Oh Public Road!

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Algiers, Louisiana, 2001 © Peter Kayafas

This afternoon I'm traveling to Cambridge, MA for a meeting to plan my upcoming show at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I'm looking forward to hitting the road. I hope to find a few stranded motorists along the way.

I've had photography about the American road and cars on my mind lately with Robert Frank's The Americans opening this week at the Met and Nicolai Howalt's stark and abstract Car Crash Studies on view at Silverstein. I've also been looking at the (relatively) new book by Peter Kayafas, O Public Road!

Sasha Wolfe introduced me to Peter's work over the summer and I've been engrossed by the images ever since. The book includes spare black and white photos from the last 20 years of Peter's travels across the US. I appreciate the echoes of Frank's 1955 journey.

You can view images from the book on Peter's Web site and order it directly from Purple Martin Press.

Big Night

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Glamorous Hair © Tim Davis

Boy there are a lot of great shows opening in the next few weeks. Of course, I will be preoccupied with my own opening at ClampArt on Thursday night so I wont be able to see these other great exhibitions for a few days:

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, Nottinghamshire © Simon Roberts

Simon Roberts' We English at Klompching Gallery
If you can’t make it out to Brooklyn on Thursday, Simon will be giving a talk and book signing on Friday at 6:30pm. I may be missing his opening but I’ll be there for this!

Todd Hido A Road Divided at Bruce Silverstein
Todd is a big hero of mine and I always enjoy seeing his work.

Nicolai Howalt Car Crash Studies at Bruce Silverstein
I blogged about this wonderful series a few months ago and I'm excited to see the prints in person.

States of Union 8 © Alix Smith

Alix Smith States of the Union at Morgan Lehman
Fellow SVA grad and newlywed, Alix Smith, will be showing her new, highly anticipated body of portraiture work.

New York doesn't have exclusive rights on kick ass openings. In a land far far away called San Francisco, friend and all around great guy Brian Ulrich’s double header with Charnay is opening at The Koch gallery.

And, back in New York this Saturday...

Tim Davis’ The New Antiquity at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery

Talia Chetrit’s Reading at Renwick Gallery
Her work is intelligent and mesmerizing.

Nicolai Howalt's Car Crash Studies

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© Nicolai Howalt

Nicolai Howalt's new series, Car Crash Studies, is a brutal survey of the violent allure of the automobile. The images speak to our dark romance with car chases, joy rides, and drag races. They are abstruse evidence of the ever present danger that draws you close during the "Chicken Race" scene in Rebel Without a Cause and carries the tension throughout Two-Lane Blacktop.

The reality behind these wrecks is probably more mundane and genuinely tragic than a Hollywood script, but Nicolai renders these images with an abstraction that allows us write our own ending.

If you are in Copenhagen you can see Nicolai's Car Crash Studies at Martin Asbæk Gallery beginning February 20.