Tuesday 31 July 2012

Another London - Tate Britain

Neil Kenlock, The Bailey Sisters in Clapham, c1970



The exhibition features work by photographers for whom London was a foreign city. The pictures all come from the collection of Eric and Louise Franck and have been donated to the Tate. Among the 41 photographers represented are Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank.
Read an article by David Campany and reviews by LauraCumming and Richard Dorment.  

Wolfgang Suschitzky, Bishopsgate Road, Paddington, London, 1934
Wolfgang Suschitzky, Lyons Corner House, Tottenham Court Road, London, 1934
Bruce Davidson, Girl Holding Kitten, 1960
Lutz Dille, Untitled, 1961
Marketa Luskacova, People around a fire, Spitalfields Market, London, 1976
Al Vandenberg, Untitled, 1975
Karen Knorr and Olivier Richon , Roxy 4 from the ‘Punk series’, 1976

Friday 27 July 2012

John Rafman - Saatchi Gallery

Jon Rafman, 9 Rua Pereira da Costa, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 2010
These are photographs that no one took and memories that no one has. (Jon Rafman quoted by Geoff Dyer)
When Michael Wolf was given an hounourable mention in the 2011 World Press Photo Awards for his project, A Series of Unfortunate Events: Google Street View it provoked a some controversy (see below) - Wolf's 'method' of setting up his camera on a tripod pointing at the computer screen, as he surfed and selected from the images created for Google's Street View, offended some who dismissed it as not even proper 'photography' let alone photojournalism or art.

Wolf is not alone: Doug Rickard and Jon Rafman have also put in hours mining the database. A selection of Rafman's work is now on show at the Saatchi Gallery.

Read Geoff Dyer's interesting article How Google Street View is inspiring new photography, in which he notes amomng other things that Wolf and Rafman have even used some of the same images! 

Interesting stuff, I think.
Jon Rafman, 8 Rue Valette, Pompertuzat, Midi- Pyrenees, France, 2011
Jon Rafman, Rv888, Finnmark, Norway, 2010
Jon Rafman, 70 Via Trincea delle Frasche, Fiumicino, Lazio, Italia, 2010
Jon Rafman, 125 Rua Maestro Benedito Olegário Berti, Mogi das Cruzes - São Paulo, Brasil, 2010
Jon Rafman, 139 Rua Indiaporã, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, 2012
Jon Rafman, 262 Rua Susana, São Paulo, Brasil, 2010
Jon Rafman, 265 Morelos, Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México, 2010
Jon Rafman, 330 R. Herois de Franca, Matosinhos, Portugal, 2009