Art Out: Larry Fink - Retrospective, Alice Mann and Seydou Keïta, Brandon Giessmann: Raw Water

Larry Fink GQ Party, August 1997  © Larry Fink courtesy Galerie Bene Taschen

Larry Fink - Retrospective

January 27 - April 3, 2021 (by appointment only)

Galerie Bene Taschen

Moltkestraße 81, 50674 Cologne

Larry Fink (*1941) has devoted 65 years of his life to photography. His work has been  featured in solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in  New York, among others. Galerie Bene Taschen is pleased to present a retrospective  with a selection of photo series, including The Vanities, Social Graces, The Beats,  Somewhere There’s Music, and Boxing Images.  

Fink gathered his first photographic experiences in New York and later relocated from  Brooklyn to Pennsylvania. Attending The New School for Social Research in New York City  sparked his interest in sociological perspectives.  

People are at the heart of Fink’s work. His photo books focus thematically on the different  social groups he has depicted. The Vanities brings together images of Hollywood celebrities at  parties, which Fink captured over the years as either an invited guest or official photographer.  His role is that of a silent observer, standing on the sidelines. Documenting the partygoers’  interactions, he captures precious moments of intimacy: a glance over the shoulder, a smile,  an insecure gesture. 

People enveloped in diffuse light are brought to the fore by the accentuated lighting. It is not  their social status, but more subtle details that are conveyed, such as attire and attitude.  Instead of being stylized from a distance and elevated to icons, they are depicted in banal  situations.  

In addition to Hollywood parties, Fink also photographed society’s elite at art openings, galas,  and private receptions. In Social Graces, these works are juxtaposed with images he took of  the Sabatines, a working-class family living in the rural town of Martins Creek, Pennsylvania.  Details from ordinary life – from a cake celebrating a child’s 8th birthday to a plate of  spaghetti – hint at the different family occasions. In bringing together these two vastly  different worlds, Fink gives us a non-judgmental picture of society’s different facets.  

Values, Dr Van Der Ross Drummies, 2017, © Alice Mann and Seydou Keïta courtesy Danziger Gallery

ALICE MANN and SEYDOU KEÏTA

November 12 – January 8, 2021

Danziger at Fetterman

Bergamot Station, Santa Monica.

Born circa 1921, Keïta lived in Bamako where he ran a successful portrait studio. Essentially self-taught, Keïta developed his trademark style photographing his sitters in daylight against a variety of backdrops from plain drapes to vibrant African pattern. Some brought items they wanted to be photographed with but Keïta also had a selection of accessories and clothing at his subject’s disposal. No matter the situation Keïta had a natural gift and a refined aesthetic that made his portraits true and distinctive works of art.

Unknown to the West for most of his career, Keïta was “discovered” by westerners in the early 90’s by the African Art collector Jean Pigozzi and his curator André Magnin who brought 921 negatives to Paris to make the first archival prints of the images under Keïta’s supervision.

In 1994 Keïta a was given a solo show at the Fondation Cartier followed by museum shows around the world. By the time of his death in 2001, Keïta was not only recognized as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century but in his use of contrasting backdrops, his work has influenced a whole generation of artists, most notably painters Mickalene Thomas and Kehinde Wiley, and triggered a worldwide interest in African photography.

Mann, now 29 years old, grew up in Cape Town and aims to create images that empower her subjects. The “Drummies”as they are known range in age from five to eighteen. The aspirational culture of the sport creates a safe space empowering the Drummies in an all- female structure. They are encouraged to excel within the team and the sense of belonging and identifying with its positive culture provides a life affirming experience in a society where opportunities for young women are often severely limited.

In the environment many of the Drummies grow up in women’s rights are often challenged and violence against women is commonplace.  Regional excellence promises future scholarships, or at the very least a chance to go on national tours. But, the sport is expensive, and few parents can easily afford it. Looking at the images with that in mind, one can see the aspiration that buttresses every pose and practiced smile. But the photos, Mann said, show the Drummies “how they want to show themselves— uniformed, painted, done up.”

Mann’s work has been published in The Guardian, The New Yorker and The British Journal of Photography. Her series ‘Drummies’ was selected as a winner of the 2018 LensCulture emerging photographer prize and she was recently awarded London’s National Gallery Taylor Wessing portraiture prize, the first time that a series has ever been selected.

Danziger at Fetterman will be open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 to 5. Appointments preferred and Covid protocol required.

For more information please contact: info@danzigergallery.com

Brandon Giessmann: Raw Water

January 16-February 20

Cepa Gallery

617 Main St, Buffalo New York 14203

There is something precious and horrifying about the way mourning unites people. Inheriting a legacy laden with grief lacks the same clarity. Expressions of remembrance become voyeuristic, feel shallow or inauthentic, and fetishize an unfamiliar pain and ignorance. History seems romantic, full of tragedies that prompted loves and losses with intensities unfathomable to me. Like deep water, the ’80s and ’90s are alluring and unfamiliar. I grew up surrounded by prairies, mountains, and now PrEP. Open water envelopes like the past does, prompting a saturation that seems inescapable. I am drowning in an ocean of meager decades, desperately filling my lungs with fluid, hoping that sinking will reveal something that remains unclear from the surface.

Brandon Giessmann is a Canadian visual artist and writer who explores trauma, identity, and memory. He received his BFA from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2018 and his MFA from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2020. His interdisciplinary practice often uses performance, photography, and installation to bridge generational gaps in knowledge and experiences of being in the closet, of genocide, consider the effects of the ongoing AIDS crisis, and reflect upon the role that institutions play in the conservation and presentation of queer histories.