Exhibitionary - Hendrik Kerstens Photography

This is Hendrik Kerstens's photography exhibit currently in Danziger Gallery. All the images in this collection are photographs of his own daughter. They are all large scale prints that imitates the style of oil paintings. And those photographs are very appealing in a weird way. He uses some unexpected props on his daughter and create some interesting visual effects.

The way he plays with this photography media is very interesting. For example, in photo on the left side, he puts a pile of napkins on her neck that seems like a "bonnet". 

In this photograph, he just puts a plastic bag on her head which looks like a giant medieval hat.

By printing in a particular style, he softens the skin tone and creates very beautiful portraits. I really like the style he makes of these portraits. I especially like the fact that they are very Renaissance portraits looking as the figure is posed in a certain way and is lifted out of the context to be put in a complete monochrome background. But at the same time they all have very novel and creative sides.

Anyway, one more photo of the beautiful sunny chelsea!

Exhibitionary - BEAT MEMORIES Allen Ginsberg

“Without even intending it, there is that little shiver of a moment in time preserved in the crystal cabinet of the mind. A little shiver of eternal space. That’s what I was looking for.” - Allen Ginsberg, 1979

Today, we went to see the Allen Ginsberg’s photographs collection called BEAT MEMORIES, which is currently on exhibit at NYU Grey Art Gallery. As we all know, Allen Ginsberg is the leading figure of the Beat Generation. He is not only known for his poems, but also those valuable black and white photographs that greatly represent the memories of beat generation.

Most of the photographs are the portraits of Ginsberg’s friends, which include many great figures of the Beat Generation ranged from musicians, writers, photographers, to filmmakers. Such as Bob Dylan, Harry Smith, Robert Frank, Gregory Corso, and William Burroughs, just to name a few. What I personally love about these portraits, are the fact that they are not very intended. They are more like daily snapshots under very casual circumstance. A lot of the portraits are taken across a dining table. Some of the photographs are very bold, but in the same time are taken very unintentionally. There are also many his self-portraits. From these beautiful first hand sources, we can see these artists and writers’ life in New York from the 50s to 80s.

If you are in New York, definitely go to NYU Grey Art Gallery and check out this exhibit, plus, it is free! It ends on April 6, 2013.