Sexual Evolution
Debby Hymowitz
Ramis Barquet, NY NY
April 18 – May 2, 2013

 
Debby Hymowitz: from Sexual Evolution

From the Ramis Barquet press release:

Hymowitz’s Sexual Evolution tackles the complex question of female identity, sexuality and self-fashioning. Born of the photographer’s own questioning of these subjects, Hymowitz embarked on a project to disprove archetypes and challenge fixed notions of femaleness.

Debby Hymowitz: Twins, 2012
40 x 50 conventionally enlarged c-print

Quoting Hymowitz: “I chose subjects based on my subjective liberal definition of what makes someone female” On first view many of these subjects seem to embody an archetype that persists vividly in the Western imaginary, but looking closer they are upended by some conflicting quality that makes these women more human than meets the eye.

 
Debby Hymowitz: Steph, 2012
39 x 60 conventionally enlarged c-print

Hymowitz first interviewed her subjects at length on the topics of sexuality and the expression of their gender. From this she developed an individual concept for each individual shoot, “telling the story of that woman.” in part by painting the names of the sexual partners of her subjects on their skin, as if the old adage of a picture being “worth a thousand words” would not suffice to convey their stories efficiently.

Debby Hymowitz: Jessica, 2012
48 x 60 conventionally enlarged c-print

Despite their alluring carnality, the result is more than skin deep. Each portrait uncovers the life behind every woman’s sexual history. Executed with great candor and intention, the subjects are shot dead-on so as to confront the viewer … just as Hymowitz set out to confront popular perceptions of femaleness and to create context and community for her own changing identity

The scene from the Sexual Evolution opening at Ramis Barquet

Debby Hymowitz came to LTI/Lightside with the beginnings of Sexual Evolution back in June 2011. The project was an excellent fit for the lab in that she had been shooting 8 x 10 color negative and was adamant that her prints be enlarged conventionally from original negatives without digital manipulation or retouching at any stage during the production.

We produce a fair number of color conventional enlargement projects annually at LTI/Lightside … more than most people familiar with contemporary digital exhibition printing methods would think … and still, it remains extraordinarily satisfying (albeit challenging) to be an integral part of the process that pulls together the necessary elements required to produce a strictly conventional  presentation of this proportion. Particularly as nearly all of us at  LTI/Lightside have firmly established roots in traditional photography. Yet Hymowitz’ decision to see her brutally honest portraits through to completion without the aid of Photoshop, used scarcely or otherwise, suggests a sense of integrity to her purpose that took even some us by surprise.

 Please click here to see more of Hymowitz’ Sexual Evolution project

Tags: Conventional C-Printing, Debby Hymowitz, Exhibitions, Film Processing, Mounting, Ramis Barquet

After Image
Amy Arbus

Exhibition
1stdibs Gallery at the New York Design Center
April 2013

Exhibition
Griffin Museum of Photography
April 9 – June 2, 2013

Book
After Image
Available April, 2013.
Shiffer Publishing

Amy Arbus has has a busy spring! She’s opened two shows of her After Images portrait series and published a 64 page hard cover book of the work. These exhibitions actually count as numbers two and three for this project… you can see our original post detailing After Images by clicking here.

Amy Arbus: Sam, After Arms Crossed, 2012
1st Dibs Gallery, at the New York Design Center
30 x 40 digital c-print

The scene from After Images at the 1stdibs Gallery, NY NY

Amy Arbus: Owen after Peasant, 2012
30 x 40 digital-c print

Tags: Amy Arbus, Digital-C Printing, Exhibitions, Griffin Museum of Photography, Mounting

Film Noir
Bill Armstrong
CLAMPART
February 21 – April 6, 2013

From the CLAMPART press release for Film Noir:

ClampArt is pleased to announce Bill Armstrong’s fourth exhibition at the gallery. Film Noir is new work from the artist’s “Infinity” series, a vast ongoing project that he has been developing for more than fifteen years. Film Noir revisits the themes of the classic black-and-white films of the 1940s and 50s, but with the lush, saturated colors for which Armstrong is now well known. Solitary figures contemplating the unknown reference the ethical and philosophical dilemmas laid bare in those stories. Armstrong’s dark, mysterious images remain unresolved, however, hinting at the increased uncertainties of the contemporary viewpoint. Click to continue ….

Bill Armstrong: Untitled (Film Noir #1407)

Bill Armstrong: Untitled (Film Noir #1432)

This is LTI/Lightside’s second time contributing to an exhibition by Bill Armstrong. We previously printed from his Infinity series for a 2010 exhibition at Hackelbury Fine Art in London entitled Renaissance. For more on that show click here. For more on Bill’s extensive body of work, click here to visit his website.

Tags: Bill Armstrong, CLAMPART, Conventional C-Printing

Natura Morta
Paulette Tavormina
Robert Mann Gallery
January 17 – March 9, 2013

Paulette Tavormina: Peaches and Morning Glories, After G.G., 2012.
32 x 48 archival pigment print from the exhibition Natura Morta

From the Robert Mann Gallery press release:

Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to present Natura Morta, Paulette Tavormina’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Natura Morta will bring together a selection of exquisite still life photographs that recall the traditions of 17th century Old Master painting. Luscious fruit and flowers among other things are rendered in a painterly perspective reminiscent of Francisco de Zurbaran, Adriaen Coorte and Giovanna Garzoni, whom Tavormina counts among her greatest influences.

Paulette Tavormina: Lemons and Pomegranates, After J.v.H., 2012. 32 x 48 archival pigment print from the exhibition Natura Morta

An avid collector of butterflies and insects, shells, dried flowers, and ceramics, the sourcing of props is a crucial part of her process. Each object is closely tied to the place it was discovered – fresh produce from a New York City farmer’s market, horseshoe crabs tossed ashore in Nantucket, ladybugs found at a taxidermy shop in Paris. Not only do these objects look to the art historical roots of the genre of the still life, but their meaning is often multi-layered, a fig perhaps referring to the artist’s own Sicilian heritage.

Paulette Tavormina: Flowers and Fish IV, After G.V.S., 2012. 24″ x 24″ archival pigment print from the exhibition Natura Morta

Largely self-taught, Tavormina has been exhibited internationally and was the winner of the Grand Prix at the 2010 International Culinaire Photography Festival in Paris. She has worked on set as a food stylist in Hollywood and also photographs works of art for Sotheby’s. Her work has been featured in several publications including the New York Times, Boston Globe, L’Express, Martha Stewart magazine and Photo Technique magazine. She lives and works in New York City.

LTI-Lightside has been working with Tavomina since 2009. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Moscow among other venues. For more of Paulette’s work, please visit her website here. For more on the exhibition at Robert Mann Gallery, click here.

Tags: Archival Pigment Printing (Inkjet), Exhibitions, Mounting, Paulette Tavormina, Robert Mann Gallery

Italian Pictures
Lawrence Beck
Sonnabend Gallery
January 12 – February 9, 2013

Lawrence Beck: Roman Aqueduct I, 2012 from the series Italian Pictures

From the Sonnabend Gallery Press release:

These twelve large scale, color photographs follow a continuum that originated with Beck’s “Botanical Gardens” series from the late 1990s and his “Waterfalls” from 2005-7 into the “Italian Garden”  series which began in 2008.   “Italian Pictures” includes new subject matter, specifically Roman Aqueducts, which Beck approaches as a form of intimate portraiture. These iconic architectural relics have an autobiographical significance for the artist due to his yearly visits to Italy since early childhood. The new pictures represent personal views of familiar Italian objects, recollections of a period during Beck’s childhood when his imaginative relationship with Italian architecture began to develop.  The aqueducts are photographed in Rome in the semi-abandoned “Parco degli Acquedotti” where apparently little municipal attention is given to the overall condition or presentation of these ancient ruins.  

Lawrence Beck: Parco degli Acquedotti I, 2012 from the series Italian Pictures

Also on view will be a new series of garden photographs, contrasting the wild disorganization of nature with the cultivated garden. The patinated ruins, bridges, statuary, and fountains in these works are photographed in early morning and late afternoon light that provides both atmospheric softness and chiaroscuro definition. The motif is the same as that used by classical artists as a source of contemplation and inspiration, but here is used in a way that uniquely blurs the distinction between photography and painting.

 
Lawrence Beck: Ninfa V, 2012 from the exhibition Italian Pictures

Lawrence Beck: Villa Borghese I, 2012 from the exhibition Italian Pictures

Italian Pictures is LTI-Lightsides’s fifth exhibition at Sonnabend Gallery with Lawrence Beck. The 59″ x 72″ archival pigment prints for Italian Pictures were imaged from high resolution scans of Beck’s original 8 x 10 color negatives. For more images from this exhibition and of Beck’s work in general, please visit his website by clicking here.

Lawrence Beck: Italian Pictures, Sonnabend Gallery, 2013

Lawrence Beck: Italian Pictures, Sonnabend Gallery, 2013

Tags: Archival Pigment Printing (Inkjet), Exhibitions, Film Processing, Lawrence Beck, Mounting, Scanning, Sonnabend Gallery

Small Towns
Tina Barney
Janet Borden Gallery
October 3 – Novemver 21, 2012

Tina Barney: Small Towns, Janet Borden Gallery, 2012

Tina Barney’s Small Towns is a great big feeling show in Janet Borden’s bright and beautifully intimate space. The project spans from 2005 to the present and is best described in Tina’s own words (as lifted from The New Yorker Photo Booth section, November 2011).

“In 2005, I was driving from my house, where I’ve lived since the nineteen-sixties, to Westerly, Rhode Island—a 15 minute drive,” Barney told me. “I realized I had overlooked this town where I’ve shopped for groceries, gone to the dry cleaners, fixed my car, gone to the bank, and repaired a watch. I began thinking about a new project to photograph.” The project, “Small Towns,” is in many ways different from her earlier bodies of work. “I was outside, which is rare for me, and I was also photographing strangers,” she said. But there are similarities as well. “The communal act of repeating events over and over, year after year, that develops into traditions, has always been the main attraction in whatever I seem to photograph,” she said. For “Small Towns,” Barney “started by photographing holiday parades with the local marching bands, craftsmen whose families had worked in the same locations for decades, such as metal workers, stone carvers, garage mechanics, and carpenters. A theme developed that branched out over six years into discovering situations like county and agricultural fairs, flower shows, Civil War re-enactments, Renaissance fairs, and all of the visual and patriotic delights that feed my fascination.”

Tina Barney: Small Towns, Janet Borden Gallery, 2012

Barney’s pieces are conventionally enlarged c-prints from original negatives, produced at LTI/Lightside. You can see a larger selection of images on the Janet Borden website by clicking here.

There is also a thorough review of Small Towns on the fascinating DLK Collection blog …  if you’ve never visited that site, then you owe yourself the treat. Click here for a real eyeopener and be sure to noodle through the checklists and other reviews  … again, if you’ve never been there,  you can thank me later.

Tags: Conventional C-Printing, Exhibitions, Film Processing, Janet Borden Gallery, Mounting, Tina Barney

David Gahr: Legacy of a Master Photographer
Morrison Hotel Gallery, New York City
October 25 – November 20, 2012

Back in July, Aaron Zych from the Morrison Hotel Gallery called to ask if we would be interested in producing an exhibition from the archives of music photographer, David Gahr. At the time, aside from recognizing a few images, we knew little of Gahr’s work, who passed away in 2008 …

From the Morrison Hotel Gallery press release:

The launch of David’s career coincided with the birth of the folk music revival, and he and his camera soon emerged as fixtures of the Greenwich Village circuit, documenting virtually every significant figure and moment of the period. Gahr established an instant rapport with his subjects. His intense affection for music guaranteed he captured his subjects in flattering, sometimes reverential contexts, and his particular expertise with posed shots included skillful employment of natural light.

Fortunately for us, we were able to work closely on this project with Robert B. Ward, a long-time associate of David’s and the acting archivist of the Gahr estate. Bob was a tremendous help in determining the look of the exhibition prints, as well as a source for anecdotal information that would give us clues into David’s working procedures.

David Gahr: Pete Seeger, Beacon, NY 1958
30 x 40 archival pigment print

By all accounts, David Gahr was a hardworking photographer known for rigorously controlling the published look and feel of his images by making as many of his own final prints as possible in his own darkroom. However, one idea that Ghar did not seem to entertain was creating master prints to set the standard of his vision for the future. So, while vast in content, the archive would unfortunately yield only a somewhat uneven selection of prints to use as guides for this exhibition, the first ever of his work. In fact, most of the supplied prints appeared to have been rejects and extras saved from his initial printing sessions as he prepared reproduction copies for the various publications and record companies for which he had been hired to shoot.

David Gahr: Howlin’ Wolf Band, Newport Folk Festival, 1966
20 x 24 archival pigment print

All the images chosen by the Morrison Hotel Gallery were shot on location using 35mm black and white film in natural or existing light, a signature element of Gahr’s personal style. The original negatives were scanned at LTI/Lightside, a decision determined primarily by the general condition of the negatives, which, were curated from a shooting career that spanned more than 30 years. As mentioned, David was a steady professional shooter who amassed an enormous volume of work on assignment . His images were well received and often requested and published again and again. Many of the original negatives appeared to have been well-traveled – though sometimes not so well cared for – and in a few cases, damaged from all the handling and transit. Therefore, it was decided that the best solution to present a consistent reflection of Ghar’s vision for the Morrison Hotel would be to create an all-new set of high-resolution master files and fiber-based archival pigment prints.

Once the negatives were scanned, we then set about preparing them for a series of internal proofing rounds. This involved a general cleaning of the newly produced the raw scans, the identification of any handling and damage issues that were present in the original negatives and loosely adjusting the tone and contrast for each image based on whatever 8 x 10 original prints were available from the archive. This in-house work was done in preparation of inviting Ward and Zych in to (re)acquaint themselves for the first time with the digitized versions of their exhibition choices.

 
David Gahr: Joni Mitchell, Newport Folk Festival, 1967
20 x 24 archival pigment print

Initial review rounds are always interesting. For Ward and Zych, this part of the process proved to be rather eye-opening as we chose to present the first set of proofs enlarged to nearly 16″ long dimension … a size already larger than either had seen these images ever before. Gahr’s images did not disappoint and all the original choices held up nicely for focus. A flurry of notes were taken from that first session. Perhaps the one difficult issue that arose was simply choosing which images would be enlarged to 30″ x 40″ as they nearly all looked like terrific candidates for mural printing!

David Gahr: Sam Sheppard and Patti Smith, Chelsea Hotel, New York City, 1971
20 x 24 archival pigment print

After we applied the changes from the initial round, we switched to proofing images in small batches, enabling us to edge each image closer towards the what we perceived Ghar’s preferred tone and contrast to be. Eventually, the entire body of 40 prints was able to stand on its own, realized as a whole for the first time ever.

You can view the entire catalog of Gahr’s works represented by The Morrison Hotel Gallery by clicking here and you also read further into David’s story by visiting his website here:

Tags: Archival Pigment Printing (Inkjet), David Gahr, Exhibitions, Morrison Hotel Gallery, Retouching, Scanning, The Morrison Hotel Gallery

October has turned out to be a pretty big month for two of our customers. We found ourselves thrilled by the news of Zoe Crosher being represented in the MoMA New Photography 2012 exhibition and the announcement that An-My Lê has been named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow!

Direct from the MacArthur Foundation: An-My Lê is an artist whose photographs of landscapes transformed by war or other forms of military activity blur the boundaries between fact and fiction and are rich with layers of meaning. A refugee from Vietnam and resident of the United States since 1975, much of Lê’s work is inspired by her own experience of war and dislocation.

For more on An-My Lê, click here:

An-My Le: 2012 MacArthur Fellow

Zoe Crosher: Mae Wested No. 4 (Crumpled) from 21 Ways to Mae Wested. 2012

Zoe Crosher’s work Stares and Silhouettes for MoMA from The Disbanding of Michelle duBois represents just one of multiple series culled from a 20 year archive of self portraits taken by a family friend named Michelle duBios. Much has been written about Crosher’s projects, clicking here will take you to the MoMA site for an overview.

These are simply two amazing achievements and we wish to extend our sincere congratulations to these terrific artists!

Tags: An-My Le, Zoe Crosher

Bodies in Trouble
Talia Chetrit
Sies + Höke Galerie, Dusseldorf
Sept 7 – Oct 19, 2012

We recently worked on a series of 20 x 24 conventionally enlarged silver gelatin prints for Talia Chetrit’s Bodies in Trouble exhibition at Sies + Höke in Dusseldorf. Bodies in Trouble presents a psychological narrative articulated in three distinct movements … perhaps best described, as these things often are, in the gallery’s press release.

Talia Chetrit: Bodies in Trouble, Sies + Höke, 2012

Talia Chetrit: from Bodies in Trouble, 2012: Left to right, top to bottom:
Hand on Body (Crotch #1)
Hand on Body (Breast)
Hand on Body (Ass)
Hand on Body (Himself)

Talia Chetrit: Street Contact from Bodies in Trouble, 2012

Tags: B+W Silver Gelatin Printing, Sies + Höke Galerie, Talia Chetrit

 Jennifer’s Family
Louisa Marie Summer
Ober Gallery, Kent, CT.
Sept 13 – Oct, 2012

We worked with Louisa Marie Summer (this summer, actually!) to produce twelve large pieces of her project Jennifer’s Family. The works were presented in an exhibition at the Ober Gallerry in Kent, Connecticut.

Louisa Marie Summer: from Jennifer’s Family, Ober Gallery, 2012
40 x 60 digital-c print, UV over-lamination, brace mount presentation

Summer’s project is an intimate portrait of a women named Jennifer, a second generation Puerto Rican resident of South Providence, RI. Jennifer is a 26 year old mother struggling with the difficult living conditions of a neighborhood crushed by high unemployment and crime rates. Summer exposes us to Jennifer raising her four children out of wedlock and against seemingly insurmountable odds with great optimism and caring.

Louisa Marie Summer: from Jennifer’s Family, Ober Gallery, 2012
40 x 60 digital-c print, UV over-lamination, brace mount presentation

 
Louisa Marie Summer: Ober Gallery, Jennifer’s Family, 2012

Louisa Marie Summer: Ober Gallery, Jennifer’s Family, 2012

Summer has released  Jennifer’s Family as a book with text by Mairéad Byrne through Schlit Publishing. You can purchase it online at Amazon.com. See more of Summer’s work here.

Tags: Digital-C Printing, Exhibitions, Louisa Marie Summer, Mounting