Global Summer, photograph copyright of Yiorgos Kordakis, courtesy of M+B Gallery

The exibition Global Summer by Yiorgos Kordakis will be opening December 13, 2008 at the M+B Gallery, located in LA, CA. The opening reception will be from 7pm- 9pm on December 13th. The exhibition extends through January 29, 2009.

Kordakis photographs have an almost surrealistic feeling to them and and dream like quality.  There is a sense of mystery and oddness about them, with his narrow focus and exposure capturing a small slice of reality. The photographs are not like your traditional beach photographs.

“I am not a reporter,” he says. “I don’t want to make a statement or claim that I was present. I prefer to be a distant observer of our natural tendency as human beings to be attracted by the water.”

Best regards, Douglas Stockdale

Even if you have not been backpacking through out the Western United States, you can easily find evidence of similar abandon railroad lines. If you look carefully as you drive the interstates through the massive stretchs of the US, you can see the traces.

I think that these landscapes are very well seen and provide a graphic and blunt viewpoint, of what were vital processes, but discarded after their use was no longer of relevant value. The scars are slowly healing, with the remaining timbers appearing like the bones of a long past beached whale. And over time, these will be gone too.

Kettle Valley #21

Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation #13, 2004

Mohave and Milltown #3, 2004

Kettle Valley #21

Spokane Portland Seattle #2, 1994

All photographs copyright of Mark Ruwedel, courtesy of Gallery Luisotti

Best regards, Douglas Stockdale

Wooden Dumbbells photograph by Luke Smalley, courtesy of David Gallery

The David Gallery, LA, will be exhibiting Luke Smalley’s photographic series, Exercise at Home, begining October 25th through November 6th, 2008. No mention at the moment regarding an exhibition reception.

Update, they just notified me that the reception will be October 25th, from 6pm – 8 pm.

Best regards, Doug Stockdale

05/22/09 Update: (John) Luke Smalley passed away May 17, 2009.

Parenthetical Pilgrim, 2005 – 2007, Jeff Chabonneau and Eliza French, courtsey Robert Berman Gallery

Jeff Chabonneau and Eliza French will be having a solo exhibit, titled MASSILLON at the Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, (LA) opening with a reception on October 4, 2008 from 5 -7 pm. The exhibition concludes on November 4, 2008

From the gallery: Trained as an anthropologist/musician, and an art historian respectively, artists Jeff Charbonneau & Eliza French collaborate to produce staged photographs that transform personal family folklore and childhood reminiscence into scenes rich in fantasy, melancholy and seduction.
 
Massillon is the true story of ancestor Zeta Eliza Woolley, transposed through the surreal imaginings of the artists into a fairy-tale of suffering and unpredictable beauty.  Each photograph is part of an unraveling narrative, derived from the memories and dreams inspired by Woolley’s life and death in Massillon, Ohio in the late 1800′s.       
 
Combining a love for Victorian era aesthetics and 19th century craftsmanship, the artists produce large-scale photographs of rare texture and depth using medium and large format film, and traditional black and white darkroom techniques.

Best regards, Doug Stockdale

Photograph copyright of Rudy Vega

The Reflections Gallery, Santa Ana (OC) will be exhibiting Japan: Recent Photographs of Rudy Vega, a solo exhibt opening Saturday, September 20th through October 18th. The artists reception will be September 20th, from 6 – 10p

Rudy states; For the past four years I’ve been traveling to Japan with my 8×10 camera in tow. My objective has been to photograph different aspects of the Japanese cultural landscape.  My aim is to provide a view that is somewhat comprehensive but given the limitations of language (mine), brief visits (generally no more than two weeks at time) and access, I have to temper my photographic ambitions. This exhibition represents a work in progress as I have many more images to share and more visits to Japan planned.

The process involves shooting on 8×10 chromes then scanning, followed by image processing with Adobe Photoshop, then printed with an Epson 9600 inkjet printer and finally face mounted to acrylic. Lately I have also chosen some images to engage in pictorial intervention in order to push certain conceptual objectives

by Doug Stockdale

“Port of Long Beach” copyright of Bill Livingston

“The Art of Commerce: William Livingston’s Pinhole Photographs of the Port of Long Beach“ was on exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach (LA), from May 23 – September 28, 2008.

The exhibition features a dozen, large breathtaking photos of The Port of Long Beach as never before seen. The photographer, William (Bill) Livingston, was given exclusive access to capture everyday images of Port activity using a pinhole camera.

The photos in The Art of Commerce effortlessly capture the combination of industrial beauty and dynamic reality that exist at the Port. Lively shades of blue, yellow and green illuminate the shipping yards, ships, docks, cranes, containers, trucks, and trains; all set against brilliant blue skies. The photographs embrace the commotion and activity of daily port activities – a shipment being lowered onto a truck, a train crisscrossing vast terminals, or simply the silky rippling of the ocean below.

Fittingly, The Art of Commerce is installed in the Museum’s Jean and Charles Lane Oceanview Gallery, whose south-facing, second-floor wall of windows offers dramatic views of the Port of Long Beach. Also included in the exhibition are several of Livingston’s hand-made (4×5″) pinhole cameras.

The Art of Commerce is made possible by the generous support of the Port of Long Beach. Additional support was provided by the B.C. McCabe Foundation and the Rudolph J. and Daphne A. Munzer Foundation.

Having seen these images upclose, they are beautiful industrial urban landscape photographs. The exibit is recommended.

Best regards, Doug Stockdale