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. 

New Zealand Fashion: Salasai

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Established in 2006 by designer Kirsha Whitcher, the Salasai label has fast gained a reputation as being a major player in New Zealand fashion, known for its conceptually designed codes on dressing, Whitcher uses her understanding of design and innovative approach to develop a sculptural aesthetically pleasing androgynous fashion brand committed to producing clothing of quality, function and nonchalant grandeur. 

[BOOKS] WHITE RIOT

White Riot: Punk Rock And The Politics Of Race, a new anthology edited by NYU professor Stephen Duncombe and New School Ph.D. student and Maximumrocknroll writer Maxwell Tremblay, intersperses essays with primary documents like zines, interviews, song lyrics, and letters to tell the complicated story of punk rock and its relationship with race over the decades. Through the words of Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Patti Smith, Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, The Clash, Black Flag, and Tasha Fierce, the story moves from punk’s early articulation of whiteness in the U.S. and U.K. to Afro-Punk and faraway shores where punk has morphed into new, culture-specific forms. You can purchase the book here.

Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost

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Focusing on the years 1934 to 1961—from Ernest Hemingway’s pinnacle as the reigning monarch of American letters until his suicide — a new book by Paul Hendrickson, entitled Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, traces the writer’s exultations and despair around the one constant in his life during this time: his beloved boat, Pilar.  We follow him from Key West to Paris, to New York, Africa, Cuba, and finally Idaho, as he wrestles with his best angels and worst demons. Whenever he could, he returned to his beloved fishing cruiser, to exult in the sea, to fight the biggest fish he could find, to drink, to entertain celebrities and friends and seduce women, to be with his children. But as he began to succumb to the diseases of fame, we see that Pilar was also where he cursed his critics, saw marriages and friendships dissolve, and tried, in vain, to escape his increasingly diminished capacities. "All things truly wicked start from innocence," E.H.

[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.