photo
l.a. XX - 2011
IN JANUARY, L.A. IS THE
CENTER OF THE ART UNIVERSE
by ©Jean Ferro
Julie
Rose Novakoff, principal of Nova Fine Art, LLC,
at Peter Fetterman Gallery
images of Lillian Bassman photo
l.a. XX + artLA Projects
January 13–17, 2011
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
www.Photola.com
From
its earliest beginnings at Butterfield & Butterfield in 1991, Stephen
Cohen’s photo l.a. has become one of the most successful photographic
art fairs in the country. This edition was no exception. According to the Stephen
Cohen Gallery, over 8,000 people visited this year’s fair.
The 20th Anniversary
Edition opening reception with honored guests William Eggleston
and Stephen Shore benefited the Wallis Annenberg
Foundation Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art (LACMA). This year, photo l.a. also launched an addition, art-LA
projects, a prelude to a much larger artLA 2011 that will align
with the start of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative
and Art Platform—Los Angeles, a new art fair creation by
The Armory Show team in the fall of 2011.
Women
In Photography International booth
Charter
Members, Candice Biggerstaff, Carol Henry w /Jeanne Adams, Ansel Adams Gallery
Rose
Shoshana, Rose Gallery, Bergamot Station,
Santa Monica
My
agenda was celebrating Women In Photography International’s (WIPI)
30th Anniversary booth at photo l.a. Fine art photographer Carol
Henry designed the vibrant interactive photo booth for the fair’s
attendees, collectors, gallery owners, and photographers. William Eggleston also
stopped by to be photographed. It was a power-packed five days at photo l.a. displaying
member work and celebrating WIPI’s history. (See images on Facebook. Jan
13 Reception – Jan 17th, http://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=52330307762.)
What was new: Several galleries, including Kahmann Gallery from
The Netherlands, had a strong, black-and-white, European, contemporary nude portfolio.
Galerie Dix9, France, featured the radical young Chinese photographer/filmmaker
Cui Xiuwen who pushes the envelope’s edge with her photo
and video documentation Lady’s, in which she secretly filmed unlicensed
prostitutes at work. Born in 1970, Cui is not hindered by traditional attitudes;
she reaches out for equality in the once-forbidden, and still-controversial sexual
territory for women. Juxtaposed to Cui Xiuwen’s work, Pan Vu Gallery/China
showcased a rural, classic Chinese lifestyle in black-andwhite and the Ofoto-Gallery/China
showed more conceptualized, contemporary imagery of modern society, along with
MR Gallery/Beijing. Another new comer, Skotia Gallery
from Santa Fe (with plans to move to Los Angeles in 2012), noted a good response
to photographer Kelsy Waggaman.
There
were a lot of “new to the fair galleries” this year including Eyestorm/London;
the well established Gallery 825/Los Angeles, founded in 1925
to provide the Los Angeles community with the opportunity to view fine art as
well as establish a collection of European and American art; Riflemaker/London;
Villa de arte Galleries/Spain; and TS+ Projects,
New York. At the Rivera & Rivera and Known Gallery/Los
Angeles, their backdrop was great: a graffiti graphic wall designed and painted
by Retna. The hanging work was typical gang symbolism, street,
black-and-white photo work. One in particular — of a railroad bridge —
was very good, but in general, for me, it’s a worn-out story that could
use bright colors to show strength and purpose. Abba Fine Art/Miami
showcased Debra Holts’s limited edition, large-scale, contemplative,
environmental images of cloud formations, water, and landscapes. Hous
Projects/NY/Los Angeles, presented edgy new photographers. One Hour Cleaners
was a new addition. As Stephen Cohen told me, “One Hour Cleaners is a nom
de plume or de guerre or some other nom de. I fell in love with the signage of
a defunct One Hour Cleaner store in Mar Vista. The photo in the catalogue is the
front of the building. I thought it would be a great name for a gallery and since
I am expanding the horizons of Stephen Cohen Gallery to include different media
as well as secondary market work, I thought now is the time — or close to
the ti me — to transition to a new gallery after 19 years (and longer as
a private dealer).” They had Siri Kaur’s Superman
on the wall as well as Kristie, 2007, a WIPI juried competition winner.
The
nonprofit Light Work artist-in-residence space from Syracuse,
New York, had a wonderful Carrie Mae Weems Untitled, from the “Kitchen
Table Series, 1990/2010” — a silver gelatin print, 9.875"x9.75"
image on 14"x11" sheet, signed and numbered print, in a limited edition
of 100. The Blind Photographers Guild/Sacramento set up shop
once again. Everyone is always amazed at the visual content displayed in their
booth melding photography and technology. The Queensland Center for Photography
(South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) returned once again this year with a little
apprehension over the flooding making its way through the Australian countryside.
Joining
the ranks of bad boy artist Andres Serrano’s 1987 Piss
Christ and the 1989 The Perfect Moment by Robert Mapplethorpe,
David Wojnarowicz’s Fire in My Belly the current, controversial,
Smithsonian-axed video, was shown continuously in the video lounge. The upstairs
VIP lounge played host to the Lucie Awards Foundation, which
presented the photographic works of Tasya van Ree and Jessica
Lange as well as a conversation with Amy Arbus and Sara
Terry, photographer and founder of The Aftermath Project.
Contemporary
Works/Vintage Works
The
70-plus exhibitors included the collectors’ choice galleries, such as Alex
Novak’s beautifully presented Contemporary Works/Vintage
Works/Chalfont, PA. Novak handles the top twentiethcentury photographers
from Brassaï to Weston. Contemporary work on display included Arthur
Tress (Owl, Big Thicket, Texas; Flood Dream), Lisa Holden,
British-born artist based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Scarlet & Gold
and Licit, both from the “Lilith Series;” and two of her
new “Constructed Landscapes,” Tree III and Forest). Holden’s
work is made on a large scale. Most of the images are available in 30"x40"
paper versions (her smallest size), larger sizes in Diasec mounts and/or as very
large, unique, painted pieces mounted on aluminum with a UV laminate. Artist Arthur
Tress signed copies of his new book, Skate Park, on Saturday, January
15th at the show, and at other times Tress spent time in Novak’s booth.
The gallery overall had good sales including Daido Moriyama’s
Kagerou (Mayfly). Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc./San Francisco, with 35 years experience
in buying and selling vintage photographs, books with original photographs, and
photographic albums, handles photographers from Ansel Adams to Minor White. Paul
displayed Edward Weston’s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939, vintage gelatin silver
print 9"x7.5". Barry and Gretchen of The Barry Singer Gallery/Petaluma,
CA, house Berenice Abbott to Max Yavno and a couple of my favorites, Edmund Teske
and Lou Stoumen. Singer presented Paulette Tavormina’s Lemons and Pomegranates,
After J.v.H., archival inkjet print, 2010. WIPI captured a really nice photo of
Gretchen Singer in the WIPI photo booth. John Cleary Gallery/Houston
carried Maggie Taylor’s 42"x42" limited editions.
Stephen Daiter/Chicago, had a full house of 20th- and 21st-century
European and American avant-garde documentary photography. DNJ Gallery,
recently moved to Bergamot Station/Santa Monica, showcased Bill Sosin limited
editions prints. Sosin’s photographs are now part of the permanent collection
at LACMA.
ROSEGALLERY/Santa
Monica carries a lineup of diverse modern and contemporary artists
like Dorothea
Lange, William Eggleston, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and Graciela Iturbide. The photo
l.a. catalog image was Clare College, May Ball, Cambridge, 2005, from
the “Luxury Series,” 1995–2001 by Martin Parr.
“All Things Parr,” the recent exhibit at the Bergamot Station gallery,
ran through January 29.
Susan
Spiritus/Newport Beach, CA, featured new work by rising star Susan
Burnstine from the series “Absence of Being.” Susan creates
images from her own handmade cameras and lenses that are frequently unpredictable
and technically challenging. Work by Cara Barer whose unique
imagery has evolved from her chance encounter with the Yellow Pages is a delight
for all to see. Also, Spiritus presented work by Roman Loranc
and Larry Vogel. Larry was awarded a photographic scholarship
from The Friends of Photography for the Ansel Adams Photography Workshops in 1983.
It was thelast of the workshops for renowned photographer Ansel Adams.  At
photo-eye Gallery/Santa Fe you couldn’t miss the large-scale
nudes of Carla van de Puttelaar from the “Cranach Series,”
cleverly hung by the edge of the wall so passersby came face to face with the
simplicity of nudity.
Want
to find Peter Fetterman (Peter Fetterman Gallery/ Bergamot Station,
CA)? Look for the red walls with classic black-and-white prints! Established
in 1990, Peter, a successful independent-film-producer-turned-gallery-owner, specializes
in classic photography with an emphasis on humanist imagery. At photo l.a., he
had a wonderful display of work by the ninety-four-year-old fashion photographer
Lillian Bassman. Bassman’s work inspired me as a young
woman approaching the visual arts; her graphically styled haute couture images
for Harper’s Bazaar were strikingly memorable. Peter handles top
contemporary photographers today, including Leibovitz, Salgado, Erwitt, McCurry,
and many others, in addition to one of the largest inventories of Cartier-Bresson’s
photographs in the world. Starting in March, after 16 amazing years in Gallery
A7 at Bergamot Station, Fetterman is expanding to a larger, beautiful, 3,200-square-foot
space, Gallery A1, and will open with an extraordinary exhibition, “Elliott
Erwitt: Classics.” Getting
the most out of wall space was relative newcomer Smith Anderson
North/San Anselmo, CA, established in 2004, which maintains an active exhibition
schedule by creating shows by established and emerging artists, primarily from
the San Francisco Bay area. Emphasis is on 20th century and contemporary fine
art photography and photo-based art, as well as contemporary painting, sculpture,
and works on paper. Stefan Kirkeby is a delight to talk to and
enthusiastic about the work the gallery handles with its emphasis on California
artists. 
Smith
Anderson North
Paul
Kopeikin Gallery/Culver City, CA, returned this year with a lineup of
artists including Steve Fitch, Garry Winogrand, and Marion Post
Wolcott, with attention to Ansel Adams-inspired
photographer Mitch
Dobrowner’s Bear’s Claw, Moorcroft, Wyoming, 2010. J.J.
Heckenhauer /Germany; Gitterman Gallery/New York; Phaidon/New
York; Monroe Gallery of Photography /Santa Fe, NM; photokunst/Friday
Harbor, WA; Louis Klaitman/Berkeley, CA; Gallery 19/21/Guilford,
CT; Cordon Potts Gallery/San Francisco; JoAnne Artman
Gallery/Laguna Beach, CA; Romer Young Gallery/Los Angeles,
Kaycee Olsen Gallery/ Los Angeles; Joel Soroka Gallery/Aspen,
CO; Robert Tat Gallery/San Francisco; along with Select Vernacular Photographs/Norman
Kulkin also came onboard to celebrate Stephen Cohen’s 20th anniversary
photo l.a.. Fittingly, the Stephen Cohen Gallery showed Josef Hoflehner’s
images, City of Angeles and L.A. Metro, Los Angeles, 2009. 
At
Schaden/Los Angeles, The La Brea Matrix (published by
the Lapis Press and Schaden.com) reappeared this year with the
presence of Stephen Shore, one of photo l.a.’s opening reception honored
guests. Other crowd-pleasers were Nazraeli Press, Artbook | D.A.P, Aperture
Foundation, and El Nopal Press. 21st Editions presented
Listen: Herman Leonard and His World of Jazz. The portfolio includes
an introduction by Quincy Jones; an afterword by Steven Albahari; more than 60
iconic photographs of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dizzy
Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and many others; and twelve platinum
prints.
Luther
Gerlach mammoth wet plate with assistant Eva Crawford
Photographer
Luther Gerlach, owner and operator of the world’s largest mammoth
wet plate
collodion camera photographed the exterior of the Santa Monica Civic
Center and created on-site
22"x30" ruby and blue glass wet-plate
collodion plates.
Weston Naef, independent
author/curator, collector Michael Wilson
I
followed two collecting seminars: one with Weston Naef, independent
author/curator and founding curator of the Getty’s Department of Photographs,
who partnered with collector Michael
Wilson. Together they
covered why curators and collectors buy work and exchanged informative dialogue
about recognizing value and authenticity of photographs today. (“Felice
Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road,” is on view at the Getty through
April 24, 2011. In 2007, the Getty Museum acquired a substantial collection of
more than 800 photographs by Beato, a partial gift from the Wilson Centre
for Photography. That acquisition is the impetus and foundation for the
exhibition.) The other early morning collecting seminar I attended was with Julie
Rose Novakoff, principal of Nova Fine Art, LLC, who
had an inspiring, young, contemporary view of work and artists today. I find the
collecting seminars one of the most valuable sessions, a chance to view and gain
knowledge firsthand and often an opportunity to meet a gallery owner who may describe
a more in-depth, artist background.
There
was a lot going on, from the Child’s Collecting workshop, Center’s
portfolio reviews at the Doubletree Hotel, lecture series, parties, and
nighttime exterior Civic Center wall videos. It is truly worth the $20/day pass
or $30 three-day pass photo l.a. admission fee to visit a space dedicated to photography
of all styles housed under one roof with galleries from around the globe. Congratulations
to everyone on presenting a successful photo l.a. XX. Next on the photo expo agenda:
the AIPAD Photography Show New York, March 17–20.
IN
JANUARY, L.A. IS THE CENTER OF THE ART UNIVERSE
by ©Jean
Ferro Classic
Photographs Los Angeles
see
article
January 14–17, 2011
Helms Daylight Studio,
Los Angeles
16th
Annual Los Angeles Art Show
see
article
January 19–23, 2011
Los Angeles Convention
Center
Art
Los Angeles Contemporary
see
article
January 27–30, 2011
The Barker Hanger,
Santa Monica
artlosangelesfair.com
©Jean
Ferro / photographs /article
www.JeanFerro.com
www.WomenInPhotography.org
The
Photograph Collector: photo l.a. 19 - 2010
RANDOM NOTES 2010,volume
XXXI, No. 2, Feb. 15, 2010
http://womeninphotography.org/f2/JeanFerro/photola-ferro-2010.html
The
Photograph Collector: photo l.a. 18 - 2009
RANDOM NOTES 2009, volume
XXX No. 2, Feb. 15, 2009
http://www.womeninphotography.org/f2/JeanFerro/ferro.html
The
Photograph Collector: photo l.a. 16- 2007
RANDOM NOTES 2007, volume
XXVII No. 2, Feb. 10, 2007
http://womeninphotography.org/archive23-jun-07/wipinews.html
For
a subscription to The Photographic Collector see
The
Photograph Collector/The Photo Review
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