EYEMAZING CONTENT Gallery 185
Meeting with
Collection
Gallery 186
Rosemary Laing 14-21
Quentin Shih 22-29
Theresia Viska 30-41
Paul Cava 42-51
Chen Jiagang 52-59
Meeting with
Publication
Meeting with
Gallery 187
Meeting with
Ghada Khunji 60-69
Steve McCurry 70-75
John Waters 76-81
Viktoria Sorochinski 82-87
Lea Golda Holterman 88-97
Gallery 188
Gallery 189
Gallery 190
Meeting with
Meeting with
Ofer Wolberger 98-107
Julie Blackmon 108-115
Cang Xin 116-123
Rene & Radka 124-131
Murray Fredericks 132-139
Award Winner
Gallery 191
Gallery 192
Exhibition
Exhibition
Brie Castell 140-147
Antoine d’Agata 148-155
Ai Weiwei 156-161
Garry Winogrand 162-167
Helmut Newton 168-173 EYEMAZING BOOKCASE
Meeting with
EYEMAZING Alain Breyer En Attendant son Tour de France
and representation on a metaphorical level. He manages to capture itinerant parts of the world that at first sight seem to have no cohesion, but which from
N Publisher: Husson Editeur, 2009 N www.husson-editeur.be
his perspective are ‘pieces in the puzzle’ that interact when faced with the totality of the world.”
N Format: 210 x 300 mm
EN ATTENDANT SON TOUR DE FRANCE
N Price: D 29,50
Bae, Bien-U.
N ISBN: 978 291 624 95 06
Sacred Wood
What is a sport without its public? This book is a
N Publisher: Hatje Cantz, 2009
portrait of the fans – nurses in white coats, fire fight-
N www.hatjecantz.de
ers, workers in blue, municipal employees, orches-
N Format: 35.70 x 29.20 cm
tras and accordionists, schoolchildren, caravanners in
N Price: D 58,–
shorts – of the Tour de France. Standing or sitting on
N ISBN: 978 377 572 28 34
deckchairs in festive anticipation along the roadside in flip-flops, sun-tan cream and, in some cases, wigs,
This large format volume brings together Bae, Bien-U’s
masks and face-paint, the audience hopes that they
meditations on pine trees and pine groves, taken over
too will be preserved for a split-second of eternity by
the last quarter of a century. A native of Korea and
the TV helicopters and legions of motorbiking cam-
considered one of that country’s most important art-
eramen. Alain Breyer presents us with the colourful
ists, Bae, Bin-U’s contemplations on the Korean land-
cast of characters that revel in this summer circus
scape reflect the significance of pines for the people
sporting the names of favourite riders, flags or bill-
of Korea, about which he says: “Pines are foundations
boards with messages for loved ones or the world at
for their soul.” Some of his most popular recent series
large, lined up like extras in a movie. Breyer explores
take as their subject the pine forests near the shrine of
the Tour de France as a game of mirrors, of watch-
the Kings of the Silla dynasty at Gyeongju.
ing and being watched.
Infused with a Korean visual language, the landscapes
Andreas Gursky
mesmerises the eye. The rhythmical repetition of
are organic, with an almost incandescent quality that
WERKE / WORKS 80 - 08
Werke / Works 80 - 08
trunks and branches is an attempt to let nature and culture speak for themselves. Bae guides us into an
N Publisher: Hatje Cantz; Bilingual edition, 2009
ancient mythical space – a place that is an expression
N www.hatjecantz.de
rather than an explanation of something, allowing us
N Format: 20.3 x 26 cm
to experience its resonance for ourselves.
N Price: D 39,80 N ISBN: 978 377 572 33 81
Leah Bosquet Estivage
Andreas Gursky has for many years been one of the world’s leading photographers. For this book, he has
N Publisher: Husson Edituer, 2009
selected over one hundred and fifty works from his
N www.husson-editeur.be
prodigious oeuvre, dating back to his undergraduate
N Format: 22 X 18 cm
years at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, and his stud-
N Price: D 30,–
ies with Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie
SACRED WOOD
186
Exhibition
Exhibition
Edition
Publication
David Goldblatt 174-175
Stigmata 176-181
Elton John 182-183
Robert Longo 185-185
013-013_Content.indd 13
ESTIVAGE
N ISBN: 978 291 624 91 93
Düsseldorf. This monograph is the first attempt to bring together Gursky’s encyclopaedic conspectus of
In this cycle of photographs, Leah Bosquet weaves a
the world. Beginning with his earliest images – some
tale of life in the Pyrenees; the everyday travails of
of which are previously unpublished – the volume
farmers, shepherds and their families and their rela-
traces the various stages of his career, opening with a
tionship with their surroundings. It is an existence
study of a white enamel gas cooker and other photo-
that harks back hundreds of years – one of unremit-
graphs of his immediate surroundings, and including
ting labour and dogged toil at the whim of the sea-
his iconic images of landscapes from an elevated view-
sons and the thrall of nature. Bosquet captures the
point, up to his latest works, created specially for the
passage of light and time, presenting us with a vast
publication. One slightly less conducive aspect of the
and overwhelming sense of nature. Her camera lin-
book is the fact that the images themselves are repro-
gers on grand vistas – expanses of peaks and jagged
duced on quite a small scale so that much of the req-
skylines – without neglecting to document the spirit
uisite detail is unfortunately lost.
and emotion of the people inhabiting this sometimes
In the catalogue essay, Dr. Martin Hentschel at
savage terrain. It is a pastoralist portrait, an essay in
Kunstmuseen Krefeld writes: “His [Gursky’s] singular
sky and earth and seasons of a time-honoured way
achievement consists in bringing together abstraction
of life; Bosquet succeeds in sharing with us not
Bookcase 186-189
03-08-2009 13:23:49
EYEMAZING MEETING WITH
Rosemary Laing a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes
Rosemary Laing’s new series a dozen useless actions
Grouping the images together as an installation cre-
Anna Sansom: The starting-point for your new series
for grieving blondes features 12 close-up portraits of
ates a kind of cinematic movement pulsating from one
was Kevin Rudd’s apology on February 13, 2008, for
longhaired, blonde women caught expressing various
frame to the next. The images are like fragmentary
the hurt caused by decades of state-sponsored treat-
emotional responses to grief. The whole gamut of
film-stills separated from the context of their story.
ment of indigenous Australians. How did you respond
emotions is captured – from disbelief, outrage, sor-
when you heard it?
row, anxiety and the bleary-eyed, hollowed-out feel-
Three women actually appear in the 12 portraits yet,
ing that follows weeping. Hands are raised in anguish,
because of the uniform presentation, their faces seem
Rosemary Laing: Like most other Australians, I
hair swishes across the face, the skin looks swollen
to morph into one continuous, anonymous stream.
stopped what I was doing and watched it on TV. It
and blemished. In two of the images the woman is
“One of the strange things is that it’s very hard to feel
was an historical moment, and we’d waited far too
even clutching Laing’s hand, seeking consolation in
that there’s more than one woman,” says Mark
long for these simple words and the recognition of
the Australian artist’s presence.
Hughes, a director of Galerie Lelong in New York.
what they meant. It was a unifying act for Australian
“Their grief is so powerful and palpable that it drains
culture.
The tongue-in-cheek title suggests another idea
their identity; it disappears behind their anguish and
encompassed in these works that counters the stereo-
the movements of their hands, faces and hair. There’s
AS: Could you explain how this long-awaited apology,
typical image of the “dumb blonde” in the media.
such physicality in grieving that it removes their per-
which John Howard [the previous Prime Minister] had
The nature of the work subverts this while the
sonal identity.”
refused to give, encouraged you to make this series?
alisation device and accentuates the girly femininity
Born in Brisbane in 1959, Laing trained as a painter
RL: The long-term refusal of John Howard to manifest
associated with blonde hair and the colour pink.
and lives in Sydney. The theatrics involved in her new
this acknowledgement in a meaningful and symbolic
works recall her earlier groundspeed (2001) and bul-
way was poisoning our culture and misrepresenting
The obvious staging, focusing on the women’s heads
letproof glass (2002) series; the first shows flowered
our history. My interest in public manifestations of
and shoulders, reveals careful choreography. However,
rugs covering forest floors and rocky beaches; while
grief had been developing over this period. The work
the reason for the women’s suffering is not conveyed.
in the latter a shot bride, with blood staining her
itself, though, is unable to be only about this issue. I
The “useless” aspect implies that they are not griev-
wedding dress, hovers, floats and flies through the air
was interested in “marking” the times. When I look
ing for their own loss but for that of others, the use-
above the Blue Mountains National Park in New South
back at previous series, I think this is a repeated
lessness of crying by proxy. The plurality of these
Wales. Like a dozen useless actions for grieving
impulse.
manifestations of grief mimics a partaking in some
blondes, the skilfully executed images were painstak-
kind of collective grieving – like that which followed
ingly staged and performed. The title of Laing’s new
AS: Were you thinking along the lines of collective
the death of Princess Diana or the destruction of the
series echoes that of a dozen unnatural disasters in
consciousness, shame and grief, and the sort of
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. In this
the Australian landscape (2003 and 2005), for which
cathartic release of evaluating past wrongs?
instance, Laing was moved by what has become
Laing introduced man-made installations into the
known as “Sorry Day” in Australia when Prime
sparsely inhabited, natural landscapes of Western
RL: I was interested in the collective experience of an
Minister Kevin Rudd apologised on February 13,
Australia, which is home to the largest concentration
orchestrated event. This triggered my interests in how
2008, for the hurt caused by decades of state-spon-
of Aboriginal people.
cultural grief is played out and finds public represen-
sored treatment of Aboriginal Australians and Torres
Her new work signals a departure towards portraiture
tation. Somewhere between the spaces of privilege
Straits Islanders.
and the choice of small-scale frames differs from her
and numbness, there is inexplicable grief. It finds form
usually large-scale images. The codes and metaphori-
in us when we don’t expect it. At times, in proximity
Looking at Laing’s intense images, one can empathise
cal ideas coming into play make a dozen useless
to the tragedies of others, a grief that that we don’t
with the outpouring of emotion despite being aware
actions for grieving blondes a complex series to
own elicits its effect upon us. Obtusely, we may feel
of the aspect of performance. Laing’s achievement lies
behold.
better or more in touch with the fact that we feel as
streaked, candyfloss backdrop serves as a decontextu-
in how she elicits the very emotion that she is explor-
14
ing in her pictorial frames.
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 14
well as function. But we will fail, most likely, to conRosemary Laing spoke to Eyemazing in a rare interview.
tribute anything worthily practical to the situation of
03-08-2009 13:41:27
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #2, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #12, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 15
03-08-2009 13:41:36
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #5, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #9, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 16
03-08-2009 13:41:40
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #10, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #6, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 17
03-08-2009 13:41:53
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #4, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #8, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 18
03-08-2009 13:42:05
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #7, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #3, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 19
03-08-2009 13:42:18
our response. I wasn’t particularly interested in the
to further illuminate the progress of the story. The
years, I’ve worked with ideas needing the consider-
purge of catharsis per se, as much as how proximity
work is open and it can function somewhat like a
ations of “making things”. To be honest, I think we
to the drama of such events evokes effect from its
chorus to the state of the times.
are overwhelmed with too many images that we
audience.
don’t need, and that to make images that have any AS: Due to the emotionality of the images, the identi-
possible significance amidst this is most difficult.
AS: The series indicates how we can feel guilty about
ty of each woman seems to fade behind their
events without having been directly implicated. What
anguish. Were you seeking in a way to render their
was the challenge of approaching this issue photo-
individuality undecipherable to create something
graphically?
more universal?
© All pictures: Rosemary Laing
RL: I was interested in responsibility, empathy and its
RL: Yes, I was trying to render these women as iconic
Courtesy:
symbolic expression. Photography has a long history
blondes, collective and universal. They share the
All images, Galerie Lelong, New York
of representing tragic events and responses to them.
undisclosed subject of their anguish. The difference
These images become iconic and powerful conductors
between each actress, rather than being pronounced,
Represented by:
that provide a subject for our emotional responses. It
is slight. I chose women of similar hair colour, facial
Galerie Lelong, New York
took a great deal of time to develop a method for
features and skin colour to each other, and this was
www.galerielelong.com
executing the work. I had never worked with per-
very deliberate. It assists a kind of pronouncement of
formers to create such an intensely emotional out-
their unifying act. Blondes seem to me, to have been
Tolarno Galleries in Melbourne
come before. It was a powerful and demanding pro-
the most over-imaged white woman of the media,
www.tolarnogalleries.com
cess, made all the more difficult as the dramatic
and perversely, I was interested to put this grouping
emotional response to the event was in fact the sub-
to another kind of work.
TEXT BY ANNA SANSOM
ject itself. AS: The women seem disengaged from the streaked AS: To what extent did you direct the three actors
pink background yet it’s harmonious with their colour-
during the shoots?
ing. Did you desire a kind of theatrical collision between the emotions and the prop?
RL: I provided the actors with a premise for the performance based on an emotional framework for the
RL: Maybe it was a “pop” prop – a gesture towards
work, as well as a storyboard of gestures derived from
the absurdity of what I was doing, blondes and pink.
my preparatory drawings. I worked with each per-
It brings a little lightness or gentleness to the work. I
former separately over many long days. We moved
joined the pink attributed to girls to the work of
around the choreography to be covered by following
women. It’s possibly somewhere between the pink
the instincts and intuition of each performance as it
spun sugar of the fair ground and the kineticism of
unravelled.
time.
AS: Yet the reason why the women are grieving
AS: How do you see your work evolving and what
remains unknown to the casual visitor.
questions are you asking yourself as a photographer today?
RL: It doesn’t matter if the viewer of the work knows what initiated my considerations to make it. In a
RL: I don’t ask myself questions as a “photographer”.
sense, I developed an idea of how a Greek Chorus
Photography is simply a technical hurdle negotiated
functions – of how the chorus of women are placed
for the resultant images of my practice. Over the
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 20
03-08-2009 13:42:30
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #1, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Š Rosemary Laing, a dozen useless actions for grieving blonds #11, 2009, C Type photograph, (77.5 x 133.5 cm), courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
014-021_Rosemary_Laing.indd 21
03-08-2009 13:42:38
EYEMAZING COLLECTION
Paul Cava’s Large Tintypes
42
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 42
03-08-2009 14:07:32
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 43
03-08-2009 14:07:52
© PA oil well, tintype, ca. 1870, 6½ x 8½”, P.O.R.
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 44
03-08-2009 14:08:00
Š Farmer, Seven Children and Two Horse Wagon, tintype, ca. 1870, 5 x 7�, P.O.R.
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 45
03-08-2009 14:08:21
Paul Cava is an artist, collector, art dealer, and pub-
thetic. The tintype was the first truly popular American
photograph is so odd and also so real. What do you
lisher based in Pennsylvania. His love of photography
photographic medium. Being less restrained by the
know about this image, where did it come from, what
manifests differently in each of these facets of his pro-
“academic” conventions that the other two upper-
do you think it is about?
fessional life, but there is an aesthetic association uni-
class mediums were mired in, the tintype was free to
fying his work as an artist with the work he collects
evolve. Not to say that the tintype wasn’t predictable,
PC: I agree with you, it is a super image, rich with
and the art he chooses to represent. His own art
it was, but it was looser and it’s practitioners had a
symbolism: the bare trees, the elegant woman in the
explores the spiritual essence of the body through a
more relaxed approach. Jean Cocteau, the French poet
black formal dress, the contrasting girl in white appar-
hybrid of photography, painting, and drawing and
and filmmaker once said that cinema would never
ently levitating above the boat that is moored in the
was featured in Eyemazing Issue 2, 2006. His work
become real art until it was as affordable as a pencil
dark water below. Great art asks questions while it
incorporates many of the textures and incidental
and paper. In some way this is the appeal and poten-
thrills the senses and this one accomplishes both. It is
markings found in 19th and early 20th century vin-
tial of the lowly tintype for me.
the most recent acquisition in my collection, proof that there are still gems out there waiting to be dis-
tage photographs. This blending of a contemporary HS: As a collector, what do you look for in a tintype?
covered.
1997 he has also been collecting tintype photographs,
PC: I don’t “seek” anything in particular, I rather dis-
HS: Can you talk about the cracking in the emulsion
an early vernacular form of photography that embod-
cover through what the image reveals and this is
of Pennsylvania Oil Well and how such aspects affect
ies the mysterious and evocative qualities Cava is
often a fortuitous blend of time, process, and the
both the aesthetic and the value of a tintype?
clearly drawn to. Featured here is a small selection of
photographer’s ability to work with his subject.
voice with historical underpinnings is a distinguishing feature of Cava’s work. It is not surprising that since
PC: Well, technically the cracking of the collodion on
Cava’s impressive tintype collection. Tintypes had the longest period of popularity of any
HS: How you would explain the merits of one tintype
this plate is caused by extreme temperature shifts
over another to someone new to collecting tintypes?
causing the emulsion to crack, but the “damaged” effect in the Pennsylvania oil field is a prophetic vision
print type other than silver gelatin prints. The tintype process was invented in the 1850s and tintypes con-
PC: There are no hard and fast rules about this. For
of the future with its blood red veins breaking
tinued to be produced, primarily by itinerant photog-
me, I would say that visual engagement is primary. I
through the sky. To describe it as apocalyptic is an
raphers, through the 1930s. They were the least
have to be interested in looking. Wanting a tintype
understatement. This is a perfect example of how
expensive and time intensive of all the early photo-
because it is a civil war soldier with a gun doesn’t do
time and process play a major role in transforming a
graphic processes and made photography available
it for me. I’m not interested in the conventional col-
documentary image into a powerful contemporary
for the first time to the working classes. Because of
lecting categories such as post-mortems, civil war mil-
metaphor. Our eyes see these images differently from
this they recorded a wider picture of society than did
itary, or trade occupationals that many hard case
their makers.
daguerreotypes or ambrotypes, the other well-known
image collectors gravitate towards. Also, large size
photographic processes of their time. Though tintypes
and surface are important considerations for me.
HS: Can you elaborate on that last idea, about the
were most often produced as small-scale keepsakes,
Condition is of some importance but is not a deal
differences in how we perceive these works in the
Cava’s collection of approximately 200 works is com-
breaker. I don’t mind imperfections so long as they
present day versus how they were perceived at the
posed primarily of large plate tintypes ranging in size
add something to the content and expression of the
time they were created?
from 4x5 to 9x7 inches. We interviewed Cava about
image. A good example of imperfection that works
his collection, discussing the tintype medium from
positively is the mother and girl with doll or the
PC: There is a whole range of photography that is col-
both a collector’s perspective and in relation to his
Pennsylvania oil wells—both gain gravitas and mean-
lected today that was not intended by its makers to
own artwork.
ing from their imperfections. Also, the thing to
be art. For example, I have a collection of photo-
remember is that there is only one example so it isn’t
graphic figure studies made by the renowned early
Heather Snider: Can you give a brief explanation of
like you can order a better one. If the image moves
20th century painter, muralist, and printmaker Frank
the tintype medium especially as it inspired you to
you, go for it.
Brangwyn. Brangwyn used these photographic figurative studies as guides to transfer his images to canvas
begin collecting? HS: Most tintypes are portraits of some form. Do you
or panel. Many of them are squared-up in pencil or
Paul Cava: When I began my relationship with fine art
ever research the subjects, and if so how far do you
ink or in some few cases actually scored with a knife
photography in the mid-1970s tintypes were not in
go, to find out who these people were?
to create a working grid. These prints were technical necessities for the artist’s elaborate allegorical narra-
my sphere of interest, primarily because they lacked the “look” of the sort of historical fine art photogra-
PC: I have no historical interest in these individuals
tives but they come down to us through our 21st cen-
phy I was accustomed to. It wasn’t until 20 years later
beyond my personal response to the image, object or
tury eyes as powerful poetic entities in their own
that I began to be seduced by their dark secrets.
place that the tintype presents. Although the individu-
right. A more obvious example of what I mean are
als pictured are all unknown to me, I find it remark-
the graphic news photographs of Arthur Fellig
HS: Can you speak a bit about the tintype process?
able to discern, a century and a half later, a living and
(Weegee) made in the 1940s and 50s. These raw doc-
Why did you focus on tintypes as opposed to another
breathing connection through their soulful expres-
umentary news photos have an afterlife that tran-
19th century form?
sions. I suppose what draws me to them is a sense of
scends their original purpose. It is the same with the
recognition, a sense of self: the stern righteousness of
work of 1940s Heber Springs studio photographer
PC: Let me first say that I do collect other forms of
the freemason, the delight in the eyes of the girl with
Mike Disfarmer, or the early 20th century Philadelphia
photography, tintypes being a small but very dear and
the polka dot dress, the poignant isolation in the
street portrait photographer John Frank Keith who
personal part of my photography collecting interests.
woman’s face with thin hair, the awkward impatience
photographed his working class neighbours. Because
The tintype, or ferrotype, is made by coating a thin
of the twin boys. All of these expressions speak to me
of the monumental work of August Sander and Lewis
sheet of lacquered iron with an emulsion of light sen-
and are of me in some deep way. I find in these hum-
Hine our eyes and minds have been attuned and we
sitive collodion and then making an exposure. The
ble tintypes, made so long ago, the universal aspect
can appreciate the work of Disfarmer and Keith today.
resulting image is actually a negative that appears
of art that can transcend its original time and place
There are thousands of other vernacular images by
positive and is inverted so that the image is laterally
and be so endearing to viewers nearly a century and
anonymous photographers that have been trans-
reversed. Although there is a difference in the techni-
a half later.
formed by time. Context is everything in art.
and tintype, the major difference in terms of my
HS: I am taken by the tintype of a woman and girl
HS: How has the market and being a collector of tin-
appreciation of the three mediums is cultural and aes-
perched in a tree by a rowboat. Something about this
types changed since you started?
cal processes between the daguerreotype, ambrotype,
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 46
03-08-2009 14:08:28
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 47
03-08-2009 14:08:28
© Girl with Polka Dot Dress, tintype, ca. 1870, 8½ x 6½” (full plate) P.O.R.
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 48
03-08-2009 14:09:00
© Sisters, tintype, ca. 1870, 83/8 x 6½”, P.O.R.
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 49
03-08-2009 14:09:13
© Twin Boys, tintype, ca. 1870, 8½ x 6½”, P.O.R.
042-051_Paul_Cava.indd 50
03-08-2009 14:09:44
© Man with Hat, tintype, ca. 1870, 7 x 5”, P.O.R.
© Mother with Child and Doll, tintype, ca. 1870, 8½ x 6½”, P.O.R.
© Beautiful Girl in Red Dress, tintype, ca. 1870, 8½ x 6½” (full plate) P.O.R.
PC: Drastically. Large plate tintypes of quality are an
that I applied black and white ink to either by hand or
to be collecting tintypes. I know there are certain
endangered species. Gone are the days when such
with various tools. The resulting images share an obvi-
individuals building collections but they are being
images could be had for a song, however there are
ous sensibility with the reduced tonality and markings
quiet about it. I would expect that the market would
still opportunities if one is diligent I suppose. As prices
evident in tintypes. It’s difficult to discern if my inter-
determine when these more refined collections begin
increase I would expect that more would come to the
est in collecting tintypes was informed by my artwork
to surface as the scarcity of great tintypes becomes
auction market.
at the time or if my artwork was influenced by the
more evident and their value increases.
tintypes but there is clearly a visceral relationship
HS: Are you still collecting?
HS: Where do you find tintypes?
between the ink series and the tintypes.
PC: It is becoming more and more difficult. The obvi-
HS: Have you encountered other artist collectors such
don’t seek out tintypes – they find me and I prefer it
ous places to look for them would be photography
as yourself?
that way.
PC: I am not an aggressive collector in this respect. I
dealers, antique shops, photographic fairs, auction houses, eBay, and estate sales.
PC: Many artists collect things that inform their work
TEXT BY HEATHER SNIDER
either directly or indirectly. I think for an artist to colHS: It seems that you collect more as an artist search-
lect work that is not in some way relative to what he
Paul Cava’s Tintypes collection
ing for a kindred vision than for the purpose of put-
or she is thinking about would be a distraction.
www.paulcava.com
ting together a specific collection? Would you agree? HS: Are there other significant tintype collections that PC: I collect for the joy of recognition and the comfort
you know of or admire?
of knowing that life is a continuum and that certain things of beauty and wonder are worth saving and in
PC: Well, there have been a few books on the subject
some way contribute to an understanding of my self.
published but nothing that I would call distinctive in terms of a particular collector’s vision. They are mostly
HS: Can you give an example of something you may
generalist overviews of the medium. The recently
have learned from viewing a tintype, or how some-
published America and the Tintype by Steven Kasher
thing you saw in a tintype made its way into your
(Steidl/ICP; 2008) is the best that I am aware of. It’s a
artistic process?
difficult area to navigate because so much of tintype production was just that, portrait production for the
PC: There isn’t a particular tintype per se that jumps
masses. Without the star practitioners of its more
out in this regard. I became more aware of the dark
respected cousins, the daguerreotype and ambrotype,
beauty inherent in the tintype’s reduced tonal scale in
the tintype was left to its own devices. Ignored by
the 1990s when I was beginning my Ink series. This is
photography historians until very recently, the history
a series of photo-lithographic reproductions on paper
is just being written which is why it is an exciting time
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EYEMAZING GALLERY 192
Ai Weiwei If the cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words
at Berkeley as well, before returning to Beijing to be
America. Exhibition Coordinator, Stephanie Tung,
has any meaning, that meaning is grounded in the
by his father’s side on his deathbed in 1993. His expe-
joined the project and devoted countless hours to
rhizome of history, in the spreading roots that come
rience abroad fortified his critical nature, and was
overseeing the digitisation of the images, and the
together and form a network of associations at the
supplemented by the quintessential American belief
detective-work process of re-ordering the jumble of
site of the image like a nerve cell. Chinese artist Ai
in the power of the individual to shape society. Since
disorganised strips into the correct chronological
Weiwei’s gift – illuminated by the impressive array of
his return to Beijing, Ai Weiwei has consistently
order, and identifying the “who, what, when, where
230 of photographs taken during his sojourn in the
played the role of contentious, public intellectual and
and why” of each frame. After intense meetings with
New York East Village, and selected from over 10,000
member of China’s cultural vanguard in the capacity
Ai Weiwei, the team finally selected the 230 images
images archived by the Three Shadows Photography
of critic, curator, architectural designer, and innovative
that made up the January 2009 show.
Art Centre in Beijing – is the keen sense of social and
multidisciplinary artist.
cultural acuity that enabled him, even as an outsider,
Highlights of the show range from subtle portraits of
to capture seminal moments that root his images in
As one of the most high-profile Chinese contemporary
the many once-obscure, now famous Chinese cul-
the dense, chaotic network of meanings, ideas, con-
artists alive today, and recipient of the 2008 Lifetime
turati (who spent time with Ai Weiwei in his home, a
flicts, struggles, aspirations, and contradictory values
Achievement Award in Chinese Contemporary Art,
cultural hub for itinerant artsy Chinese who often
that embody the life of a particular place in time.
Ai Weiwei’s work has been shown at major exhibitions
crashed at his flat when they passed through New
including the Venice Biennale (1999), 2nd Guangzhou
York), and close American friends like Allen Ginsburg,
Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing, but spent
Triennial (2005), 2006 Biennale of Sydney, Docu-
as well as myriad self-portraits and startlingly percep-
much of his childhood in the remote north-western
menta12 (2007), Liverpool Biennale (2008), and a solo
tive, iconic eyewitness images of signal events and
province of Xinjiang where his father, Ai Qing – a
show at the Mori Art Museum is slated for summer
major cultural phenomena that still resonate today.
prominent poet – was among the many intellectuals
(2009). His role in conceiving the design of the Olympic
These include the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgen-
sent to engage in labour reform as a result of purges
“Bird’s Nest” (the Beijing National Stadium) in collabo-
der rights movement and the Wigstock celebrations;
following the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957.
ration with Herzog & de Meuron, his co-collaborators
police brutality at the 1988 riots in Tompkins Square
in the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2008), has
Park; 1990 protests of the first George Bush’s Gulf
Ai Weiwei’s staunch independence, resilience and
earned him a name that resonates far beyond the
War; homeless encampments in public places, the
unrepentant critical stance towards the state of soci-
reaches of the art world, but it is his brio as public
controversial, race-sensitive Tawana Brawley protests
ety and the structure of power, were forged in the
intellectual that is perhaps the pulse that reverberates
in 1988, and many more images that captured the
crucible of early childhood experiences. Watching his
throughout the corpus of his work.
tenor of the times with surprising prescience.
kind of poetry,” forced to clean toilets, and not
While Ai Weiwei’s installations and sculptures often
In Ai Weiwei’s Bleeding Protestor: Tompkins Square
allowed to write for two decades, left a scathing
feature ready-mades that he has transformed with a
Park Riots, the rivulets of blood streaking down the
impression on the young artist. It was not until 20
conceptual twist, such as shoes, furniture, urns,
face of a pony-tailed man, darkening his T-shirt in a
years later that his father was exonerated and the
antique doors, bicycle parts, and more, hinting at the
spreading stain, look more like experimental ink wash
family was able to return to some semblance of a nor-
deep impact of Duchamp on his work, it is his pho-
than police brutality. Yet the outraged glare, the mouth
mal life in Beijing after the Cultural Revolution had
tography that reveals most profoundly the presence
cocked open in mid-chant, and the fury, or quiet hor-
ended, and Reform and Opening had begun.
of the person within the artist, the identity of those
ror of his fellow protestors is anything but artifice.
two things, and the extent to which he takes the role
These men and women are for real. It is 1988 and this
of public intellectual seriously.
riot is the culmination of months of tension in New
intellectual father persecuted for writing “the wrong
As Western culture began to trickle back into China in the late 70s, young artists like Ai Weiwei were elec-
York City over the rights of the urban poor to shelter.
trified by the variety of expressive forms in circulation,
Until now, Ai Weiwei’s best-known photography works
The park had become a magnet for homeless people,
as well as tempted to test the boundaries of accept-
have included the performance art sequence, Dropping
and after each police roust, the legions of hungry, tired
able expression in public in the new era of tentative
a Han Dynasty Urn (1995), in which we see three
and poor, would re-encamp in ever greater numbers,
reform. Art became a major part of this process of
frames that document the irreverent smashing of an
supported by a vocal coalition of progressive citizens
cultural testing that helped broaden the horizons of
antique urn, and Studies of Perspective (1995-2003),
disgusted with the go-go 80s shameless, selfish mate-
the State-dominated public sphere. In 1978, Ai
in which we see the artist’s hand in the classic gesture
rialism, gentrification and disregard for those unwilling
Weiwei was among the small group of experimental
of defiance towards authority as he gives the middle
or unable to ascend the social ladder. When protestors
artists who founded China’s first avant-garde art col-
finger to symbols of State power such as Tiananmen
ignored the police curfew, the officers responded with
lective, “The Stars” (which included Huang Rui, Ma
Square, the White House, and the Eiffel Tower. Now
indiscriminate violence, and the once-peaceful protest
Desheng, Wang Keping, and other major artists still
the long-awaited debut solo show of Ai Weiwei’s pho-
ignited into a raging riot that drew condemnation of
noteworthy today). At a time when people were still
tography in China, and the first-ever exhibition of his
police brutality across society.
wary, following the tumultuous and repressive decade
body of New York Photographs (1983-1993) at Three
of the Cultural Revolution, the daring and unauthor-
Shadows – China’s premier, museum-scale, photogra-
Images of glorious, bouffanted drag queens, reinvent-
ised public exhibitions and activities on the part of
phy venue – offer a detailed look at one of his most
ing Diana Ross’ legendary “I’m Coming Out,” during
“The Stars” was of seminal cultural significance, and
important bodies of work to date.
Wigstock in 1990, root us into an emerging gay rights
played a role in setting in motion a generation of
156
movement that is still one of the major civil rights
visual pioneers who began experimenting with
The exhibition odyssey began in 2006. RongRong
issues of our time. The spectre of homeless people
Western art forms and media, while trying to come to
(Three Shadows co-founder and celebrated photogra-
sleeping beneath lucrative, commissioned public art
terms with China’s recent past and to rethink the role
pher in his own right) had been a close friend since Ai
works, speaks of the contradictions in an economic
that art and cultural production could play in shaping
Weiwei was actively involved with the performance
system rooted in unsustainable consumption. And,
the trajectory of its future.
art scene at the Beijing East Village where RongRong
the angry protests against the first US Gulf War in
lived in 1993-1994, and spearheaded the labour-
1990 remind us of the presence of the past in our col-
When the opportunity arose to study in the US, Ai
intensive project of archiving the over 10,000 nega-
lective present and future.
Weiwei set off for New York in 1981, spending time
tives that had been taken during the decade or so in
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Š Ai Weiwei/The Tree Shadows Photography Art Center, 1986 Self-Portrait. East 3rd Street apartment
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Š Ai Weiwei/The Tree Shadows Photography Art Center, 1987 Wang Keping & Ai Weiwei
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04-08-2009 08:37:23
Š Ai Weiwei/The Tree Shadows Photography Art Center, 1986 Chen Kaige Pyramid Club
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04-08-2009 08:37:36
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04-08-2009 08:37:51
© Ai Weiwei/The Tree Shadows Photography Art Center, 1990 I’m Not Going!
© Ai Weiwei/The Tree Shadows Photography Art Center, 1988 Lower East Side Restaurant
© Ai Weiwei/The Tree Shadows Photography Art Center, 1989 AIDS Protest
Ai Weiwei is sometimes portrayed as playful punk with
have been showcased worldwide to critical acclaim, it
In this context, Ai Weiwei’s New York photographs
slick manoeuvres, even swaggering ego. At odds with
is this newly unveiled and vast body of photography
offer a prescient visual harmony to his blunt pro-
these glib portrayals, however, is the fearless earnest-
that offers the clearest metonym of the artist himself.
nouncements about the character of cultural production and art in today’s China – ”still the subservient
ness and trenchant sensitivity revealed in the continuity between his preoccupations as a young man inces-
In an art scene that has grown systematically averse
accessory or sacrificial object of politics” – and the
santly shooting photographs while living the New York
to genuine political critique – a hangover collectively
role of art and the artist caught in the closing wedge
East Village, and his activities since returning to
shared by the broad mass of society and much of
between post-totalitarian State and globalised, men-
Beijing. He played a mentoring role in the perfor-
the intelligentsia – Ai Weiwei’s pointed invective
dacious market – ”we live in an era in which the sys-
mance art hotbed known as the Beijing East Village,
against social injustice and abuses of power is unset-
tem of values and the possibilities of critical judgment
until the crackdown that dispersed the community in
tling. In contrast many of the Chinese auction-house
are extraordinarily chaotic and confused,” Ai Weiwei
mid-94. His samizdat publications of the White, Gray,
darlings discovered, in the mid-90s, that foreigners
declaims. Even so, he sees a refusal to cede for speech
and Black Cover Books (1994-1997) offered critical
(the only market for contemporary art at the time)
and action in the public sphere and the power of indi-
discourse and introduced then-unknown seminal art-
fetishised easily-recognisable, easily-digestible, iconi-
viduals to shape the course of history.
ists. In 2000, he co-curated defiantly uncommercial
cally “Chinese” political symbols, and so were by the
works at the landmark Fuck Off group exhibition in
new millennium well-fed, well-shod, complacent
When asked if he worries about the danger of
Shanghai. After helping design the Olympic “Bird’s
assembly lines, churning out their own “brands” –
becoming a casualty of repression like his father he
Nest,” he became an outspoken critic of the urban
Chairman Mao; red stars; cute girls in Red Guard uni-
offers a shrug and a smile. “The way I see it,” he says,
“cleansing” that flushed the labourers who had built
forms and pigtails; sad-eyed families rendered uni-
“this is my life, I don’t have a second life, and I don’t
the New Beijing and Olympic facilities out of the city,
form by political oppression; masked faces that
have a second kind of life. I think that in this respect,
like detritus, before the Games. And his prolific blog
bespoke a tragic double-life under communism, all
every person has a responsibility.”
entries, rife with wrathful judgments upon the pathol-
popified versions of cultural revolution iconography
ogies of our times, alongside the endless parade of
mismatched with Western brands. This became so
documentary photographs that Ai Weiwei compiles
deeply entrenched in the maintenance of the status
almost compulsively, provide a symmetrical textual
quo that it is now perverse to look to their work for
counterpoint to the enormous body of photography
critical optics and subversive sentiment.
from the New York years and beyond.
TEXT BY MAYA KÓVSKAYA
© All pictures: Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei’s Blog:
Indeed, since the mid-90s, China’s art scene has been
http://blog.sina.com.cn/aiweiwei
In spite of his meteoric rise in recent years, seemingly
an environment where genuine political critique (as
mirroring the skyrocketing fortunes of Chinese art in
opposed to manipulative foreigner-wanking) was seen
Courtesy:
general, Ai Weiwei is anything but a metonym for
as passé (so late 80s!), even naïve, and the province
Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing
mainstream Chinese contemporary art, and attempts
of the foolish hornet’s nest-stirring few who hadn’t
www.threeshadows.cn
to portray him this way, miss the point – and the
figured out that “to get rich [really] is glorious,” and
power – of his work and role as public intellectual. And
the most vanguard expression of patriotic pride in the
while his sculptures, installations, and interventions
fatherland.
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