Daniel Bauer at Alderman Exhibitions

Daniel Bauer, BFA in photography from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and MFA from Columbia University, currently has his first Chicago solo at Alderman Exhibitions. Prior to Alderman, he has had two solo shows at the Andrea Meislin Gallery in NYC, worked with architects and historians on exhibitions and projects in Kunst Werke, Berlin and the Israeli Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. His work is also in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. 

Click here for directions to the gallery.

'Unbroken' a new publication by Jessica Tampas

Jessica is a featured photographer in Catherine Edelman's Chicago Project.

             

 

A year ago I purchased a number of early - and mid-century dolls: life size, they were mass-produced of 'composite,' a plaster-like material that predates plastic. Some had human hair, others synthetic; some of their faces were embellished with fine details like painted-on eyelashes - others not. Many had limbs missing and stained clothing. Frankly, I'm not so concerned with what sort of owners they had, or what specific history they suffered before they entered my studio. That said, I respect that history, and never alter the dolls in any way. I simply photograph them as though they were part of a typological study. Today I own more than a hundred, each one of them for me an object lesson in what it means to be both fragile, and a survivor - and ultimately, human.

I center my subjects in a close-cropped field, and let their gaze confront the viewer. I hang the resultant images, which I print large (in ranges from 24 X 30 inches to 60 X 80 inches) at eye height. I like that these toys become an all encompassing, visually engulfing experience. You can choose to engage with their gaze; but you can also choose to look away and stare at their imperfections - for instance, the incredibly deep cracks that run (almost like fissures in parched desert earth) through parts of their bodies.  

-Jessica Tampas

Click here to visit Jessica's website.

Talking Back: Chicago Youth Respond

Opening Reception

TODAY at 4:30 PM!

Museum of Contemporary Photography

Join us as we celebrate the opening of our twelfth annual Talking Back: Chicago Youth Respond exhibition, which runs from April 3rd-7th. This exhibition features the works made by teens who participated in PICTURE ME, an intensive after school photography program sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. The program takes place at three Chicago high schools: Curie Metropolitan High School, Juarez Community Academy, and Nicolas Senn High School. Co-taught by teams of working artists this program, which serves approximately 90 students each year, cultivates teens as independent artists who gain a strong technical foundation as they work toward developing their own artistic vision and style through independent projects. Examining and discussing the work of professional artists is integral to the program. The curriculum is further enhanced by field trips to the MoCP and other cultural venues and contact with visiting artists. PICTURE ME students and alumni have won numerous awards, scholarships, and internships for their work and graduates of the program have gone on to study art at institutions including Columbia College Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign.

Click here for directions.

Steve Schapiro: Then and Now at Kunsthalle Rostock

Click here to watch the museum's interview of Schapiro. 

Jason Lazarus at MCA

Jason Lazarus' work at the MCA is part of the BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works exhibition series that showcases the best new work coming out of Chicago today. Click here to visit the museum's webpage. For more work from Lazarus, click here to visit his website.

For those of you who didn't get a chance to see it in person, click here view 

images of Jenny Holzer's 2008 Chicago projections and more!

Irving Penn: Underfoot in the AIC Modern Wing

Underfoot 1, New York, 1999

Click here for more information.