Definitely NOT Pittsburgh… Not anywhere on the East Coast…

| February 13th, 2014

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Trunk Bay Beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands. (Photo: Amanda Jaffe)

This picture captures the vibes here, if not the weather.

John, who works at a major US museum, will remain anonymous to protect him from the jealous rage this picture will incite across the snow- and ice-covered East Coast.

Artist Talk: Zoe Strauss

| February 5th, 2014

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Don’t miss everyone’s favorite Philadelphia artist Zoe Strauss, this Thursday evening at 6:30 for a free artist talk in the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater. Zoe will be talking about her past work, along with her project for the 2013 Carnegie International. For the International, Zoe made frequent trips to Homestead and then lived there for two months, opening a public portrait studio where she took hundreds of portraits of the citizens of Homestead. The studio also included an incredible library of books and historical documents chronicling the Homestead Strike, as well as histories of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Andrew Carnegie, art history, and labor history. Many of the portraits she made are on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art, along with street photography, large-scale photographic murals, and videos.

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iDubai

| January 27th, 2014

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Joel Sternfeld, Mall of Dubai, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

It has been endlessly pleasurable to watch museum visitors react initially with some confusion and then with delight at the collection of mechanized musical instruments that echo from the middle of the museum’s great Hall of Sculpture. Perhaps even more unexpected is the slow ambulation many visitors make around the outer walls of the same space. I watch visitors stop, stare, read, and admire the 29 Joel Sternfeld photographs that line the black bays spliced in between the white marble pilasters that are a hallmark of this space (museum lore attests that the room was based on the Parthenon). It is easy to lose time in this gallery, at least until one of two compositions erupts in orchestra every 20–30 minutes and pulls you outside of your head.

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Joel Sternfeld’s artist talk is this Thursday, January 30, 6:307:30 p.m., Carnegie Museum of Art Theater
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Sternfeld’s Sweet Earth series is an easy favorite. Once you’ve digested one image and text combination, it’s hard to resist Sternfeld’s storytelling. In the broadest sense, the subject of this work deals with experimental communities that tested utopian pursuits, past or present. The series is rich with colorful accounts of human conflict, delusion, faith, and perseverance. The thoughtful photographs were taken with Sternfeld’s trusty 8×10 camera.

Yet Sternfeld is no stranger to shooting from the hip. Recently the artist made a surprising body of work using his cell phone camera. Unlike the quiet, forgotten backroads of America, his newer subject demands a certain agility: consumerism. Specifically, Sternfeld spent a number of recent trips to Dubai photographing in one megamall or another. He was interested in using a consumer device—his iPhone—to turn his eye on global consumption. The result is a wide range of photographs that both reflect out onto the cultural and consumerist race that is now fueling the Emirates, while at the same time subtly hinting at the experience of alienation amid consumerist proliferation. This is the sentiment we see most often in the faces of the Sternfeld’s unsuspecting passersby. Nothing is quite grandiose or staged in these pictures, as one might expect from a place that touts the world’s largest building (the Burj Khalifa) and whose tourism numbers topped 10 million last year. Instead, Sternfeld triumphs the beautifully mundane and the result is an empathetic look at where we stand at a global crossroads. Here is a selection from the iDubai series.

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Joel Sternfeld, Valet Parking, Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, The Burj Al Arab, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Outside Wafi Gourmet, Wafi Mall, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Magic Planet, Mall of the Emirates, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, Mall of Dubai, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Deira City Centre Mall, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Choitrams, “The Market” at Green Community, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

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Joel Sternfeld, Amusement Park, Deira City Centre Mall, 2008–2009, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

 

Merry Christmas!

| December 24th, 2013

2013 Carnegie International Christmas Tree

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Tobias Madison/Flavio Merlo, an edition for free. 2014

| December 18th, 2013

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2014 is the perfect gift for any occasion. It only needs a bit of time and some DIY lust. 2013 Carnegie International artist Tobias Madison produced it in collaboration with artist and musician Flavio Merlo during their recent trip to Peru as they were exploring Werner Herzog’s legacy and meeting depressed hippies in the rain forest. Print out all the elements (the three images below and the pdf of the text) and puzzle them together according to the image above and you have a unique artwork for whomever you want to honor! Madison/Merlo plan to make an edition somewhere in the future, but you can be faster than that and have it done today!

Or just listen to the 2014 sound file which is way out there. An amazing uncanny tropicalia musical.

Print this pdf and the three images below!