Photographs by Andrew Moore (Bano Rojo, 2000 and La Espera, CayoGranma, Santiago de Cuba, 2012 and Cash Meier Barn, Shadbolt Ranch, Cherry County, Nebraska)
The images from Andrew Moore’s show at Couturier Gallery are both beautiful and sad as they show Cuba as it is now, while at the same time the evidence of what it once was is all around.
The beauty of decay is also evident in some of the images from another of Moore’s subjects, Nebraska. These images are currently on view in New York at Yancey Richardson gallery.
When I saw Vivian Maier’s work at photoLA in 2012, I was surprised to have never heard of her. Amazingly, despite the quality of her work, she was only discovered, posthumously, when a man named John Maloof bought a box of old negatives for $400 dollars at an auction in 2007. Once he began looking through them, he quickly acquired more of her work from the same buyer. Through his research, it was revealed that Maier had worked as a nanny for over 40 years in Chicago and had taken over 100,000 photos.
Merry Karnowsky Gallery is currently showing part of the collection (a little over a hundred images) including some of her self portraits and color work. This show is open until Saturday, 1/25.
Müller’s photos, currently at Diane Rosenstein Fine Art, are made by altering raw data taken from NASA/JPL. These abstract images present a new way of looking at the universe and our place within it. There are three series within the show- Citylights, Worldlights and Starlights.
Phranc, best known as The All-American Jewish Lesbian folksinger, is also a self-described “Cardboard Cobbler,” who fashions cardboard, paper, gouache, and thread into life-size, three-dimensional replications of everyday objects. As a teenager, Phranc attended The Feminist Studio Workshop at The Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, but she traces her obsession with cardboard back to childhood. She says, “From the time I sat in my first refrigerator box submarine, I knew the cardboard sea was for me.” Her first exhibition at Craig Krull Gallery, Phranc of California (Summer of 2011), consisted of hand-crafted beach paraphernalia, such as swimsuits, inflatable rafts, umbrellas and beach balls. For her new exhibition, Winter, Phranc will exhibit painted paper and cardboard snowshoes, ski sweaters, ski pants, lift tickets, and even a shiny new red sled! In these trompe l’oeil re-creations of nostalgic winter items, Phranc remarks upon the reconstruction and idealization of memories.
These whimsical cardboard constructions are great. This show is on view until 1/11/14.
Curious about Phranc’s music?- check out this video-
John Divola– from the series- Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert
At the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, another part of the John Divola show, As Far As I Could Get, currently also at LACMA, is open until 1/12.
The Dogs series was shot from Divola’s car as the dogs in the desert chased him while he was photographing abandoned buildings (these images make up another section of the show). According to Divola (when he spoke at LACMA), despite their menacing appearance in the photos, many of the dogs were friendly and mostly just excited to see someone new.
A separate show of Divola’s work called EchoChamber is at Gallery Luisotti in Bergamot Station until 1/18.
At the Window: The Photographer’s Viewis also at the Getty Museum until 1/5. It showcases various famous photographers (including Gregory Crewdson, Éugéne Atget, Walker Evans, Shizuka Yokomizo and Uta Barth, among many others) who used windows as their framing device.
Morell’s camera obscura images are incredible. His current show at The Getty Museum closes this weekend (1/5). The Getty site provides a lot of information about his process and his other works in the show.
If you miss this, he also has a show at Rose Gallery in Bergamot station until 1/18/14.
LAMAG’s current show contains a wide range of works in various forms of media. If you are headed to Barnsdall Park, make sure to check it out. It closes this weekend on 1/5.
Karen Carson– Big Job (Case International Combine)
Karen Carson’s paintings of farm machines are dramatic, beautiful and at times, huge (the ones on unstretched canvas are between 9 and 12 ft high). Her current show at Rosumund Felsen Gallery, will have you looking at tractors in a whole new way. It is on view until Saturday, 1/4.
