Review of Shen Wei’s Chinese Sentment in this week’s The New Yorker

The New Yorker

GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN: ARTS

SHEN WEI

The photographer, whose radiant still-lifes of fruits and vegetables steal the “Moveable Feast” exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, shows color portraits and landscapes from his recently published book, “Chinese Sentiment.” Returning to China after years living abroad, Wei looked for traces of the country he remembered, so most of his pictures were made in towns, far from the bustle of Beijing. The work has a hushed, intimate quality, and not just because most of his solitary young male and female subjects are seen half-naked and at home. Even the landscapes are rich with emotion—loving and keenly felt. Through June 4.

Through June 4

COONEY
511 W. 25th St., New York, N.Y.
212-255-8158
danielcooneyfineart.com

Chinese Sentiment Launch Party and Book Signing

Hope to see you all tonight – Rain or Shine!
Please join us tonight May 24 from 6-11pm in celebration of Shen Wei’s new monograph, Chinese Sentiment, edited by Lesley A. Martin of the Aperture Foundation, with an introduction by Peter Hessler.
Tuesday, May 24 · 6:00pm – 11:00pm
Location
8-E Charles Lane NY, NY (off of Washington between Perry & Charles Streets)

Zach Galifianakis

Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion is one hour well spent. This guy is so funny, strange, and smart. I would say that his standup is comparable to a modern day Steven Wright. It is in many senses meta-comedy, somewhere between standup comedy and performance art. His appearances on talk shows are always a welcome diversion for me and I'd like to say right here and now, I love you Zach.

2011 NY Dance Parade-Goer

by Charles Boyd (my partner Seth's Dad /father in-law)

car wash, series 3

Matchmaker Matchmaker?

On Wednesday I made a Touching Strangers portrait at a beach in south Florida. This is around the 60th image I have made from the series. I should emphasize that they are incredibly difficult and challenging to make and I am pushing myself in new and interesting directions. Well, this last shot may have resulted in a rendezvous or even a romance for all I know, as the couple I paired ended up sitting together after I had moved on - and from what I could tell seemed to have left the beach together at the same time. This may be all purely fantastical thinking on my part (who knows perhaps they just liked talking to each other) - but it does touch on one of the themes of the work which is the very real human potential to connect to any random stranger. Did I mention that this was a nude beach...

Cupid Victorious
Caravaggio
1602-1603

Bruce Wrighton

I was recently exposed to the work of Bruce Wrighton at the Laurence Miller Gallery booth at AIPAD this past March. Working primarily in downtown Binghamton, Bruce Wrighton made street portraits with his 8 x 10 view camera that show the city's blue collar inhabitants with sensitivity and an brilliant eye for color. Making the work even more compelling is that the are imbued with the patina of the 1980's. The work has only recently been brought to light (by Laurence Miller working with Wrighton's widow) and the very talented Bruce Wrighton unfortunately died at the young age of 38 back in 1988. There is also a book titled At Home recently published by Only Photography of his humanist portraits and work from two other projects that I highly recommend. It is likely to sell out soon (as Only Photography does a small edition size of 500). To top it all off on the book's cover is an awesome photograph of a game room with the arcade game Donkey Kong in the corner.

Wrighton in Red...

Vava Voom

Dear Readers,
Please think about attending or donating to Visual AIDS for their Spring Benefit on Monday, May 16th at The Park. I will be given an award as an honoree and I would be extremely grateful if my readers would contribute to this really great organization. See the attached invite for more information.