
Deep into new edit . . . . Adirondacks (July, 2015)
Psyched to have been selected for Oranbeg Press’ “ECTOPLASM” exhibit, juried by Belgium photographer Ulrike Biets. Big shout out to Oranbeg Press mastermind John O’Toole in all that he does with OP

from “Ectoplasm” juried exhibition by Ulrike Biets for Oranbeg Press (July, 2015)

Can’t put it down . . . a photobook where conceptual play does not detract the experience. Quite the editing here . . . I wasn’t surprised to see Roe Etheridge’s name in the acknowledgments. I’m new to Matthew Porter’s photography. “Archipelago” pulls from the history of his output (from what I’ve gathered), utilizing a simple, affective page template that creates a provisional pathway to a transcendental headspace. The tangibility of the book, with its aerated hard cover, mimics the weightlessness of a buoy. The viewer waxes and wanes turning the pages, bathed in Porter’s unique color, sometimes technicolor, sometimes subdued . . . . A great trip. (Mack Books, 2015)

Archipelago by Matthew Porter (Mack Books, 2015)
Matted . . . photopolymer etchings, 2015.

Photopolymer Etchings, 2015
The best $40 I have possibly ever spent. Even better than splurging for a case of Guinness. This set published by TIS books (This Is Sausage), unveiled just a couple weeks back at the Philadelphia Art Book Fair, is beyond beautiful in its meditation on place, pilgrimage, investigation and memory. All 4 books by Tim Carpenter, Nelson Chan, Carl Wooley & J Carrier are unique and humbling in their restrained visual execution. The guys knew exactly how to place the experience in the viewers hands, softbinding perfectly in 6 x 7.5″ format, and printed precisely to compliment the light, tone and color that all 4 photographers are clearly stimulated by and confident in rendering. Such a distilling collection of photographs to amble with pensiveness in peace.

TIS01, By Tim Capenter, Nelson Chan, Carl Wooley & J Carrier, © TIS Books, 2015
This is the time in the northeast to get inside the wooded interior and peregrinate the blithesome creek. Before the ticks. Before katydids, or the excitement of hyacinthus. Naturally, the mind brakes the body and idles itself at bends and tiny falls along its length. The watershed penetrates the bone, snow-thawed. The water echoes giddily, euphoric like a kid high on jelly beans. A fine slot to boot.
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How is it more than one Spam can has made its way down to this tucked away bank? Dawn detergent. Ivory soap. Motor oil pails, years rusted and faded to photogenic patina. When? Why? This is nowhere, of any kind, for a rest stop. It’s a fair distance from the road, backwoods, a spot far between possible parking of a car. Who takes the time to heave this dump? Walks this far, with such weight, to this spot? I wonder sometimes if I envy the guiltless, not the ignorant, just the real assholes.
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I walk on. I sit on stumps that seem intentionally cut for the wayward. I cross the creek back and forth a dozen times. It seems only a few years ago I traversed such stones as a kid, in wading boots, knee deep at times, in dark water, for miles. Or was it mere yards? I miss the blur of distance once had during young innocence . . . memory, instead, in the wake. Time is a pale, rough hewn scar. I dig my nails in to pick it back open, starting a new scab. Fresh blood sealing the seams.
(Walking, 4.2.15)
Big shout out to Nathan Pearce and his “Midwest Dirt”. The book is a fine gem, consisting of images made and sequenced with a sincerity that depicts a rural American town and its inhabitants in southern Illinois. Without exploiting or simplifying the character of place by resorting to the ever-cliche’ lawless or hopelessness of small town life, Nathan’s eye delivers an intimate environmental portrait of his home turf. He’s resolute with his camera in portraying kinship, assuasive pleasures and poetry in rural isolation. Beautifully designed by AkinaBooks, for Pearce’s Same Coin Press imprint, in two sections, stitching two pamphlets together. Alex Bocchetto and Velentina Abenavoli have a great way of showcasing photography with designs that prove just the right touch of novelty to exemplify the work and viewing experience. Wonderful publication

Midwest Dirt, by Nathan Pearce, 2014 (Same Coin Press)

Summit, Mount Haycock (photopolymer etching, edition of 8)
Framed and delivered to Art Works for the opening of their internationally Juried 2nd Annual Printmaking Exhibition. The show runs from at Art Works from March 11 – April 25th, 2015 (opening reception March 14, 6-8:00pm).


Drive-by, Spinnerstown (© Michael Ast, 2015)