AIPAD 2023

Subdued yet sophisticated, AIPAD’s highly curated photographic selections were like sampling a prix fixe dinner—being offered a discerning experience with moments of creative excellence. I was satiated, yet not full.

I was pleased to be introduced to work by artist that were new to me. Here are a few of my standouts:

Robert Klein Gallery made a bold statement with a floor to ceiling wall of Arne Svenson’s Future Past. His banal peopleless landscapes of American homes across the country are internet-sourced addresses of where children had been killed by gun violence. His hauntingly innocent images reflect the horror coming to the families who live there—these daily losses of children are the consistent drumbeat of terror, lost in the cacophony of the crisis of mass shootings in the U.S. Svenson’s intention is to activate awareness, empathy and action.

Ole Marius Joergensen is a Norwegian photographer represented by Momentum Fine Art. He uses photography as an introspective tool, placing internal and external landscapes in conversation. He bridges the personal with the social, cultural and geographic.

Artist Annie Hsiao-Ching Wang has garnered international recognition for her reframing of motherhood as the penultimate creative practice. Stephen Daiter Gallery hung a grid of Mother As A Creator, her multi-layered, engaging and innovative self portrait series with her son. Stunning in its intelligent power, this was a welcome encounter.

Laurence Millar Gallery introduced me to the architectural-based play of perspective by Raissa Venables. Red Room Green, 2000 and Dining Car, 2007 were slender slivers of fun and color that caught my curiosity.

Lanza, Galerie Sit Down

Somehow, the work of Marco Lanza exhibited by Galerie Sit Down eluded me at Paris Photo. I found his genius concept of splicing and rearranging vernacular photos to be an image-based game—a mixture of a crossword puzzle and Tetris. Clever, engaging and an offering of wry insight.

Carroll, Catherine Couturier

A match made in curatorial heaven was to have the cheekily layered satirical tableau created by Patty Carroll knowingly amplified by gallerist Catherine Couturier. Carroll’s crafted renditions of stereotypical housewife troupes shout outrage in shockingly bold monochrome.

I am always glad to encounter some of my favorite known photographers. And many who have become friends. These include:

Harvey, Robert Mann Gallery. Photo via Robert Mann Gallery Website

The ever-elegant Cig Harvey, in a solo exhibition at Robert Mann Gallery.

I tease Anastasia Samoylova that she is either a time-traveler or has a body double to aid her in traveling to all the places her work is currently being shown around the world. It was fun to catch up, take in her archive of publications and view her Breakfasts With series, featured by Laurence Miller Gallery.

Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery gave us a stunningly intimate series of self-portraits by the lye Melissa Shook. The black and white series was shot in Wellfleet, MA and offers an airy abstraction of an introspective time with her daughter.

CLAMP placed the powerful self-portraiture of Aida Muluneh next to that of Jess T. Dugan. This particular wall became an apt metaphor for my take away of this year’s show—exploration, expression and a strong-handed call to arms to utilize our most human strengths of curiosity and creativity to foster compassion and celebration.

Photoville 2023

San Francisco Art

J. Sybylla Smith