Art Relish interviewed Arnika Dawkins about her eponymous gallery.

“On the face of it, Vivian Maier led an ordinary, if solitary, existence. A single woman, she worked as a nanny in New York and Chicago and kept to herself. But Maier, who died in 2009 at the age of 83, had a secret passion: photography. A Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex, her constant companion, was the vehicle through which she participated in the multifarious experiences of the two great cities in which she spent most of her life.

And she was good. Damn good.”

Local filmmaker Neal Broffman has been shooting a documentary about Martin Parr. Mr. Parr has been commissioned by the High Museum of Art for its “Picturing the South” series (pdf link), and Mr. Broffman has been traveling with Mr. Parr while shooting.

“It is my hope that this documentary will be an accurate, objective guidepost for this and future generations of young photographers interested in studying the profession in which they have chosen to work. I would like the film to find a venue, in the short term, in film festivals and broadcast (in the US and overseas). And, back in Atlanta, Georgia Public Broadcasting will air the piece in early June.”

Check out the trailer above, and support the project’s completion if you can!

I am pleased to announce the opening of my new Project Space in downtown Atlanta. Please join me for the exhibition Preview 2011 ACP Ones To Watch opening next Thursday, September 8th at Gallery 2 at Marquis Two Tower located downtown at 235 Peachtree Center Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30303 from 6:00 – 8:30pm.

Independent curator and ACP Advisor, Mary Stanley, presents a selection of ten of the hottest emerging and established photography talents. These artists are highly collectible, nationally and internationally recognized, and set a high bar for innovation and quality. The ten works in the Preview exhibition will be auctioned for the benefit of the 13th Annual Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival on Friday September 23, 2011. Sealed silent bids will be accepted until September 22 at 6pm.

Featured artists:
Holly Andres – Portland, OR
Kendrick Brinson – Atlanta, GA
Eric Defino – Los Angeles, CA
Sion Fullana – Brooklyn, NY
Steve Giovinco – New York, NY
Brendan Kingsley – Savannah, GA
Thomas Petillo – Nashville, TN
Christopher Rauschenberg – Portland, OR
Hrvoje Slovenc – Brooklyn, NY
Sarah Small – Brooklyn, NY

About our new location:
Mary Stanley Studio—Project Space is downtown in Gallery 2 at Marquis Two Tower on 235 Peachtree Center Avenue. The space is on the ground floor, adjacent to the Marriott Marquis Hotel (in the site formerly occupied by MODA – Museum of Design Atlanta).
Gallery Hours: Thursday & Friday from 12 noon – 6pm & by appointment.
Valet parking is available at the Marriott Marquis Hotel for $10.

Also for the environmentally efficient, it is VERY convenient to the Peachtree Center Marta Station. You can walk via the skywalk to the gallery without even going outdoors.

NANCY FLOYD
Competition Shooters

Please save the date:
Friday, September 16, 2011
Reception / 7-9 PM
Artist Talk / 7:30

Quickshot Shooting Range
1199 Zonolite Road
Atlanta, GA 30306
(located off Briarcliff Road, near Emory campus)

You don’t need to be a card-carrying member of the NRA to join us Friday, September 16th at Quickshot Shooting Range! We hope you will plan to come hear Atlanta-based artist Nancy Floyd speak about her ongoing series Competition Shooters – women competing for the honor of representing USA at the Olympic Games. Floyd will discuss her experiences photographing past Olympic trials, and her upcoming plans to shoot the women competing for a berth in London 2012. This is the first time this series has been shown in its entirety – many thanks to Quickshot for generously providing exhibition space!

Refreshments, snacks, great conversation and an opportunity to try your hand at marks(wo)manship! Quickshot will be donating firearm rentals to those who want to give it a try. We will be sending more information soon about this exciting evening at Quickshot!

For more information, contact Solomon Projects at info@solomonprojects.com or 404.875.7100.

“Hello art friends, I’m writing to let you know about a public project and exhibition I launched today. For one week, four images will appear on the 14×45 foot digital billboard above Huff Furniture between Shadowlawn and Mathieson, viewable when heading south on Peachtree in Buckhead.

In among the advertising messages, these images don’t ask anything of the viewer, but address passersby directly with simple messages: “Yes,” “Please,” “Thank You,” “You Are Welcome.” There’s no website to visit, no number to call, nothing to buy. In marketing-speak, there is no call to action.

Without a second step, they are whole in themselves, and with a direct address they turn broadcast into an individual message for whoever sees it at that moment.

I intend it as a polite, discordant and humorous interruption of the incessant flood of commercial messaging, and a way to take advantage of a huge opportunity for artists to reach an audience outside of galleries. I hope you can get a look at them, and enjoy.”

“We’d like to announce the call for entries for our upcoming exhibit, Anna Skillman Selects. Photographers selected for this show will have their work exhibited in the APG Gallery. Their names will be listed on the APG web site along with an optional link to their web site and promoted during Atlanta Celebrates Photography, an annual city-wide highlight of photography.

Entry deadline is September 10, 2011. Cash awards will be given: 1ST PLACE $150.00, 2ND PLACE $100.00, 3RD PLACE $50.00

Additional information and entry form can be found on our website.”

“The power structure is not set here, yet. The terms have not been yet dictated. There’s room for people if they have the energy, and intelligence, to claim a space; to make things happen.”

Sylvie Fortin, Art Papers Editor-in-Chief from ArtRelish.com on Vimeo.

“Nancy describes the magazine as ‘a new online monthly and in-print quarterly magazine that will bring you anything and everything about photography in and of the Southeast. From galleries of work by our established masters to interesting series by new emerging artists—you’ll be covered. You will also see feature videos of the artists discussing their work while bringing you into their studios, as well as beautiful imagery they’ve created in motion.’”

“Simply put: he wanted the opportunity to run the show. He said that determining the direction of the collection is his first priority. Though it’s too soon to be definitive in that regard, he indicated that it would not be an abrupt departure from the course established by Julian Cox, his predecessor and another Getty alum. He had high praise for Cox’s acquisition of a group of photos documenting the history of the civil rights movement.

“What Julian did was great,” Abbott said. “He found a topic that had support and made the acquisitions and an exhibition in tandem. I’d like to continue that strategy, though it may be a new theme.“

“Let me try and outline the basic genres that can be found.

1. The above ground landscape with people.

This is a relatively recent development with the major influence of Gursky, being the starting point. You take a high vantage and place people within the frame setting them in a larger urban or even rural landscape.

2. The bent lamppost.

You see this a lot in the USA, where they are blessed with many bent lampposts. The scene is urban and generally quite run down. This can be traced back to Stephen Shore amongst others.

3. The personal diary.

Nan Goldin gave this genre a major boost with the famous “ Ballad of Sexual Dependency ” project, but there are predecessors with the likes Larry Clarke and Ed van der Elsken.

4. The Nostalgic gaze.

Photographers love to shoot a factory, a shop, a club or some institution that is about to close. We, of course, welcome and praise the sense of community that is threatened.

5. The quirky and visually strong setting.

In terms of documentary we are much more likely to see a project done on a circus than say, a petrol station. The simple reason is that photographers love shooting situations where there is an inherent visual quirk. So we see plenty of this type of subject such as mental hospitals and animal clinics.

6. The Street.

Street photography has evolved in recent years, with many more humourous scenarios now making the edit, and of course the shift to colour. In Britain we also have the great tradition of shooting on the beach, but this has declined in recent years because it is tricky to do this now, without being accused of being paedophile.

7. The black and white grainy photo.

Daido Moriyama is, if you like the Godfather of this school of photography, and he combined the imagery of Andy Warhol and William Klein to arrive at this groundbreaking photographic language. The subject is combination of cityscape and personal.”