Gallery Hopping on Thursdays: August 22, 2013

This week we will be looking at two photographers.

Dede Wilsey.

The artists we are looking at this week chronicle culture and its variables, using the camera lens as a facilitator and partner in crime. The resulting photograph is often elusive but the factors at play—culture and time—give these images of architecture and people an enigmatic sense of power. In Zurich, an exclusive selection of portraits of San Francisco’s elite will be on display in an exhibition that commemorates Larry Sultan’s keen ability to communicate the fallacy of visual representation. In New York, Art Now NY presents a series of works by an anonymous photographer who trespasses prohibited areas in pursuit of glimpses into the urban extremities of New York City.

Larry Sultan: SF Society will be on view on August 22 to November 22 at gallery foucs21, Beethovenstrasse 20 8002 Zurich, Switzerland.

Dede Wilsey of SF Society by Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan, Dede Wilsey of SF Society, gallery foucs21, Zurich, Switzerland

For their first fall show, gallery focus21 will be showcasing eight works by late photographer Larry Sultan (American, 1946–2009). The portraits were originally taken to accompany an editorial piece in W magazine, an American publication known for its thought-provoking material and in-depth coverage of high society in America and Europe. Sultan often explored the tension between fact and fiction in Figurative photography. He approached this project on San Francisco’s upper crust in the same manner as he approached the rest of his work. The portraits prove to be less of a commentary about San Francisco’s social hierarchy and more of a contemporary adaptation of the artistic tradition of portraiture among the upper class. In this series of photographs, the settings are lavish and the figures are dressed fashionably, but little is revealed beyond their obvious wealth. Poses are restrained, but tension exists with the play of light between foreground and background, while the inclusion of props, children, and pets provide visual rhetoric.

Gotham Ruins will be on view on August 22 to August 31 at Art Now NY, 548 28th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, USA.

2E, Gotham Ruins

2E, Gotham Ruins, Art Now NY, New York, NY

In his first solo exhibition in New York City, emerging artist 2E will be presenting a series of photographs that take the viewers beyond the facades of the cosmopolitan city. The artist remains anonymous because most of his shots are taken in areas that are barred from the public, including subway tunnels and condemned buildings. This exploration of restricted sites allows 2E to capture the unfamiliar angles of recognizable urban structures, at times suggesting the inevitable fate that awaits them as the city population expands and building developments emerge.

Browse openings by city to see where art can be found in your town!

Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Flo Maak: Seascapes
August 22–October 12, 2013
Bernhard Knaus Fine Art
Niddastrasse 84, D-60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Seattle, Washington
Lynne Woods Turner: Paintings and Roger Shimomura: An American Knockoff: Paintings
August 22–September 28, 2013
Greg Kucera Gallery
212 Third Avenue South, Seattle, Washington 98104, USA

Stockholm, Sweden
Artists Anonymous: ugly =≠ beauty pretty never (Stockholm)
August 22–September 28, 2013
Wetterling Gallery
Kungstradgarden 3, 11147 Stockholm, Sweden


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