Victoria's Secret Model, Doutzen Kroes Poses for Photo Shoot at Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal is one of the most popular site for photo shoots in New York. Yesterday, another one took place at the Main Concourse by the ticket counter. Victoria's Secret Angel, Doutzen Kroes posed in black trousers and long-sleeved animal print top for the photo shoot at the iconic New York landmark. These shots were taken from the east balcony which is occupied by the Apple Store.

A Wedding Photoshoot

Grand Central Terminal, one of the nation's historical landmarks and the busiest train station in the country, is also a frequent location for engagement, pre-wedding and wedding photoshoot. These images were captured on March 3rd.

Tim Hetherington's Photographic Installation, SLEEPING SOLDIERS at the School of the International Center of Photography

Sleeping Soldiers is a new photographic installation at the School of  the International Center of Photography (ICP) from April 4–May 13, 2013. The photographs were taken by Tim Hetherington (1970–2011), an ICP faculty member and guest artist. He photographed the experience of war from the perspective of the individual, mostly in West Africa and the Middle East. On April 20, 2011, Hetherington was killed by Libyan forces in a mortar attack.

The International Center of Photography school is located at 1114 6th Avenue (or Avenue of the Americas) and 43rd Street in midtown Manhattan, diagonally across the street from the ICP Museum. Pictured above is one of the building's architectural highlights, a striking glass pavilion entrance on the building's plaza. Below ground is a 27,000-square-foot facility featuring state-of-the-art classroom and black-and-white and color lab spaces, digital labs with resources for multimedia, digital photography, video editing and production, and a professional shooting studio.

Lecture by LUCIEN CLERGUE, French Photographer and Friend of Picasso at the Throckmorton Fine Art

Lucien Clergue answering questions after his lecture

Clergue signing his book for Thomas F. Knapp, fine art consultant and appraiser

"Andree in New York" 1987 by Lucien Clergue,  Cibachrome. Image is a photograph of the postcard used for the Opening Reception Invitation

"Quatre Nus dares La Cite, New School, NYC" 1983 by Lucien Clergue. Gelatin silver print. Image is a photograph of the postcard used for the Lecture invitation

French photographer and artist LUCIEN CLERGUE gave a lecture today at the Throckmorton Fine Art Gallery at 145 East 57th Street in midtown Manhattan. The 78-year old long-time friend of Pablo Picasso shared his experiences in America as a photographer. His work is now on exhibit at the Throckmorton Fine Art. The exhibition called "Clergue in America" runs from January 12 - March 3, 2012. The exhibit showcases Clergue's impressive sights of the United States and the raw beauty of the human form. He also signed copies of his new book called "Clergue in America." 

David LaChapelle's "Darkness to Light" At The Lever House Art Collection

Raft of Illusion: Raging Toward Truth, 2011

Adam Swimming Under A Microscope: Plague Of An Ancient City, 2011

Eve Swimming Under A Microscope: Plague Of An Ancient City, 2011

Chain Of Life, 2011

On exhibit at the Lever House Art Collection are the works of photographer, David LaChapelle. The Lever House is located at 390 Park Avenue. The exhibition continues through the end of September.

From David LaChapelles's website:

Synopsis 

The three main components presented in From Darkness To Light stand alone, yet inform each other to create a unified installation, utilizing photography in three ways: collage, stickers and paper chain. The pieces are inspired by the simplicity of childhood endeavors taught in early art lessons, re-imagined through the lens of adulthood. This will engage the viewer in that collective, shared experience, by taking these elementary endeavors and elevating them through figurative imagery to transcend the medium. With an innocence of material and application, the ideas conceptualized visually evoke metaphysical questions that appear at the onset of adulthood and continue through out a life examined. Each of the four photography works are site specific but archival and could be moved, rearranged or re-hung elsewhere in the future. 


Artist Statement David LaChapelle

“Contemporary culture pre-disposes us to associate the figure in photography through the lens of pornography and commodity culture via the Internet and printed material. We are surrounded by women and men in advertisements, luring our eyes and wallets. In this exhibition, I seek a new visual renaissance; a re-imagining of the human form and its relationship to the divine. My installation at the Lever House highlights the nude body's redemptive and illuminating potential. In the context of contemporary photography, the proposed images function as hybrid between craft and traditional photographic image. This highlights the emancipation of the figure-freeing the human form from the bondage of photographic comodification and ultimately the cyclical connectedness between innocence and enlightenment. By invoking the Renaissance in the poses in a transcendent installation, I hope to delight, inspire, and intrigue the beholder, and in some way, resuscitate the figure from its current state of commodity.” 


Installations

Installation Adam, Swimming Under A Microscope “Plague Of An Ancient City”

Eve, Swimming Under A Microscope “Plague Of An Ancient City”

David uses translucent stickers depicting human figures (male and female in distinct installations) pressed to the glass windows of the Lever House, creating a complete circle of figures exclaiming across the face of the glass. Individually, the figures appear as they are swimming youth, joyful and carefree. From a distance, the forms merge into a collective. The work becomes an allegory of life itself, cell-like as life seen through a microscope. The individuality of a human being emerges into an ethereal vision of our cellular origin, the human origin. Here shines a glow through these transparent photographs individually adhered to the glass, and the window become like the stained glass rose windows of Notre Dame, Chartres or Reims Cathedral. This reference, in addition the content of the work, allows the piece to function as a magnification of the lineage of life and divinity. 


Raft Of Illusion, Raging Toward Truth

David constructed this collage from simple materials common in traditional collage art projects; paper, watercolor, and pencil and printed materials. Two components of his work take it beyond the rudimentary craft. He addresses scale by creating a collage of epic size; creating a dramatic scene which the viewer will feel part of. Further, he does not use appropriated material. Instead, David uses large scale photographs he took of a staged event, a tableau that he casted, directed and then photographed, only then, to cut, dissect and reconstruct the scene for emotional impact. Employing watercolor, pencil and paint, the collage format itself evokes the memory and experience of childhood crafting and art. In each cut and tear, singular and human hand of the artist is visible. These marks connect the viewers to the living, breathing humanity David focuses on in his work. The subjects of this collage represent interactions between the human and the natural worlds. 


Chain Of Life

The chains of the circled paper are created from photographs of the human form, front and back, thus transforming the playful grade school craft into a literal chain of connected bodies. Humanity is linked through the aching need of one being to affect or connect to the next. The linked photographs, the full human figures clinging to one another, are thus transformed into an endless chain of linear dependence. These chains will run diagonally through the lobby of the Lever House, weaving and curving, dipping and rising, leading the viewer the direction of the exterior installation, and ultimately, transforming the decorative roots of the paper chain into something deeper and more resonant. 


HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON Photography Exhibit at MoMA

On exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art until June 28 is a retrospective of the photographs of HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON (1908-2004), one of the most original, accomplished, influential and beloved photographer. The exhibition surveys Cartier-Bresson’s entire career, with a presentation of about three hundred photographs, mostly arranged thematically and supplemented with periodicals and books. In a review of the exhibition in The New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl writes, "The hallmark of Cartier-Bresson’s genius is less in what he photographed than in where he placed himself to photograph it, incorporating peculiarly eloquent backgrounds and surroundings. His shutter-click climaxes an artful scurry for the perfect point of view. This made him a natural for photojournalism, whose subjects, their “significance” prejudged, unfold unpredictably in space and time."

ABERCROMBIE & FITCH...& WEBER

The BRUCE WEBERized ABERCROMBIE & FITCH shopping bags carried by tourists and locals can be easily spotted on Fifth Avenue’s shopping district. Above is a photograph I made of an A&F bag on a black couch. The flagship store of A&F opened on Fifth Avenue two years ago. Inside the store, the music is loud, thumping like a nightclub, and the lighting is a little dark. But the store is always crowded with young shoppers who during warmer months are greeted by shirtless male models at the entrance. In the 1990’s A&F was transformed into the retailer of choice for American youth, a demographic said to be growing the fastest during that time. The company also began publishing A&F Quarterly, a catalogue featuring its clothing lines as well as articles on pop culture, sex, music, and other teen topics. Photographer and occasional filmmaker BRUCE WEBER’s art fills the catalogue and A&F's racy advertising with an open sexuality, with his often near naked, seemingly casual and highly eroticised images of men and women. Weber’s photography, usually in black and white appealed to target customers but his catalogue photographs became highly controversial. Nevertheless, Weber, the fashion photographer who doesn't seem to be interested in photographing clothes, imbued this photographic genre to mainstream advertising. Today, his artwork and photography books have become collectible items.

Founded in New York City in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie, the original store was dedicated to selling the highest-quality camping, fishing and hunting gear. In 1900, Ezra Fitch, a devoted customer, convinced Abercrombie to let him buy part of the company. In 1904, the store name was officially changed to Abercrombie & Fitch. Due to differences between the two men over the direction of the business, Abercrombie resigned in 1907. Ezra Fitch led the company into the largest sporting goods store in the world. A&F has outfitted famous clients including former US Presidents. Today, A&F is a popular retailer of casual clothing and accessories for young men and women with stores nationwide and markets directly to customers online or through a catalogue.