[AGL] photo art talk

[Connie Clark]

Friday was opening night of the biennial fotofest 2008
here in Houston.  

The opening night reception at fotofest headquarters
attracted a respectable crowd, but for a city this
size - it was surprising small.  Good for Randy and
me, we were able to jump right to the free martini bar
without any lines, as well as easy access to the New
Photo of China exhibit.

The photo show housed at the headquarters features the
work of the successful Three Shadows artists in
Beijing showing work from the mid 1990s to today.
There was a preponderence of photoart that mix
traditional Chinese iconography, etc. with non Chinese
images - as one would expect. Bright and brilliant
color in one series, with Chinese painted faces and
bodies, nude figures posing as gods and goddesses,
headdresses and arcs with Chinese caligraphy, barefeet
planted on Minnie Mouse and US department store
inflated lips.

Wasn't the mouse the image under Mao of the United
States, signifying our fearfulness.

One of my favorite immages was a series of square
format shots aligned orderly across and down the
montgage (like proof shots), of a modern day man in
regular western garb, next to another man or woman
showing the different characters, workers, old style,
new style.  There were a hundred or more shots, each
identical in size and pose. B/W.

But some may have found the mock, or posed modern-day
youthful gang violence interesting. Turned me off.

Saturday night we found the Elder Gallery in a
neglected and forgotten area near downtown.  Elder and
Dart Street neighborhood is home to some really neat
studio spaces. I had never known it existed.

The Elder Street Gallery featured the work of the very
famous Chinese photographer/journalist Jiang ShooWu. 
His work was done during the mid 50s through 1968 of
the Cultural Revolution.  These photos are just now
being displayed, and this is the first time in the US.
 His son was there, introduced himself, and talked
Randy and I through the exhibit of the really unique
pictoral history of the time captured by his father. 
The children in the large black and white photos sure
looked happy and healthy.  The sign of previous
hardship was evident in the old folks, as well as the
humility of losing one's land to the commune in one
particular scene that the photographer recorded.  Most
of the photos were not what the CP wanted published,
so he kept them hidden for decades.

The fotofest exhibits last through April 20th.

Later this week, weather permitting, I will visit an
exhibit of Tibet photos.

Connie