2023 AIPAD

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), the oldest photography fair, opened this March at Center415 on Fifth Avenue. This particular version of the fair included an array of silver gelatin vintage prints, contemporary and vintage alternative process works, and a delightful range of color photographs. The maze-like setting reminded me of my first encounter with AIPAD over 15 years ago as an undergrad. There were so many images to look at, some in bins, from photographers I had only read about at the time. This year, walking through the new space, I was transported to that first visit when I could see so many inspiring masters all in one space; Stieglitz, Man Ray, Dorothea Lange, Aaron Siskind, Josef Sudek, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, and so many more.

© Masao Yamamoto, Untitled (AM #7) Collodion Ambrotype @ Yancey Richardson

As an alternative process photographer, I was delighted to see Japanese photographer Masao Yamamoto’s ambrotypes at Yancey Richardson Gallery. His small-scale works explore the relationship between photography and memory, often in the Japanese countryside. These atmospheric landscapes are so rewarding. The more time I spent with them, the more I was compelled to look deeper.

© Masao Yamamoto, Untitled (AM #8), 2023. Collodion Ambrotype @ Yancey Richardson

Robert Mann’s solo exhibition of Cig Harvey’s jewel-like prints was a visual treat. As a writer and artist, Harvey’s works are a visual expression of what it is to feel. Her saturated imagery is layered with implied narrative and is deeply rooted in the natural world.

©Cig Harvey Emerald Coat with Dahlia Petal @Robert Mann

©Cig Harvey Wisteria @Robert Mann

©Cig Harvey Slice Of Cake @Robert Mann

At Gitterman Gallery, I rediscovered my early love for Dieter Appelt and his performative surreal photographs. In this image, made with four silver gelatin prints from 16mm, Appelt uses elements of his body covered in plaster and gauze to elude to themes of death, decay, rebirth, and the ephemeral. While at Gitterman, I had the pleasure of viewing a Jean-Pierre Sudre Mordancage from 1965-67, which is a process he invented after the 19th-century technique of etch-bleaching or mordançage; an alternative photographic process that chemically bleaches the print so that it can be redeveloped, black areas of the emulsion are lifted away from the paper giving the appearance of veils. Sudre’s exploratory photographs dealt with both spiritual and metaphysical concerns. It was particularly exciting to see this blue print.

Dieter Appelt @ Gitterman Gallery

Jean-Pierre Sudre @ Gitterman Gallery

Obscura Gallery featured a monumental print from contemporary artist Rashod Taylor whose works address themes of family, culture, legacy, and the black experience. His ongoing project documenting his son in the series Little Black Boy is a poignant reminder of the fleeting innocence of youth and the unfortunate dangers of being black in America.

Rashod Taylor @ Obscura Gallery

Jackson Fine Art exhibited monumental images by the artists duo Cooper and Gorfer. Their work explores identity and the female experience through large-scale layered collage. These physically assembled collages deconstruct the portrait into complex fragmentation of the body, challenging notions of femininity while allowing the female forms to take up space. What was most striking about these hybrid works was the level of depth in the images. Using photography as a point of departure, Cooper and Gorfer engage with how our socio-cultural and economic background can influence our sense of self and the many layers of experience which shape us.

©COOPER & GORFER Ruby Blue, 2022 @ JACKSON FINE ART

© COOPER & GORFER The Wrestle, 2022 @ JACKSON FINE ART

At Catherine Couturier Gallery, I became familiar with the works of Patty Carroll, whose whimsical studio installations address themes of domestic and the mundane. In her series Anonymous Women, Carroll creates vibrant, color-saturated sets for the camera in which a domestic object or draped fabric hides the figure. These fabricated sets become a play space for the artist to act out the realities of domesticated life and the fictional possibilities of the absurd. The resulting images are lush, colorful, and full of humor.

©Patty Carroll Cat nap, 2021 @ Catherine Couturier Gallery

©Patty Carroll Atomic Kitchen, 2022 @ Catherine Couturier Gallery

©Patty Carroll Driven to Drink, 2022 @ Catherine Couturier Gallery

Galina Kurlat (b. 1981, Russia) is a photographic artist living in Brooklyn, NY, she earned her BFA in Media Arts from Pratt Institute. Kurlat creates a visual relationship between herself and her subject by embracing the imperfections and possibilities of antiquated photographic processes. Her works undulate between the recognizable and the ephemeral. By accepting the change and chaos inherent in photographic materials Kurlat challenges photography as a historically representational medium.

Kurlat’s work has been shown in Korea, India, Scotland, France and the US. Recent exhibitions include “Vestige”, treat gallery at VOLTA, “Process”, Studio Bizio in Edinburgh, “Touch me Touch you”, Jinju International Photo Festival, South Korea, “Self-Processing- Instant Photography”, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. Her work is collected throughout the US and abroad.

Kurlat has been published in Oxford American, Fraction Magazine, Houston Chronicle, Diffusion IX and Fraction of a Second, Radius Books along with numerous other periodicals and catalogs.  She is the cofounder of Main Street Projects, an artist-run organization in Houston which has hosted over 150 local, national and international artists to date. MSP is an artists’ initiative which brings art into urban surroundings.

During 2005-2011 Kurlat curated a number of multi-media and site specific exhibitions in alternate spaces throughout NYC.