The fall season opens with outstanding variety as always - from political art at Museum of the City of New York and Society of Illustrators to dragon subjugation dances hosted by the Rubin Museum of Art to a full-fledged BLAB! retrospective at Kansas State University’s Beach Museum of Art. Roberts + Tilton reopens in LA with a new free-standing building designed to accommodate large scale and performance-based art, while here in New York, Aicon Gallery launches a new space in the Bowery Arts District with opening night music by Indian Ocean, an Indian Classical Music/Rock fusion group. Please check websites for details about exhibitions and public programs.

Four from the BLAB! retrospective, left to right: Gary Baseman, Ryan Heshka, Archer Prewitt, The Clayton Brothers. Copyright the artists, courtesy of BLAB!

NEW YORK CITY
Tiam O’Shian IV
Team Gallery
September 2- October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 2, 6 pm

Zoe Beloff: The Somnambulist
Bellwether Gallery
September 2 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 6 - 8 pm

Head Games: Dress Candy featuring sculpture and jewelry by Sara Singh and Arlene Guerra
Gallery Hanahou
September 3 - October 7, 2008
RSVP to kick off Fashion Week at the September 3rd opening reception.

Alexey Kallima: Chechnya Women’s Team of Parachute Jumping and Its Virtual Fans
Lehmann Maupin Gallery
September 4 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 2008 6 - 8 pm

Mike Cloud, Agreement and Subjectivity
Max Protetch
September 4 - 27, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Jane Bloodgood-Abrams
DFN Gallery
September 4 - September 27, 2008

The Form Itself featuring work by Talia Chetrit, Adrian Crabbs, Joy Drury Cox, Van Hanos, David Haxton, Matt Johnson, Ryan Kitson, Roula Partheniou and Austin Willis
Priska Juschka Fine Art
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 2008 6 - 9 pm

More Than Words featuring work by Carl Andre, Fiona Banner, Nayland Blake, Michael Cooper, Lesley Dill, Stephen Ellis, Lee Etheredge IV, Graham Gillmore, Guy Goodwin, Shirazeh Houshiary, Robert Indiana, Ellen Kahn, Joyce Kim, Lawrence Lee, Glenn Ligon, Mark Lombardi, Suzanne McClelland, Bruce Nauman, Aaron Parazette, Richard Prince, Nicolas Rule, Ed Ruscha, John Walker, Michael Waugh among others
Von Lintel Gallery
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Jeph Gurecka: Shiny Bright Souvenir
31 Grand
September 4 - October 5, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 7 - 9pm

Scrawl featuring handmade pronouncements collected from the streets and subways of NYC over the last 25 years
Apex Art
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm
October 2, 6 - 9 pm: Panel discussion with author Luc Sante, curator Harley Spiller and others

Politics 08 curated by Edel Rodriguez and featuring political art by Steve Brodner, Philip Burke, Tim O’Brien, Hanoch Piven, Stephen Kroninger, Luba Lukova and Barry Blitt
Society of Illustrators
September 4 - October 4, 2008

Falling Away featuring work by Jessica Drenk, Joseph Farbrook, James Frazo, Margaret Inga, Kiseok Kim, Songyi Kim, Carol Pfeffer, Lana Santorelli, Natalie Tyler, Heayeon Yoon
Lana Santorelli Gallery
September 4 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 9pm

Jesse McCloskey, Think on the Glass that Runs for Thee
Christopher Henry Gallery
September 5 - October 12, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 6 - 9 pm

Jeffar Khaldi: Desert Disco
Thierry Goldberg Projects
September 5 - October 5 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 6 - 8 pm

Phyllis Bramson: Kerfuffles
Claire Oliver Gallery
September 5 - October 4, 2008

Camille Rose Garcia: Ambien Somnambulants
Jonathan LeVine Gallery
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 7 - 9 pm

Jennifer Coates: Paintings and Drawings
Kinz, Tillou + Feigen
September 9 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 9, 6 - 8 pm

Simon Linke: Artforum Advertisement Paintings
Mirielle Mosler Ltd.
September 9 - October 25, 2008

What is Piven Made Of? An Evening with Hanoch Piven
Society Of Illustrators
September 10, 6:30 - 9:00 pm. For advance tickets ($10 - $5), email or call 212-838-2560

Lucy McKenzie: Projects 88
The Museum of Modern Art
September 10 - December 1, 2008

SVA Alumni Society Auction to benefit scholarship fund, featuring contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper by SVA alumni, faculty members and friends, and honoring Gregory Crewdson, Lorna Simpson and Lynda Benglis
Visual Arts Gallery
For tickets, call 212-868-8450 ext, 211 or email Caroline Babson
Preview: September 12 - 20, 2008
Live & Silent Auctions: September 23, 6 - 9 pm

Temporary Home featuring work by Kelie Bowman, Lilli Carre, Mollie Goldstrom, and Elisabeth Timpone
Giant Robot NY
September 13 - October 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 13, 6:30 - 10:00 p.m.

One Guitar, Two Shoes and Countless Holes, featuring work by StefanSaffer, Derek Bailey and Will Gaines
Sloan Fine Art
September 17 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 17, 7 - 9 pm

Readings by Chapbook Program poets and artists Tomaz Salamun and Robert Ostrom
Center for Book Arts
September 17, 2008 at 6:30 pm. Please visit website for information.

Floating World: New Paintings by Duston Separ
Sara Tecchia Roma New York
September 18 - October 31, 2008
Opening reception: September 18, 6 - 8 pm

Left to right: F.N. Souza, The Pope and Pilate; Debnath Basu, The Ghost of An Artist; Baiju Parthan, As Simple as That; Ashim Purkayastha, Untitled (The Ghost of Souza). Copyright the artists, courtesy of Aicon Gallery.

The Ghost of Souza, featuring work by F.N. Souza and contemporary Indian and Pakistani artists
Aicon Gallery
September 18 - October 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 18, 6 - 8 pm, featuring Indian Ocean, an Indian Classical Music/Rock fusion group

The Dragon’s Gift: Sacred Arts of Bhutan
Rubin Museum of Art
September 19, 2008 - January 5, 2009
Cham Dance: September 13 - 21, 2008. Please visit website for information about these dragon subjugation dances in public spaces in and around New York City.

Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors
The Morgan Library
September 19 - January 4, 2008

Party Headquarters: Voting is Just the Beginning on political media, the art of persuasion, voting attitudes and the consequences of democracy
Pratt Manhattan Gallery
September 26 - November 4, 2008
Please visit the website for information about public programs.

Steve Mumford, Iraq War Artist
Parsons The New School for Design / Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
October 1, 3:15 pm: Lecture free and open to the public

Campaigning for President: New York and the American Election
Museum of the City of New York
Through November 4, 2008
September 10, 6:30 pm, panel discussion: The Art of Ill Will - The Story of American Political Cartoons. FREE for DART subscribers. For reservations, please call 212-534-1672, X 3395. Just mention DART/AI-AP, and your tickets will be held for you.

BROOKLYN, NY
Swirl of Swarm featuring work by Mel Kadel and Suzanne Sattler
Cinders Gallery
September 5 - October 5, 2008
Opening Reception Friday September 5, 7- 10pm

Installation views of David Sandlin’s Sin-A-Rama, courtesy of the artist.

David Sandlin’s Sin-A-Rama, the ABCs of Carnality
Jack the Pelican Presents
September 5 - October 5, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 7 - 9 pm

Katie Klencheski: And Then the Sky Was Divided
Jude Hughes: Soon We Will All Grow Wings
A.M. Richards Fine Art
September 5 - October 5, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 6 - 9 pm

Dark Pop featuring work by Lisa Alisa, Esao Andrews, Camilla d’Errico, D’holbachie, Imminent Disaster, Ron English, The Dirty Fabulous, Ewelina Ferruso, Gaia, Sarah Joncas, kozyndan, Tessar Lo, David MacDowell, Jeff McMillan, MOMO, Gilbert Oh, Pagan, Nathan Pickett, Peripheral Media Projects, Isabel Samaras, Chris Stain, Nicole Steen, Gary Taxali, Connie Wang, Jaeran Won and more
Last Rites Gallery
September 6 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 7 - 11 pm

The London Police, Flying Fortress, Pez & Eine
Ad Hoc Art
September 12 - October 12, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 7 - 10 pm

Doug Parry: The Thirteen Stations of the Double-Cross
Art 101
September 12 - October 5, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 7 - 11 pm

RIDGFIELD, CT
Elizabeth Peyton: Portrait of an Artist
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
Through November 16, 2008

BOSTON, MA
David Moore: Ballinglen
Kidder Smith Gallery
September 3 - 27, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

STOCKBRIDGE, MA
Steve Brodner: Raw Nerve
Norman Rockwell Museum
Through October 26, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Paul Cava: Heart of the Matter
Gallery 339
September 19 - November 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 26, 6 - 8 pm

Pat Kinsella: Hot Air
Proximity Gallery
September 5 - 28, 208
Opening reception: September 5, 5 - 9 pm

ATLANTA, GA
Eric Blum and Roger Palmer
Marcia Wood Gallery
September 4 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception September 4, 7 - 9 pm

NASHVILLE, TN
New work by Lori Field and Anna Jaap
Tag Art Gallery
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 6 - 9 pm

Left: Two by Ward Schumaker. Right: Two by Tim Hussey. Both from the Dialogues 2008 show, copyright and courtesy of the artists.

Dialogues 2008 featuring work by Patrick DeGuira, Kristi Hargrove, Paul Harmon,

Alicia Henry, Jim Ann Howard, Tim Hussey, Jordan Martins, Jacqueline Meeks, Leslie Mutchler, Erin Plew, Ben Roosevelt, Rebecca Rothfus, Ward Schumaker, Andrew Smaldone, Jason Urban, Anthony Wislar, Mike Wsol, Manuel Zeitlin
Zeitgeist Gallery
Through September 20, 2008

YOUNGSTOWN, OH
Cathie Bleck: Becoming Human
The Butler Institute of American Art
September 14 - October 26, 2008
Opening reception, book signing and artist talk: September 14, 2 - 4 pm

MANHATTAN, KA
BLAB! A Retrospective featuring work by Michael Bartalos, Gary Baseman, Richard Beards, Monte Beauchamp, Tim Biskup, Stéphane Blanquet, Calef Brown, Greg Clarke, Christian and Rob Clayton, Sue Coe, Don Colley, Brian Cronin, Nicolas Debon, Douglas Fraser, Charles Paul Freund, Drew Friedman, Geoffrey Grahn, Steven Guarnaccia, Ryan Heshka, Peter Hoey, Tom Huck, Teresa James, Jeffrey Kamberos, Nora Krug, Peter Kuper, Mark Landman, Laura Levine, MATS!? [Mats Stromberg], Walter Minus, Christian Northeast, John Pound, Archer Prewitt, Chris Pyle, Helge Reumann, Xavier Robel, Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez, Jonathon Rosen, Marc Rosenthal, Sergio Ruzzier, David Sandlin, Bob Staake, Fred Stonehouse, Mark Todd, Chris Ware, and Esther Pearl Watson.
Beach Museum of Art
Through November 2, 2008
Please visit website for information about talks by Bill North, Steven Guarnaccia and Nora Krug, among others

FORT WORTH, TX
Paul Slocum and Tree Wave
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
September 9, 2008, 7 pm. Please visit the website for information about free tickets.

Four from the BLAB! retrospective, left to right: Stephane Blanquet, Christian Northeast, Teresa James, Greg Clarke. Copyright the artists, courtesy of BLAB!

SANTA MONICA, CA
The BLAB! Show
Copro/Nason Gallery
September 6 - 27, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 8:00 - 11:30 pm

Hope Galgloff and Jason Jagel
Richard Heller Gallery
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 5 - 7 pm

LOS ANGELES, CA
Anne Faity Nicholls
La Luz de Jesus
September 5 - September 28, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 8 - 11 pm

Masakatsu Sashie: Under Fluorescent Light
Giant Robot 2
September 20 - October 15, 2008
Opening reception: September 20, 6:30 - 10 pm

Macrocosm* featuring work by Jimmy Baker, Delphine Courtillot, Noah Davis, Jeremy Everett, Eberhard Havekost, Adam Janes, Titus Kaphar, Thomas Kiesewetter, Matt Leines, Becca Mann, Barry McGee, Faris McReynolds, Ellen De Meutter, Adam Pendleton, Peter Rogiers, Andrew Schoultz, Ed Templeton, Kehinde Wiley, and Ai Yamaguchi
Roberts + Tilton
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6th, 6 - 8 pm
Please check website for information about the new gallery and location

Jennie Mollen: Be Your Own Pet
Ghetto Gloss
Through September 25, 2008

CULVER CITY, CA
Chris Mars
Billy Shire Fine Arts
September 13 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception and Book Signing: September 13, 7 - 10 pm

Loved featuring work by Granthm Jullianna Swaney, Amy Ruppel and Keith Obrin
The Lab 101 Gallery
September 13 - October 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 16, 6 - 10 pm

Eric Joyner: Artificial Enlightenment
Corey Helford Gallery
September 6 - 30, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 7 - 10 pm

Christie Frields: Love Me God Free
David Patton Gallery
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 6 - 9 pm
Zach Johnsen: Sunnyside-Yard
ThinkSpace
September 12 -October 3, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 7 - 11 pm
Eric Sall: High and Wide
Acuna Hansen Gallery
September 9 - October 18, 2008
Opening recepton: September 9, 6 - 8 pm

East of Eden featuring work from L.A. Eastside Galleries La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Black Maria, drkrm Gallery, Gallery Revisited, Ghetto Gloss, Junc Gallery, Materials & Applications, Metro Gallery, Thinkspace, Subliminal Projects, Acuna Hansen, David Patton and De Soto
LA Municipal Art Gallery
September 19 - 21, 2008, free and open to the public
Saturday night gala to benefit LA MOCA. Please check the website for schedule.

Brad Benedict’s Sideshow: NowBrow featuring work by Jamie Beardsley, Andrew Brandou, Thomas Broersma, Lou Brooks, Dave Calver, Kalynn Campbell, Paul Chatem, Chris Crites, Richard Duardo, James Fish, Mary Fleener, Andrew Foster, Gregg Gibbs, Ric Heitzman, Andrew Hem, Nancy Kintisch, Ronald Kurniawan, Stacy Lande, Mark Allen Miller, Tansy Myer, Kristian Olson, Daniel Peacock, Everett Peck, Chris Peters, Judy Ragagli, Chris Reccardi, Rick Reese, Billy Reynolds, Jim Salvati, Erik Sandberg, Cassandra Szekely, Jay Vollmar, Dave Wasson, Dennis Worden, Miriam Wosk, and Brian Zick
Wal-Art
September 20 - October 23, 2008
Opening reception: September 20, 7 - 11 pm

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Diverge: The Art of Oddzoo
Carmichael Gallery
September 6 - 28, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 8 - midnight

War and Em[pire: The Art of Democracy
Meridian Gallery
September 4 - November 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 9 pm
Closing party: November 4, 6 pm

Chad Moore
Little Tree Gallery
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 6 - 9 pm

SEATTLE, WA
Cynthia Greig: Objectivity
Wall Space Gallery
September 2 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 2, 6 - 8 pm

PORTLAND, OR
Sixth Annual Time-Based Art Festival
PICA: Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
September 5 - 14, 2008

B.E. Schellinger: Chi-Shifters and recent works on paper
Quality Pictures
Through October 4, 2008

Left to right: Heaven Sent Brandy; Tiny Pinocchio; Boo-Boo, from the series (Shown Actual Size) by Laura Levine, as seen in the BLAB! retrospective. Copyright and courtesy of the artist.

When I first paged through Paul Fusco’s RFK Funeral Train - the trade edition published by Umbrage in 2000 - I felt a dreadful sense of deja vu for how wrong things had gone in 1968. The optimism of an age in which so many were committed to making the world a better place had been wiped out by the assassination of yet another charismatic leader.

Paul Fusco’s photographs are remarkable on many levels. On my first reading, it was the overwhelming sense of loss that came through in the faces and gestures of the thousands of people lining the tracks to pay their respects. A collective sense of grief, experienced by people of all ages, races, and classes in these pictures gives a lie, if only for a short while, to the racial divide that Bobby Kennedy had worked so hard to bridge.

Above: Copyright Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos, from Paul Fusco: RFK (Aperture 2008).

Forty years later, Aperture is publishing a new edition, to be released next Thursday at a book signing with Magnum photographer Paul Fusco, at Danziger Projects. Along with the exhibition of Cibachrome prints is a display of the three editions of the book: a limited edition of 300 (Magnum Photos 1999); the first trade edition (Umbrage 2000) and the reissue (Aperture 2008), which includes another 70 images culled from the Library of Congress archive in addition to the originally published 53.

I asked Lesley Martin, Aperture’s publisher and editor of both the new edition and the original, how the reissue came about. “In all frankness,” she said, “it was James Danziger’s idea. He was planning his show to commemorate the anniversary, and the book had fallen out of print. When we started talking about the project, we knew we wanted to add some of the outtakes that had been left out of the original edition.

“Paul knew that there were ’some’ additional images at the Library of Congress,” she continued. “He hadn’t been able to get down there to check it out, so finally I got in touch with the LOC and was very surprised to learn that ’some’ meant ’some 2,000′ Kodachrome slides!”

At the time, Paul Fusco was a staff photographer for Look magazine. He was given a ticket and told to get on the train carrying Kennedy’s body from New York to Arlington National Cemetery for burial on July 8, 1968. On the way to Penn Station, he stopped at the funeral in progress at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In an interview for Publishers Weekly, Fusco said, “I spent about 10 minutes taking photos at the funeral, then I had to get to the train. That was my assignment.”

Once on the train, he said, “All I was thinking about was how to get access when we got to Arlington. Then, when the train emerged from beneath the Hudson, and I saw hundreds of people on the platform watching the train come slowly through - it went very slowly - I just opened the window and began to shoot.” The magazine used only one of Fusco’s photos - “not because they didn’t like them,” he said, “but because as a biweekly, Look was “a little behind on the story.” So thousands of images Fusco shot that day remained unseen, and finally went to the LOC when the magazine folded in 1970.

For the new edition, said Lesley, “I went down again to the LOC and made the final cut over a two-day period. James Danziger had also visited the archive and had come back with digital snaps of his favorites, which dovetailed nicely with my favorites. There was an unbelievable amount of great stuff - Kodachrome slides, beautifully preserved given the pristine conditions at the LOC.”

Paul Fusco: RFK (Aperture 2008), with essays by Vicki Goldberg, Norman Mailer (1923-2007}, and Evan Thomas; Tribute by Senator Edward M. Kennedy is being released at the exhibition opening and book signing at Danziger Projects, Thursday, September 4, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

At the last count, Thursday, September 4^th brings with it more than 40 opening receptions for photography exhibitions, with another 40 or so to follow later this month. Set-up portraiture, with close collaboration between photographer and subject, continues to interest both established and emerging artists. From the realism of Alessandra Sanguinetti, at Yossi Milo, to the artifice of Polixeni Papapetrou, at Michael Foley, to the mesmerizing style of Mary Ellen Mark’s Prom Series, at Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum, the genre offers an amazing range of approaches.

War, politics, fashion, life’s beguiling banalities, the exotic, the unknown, the erotic, and the landscape all are represented, in images by Susan Meiselas, Farah Nosh, Michael Thompson, Catherine Opie, Lalla Essaydi, Jeffrey Silverthorne, and Joel Sternfeld. On an even more serious note, Josef Koudelka’s Invasion 68 Prague, at Aperture Gallery, offers chilling perspective on events currently unfolding in the Russian Federation. Please check websites for details.

Mary Ellen Mark. Left: Robyn Frazier and Kelcon Curry, Charlottesville High School Prom, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2008. Center: Mallori Ann Wu and Matthew Wasson, Fontbonne Hall Prom, 2007. Right: Marielle Evangelista and Jameelia Ricks, Ithaca High School Prom, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.

NEW YORK: CHELSEA and DOWNTOWN
Time Line: Sheila Metzner
Visual Arts Museum
September 3 - October 4, 2008
Opening Reception: September 3, 6 - 8 pm
Lecture by Sheila Metzner: September 16, 7 pm
For more information: www.sva.edu/events or 212.592.2010.

Michel Szulc-Krzyzanowski: The Early Sequences: 1977-1982
Robert Mann Gallery
September 4 - October 18, 2008
Opening Reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Alexandra Sanguinetti: The Life that Came
Yossi Milo Gallery
September 4 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 6 - 8 pm

Julia Baum: A Rare Breed — Portraits of Redheads
NY Studio Gallery
September 4 - 27, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 7 - 9 pm

Michal Chelbin: Strangely Familiar
Andrea Meislin Gallery
September 4 - October 18, 2008
Opening Reception and Book Signing: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Jonathan Calm: New Video and Photography
Caren Golden Fine Art
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Polixeni Papapetrou: Games of Consequence
Foley Gallery
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Paul Fusco: RFK Funeral Train Rediscovered
Danziger Projects
September 4 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception and book signing: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Meredyth Sparks: We Were Strangers For Too Long
Elizabeth Dee Gallery
September 4 - October 11, 2008

Jane Hammond: Photographs
Galerie Lelong
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Michael Thompson
Hasted Hunt Gallery
September 4 - October 25, 2008
Opening Reception: September 11, 6 - 8 pm

Amada Means: Glass + Light
Ricco Maresca
September 4 - 27, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Josef Koudelka: Invasion 68 Prague
Aperture Gallery
September 5 - October 30, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Shimon Attie: Racing Clocks Run Slow
Ka Hassan: Recent photographs
Jack Shainman Gallery
September 4 - October 20, 2008

The Figure Today featuring multimedia work by Gerald Forster, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Lynn Goldsmith, Saul Leiter, Chris Raecker, and Jeong Mee Yoon, among others
Jenkins Johnson Gallery
September 4 - September 27, 2008

Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Kevin Cooley: At Light’s Edge
Massimo Audiello Gallery
September 4 – October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 – 8 pm

Masao Yamamoto: Kawa - Flow
Yancey Richardson Gallery
September 5 - October 18, 2008

Joel Sternfeld. Left: February 28, 2007. The East Meadows, Northampton, Massachusetts. Right: April 19, 200. The East Meadows, Northampton, Massachusetts. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

Joel Sternfeld: Oxbow Archive
Luhring Augustine
September 6 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 6 - 8 pm

Guido Castagnoli: Provincial Japan
Sasha Wolf Gallery
September 11 - November 1, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 6 - 8 pm

Jeff Whetstone: Post-Pleistocene
Julie Saul Gallery
September 12 - October 25, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 6 - 8 pm

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, featuring work by Rachael Dunville, Sebastian Lemm, Christopher Rauschenberg, Roger Eberhard, Josh Quigley, Caleb Charland among others
Michael Mazzeo Gallery
September 12 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 12, 6 - 8 pm

Vivan Sundaram: Trash
SEPIA International | The Alkazi Colleciton
September 17 - November 1, 2008
Opening reception: September 17, 6 - 8 pm

Ron Hamad: Photographs
Robin Rice Gallery
September 17 - October 26, 2008
Opening reception: September 17, 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Joshua Lutz: Meadowlands
Dave Anderson: Roadside Ghosts (Project Room)
ClampArt
September 18 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 18, 6 - 8 pm

Robert Richfield: A Pivotal Perspective
Alan Klotz Gallery
September 18 – October 25, 2008
Opening reception and book signing: September 18, 6 – 8 pm

Doug Aitken
303 Gallery
September 20 - November 1, 2008

Parsons MFA Photography Thesis Exhibition
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center | Parsons the New School for Design
Through September 12, 2008

NEW YORK: MIDTOWN and UPTOWN
Josef Koudelka: Invasion 68 Prague
Pace/MacGill Gallery
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Josef Albers: The Aim of Art is Living Creations
Hermes Gallery, 691 Madison Avenue, 4th floor
September 4 - September 26, 2008

MoMA New Photography 2008, featuring work by Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky
MoMA The Museum of Modern Art
September 10 - January 5, 2008

Florian Bohm: Wait for Walk
Cohen Amador Gallery
September 10 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 10, 6 - 8 pm

Chen Jiagang: The Great Third Front
Edwynn Houk Gallery
September 11 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 6 - 8pm

Making it Real: Photomontage Before Photoshop
Keith de Lellis Gallery
September 11 - November 1, 2008

Bruce Wrighton: Through an Open Window
Lawrence Miller Gallery
September 11 - October 25, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 5 - 8 pm

Eye, Mind Spirit: The Enduring Legacy of Minor White
The Howard Greenberg Gallery
September 12 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 6 - 8 pm

Wayne F. Miller
Higher Pictures
September 18 - November 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 18, 6 - 8pm

Graciela Iturbide: Celebration
Throckmorton Fine Art
September 18 - November 1, 2008
Opening reception: September 18, 6 - 8 pm

Susan Meiselas: In History
Cornell Capa: Concerned Photographer
America and the Tintype
International Center of Photography
September 19 - January 4, 2008
Artist talk: September 20, 2 pm. Click here for information and tickets.

Catherine Opie. Left: Joanne, Betsy & Olivia, Bayside, New York, 1998; right: Christmas West Adams, 2004 Courtesy the artist and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

Catherine Opie: American Photographer
Guggenheim Museum
September 26, 2008 - January 7, 2009

Four Summer, featuring work by Pamela Hanson, Peter C. Jones, Jeffrey Milstein, and Lindey Smith
Bonnie Benrubi Gallery
Through September 20, 2008

Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925 - 1940
Museum of the City of New York
October 3, 2007 - February 22, 2008
October 18, 1 pm: Gallery tour led by curator Donald Albrecht on the cross-cultural exchanges in architecture, cuisine, film, design, fashion, and the performing arts between Paris and New York. For more information: www.mcny.org/public_programs/ or 212.534.1672, ext. 3395.

NEW YORK: BROOKLYN, BRONX and STATEN ISLAND
Mark Edward Harris: Inside Iran | Inside North Korea
Farmani Gallery
September 4 - 28, 2008
Opening reception and book signing: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Cornelia Hediger: Doppelgänger
Klompching Gallery
September 10 - October 31, 2008
Opening reception: September 10, 6:00 - 8:30 pm

Walker Evans: Carbon and Silver, curated by John T. Hill and Sven Martson
Bond Street Gallery
September 10 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 10, 6 - 9 pm

Street Art, Street Life
The Bronx Museum of the Arts
September 14, 2008 - January 25, 2009
Opening reception: September 14, 12 - 5 pm

Ed Kashi: Curse of the Black Gold | Fifty Years of Oil in the Niger Delta
powerHouse Arena
Through September 28, 2008

Burt Glinn: Havana, The Revolutionary Moment
Umbrage Gallery
September 10 - October 31, 20078
Opening reception: September 10, 6 - 8 pm

1968: Magnum in New York
The Alice Austin House Museum
September 13 - December 31, 2008
Opening party: September 13, 1 - 5 pm

Sarah Beddington: Crossing
Dumbo Arts Center
September 13 - November 16, 2008
Opening reception: September 13, 2008, 6 - 9 pm

Blake Little: The Company of Men
Wessel + O’Connor Fine Art
September 18 — November 1, 2008
Opening reception: September 18, 6 - 8 pm

Gilbert & George
The Brooklyn Museum
October 3, 2008 - January 11, 2009

ITHACA, NY
Mary Ellen Mark: The Prom Series
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
September 5 - October 26, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 5 - 7 pm
Artist’s talk, September 4, 5:15 pm

WOODSTOCK, NY
Pamela Fingerhut: Female Taxonomy
Galerie BMG
September 12 - October 20, 2008
Opening reception: Saturday, September 13, 5 - 7 pm

BOSTON, MA
Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Robert Klein Gallery
September 12 - November 15, 2008

Lalla Essaydi: Images from Les Femmes du Maroc
Howard Yezerski Gallery
Please check website for details about the new gallery space

WINCHESTER, MA
Anna Tomczak: Sanctuary
Pelle Cass: Pins
Karen Davis: The McCann Family
Griffin Museum of Photography
September 11 - November 2, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 6:30 pm

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
Beyond the Familiar: Photography and Constructions of Community
Williams College Museum of Art
September 20, 2008 - March 8, 2009
Gallery talk with curator John Stomberg: September 25, 4 pm

PROVIDENCE, RI
RISD and Photography, featuring work by Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Linda Connor, Sally Gall, Emmit Gowin, Francesca Woodman, Henry Horenstein, Deborah Bright, Joe Deal, and Steve Smith
RISD Museum
Through October 26, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Masao Yamamoto: Solo Exhibition
Foreclosed: group show featuring work by Alejandra Laviada, Gillian Pears, Hirsch Perlman, Tommy Reynolds, Melanie Schiff and Ryan Widger
The Print Center
September 10 - November 26, 2008
Opening Reception: September 10, 5:30 - 7:30pm

David Graham: Almost Paradise
Paul Cava: Heart of the Matter
Gallery 339
September 19 - November 8, 2008
Opening Reception: September 26, 2008

Particulars of Place featuring photo portfolios by Paul Strand, Paul Caponigro, James Fee, John Divola, Laurie Brown, and Alen MacWeeney.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Through December 9, 2007

Julia Fullerton-Batten. Left: Bedroom. Center: Cupboard. Right: Mirror. Courtesy of the artist and Randall Scott Gallery.

WASHINGTON, DC
Julia Fullerton-Batten
Randall Scott Gallery
Septembef 13 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 13, 6 - 9 pm

William Christenberry
Hemphill Fine Arts
September 13 - October 25, 2008
Opening reception: September 13, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Lucian Perkins: They Came From Beyond the Beltway - Tourists at the National Mall
Carroll Square Gallery
September 5 - November 21, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 6 - 8 pm

ATLANTA, GA
Jody Fausett: Snake Eyes
Whitespace
September 5 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 7 - 10 pm

CHICAGO, ILL
Joel-Peter Witkin: Poetic Realislm
Catherine Edelman Gallery
September 5 - November 1, 2008
Opening reception: September 7, 5 - 8 pm

Alec Soth: Dog Days, Bogota
Stephen Daiter Contemporary
September 5 - October 25, 2008
Opening reception: Please check with the gallery

Of National Interest: Photographs from the collection
The Art Institute of Chicago
September 13, 2008 - January 11, 2009

AUSTIN, TX
Sean Perry: Fairgrounds
Stephen L. Clark Gallery
September 6 - October 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 6 - 9 pm

DALLAS, TX
Jeffrey Silverthorne
Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery
September 6 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 5 -8 pm

Fall Gallery Walk & Art Appraisal Workshop
Dallas Art Dealers Association
September 13, 2008: 10 am - 8 pm

TUCSON, AZ
The Figure Illuminated: Flor Garduno, Alvin Booth and Ralph Gibson
Etherton Gallery
September 13 - November 15, 2008
Opening reception and book signing: September 13th, 7 pm - 10 pm

LOS ANGELES, CA
Witness: Casualties of War featuring work by Suzanne Opton, Carolyn Cole, Farah Nosh and Nina Berman
Stephen Cohen Gallery
September 11 - October 25, 2008

Nick Veasey. Left: Single Doll. Center: Basque. Right: Bat. Courtesy of the artist and David Gallery.

Nick Veasey: X-Ray
David Gallery
September 6 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 6, 5 - 8 pm

Jehad NGA: My Shadow, My Opponent
M+B Gallery
September 13 - October 18, 2008
Opening reception: September 13, 7 - 9 pm

SANTA MONICA, CA
Sex In the City featuring work by three young Korean photographers
Sarah Lee Artworks & Projects
September 13 — October 25, 2008
Opening reception: 6 — 8 pm

SAN DIEGO, CA
Nancy Newhall: A Literacy of Images
Museum of Photographic Arts
September 20, 2008 - January 25, 2009

LA JOLLA, CA
Robb Johnson: Night Photographs
Joseph Bellows Gallery
September 5 - November 8, 2008
Opening reception: September 5, 5 - 8 pm

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Aaron Hobson: Cinemascapes
DRKRM Gallery
September 13 - October 26, 2008
Opening reception: September 13, 7 - 10 pm

David Maisel: Library of Dust
Zhan Wang: Gold Mountain
Haines Gallery
September 4 - October 4, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Jock McDonald: The Perspective Show | Straight Lines in around World
Gallery 291 Gallery 291
September 4 - October 28, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

In the Garden - Photographs by Joel Leivick
Scott Nichols Gallery
September 4 - October 25, 2008
Opening reception October 18, 1 - 5 pm

Garry Winogrand: The Sixties
Fraenkel Gallery
September 11 - November 1, 2008

Joel Meyerowitz
Robert Koch Gallery
September 4 - November 1, 2008

Matthias Hoch: New Works
Joseph Park: Leave It on the Dance Floor
Rena Brandsten Gallery
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

SEATTLE/TACOMA, WA
5X5, featuring work by Derek Ferrington, Thomas Krueger, Claire Putney, Gay Waldman and John Wilmot
ArtsWest Gallery
August 24 - September 21, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 6 - 7:30 pm

Julie Blackmon: Domestic Vacations
Francesca Berrini: Mapquest
G. Gibson Gallery
September 4 - October 11, 2008
Opening reception and book signing for Julie Blackmon: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

PORTLAND, OR
Diane Cook and Len Jenshel
Blue Sky Gallery
September 4 - 30, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 6 - 8 pm

Mark Steinmetz: South
Hartman Fine Art
September 3 — 27, 2008
Opening reception: September 4, 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Hunting, at Stephen Bulgar Gallery. Left: Benoit Aquin, La cabane, Quebec, 2002. Right: Neapole Pembroke, Untitled, ca 1880. Copyright the photographers and courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery.

TORONTO, ON
Hunting, featuring work by Benoit Aquin, Tina Clark, Richard Harrington, Vid Ingelevics, Terence Koh, Les Krims, and William Notman
Stephen Bulger Gallery
September 27 - October 26, 2008

VANCOUVER, BC
Rosalind Nashashibi: Bachelor Machines
Presentation House Gallery
September 20 - November 2, 2008

If you ever wondered why you never hear Carrie Bradshaw utter the deadly “D” word when referring to her own slender self, the reason becomes clear in The Heartbreak Diet, a new book by Thorina Rose. Bradshaw, as personified by the wafer-thin Sarah Jessica Parker, regularly had her heart broken on Sex in the City. But she remained amazingly slim - and always optimistic.

Cover and inside pages from The Heartbreak Diet by Thorina Rose, courtesy Chronicle Books.

Thorina Rose, a San Francisco-based artist known for her illustrations of fashion and art-world icons and sexy yoga moves, charts the surprising collapse of her marriage, then the struggle and adventure of starting over. Her sweet revenge for being ditched takes the form of a graphic novel - or in this case, a graphic memoir.

Using coping mechanisms such as denial, shrinkage, and the highly recommended girlfriends workshop, Rose also draws strength from the words of wise women. For example, Gloria Steinem: “I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.” Shelly Winters: “All marriages are happy. It’s trying to live together afterward that causes all the problems.” And Dolly Parton: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”

Rose quickly finds out that retail therapy is not helpful, but leaning on friends, and travels with gay men, turn out to be very useful. As she negotiates the tangled web of single-motherhood, visitation rights, and dating, she discovers that creativity is, in fact, its own reward. The illustrator becomes a painter, gets her work into galleries and finds real happiness in the process. The rest, she believes, will surely come.

Tomorrow night, Thorina Rose gives a reading from The Heartbreak Diet: A Story of Family, Fidelity and Starting Over (Chronicle Books) at The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, starting at 7:30 pm. For information: 415-863-8688.

A cool breeze from the north, in the form of Tony Cederteg, has brought in a group show featuring 18 photographers he invited to create work that expresses pure emotion. The Stockholm publisher, curator, and tv fashion show host, known here mainly for his zines, asked each of the artists to photograph someone or something that’s very dear to them. The exhibition of portraits and landscapes bears the title, I’d Never Willingly Do You Harm, and introduces a number of image-makers whose work is being seen here for the first time, at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art.

In a recent interview for Anthem magazine, Cederteg talked with Nik Mercer about the backbone of his publishing efforts. “I hope that people, costumers and artists feel that Cederteg Publishing is a solid ground for trying out new ideas. The idea has always been — since I figured the idea out [laughs] — to just showcase artists that I care a great deal for,” he says. Asked about the artists and designers he works with, he replied, “Friendly, amazing, creative, on-time peeps. As soon as you’ve entered the world of Cederteg, then I will be yours forever. Give and take until the casket closes.”

Left to right: Colie by Andrea Castro; Madoke by Ola Rindal; Rolf by Thobias Faldt; Il Giovane Arturo by Carlotta Manaigo, all courtesy Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art.

This give and take ethos comes through in the photographs that are casually mounted on the gallery walls, most of them unframed and secured with binder clips. The exhibition is accompanied by a limited edition zine that is available in the gallery and at American Apparel.

The photographers represented are: Kristian Bengtsson, Linus Bill, Andrea Castro, Michelle Cortez, Roberto De Luna, Thobias Fäldt, Nicholas Haggard, Todd Jordan, Jenny Kallman, Daniel Karlsson, Carlotta Manaigo, Frode och Marcus, Ye Rin Mok, Skye Parrott, Ola Rindal, Fredrik Skogkvist, Mathias Sterner, and Peter Sutherland.

I’d Never Willingly Do You Harm, curated by Tony Cederteg, runs through August 22 at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art, 511 West 25^th Street #306, New York, New York, NY. For information please visit the website or call 646-827-9890. Read the entire Anthem interview with Nik Mercer.

The long wait is finally over. This week Forecast: Nozone X hits stores just in time for the last few weeks of summer reading. How long a wait? Four years, to be precise. Said by Wired to be “a perfect palate cleanser for a night of Fox News,” Nozone skewers, gaffes, garrotes and otherwise thwacks conventional thought in ways that will have Johathan Swift spinning in his grave.

The invention of Nicholas Blechman, the art director of The New York Times Book Review, who also illustrates under the pen name Knickerbocker, Nozone has evolved from the hand-collated and stapled ‘zine he self-published in 1990 during his senior year at Oberlin College to the crisply printed and perfect-bound soft-cover book now published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Cover and Future Homeless spread by Knickerbocker; future corporate identities by Thomas Fuchs & Felix Sockwell, all courtesy Princeton Architectural Press.

As the son of illustrator R.O. Blechman, Nicholas grew up knowing some of the world’s best illustrators and cartoonists. From Nozone’s first incarnation, its pages have been charged into life with ideas and images by such artists as Gary Panter, Joost Swart, Jonathon Rosen, and David Sandlin, to name a few.

Like its immediate predecessor, Empire, Forecast, is an absorbing, rebellious, rambunctious response in art and thought to the many disasters that man has wrought. “Never before has looking into the future been so complicated or so traumatic,” the introduction begins. “NASA,” it continues, “uses some of the world’s most powerful computers to predict the future; Nozone uses some of the world’s greatest imaginations to bring it to life.”

Among the highlights of the issue are news clippings from The New York Times about climate change. One of these, dating from June 23, 1890, reports on the failure of the Hudson River ice crop that year and local reliance on ice for refrigeration being shipped in from Norway.

A revisionist retelling of the apocalyptic Tale of Chicken Licken by John Fulbrook III and Timothy Goodman, with illustrations by Mark Stutzman and text adapted by Denise Fulbrook, warns us to beware of foxy politicians.

In More Weird Weather Coming Your Way, Jesse Gordon and Will Van Roden predict, “Muggy. Slimy. Thick fog, mostly toxic arriving by evening. Visibility: 3 inches. Breathability: Nil.”

While these examples may invoke the dread of a drowning man grabbing onto a razor blade to escape death’s clutches, there is also lightness and fun to be had. Consider the Borscht Belt style of R.O. Blechman’s version of the ancient tale of Cassandra, the Trojan soothsayer who became oh-so-unpopular for her gloom-and-doom predictions. She splits to a faraway isle where her prophesies go unheard. When Athens invades her hometown, Cassie’s fellow citizens scratch their heads in disbelief, saying, “Where was she when we needed her?”

Forecast, Nozone X, was edited by Nicholas Blechman; cover by Knickerbocker; endpapers by Christoph Niemann; designed by Knickerbocker Design and the Office of Joon Mo Kang; and forecasting by Elizabeth Amon, Guy Billout, Barry Blitt, Seymour Chwast, Erik T. Johnson, Maira Kalman, Peter Kuper, Brian Rea, Paul Sahre, and Henning Wagenbreth among many others.

Amani Olu, a curator devoted to presenting work by emerging photographers, gained considerable name recognition through his exhibition, 31 under 31, at the Humble Arts Foundation last spring. Olu was recently installed as director of Bond Street Gallery, in the growing Brooklyn arts district between the Gowanus Canal and Park Slope. At Bond Street, he will be presenting a mix of cutting edge mid-career and establish artists, and is opening his first exhibition there tonight. He will continue showing emerging artists at the Humble Arts Foundation.

For Young Curators, New Ideas he invited a group of photography-and-web-based curators including Alana Celii & Grant Willing of Fjord Photo; photographer Michael Buhler-Rose, Jon Feinstein of Humble Arts Foundation, photographer Amy Stein, writer and curator Lumi Tan, and Laurel Ptak of I Heart Photograph.

To view the animated GIFs of these images from the Young Curators, New Ideas exhibition, please visit iheartphotograph.com

The exhibition takes a look at trends and perspectives in contemporary art photography. Some of the themes to be explored are magic, otherworldliness, secrets and nostalgia; portrait photography as a conceptual art practice; science, mysticism, astronomy and the unreal in historical and contemporary modes; directorial photography in the manner of Cindy Sherman and Gregory Crewdson; and the performative aspects of chaos, distortion and disorientation; and more.

Laurel Ptak (DART, May 21, 2008) invited 26 photographers, designers, and new media artists to create photo-based animations using the GIF file format. She decided on this approach, she says, because “It’s a format that’s always fascinated me. Introduced by CompuServe in 1987, it has the distinction of being the very first color compression format widely used for images online.

“One of the beauties of GIF,” she went on to say, “is that a single file can contain multiple images shown in a timed sequence, giving the effect of motion, known fondly as an animated GIF. These proliferated onscreen during the ’90s in the form of dancing babies and rotating globes, maladroitly articulating a kind of humanist optimism about the internet.

“In the age of hi-def video on the web, the overall effect of animated GIFs is lo-fi, and with its limited color palette, what it does to photos is kind of egregious, which I think is great. Some of the people I invited have made ingenious use of this format and I wanted to see what more can be done with this almost antiquated format today. Plus, we’re showing the work on a 44-inch hi-res monitor, which takes GIF format out of its native environment to an interesting effect.”

Young Curators, New Ideas is on view through September 6, 208 at Bond Street Gallery, ,297 Bond Street, Brooklyn, NY. The opening reception is August 13 from 6:00 - 9:00 pm. RSVP required: rsvp@bondstreetgalalery.com.

When Jen Bekman opened her gallery on Spring Street in 2003, she had two objectives: To bring greater recognition to emerging artists, and to make collecting art accessible to everyone. When looking for space, she decided on an area that was already a popular shopping district for young urbanites — and her small, neatly designed gallery is a place to shop for affordable art between lunch and weekend errands. She also realized that one way of bringing emerging photographers to her attention was to start a competition whose winners would be exhibited in the gallery.

Hey, Hot Shot!, as the contest/exhibition is known, has just entered its fourth year. The exhibition of the current crop opens tomorrow night, with work by five young photographers from as far away as New Zealand. The photographers had this to say about their approach to their work and process:

Three from Hey, Hot Shot! the 2008 First Edition, by (left to right): Derek Hendersen, Kate Orne, Colleen Plumb. Courtesy Jen Bekman Gallery.

Juliane Eirich, currently resides in Munich, Germany and Seoul, South Korea
“Most of my work is photographed at night. Night photography is slow and calm, but at the same time the very precise process that suits my way of working. I like the way I can focus at night, since there is less distraction - both visually and acoustically - than during the day. The artificial light and color atmosphere that can be found at night appeals to me and matches my understanding of beauty.”

Derek Hendersen, currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand
“My photography is about what people don’t see even when it’s right in front of them. Making the mundane sublime. Having empathy with others and the environment. I am fascinated by the pursuit of happiness and how people live their lives. I believe happiness in life is about balance, moderation, and living in harmony with the environment.”

Roc Herms Pont, currently resides in Barcelona, Spain
“Close to photojournalism, with a strong graphic design background, I started using photography to capture and remember what I found interesting though my eyes. People, places, details. I use photography to share my view of the world, to express myself.”

Kate Orne, currently resides in New York City
“Since 2005 I have photographed the sex-workers and their families in Pakistan - being the first photographer to document this shunned community. This body of work examines the uneasy peace between Islamic fundamentalism and profanity in the brothels. Repressive fundamentalist Muslim laws not only shun these women’s existence but in some areas make their actions punishable by death. However, in their brothels the women are the breadwinners. This underlying dualism surfaces in portraits of the women sitting proudly on the same beds where they not only service their customers but share with their husbands and children.”

Colleen Plumb, currently resides in Chicago, Illinois
“I began this project looking at ‘fake nature,’ wondering what substitutions for nature can satisfy in people. Looking deeper I began photographing live animals and how they can be a link for us to a world far from the reality and pace of contemporary life, as well as provide an intangible link to a deeper world of instinct and rawness. With this series I hope to incite contemplation about the lives of animals and generate a dialog about resource usage.”

Hey! Hot Shot! the 2008 First Edition, opens Friday evening, August 8, at 6:00 pm and is on view at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street, New York, NY through August 23, 2008. For information, please visit the website or call 212-219-0166.

Mathieu Borysevicz, a visual artist/filmmaker and writer whose photography-based projects often take shape as massive billboards, has lived in China on and off for the last 14 years. Formerly working in Beijing, the country’s first contemporary arts center, and now in Shanghai, he has created a photographic index of China’s frenzied rush to modernity.

He adopted the city of Hangzhou, the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, which is one of the fastest developing regions in the world. Here he discovered a microcosm of the many sides of China’s urbanization. Between 2003 and 2007, he shot thousands of images based on repeating patterns in urban phenomena such as high-rise construction, Disney-esque private dwellings, advertising images, construction barricades, and internet bars, to name a few.

“Hangzhou is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, dating back some 4700 years,” says Mathieu. “While downtown Hangzhou is centered around the picturesque and idyllic West Lake historic district,” he continues, “the backside of the city unravels in a spirit of anarchic ecstasy, with no adherence to architectural stylistic integrity or regulations regarding size, signage, or zoning.”

From now until mid-September, visitors may read Mathieu’s visual and verbal findings as a giant billboard brought down to earth. Chapters from Learning From Hangzhou, the title of this project (originally conceived as a book) have been transformed into a construction barricade that enfolds Storefront for Art and Architecture during its reconstruction. It’s as if New York has been presented with a public reading wall, much like the public newspaper reading walls that can still found in China.

Photographs by Peggy Roalf

His project borrows its title and cue from Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown’s seminal work, Learning from Las Vegas, which examines the implications of popular culture on architectural design. In Las Vegas, signs often become buildings while in Hangzhou, new construction often becomes a support for advertising images for the buildings themselves, leaving the architecture at the service of its own marketing plan. Learning from Hangzhou offers insight on a globalizing world that is increasingly frivolous in the commoditization of its public spaces. The book, a work in progress, includes an introduction by Venturi and Scott-Brown.

Embracing spectacle and visual ecstasy as it unfurled before his eyes, Mathieu Borysevicz presents an appreciation for the China of today, captured here in a moment that will, he says, “quickly vanish into the forgotten lineage of China’s amnesiac race toward hyper modernity.”

Storefront for Art and Architecture is located at 97 Kenmare Street, New York, NY. Learning From Hangzhou will remain in place until Storefront’s inaugural reopening and the presentation of White House Redux, a competition to redesign the ultimate symbol of personal political power, set for September 23, 2008. Please check the website for information.

Limited-edition and one-off books as a medium of artistic expression have a heady kind of allure. Made by artists for an audience that appreciates transgressive art, these creations often push the limits of content and the notion of what physically comprises a book.

Currently on view at The Center for Books Arts is an exhibition that goes a step further. Fun & Games (and Such…) presents works by 28 artists, some based on the interactive nature of games, others that stem from ideas about childlike play and many that, while comical and fun, reveal the black humor to be found in social-political issues.

Photographs courtesy of The Center for Books Arts.

Some are books, some are board games, some are assemblages and one is a peep show. The exhibit is a feast of paper engineering bravado, from Shana Agid’s Snitch, a pop-up book that deals with issues of surveillance and agency in the post-911 world to a book with an exquisite corpse binding by Kristin Anderson and Danny Licul that allows readers to hilariously mix and match the identities and psyches of the characters within. There are children’s fairy tales with modern consequences, a how-to book on attaining physical perfection through tortuous means, and a game for predicting the future that offers more questions than answers.

Tomorrow evening, six of the artists will present, read from, or perform the content of their pieces. Anna Kronenberg will discuss game theory and appearances while presenting Nose Box, donning the rubber noses included in the set; Dikko Faust and Esther Smith of Purgatory Pie Press will demonstrate how to play their PurgaToys; Barbara Rosenthal will invite audience members to play the You & I Card Game; Shana Agid will give a dramatic reading of Snitch. Sally Tosti will talk about creating her Puzzle Box, which shows six sides of Coney Island on a set of illustrated blocks; and Rosamond King will perform as The Poetry Doctor.

Gaming Night at The Center for Book Arts begins at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, August 6^th at 28 West 27^th Street, 3^rd Floor, New York, NY. Admission is $10/ $5 members. Please check the website for information.