The first incarnation of the Exhibition Lab was disguised as the massive group show When We Were Young. The idea behind the ExLab was to handpick a group of artists who would work together over six months creating new work in a critique setting that would end up being a part of a larger group exhibition that would include more recognizable names…like Sally Man.
This was opening night, and as you would expect, there was a big turnout. I still do the ExLab, but I haven’t done an opening like this in well over a year. I miss it. Yes, it’s as hot and sweaty as it looks (it was July!), and the wine was warm, but it was fun. It was the community coming out to celebrate the work of each other, friends, and some well-admired celebrities in the field.
Gov. Cuomo says restrictions on COVID are being lifted on May 19, and New York can resume as it was pre-pandemic. Same as it ever was? Are we really returning from the dead to jump back into “normal?”
It’s not a health issue for me (although that’s important!). It’s about how we look and experience photography as objects. We’ve spent most of the last year viewing, critiquing, and absorbing photography on the screen. I just completed my Sophomore and Graduate crit classes at SVA 100% online. No one had to print! I only met my grad class once, and my sophomore’s not even once. Everyone and everything started to look the same.
We now have the opportunity to really make things again. Objects that have a real dimensional presence. I get NFTs. They are another medium for us and especially for those who would consider themselves digital artists. It’s a great platform of expression and potential commerce. It’s a natural extension in the ever-changing technology of image-making, and it has accelerated during our current situation.
Let’s take a moment to think about adding back something important to many of us. That is, making the tangible and sharing it in a gallery setting. Please have patience with the image, allowing it to reveal its story to us. Feel its size and weight.
We open the ExLab 2021 exhibition here IRL on July 8th. There are 18 artists, and I believe several will be here. Join us then and celebrate the tangible.
The annual W. Eugene Smith award is upon us, and there are three ways to win.
Your deadline is May 30th. If you consider your work ‘humanistic, journalistic, documentary,’ this award might be the right thing for you.
Michael Foley opened his gallery in 2004 after fourteen years of working with notable photography galleries, including Fraenkel Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery, and Yancey Richardson Gallery.
In 2002, Foley continued his interest in educating and working with artists by serving on the School of Visual Arts and International Center of Photography faculty. He currently teaches and lectures on contemporary photography issues at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
In 2020, he founded The Photo Community, which offers classes and commentary on contemporary photography.
Foley lives and works on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.