Zoe Strauss

In Southern CA? Then come check out these things in Santa Barbara.



Thursday, April 2:

Slide show by Zoe Strauss

8pm
1131 State street
Courtyard of Peet's coffee


Tuesday, April 7:

5:00-6:15pm Lecture by me at
University of California, Santa Barbara
at Fine Arts Symposium
1610 Broida Hall.


After that, from 8:00pm - 8:30pm Works In Progress Slide Shows
Location: Isla Vista Theatre II
in Isla Vista, CA


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Don't miss this.

"Daidō Moriyama is one of the most important and exciting Japanese photographers of our time, having made prolific, often experimental pictures of modern urban life since the 1960s. This exhibition showcases a group of approximately 45 photographs made in and around Tokyo in the 1980s, when Moriyama focused his mature aesthetic on the city with renewed intensity."


In the new Perelman Building at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Up until August 23, 2009

Helen Levitt died yesterday. She was 95 years old.




New York, 1980

Helen Levitt: one of the most influential, important and brilliant street photographers to ever live.

I can't believed I missed this.



Photo courtesy of Jaden Larson via AVO

To read an excellent post about skywriting, click the title. Without a doubt, skywriting is one of my favorite mediums- surreal, accessible, ephemeral. I dream of having enough money to write skywriting text, but I am thrilled to read what others write.






Both of the above images were in the running for the first America edit.




Now this skywriting takes the cake.

I-95.09 Dated Edition Photos. Oh, it's on, friends.

250 dollars for each photo, in a 2009 edition of 9.

Image size for each photo is 7.5"x9.5", paper size is 8.5."x11", and each photo is an archival ink-jet print.

These are a limited edition 2009 issue and they will be signed as such. They aren't traditional editions by any stretch... I am only printing 9 of each of these photos at 7.5" by 9.5" in 2009. I reserve the right to make as many of this photo in what ever size and medium for the rest of my life. But in 2009 I will only make 9 prints, at 7.5" by 9.5", of these specific photos.

Please specify in the "special instructions" box in paypal if you would like the photo signed to someone. That's actually how I prefer to do it, I really like it to be personal.


The prints will be mailed out to the purchaser between May 11, 2009 and May 18, 2009.


Click on any image to enlarge it.
Please email me at zoestrausslimitededition@gmail.com with any questions.



Anchorage, AK 2009

Houston, AK 2009

Anchorage, AK 2009

I love this photo and the guy in it. I talked about it a little bit recently at the Bindlestiff signing because even years later it seems amazing that I was able to make this shot. I went back to take a look at the times the photos were made and this entire series was shot in 8 minutes, from the first photo of him standing on the stairs to his odalisque pose on the bed.

Ms. Kelly Harper will be in the show this year.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the book signing tonight!

AWESOME NEWS! DiCicco thinks that he can hook up a truncated April 29th cleaning. I'm working on scheduling because it's switched up and it's not 100%, but G-d bless you, DiCicco. There's no question that South Philadelphia is the center of the contemporary art world.

A lot of cleaning will have to happen the Friday and Saturday before, but it might not be as bad as I thought. Oh Fortuna!

Thursday, March 26
7:30
at Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Ave.
Take the #34 Green Line trolley to 45th & Baltimore.
For more information:
bindlestiff@gmail.com



Welcome all anarchists, lesbian separatists, Purple Fox shoppers, New Third World Lounge goers, Marigold diners and coop workers.

Are you fucking kidding, Madoff, Jr?


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Aside, a little linguistics observation. While the use of the word "enema" should be a stronger insult based on the idea of the anus, the word "douche" or "douche-bag" is much more pleasurable to use to refer to an unpleasant or disliked person.

Listen to these sentences:

"That guy is a fucking douche"
"That guy is a fucking enema"

I believe this is rooted in the actual sound of the word douche, ˈdüsh, a one syllable word with an "sh," as opposed to a 3 syllable word, ˈe-nə-mə, with 2 "eh"s. Certainly I am conscious of the misogyny within the construction of English, both formal and colloquial, but I really side with the poetry vs. the ideology on this. It's a tough call but "douche" wins out, particularly with a Philadelphia accent.

So Citizens' Alliance is closing as of April 30th which means that my scheduled I-95 clean up is canceled and none of the cleaning machines are available. And no brooms or bags. No nothing.

This is a big problem. I'm unprepared for the clean up without the machines, it's about 30 hours of cleanup total for one person. And I am unprepared to buy cleaning supplies. I'm broke. I don't have any problem asking for help, get ready friends, and I certainly don't have any problem cleaning... it's just an inopportune time to schedule a revised clean up and pay for more things.

Citizens' Alliance, which is a bona fide neighborhood group, is also a spot that Vince Fumo defrauded. But Citizens' Alliance was not a "front" for Fumo, they did a tremendous amount of clean up around the neighborhood and provided a needed service ...not including clean up under 95, which was really generous. It was thought that Citizens' Alliance would be able to stay open after the Vince Fumo and Ruth Arnao verdict, but apparently no. Thanks Vince and Ruth, you fucking dicks.

"Fumo is charged with obstruction of justice and with defrauding the state Senate, a South Philadelphia charity he founded and a maritime museum of almost $3.5 million.

Ruth Arnao, who was executive director of the charity, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, is charged with defrauding the nonprofit, filing false tax returns and obstruction."


Vince "OPM" Fumo used Citizens Alliance employees as his own "unpaid" personal staff.
Here's a story about Fumo. When we bought our house, our realtor's husband worked for Fumo. This was right before the primary when Ed Rendell and Bob Casey Jr. were running for the Democrats' nomination for governor. Fumo supported Casey and my realtors husband supported Rendell. At an event, Fumo told my realtors husband to remove his "Rendell" button or he'd be fired. When my realtors husband calmly objected, he was fired for wearing the pin.

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Now here's a story about Christian DiCicco, who is currently the head of Citizens Alliance. Christian has been tremendously supportive of my work and I have nothing but gratitude for what he's done for the neighborhood, and for me personally. I know he tried to hold Citizens together and I am appreciative for his effort and his generosity.

Just doing a little printing, no big deal.

Worth noting about reflection, the wall behind me in these photos is the wall in "Taken Down Posters" which will be included in this year's I-95.

I just forgot to post about this show in Copenhagen... thanks to Laura Heyman for including my work and hanks so much to Jens Erdman Rasmussen for acquiring a 6 photo installation for the Danish Museum of Photography.

This one's making it. In the last 2 years I've come to use reflection as a recurrent theme within the composition of the photos as well as the placement of photos. The above is not one of my strongest photos, but I'm pleased to move away from the linear and gridded construction that's a predominant feature of much of my framing.



















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This one is making it too. Like all of the images, I prefer to show this without a literal description. This is one that slowly found it's way into this year's edit and I was hesitant to include it because I wanted to be sure the image could imply razing or natural formation, and that the markers of human presence were minimal, but there if you looked for them. The image is of the World Trade Center site, from about 40 stories above the street. Even if my feelings for this image comes from knowing the site, I'm certain it can hold up without a caption.





This one had been in the running ahead of "get back up again" but after I sat with it for a little "we fall down" is out and "get back up again" is in. In the placement this year there's no need for a redundant "we fall down," but there is most certainly a place for the direct refrain "get back up again."

I have been working on I-95 for 9 FUCKING YEARS AND IT IS STILL UNBELIEVABLY HARD. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. I AM LOSING MY MIND WITH THIS.

Despite my many travels this year, I have a much smaller group of photos that have made the final edit for this year's inclusion. LOSING IT! LOSING IT!

Hello? Obama? Helen Thomas?

This year I'm looking to replace the top image, an image that's consistently been in 95 since 2003, with a variation of the bottom image which is how the homes have looked since 2008.

"The Internal Revenue Service is not living up to its pledge to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, an IRS watchdog group says, citing a drop in audits of millionaires last year."


Apparently the IRS thinks it's a better plan to audit me twice in the last 3 years. Seriously.

Republicans! Why are you not taking money for unemployed people? You are obviously assholes and idiots, I just can't figure out which is the predominate trait.

Also, I think Reagan is to blame for this recession.

I support a different rebranding to "AY I SAY FU"

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I am pleased to be headed back to Santa Barbara for a residency at the University of California, Santa Barbara. UCSB is the alma mater of my sister-in-law, Sydney Peck, Esq. And UCSB is the current school of Mr. Alex Peck, my sister-in-law's brother. Quality.

Here's some of the things I'm going to be doing out there...

Thursday, April 2:

First Thursday Projection
Time and Place TBA

Tuesday, April 7:

5:00-6:15pm Lecture by me at
University of California, Santa Barbara
at Fine Arts Symposium
1610 Broida Hall.


After that, from 8:00pm - 8:30pm Works In Progress Slide Shows
Location: Isla Vista Theatre II
in Isla Vista, CA


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I'm going to be working with Youth CineMedia , which I think will be the absolute highlight of my visit.

And I'm doing a project where identical photos are placed in 2 homes; the home of a person who employs a housekeeper, and in the home of the housekeeper who works in the aforementioned home. It's a much more difficult project than I had anticipated and caused at least one person to say he couldn't "go there", it was too uncomfortable for him with transgressing a unseen social boundary. I am grateful for his honesty in why he wasn't interested in participating.







Looking forward to seeing Liz Kuball, Shelly Lowenkopf, Elyse and Emilo.

These are coming up for sale in the next week.

Thursday, March 26
7:30
at Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Ave.
Take the #34 Green Line trolley to 45th & Baltimore.
For more information:
bindlestiff@gmail.com



Welcome all anarchists, lesbian separatists, Purple Fox shoppers, New Third World Lounge goers, Marigold diners and coop workers.

This is the one I chose for America




But this is one I'm leaning toward for 95 this year

I-95.09 is going to be amazing, but I-95.10 will be a masterpiece. The work is almost all here and I have no doubt that next year will be able to be completed with images to spare.

Photo from Philebrity

Tyler students built four Trojan Horses out of cardboard and placed them in the lobbies of UArts, PAFA, Moore College of Art & Design and the Art Institute. I fully support this. This friendly rivalry gesture is second only to Greg keeping that goat in his attic room.

Alison Feldish
Ashley Flynn
Donna Collins
Laura Raynor
Yujean Park

PAP is proud to present these promising photographers and artists.

Jean

I think I'm including the above photo as part of 95 this year. This is a photo that took me a while to see if I could separate the image from the story... if the image was going to hold up on it's own. I think it does, but the exchange will certainly factor in where the image is placed. It might not make the final cut, but I've thought of this portrait a lot and it will figure in the edit even if it doesn't make it in. I like Jean very much.


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Jean Bruno is Angelo Bruno's daughter and my studio is around the corner from her house.


Portrait of Angelo Bruno in his home


Jean Bruno and Angelo Bruno's portrait







March 21, 1980
Angelo Bruno

See you tomorrow.

I am confident in myself, in my work, but I am occasionally beset with anxiety surrounding my work... particularly during this part of my editing process, the month or 2 before I-95. One kind of anxiety comes from fear that this work is actually no good, it's not successful. I know that's ridiculous but it doesn't prevent me from worrying about it. But there are more real fears that come along side the ones I know can be brushed aside. The fear of criticism is always hovering around for me. I'm very sensitive to negative criticism and it stays with me for a while until I can shake it off. It's bizarre, but the worry is about not getting negative criticism, but a worry that I could potentially be upset by it.

And there's fear that I've misread someone. The worry about having hit a wall with production. The worry about making the right choices.

There's a constant worry about the ethics of using people's images to make my own narrative. That's another anxiety that I know isn't a real problem... I rely on Lynn Bloom, whose moral compass always knows the right direction. There's not a photo I've had a question about that hasn't been run by her and I trust her more than anyone else in the world when it comes to my work.

Then there's the anxiety that I'm too reliant on praise, that critical success weighs too heavily. I love to be lauded. Who doesn't? But it's not the fear of wanting that stroking, it's the fear that critical success will unconsciously interfere with my judgement in making the edit. Of course everything ever weighs in making the edit and whatever has impacted me will work it's way in. My worry is that critical success will cause me to be lazy and not push myself, to rest on laurels or some shit like that.

In a week when some final decisions will be made, when there's not time for this crap, these will all be quelled and I'll be decisive and laser like. But it's the 10 hour, not the 11th, that could drive me to drink.

Over 20 years has past since I was in Central America and these things have happened since then:

Nelson Mandela has been president of South Africa.

Newspapers are folding and while the ability to obtain information becomes easier and faster for the world, relevant news that's being broadcast is diminishing.

The World Trade Centers have been destroyed in an attack.

I am almost 39 and have devoted almost 10 years to art, not to the struggle, and I feel good.

The United States had 8 years of George Bush II and now we have a bi-racial left leaning president.


1985 Censored Foreign Policy News Stories: El Salvador

1970-1990: The war of counter-insurgency in El Salvador

CISPES

The Life and Example of Jean Donovan

The Brutal Murder of Four Missionaries in El Salvador in 1980




"The Bodies of Four American Churchwomen."
Photo: Alain Keler/Sygma



"Mauricio Funes greeted his supporters in San Salvador on Sunday night after winning El Salvador’s presidential election."
Photo: Luis Romero/Associated Press

Si. Si Se Puede. Yes, it can be done.

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World Trade Center Site
November 22, 2008


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Stardust
2003



Stardust
February 19, 2007


Indiana Sky
February 8, 2008

I support this instead of the bonuses.

Online photo essay by Brian at Time.com... and look for a photo in the March 23rd issue. Congratulations!

Trophy: Billy Blaise Dufala and Steven Dufala

At

Fleisher/Ollman Gallery
1616 Walnut, Suite 100
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Now through March 28.

This is redundant and adds nothing to the discussion, but I find it important to say "Fuck you, Bernard Madoff."

Starring Martin Bromirksi, Mike Macfeat, Rob Matthews and the great Manuel Dominguez Jr.

posting will be slow now through I-95.09

May 3, 2009

1pm-4pm

rain or shine

Front and Mifflin.

Grace Elizabeth Raffaele Shemeley

March 8, 2009

7lbs. 13 oz. 21 inches

I love California, and I find it a little shocking that I do. I really loved LA, which seems antithetical to all that I love of home, but I'm pleasantly surprised that I can enjoy both. People often feel the need to disparage one place because they love another but what's the point?

One thing that I've found interesting is how not laid back I am... the California work vibe is distinctly different. I am against the insane work structure that American culture has laid out for us, and I am a supporter of a maximum 30 hour work week for all and two months of vacation. But I'll be damned if an hour and a half lunch over something with avocados doesn't make me fucking nuts! Or slow driving. Or it being ok to be an hour late. I am often late, time management is difficult for me, but what the what with "see you around 2 or 3?" Are you people crazy? When I was in France, I loved the 2 hour lunch/ shut down during the day, but I don't think I could live like that. It's kind of sad when I think about it, not being able to acclimate to a more human daily schedule. Rosemary grows as shrubs here and the smell of the air is amazing. Whatever, back to work.

I am in Santa Barbara and ready to roll! I'm doing a project with my pal Elyse Gonzales who recently took a job out here as the new curator at UCSB’s University Art Museum. While I should be focused on the here and now, I am starting to get anxious about 95... I lost some work a few months ago with 2 hard drive failures, one right after the other, and I lost at least 4 photos I wanted to include this year. Two of the photos that were lost are pictured below.







Just the lo-res images I uploaded to flickr are what I've got.

I can't cry over split milk, but believe me that I can cry and cry over this. Even if I decided that they're not making it... F.U.C.K.

Check out this upcoming show...

"Grace"

Tanyth Berkeley

March 14 – April 25, 2009

Danziger Projects
521 West 26th Street
New York, New York 10001 USA



Grace
Photo by Tanyth Berkeley

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Tanyth Berkeley was born in Hollywood, California, and currently lives and works in New York.


Graciella Longoria was born in Houston, Texas. She works for Univision – a bilingual cable company – and models in her spare time.