A Photo Collection From Leonard Volk; New Work by Paul Fryer

Funny how one stumbles on to new work. Last night at Calypso St. Barth, a home furnishings store in The Plaza at Preston Center, Leonard Volk was signing everyday, is new collection of photography.

Volk is a longtime Dallas architect, educated at Yale and MIT, much lauded, now retired. His collection stretches back to the 1950s, and spans cities around the world, although some of my favorite shots are from Dallas: construction scenes of Woodall Rodgers, details of tent awnings at the State Fair, a Dallas Morning News billboard from the ’80s.

You can learn more about Volk and see images from his new book here. In the text accompanying his work, Volk rounds up bits of wisdom and observations about taking pictures. He also explains the title of his book and his focus on details, rather than panoramas:

Although the small and familiar have long been recognized as worthy subjects by photographers, I believe they are surprisingly neglected. For me, uniqueness fairly jumps from tiny objects and bits of landscapes. I feel inspired to hunt the significant ordinary. everyday seeks to reveal mysteries of the ordinary — in household, garden and street.

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Later, at a party, I met Paul Fryer, a British artist whose work is going up at Kristy Stubbs Gallery this evening. Not a proud moment in arts journalism: I had no idea who he was, which didn’t phase him during a brief and affable chat. Today come to find that in addition to creating installations for multiple shows, Fryer is also a DJ, former musical director for Fendi, and co-author, with Damien Hirst of a book of poetry and illustrations called Don’t Be So . . . . Stubbs worked with Hirst on a show in London in 2007. Now looking forward to his opening tonight at Stubbs’ gallery, which will feature 18 new works, many of them lenticular pictures. (Lenticular? Yeah, me too. From a press release: ” The lenticular printing technique was developed in the 1930s as a way of making either 3D or moving images on a flat picture plane without the use of electrical power or the need for special glasses. Its main contemporary use is in luxury advertising.”)

Reception is this evening from 6-9. More details here. On display through Feb. 12.

Kent

Volk kept on clinging to the science disproven myth of the right brain, left brain fallacy throughout Ms. Boyd’s interview.

The over rated geezer also dislikes film he stated because of fading dyes from his 1950s shots. Also, no film photographers today do darkroom anymore. The dyes of film today are far improved and superior to digital in archival time. Hard drives and SCRAMs are only guaranteed for about 10 years because of cosmic radiation and the magnetic field of the earth. Film about 150 years.

The superiority of a film image is more expensive and time line consuming, but much more superior to digital in image.

Spare me Volk’s boring tortured artist cliches’ of left/right brain. There are many artists of all mediums who think rationally. Magical thinking is just that—to give the “tortured artist” arrogance and title.