[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 The exhibition shows famous beautiful portraits of the star but also unpublished confidential photographs."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.

The Art of Playboy

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NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Comic Art of Playboy: Over Five Decades of Illustration and Cartoons, more than 85 paintings, illustrations and cartoons that graced the legendary men's magazine - led by pieces like Alberto Vargas' Darling, It's My Hat I Want Your Opinion On, Vargas Girl Playboy Pin-Up from April 1963 - will be the draw for collectors, Oct. 22-23, in New York at The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (2 East 79th Street, at 5th Ave.)

NEW YORK: BOUNDARIES OBSCURED

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PATRICIA PICCININI, Silicon, fiberglass, human hair, clothing

Haunch of Venison Gallery presents New York: Boundaries Obscured which is on view now. Artists featured in Boundaries Obscured respond to the growing trend of globalization and the blurring of cultural and geographical boundaries as use of technology becomes more prevalent. Major cities and rural enclaves are no longer distinct entities that operate in opposite contexts. Thus the featured artists depict both urban and rural scenes, addressing universal issues such as war, violence, politics, sex and eroticism, drugs, class, science and technology, waste and excess. These works highlight the overwhelming difficulties and/or advantages of being an individual in a relentlessly encroaching mass of information and external pressure. The exhibiting artists represent the world’s global and diversified (yet interdependent) climate. The artists range in age from 32 to 76 years old and hail from a range of countries including Iraq, India, Sierra Leone, Germany and the United States. “By exhibiting a group of artists at different stages in their careers, who come from radically different backgrounds, we intend to create a dynamic dialogue between the artists,” said Steinberger. The exhibition will include a painting by renowned American artist Peter Saul, whose recent solo exhibition at Haunch of Venison received critical acclaim. Saul is celebrated for his politically charged paintings that comment ironically on current events and public figures. Another highlight of the exhibition is German sculptor Günther Uecker’s ‘Aschemensch (Ash Man)’, a seminal painting from the artist’s only figurative series. Uecker created the work in 1986 as a reaction to the Chernobyl catastrophe. The work features an ambiguous human figure engulfed in sporadic black drips of paint, alluding to the radioactive materials that invaded Chernobyl. New York: Boundaries Obscured is on view until November 3 at Haunch of Venison in New York – 550 West 21st Street. 

Hunky Dory

"Strange fascination, fascinating me," quoth David Bowie in his song Changes on the album Hunky Dory. Artist, photographer, online magazine editor, and purveyor of arts and culture Christopher Lusher, based in Huntington, West Virginia, is the progenitor of somewhat of an art scene in one of the oldest states and most forgotten states in America. Like the revolutionary abolitionist John Brown, a West Virginian who murdered slave owners and was ultimately hanged for treason, Lusher carries the same rough-hewn spirit of good old fashion men famous by the annals of American history who know the the true nature of freedom and liberty, and certain inalienable rights. Responsible for bringing Harmony Korine's film Trash Humpers to the 2010 Appalachian Film Festival, contributing to Purple Fashion Magazine's Purple Diary, and editing his own online publication Hillbilly Magazine, Lusher proves it is the power of the innate, inexorable, and mysterious spirit of creation that art can be born in any corner of any part of the world. On October 21 Christopher Lusher's solo art exhibition, entitled  Hunk Dory, will open at the Blank Gallery in West Virginia.

Text by Oliver Maxwell Kupper for Pas Un Autre

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. 

FERNAND LÉGER: A SURVEY OF ICONIC WORKS

Known for his use of color, bold forms, geometric contrasts, and enduring interest in the working class, French painter Fernand Léger was an artist icon of the 1930s. An exhibition unto itself, a limited-edition volume to be published by Assouline features a curated selection of his most outstanding pieces, hand-glued to each page for a lasting keepsake of Léger’s extraordinary oeuvre.

Psychic Dancehall- "Dreamers"

Formally known by their pseudonyms Dorian Wartime and Sylvia Innocent, non-platonic duo Psychic Dancehall are, in fact, Charles Rowell from the Crocodiles and Hollie Cook, daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul and The Slits’ most junior member. Having first met in 2006, their debut album Dreamers came out September of 2011.

 

He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss
Psychic Dancehall


[Coming Soon] Dukes of Chutney on Vinyl

Photograph of Dustin Lynn in Milan by Iris Humm.

Big ups to Dustin Lynn whose new brazilian dubplate, which is a collaboration with John Paul Jones (Tom Croose, Worst Friends), who together create brilliant musical masterpieces under the musical moniker Dukes of Chutney, is being pressed by Resista Records, a new imprint "dedicated to highly limited vinyl-only pressings of interesting edits & remixes from across the genre spectrum." Listen to Tom Croose - Cho Chua (Dukes Dub) here.