CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT: Toy Stories

Enea - Boulder, Colorado. Photo Gabriele Galimberti via his website.

Chiwa - Mchinji, Malawi. Photo Gabriele Galimberti via his website.

"Everyone remembers their childhood toys. The fact that I can recall how most of mine tasted better than I can remember the names of my primary school teachers says everything you need to know about the universe kids inhabit." -Ben Machell, The Times Magazine.

Toy Stories is a beautiful photography project created by the Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti who traveled around the world during three years to document the life of several couch surfers. During these trips he started noticing the different ways kids play according to the country they live in. That's how the proyect Toy Stories started. In this photo-essay kids show their most valuable possessions: their toys. And the photos really say it all. Go ahead and have a look at this beautiful project in Gabriele's website. E.T.P. 10'

PHOTOAUTOMAT

All photographs belong to Hedi Slimane via his website. All Rights Reserved ®

Hedi Slimane. Born in Paris in 1968 from a Tunisian father and an Italian mother (dress maker), discover photography when he got his first camera at 11. Five years later he started making his own clothes -inherit trade from mom maybe- later he went to the École du Louvre and studied Art History. Organically he become involved in the fashion world, evolving and creating amazing pieces and changing menswear making it darker, more exciting and all together more rock.

I got to know him for his super contrasted Black & White online photos, a few years ago. Later I learned that he was taking a break from a very successful career as Artistic Director of Dior Homme, a fact that was described by Fashion Wire Daily (2007) this way: “Slimane leaves Dior with the well-earned reputation as the single most influential men’s designer this century, the most copied of his peers and the only one to achieve the status of a rock star.” You can read about this here and here.

 

Before abandoning the fashion world in 2007, in that hiatus from Yves Saint Laurent in early 2000 he moved to Berlin and started a residency at Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, where he fell in love with photography again and started publishing books.

In his website you can loose yourself browsing the endless gallery of young musicians, models, artists and actors. Consistently with his inclination towards menswear his photos of guys are more frequent and very intimate. 

Men stand out and are deeply moving in an unusual way while being photographed in soft, ethereal,  almost too feminine poses, while remaining manly and sexy. Women are also sexy but strong, is a powerful combination of ambiguity and modernity with no space for cliches.

All photographs belong to Hedi Slimane via his website. All Rights Reserved ®

Go ahead take a walk in Hedi Slimane's world, and read Austin Considine's wonderful piece about him in The New Yorker: A Fashion Designer's Second Act.

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The PhotoAutomat section is edited by the Brooklyn-based photographer Andreína Restrepo.    

 

OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION

Photos: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

During the holiday break we had the chance to travel to Paris and visited in the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain a wonderful exhibition of Latin American photographs, from 1960 to 2013. A relevant period of time because, according to the curators' timeline Latin American history has been composed of four distinct political cycles: a revolutionary period in the 60s; a counter-revolutionary phase between the 60s ant the 80s; a gradual return to democracy starting in the 80s (despite the survival of authoritarians enclaves); and "a swing to the left" by the 90s and 00s.

Focusing in the relationship between text and the photographic image the Fondation Cartier and the Museo Amparo in Puebla, México, put together 72 artists from 11 countries, some of them are: Marcos López (Arg), Francis Alÿs (Mex), Ever Astudillo (Col), Paolo Gasparini (Ven), Graciela Iturbide (Mex), Alejandro Jodorowski (Chi) and José Figuera (Cub).

As part of the exhibition the Cartier Foundation commissioned a film and the Paraguayan artist Fredi Casco, working with director Renate Costa, traveled all around Latin America in search of some of the artists and photographers presented in the exhibition América Latina 1960-2013. The film, that is absolutely wonderful, called Revuelta(s) was recorded between February and August 2013, and it can be seen in the Fondation Cartier website.

América Latina 1960-2013 can be seen in the Fondation Cartier in Paris until the 6th of April, and then from May 15th to September 17th will be at the Museo Amparo.

PHOTOAUTOMAT

Hello everyone. For this next three weeks of holiday procrastination this are some cool photo exhibits you can see in NYC in December/January. Hope to see you there!

ICP Museum   

1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 

Lewis Hine

October 4, 2013–January 19, 2014

 

The Future of America: Lewis Hine's New Deal Photographs

 October 4, 2013–January 19, 2014

 

 

JFK November 22, 1963: A Bystander's View of History

October 4, 2013–January 19, 2014

 

Zoe Strauss: 10 Years

October 4, 2013–January 19, 2014

 

​Yossi Milo Gallery. 245 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10001

Julie Cockburn, Slight Exposure.

December 12, 2013–January 25, 2014

  yossimilo.com

 

 

Robert Mann Gallery. 25 West 26th St. Chelsea, New York, 10001.

Chip Hooper: Surf​. 

December 8, 2013–February 8, 2014

robertmann.com

 

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​Bonni Benrubi Gallery. 41 E 57th St, Midtown East, New York.

Massimo Vitali: Between normalities. 

 December 12, 2013–February 1, 2014

 

Pace/MacGill Gallery. 32 E 57th St. ninth floor. Midtown East. New York

Emmet​​ Gowin: Landscapes Andalucía.

November 7, 2013–January 4, 2014

Photo via PaceMacGill

Aperture Foundation. 547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor. New York, 10001.

Prix Pictet: Power.

December 05, 2013–January 30, 2014

 

The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation

PhotoBook Awards Short List. 

December 05, 2013–January 30, 2014

 

Murray Guy Gallery 453 West 17th Street, New York, 10011
Barbara Probst.

November 9, 2013–December 21, 2014

Edwynn Houk Gallery 745 Fifth Aver, Ste 407, New York, NY 10151

Elliott Erwitt. Platinum Prints.
November 7, 2013–January 4, 2014

 

MoMa 11 West 53 St, New York, 10019.

New Photography 2013

September 14, 2013–January 6, 2014

*The Robert and Joyce Menschel Photography Gallery, third floor​. But if you go to the MoMa you have to visit the permanent photography collection.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1000 Fifth Avenue. New York, New York 10028
Julia Margaret Cameron.
August 19, 2013–January 05, 2014

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The PhotoAutomat section is curated by the Brooklyn-based photographer Andreína Restrepo.    

 

PHOTOAUTOMAT

Jonas Barn Snow Disco, 2008

Ryan McGinely

Born in 1977 in Ramsey NJ, McGinely stand out in his ability for exposing a world that Nan Goldin before him and some many others have explored, but in a very special way; he manages to capture the freedom and youth around him creating very spontaneous, yet carefully choreographed images.

Ryan had his first solo art show at the Whitney at the sweet age of 25 (making him the youngest person to have had a solo show there).

Hanna's Hideout, 2008.

Cyclone, 2008.

His images are timeless. Naked beautiful young people in amazing locations, carefully composed, thought out and executed; full of energy and, I guess the word would be, FREEDOM. Everything about them is extremely powerful and beautiful. 

Jonas (Waterfall), 2008.

Tracy (Red, White & Blue), 2010.

Flash Flood (Gold), 2012.

 

He is definitely one of my favorite artist of this generation. And as most contemporary photographers, he is also making videos. Here is one for the band Sigur Rós, and for two for Nowness 1 and 2.

On top of that, he is responsible of pushing forward the careers of other artists/friends/muses around him. Something that definitely makes him even more special, or at least the NYtimes and I think so! Read the article about this here.

Parakeets, 2012.

India (Coyote), 2010.

 All images are from Ryan McGinely ®

​Finally you can see more of his work here; and read his essays here.​

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The PhotoAutomat section is curated by the Brooklyn-based photographer Andreína Restrepo.    

PHOTOAUTOMAT

Riitta Päiväläinen: Born Maaninka,1969

Have you ever bought a piece of clothing at a vintage store and though to yourself "who own this before me?" Maybe you don't really care about that, but Riitta did. Actually that became such a big question mark on her head, that she decided to base her body of work on creating a series called Vestige. The premise she followed is: "Unwritten history, memory, landscape", the images do the rest.

Creating installations with second-hand clothing thoughtfully composing every garment, she used the landspace as a fundamental part of every image, sometimes freezing each piece of cloth making sculptures on white/snow background, other times mimicking the colors of the surroundings, or letting the wind make them move.

 

All images © Riitta Päiväläinen

"In the series "Wind","Structura" and "Camouflage" landscape plays an essential role. Landscape is not only a topographical, objective phenomenon. For me, it is personal and subjective. Working with a landscape means going into it: experiencing and sensing the place. When I place clothes into a landscape, I create an installation. In this sense, landscape can be considered as a stage. Bringing these two elements (landscape and clothes) together, I create a dialogue - an interaction. My aim is to suggest and bring forth potential stories, mental images and associations." explains the artist.

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The PhotoAutomat section is curated by the Brooklyn-based photographer Andreína Restrepo.