Neal Rantoul at Panopticon Gallery

Jason Landry, the dedicated and engaged owner and director of Panoptican Gallery in Boston recently sent me a book by the American Master, Neal Rantoul. The monograph, American Series, is exquisite, beautifully printed with large and luscious photographs that take the reader on a trip across America. His quiet and intelligent photographs capture architectural details that mingle with shadows and nature. In addition, he also captures the American landscape in undulating tonal waves that makes one appreciate the magnificence of this earth.

The Panoptican Gallery will present a comprehensive exhibition of Neal's work that opens November 10th and runs through January 4th. Neal has been part of the Boston photographic community for many years. Rantoul has been a working photographer and educator for over 30 years. He has taught at Harvard University and is currently the head of photography at Northeastern University. After studying with Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan in the early 70's at Rhode Island School of Art & Design (RISD), Rantoul would soon go on to create over 40 separate projects and continues to capture each unique place with the point-of-view of a storyteller. Rantoul’s work is held in numerous private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Fogg Museum at Harvard, High Museum, Atlanta, DeCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, Lincoln, MA, and the Bibliothèque National, Paris, France.

Neal Rantoul, Old Town Trail, Cody Wyoming, 6 RTP 21 from American Series


Neal Rantoul, Old Town Trail, Cody Wyoming, 1 RTP 3 from American Series


Before Leonardo DiCaprio ever walked on the set and shot his first scene for the movie Shutter Island, photographer Neal Rantoul had already been there. The backdrops for the movie were these abandoned houses located in a wooded area on Peddocks Island, off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts.

Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Peddock's Island, 2004


Now off-limits to the public, the buildings lay dilapidated and decaying, part of the old Fort Andrews, an inoperative artillery post that was built to protect Boston Harbor up through World War II.

Neal Rantoul, Peddock's Island, Boston Harbor, Boston, MA, 2004 from American Series


Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Peddock's Island, 2004


Panopticon Gallery is exhibiting a selection of his earlier works, including photographs from Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington State that appear in his monograph American Series accompanied by images from three distinct series from around Massachusetts.

Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Oaksdale, Washington, 1997


In the 'series' work, Rantoul states, "I found a way to photograph that allows me to connect pictures to pictures, forming a narrative." For Rantoul, he uses the concept of 'series' to organize his work, putting his ideas and thoughts behind him so he can move on to something else. He elaborates, "I became interested in the ability to speak more completely about a place, a frame of mind, light, or the relationship between things."

Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Oaksdale, Washington, 1997


Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Escalante, Utah, 2001


Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Yountville, California, 1982


Neal Rantoul, Untitled from the series Hershey, Pennsylvania, 1997

J R wins the TED Award

Last year I wrote about Parisian street artist J R on Lenscratch. If you missed the post, be sure to revisit it to understand the scope of this amazing work. I thought you'd enjoy a follow-up article, lifted from the New York Times, and written by Randy Kennedy:

The TED conference, the California lecture series named for its roots in technology, entertainment and design, said on Tuesday that it planned to give its annual $100,000 prize for 2011 — awarded in the past to figures like Bill Clinton, Bono and the biologist E. O. Wilson — to the Parisian street artist known as J R, a shadowy figure who has made a name for himself by plastering colossal photographs in downtrodden neighborhoods around the world. The images usually extol local residents, to whom he has become a Robin Hood-like hero.



For most recipients, the value of the six-year-old award has less to do with the money than with the opportunity it grants the winner to make a “wish”: to devote the funds to a humanitarian project that will almost inevitably draw donations and other help from the organization’s corporate partners and influential supporters. The chef Jamie Oliver, the 2010 prize winner, recently proposed setting up an international effort to further his campaign against obesity; Mr. Clinton’s wish has channeled significant resources toward the creation of a rural health system in Rwanda.



Reached by telephone on Wednesday morning on a bus in Shanghai, where he was headed to work on a largely unauthorized photo-pasting project to draw attention to the city’s demolition of historic neighborhoods, J R said that he had learned of the prize only two weeks ago and that he had not yet had time to think of a wish.



But he said that it would undoubtedly involve his kind of guerrilla art, which he has been creating with the help of volunteers in slums in Brazil, Cambodia and Kenya — where the outsize photographs, printed on waterproof vinyl, doubled as new roofs for ramshackle houses. “I’m kind of stunned,” he said of the prize. “I’ve never applied for an award in my life and didn’t know that somebody had nominated me for this.”



At a time when street art is being embraced not only by the art world but also by branding interests, J R, who dislikes being called a street artist, preferring the term “photograffeur” (graffeur is French for graffiti artist) has become known for rejecting corporate sponsorship offers and other outside help. He said that he reinvested most of the money he makes by selling his art in galleries and at auction — one piece went for more than $35,000 at Sotheby’s in 2009 — into creating more ambitious projects, and that he would use the TED prize money for the same purpose.



“If there’s one thing I’ve always taken care of with my work, it’s that it’s never an advertisement for anything other than the work itself and for the people it’s about — no ‘Coca-Cola presents,’ ” he said, speaking in English. “I think the TED people knew that that was one of my main concerns, and I feel pretty sure that we can come up with a project that works that way.”

Amy Novogratz, the director of the prize, said that picking an artist like JR — he is 27 and fiercely protective of his anonymity, identifying himself only by his initials — was an unusual choice but that the prize committee felt that his work could “catalyze the whole TED community” to support an art-centered philanthropic project, which will be announced at the organization’s next conference in March.

“One of my concerns at first was that he wasn’t going to be accessible or available, which could be off-putting when you’re trying to get partners to get excited about a project,” she added. And, in fact, the first time prize officials had a Skype conversation with the artist, he appeared in sunglasses with a hat pulled low over his forehead.

“But then he said, ‘You know, I trust you guys,’ and he took them off,” Ms. Novogratz said, “and we just had a regular old conversation.”

During the interview on Wednesday morning, J R said that he had not been nearly as trusting of Chinese officials, as he and a crew of helpers erect towering pictures of elderly Shanghai residents on the walls of a neighborhood that is now more than three-quarters demolished.

“I keep thinking we are going to get into trouble,” he said, adding that anyone he talks to might be an undercover police officer. But then he described an illegal act: pasting a 20-foot-tall wrinkled face around the facade of an old water tower he spotted from the highway.

“We went into the building next door, and it was empty, and we went up to the tower, and nobody stopped us, so we just started working,” he said. “It’s crazy. This city is so huge and overgrown, the more you’re in the middle of things, the more you feel transparent.”

Claxton Projects

Just wanted to give you a heads up about a new site created by London photographer's agent, Tom Claxton dedicated to looking at already published photography books . It's called Claxton Projects and the site is a bit like visiting with old friends, and meeting some new ones along the way. I also love the idea that it's just as important to look back, as to look forward.

Identities Now: Call for Entry

Deadline: December 3, 2010

Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art, a private NYC gallery focusing on young and emerging artists, is currently accepting submissions for a book showcasing contemporary figurative/portrait photographers titled Identities Now: Contemporary Portrait Photography.

Submitted photographs will be reviewed by a selection committee of top photography professionals, including:

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders,Photographer/Director

Peter Hay Halpert (PHH Fine Art / Art dealer, professor, author, lecturer, curator and collector. Peter Halpert has been a Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper, Photograph Magazine and American Photo, and has taught at colleges and universities throughout the world. He served on the Guggenheim Museum Photography Committee when it was first started, and work from his collection has been exhibited at numerous institutions in the U.S.),

David Harris (Vanity Fair Executive Design Director),

David Schonauer (American Photo / David Schonauer was editor-in-chief of American Photo Magazine for twenty years. He has worked with and published many of the world's most famous photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, James Nachtwey, Annie Leibovitz, Mary Ellen Mark, Herb Ritts, Ansel Adams, and Harry Benson. David has written for publications as diverse as Atlantic Monthly, Outside, Worth, and The New York Times. He is currently working on a book project about the history of sports photography and writes a weekly blog called "I Like to Watch".),

Sam Shahid (Creative Director for Abercrombie & Fitch. Former Creative Director for Calvin Klein, Banana Republic, and Perry Ellis, Sam Shahid is also head of the New York-based ad agency Shahid and Co.).

2010 ferrari 458 italia official revealed

2010 ferrari 458 italia official revealed

Ferrari Pictures - Exotic Cars at the 2008 Model San Diego International

Ferrari Pictures - Exotic Cars at the 2008 Model San Diego International,,,,

Massa: I am expecting to have a very tough race

Oct.23 (GMM) The Brazilian Sixth on the grid and a full second off pole position, he was also some eight tenths slower than third-placed team-mate Fernando Alonso.

“I am not happy, especially because sixth place means I have to start on the less clean side of the grid, which is a major handicap on a surface as dirty as this one,” Brazilian Felipe began.

“I was very pleased at the end of Q2 because the car was more competitive than yesterday and I thought I could fight for a top place.

"Unfortunately, I had a bit of traffic on the only run I did in Q3 on my last set of new Soft tyres - a shame because the car was going well, but I was not able to get the most out of it.

“The situation in terms of grip has improved, even with the harder tyres, and I expect that trend to continue tomorrow.

"I am expecting to have a very tough race. If it was to rain it could be even more slippery than usual, given the condition of the track surface.”

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