Thursday, October 23, 2008

Dylan Vitone Featured in the LA Times

Dylan Vitone: South Boston and Pittsburgh Project is featured in this Friday's Los Angeles Times Arts & Culture Section. The exhibition closes this Saturday, October 25th.

Photobucket
Dylan Vitone Dock Fight 2005 archival inkjet print 12 x 75 inches print size

When Daily Life is Seen in Panorama, by Leah Ollman

The panorama is among the least still of still photographic formats. Its horizontal sweep suggests breadth of time as well as place. You often can't see a panorama in its entirety from one spot; you have to move along it, progress through it.

The cinematic storytelling potential of the format is put to good use in Dylan Vitone's photographs at DNJ Gallery. Vitone, a young photographer teaching at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, creates panoramas up to 8 feet wide (and just 14 1/2 inches high) by digitally combining numerous pictures made from a single spot. The seams don't call much attention to themselves, so the images typically read as long, continuous, 360-degree views.

Working in the tradition of street photographers and social anthropologists such as Milton Rogovin and Bruce Davidson, Vitone makes extended portraits of communities through intimate observation of their everyday rituals. He has shot extensively in South Boston as well, though nearly all of the pictures here were made in Pittsburgh.

He surveys the scenes at a monster truck rally, a night at the roller rink, a bikini contest. He shoots the multiple narratives that unfurl simultaneously on a hot summer day when an Elmo sprinkler is set in the middle of a residential street. The pictures are dynamic -- rich in texture, detail and character. Vitone favors the natural choreography of the street over arranged poses, and the authenticity is palpable.

A few images mess effectively with the presumed congruency of linear time and linear format, showing the same figures multiple times in the same visually continuous scene. In "Dock Fight," time folds like an accordion, yielding a wonderfully syncopated image of two young men in various stages of light hand-to-hand combat.

DNJ Gallery, 154 1/2 N. La Brea Ave., L.A., (323) 931-1311, through Saturday. dnjgallery.net

Friday, October 17, 2008

Jonathan Gitelson in "Made in Chicago"

Opening October 18th and running through January 4th is the Made in Chicago: Photographs from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection. The exhibition is on display at The Chicago Cultural Center and includes work by Jonathan Gitelson, as well as Robert Frank, Ray Metzker, Harry Callahan, Art Sinsabaugh, and Aaron Siskind--as well as other photographers living and working in Chicago. Dating from 1930 – 2007, the nearly 150 photographs in the exhibition reveal a compelling and diverse portrait of the city and its rich photographic history.

Included in "Made in Chicago" is Jonathan's The Bartender. If you can't make it to Chicago, be sure to see the upcoming show at DNJ gallery titled "Working" which includes his "Dream Job" series and this piece. The show opens November 1st and continues through December 13th.

Photobucket
Jonathan Giteslon
The Bartender
archival inkjet print
24 x 12 inches

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Joe Goode Included in "Wall Rockets"

Opening October 3rd and running through January 7th at The Flag Art Foundation in New York's Chelsea neighborhood is Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha . The show is based upon Ed Ruscha's 2000 painting Wall Rockets, a title which he explained refers to "powerful works of art that shoot off the wall." Curator Lisa Dennison, who was the director of the Guggenheim until last year when she took a position at Sotheby's, attempts to reflect Ruscha's statement through a collection of nearly 75 works from 64 different artists, ranging from painting to photography and sculpture. Included in this exhibition is the work of Ruscha's longtime friend Joe Goode. His piece Noise, etc., etc., etc. (Blackwelder), 2006 is a painted over photograph similar to Goode's work featured in DNJ Gallery's April, 2007 exhibition Ashes. Only such an undertaking as Wall Rockets could illuminate the influence and legacy of Ed Ruscha on the contemporary art world.

Photobucket
Joe Goode, Noise, etc., etc., etc., (Blackwelder), 2006

a reference to....
Photobucket
Ed Ruscha, Noise, Pencil, Broken Pencil, Cheap Western, 1963

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Domino Bazaar

Support the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA) as well as artists including our own Holly Andres who have contributed their new work to debut at The Domino Bazaar Auction. There will be an Opening Fundraising Gala on October 16, 2008 7-10pm. The public sale will run October 16th-19th from 12-6pm at H.D. Buttercup 8707 Washington Boulevard in Culver City. Tickets are available online. Feel free to contact the gallery with any questions!

Photobucket
Holly Andres
The Glowing Drawer

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Monster Drawing Rally

Join Laura Parker along with 100 artists who will be participating in the Monster Drawing rally for the OUTPOST FOR CONTEMPORARY ART. Every hour 25 artists will draw simultaneously, creating work live and in person. Each drawing will be sold first come first serve for $75. The event will be held at the William D. Davies Memorial Building in Altadena this Sunday, October 12th from 3-7 pm. There is a $10 donation admission fee and food and drinks will be provided by some local favorites.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Art Auction

Regardless of your political affiliation, check out Barack Obama's ART FOR OBAMA online art auction. Included are works by over fifty prominent artists who have donated their work to support grassroots campaigning. Eileen Cowin is among them, having donated her untitled piece from the series "Your Whole Body is a Target." See all of the works by these talented photographers at www.artforobama.net

Photobucket
Eileen Cowin
Untitled, 16" x 20", Light Jet, From the Series: Your Whole Body is a Target, 2007/2008
Artist Proof
Value: $2000.00
Starting Bid: $750.00