Photo of the Day

Here is today's studio shot...one I particularly like.

Thoughts on the Salon

It is the last day of the Amsterdam show, and I am just killing a little time before the final party this evening.

Showing my work in this incredibly beautiful Amsterdam home has caused me to rethink a few things about “exhibition space” and the demands of the gallery system as we know it today.

I had at first been reluctant to accept the invitation to exhibit in a private home…even one as grand as this one…since like many other artists I have been conditioned to think that galleries and museums are the only venues worthy of my attention. But this exhibition has proved successful not only from a financial and social perspective, but from an aesthetic one as well. It seemed that my photography, drawing as it does on late 19th century composition, technique, and “feel”, was actually enhanced in the ambiance of a grand European parlour with long and luxurious draperies, antique tables, lamps, etc.

Should younger artists reconsider the possibility of the private “salon”? Is the private salon an ideal tactic for circumventing the oftentimes unfair and seemingly random exclusionary practices of the gallery system? In a contemporary art world that habitually ignores good work in favour of what is trendy and/or marketable, is the private salon a desirable and viable option?

It is worth more thought. For now, I know my first “salon” in Amsterdam has been extremely thought provoking and successful.

The Amsterdam Show

This Sunday morning I fly out of Udaipur and head to the Netherlands via Delhi. My hosts in Amsterdam will be Patrick van Son and Marischka Leenaers, who have arranged for an exhibition of over 40 of my photographs in their beautiful, traditional, Amsterdam home.

This exhibition opens with a special, invitation only, Indian buffet on Diwali next Friday.

Both sepia-toned chemical process prints, and a very few hand-colored digital images will be included in this show. Above: Cricket Practice - Goa and An English Woman with Her Lover.

If you should happen to be in Amsterdam, below is all the information you need (if you read Dutch).

UITNODIGING
EXPOSITIE
bij
Patrick van Son & Marischka Leenaers

WASWO X. WASWO
Selected Photographic Work from India

Tijdens onze laatste reis door India ontmoetten wij Waswo, een Amerikaanse fotograaf,
die al vele jaren in India woont en werkt.
Hij exposeert in galeries en musea in India en Amerika.

Zijn werk spreekt ons bijzonder aan, daarom organiseren wij in ons huis een expositie met 40 van zijn mooiste foto’s.

De expositie vindt plaats van zaterdag 10 november tot en met woensdag 14 november 2007.
Openingstijden: zaterdag en zondag 12.00-19.00 uur, maandag t/m woensdag 19.00-22.00 uur (en op afspraak).

De tentoonstelling wordt zaterdag om 13.00 uur feestelijk geopend.

Waswo is zelf op alle dagen aanwezig en licht zijn werk graag toe.
Voor meer informatie over zijn werk: www.waswoxwaswo.net


Sarphatipark 92
1073 EB Amsterdam
020-6752533