Friend, designer and long-time champion of things beautiful John Foster sent a splendid little catalog of the exhibition he co-curated with Roger Manley for the Gregg Museum of Art & Design in North Carolina. A wonderful show of objects made by age, use, nature, mistake and unexpected circumstance…as well as a few made by those who would have been called during Aaron Copeland's time "the common man."
Drawing upon the collections of a few thinkers who ponder such things, the exhibit enlarges our understanding of what art is, especially when there is no formerly designated artist present. The show is full of the reason I go to flea markets, antique shows…and even why I take walks. Unexpected delights which cause one to pause and marvel. Do we need an artist's strategy or intention to create or appreciate art? Of course not.
A stack of drugstore prescription receipts placed precisely on a spindle over the years represents order, procedure, tradition, progress, law, regulation, success, safely served customers, sales and my father's generation ruled by orderliness all in one humble object. There is decorative appeal, and a precision one would see in any well-crafted object, yet unless there is an institution collecting filled spindles of script, would this powerful object have been seen in the context of an art museum? Were not for the adventurous folks who seek out such objects, no. The only common thread among the material here is found in the folks who contributed their finds.
A make-do chimney cleaning device from the collection of Rick Ege may have saved a few house fires, so function and utility applies, as does wear and need. But what makes the bucket worthy of thought and admiration? I am left only with the belief it is Ege himself and the curators. That is not a bad thing. Taste makers do more than sell product or decorate homes. They bring attention to things not appreciated before. In this case, things seen but not observed. In another of Ege's found objects, a homemade radio antenna brings to mind the crucifixion and a radio preacher simultaneously. At least to me.
Aarne Anton, who has carried a luxurious appreciation of form with him for decades is represented with a twig "tack holder" but is that what it is? Mr. Anton has the ability to discern exceptional happenstance from normal happenstance. He has with consistent skill and thoughtfulness for a long time. But can this object simply be a tack holder? Could it have had held ribbons over the years? Notes to remember something or to instruct a worker nearby? A thing to meet by, something to think "hmpf" while passing? I will defer to Mr. Anton.
The show incorporates anonymous snapshots, functional objects, tools and devices along with a thoughtful essay by Roger Manley, who has also championed art created by the untrained for a long time.
As there are no formal standards or criteria for determining what is art and what is not (without being elitist, exclusionary or guided by one's own time and prejudice) we must defer to the finders. This show champions the taste and esthetics of the collectors more than the makers or the formal art world, but then the collectors and curators represented here have expanded those boundaries consistently for a long time. More than most shows, this one appears to show most of all that art is in the eye of the observer more than any artist.
2012 North Carolina State University Raleigh Gregg Museum of Art and Design (Show runs through December 16, 2012) 64 Pages
The Weegee show "Murder is my Business" at the International Center of Photography in New York is certainly a must see, and I thought I would post a little Weegee curiosity to celebrate it. While Weegee is often thought of and portrayed as something of a lone wolf prowling the streets at night with his camera, which is certainly true, he was also a social creature active and involved with the photographic community. He participated in social camera club shoots and had friends who did the same. In addition to the crime and nightlife scenes in the ICP show, he had a successful active and creative role in the places you might not think...including this unusual gig as "technical assistant" to a most unusual photo layout in Photographers Showplace magazine in the December 1956 issue.
Photographer's Showplace was by far one of the most interesting periodicals for the photographic community at the time, it had models and nudes, but was actually serious about it, unlike the large number of "under the counter" publications claiming to be "figure studies" but which were little more than soft-core pornography skirting the law. It was also entertaining without being too technical...serious about the emerging art and craft of modern photography, but light on the jargon.
Here are bits from a painterly picture set. As you see Weegee is credited as "Technical Assistant" although his precise role is not described. Certainly he checked his light meter! Maybe he found the model (identified as Rae Chandler) The artist (the one with the brush) is Ralph Therrien, and the photographer is James Pappas. An unusual collaboration of painting and photography from a time when both arts were experimenting. The layout is extensive, no less than 12 photos are presented, several full-page and in color.
Interestingly, the same issue has a full page spread which claims to be the first published example of Weegee's unusual photographic experiments, abstractions which are referred to as the "Weegeerama Kaleidescope" which is a post for another day.
Though a big fan, I have posted only once here about Weegee, but had fun putting it together. Revisit my piece on the relationship between the photographer and the pin up girl Bettie Page HERE which I am still grateful for being allowed by the ICP to use images from their collection to illustrate.
Images from Photographers Showplace Magazine December 1956, Creative Publications. Collection Jim Linderman
TAKE ME TO THE WATER: PHOTOGRAPHS OF RIVER BAPTISMS
INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY Religious rituals in America are not often public spectacles. A key exception was the tradition of river baptisms that flourished in the South and Midwest between 1880 and 1930. These outdoor communal rites were public displays of faith, practiced by thousands of Protestants, and witnessed by whole communities. A combination of economic depression and industrialization spurred religious fundamentalism in rural areas, and media-savvy preachers promoted mass revivals and encouraged a dialogue about religion in popular culture and media. Photographs of river baptisms were often disseminated as postcards, both by worshippers documenting their personal life-affirming experiences and by tourists noting exotic practices and vanishing folk traditions. This small exhibition of vintage postcards and a panorama is drawn from a unique archive of vernacular river baptism photographs in the collection of the International Center of Photography. This exhibition is organized by Erin Barnett, ICP Assistant Curator of Collections.
In addition, Curator Erin Barnett has posted an announcement about the upcoming Take Me to the Water exhibition of Real Photo Post Cards (along with numerous photographs) at the International Center of Photography blog Fans in a Flashbulb, as follows:"In January, ICP will be presenting a small selection of postcards of river baptisms, drawn from a treasure trove of over 200 images, which was donated by collectors Janna Rosenkranz and Jim Linderman in 2007. Since there’s not enough room on the walls, here’s a peak at some of the wonderful images that won’t be in the show (but that can be found in the Grammy-nominated publication and CD Take Me to the Water." The Grammy Nominated Book/CD Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950 by Luc Sante, Jim Linderman and Lance Ledbetter will be available at the Museum Bookstore.
Photograph collection International Center of Photography, Gift of Janna Rosenkranz and Jim Linderman
