Rodin, Brancusi, Moore: Through the Sculptor's Lens

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Waddington Custot Galleries
11 Cork Street
London W1S 3LT
May 22 – July 11, 2015

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Sauntering around the commercial galleries of London's Cork Street is always a pleasure, but the Waddington Custot for me, really cuts the mustard. It’s been part of my West End art circuit for over a decade, and never disappoints. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad show there, but their latest exhibition is a mark of curatorial genius, and smashed my former favourites to pieces. Through the Sculptor’s Lens presents vintage photographs from the studios of heavyweights Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin, providing us with an intimate glimpse into the daily working lives of these masters of the 3D form. Sepia shots of studies, lost works or those that were since destroyed show us how photography became an integral part of the development process for each and every masterpiece. Brancusi was personally introduced to photography by Man Ray, and subsequently went on to take and print his own, most of which now reside in the Pompidou Centre, Paris. Rather than undertake the job himself, Rodin chose to commission a range of professional photographers to document his numerous sculptural blockbusters, requesting experimentation on angles and lighting effects. Hailing from Yorkshire myself, Moore has always been the one for me, clean-cut and capable of producing colossal works, it’s ironic his dad was a coal miner, chipping away at hard stuff all his life – like father, like son. The experience of seeing their personal visual journals, brought together under one roof, was a total joy – and well worth a visit.

—Waddington Custot Galleries

Cuba by Quentin de Briey

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—01. Viñales.
—02. Accommodation and amenities.

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Recent political and diplomatic developments have Cuba regularly making the news here in the US. And for all the right reasons for a change. No longer on a ridiculous list of terrorist supporting countries, and with trade and travel restrictions lifted, direct flights from the US to Havana have now begun to operate. Cheap accommodation and mind-blowing experiences surely await, and acting quickly is probably key, before the country gets blown out by bros looking for a cheap place to 'get away' for a bachelor party. Friend and contributor to Inventory Quentin de Briey had none of these things to worry about. A European passport and a desire to see and document the country with his girlfriend led him there. The photos from their travels have just been published online by Purple, offering extra motivation for those of us who have been looking for a reason to get away somewhere warm, and somewhere not New York.

—Via Purple Diary

Remembering the Streetwise Photographer

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—01. Photograph by Mary Ellen Mark.

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Of all the documentaries that have attempted to capture the often grisly details of life on the street, the most successful is perhaps the 1984 film Streetwise. Directed by Martin Bell and photographed by Mary Ellen Mark, it follows a small group of teenage runaways through their daily lives in the gutters of Seattle. When I first saw it, the effects were hard to shake, intensified by the fact that my mom grew up on the same streets not long before they started making the film. The feeling of shattered innocence looms over every shot, captured beautifully by Mark. I was very sad to hear that she had passed away last week, but you can learn more about her life and process in this fascinating interview recently published by Dazed.

—Via Dazed

The Spring Cleaning

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The Laundromt
168 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012
May 29, June 26 & July 24, 2015

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Friends and photographers Benedict Brink and Todd Jordan are set to launch a new endeavor this Friday – The Spring Cleaning. This will be the first of three group shows on display over the summer months, each held for one week at a time. Featuring an exceptional lineup of photographers, there will be no opening receptions or parties; just a beautiful selection of images on display for a limited period. Did I mention the whole thing takes place in an active, working laundromat? It's located on Elizabeth Street, on the border of Soho and Chinatown in Manhattan, so you could either grab a frozen margarita nearby, and wander among the machines looking at art, or a stack of quarters and dirty linens, and turn something fun into an errand you hate. Either/or, it's up to you.

—The Spring Cleaning

Will Boone – Prison Rodeo

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48 pages, 10.5 x 8.75 inches
Edition of 750
Published by Karma, 2014

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The naive design sense of this Will Boone book, published by Karma, immediately caught my attention when I first saw it. The description states: “Prison Rodeo catalogues reference photographs used in Boone’s practice over the last several years. From heavy metal to Elvis to the American South, the artist’s influences are displayed as side by side colour images in diverging order.” This volume offers an insightful look into a world of inspiration that wouldn't generally be presented as a single work of art.

—Available from Karma

Ian Wallace – Meta Masculin/Féminin

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Jessica Silverman Gallery
488 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
April 24 – June 20, 2015

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"Over the past forty-years, Wallace has made paintings and photographs, imbued with narrative tension, which are in dialogue with cinema, performance art and feminism. This exhibition, Wallace’s first in California, presents work from several series that explore gender conflict and the metaphysical clash between figurative photography and abstract painting."

—Jessica Silverman Gallery

Tim Barber – Blues

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Agnès B. Galerie Boutique
50 Howard Street
New York, NY 10013
May 15 – July 5, 2015

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Blues, the latest solo show by photographer Tim Barber, opens at the Agnès B. Galerie Boutique in New York next Friday. The exhibition will present 39 cyanotypes, created using a traditional process which produces a cyan-blue print.

—Agnès B. Galerie Boutique
—Tim Barber

Drugstore Camera by Dennis Hopper

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Clothbound
96 pages, 9.25 x 8 inches
Published by Damiani

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Drugstore Camera is the latest book of photographs by the late Hollywood rebel Dennis Hopper. The 96-page monograph centres around a series of unreleased images from his adopted hometown of Taos, New Mexico, shot with disposable cameras and processed by drugstore photo labs. "This clothbound collection documents Hopper's friends and family among the ruins and open vistas of the desert landscape, female nudes in shadowy interiors, road trips to and from his home state of Kansas and impromptu still lifes of discarded objects. These images, capturing iconic individuals, wide-open Western terrain and drug-addled fun, create a captivating view of the '60s and '70s that combines political idealism and optimism with California cool."

—Available from Artbook