On first viewing, Cecil McDonald, Jr’s images of his three daughters, his wife and himself appear to be snapshots – everyday moments caught on film. But nothing could be further from the truth, as McDonald seeks to reinvent mundane events that occur at home. Like Tina Barney and Carrie Mae Weems, McDonald’s seeks to examine his daily life by recreating situations that are both autobiographical yet universal. A young child dances to music as her sister prepares food in the kitchen; a father and daughter argue in the car; the ritual of braiding hair in the morning; a father stealing a quite moment in bed to read. All of these perceived truths are reenacted, allowing scenes of observed domesticity to be viewed as a visual object. Through these photographs, we question the reality presented and must decide, for ourselves, the truths these scenes portray.

Frances Before Dinner, 2006 © Cecil McDonald, Jr.

Subscribe today on En Foco’s website and read more about their programing here.

Previous blog posts about Cecil McDonald, Jr.:
Cecil McDonald, Jr. selected for the 2010 Lucerne residency

Cecil McDonald, Jr. receives 2010 3Arts Award

Cecil McDonald, Jr. in The Denver Post

La sesión fotografíca, 2010 © Rachelle Mozman

Our latest installment of Ctrl+P features the work of Rachelle Mozman. Mozman grew up in New York City, and New Jersey and currently makes work between Brooklyn and Central America. As an artist working in photography and video, her practice intersects both documentary and narrative tendencies. Mozman is fascinated with ideas of ethnography and her work engages themes around family, class and gender divides. In 2012, she was awarded an AIR at The Camera Club of NY, she participated in The (S) Files Biennial at El Museo del Barrio, received a Lens Culture 2nd Prize Award and was an AIR at Smack Mellon. In 2010, Mozman exhibited her series Costa del Este through En Foco’s Traveling Exhibition program and she participated in 31 Women in Art Photography. A selection of photographs from her series Costa del Este were published in the Light Work annual Contact Sheet as well as Humble Foundation’s, The Collectors Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2.

En el cuarto de la niña, 2010 © Rachelle Mozman

In Casa de Mujeres Mozman’s mother plays the role of three women in one fictional Latin American home. Mozman’s photographs can be read as portraits of her mother as various selves – images that reveal the conflict of vanity, race and class that live within one woman, just as in one family. In these photographs the three women, a pair of twin sisters, one lighter in skin color and a maid, are family and they hold both love and contempt for each other in equal measure, but they are also the love and contempt housed in one woman. Mozman’s fascination with identity of the self, and her personal relationship to her mother has moved her to make these photographs, an act that through photography and performance allows the real to bubble to the surface. – Rachelle Mozman

Links:
Rachelle Mozman’s website

Camera Club of New York
humble arts foundation
Lensculture
Nueva Luz

Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, May 4th from 5:00 – 7:00pm  (artist will be present) and for the artist talk and book signing on Saturday, May 5 at Noon.

Frankie with Shucky Beans, 2002 © Shelby Lee Adams

Shelby Lee Adams was born in 1950 in Hazard, a small town in eastern Kentucky. Although he grew up in the back seat of his father’s car, moving from place to place, he settled near Hot Spot, living with his grandparents while he attended high school. It was there, trapped between the worlds of country and town kids, that Adams found solace in art and photography books.

Then, in the mid 1960s, the Peace Corps and other government agencies descended on Appalachia to document the poverty sweeping the area. When a film crew visited his hometown, Adams took them to his meet his grandparents and his uncle, a country doctor. When the media described them as malnourished and poor, his friends and family felt betrayed. This devastated Adams, who felt he had misled the people he so dearly loved — an experience that profoundly impacted his life and launched a career in photography dedicated to the region.

For more than thirty years, Shelby Lee Adams has been photographing in Appalachia, visiting families within the mountain hollers. Salt & Truth is his fourth book dedicated to the people of this region, and is a testament to his commitment to present his friends and family with dignity and truth. Although he now lives in Massachusetts, Shelby Lee Adams’ heart is forever in Appalachia.

Napier Brothers with Puppies, 1993 © Shelby Lee Adams

James, 2003 © Shelby Lee Adams

Jerry at James’ Funeral, 2009 © Shelby Lee Adams

Shelby’s new book, salt & truth, is available for purchase at CEG & online in our bookstore.
All events are free and open to the public.
For more information visit www.edelmangallery.com

“Some of Roy Lichtenstein’s most iconic works depict single out-of-context frames from romance comics. Focusing on this theme, I set out to comment on relationships. Specifically the differences in men’s and women’s priorities and communication styles in a relationship. When it comes to love, what we say, think, want, and assume all come together to create a distorted reflection of what is really going on. I find both humor and misfortune in this dynamic and incorporated both into the video for Dialogue.”

Stop by CEG to see this piece in person. Be prepared to stay and watch the full 9 minute video, though, as this piece will suck you in…

Our latest installment of Ctrl+P features the work of Caitlin Teal Price. Caitlin was born in Chicago, IL, and grew up in Washington, DC. She received her BFA in photography from the Parsons School of Design in 2002, and her MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2009. She has exhibited both internationally and nation wide and her work is in the collection of the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum in San Bernardino, CA. Her work has been featured in publications including The New Yorker, The Washington Post Magazine, Details, Vogue, Vice, Nylon, Capricious magazine, Sony Music and Universal Pictures. Caitlin currently lives and works in Washington, DC.

Leslie, 2010 © Caitlin Teal Price

In Annabelle, Annabelle women stand transfixed in and among severe everyday landscapes, connected to the world by the objects surrounding them. Each frame is carefully constructed but what lies just beyond is uncertain, perhaps threatening and ultimately left for wonder. These women, with strength and wisdom in the depth of their age, stand boldly and carefully alone, and offer us the opportunity to create stories about life and death, power and vulnerability, magnificence and uncertainty. — Caitlin Teal Price

Marge, under overpass, 2009 © Caitlin Teal Price

Links:
Caitlin Teal Price’s website and blog

GOOD Culture  – March 2012

FlakPhoto – February 2012

FFFFOUND – February 2012

Someplace Something – February 2012

talenthouse – December 2011

The Pink Line Project – November 2011

Brightest Young Things – November 2011

The New Yorker – November 2010

Shelby Lee Adams: salt & truth
May 4 – June 30, 2012

Opening reception with the artist:
Friday, May 4, 5:00-7:00pm

Artist Talk & Book Signing:
Saturday, May 5, at noon

(all events are held at CEG and are open to the public)

Spirit Photograph - Holding Hands, 2012 © Lauren E. Simonutti

You can read more about the Individual Artists Awards program online here.

March 2 – April 28, 2012

OPENING RECEPTION WITH THE ARTIST:
Friday, March 2, 5 – 7 pm

ARTIST TALK IN THE GALLERY:
Saturday, March 3 at noon

Oil Spill #6, 2010 © Daniel Beltrá

Photography has always been in a unique position to document reality as it happens. Armed with a camera, photographers capture events as they unfold, often editing once they return to their studio. There is a rich history of contemporary photographers who have spent their careers exposing environmental practices and injustices. Daniel Beltrá has spent more than 20 years traveling the world, showing us the effects of mankind on our vast landscape. Seducing viewers through beauty, Beltrá carefully reveals the effects of industrialization in the name of progress. As he states:

The fragile state of our ecosystems is a continuous thread throughout my work. It is in nature’s beauty and complexity that I find my inspiration. My photographs show the vast scale of transformation our world is under from man-made stresses. To capture this, I have found it is often best to work from the air, which more easily allows for the juxtaposition of nature with the destruction wrought by unsustainable development. Aerial photography gives a unique perspective emphasizing that the Earth and its resources are finite. By taking viewers to remote locations where man and nature are at odds, I hope to instill a deeper appreciation for the precarious balance we are imposing on the planet.

In 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, Beltrá spent two months photographing this man-made disaster from an airplane. The result, SPILL, is an arresting group of images, which shows the vastness of the beauty and destruction he witnessed.

Oil Spill #4, 2010 © Daniel Beltrá

Daniel Beltrá was born in Madrid, Spain in 1964. For more than two decades, Beltrá’s work has taken him to all seven continents, including several expeditions to the Brazilian Amazon, the Arctic, the Southern Oceans and the Patagonian ice fields. For his work on the Gulf Oil Spill, he received the 2011 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award, the Lucie Award for the International Photographer of the Year – Deeper Perspective, and was chosen as a finalist for Critical Mass for Photolucida. In 2009, Beltrá received the prestigious Prince’s Rainforest Project award granted by Prince Charles. Other highlights include the inaugural “Global Vision Award” from the Pictures of the Year International in 2008. In 2007 and 2006 he received awards for his work in the Amazon from World Press Photo. Daniel’s work has been published by the most prominent international publications including The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Le Monde, and El Pais, amongst many others. Daniel Beltrá is a fellow of the prestigious International League of Conservation Photographers and currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

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