Jill Greenberg's 'Glass Ceiling'

Los Angeles - photo of a billboard that was up until a few days ago on Sunset Boulevard featuring a photograph, as part of a series entitled entitled Glass Ceiling: American Girl Doll,  by Los Angeles based artist Jill Greenberg. Billboard was commissioned by LA><ART, a non-profit arts space, to serve as "a compelling juxtaposition of imagery and pictorial intent" in juxtaposition to the other billboards that line the famous boulevard. In 2010 Greenberg hired professional synchronized swimmers and photographed them while herself scuba diving in a Culver City swimming pool. She was severely physically restricted in a wetsuit, with over 50 pounds of scuba gear including an air tank, weights and a massive and state-of-the-art camera system with underwater lights, which captured the 180 megapixel images allowing for an unprecedented level of information in each image. Glass Ceiling marks Greenberg’s return to her explorations throughout the 90s of the depiction of the female body.

Rock n' Roll Photography

Rock & Roll music provided the soundtrack to American culture and shifting social dynamics in the late 20th century. While the genre has undergone many shifts since its origination mid-century, Rock & Roll and its outgrowths have continued to define and shape the social relations and culture of future generations.  Drawn from the largest private collection of photographs of rock musicians in the United States, Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography now on view at the Currin Museum of Art in New Hampshire, captures the intimate relationship between photographer and musician. Featuring 175 photographs—many rarely seen by the public—this exhibition provides a portal into the musical and cultural history of Rock & Roll, from its development in the 1950s to its influence on the sounds and styles of future generations. Photographs will be on view of artists as disparate as Kurt Cobain to Chet Baker. Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography will be on view until January 7, 2012. 

[BOOKS] Françoise Hardy by Jean-Marie Périer

I couldn't think of a cooler friend to have than Françoise Hardy. Since the 1960s photographer Jean-Marie Périer has taken over 200 photographs of the French pop icon – which are now presented in a new book, entitled Françoise Hardy par Jean-Marie Périer (Editions Du Chêne). On October 29th an exhibition with the same title will open at Galerie PHOTO12 in Paris: "For the very first time in Paris, an entire exhibition is dedicated to the iconic French singer of the sixties: Françoise Hardy. Through the eye of the famous photographer and long-time friend Jean-Marie Périer. The exhibition shows famous beautiful portraits of the star but also unpublished confidential photographs." 

The Unseen Eye

"Hooded Witness," from an unknown photographer,

All eyes will be on George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film this fall as it presents one the largest exhibitions in its history — The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the W.M. Hunt Collection. More than 500 photographs by the masters of the medium will be on view Oct. 1, 2011 through Feb. 19, 2012. The Eastman House is dedicating all of its primary gallery space to this exhibition. Earlier this year The New Yorker referred to the collector as “the legendary” W.M. Hunt. He is a renowned curator and dealer who has been collecting photographs for 40 years. A self-described “champion of photography,” he is well-known for his “eye” and sense of humor. Hunt describes the collection as “magical, heart-stopping images of people in which the eyes cannot be seen.” The photographs of The Unseen Eye have a common theme — the gaze of the subject is averted, the face obscured, or the eyes firmly closed. The images evoke a wide range of emotions and are characterized, by what, at first glance, the subject conceals rather than what the camera reveals.

Pretty Girls Wander: The Photography of Raymond Meeks

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Portland, OR — Charles A. Hartman Fine Art Gallery presents Amwell | Continuum, the newest body of work by critically acclaimed artist Raymond Meeks. In evocative black and white and color images, Meeks explores ideas of home and stability against the backdrop of personal transition and larger socioeconomic upheaval. These quietly compelling, beautiful photographs of lost and troubled spaces, constant gardens, and portraits of his daughter, construct a narrative that posits a sense of loss while steadfastly asserting a belief in both resilience and hope. Meeks writes, "I've believed it was important to have a strong sense of place, to identify “home”, even as for us, home, family and place are ideals which have taken on a relative meaning. I photograph close to home as memory loses structure, its architecture; trying to make light speak from the fixed edges of rooms long vanished." Amwell | Continuum is one view October 5 – 29, 2011 at the Charles A. Hartman Fine Art Gallery - opening reception with the artist on October 6. A limited number of copies of Raymond Meeks' newest artist book, Pretty Girls Wander, are available from the gallery for $325. Created to mark the occasion of this exhibition, this fine volume reproduces a number of the works in AMWELL | CONTINUUM. 

TO LIFE, TO DEATH: Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise

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Nan Goldin - Battle of Sexual Dependency

Every year, by mid September, the city of Nantes celebrates photography. For the 15th year on a row, the Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise will be deployed all around the city from September 16th through October 16th, offering visitors free access to over twenty exhibitions. As many events of this kind, the festival will evolve around the theme “À la vie, à la mort” (To life, to death), the title for the 2011 edition.