I HEARD A RUMOUR..

I heard a rumour last week that a gallery was going to show the late Patrick Lichfield's pretty much unknown nude work here in London. Well that rumour was true and they will soon be on show at The Little Black Gallery on the 24th April. More info here.
The work comes from an era when nudes of tall leggy beauties in all kinds of scenarios were very popular and I enjoyed those times in the darkroom in the 90's printing the likes of John Swannell (of which these are reminiscent of), Bailey and the occasional Averdon nude. There were others but I wanted to show off a bit.
In reference to the above nudes, well they may be a little cheesy, but I really like them. They are tasteful and clever, particularly the one in the car. There's no rudeness, or shock tactics, and certainly no retouching.
Now take off that big fur coat and lay in the snow..

Matt Henry

Excellent work from Matt Henry and a very intelligent, well written blog to boot..

Amanda Boe

Beautiful series here from Amanda Boe here.
Nice to see good work from someone I have never heard of before.

Unremarkable Stories
Work in Progress

By
Rob Ball

at The Burton Gallery, CCCU Broadstairs, Northwood Road, Broadstairs, CT102WA

Unremarkable Stories:   1st March 2012  6.30-8.00pm Private View
  Public viewing from 2nd March 2012 - 25th May 2012



Far from unremarkable, Rob Ball presents an unsettling dislocation between memory
and actuality, presenting the past through contemporary photographic practice.
This publication and associated exhibition focuses on Ball’s 2011 return to the
modest Essex urbanscape of his teenage years. Neither tender nor critical,
Unremarkable Stories forensically documents the prosaic spaces of his youth.
Whilst his landscapes ostensibly might depict the banal, the specificity of
space nevertheless remains significant; likewise Ball registers the fierce potency
of memory when discussing his return:

…I feel it all coming back; building dens, sitting under the bridge smoking,
scouring the landscape for porno mags and most of all, hanging around because
there’s nothing to do here. The park was our haven – the only place where we would
be left alone.

In rejecting idealised versions of childhood,
we are instead reminded of endless hours spent simply occupying spaces empty of adults.
In Rob Ball’s photographs within the anonymity of the park’s hinterland or the
blandness of the Essex suburban architecture, we are treated to diminutive highlights
of hue. But these glints of colour, far from being  generated by some sort of natural
beauty, are rather the consequence of careless youthful  disregard. Litter litters each
photograph: the orange plastic shopping bag, the part submerged blue bicycle frame,
the flash of crimson from a discarded coca cola can. Rob Ball’s Unremarkable Stories
makes strange the everyday – the antithesis of ‘showy’, these works quietly insist on
our attention and contemplation.

 Dr K.J.ShepherdsonProgramme Director: Photography,
Principal Lecturer, Department of Media, Art & Design
Canterbury Christ Church University

See the work here.

Ken Griffith.

I remember printing some of Ken Griffith's black and white work back in the day but couldn't find any of it on line.
I love his colour landscape. Rich and pleasant...

PLACES STRANGE AND QUIET.

I mentioned Wim Wenders new book 'Places Strange And Quiet' on here before, but that was before I actually got the book. Well now I have it (I rule) so its worth mentioning the work (and the book) again. The book itself is a really beautiful object and contains short amounts of personal text about some of the images. Small, unpretentious, and almost perfectly formed, apart from the pull out pages which I really don't like as some of them are already damaged.
I could be wrong, but I often get the sense from Wenders photography that there is only one image, or one shot so's to speak. I can't imaging ten frames of the same image with slight adjustments.
Anyway, the thing I like most about the book is it's title. Simple and brilliant.

ONE FOR THE ROAD..