If you’re interested in FLUX 2011 on Friday night (and really, why wouldn’t you be?) here’s word from former ACP board president Louis Corrigan about what you can expect:

“Please join us for FLUX 2011, a night of art + experimentation, this Friday, September 30th, from 8pm to midnight in Castleberry Hill. I recommend that you arrive early. Like last year, part of Walker Street will be closed to traffic. There will also be moving closures of Peters Street throughout the night to accommodate parades and dancers.

The evening begins at 8pm with a bicycle lantern parade led by the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons. gloATL’s hour-long migratory piece “Livers” launches immediately thereafter at 8:30 from the Peters St. bridge (second performance at 10:30.)

There are another 30+ projects to see during the main part of the night, including wonderful projection pieces, some of which are interactive. There’s puppetry, light and sound installations, roving theatre, dance, a beatboxing contest, street preaching, and other multimedia projects throughout the neighborhood. Between the food trucks and local bars and restaurants, you should find plenty of places to grab food and drinks.

All projects will end by midnight so that everyone can join us outside the Elliott Street Pub for spectacular molten iron throw fireworks. Practitioners of this ancient Chinese art say it’s easy to do as long as you don’t mind dying. Thankfully, the fire department is next to the pub.

This year’s 34 projects involve 224 artists, which speaks to the ambitious, collaborative nature of these projects. We also have a broad constituency of Atlanta artists, including current faculty and either current students or recent grads from GSU, SCAD, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw St.

Several artists this year present innovative projections dealing with something like post-apocalyptic visions of nature: Eric Corriel (NY), Kim Anno (CA), and Jeff Demetriou/Fake Love (Atlanta/NY).

Other artists consider the animal aspects of human nature. SCAD grad Monica Cook, one of my personal favorite artists, returns from NYC and her Guggenheim/YouTube Play video award triumph with her first interactive stop motion animation, a work that explores the uninhibited behavior of primates. This bold project is supported by Atlanta Celebrates Photography.

“Livers” will present gloATL as you’ve never seen them before, revealing the animal qualities of migration as also deeply human. This may be the first time that art inspired by Guy Debord ended up on all-fours and literally on the pavement (“Under the paving stones, the beach”).

FLUX’s dance card is particularly appealing, with Zoetic Dance returning from last year’s amazing performance to animate the point at Castleberry Point and with wonderful aerial dance by D’Air behind Marcia Wood Gallery.

Craig Drennen, hot off a glowing Artforum review, promises an “Awful” performance as he continues his exploration of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens in a piece that would make Courtney Love turn over in her grave — if she weren’t still alive.

Nancy Floyd, one of the few contemporary artists featured in this year’s major historical survey Heroines at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, offers a raw personal examination of time rapidly passing in a video projection that compresses the last 29 years of her life.

FLUX also features a number of promising young Atlanta artists. Jane Garver, recent recipient of a Leap Year award from MINT, returns to Castleberry with a multi-part sound exploration of Atlanta that will be installed at points along Walker Street. I’m also looking forward to being surprised by interactive, roaming works by Dodekapus and The Collective Project, two exciting young collectives.

And that’s just a taste. For more on the featured artists and recommendations for getting to or parking at FLUX 2011, please check out our website: http://www.fluxprojects.org/flux/index.html. Hope to see you all there. And please tell your friends. FLUX 2011 is totally free.

Louis Corrigan

Another ACP Video Preview, this one, of Ryan Flynn’s “No Posers” exhibition at Young Blood Gallery, which opens Oct. 1st.

And if you haven’t already, check out the last preview, too!
Dorothy O’Connor’s “Tornado”

Thanks again to artrelish for video production!

“Thomas Struth
October 29, 2011 – January 15, 2012
Organized by the High Museum of Art, this installation will feature works from three distinct projects, including Struth’s “Museum Photographs” series, in which he focused on museum visitors’ interactions with artwork, his “Paradise” series, which depicts the inner depths of jungles around the world, and his most recent work documenting the structural intricacies of techno-industrial spaces that takes the viewer deep into normally inaccessible scientific territory. The 5-piece installation will include works from the High’s collection and on loan from Bryan Cave Powell Goldstein.

Quartet: Photographs by Ralph Gibson
November 12, 2011 – January 22, 2012
Organized by the High Museum of Art, with gifts from the Kuniansky family, this installation of photographs from the museum’s collection will feature works by photographer Ralph Gibson that survey his prolific career, presenting both iconic and lesser known work together within the thematic context of their original creation. Twelve suites of photographs gathered together will reconstitute the conceptual kernels around which his series have been structured and will demonstrate the coherence of Gibson’s distinct approach to the world over the course of more than fifty years.”

While ACP traditionally starts at the end of September, there are many exhibitions and events that are already underway, plus a whole lot of action happening this weekend! Here are a few weekend tips:

© Marcia Vaitsman

Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is showing 15×15, their 15th Anniversary Acquisitions Exhibition through December 3rd. Marcia Vaitsman’s “Study of Strange Things” opens at Solomon Projects on Thursday. And Hagedorn Foundation Gallery’s “The New Photograph” goes on view the same day, with a reception later this month.

© Sally Mann, courtesy Jackson Fine Art

Friday evening brings Sally Mann’s Proud Flesh to Jackson Fine Art, and ACP Board Member Stephanie Dowda has curated a wide-ranging group show at Emily Amy Gallery called “Echoes of the Sublime” which opens on Friday as well.

© Richard Ediger

The Ediger’s ” Left of Reality” will be on view in Dahlonega at Montaluce Winery and Le Vigne Restaurant starting this Friday, and The Shot Atlanta has an all-day Open House over on Metropolitan Parkway on Saturday, Sep. 10th.

© Dave Anderson

Jennifer Schwartz Gallery opens with Dave Anderson’s photographs of the Lower Ninth Ward (and a book signing) on Saturday evening, while simultaneously launching Outlands: Land Over Time, a group show exploring farms, land, and the built environment.

© Ryan Nabulsi

Ryan Nabulsi’s exhibition “Photo Secession” at {Poem88} will be on view starting on Saturday, and if you’re a photographer in Marietta, get in touch with fellow photographers via Cobb Photo Society.

See “Review: Chip Simone’s “Resonant Image” at High Museum samples 10 years of color work” on artscriticatl.com

Jason Florio opens at Hagedorn Foundation Gallery on Saturday, July 9th at 6pm, as part of National Black Arts Festival. The show will run with Mike Schreiber’s “True Hip-Hop“. Both exhibitions will run through August 27th.

On Saturday, July 9th
5:00 pm Panel Discussion on the visual culture around hip-hop and its influence on young black consciousness
Rodney Carmichael, Critic, Creative Loafing
Fahamu Pecou, Pop culture artist
Mike Schreiber, Photographer
Dr. Joyce Wilson, HipHop Archive Fellow, WEB DuBois Institute, Harvard University

6:30 – 9:00 pm Meet the artist and “True Hip-Hop” Book Signing

More info at www.jacksonfineart.com

“The Ten is a highly curated monthly online exhibit of ten photographic images. Each image is available at a 13×19 size in an edition of 25 for $250. Whether a photographer makes a new body of work for The Ten, a guest curator selects images from different photographers, or a photographer self-curates from within his or her existing bodies of work, The Ten is an opportunity for photographers and curators to explore the creative possibilities of pulling together a selection of work with a strong statement and a tight edit.

The uniqueness of The Ten comes from its curation and its exclusivity. Images on The Ten cannot be sold in any other size in any other location. Once an image has been included in The Ten, it must be retired from sale. The only opportunity to purchase that image is on the website for The Ten, and once 25 are sold, it is sold out forever.

The Ten puts up a creative challenge to photographers and curators that we feel is important to keep the medium fresh and relevant.

So explore, create, be inspired. We bring you, The Ten.

An artist’s talk & conversation at Jackson Fine Art on Thursday night, April 28th at 6:30pm between Carolyn Carr and Carol Thompson (Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art at the High Museum of Art). RSVP to cristina@jacksonfineart.com

“Exhibition Dates:
April 15 – June 18, 2011

Carolyn Carr is a native Atlantan known for her compelling abstract paintings of interwoven curvilinear lines that are derived from captured graffiti signatures which act as signifiers for content. Graffiti as an unknown font is hard to follow but is recognizable as a mark of self-expression via a personal signature. Carr’s interest in text and narrative has been an ongoing and vital component to her work that has been explored through her titles and literary references. In this exhibition she continues to reference culturally significant printed material but from a wide range of sources spanning historical periods, platforms, and means of distribution.

Carr’s work derives from the particular brand of heritage-steeped innovation native in the South where identity has been erected in between the columns of constructed memory and urban evolution. This exhibition reintroduces the artist’s interest in photography with complex mixed media compositions of photo-collage, found photographs, and over painted photographs. Carr manipulates pictures she has taken, found, and appropriated to create a ripe non-linear narrative that is evocative yet enigmatic. Recognizable cultural and art historical references are rampant in this work, but the way in which Carr is intent on layering the South’s troubled history with the vibrancy of contemporary Atlanta is very much her own.

Carolyn Carr received her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art (with a focus on Photography). Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries including Gavlak (New York, Palm Beach), Artists Space (New York), 10 Chancery Lane (Hong Kong), National Museum of Women (Washington D.C.), the Contemporary, David Heath and Fay Gold (Atlanta). In 2010 she completed a site-specific Flux.org work entitled, Tomorrow is Another Day. In addition to her studio practice Carr is on a number of institutional boards as well as being an activist for local community and political organizations.”

Lumiere is hosting a closing event for their exhibition of Stephen Lawson “Motion Pictures: Change by Degrees” on Saturday, April 23rd at 11am.

“We will screen the film by West Virginia Pubic TV, Stephen will provide additional comments, and then be available for a question and answer session.

Please note: The formal presentation of the April 23rd artist talk will conclude at approx 11:45 allowing time to attend the Kerry Skarbakka/Michael Rooks Event at Hagedorn Gallery.

The first of a two part series addressing pictures in motion, this exhibition of Stephen Lawson’s work is unique. The qualities conveyed by both subject matter and time frame incent the viewer’s engagement and interpretation.

“The photo-based works grow from my background as a sculptor. These are four dimensional in concept and execution, but only two in the presentation. The concept of space and time is reconstructed in the mind of the viewer, “ states Lawson.

The technical creativity involved in the concept, design, production and operation of the one-of-a-kind cameras required to produce these time based works has evolved over the years and relies on Lawson’s distinct talents.

The year and day-long works could be thought of as bringing a concentrated gaze; the brief, dynamic shots read as a glance, in the turn of the head, as the eye itself sees, before the mind edits this to a visual memory, often as a “still”. Indeed, all of the images could be thought of as movies presented as stills.

Below is a 12 minute video Produced and Directed by John Nakashima of West Virginia Public Broadcasting (2002), it provides an illuminating overview into Lawson’s work and his evolution as an artist.”

Amy Landesberg, who created “Urban Reverb” for the ACP Public Art project in 2005, is giving an artist’s talk at Solomon Projects on Thursday.

Amy Landesberg – Rosewood Swag – Viewing + Artist Talk
Thursday, April 20th
6:00 PM / Viewing
6:30 PM / Artist Talk

We hope you will plan to join us next week on Thursday, April 20th at 6 PM to hear Amy Landesberg speak about her work, including the ambitious Veneers art wall project currently under fabrication for the expansion at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The late afternoon/early evening light provides the optimal time of day to view her vibrant photographic film on plastic laminate (PET) installation entitled Rosewood Swag cascading from the front gallery windows, spilling colors onto to the walls and concrete floor. Please note: in case of inclement weather, we will move the talk to Thursday, April 21st at the same time.

“Still Life” at Jennifer Schwartz Gallery is reviewed by Felicia Feaster ArtsCriticAtl.com.

“Some artists use form to work out ideas. And some artists get lost in it, clinging like drowning men to their rainbow of colors, technology and mixed-media kit bag. Like Mr. Kurtz gone native in the jungle, such artists couldn’t cut themselves out of the tangle with a machete, even if they tried. And often, they don’t want to.

The artists in “Still.Life” – an exhibit at Jennifer Schwartz Gallery through May 28, which explores the connection between photography and painting in the digital age — are knee-deep in form and giddy from the fumes. What Julie Blackmon, Michael Marshall, Aline Smithson and Maggie Taylor have in common is a certainty that more is more. Sometimes they’re right.

Exhibition to Feature Eleven Recent Acquisitions for the High’s Photography Collection

“The Resonant Image: Photographs by Chip Simone”
June 18–November 6, 2011
ATLANTA, April 11, 2011—The High Museum of Art will organize and host an exhibition of 64 color photographs by Atlanta-based photographer Robert “Chip” Simone. Having worked as a classic black-and- white street photographer for most of his career, Simone embraced digital technology and color output in the year 2000, moving his experimentations with the medium into fresh and invigorating territory. This exhibition will showcase the results of Simone’s recent explorations, presenting a tightly focused retrospective of the past decade of his work. “The Resonant Image: Photographs by Chip Simone” will be on view at the High from June 18 through November 6, 2011.

The prints to be featured in this exhibition reflect Simone’s long-term quest to “invest the print with the emotional resonance that I felt when I first saw the picture.” Made largely in and around Atlanta and the photographer’s home state of Massachusetts, the photographs showcase Simone’s sensitive response to the visual rhythms of his environment. Simone describes his work as spontaneous and improvisational: “Like jazz music, the photographs resonate with the eccentric impulses and private curiosities that led me to them. These are the most intimate images I’ve ever shown, not for what they depict but for what they reveal.”

“Simone’s dedication to reinventing his visual approach to the world in recent years has resulted in a remarkably poetic and sophisticated body of work. This exhibition is a fitting way to celebrate his longstanding, thoughtful and coherent contributions to the craft of photography,” said Brett Abbott, the High’s curator of photography. “The show is also very important for the High, as it allows us to showcase the work of a significant Atlanta-based artist?a resident in our own community?who is contributing to the city’s growing cultural scene.”

Press release here.

From “Photographer Laura Noel, at Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, perfects the sideways glance”

“Noel, who originally wanted to be a writer, goes in for oblique narratives as well. Her latest pictures are diptychs of seemingly unrelated images. (“Fallina/Fame,” below.) She writes: “The line where the two images meet becomes the seam between fact and fiction, reality and longing, the universal and the personal.” In these images, Noel gives you leave to find your own epiphanies.”

Vee Speers “Immortal”, Carolyn Carr’s photographs, and “Iconic Photographs” from Henri Cartier-Bresson will be on view at Jackson Fine Art on April 15th. Opening reception is from 6-8pm, and there will be an artist’s talk from Carolyn Carr with Carol Thompson (curator of African Art at the High Museum of Art) on Thursday, April 20th at 6:30pm.

It’s always great to see exhibitions that leverage photography’s strength alongside another art form, like poetry, and the current show in Arnall Golden Gregory’s exhibition space (open through April 1st) takes its name from poet Adrienne Rich‘s book from 1978, “Dream of a Common Language“.

The exhibition is part of a three-year partnership between AGG and Hammonds House, and features work from Sheila Pree Bright, Lucinda Bunnen, Lynn Cymone, Doris Derby, Kathryn Kolb, Lynn Marshall-Linnemeir, Sue Ross and Angela West. The exhibition is a curatorial collaboration between Anne Lambert Tracht from AGG and Kevin Sipp from Hammonds House.

Kevin Sipp remarked that the Rich book (and poem) was a personal favorite, and just as Rich is focused on “women’s perspectives of work and art”, the pieces within the exhibition reflect Rich’s general inspiration.

From AGG:

“The art exhibit, entitled “Dream of a Common Language,” will feature a selection of work by female photographers, and is inspired by renowned poet and essayist Adrienne Rich’s poem of the same title, which explores the universal themes of sisterhood and the common language of self-discovery, love and achievement. The exhibit is presented in partnership with the Hammonds House Museum, located in Atlanta’s West End.

More information on agg.com

The High Museum opens on Saturday with the Henri Cartier Bresson “Modern Century” exhibition, after its successful stops at the Museum of Modern Art and SFMOMA. Here’s (an unembeddable) recent interview between Charlie Rose, Martine Franck and Peter Galassi.

And an earlier video; another Rose interview, with Henri Cartier Bresson himself, in 2000.

On February 26th, the High Museum will be screening “Rules of the Game” a film for which Cartier-Bresson was the 2nd Unit Director. And on March 19th, Jason Francisco will speak about Cartier-Bresson and his influence.