Yao Lau: New Landscapes
Until December 12, 2009 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York
Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to announce the first New York exhibition by Chinese artist Yao Lu. The artist has created a thoughtful and timely series inspired by traditional Chinese paintings entitled New Landscapes in which mounds of garbage covered in green protective nets are assembled and reworked by computer to create images of rural mountain landscapes shrouded in the mist. Lying somewhere between painting and photography, and between the past and the present, Yao Lu's work speaks of the radical mutations affecting nature in China as it is subjected to rampant urbanization and the ecological threats that endanger the environment.
According to Lu, “Today China is developing dramatically and many things are under constant construction. Meanwhile many things have disappeared and continue to disappear. The rubbish dumps covered with the 'shield', a green netting, are a ubiquitous phenomenon in China.”
Born in 1967 in Beijing, Yao Lu attended Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Lu’s work has rarely been seen in the West, except at the Fotofest Biennial in 2008, and the "Space and Transportation" exhibition in Graz, Austria in 1997. He won the 2008 Paris Photo BMW Prize for contemporary photography. His work has been shown in numerous festivals and collective exhibitions around China: Lianzhou International Photo Festival 2007, New China Occidentalism – China Contemporary Art in Beijing in 2006, Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2004. Currently, Lu lives and works in Beijing.
Aaron Siskind Foundation: Constructions
Until December 12, 2009 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York
Photographer and educator Aaron Siskind holds a preeminent place in the history of American photography. Beginning his photographic career in the 1930’s as a social documentarian with the New York Photo League, he ultimately radicalized the medium by emphasizing the photograph as an abstract form of expression and an aesthetic end in itself. As the sole photographic member of the American Abstract Expressionist movement, Aaron Siskind is regarded as one of the most influential photographic-based artists of the 20th century.
Siskind taught in New York City's public schools for 25 years before becoming recognized as a photographer and then a gifted pioneer of photographic education. His vision and methods have and will continue to inspire and instruct future generations of artists and teachers.
The Aaron Siskind Foundation maintains this legacy by providing annual grants which “encourage and celebrate artistic achievement in contemporary photography by supporting the creative endeavors of individual artists working in still-photography and photography-based media.
John Wood: Collages, 1955 - 2006
Until December 12, 2009 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York
John Wood is known as an artist’s artist. He is one of the pre-eminent artists and educators of our time. A master of processes from straight photography, collage, cliché verre, solarization, mixed media, offset lithography to drawing. He has an incredible ability to work decisively across a variety of media with ease. Wood spent 35 years teaching photography and printmaking at the School of Art and Design at Alfred University in Alfred New York. His teaching, his art making, and his life are intricately entwined, each reinforcing the other.
Born in California in 1922, John Wood’s early childhood was marked by the effects of the Depression. His family made frequent moves, as his father sought better employment. While in third grade, John began taking drawing classes at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York for several years. In 1941 he volunteered for the Army Air Corps, where he trained as a B-17 pilot.
By 1950 John Wood was determined to study art and design. He subsequently trained as a visual designer and photographer at the Institute of Design in Chicago, John Wood’s work freely moves between conceptual and visual exploration. He loves to draw, the way some people love to read.
He has exhibited extensively and his work can be found in most major collections. John Wood’s exhibitions are noted for their breadth and strength. His work refuses to be shoehorned into one style. At a time, when specialization in art was the norm, he exhibited work in photography, drawing, printmaking and artist’s books. His unique books especially bring the power of his ideas into a cohesive whole.
This exhibition represents a survey of his collage work from the 1950s through 2006. Currently, John Wood lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, Laurie Snyder who teaches photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art. They migrate each summer to their home and studio in Ithaca, New York.
Bruce Silverstein /20: On View: selections from the gallery
Until December 12, 2009 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York
Jesse Chehak
Joel-Peter Witkin
Ernst Haas
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