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MARIPOL
-Riding the Hoods with Maripol
Maripol, a Polaroid artist photographer for many decades, will show some of her work titled ‘Riding the Hoods With Maripol’ in her hometown New York. Maripol, the fashion stylist and designer, is best known for creating Madonna’s unforgettable material girl look. She also had an influence on the styles of many other artists of the time, including Grace Jones and Deborah Harry. Maripol moved to New York from France in 1976, where she became a part of the New York clubbing and music scene. In the early 1980s, Maripol was the art director for hip Italian boutique Fiorucci and later opened her own boutique, Maripolitan, in the NoHo area of New York. She directed the documentary film ‘Crack is whack’ on artist Keith Haring and worked as a producer on films such as ‘Downtown 81’ starring Jean-Michel Basquiat and featuring Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry.
Riding the Hoods With Maripol – Polaroid Exhibition. Opening on Wednesday, May 18 from 6-8pm at Clic Gallery, 424 Broome Street, New York. Maripol will sign copies of her books Maripolarama and Little Red Riding Hood at the opening.
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Guatemala City
-When Swiss Turkish photographer Ferit Kuyas learned that his work won the Award for Best Project at the International Photo Festival in Guatemala City he decided to pick-up his prize in person. This was going to be his first visit to Latin America.
Ferit Kuyas was intrigued by the name of the airport he landed – La Aurora. Aurora, the name of the goddess of dawn, a sign for a new beginning, a name full of optimism. Most of the 3.5 million people populating Greater Guatemala City need that optimism to cope with everyday life. The immense hospitality and friendliness in a city stricken with one of the highest violent crime rates in Latin America left a lasting impression. Kuyas decided to explore and document this fascinating habitat.
Guatemala City was designed by the Spanish after a series of earthquakes destroyed the ancient capital now known as Antigua Guatemala. The City is subdivided into 22 zones. These zones are laid out in a spiral pattern with Zone 1 being the center. The Barrancos – ravines carving their way through the city make topography difficult and dangerous. There is a high crime rate in these places hidden from view.
In January 2011 Kuyas started photographing the city with a fresh and unspoiled eye for its wide range of diverse environments. Without the help of his local fixers this work in progress would not have been possible. Private security firms are guarding most every single place of interest. Kuyas had not imagined how difficult it would be to shoot the urban landscapes he intended. As a result of his persistent efforts we now enjoy a first series of surreal aerial landscapes that somehow evoke the pristine aura of an early holiday morning. Upon a second look however, detail will wreck the deceptive calm and reveal the lurking violence.
Ferit Kuyas spent three weeks in Guatemala City exposing 200 sheets of negative color 4×5 film. He is planning another trip in fall 2011.
Photos ttb – Aurora – Work in Progress from Guatemala City by Ferit Kuyas: Zone 14, February 4, 2011; Puente del Incienso, Zone 7, January 24, 2011; Zone 4, January 20, 2011; Puente de Naranjo, Zone 3, January 26, 2011
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Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier
-For the past two years photographers Rico Scagliola and Michael Meier have been working on a series of portrait studies in today’s teenage world, accumulating a vast archive which reflects the bipolar digital lifestyles of this generation. Image conscious, visually sophisticated and highly skilled in self-presentation their subjects allow a glimpse into parallel worlds that gradually intertwine blurring the boundaries of reality. For their book release Rico and Michael will take a break from cross country skiing and cleaning studio apartments to indulge in the pleasures of their own pop culture.
“Superficially, this publication might be seen as a catalog of current youth subcultures, a genre that has enjoyed great popularity since the eighties, when young people began splitting up into myriad tribes. But that would be missing the mark. These youth subcultures undoubtedly bear as little comparison with those of the past decades than Lady Gaga does with Diamanda Galás. Distinctive choices in clothing and appearance have no intention of making political, social or cultural statements of the kind that characterized earlier youth subcultures. They do not flaunt a credo, but they do reflect certain moods as cover identities that often change in rapid succession. The reason for this is not just a decline in ideology but even more a shift in the way these young people relate to images. A picture suggests and defines, without being conclusive; such qualities feed into the personality structure of young people driven by yearnings and insecurity. On the Internet, the picture acts as a social interface that not only projects the self, but also invites others to project themselves onto it. This new relationship of self and picture is essentially what the work of Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier is about. The artist duo exploit the sophistication and virtuosity with which young people display themselves, and integrate the imagery and fantasies that they project into their own visual universe. The distinction between document and staging no longer applies; viewers can never be sure whether they are faced with reality or fantasy.” by Martin Jaeggi
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SCOTT CAMPBELL
-Opening reception for Noblesse Oblige in Los Angeles
New York based artist Scott Campbell celebrates his West Coast debut with the exhibition Noblesse Oblige. In his recent work Campbell uses copper, currency, graphite, ink, and neon, to transform tattoo subculture iconography into delicate and tempered work. He employs the familiar blue-collar vernacular of tattoo flash-boards – a skull smoking a cigarette, a skeleton’s hand in a provocative gesture, a single eye emitting a penetrating ray – and highlights the irony that exists within that imagery. Morbid images, rendered in graphite onto the fragile surfaces of ostrich eggshells that represent birth and transformation, point out the delicacy of opposition. The title Noblesse Oblige implies that whoever claims to be noble must conduct their life accordingly, and in a manner that conforms to one’s position. In Campbell’s case, his “nobility” is his tattoo-artist origin, and it is to that position and reputation his compliance is fashioned.
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ARI MARCOPOULOS
-For thirty years, photographer Ari Marcopoulos has been pioneering contemporary photography with his unique style of raw immediacy documenting subcultures such as skateboarders and graffiti artists, as well as landscapes and his own family and friends. Since his days printing photographs for Andy Warhol, he has amassed a huge body of work marked by its arresting and unsentimental intimacy. Bound to mimic a phone book, his newest publication Directory presents a collection of approximately 1,200 photographs, with curator and critic Neville Wakefield providing insightful commentary. Each book in this limited-edition series includes a print signed by the artist.