The Boat Lullabies: January 2008 Archives

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January 30, 2008

Shrine Parade

Here's another video from my upcoming show (it'll probably be up sometime on Friday. It's an early 60s Shrine Parade (I think it's in Pittsburgh). It was filmed by a Chicago man who lived on the South Side.

Posted by nick at 11:17 PM | Comments (3)

Reject

I thought about putting this in the new show but I had no idea what was going on so I rejected it.

Hopefully the show will be up on Thursday.

Posted by nick at 02:39 AM | Comments (3)

January 28, 2008

Preview

Here's one of the photos from my upcoming show.

Posted by nick at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2008

Dance Party!

I'm hard at work on a new show for Square America- In honor of February being black history month I thought I'd do a show of about 75-100 of my best African-American-themed photos. The show should be up by the end of the week.

I'll also be incorporating a few video clips from my home movie collection. The following clip dates from the mid to late 50s and was most likely filmed in Chicago (probably the South Side). It's a bit abstract because (whether intentionally or not) the entire film was shot in close-up. Enjoy!

Posted by nick at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2008

And Once There Were Giants

A few more photos I rescued from purgatory.

Posted by nick at 11:55 PM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2008

My Back Pages

It's been frigid here in Chicago lately and that and the fact that I've been a bit under the weather has kept me cooped up in my apartment for the last few days. More out of boredom than anything I decided to look through some boxes of photos that I haven't been through in a while. Now I should mention how my collection is organized (or not organized). Basically when I get home from shopping at the antique market I go through everything I've purchased and put anything I really like into plastic sleeves which then get stored in plastic bins. Stuff I think is good but not great go into plastic bins but without being sleeved and finally everything that I wish I hadn't bought- of which there are always a few- get tossed into big boxes. There was a time when I knew pretty much what was in each of the plastic bins (both the sleeved and unsleeved photos) but unfortunately that day has passed and especially when I'm looking through some of the unsleeved stuff I come across things I'd completely forgotten I'd had and it's those unsleeved photos I've been going through the last few days. Generally, I find that any time I go through one of these bins I find a few things that now seem worthy of being sleeved so I thought I'd post a few today.

This one I really like and is perfect for The Book of Sleep so I'm not sure how it ended up in one of these bins in the first place.

These next two aren't as good but might make into a show I want to do on smoking.

This one's a pretty extraordinary photo though I'm not sure it'll ever make it onto Square America. I wish I could remember where I got it as it might give me a better clue about where the photo was taken- I'd guess Wisconsin or Michigan which were logged extensively in the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of the lumber floated down rivers to Chicago.

Mostly though I found photographs like this which I'm not really sure what I'll ever do with.

I do think I've lost something as my collection has grown. When my collection was smaller I could remember where I got almost every photo- the market I got it from, the dealer, whether it came from an album or out of a loose box of photos etc..., the photos becoming almost a personal diary of sorts. But about a year or so ago the collection reached a kind of critical mass and all that information was just flushed from my memory. Sure there are plenty of photos that I do remember all the details of but the vast majority I don't. And while this loss of context is minor- especially in light of the major loss of context that occurs when the photos, whether through death or disinterest, are taken from family albums and brought to the market in first place- it's still a loss, though perhaps just a personal one. Of course, my project here and on Square America is at least in part to recontextualize these photos into some kind of narrative (a narrative that I hope is driven by the photos themselves rather than imposed on them by me) but it's one that seems more and more difficult for me- just as the photographs have overrun my apartment the countless narratives they suggest overwhelm anything I could begin to do on the site. Edenbaum Schreiber's mailbox (or more likely the Edenbaum's and the Schreiber's) creates it's own narrative- it doesn't need me.

Posted by nick at 11:50 PM | Comments (5)

January 22, 2008

On the Passage Of Time In Tijuana

Circa 1917

Circa 1970

Posted by nick at 11:10 PM | Comments (2)

January 17, 2008

Stripes

Posted by nick at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008

100 Years Ago

This back of the photo reads "Public Wedding, Rock Springs Park in 1908." I'm pretty sure it's from West Virginia (see the postcard here). You know there's something almost comforting in the fact that even 100 years ago people were doing stupid stuff like getting married at an amusement park.

Posted by nick at 11:29 PM | Comments (2)

January 15, 2008

23rd & Sawyer

Here's a letter I posted a year or two ago over at Swapatorium but I thought I'd post it over here as I'm going be posting an occassional letter now and then to give the site a break from snapshots. I'm guessing the letter dates from around 1920 and is from here in Chicago. The corner of 23rd and Sawyer that the writer refers to is in the Little Village neighborhood. I think at the time the area was populated mostly by Czechs and Poles but now the area is almost completely Mexican. Of course, I'm sure there's still a nosy neighbor or two to found.

Posted by nick at 11:42 PM | Comments (4)

There Will Be Blood

I just saw There Will Be Blood and as I now judge all movies on much they remind me of snapshots from my collection this one rates pretty high. The opening of the movie reminded me of this pair of photos of miners.

This photo sums up the rest of the movie perfectly (well except for the bizarre final scene).

Posted by nick at 01:36 AM | Comments (3)

January 14, 2008

Serendipity

Today at an anitiques market north of town I found this slide which was perfect for On Beauty so I added it. If you haven't seen the show yet what are you waiting for??

Posted by nick at 01:26 AM | Comments (1)

January 12, 2008

On Beauty Has Arrived!

Better late than never, On Beauty is up over at Square America for your viewing pleasure. I intended it to more of a critique of the beauty myth than it wound up being (my original title was going to be On Beauty and its Discontents) and I may still play around with it a bit. The idea for the show came from the bottom photo I've posted here along with two before and after shots that you'll have to go over to the show to see. I think if I took out about 20 photos it'd probably be closer to my original intention but there were photos I liked that I just didn't feel like cutting so I wound up muddying the waters a bit and maybe that's okay. *UPDATE* I changed it back to my original title but otherwise left it alone. Here's a preview.

Posted by nick at 02:11 PM | Comments (1)

January 10, 2008

Powerama

I should have my new show, On Beauty, up sometime tomorrow.

Incidentally, this beauty (who of course will be part of the show) was part of Powerama, a month-long fair put on in Chicago in 1955 by G.M. to promote their diesel engines.

From a description of the event from a 1955 article in Time Magazine:

In rainbow-colored Dieseland, divers will splash into four feet of water in the world's biggest dump truck (50 tons), and the public will tramp around a host of diesel-propelled attractions ranging from an 85-ton atomic cannon to a 63-ft. shrimp boat. The star of the show: G.M.'s new, 10-car, 400-passenger Aerotrain, which is twice as light and less than half as expensive as conventional passenger cars. To make the diesel debut complete, the company has built a grandstand where 7,000 spectators can watch an hour-long musical (title: "More Power to You"), featuring a top-hatted elephant in a test of strength with a diesel bulldozer (the diesel wins), French acrobats performing from a 70-ft. crane, 35-ton bulldozers doing the mambo, girls posturing on a fishnet held aloft by two giant cranes.

The entire article can be found here.

Sadly, I don't have any photos of the elephant/bulldozer tug-o-war.

Posted by nick at 11:31 PM | Comments (3)

January 09, 2008

The World Without Us

Posted by nick at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2008

Arms Up For Beauty

I'm hard at work on my next show for Square America- it's going to be called On Beauty and it'll be somewhere around 50-75 photos. Here are three.

Posted by nick at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2008

Snapshot News and Notes

In the comments of my last post Jeannie mentioned that the Newark Museum will be having an exhibition of snapshots from the collection of Frank Maresca which will open on February 13th and run through May 11th. More information on the show (and the accompanying catalog) can be found here. Mr. Maresca's gallery Ricco Maresca is one of the finest folk/outsider art galleries in the country (I always make sure to check it out whenever I'm in NYC) so I have no doubt the show will be terrific.

Also in February, The Art of the American Snapshot show which just closed at the National Gallery will be opening at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. It opens there on February 16th and runs through April 27th. This is the best snapshot show I've seen so if you're from the area and you haven't seen it yet you'd better get over there and check it out.

In more immediate news- This coming weekend there's going to be a vernacular photo fair at the Santa Monica Art Studios in Santa Monica, CA. It's being organized by the good folks at D3 Projects. Check out their website for more info. I should also mention that the D3 gallery will have a snapshot show on display as well: American Typologies featuring work by Gail Pine and Jacqueline Woods which looks like it'll be terrific. I had hoped I'd be able to get out there this weekend myself (Photo LA is in town this weekend as well) but alas I won't be able to attend. I do know several of the dealers who'll be set up at the fair and I have no doubt that there'll be great stuff to be had. Hopefully this will become an annual event and a place where collectors from across the country can get together and meet.

One show I will be able to see that I'm very excited about is Least Wanted: A Century of American Mugshots The Mark Michaelson Collection which opens here in Chicago at the Inuit Gallery on January 18th. For more info click here.

Also on the horizon for those of you in Chicagoland is the return of Accidental Mysteries: Extraordinary Vernacular Photographs from the Collection of John and Teenuh Foster which will be at the William J. Bachman Gallery Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster, Indiana from March 23rd through May 4th. I saw the show when it was at the Intuit Gallery in 2006 and it's well worth the quick drive down to Indiana if you missed it the first time around- I'll certainly be heading down for a second look. For those of you not in the area John put together a small but beautifully designed catalog for the show that is available (I think) through his website Accidental Mysteries.

As Jeannie suggested I'll try to make announcements of shows as I find out about them. I'll probably announce new books as well (and maybe even review one or two).

Oh and before I forget: in very good web news- after a brief hiatus Angelica has Swapatorium back up and running. Also, one of my favorite writers Luc Sante now has a blog where he's doing a lot of writing about photographs (including some snapshots) so it's well worth bookmarking.

Yikes, all this writing makes me feel like I'm back in school (but I'm not counting this as one of my monthly essays- hopefully I'll have one of those up by the end of the week).

Posted by nick at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2008

Landscape (With Mold)

Posted by nick at 01:43 PM | Comments (2)

January 03, 2008

State of the Union

Well it's a new year and I thought I'd give you guys on update on my plans: First, as I've vaguely alluded to I should have a book out in early spring (probably April). It's a roughly chronological look at life in the United States from the late 19th century through the early 70s. About half the photos in the book are mine and of those only about half have been posted here or on Square America so most of it will be new to everybody. I'll be posting a lot more information about the book as we get closer to publication.

As for the redesign of Square America: While I'm still committed to making some changes I'm not sure what the time frame will be. Eventually the site will more or less split in two. One section will be more or less the site as it exists now- a series of thematic shows- though the design may be a bit different and I think the overall tone will get a bit more serious (or at least a bit less kitschy). The second section will hopefully be a fully searchible archive of everything in my collection. You'll be able to search by keyword, date, or location. This is a huge project as it will involve not only scanning about 10,000 new photos but also going back and tagging all of the 4500 photos that are currently on the site. I'm not putting any time tables on the redesign but hope to have it done sometime this year. As I've mentioned I'll also be adding video though I'm not exactly sure how I'll integrate it into the site. I also plan to go back and clean up a lot of the older shows, probably deleting a few photos but adding a lot more and most importantly moving photos around so each show is viewable on a single page.

As for this site- I'm still not sure exactly what to do with it. My New Years Resolution was to post here every day that I wasn't travelling- that lasted until 12:01am Jan. 2nd. Still, I will try to post here more regularly. I will change things up a bit: I'm going to try to write at least two essays a month- some being very close readings of specific photos, others will be more general. Nothing in the world causes me as much anxiety as writing so two a month might be stretching it but hopefully I'll get it done. I also may make the site a bit bloggier- I won't be telling you what I had for lunch but I may expand the range of topics beyond snapshots. I'll certainly be posting lots of video clips from my home movie collection as soon as I get access to transfer equipment. This site only gets a tenth of the traffic Square America does so I've considered just letting it go and concentrating all my energy there but I think (for now anyway) I'll keep it and try to make a bit more of a stand-alone site rather than just a place to announce what I'm doing over on the big site. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't announce that I should have a new show (or two) up at Square America sometime next week- I'll probably post a preview over the weekend.

Let me finish by thanking everyone who's visited both sites over the last year- my traffic more than tripled and all of that is due to viewers linking to the site. I think this year the site will be even better- adding video alone will be a huge plus. Among the shows you can look forward to I'm particularly excited about doing a show of my 3D slides (as animated gifs that give a more or less 3D effect) and a Sex show that will definitely be NSFW. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

The Boat Lullabies