Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Eggleston ="COLOR" & Leeks = Diet Food


ART - "William Eggleston is widely recognized as a master of color photography, a poet of the mundane, and proponent of the democratic treatment of his subjects. His inventive use of color and spontaneous compositions profoundly influenced a generation of photographers." LACMA



I met William Eggleston in Memphis, Tennessee when I was the Art Director for Memphis Magazine, the magazine a handful of us had just started. We were doing a story on the reclusive man and his work. I went over to his large, old, "Southern" home to select a few photos for the issue when the slender photographer greeted me at his front door and led me to his dining room. Piled on the floor, was a mountain of dye-transfer prints (each costing approximately $700 to produce at the time and some now sell for $50 to $80 thousand each).  He said, "Pick out what you want and take them," then he walked away and left me with his complete oeuvre. I selected four or five masterpieces I could reach without falling in. Of course I returned all of them after I finished using them, I should have asked to buy them at the time, but instead they were just returned to his dining room storage pile. I assume this mountain is the reason a living artist has an artistic trust set up to oversee his negatives, prints, sales and commissions.


NOW SHOWING through January 16, 2011: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents the exhibition: William Eggleston: Democratic Camera—Photographs and Video, 1961–2008, the most comprehensive U.S. retrospective of the Memphis-based contemporary photographer.  http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibEggleston.aspx
I enjoyed this retrospective show when it was at The Whitney Museum in NYC. It is worth seeing and traces the artist’s evolution over a five-decade-period, bringing together more than 200 of his iconic images and lesser-known black-and-white prints plus the reality video "Stranded in Canton" (Mississippi). Eggleston was the first photographer to be asked to mount a solo show of color photography at MoMA, partly because he adopted his dye transfer printing method, creating permanent, non-fading color prints for the first time. His recent work employs pigmented ink on archival paper. 


Eggleston is a master of capturing color during the magic hours of sunrise and sunset. His subjects are the mundane objects in all of our lives (supermarkets, shower tile, frost covered freezers, sidewalks, parking lots, etc.) which he usually shoots with his 35 mm camera as quickly and nonchalantly as  someone saying "Look at that!". To review his lengthy artist's bio go to his website: http://www.egglestontrust.com/
All Photos © Eggleston Artistic Trust


For FREE Eggleston Photos to download for personal use only on your IPAD or IPHONE or Laptop go to:  http://www.lacma.org/art/Downloads.aspx

Note: William Eggleston will host the Opening Reception at PHOTO L.A. XX on January 13, 2011, as mentioned in the January 3 posting. https://tx1.lacma.org/default.asp?cgCode=4&cgName=Special_Events

Watch more free documentaries
Above: Michael Almereyda’s intimate portrait of William Eggleston (2006)  a 84 minute film




FOOD - 
Keep Your New Year's Resolution
Leeks are a mild diuretic: 
"Love 'em and lose some weight!"


French diet author Mireille Guiliano speaks exclusively to women, but what is good for the goose (female) is good for the gander (male). Her advice is sound for everyone! She says to jump start a diet, for a three day weekend exclusively eat poached leeks with oil and lemon along with a simple, no sodium, leek soup and drink a large quantity of room temperature water. Mirelle believes adults must be the keepers of their own wellness equilibrium. At first, you must keep a food journal and balance any indulgence with a compensating reduction that same week. She says the French do not deny themselves any food group, eating rich foods, breads, wine and pastries They stay thinner than Americans by eating only three meals and one snack a day and then only socially at a table, SLOWLY, with smaller portions. Plus they walk as many places as possible, climb more stairs and drink plenty of water. To review her three basics: 1) drink lots of water every day, 2) walk everywhere you can, and 3) realize that a lifelong commitment to wellness begins with a love of leeks! For her recipes and advice go to: http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/well_being

ARTS ONLINE Shopping -
Now at the LACMA Museum Shop:

Eggleston's Guide - $39.95
Essay by John Szarkowski, photographs by William Eggleston
http://shop.lacma.org/products/egglestons-guide-facsimile

Original Photo Print 1/30 - $3,000.00
Eggleston: Untitled (Los Angeles), 1994/2010
This limited edition print was published by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the occasion of the exhibition William Eggleston: Democratic Camera Photographs and Video, 1961-2008. William Eggleston is widely recognized as an undisputed master of color photography, a poet of the mundane, and proponent of the democratic treatment of his subjects. His inventive use of color and spontaneous compositions profoundly influenced the generation of photographers that followed him, as well as critics, curators, and writers concerned with photographs. The photograph was published in the 1994 issue of Grand Street.
- Pigmented ink print on Museo Silver Rag
- Paper size 20 x 15 1/8 inches
- Image size 16 x 10 5/8
- Numbered edition of 30, stamped on reverse
- Printed by The Lapis Press for LACMA
- 2010
SKU #21546

Eggleston Post Cards - $15.95
Inside this box you will find postcards reproducing 25 images of William Eggleston's photography. The images are predominantly of Memphis, Tennessee, and are printed on heavy paper stock. One of his most popular images, En Route to New Orleans, c. 1971-74, is on the cover. - 25 postcards in box, each 4 1/2 x 6 inches   SKU #21156

Book: FOR NOW, William Eggleston - $65.00
This book is the result of film-maker Michael Almereyda’s year-long rummage through the Eggleston archives, a remarkable collection of heretofore unseen images spanning four decades of work by one of our seminal artists. Unusual in its concentration on family and friends, the book highlights an air of offhand intimacy, typical of Eggleston and typically surprising. 

Until later,
Jack

© ARTS&FOOD,(ARTSnFOOD.blogspot.com) All rights reserved, © Copyright Jack A. Atkinson 2011 Under All International, Digital, Intellectual Property and Copyright Laws. Images © Copyright individual Creators, Lenders or Fabricators.

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