Tag: photography

RaMell Ross in ‘William Christenberry & RaMell Ross: Desire Paths’ at Pace Gallery

After moving to Hale County, Alabama several years ago, writer, filmmaker, photographer and professor RaMell Ross has become known for creating contemplative portraits of the area’s Black residents in film and photography.  A selection of these images are a highlight of Pace Gallery’s dual show (curated by Ross) of Ross’s own work alongside artwork by the late photographer William Christenberry.  In this show, Ross’ focus is on place as much as people; inspired by Christenberry’s use of red-toned Alabama earth, Ross employs the material in flag boxes and picture frames and photographs dirt manipulated by man and machine.  Titled ‘Typeface,’ this piece suggests that earth can be used as a language or means of communication as it is developed to tell a new story.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 25th).

RaMell Ross, Typeface, pigment print mounted to Dibond, 59 x 73 ¾, 2021.

Victoria Sambunaris at Yancey Richardson Gallery

Two tiny backpackers could almost go unnoticed in the bottom center of this photograph by Victoria Sambunaris, on view at Yancey Richardson Gallery, if Sambunaris had not framed them so carefully on the curving pathway of Death Valley National Park from her vantage point above.  Though dwarfed by natural surrounds, human presence is unmissable in the artist’s new work focusing on the California desert.  Expecting to encounter these landscapes as wastelands, Sambunaris instead witnessed all manner of human activity from camping caravans to dune buggy riding, made all the more attractive during the pandemic, when she traveled to make this body of work. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 18th).

Victoria Sambunaris, Untitled, (Zabriskie Point), Death Valley National Park, California, 2021. Chromogenic print, 39 x 55 inches.

Mary Ellen Bartley at Yancey Richardson Gallery

Mary Ellen Bartley’s photographs are not about the objects she pictures; blue-toned hardcover books are shot in ways that challenge spatial perception, for example, while a stack of paperbacks with multi-colored edges becomes a geometric abstraction.  These transformations of ordinary objects into unique and thought-provoking arrangements of color and form connect Bartley with work by 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, who famously spent decades painting images of vessels as he explored the possibilities of representation.  Begun during a residency at the Casa Morandi in Bologna and interrupted by the onset of the pandemic, Bartley’s new work at Yancey Richardson Gallery features books from Morandi’s library.  Like Morandi, Bartley delays our reading of each picture’s components, sometimes by obscuring its components in a way that excites interest in the contents of the volumes and the possibilities of perception.

Mary Ellen Bartley, Large White Bottle and Shadow, archival pigment print, ed of 7, 28 x 37 inches, 2022.

Zinaida in ‘Women and Other Wild Creature: Matrilineal Tales’ at Sapar Contemporary

Centered on female experience and knowledge, Ukrainian artist Zinaida’s art practice has delved into traditional crafts and customs of remote rural communities in Western Ukraine.  Over years of research trips, the artist has come to know traditional craftswomen, such as a maker of goose feather bridal crowns who before passing away left the artist a partial crown and instructions to finish it. In this piece at Sapar Contemporary, the customary red necklace worn by a bride is enlarged into an ungainly adornment, turned dark as if blackened by fire representing ‘arid land, charred wood.’ (On view through August 26th).

Zinaida, Black Bride, 23 5/8 x 35 3/8 inches, 2022.

Andreas Gursky at Gagosian Gallery

Look at photos of the Streif ski slope in Kitzbuhel, Austria and it’s clear why it’s considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world.  Still, its steep downward angles are nothing compared to Andreas Gursky’s version of the run, now on view in his current solo show of new photography at Gagosian Gallery.  Monitors mounted along the run show skiers wiping out, but all is calm on the course.  The new work is alert to dangers of another sort as well, addressing climate change and the deleterious effect of making fake snow. (On view in Chelsea through June 18th).

Andreas Gursky, Streif, Inkjet print and Diasec, 120 7/8 x 94 1/8 x 2 7/16 inches, 2021.