Love In NYC

Hi All! Hope you are having a good week. 

Yesterday I decided to work on the The Museum of Messages.  As a creative I am inspired by expressions that are written all over the city. Since I am a photographer I feel that it is my duty to document these words because they have a very short life span. 

The Museum of Messages has its very own website. Yesterday I posted a few photos about love in NYC. 

Additionally their is a section on my studio website in which you can see some of the photos in a different format. 

I hope you enjoy!

I attended Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center in NYC last October and met with many creative professionals in portfolio review sessions organized by Palm Spring Photo Festival. In total I visited with 5 reviewers. One of them was Todd Bradway from D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers). 

The reason I selected him as a reviewer is because I have been working on a photo project titled The Museum of Messages for many years and I am currently looking for a publisher to print a book and or produce a digital e-book of my project. 

Todd gave me many helpful pointers on certain publishers I should contact as well as how to market my book. He told me that photo books aren't selling in the mass market and to introduce my book to publishers as an Art + Design book. I thought that was a brilliant idea! 

Above is a screen shot of a mock up book that I am creating in iPhoto to present to publishers. 

I am interested, what are your thoughts on the future of book publishing? 

Attention photo thieves! Yesterday I learned that Google came up with a system called Google Image Search . When a photographer drops one of his or her photos in the search cue it will search the whole web to see if others may be using his or her image without permission. 

I think a lot of copyright infringement lawsuits may be brewing.

As an artist I really hope that people learn that all the time and energy artists put into their work should be paid for not stolen.

I am thrilled to say that the owner of Miwa Alex bought Buddha 5, one of the photographs that I shot in Tibet in 2008 which is also part of The Museum of Messages. He is currently displaying the photo at Miwa Alex, in the Flatiron District, at 24 E. 22nd Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway in NYC until November 10, 2011.

Above is the e-zine I created in order to promote the group exhibition. Please note that I only showed a detail in the e-zine of the Buddha that I photographed. 

If you'd like to see the whole thing go to the Flatiron District and check it out. I am interested in hearing your opinion on my work. If you do visit, I hope you enjoy the show. 

In 10 days, Saturday September 24, 2011, my Photo and Design Exhibition will end at Miwa Alex, 24 E. 22nd Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway.

It started July 18, 2011 and has had a positive response. See designs and photography created in the studio. Also see photos from The Museum of Messages.

It is a lovely time of year to walk around the city. If you are in the Flatiron District, don't forget to go check the show out.

Opinions are welcome. Have a nice day!

Technological Waste in Ghana - Photo Opening at Yossi Milo Gallery Tonight 9/8/11 6-8 pm

 Pieter Hugo

Permanent Error

September 8–October 29, 2011

Artist’s Reception & Book Signing- http://bit.ly/pJ4KoW

Thursday, September 8, 6:00–8:00 pm

Yossi Milo Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of color photographs by Pieter Hugo, entitled Permanent Error. The exhibition will open on Thursday, September 8, and close on Saturday, October 29, with an opening reception for the artist and book signing on Thursday, September 8, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This is the artist’s third solo exhibition at the gallery.

Pieter Hugo’s new series, Permanent Error, depicts Agbogbloshie, a massive dump site for technological waste on the outskirts of Ghana’s capital city, and the locals who burn down the components to extract bits of copper, brass, aluminum and zinc for resale. Tons of outdated and broken computers, computer games, mobile phones and other e-waste are shipped to the area as “donations” from the West, under the guise of providing technology to developing countries. Rather than helping to bridge the digital divide, the equipment is transformed into noxious trash threatening the health of the area’s inhabitants and contaminating the water and soil.

Gray plumes of smoke rise from smoldering piles of disassembled monitors, motherboards and wiring, providing an apocalyptic backdrop for Hugo’s portraits of the workers. The subjects, many of whom are young men sent by their families from impoverished outlying villages, are photographed full-figure and directly engaged with Hugo’s medium-format camera. With each portrait, Hugo draws the viewer into the conditions imposed on this slum community and their effects on individuals. Collectively, the photographs expose consequences of the West’s consumption of ever-new technology and its disposal of outmoded products in poor countries ill-equipped to recycle them.

Pieter Hugo’s work was recently on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London; the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia; and the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland. A mid-career retrospective exhibition curated by Wim van Sinderen will open in February 2012 at The Hague Museum of Photography, The Netherlands, and will travel through 2014. Mr. Hugo received the 2008 Discovery Award at the Rencontres d'Arles Festival and the 2008 KLM Paul Hauf Award. His work is held in the permanent collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, among others. The artist’s previous books, The Hyena & Other Men (2007) and Nollywood (2009) were published by Prestel, which released Permanent Error in March 2011. Pieter Hugo was born in South Africa in 1976 and currently lives and works near Cape Town.

The second annual Chelsea Art Walk will take place in New York City at over 125 galleries and art institutions on Thursday, July 28, 2011 from 5 to 8 p.m.

In addition to extended hours at all of the locations, there will be special events such as talks by artists, curators, and gallery owners, live performances, book sales, book signings and receptions. Check it out at http://artwalkchelsea.com/