Is there a doctor in the house?

These are what I am swallowing each day through the half of my mouth that still works, in a not very succesful attempt to be comfortable. I have broken out with Shingles. Parents, take your small children and have them immunized for Chicken Pox. The rest of you talk amongst yourselves.

The Lams are no longer at Ludlow Street

Thomas Holton

whats the jackanory ?: Special request

10' X 45'

If you haven't heard about, or taken the opportunity to look at, the newly unveiled public art installation by Jon Gitelson take a moment to do so. You can listen to a radio interview about the piece here. Public art is tricky, the old saying that "a camel is a horse designed by committee" tends to hold true in too many circumstances (this is not the time to delve into Milwaukee's upcoming unveiling of the "Bronze Fonz". Jon's piece avoids the pitfalls. His voice is clearly evident yet he includes the public in his conspiracy. The radio interview mentions that the expected lifespan of the materials is 100 years. Cool!

Lucky

I got my second (the first was fouled off by Yankees outfielder Lou Pinella back when the Brewers were in the American league) foul ball in 30 years on Friday night! Fouled off by Milwaukee Brewers shortstop J. J. Hardy in a game against the Baltimore Orioles in inter-league play. I love the pine tar scuff! DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO ANY REPORTS THAT I FOUGHT WITH CHILDREN FOR THIS BALL! It took a lucky bounce and my husband simply closed his knees.

Birth of a typology?

Grandfather Climbing the Telephone Pole to Replace Our Clothesline After Picking Peaches from the Tree 2008 Jane Tam

Liz Kuball 2008

I had the good fortune to collect these two prints from Liz Kuball and Jane Tam in the last few weeks by pure coincidence. One was a purchase and one was a surprise. One is in Brooklyn and one is in Santa Barbara. Both are profoundly talented artists who make photographs that allow the viewer to enter and investigate, that allow discovery, rather than shouting "Here! Look Here!". Both prints are a pleasure to spend time with now and, I expect, in the years to come.

When I opened them and had them sitting side by side I thought of Amy Stein's Battle photo posts. I'm glad I don't have to do an either/or with them.

The Kin subscription series

Last week I received the fourth and final edition of the Kin Subscription Series published by These Birds Walk. There are still unsigned editions of the series available. Paul Scheik , wearing his publisher hat, indicates that the second series will be announced for subscription in about a month.

Milwaukee makes the big time!

Wooster Collective has a post with work from Milwaukee.

Father's Day

The quality of the photographs coming out of the new style of photo booth is abysmal. Still, I'm glad that my husband and daughter got to play on Father's Day and we have this reminder.

Gilbert & George

Last night I went to the Members opening of the Gilbert & George exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. This is a knock your socks off riot of design, color and confrontation. They gave a delightful talk to an overflow crowd, answering questions posed by curator Joe Ketner as well as the audience. I found it interesting that when asked why they made the transition early on (early 1970's) from drawing to photographing George answered "... drawings are too beautiful. Photographs are confrontational. "

Just over a year ago as part of their "art for all" mode they offered Planed a file on the web to download for 24 hours. It is a full resolution file in 9 pieces for assembly. I printed it out, mounted the grid and have had it hanging in my studio. They ever so graciously signed a card for me last night that I can now add to the piece, although I think I need to reprint it and make a frame grid as they do with their installations.

How to be offensive

A few weeks ago I arrived at my studio to find this bit of graffiti on the side of the building. We have no idea who I may have offended (I don't mean to be disingenuous, I realize I may have offended legions, I just don't know whom in particular). It is personal enough that our village police officer (yes, just like Mayberry we only have the one) wanted to make note of it and keep an eye on the building and my house. It has been quiet since, with no further demonstrations of insult.

It made me think of When Insults Had Class. Ah, the good old days... My reply?

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary" William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

Vewd

Matt Blalock let me know that Vewd is up and running as of today.

"...Vewd it is an international photography website dedicated to continuing the tradition of storytelling through a visual medium - this includes documentary, photojournalism, street and portraiture in the form of galleries and multimedia pieces. "

from Riding Shotgun with Texas Sheriffs Jerome Brunet

As way of another coincidence of timing, Sunday night I finally watched No Country for Old Men. When Tommy Lee Jones (the sheriff) and his deputy first arrive on the scene of the drug deal gone bad the young man says "What a mess." In my favorite quote Tommy Lee Jones answers "If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here." The above image is from the series Riding Shotgun with Texas Sheriffs by Jerome Brunet. This photograph makes me think of WeeGee.

Very, very well done and they pay for submissions they use.

The Big Picture

The Big Picture is new blog from the Boston Globe (it would seem Boston is the new home for photography). I am thrilled someone is finally putting up LARGE photographs for us aging baby boomers! Now it's time for artists to follow the journalists.

Wicked good new blog

Leslie K. Brown kindly let me know about a new blog started up by Boston's Photographic Resource Center where she is curator. She nicely timed it so I might lust after the Portfolio Project Seminar scheduled for this fall with Stephen di Rado. Not living anywhere close to Boston? It's a pissah.

Participatory Democracy

Eyeteeth has posted this marvelous piece from Minnesota Public Radio. Inspiring. How long has it been since you read something about politics that made you feel good?

Evidence

I received a comment on yesterday's post asking what I thought of Evidence. I had been hoping to purchase it ever since reading the interview with Joan Fontcuberta in Conversations with Contemporary Photographers. He says in reference to the title and collected photographs:

"They were only evidence for their own ambiguity. These pictures could have been of anything-montages, staged photographs, science-fiction film snippets, pictures taken by oneiric photographers-anything. The viewer is simultaneously moved and disconcerted by an inability to make sense of it. Habituated to the inverse process in which photographs validate what we see, the spectator here loses his balance and is tased by doubt. The process put in motion by these photographs clearly puts its finger on something. It was a really provocative project and I remember to what extent this book immediately became one of my Bibles. It influenced my work for a long time. This displacing of an image from one context to another provided me with another rule of conduct. The creativity involved had nothing to do with making the image and everything to do with what was done with the image. One can draw valuable conclusions from this concerning the construction of what is sensible. These kinds of issues have always interested me, and they still do."

That's all the book review I needed and is certainly better than anything I can say. In gathering links for this post I came upon an excellent interview with Larry Sultan done in April by Ben Sloat at Big Red & Shiny. Larry Sultan has referred to the work in Evidence as "their facts and our (Sultan and Mike Mandel's) poetry," .

I also highly recommend Conversations with Contemporary Photographers published by Umbrage. I would normally link you to it directly but for some reason Amazon has been down for the past half hour and I can only spend so much time at my keyboard. You'll have to your own search : )

More mail

I had meant to post this last week. The days got away from me. Slowly, bit by bit my personal resources for knowledge, inspiration and comfort grow. I can't get it ALL from the blogosphere.

The feet you ask? The ever fabulous Sonja Thomsen. Remember, you saw them here first.

Power of speech

The Bubble Project

The Fallen

Paul Fusco

In 1968 I lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In April of that year I was at a play rehearsal at school when the news came that Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed. On June 8 my clock radio went on to get me up for school and the news of Robert Kennedy's shooting was coming from California. We went to the station in New Brunswick to see the train carrying his flag draped casket as it slowly made its way to Washington. When I saw Robert McNamara standing on the back platform as it went through I knew it was all true.

The New York Times Magazine has a story and slide presentation of The Fallen, photographs taken by Magnum photographer Paul Fusco. Danziger Projects is having an exhibition of Paul Fusco's images RFK Funeral Train - Rediscovered opening June 6.

Color stability

June 1, 1974

34 years ago today I married the man I loved, with so little thought of the future it leaves me breathless. 12,410 days ( 297,840 hours, 17,870,400 minutes ) later all of the pictures have faded or shifted, but we are still very much in love and happy to be sharing another anniversary.