Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, May 10, 2010
ART REVIEW | Alessandra Sanguinetti @ AIB Gallery
I had never known the work of Alessandra Sanguinetti until I came to school to study photography. I immediately fell in love with her work featuring two cousins, “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams.” I was drawn to these fantastical images in which young girls performed their visions of growing up. Sanguinetti captures the girls as they play dress up, wear wedding dresses, have pregnant bellies and ultimately hold a fake funeral. Although critics have questioned whether or not Sanguinetti forcefully instructs the girls, in her artist talk she discussed how “any other way of representing the girls would be a lie.” She doesn’t consider her photographs planned or scheduled, it is more of improvisation.
Sanguinetti has photographed these girls in the most pivotal years of their lives, a time where their bodies and minds are rapidly changing. She has captured their awkward moments and all their different personas as nine and ten year olds. As the girls play “make believe”, audiences are given insight into their lives and how they think. Guille for instance, is already worried about men leaving her because of what she’s seen in movies. Belinda is seen experimenting with different personas throughout the photographs; dressing as a man, explorer and a nun. Although these girls are playing, they are not acting out what one would assume young girls would act out. Guille and Belinda do not pretend they are princesses or animals, rather they are imagining themselves in a different period of their lives. Their mature ideas suggest the end of childhood and what is to come.
Just as in “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams,” Sanguinetti acts as a witness in her series entitled, “On the Sixth Day.” She first started photographing as a young girl when she realized that someday everyone would die. Her need to document these things pays respect to her subject matter and in addition creates a permanent record. “On the Sixth Day” refers directly to how God created animals on the sixth day of creating the earth. In this series, she focuses on our relationship to animals and our dominance over them. We decide when to feed, care and ultimately end the lives of animals.
Alessandra Sanguinetti, Untitled from the series On the Sixth Day, 1996-2004
There is a clear reference of man versus beast and how animals play sacrificial creatures. Her images explore the every day lives and life cycles of animals on her father’s farm in Argentina. As viewers, we get very close to these animals. We notice the rich colors of their fur, their expressions and even can begin to observe how they are feeling. We are shown things we do not see or think about often, such as a tiny cow fetus, blood stained hands and skinned animals. We get very upset when people die and excited when children are born, but it is not a big deal when an animal goes through these stages. Sanguinetti has photographed this series from a low perspective, similar to through the eyes of an animal and creates a new viewpoint for her audience. Her photographs of animals have a “fable-like” aesthetic, as she mentioned, however, a line is drawn between fantasy and real violence.
In all of Sanguinetti’s work she discusses the relationship between the real and the fantastical world. Although at first glance her work may appear highly imaginative, the realities of her subject matter are not light and comfortable.
Anna Fink is a senior photography student at the Art Institute of Boston.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
TAVARES STRACHAN @ MIT LIST
MIT LIST Visual Arts Center
May 7 to July 11, 2010
The MIT List Visual Arts Center is pleased to present Orthostatic Tolerance: It Might Not Be Such a Bad Idea if I Never Went Home, the next phase of a new project by Bahamian-born, New York-based artist Tavares Strachan. Since 2006, Strachan has been working on this multiphase body of work that explores space and deep-sea training. “Orthostatic” means to stand upright, and “tolerance” refers to the ability to withstand pressure. Combined, the phrase refers to the physiological stress that cosmonauts and deep-sea explorers endure while exiting, and re-entering our home, the thin surface of planet Earth.
The Orthostatic Tolerance mirrors Strachan’s interest in establishing an Ocean and Aerospace Exploration Agency in Nassau (BASEC) both to continue his own exploration efforts while fostering educational outreach efforts for children in his home country. Strachan is perhaps best known for the work, The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want, 2004-06. For this project, Strachan embarked on an Arctic exploration during which he extracted a 4.5-ton block of ice and shipped it to his former grade school in Nassau, where it was kept frozen by a solar-powered freezer. For a year after the Arctic remnant was installed in the sub-tropical environment, Strachan presented lectures in elementary schools throughout the Bahamas. (MIT press release excerpt)
Friday, April 30, 2010
AIB Photography BFA Thesis: Marrow Mending featuing the work of Liz Affa, Kate Bullen, Malin Sjoberg, and Tiffany Ulrich




Thursday, April 29, 2010
Fred Ricthin Lecture | PRC @ Northeastern University
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Northeastern University (Building 20F, in West Village)
MBTA T-Stop (E-Line - Northeastern)
Click for campus map with directions
In a digital environment, what can emerge from a medium transformed? How will it change us as people? And how can we influence what comes next?
Fred Ritchin is author of the recently published book, After Photography, and has been writing on the digital challenge for media since a major article for The New York Times Magazine in 1984. He is professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and directs PixelPress. Ritchin was picture editor of The New York Times Magazine, executive editor of Camera Arts magazine, and founding director of the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Program at the International Center of Photography. Ritchin has also authored In Our Own Image: The Coming Revolution in Photography (1990), and his essays have appeared in other books such as In Our Time: The World As Seen by Magnum PHotographers, An Uncertain Grace: THe Photographs of Sebastiao Salgado, Mexico Through Foreign Eyes, Sahel: End of the Road, and Under Fire: Great Photographers and Writers in Vietnam. He is currently finishing another book Outside the Frame, on photography and human rights. He also writes the blog afterphotography.org.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Interview with Jenn Warren | Sudan
AIB alumna Jenn Warren will join AiC via Skype and discuss her recent documentary projects in Sudan.

Jenn Warren is a documentary photographer based in East Africa, specializing in NGO, humanitarian, and development projects. Clients include Medecins sans Frontieres, UNICEF, CARE, WFP/PAM, Amnesty International, PSI, the National Democratic Institute, SafePoint, and TASC. She was recently awarded the 2008 Nikon Emerging Professional Scholarship to attend the Missouri Photo Workshop 60 and is featured in the Best of ASMP 2008, Alligator Juniper Photography Annual 2008, and the 2008 Center for Fine Art Photography Peace Corps Exhibition.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
PLASTIC FOREST | NYT OP-ART
From the sereies Roadside Wildflowers
Photographs copyright Bryan Graf
These are photographs of plastic bags that I pulled from trees and shrubs in the woods near my home in New Jersey. To make these pictures — photograms — I took the bags into my darkroom and gently dropped them between my enlarger’s lens and a piece of light-sensitive paper. I then illuminated the scene with a flash of light for less than a second. The resulting images trace the objects gliding in the air moments before they come to rest. Like Earth Day, they are for me a prompt to reflect on the relationship — sometimes vexed, sometimes beautiful, always complicated — between humankind and nature.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Photography BFA Thesis, On Life and Death: Molly Geiger, Christopher Hoodlet, Tara Sellios, & Paul Yem




Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Alessandra Sanguinetti Lecture | AIB
The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
APRIL 20, 2010 | 6:30 pm
Room 101, Boston University Kenmore Classroom Building
565 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Copyright Alessandra Sanguinetti
Saturday, April 17, 2010
AiC GOES TO MassMOCA
InVisible: Art at the Edge of Perception
InVisible brings together a small selection of international artists working in a variety of mediums, and features Uta Barth, Christian Capurro, Joanne Lefrak, Janet Passehl, Jaime Pitarch, and Karin Sander. Curated by Katia Zavistovski, an intern from the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
Uta Barth, Sundial (07.14)
Gravity is a Force to be Reckoned With
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle's project Gravity Is a Force to be Reckoned With is based upon Mies van der Rohe's uncompleted project, the House with Four Columns (1951), a square structure open to view on all four sides through glass walls. In Manglano-Ovalle's work, the house will be constructed at approximately half scale and inverted, the ceiling of the original becoming the sculpture's floor, the floor becoming the ceiling, and all interior elements such as Mies-designed furniture and partition walls installed upside down.
Manglano-Ovalle's Gravity Is a Force to be Reckoned With at MassMOCA 2010
Guy Ben-Nur: Thursday the 12th
Over the past decade Guy Ben-Ner has become known for a series of playful videos which often star the artist and his young children. The humorous, home-made films have an authentic, do-it-yourself appeal, though their deceptive simplicity quickly reveals sophisticated cinematic and literary influences - ranging from the physical comedy of Buster Keaton and the humanist films of François Truffaut to literary classics such as Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Daniel Dafoe's Robinson Crusoe.
Guy Ben-Ner's video installation Tursday the 12th at MassMOCA 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Photography BFA Thesis | AIB
April 12-17 at the Art Institute of Boston Gallery
601 Newbury Street, Boston, MA
Reception: 6 -8 PM on Friday April 16th
This is the second BFA Photography exhibition for the 2010 graduation class at the Art Institute of Boston.

Carlie Bristow's work is a combination of performance and video exploring her relationship with food. The videos show her playing out this relationship through narratives of pleasure seeking and resistance.lobster adventure from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.



Tuesday, April 13, 2010
ART REVIEW | Roni Horn aka Roni Horn @ ICA Boston
Roni Horn aka Roni Horn, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, is now on display at The Institute of Contemporary Art, which lies quite literally on the shore of the Atlantic ocean in Boston, Massachusetts. The show spans several floors and is divided into seven quaint sections. Horn has worked in several medias over the last thirty years, and this retrospective display includes her eclectic choice of materials and media including glass and gold sculptures, color and black and white photographs, collaged drawings, sound, books, and installation.
Bird, 2008
Copyright Roni Horn
One might ask, how do all of these medias work together? Well, you can either walk from room to room and draw your own conclusions like I did on my first round, or you can use the assistance of the seven postcard descriptions located in each section of the show. The cards offer a description of the materials used, and give some insight into Horn’s concepts, even quoting her at times. To top it off, they all fit nicely into an envelope acquired in the first room stamped “RONI HORN AKA RONI HORN”. Personally I loved these cards; they allowed me to walk around and spend time with my own thoughts for a while rather then being instantly confronted by a statement giving it all away. Having them all together at the end also helps to draw connections between the different periods and mediums involved in her work. It also gave me a wonderful object to take home and cherish, reminding me of the experience (and her name…).
This is me, This is you (detail), 1998–2000 (ninety-six chromogenic prints)
Copyrigth Roni Horn
Horn was born and studied in the U.S., but her love for Iceland plays a large role in a lot of the work. The geography and climate of Iceland quite clearly fit into her reoccurring themes of weather. It also holds a certain aesthetic that is also translated into the work not directly involved with the particular location. The theme of weather, and themes of our relationships with nature, translate as metaphors for her themes of perception and more importantly identity in flux. The theme of shifting identity is quite eloquently spoken about in several places throughout the show, one of my favorites being room three: “Is this me?”. This curatorial masterpiece separates onto two opposing walls, the photographs of her niece over the course of a couple years. The viewer is caught in between these walls physically engaged in the act of looking back and fourth, questioning exactly what are the signifiers of identity and how it is changing this girl.
River Thames 2
Copyright Roni Horn
Also attributed to the curator is the location in which these works of art are housed. Visitors actually have the opportunity to sit down on the upper floor and listen to recordings of philosophies surrounding the idea of water, while looking out the floor to ceiling windows onto the Atlantic. Other work that is close enough to the windows is also able to change as clouds move in and out and the sun rises and sets, correlating directly to these issues of flux.
This is well thought out curating accompanied by well thought out work. I was able to go from room to room drawing strong connections between the different pieces, with only a couple of the rooms feeling a bit out of step. With the opportunity I would remove some of the drawings and collages, as it feels much less connected and far less emotive than the photographs and some of the incredibly involving sculpture. All things considered, the show is well worth your time.
Jared Kuzia is a photography junior at the Art Institute of Boston.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Visiting guest artist SHARON HARPER
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
1:30pm
Moon Studies and Star Scratches, No.1July - October, 2003
New York, New York; Boston, Massachusetts
Copyright Sharon Harper
Sharon Harper uses photographs and video to record a subjective experience of landscape. Geographically descriptive elements in the work transform, giving way to a psychological, interior rendition of the natural world. Technology has a dual purpose in the work. It interferes with a direct experience of nature by mediating the encounter, yet it offers perceptual experiences unseen and unattainable without it via camera optics, high-speed trains and nighttime digital vision. This work seeks out the spirit of the experiences celebrated by the Transcendentalists in a landscape irrevocably altered by technology while offering perceptual experiences that new technology affords. It engages traditional notions of the sublime and re-evaluates them in the context of the contemporary natural world in an experiential manner.
Harper received an MFA in photography and related media from the School of Visual Art in New York in 1997 and a BA from Middlebury College in literary studies. She has had solo exhibitions at Rick Wester Fine Art (2010), NY, Marcel Sitcoske Gallery in San Francisco, Savage Art Resources in Portland, Oregon, and the Goethe Institute in New York, among others. Her work was also included in the Greater New York exhibition at PS1 Contemporary Art Center in February 2000.
Harper’s work is in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Portland Art Museum, and Bayerische Vereinsbank. She was an artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California, in 2002 and she has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Ucross Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She received a Meredith S. Moody Residency Fellowship at Yaddo, the Sam and Dusty Boynton Residency Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center, and a Film Study Center Fellowship at Harvard University in 2006.
Friday, April 9, 2010
ART REVIEW | Krzysztof Wodiczko @ ICA
In the darkness of a giant room, patrons struggled to discern the silhouette and unmistakable sound of a landing helicopter. Perplexed by the sight, none were ready for the sniper fire that tore through the windows and the car bomb that sent the outside marketplace scattering. It plays with your senses and makes you question if you’re still in Boston or a real war zone in Baghdad. Adrenaline pumped as the mind scrambled to make sense of the chaos unfolding. That frightening moment of confusion was Krzysztof Wodiczko’s desired effect. The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) on Boston’s waterfront is hosting Wodiczko’s project “…Out Of Here: A Veterans Project” from November 4, 2009 to March 28, 2010. “…Out Of Here“ is an innovative piece that depicts the horror and uncertainty of trauma as it is experienced by soldiers and civilians alike. Wodiczko has broadened the definition of veterans to include any persons who are submerged in harm’s way in his artist statement.
Krzysztof Wodiczko's "…Out Of Here: A Veterans Project" at the ICA
Krzysztof Wodiczko was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1943. He currently works and resides in New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1980, Wodiczko has created over seventy large-scale video and slide projections of politically inspired images and projected them on famous monuments worldwide. His projections are geared towards human rights, democracy, violence, and estrangement. His work acts as a bridge between art, trauma, healing and justice. The mission of these mobile installations has been to identify and expose issues that society would rather neglect or not discuss. The Gallery looks like the interior of an old warehouse or military base with video projections of seven windows near the ceiling that provides a skyward view. Outside this warehouse, on the outside we imagine to be on the other side of the projected windows, the sounds of an Iraqi marketplace echo through the streets. A group of children are laughing and playing as one kicks a soccer ball up into one of the windows, cracking it. All the talking and laughter is replaced by sudden chaos as an explosion detonates and a sniper fires several rounds through the windows. Black smoke billows skyward panic ensues. Between shouting U.S. soldiers and Humvees barreling into the scene, intense automatic gunfire fights erupt all around. After a few moments of radio chatter, machine gun fire and the eventual departure of the soldiers, the street returns to eerie silence. It is at this moment that a woman discovers her mortally wounded son. Her cries fill the abandoned streets, as her son has become collateral damage. Then the project loops back to the beginning and starts again. What is amazing artistically about this piece is the fact that the art is in what the viewer imagines and feels, not much in what we’re actually seeing. To properly portray the realistic spectrum of horror, Wodiczko interviewed U.S. medics and soldiers as well as Iraqi civilians. From their accounts of hit and run guerilla warfare in a public place, Wodiczko created a reenactment of the battle scene. The consequence of war on soldiers and civilians alike became visible and tangible for the general public. From the safety of our homes, we can read literature and reports of first hand accounts of war and watch the news or see combat depicted in film but written or filmed accounts of battle try to encompass all the details, but this may be the closest most people can come to any experience like it. This is something Wodiczko recognizes. He says, “"I believe that if there is any truth, it lies in realizing the impossibility of gaining full access to the truth of such an experience."
The art lies in our senses and minds, and I think its absolutely genius. Stuck inside a giant room, it isn’t very difficult to image you’re actually there. The sounds alone wouldn’t do it, but he sounds in a giant warehouse, where you feel vulnerable and unsure, completely take over. The viewer creates a mental picture of this battle scene and experiences the fear of ambiguity and vulnerability in guerilla warfare, and receives no closure as to what’s actually happening. After experiencing the intensely disturbing simulated conflict, one can start to comprehend the devastation that war has on anyone involved in such close combat. The ability to trick the mind and the senses into a simulated state of survival and momentary panic is the triumph of Wodiczko’s project.
Molly Geiger is a graduating Senior at the Art Institute of Boston. Her recent work includes an expansive documentary essay on Home Births. For more information please visit her website.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Grants Nurture Arts Spaces and Housing
Luis A. Ubiñas took over as president
of the Ford Foundation in 2008.
As part of an effort to increase the impact of its giving, the Ford Foundation is to announce a plan on Monday to dedicate $100 million to the development of arts spaces nationwide over the next decade. The plan is by far the largest commitment the foundation has ever made to the construction, maintenance and enhancement of arts facilities. More...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Pieter Hugo's NOLLYWOOD | REVIEW by Kat Kiernan
Pieter Hugo, Gabazzini Zuo. Enugu, Nigeria, 2008
PIETER HUGO @ YOSSI MILO
BY KAT KIERNAN
I am not sure how to best treat a bloodstain. Is it cold water? Tide? Or must the ruined article of clothing be thrown away? These are the thoughts that ran through my mind while viewing a man gut a bull, ruining his white dress shirt in the process. This oddly grotesque image is one of the many striking staged photographs in Nollywood, a Pieter Hugo exhibition at Yossi Milo gallery in New York.
Entering the gallery I was met with a cold stare from a machete-wielding little person. His gaze locked with mine and set the tone for the rest of the show. The larger than life scale adds to the cinematic context of the work but upon closer examination the artist moves past the creation of a “film still.” The color is a bit de-saturated so as not to artificially heighten the absurdity, and the focus on the work moves from the film aspect to the cultural aspect. In our society we are told not to stare “don’t stare, it’s not polite” but in a gallery setting, in a white cube, the 30x40 black framed images invite the viewer to stare. So I do. Presented in this setting it is required.
MORE...
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Visiting guest artist YOAV HORESH
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
1pm
Rosh Hashana Dinner (45 minutes) Zofar, Israel 2008
From the series Intransition
Copyright Yoav Horesh
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
SELECT GENDER @ FARMANI GALLERY
Farmani Gallery
111 Front Street, Suite 212
Brooklyn, NY
April 01, 2010 – May 22, 2010
Press Preview: Thursday, April 1, 2010, from 5-6PM
Opening Public Reception: Thursday, April 1, 2010, from 6-830PM
Diana Russo
Kate Hutchinson
Caleb Cole
The show is co-curated by three young artists, including Paolo Morales from AIB(!), and includes works by Daniel Aguirre (also AIB), Carl Bower, Caleb Cole, Nicolas Djandji, Jason Hanasik, Jamil Hellu, Monique Bergen Henegouwen, Kate Hutchinson, Katie Koti, Diane Russo, J. Aiden Simon, Sarah Sudhoff, and Molly Landreth + Amelia Tovey.
Select Gender revolves around the themes of gender-based identity, self-awareness and gender-specific culture. Whether they are discussing their own identity or that of others, this diverse group of emerging photographers shows us different aspects and interpretations of perceived gender roles. The juxtapositions of gender queer, hyper masculinities, and ambiguous representations force the viewer to question his or her own perceptions and the legitimacy of a gender binary. Ultimately the goal of Select Gender is not to expose, shock, or titillate, but to offer reflection on the constructs and wide range of possibilities for gender expression.
Rafael Soldi is a Peruvian born, New York based photographer. He holds a degree in Photography and Curatorial Studies from the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work has been shown in NY with Humble Arts Foundation and Daniel Cooney Fine Art, Conner Contemporary Art in Washington D.C. as well as in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Baltimore.
Paolo Morales has studied at the Art Institute of Boston, International Center of Photography, San Francisco Art Institute and School of Visual Arts. His work has been exhibited in New York and Boston. He is a curator of Gallery South at the Art Institute of Boston.
Elle Perez is a photographer currently based in Baltimore, MD. She has studied Photography and Gender Studies and she has exhibited in Maryland and New York. Perez is the director of the Wlgus Gallery at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Amy Stein at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Amy Stein's photographs in her series Domesticated explore the tenuous relationship between humans and animals. These scenes are constructed using taxidermied animals and are inspired by true events in the setting of rural Pennsylvania. Her series is currently on view at the Harvard Museum of Natural History through April 18th.
Stein was named one of the top fifteen emerging photographers in the world by American Photo magazine. Her work has exhibited at the ClampArt gallery, New York, NY; Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Pool Gallery, Berlin, Germany; and the Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.