Veruca Salt’s original line up, Nina Gordon, Louise Post, Steve Lack and Jim Shapiro—reunited to release new music on Record Store Day this year. Now, they’ve shared a music video for one of those new tracks, “The Museum of Broken Relationships”. The black and white clip is directed by Gary Kordan.
TweetFrom the moment he started making photographs to the present day, the landscape has captivated Andreas Gursky. This exhibition is the first to focus on a group of important early landscapes from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Predating Gursky’s extensive use of digital technology, and characterised by what the artist has called an ‘extraterrestrial’ perspective, the pictures are titled simply and directly after the geographical location where they were taken.
In Niagara Falls (1989), a boatload of tourists, draped in black rain gear, appears to be heading directly into a section of the falls where the white crashing water has obliterated any legible detail. If this photograph depicts a sublime landscape, Mettmann, Autobahn (1993) shows instead a calm, bucolic scene intersected by silver-grey bars. At first glance, the bars look like they were inserted into the photograph by the artist as an extreme formal gesture, but they were already at the site, integral to a Plexiglass screen that acted as a noise barrier along the motorway. Gursky noticed this interweaving of classic pastoral and utilitarian technology while driving. In Alba (1989) the landscape is similarly ageless: a river, barely a ripple in its surface and framed by a dark forest, trickles over a stony riverbed as it has for centuries. Fishermen, dwarfed by the artist’s sweeping view of the site, wade into the water.
Gursky’s early landscapes provide the viewer with the concrete experience of a specific place as well as what Martin Hentschel has called a ‘mental image that has been passed down to us by the history of painting and inscribed into our collective memory’. The pictures conjure both a topography and a structure: Niagara Falls might be an overexposed tourist destination, but Gursky discovers a peculiar mood there. A boat transports its human freight, entranced by a white abyss, to an uncertain fate. Yet we know that these tourists won’t get swamped by the falls, however precarious they look in the picture. Moreover, the overall calm and balance of the composition has the power to counteract any overwhelming sense of threat.
Opposite – Niagara Falls, 1989
Exhibition runs through to June 21st, 2014
Sprüth Magers London
7A Grafton Street
London
W1S 4EJ
‘This little town has nothing. It’s dying on the vine. But when the company opens a mine here, it’ll bring jobs and make everything bigger and better. There are people who want that boost to the community. I’m not one of them. The mine will ruin this mountain and you’ll never find land this beautiful anywhere else.’ Randy Stowell, Big Springs Ranch, Oasis, Nevada 2012.
Between 2006 and 2013, Lucas Foglia travelled throughout rural Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming, some of the least populated regions in the United States. Frontcountry is a photographic account of people living in the midst of a mining boom that is transforming the modern American West. Foglia’s work is driven by a desire to tell stories, it conveys an understanding of the land as a resource and an inquisitiveness as to how people make a living from it. The images feel rooted in the romance of the American landscape, yet his work has a signature that always refers back to its inhabitants, reflecting the artist’s personable nature and patient observation. His practice continues in the line of previous American social documentary photographers whose work, in book and print form, is intended as a prolonged and measured examination of a theme.
Opposite – Loan Office, Happy State Bank, Silverton, Texas 2012
Exhibition runs through to May 10th, 2014
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place
London
SW3 3TD
This exhibition is a testament to Whitaker’s unobtrusive approach to photography and offers a candid portrait of one of the greatest and most influential bands at a time of great change; 1964-1966.
Whitaker was swept into the band’s entourage after gaining Epstein’s trust when they met during The Beatles 1964 Australia tour. The young photographer initially turned The Beatles manager down when offered the job of photographing the band but he reconsidered after seeing them perform. Whitaker went on to both influence and document the band’s transformation from the floppy-haired Fab Four to a band who were willing to take risks and court controversy. Whitaker became a friend and confidante to the band and these relationships led to the most iconic and enduring photographs of The Beatles ever published.
The exhibition features George Harrison whilst filming “Way Out” in London’s Chiswick Park in 1966 alongside the back cover sleeve of “Revolver”, the group’s landmark 1966 LP. Whitaker is also responsible for the infamous “Yesterday and Today” aka the “butcher cover” depicting The Beatles clutching joints of raw meat and decapitated children’s dolls. John Lennon stated; “It was inspired by our boredom and resentment at having to do another photo session and another Beatles thing. We were sick to death of it. Bob was into Dali and making surreal pictures.” Whitaker had originally intended the photograph to be a surreal, satirical pop art observation of the bands fame but the repercussions caused world-wide controversy and EMI quickly withdrew the cover from circulation.
Exhibition runs May 8th to July 8th, 2014
Proud Camden
161 King’s Road
London
SW3 5XP
Adidas Skateboarding‘s ongoing Skate Copa collection enters the next round, fueling the anticipation for the upcoming World Cup just a little bit more. Following the soccer jerseys, they now drop the matching skate decks. Each one was made in collaboration with the team riders’ respective deck sponsors, including Cliché, DGK, Krooked, Palace and Western Edition.
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French sportswear brand Lacoste has now teamed up with Aberdeen retailers Hanon, on the Wytham court shoe for Summer 2014. Drawing inspiration from Lacoste’s rich tennis heritage, the retailer reworked the Wytham in two premium versions. Finished in white on white, the upper is a mix of plush tumbled leather offset by chalk suede overlays and a stitched moulded cup sole. Each pair will come with a collaborative dust bag and two sets of laces. The hanon x Lacoste Wytham ‘On Court’ white edition will release on Saturday May 3rd 2014. A special tobacco colorway ‘Off Court’ silhouette will also be offered in store only.
Limited to 50 pairs, with each pair coming hand numbered.
www.lacoste.com
www.hanon-shop.com
