Monthly Archives: February 2012

Gregory Halpern | “Faces of the Rust Belt,” The Atlantic

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From The Atlantic:

In his new book A, photographer Gregory Halpern set out to capture the people of the American Rust Belt.

Halpern’s work has always dealt with the character of (and characters in) crumbling industrial cities; he’s a native son of Buffalo and now lives and teaches in Rochester. His photographs are of stark, rough places, but there is rich emotion in the faces and features in the landscape he documents, and glimmers of radiance — what might be called hope.

View the original article

View the exhibition
Browse all of Gregory Halpern’s work at ClampArt

Ion Zupcu

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b. 1960

Ion Zupcu Resume

Ion Zupcu first explored his interest in photography by working in a studio in Romania when he was a young man. A few years later, after getting married and having his first child, Zupcu found himself spending long hours caring for his daughter. With a desire to continue pursuing his interest in photography, he began shooting still-life compositions at home with vases and flowers. It was during this time that he also began researching the work of early 20th-century Modernist photographers in depth, which ultimately influenced his aesthetic a great deal.

In 1991 Zupcu moved to New York City to start a new life for himself. His first job was driving a yellow taxi, and it was one his customers, an owner of a black-and-white printing lab, that got him back into the world of photography. Zupcu was hired by the lab owner and quickly learned the tools of traditional darkroom printing. However, it was not until 1993, when he first visited the International Center for Photography in Manhattan and later discovered three Ansel Adams books (The Camera, The Negative, and The Print), that he seriously devoted himself to producing new work.

It took seven long years for Zupcu to be reunited with his wife and daughter when, in 1998, they finally were permitted to enter the United States to live in New York City. Their arrival awakened in the artist a fresh sense of purpose and new-found motivation. Up to that point he had been producing primarily landscape photography. However, he now went back to his initial interest in still-life work, and began spending long hours shooting, studying, and mastering the subject matter. His first fully-realized series of photographs in this genre was in 1999 with a group of images simply titled, “Flowers.” Several other bodies of work soon followed, including photographs depicting bottles, fabric, and eggs, among other objects. To this day Zupcu insists on printing and toning all of his work himself.

Since his first solo exhibition in 2000, Zupcu’s photographs have become part of numerous private collections throughout the world, and his work is already represented in such prestigious public collections as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan; and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor; among others.

Frank Yamrus

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b. 1958

Frank Yamrus Resume

Frank Yamrus has been exhibiting his work internationally for over twenty years, with his photographs represented in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; and the Denver Art Museum; among others.

Lou

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Howard Beach, New York,
1955 (printed in the mid-1970s)

Signed, titled, dated, and numbered, verso

Gelatin silver print (Edition of 14)

20 x 16 inches, sheet

Contact gallery for price.

Jesse Burke

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Jesse Burke Resume

(b. 1972)

Jesse Burke’s Intertidal photographs evoke a deep lushness with images of velvet black darkness, blankets of pine needles, blood, love, and sadness. He photographs the natural world around him as well as the men who are a part of his life, whether family members or friends, to explore the vulnerability of masculinity. He is drawn to moments where a rupture or wound is physically, emotionally, or metaphorically inflicted. He employs concepts such as male bonding and peer influence, masculine rites and rituals, and man’s connectedness to nature in order to expose these instances.

His series Wild & Precious brings together images from a series of road trips traveled with his daughter Clover to explore the natural world. To encourage a connection between his child and nature, Burke uses these adventures to give Clover an education that he considers essential—one that develops appreciation, respect, conservation, and self-confidence.

Burke is an instructor at Rhode Island School of Design where he received his MFA in Photography. His work has been exhibited in New York City, Tokyo, Milan, Stockholm, Madrid, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tucson, Providence, Ottawa, Boston, and was selected as a finalist for Critical Mass 2009 and 2010.

Self Portraits

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Since first picking up a camera, John Arsenault has routinely been turning his lens back upon himself, producing an outlandish and absurd, wild and erotic account of his life as a young, gay artist. Exploring facets of his personal relationships, his sexuality, and his identity, Arsenault constructs various scenarios that not only tell the story of his experiences, but also comment upon society at large. With a great eye for the strange, the unexpected, and the laugh-out-loud ridiculous, he is not afraid to poke fun at himself, and thus, is able to comment upon matters of broad cultural import without seeming shrill or pedantic. Arsenault’s work is vulnerable and honest. As writer Dan Halm has concluded, “One can learn a lot about oneself through another’s eyes.”