A camera obscura is the age-old principle behind that physics-class favorite, the pinhole camera. Let light from a small opening enter a dark space, and an inverted image of what’s on the other side of the opening will be projected within.
Camera obscura pictures make up half of the 36 images in “Behind the Seen: The Photographs of Abelardo Morell,” which runs at the Yale University Art Gallery through Aug. 10. The exhibition is in the way of a homecoming. Morell, who teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, has a master of fine arts degree from Yale. He’ll be artist in residence there this academic year.
The GigaPan provides a low-cost alternative to sophisticated motorized camera mounts on the market used to take panoramic photos, said Greg Downing, co-founder of the xRez Studio in Santa Monica, Calif., which specializes in gigapixel photography. The motorized mounts can cost thousands of dollars, he said, and typically require a high-end camera.
“We hope it will cost in the low hundreds of dollars — well below $500,” he said. The GigaPan will attach to any ordinary point-and-shoot digital camera.
This gallery tour will be presented by Sarah Stolfa, M.F.A. 2008. Stolfa is one of the student curators who organized the exhibition “From Any Angle: Photographs from the Collection of Doris Bry.” This exhibition celebrates the remarkable photography collection of Doris Bry currently on long-term loan to the Gallery. Featured artists include Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Eugène Atget, Walker Evans, Laura Gilpin, and Garry Winogrand, among others.
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Yale University Art Gallery
Free and open to the public.
1111 Chapel Street (at York Street), 203.432.0600 HTTP://ARTGALLERY.YALE.EDU
Abelardo Morell, The Metropolitan Opera: Romeo and Juliet Set, 2005.
“Best known for his extraordinary images of interiors created with the ancient technology of the camera obscura, contemporary artist Abelardo Morell has been actively exploring the photographic medium for the past thirty years. Behind the Seen: The Photographs of Abelardo Morell provides an in-depth look at the role that artworks and monuments play in the artist’s major photographic series. Approximately forty images are on display, featuring Morell’s work in black and white alongside his newest color photographs, and including twenty of the camera obscura images. The exhibition also features a special camera obscura room, which invites visitors to enter the space of one of the artist’s pictures. Morell is the current Happy and Bob Doran Artist in Residence at the Yale University Art Gallery and is creating new work based on the Gallery’s collections. Several recent photographs made at the museum are on view for the first time.”
“The medium of photography is explored in two exhibitions opening May 23 at the Yale University Art Gallery that have been organized by student curators.
“’From Any Angle: Photographs from the Collection of Doris Bry’ is a selection of 70 works from a collection of 300 images that Bry has lent the gallery on a long-term basis. The second exhibit, ‘Everyday Monuments: The Photographs of Jerome Liebling’ explores the many facets of the artist’s practice.
“Both exhibitions will remain on view through Sept. 7.”
“I dated Cindy Sherman … And all I got was this documentary. Paul H-O on his film about the iconic photographer and the perils of being an art world sidekick.” Salon.com May 2, 2008 By Joy Press
“It sounds like a highbrow fairy tale: an unsuccessful artist turned cable TV host snags an interview with one of the world’s most reclusive and glamorous art stars, Cindy Sherman — and the two fall in love. This is what actually happened to Paul Hasegawa-Overacker, aka Paul H-O, who uses it as the premise for the documentary he co-directed, ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman.’ But to cling too tightly to that romantic story line is to seriously misrepresent this movie, which is screening this week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and is slated to run eventually on the Sundance Channel.”
After photographing flowers, buds and seed capsules for thirty-five years, Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) published his masterpiece Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature)in 1928. See a portfolio of the work here.
The German sculpture used his photographs of plants to teach students about design elements in nature. He once said, “The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism; it fashions and shapes according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artistic form.”
Via Design New Haven: “Enjoy photography by local architects. A percentage of the proceeds will benefit a local charity. Participating architects include Barry Svigals, Carlos Pena, Cesar Pelli, Dan Dryzgula, Dave Chen, Dave Coon, Dave Harlan, Dave Strong, Enzo Figueres, Eric Epstein, Fernando Pastor, Joe Rufrano, Jose Luis Cabello, Ke-Wei Chang, Manuel Wedeles, Mark Abraham, Mary Pont, Mihaly Turbucz, Peter Newman, Rob Narracci, Roberto Espejo, Sam Gardner, Scott Wood, and Sun Bo.”
Details: Atticus Bookstore & Cafe, 1082 Chapel Street, Downtown New Haven, CT. Exhibition runs from May 1-June 15, with an opening reception on May 1 at 6.30 pm.
4”x5” camera made from Aluminium, Copper, Titanium, Acrylic and HIV positive blood. The blood pumps through the camera then in front of the pinhole and becomes my #25 red filter. Designed to shoot a geographic comparison of people suffering from HIV.
Click here to view the artist’s website and see photographs taken with the camera
“’Putting a camera on a kite is a way of extending my eye,’ said [Esteban Pastorino Díaz], a native of Argentina. ‘Or maybe it’s just an excuse for me to fly a kite when I’m 36.’
“Whatever the reason, Pastorino’s eyes do fly high — indeed, it was not for nothing that he studied structural engineering. Through a surprisingly simple system of pulleys and strings, Pastorino has sent cameras hundreds of feet into the air. And Sunday’s outing, organized by Jennifer Josten GRD ’11, was no exception.”
“The relationship between image, history and memory will be explored at a graduate student conference titled ‘Photographic Proofs,’ to be held Friday-Saturday, April 4-5, at Yale.”
“Works by sculptor Joseph Saccio, a former associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, are on exhibit now through April 24 at the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH) and the Community Services Network (CSN).
The exhibit is the first for The Parachute Factory, which is the organization’s new arts initiative and shares space with PRCH and CSN at 319 Peck St., Erector Square.”
“Religious images by African-American artists that portray ‘biblical teachings, the hallowed bodies, the celebrations and sorrows, the politics and poets, [and] the grief and gratitude’ are featured in a new exhibition at the Institute of Sacred Music (ISM).”
“Jennifer Jane and Patrick Mansfield, the proprietors of Exposure Gallery, will host their third Film Speed photography scavenger hunt Saturday in which participants receive a disposable camera, a New Haven map and a list of random topics.
“‘Our objective is fun — and getting people out and about, inspired with their cameras,’ Jane said. ‘Last year many people commented that they were so happy to just get out and explore the city. Many lived in New Haven or the surrounding area yet never saw the city like they did when they were really paying attention as they were searching for the best shot.’”
The exhibit on artist Ed Ruscha’s long standing use of photography is currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago. Last weekend I attended a symposium on Ruscha, featuring the man himself. The highlight of his talk was a comparison of the portraits on the $10 & $20 bills. The subtly different portraits, Ruscha claimed, convey different messages. The old Jackson is a model of dignity while the new Jackson looks like a guy waiting in line at Starbucks. See for yourself. Oh, and other people talked about Ruscha’s work and its relationship to photography, including noted rabble rouser Dave Hickey.
Over a decade in the planning, the new Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library in the Paul Rudolph Building reflects and meets the changing needs of teaching, research, and learning in the arts at Yale. Arts Library collections and staff, currently housed in a number of buildings across campus including the swing space at 270 Crown Street, will move into the Haas Family Arts Library later this summer in time for the fall semester. The Library will house the collections of the Art + Architecture Library, the Drama Library, and the Arts of the Book Collection, as well as staff and services for the Visual Resources Collection, and will become the physical and intellectual center for the pursuit of research, teaching, learning, and practice of the arts at Yale.
The Haas Family Arts Library will feature a variety of spaces for individual study, group study spaces, a large teaching space, and secure reading and teaching spaces for Arts Library special collections. The Special Collections Reading Room, a dramatic feature of the central two-story atrium, enhances interdisciplinary studies by realizing the long-planned consolidation of the many important special collections of the Arts Library, including the Arts of the Book Collection, one of the largest special collections at Yale and one of the most important book arts collections in North America. The Special Collections Exhibit area, which will continuously showcase exhibitions of the Library’s treasures, will feature a plaque recognizing a significant gift from William H. Wright, ’82.
More information on Arts Library services during the planned move period will be made available over the coming weeks on the Library's web site: www.library.yale.edu/art/.
