Flowers. Oh, so many flowers…

Flowers in place of faces.

Flowers all alone in a quiet forest.

German photographer Amira Fritz grew up with parents who ran a plant nursery & flower shop {clearly}, and so large floral arrangements have become her choice of subject matter, as a reminder of home. I love both of these series so much {Alle von Denen & Spaziergang im Käferwald }, and could not decide which images to show. They’re all so lovely, eerie, and sort of sad in a strange way – a perfect combination as far as I’m concerned.

Aaaannnnd, exhale. The gorgeous work of New York photographer Mikael Kennedy is now hanging on the pristine white walls of Catalog Gallery, and will be there until July 17th. “Pieces of the Moon” opened last Thursday in Vancouver… and I loved every single minute of it! The work looked amazing {obviously!}, the place was packed with fabulous people, and on top of that we got the very talented Jonathan Dy to document the whole thing with his stunning black and white photography. Maybe I should change my name to, The Lucky Curator! Thanks so much to everyone who was involved in putting this show together {Peter Hay Halpert in New York, Robert Squire of Catalog, Paul Burger of Cargoh who introduced me to the guys at Catalog, and of course, Mikael Kennedy for trusting me to do this on the other side of the continent. xo}

ps. That’s me in the bottom photo, which by the way, I am totally framing!

This makes me want to cry. I’m not sure why. It must have something to do with childhood nostalgia, and the fact that even though the streets and houses haven’t changed that much, we have. We’re all grown up, and we’ll never be little again… but I digress. These images are part of a lovely online project called “Dear Photograph”. Anyone {yes, even you!} can send in a photo to be part of the collection. All you have to do is “take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.” Easy… and apparently kinda sad, if you’re a sentimental sap like me.

The list of things needed to make me jealous today:

A second hand Olympia typewriter, a little bottle of white correcting fluid, and a stack of beautifully mundane 6×6 negatives shot by a French artist named Christophe Dillinger. Obviously, a swivel chair would have been the cherry on top of that list, but sadly, no swivel chair… for anyone.

Lots of lovely shows happening in June!

1. The beautifully odd photographs of Ranee Palone Flynn are now showing at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art in New York… but hurry, because the show ends on Saturday, June 18th!

2. Ahh, the fabulous urban quilts of Amy Ahlstrom. The show is on now, and the reception is happening this Thursday June 16th at a.Muse Gallery in San Francisco.

3. Perfect for the beginning of summer! Samantha French’s paintings will be in a group show at 801 Artists Lofts in Minneapolis.

4. The Cheaper Show No.10 is a crazy, fun, artsy one night event on Saturday June 25th in Vancouver. 200 artists, 400 pieces of art, all for $200. Seriously. Get there early!

5. Pieces of the Moon, Photographs by Mikael Kennedy opens on Thursday June 30th at Catalog Gallery in Vancouver. Yes, a little bit of shameless self-promotion, but I’m so proud of this show! Hope to see you there : )

Ahh, I am so ready for summer. It’s still kinda cold and rainy in my neck of the woods, so until it heats up I’m just going to stare at these warm, watery, is-that-coconut-oil-I-smell, summer dreams that have been captured on film by Italian photographer Benedetta Falugi in her series, appropriately titled, A Summer. Oh and, by the way, she lives in Tuscany… yet another reason to be jealous! On that note, happy weekend everyone ~ I hope it’s a sunny one!

“Pieces of the Moon ~ Photographs by Mikael Kennedy ”
Opening Reception ~ Thursday June 30th, 2011 6pm til late
Presented by Catalog Gallery, Vancouver
Curated by… me!

I am beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to hang this show! I have been a huge fan of New York based photographer Mikael Kennedy since the first time I wrote about him in 2009. We quickly became friends… well, email friends who have never actually met in person. Anyway, earlier this year I had an idea for a show, I emailed him about it {as email friends do}, and he said yes! Easy, right? Now all I had to do was find a gallery… and, thankfully, that was easy too. The guys at Catalog Gallery in Vancouver offered their amazing space in the very cool neighborhood of Gastown. I’ll keep you posted on our progress over the next few weeks… but until then, here, in a curatorial nutshell, is what this beautiful show is all about:

Over the past decade, American born photographer Mikael Kennedy has taken thousands of Polaroids during what has often been described as a ‘Kerouac-esque” journey, wandering back and forth across the continent, hitching rides, couch surfing, moving from city to city. In 2010, Kennedy had his first solo show in New York City, titled “Shoot the Moon” with the Peter Hay Halpert Gallery who now represents this immense body of work. “Shoot the Moon”, an exhibition 500 Polaroids was an introduction to Kennedy’s story, edited down from the thousands of Polaroids. I have looked at this series countless times, and while all of his work is a mysterious narrative, it is the photographs of the women that have completely drawn me in.

“Pieces of the Moon” features 50 images that have been pulled from the original “Shoot the Moon” show. When the photographs of these women are shown along-side the other 450 images in the series, they’re a quiet part of the overall story. But when hung together in this smaller, more focused grouping they create a beautiful, feminine view into the personal life of the artist. There is an undeniable intimacy in each image, revealing an obvious closeness to the subject – however, to the viewer, the details still remain vague. Were these friends, lovers, strangers, or all of the above? The images are titled with the name of the woman, the location of the photo, and the year, leaving it completely up to the viewer to piece these relationships, friendships, and chance meetings together. These are the women that have shaped Mikael Kennedy’s life over the past decade – and they are beautiful.

Reminders is a funny, beautiful, text-based photography series by Austin artist Erin Hanson. Let’s be honest – we could all use a few tips to help us become better, more regular, people, yes? Yes. Oh hey, I think it’s working already… I just washed my dishes, and I plan on feeling the music later this afternoon.  See? Helpful reminders really do work. Now, go call your parents… and finish that bran muffin!

{via frankie magazine}

This is some incredibly powerful work… for something that isn’t even technically art. These photos were taken a few days ago by the US Marshall’s Office. They are the belongs of Ted Kaczynski {aka The Unabomber}, which are being auctioned off by the US Government this week. Creepy? Absolutely. But, strangely enough, they’re also really beautiful photographs. I think it’s probably this dichotomy that makes them so captivating. It may also be that, on first glance, they look like “collections of common objects” – something that a lot of artists are assembling, and photographing these days. However, once you know the context, it’s difficult to look at these images without feeling somewhat nauseous.

{All of the money raised in the auction is going to the victims’ families. Does that make it slightly less disturbing that these items are being sold? // I found this story through a tweet from Meighan of my love for you, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.}

Ink.

In water.

Can’t.

Stop.

Staring.

Ok, I’ll look away long enough to tell you that these stunning photographs were captured by Italian artist/illustrator Alberto Seveso. And yes, it’s really just ink being poured into water. So simple, yet absolutely mesmerizing.

Staring.

Again.