Ellen Von Unwerth Retrospective

Now through November 26, 2011 at Fahey/Klein in Los Angeles

Kim Keever at David B. Smith Gallery

"Kim Keever's large-scale photographs are created by meticulously constructing miniature topographies in a 200-gallon tank, which is then filled with water. These dioramas of fictitious environments are brought to life with colored lights and the dispersal of pigment, producing ephemeral atmospheres that he must quickly capture with his large-format camera."













Kim Keever at David B. Smith Gallery

Denis Darzacq

Denis Darzacq

It's Only Rock and Roll

Typically PopDrawer focuses on the painted image rather than photographs. And when we cover photography, we usually focus on photography with a surreal or narrative bent. But how can we possibly ignore both photographic royalty and rock royalty all wrapped up together?

This Saturday, July 12th, is the opening of “Beggars To Exiles: Unseen Photographs Of The Rolling Stones, 1966-1971” at the San Francisco Art Exchange. These are never-before-seen photos taken by Dominique Tarle and the late Michael Cooper, who were both well-ensconsed in the Stones' inner circle. According to the press release, the title "Beggars to Exiles" refers to "two of the Stones’ album masterpieces, 1968’s Beggars Banquet, released during the group’s Chelsea heyday as emperors of mod London, and 1971’s Exile On Main Street, recorded on the French Riviera one infamous summer when the band and their entourage were holed up at Villa Nellcôte."

The show will feature sixty limited edition photos, and will be hosted by actor Jake Weber of Medium who at the age of seven was hanging with the Stones at the Villa Nellcote (their father was another Stones insider).



Beggars To Exiles: Unseen Photographs Of The Rolling Stones, 1966-1971 at the San Francisco Art Exchange

London Under Water

Via Boing Boing and de zeen design magazine comes a link to this great photographic exhibition created by film and media production house Squint/Opera that is part of the London Architectural Festival. The exhibit imagine London in 2090, where due to global warming rising waters have flooded most of the city. The images look like part of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, and are stunningly beautiful.







Flooded London

The Endless Summer of Remi Thornton

my love for you is a stampede of horses has a post about the gorgeous photography of Remi Thornton. The work reminds me of summer fairs and school breaks and late hot nights in my old Ohio neighborhood. What will it remind you of?

Remi Thornton's Official Site

More Alex Prager

Just found some more shots from Alex Prager's Michael Hoppen Contemporary Gallery show "Big Valley." Had to post them. Alfred Hitchcock is clearly a big influence. Gotta love these. Enjoy!



Alex Prager's Official Site

"Big Valley" at Michael Hoppen Contemporary Gallery

Photography Break - Gregory Crewdson - New Show

What can PopDrawer say about Gregory Crewdson that hasn't been said on, say, NPR, or on PBS, or in Time Magazine, or dozens of other publications? Not much. Nothing more intelligent, that's for sure. Let's just say that we love his large-scale photography for its bold cinematic quality, its haunting images, its sheer expense of production. His photos are like great films condensed into one frame. Let the photos speak for themselves.

His new show opened at Luhring Augustine in New York on April 5th. It runs until May 3rd. Visit if you can. If you can't, check out one of his remarkable books here. Open your mouth and say Ahhh...





Gregory Crewdson show at Luring Augustine

Little People - A Tiny Street Art Project

This from Dwell Magazine:

"Using model train figurines and miniature props, Slinkachu, an anonymous street artist, reappropriates banal elements of London's streetscapes to create humorous installations with biting social satire."

What more can we say, except that Slinkachu's fantastic photos are available for sale in limited editions on his/her (?) website. The price is about 150 British Pounds, or approximately $300.



Slinkachu

Alex Prager, Amazing Photographer

This weekend, funky streetwear company WeAretheSuperlativeConspiracy (WeSC) held its first art show in Santa Monica at the Robert Berman Gallery. WeSC chose photographer Alex Prager to curate the show, which included 10 artists such as Prager herself and Chad Robertson. As always, Prager's new work blew us away at PopDrawer.

Alex Prager, who has an ongoing solo show at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London entitled Big Valley, is a Los Angeles native. According to the Big Valley press release, "Born in Los Angeles, Prager has received no formal education since 8th grade, spending time between Los Angeles, Florida and Lucerne, Switzerland. A self-taught photographer, Prager was originally inspired by stumbling upon a William Eggleston exhibition at the Getty Museum... Since taking up photography at the age of 20 her photographs have been included in 13 exhibitions including a recent solo show at Robert Berman Gallery and she has shot for numerous publications include i-D, Flaunt, Complex, Elle Japan, MOJO and Rolling Stone."

The release also states that "Prager photographs her female subjects in a style reminiscent of the great mid 20th Century film directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk." However, for some reason, we are more reminded of late 60s, early 70s Los Angeles, and think of glam housewives over movie stars. When we look at her photos, what comes to our minds is Joan Didion's amazing essay on housewife culture in Southern California circa 1970, "Lifestyles in the Golden Land" from her collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem. We apologize for sounding pedantic, but if you haven't read it, YOU SHOULD. And if you haven't checked out Alex Prager, you MOST DEFINITELY should.





Alex Prager

Photography Break - Brian Finke's Flight Attendants

Time for a photography break! Today we look at the upcoming show of Brian Finke at Clampart in New York. Let's hear from the gallery for their description of Mr. Finke's modern yet nostalgic portrait of everyone's favorite sky goddess, the flight attendant.

"Flying the friendly skies, Brian Finke crisscrossed the United
States photographing flight attendants on Delta, JetBlue, Hawaiian,
Hooters Air, Southwest, and Song airlines before going abroad with
such carriers as Air France, Qantas, and British Airways. In
London, Finke visited a flight attendant school complete with
emergency rafts and billowing smoke, and then, continuing east,
he traveled Air Asia, Thai, Tiger, ANA, Japan, and Cathay Pacific.
Finke finished two years of travel with the illustrious Icelandair.
The result of Finke’s wanderlust is his series, “Flight Attendants,”
a vibrant collection of photographs documenting the lives of those
adventurous souls who choose to work at 40,000 feet. Shot before,
during, and after flights, the photographs capture the allure of the
high-flying profession alongside the more quiet moments of the
attendants’ daily lives. As with his previous series of photographs,
“2-4-6-8: Photographs of Cheerleaders and Football Players,”
Finke is drawn to the distinctive dynamics of team formation,
focusing on uniformed individuals executing practiced actions—
whether on the playing field or in the air. With an eye for the iconic
as well as the absurd, Finke seamlessly blends the glamorous
with the casual, offering a memorable look at the people of the air
travel industry."

We wholeheartedly agree. Check out these gorgeous photos. The show opens today.



Brian Finke - www.brianfinke.com

Clampart - www.clampart.com

Beyond Pop Surrealism - Number 1

Julia Christe

PopDrawer sometimes hears from casual readers who say that while they are interested in new art, Pop Surrealism doesn’t interest them much. One such person this week referred to Pop Surrealism as “scary.” Okay, we get it. Big eyes, strange creatures, robots/monsters. Pop Surrealism isn’t for everyone. The truth is that Pop Surrealism is such an enormous tent, that it’s difficult to know exactly who should be gathered inside. Many artists often associated with Pop Surrealism would claim that their art should not be categorized as such, and others who wear the mantle of Pop Surrealism seems far from the “norm” of the movement. In fact, maybe there is no norm. Maybe Pop Surrealism is simply an umbrella term that includes any art with one of a number of common traits, e.g. cartoonish humans or animals, vivid surreal landscapes, or pop culture references. Again, this is far at once both too limiting and too broad. But enough of the pseudo art-school BS. What’s the point of this?

The point is that PopDrawer will be frequently showcasing artists whose work might not be considered Pop Surrealism, and might appeal to a broader audience, but may very well appeal to the collectors and lovers of Pop Surrealism as well. In other words, artists PopDrawer loves. Period. So without further ado, the first in a hopefully long series of “Beyond Pop Surrealism” artists, today brought to you, dear reader (yes you, the one solitary discerning sole reading this blog on a regular basis), with the help of LUMAS, a gallery and online store dealing mostly in photography, but also in fine art.

In the words of founders Stefanie Harig & Marc Ullrich, LUMAS was created “with the hope of making the art market more accessible and stirring our passion for photography in a new generation of collectors.” Add the words “fine art and merchandise” to this statement, and you have PopDrawers mission statement as well. LUMAS’ plan is described this way: “We offer selected works by these artists as hand-signed original photographs. These editions normally range from 75 to 150 prints, some being available even in full-wall sizes. This allows us to make high quality art photographs affordable to everyone.” And they ain’t kidding. The photos and art in the LUMAS collection are extraordinary. But PopDrawer’s favorite section is the “Young Art” section, where we can find up and coming artists at great prices.

Two such artists under the Young Art heading are photographer Julia Christe and digital artist Joshua Davis. Their works are available on the LUMAS site both in large format highly limited editions in the $1400 range (and we’re talking LARGE, about 4 feet by 5 feet), and smaller sizes (but larger editions) in the $350 range. This post is long already, so we’re just going to let the images speak for themselves. Be sure to go to the site to see the large shots of Ms. Christe’s work, because the scale here does not do them justice.

Joshua Davis

LUMAS - http://www.lumas.com/
Julie Christe - http://www.juliachriste.de/
Joshua Davis - http://www.joshuadavis.com/

Cool Hunting's Top 5 Photographers of 2007

Lori Nix

Thanks to Jesse Alexander for this link. Cool Hunting is one of my favorite blogs, since materialism is one of my favorite pastimes. But I missed this post earlier this year. Cool Hunting named its favorite 5 photographers of 2007. I am especially impressed with Lori Nix and Thomas Allen, who fashion tiny dioramas and photograph them in cinematic lighting to create grand dramas. Check them out.

Thomas Allen

Lori Nix - www.lorinix.net
Thomas Allen at Foley Gallery - http://www.foleygallery.com/artists/artist_ins.php3?artist=8