical and architectural influences of the region. Lampton recently presented this work to our class and spoke articulately about Macao's prominence as the gambling capital of China, its former colonization by Portugal and the rather swift campaign of urbanization that has overtaken the area. In his statement for the work, he asserts:

"While technically autonomous, the Special Administrative Region is run only with the blessing of the Central Chinese Government. It is therefore odd to see the world's largest Communist government involve itself in something that is so unabashedly Capitalist. Gambling is the purest form of consumerism. There is no product per se- just the promise of money turned into more money. This sense of being many things at once—Western and Eastern; Communist and Capitalist; contemporary and historical—is integrated seamlessly and without self-consciousness into Macao's personality.

Walking down the street then becomes like moving through the illogical progression of a dream. The challenge is not to find examples of x and photograph them, but to be lost in the multitude of meanings and remain there. Beyond presenting Macao as a site of physical, cultural, and political change, these pictures attempt to navigate a territory of conflicting perceptions inherent in the movement from historical city to phantasmagorical dreamscape."











From Top To Bottom:

Rosita, Croupier, 2007

Darling Massage and Sauna, 2007

Greek Mythology Fountain 2007

Macau Jockey Club, 2007

City of Dreams Casino Construction Site, 2007

All Images © Adam Lampton

Ruth Van Beek

I've been thoroughly enjoying Ruth Van Beek's collages lately. There is a fractured, disorienting quality to some of them that recalls some of John Baldessari's collage work.











All Images © Ruth Van Beek

Jane Tam's Can I Come Home With You?

Jane Tam's Can I Come Home With You? is an accordian-style artist book exploring cultural and personal history through a unification of photography and illustration. In her statement, Tam asserts:

"Creating a family album of sorts, this book combines common family memories through drawings of vintage America with the Chinese households of Brooklyn, New York. Although the memories are common and can be interpreted through many different cultures, the drawings derive from the 1950s suburban America; creating a known identity."











All photographs from the series Can I Come Home With You?

All Images © Jane Tam

Adam's Blog

I just wanted to take a moment to inform everyone that Exposure Project member Adam Marcinek has started his own blog. He is endeavoring to post an image a day from his archives in an effort to facilitate a "stream of conscience out pouring" of photographic imagery. Anyone who's got a free moment should stop by and check it out!

Christmas Wires

Image © Adam Marcinek

Call For Submissions: Invisible City

Marliana Read e-mailed today to inform of her newly launched online art magazine entitled Invisible City. She is currently accepting submissions for the 1st issue now, which is described below:

Submissions for Issue 01 are now open. The theme for the issue is TITLE. Explorations on the theme INVISIBLE CITY are encouraged from artists and writers. INVISIBLE CITY is the encompassing idea of city as mutable elements, connected by memory and a sense of place and space. Work is encouraged in non-literal and conceptual approaches.

STORYTELLING. MONUMENTS. HISTORY. UNDERGROUND. DREAMSCAPES. TRAVEL. MOVEMENT. STASIS. COLLECTIVE MEMORY. NAVIGATION. ARCHITECTURE. MAPS. NOSTALGIA.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Writing
INVISIBLE CITY is seeking critical essays, interviews and creative writing pieces (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) to theme. Submissions should adhere to the following guidelines:
- Please keep submission to 1500 words.
- Submissions in MSWord format sent as email attachment.
- Include in the body of the email a a small bio/artist's statement (150 words or less) and a link to your website (if applicable)

Images
INVISIBLE CITY is seeking images of artworks to theme. Images can be mixed media, photomedia, film stills, painting or drawing or in situ document of performance, projection, sculpture and installation.
Submissions should adhere to the following guidelines:
- 5-10 images as email attachments
- Sized 1500 pixels on the leading edge
- 300 dpi
- Images should be titled your_name_01.jpg and so on
- Include in the body of the email a a small bio/artist's statement (150 words or less); a link to your website (if applicable) and the title of your work/series.
- Please keep total email size < 15 megs.

Please send submissions to submit@invisiblecity.org. Submissions close March 09 2009.

Ahorn Magazine

The inaugural issue of Ahorn Magazine is now online. Created by Daniel Augschoell and Anya Jasbar, the publication sets out to:

"Give to our readers a tool to know what's happening in contemporary photography, and to offer emerging photographers an interesting place to bring their work to a wider audience."

Issue 1 features portfolios by David Schoener and Urszula Wolek, interviews with Eric Weeks and Glen Erler, an exploration of Tierney Gearon's work by Liz Kuball, a review of Coley Brown's Jam Jelly Honey Wild Rice by Andrew Phelps, a review of Leni Riefensthal's The Last of the Nuba by Daniel Shea and a brief investigation of Paul Paper's Tiny Photographs Of Melancholy.

You should all stop by and show support for this new and incredibly worthwhile endeavor. They also accept submissions on a rolling basis, so if you have a body of work you're ready to share, send it their way. You can find the submission guidelines here.

Image © Urszula Wolek