DAVE COOPER in JUXTAPOZ MAGAZINE

Shot hot local artist Dave Cooper a month or two ago for überkool
mag, Juxtapoz.

Here’s what it looks like in print:

SIDE PROJECT (Last Sunday Morning)

I live just down the road from the Rideau Curling Club. Every May long
weekend (Victoria Day) the folks at CanGames host a games convention
there. The games of choice: Role playing games (Dungeons & Dragons),
collectible card games (Magic the Gathering) and miniatures games
(Warhammer).

Every year I watch these unfamiliar faces walk by my house on their way to
the games. This year I decided to mosey on down to the curling club, where
the gamers take over the whole place, and shoot some portraits:

STANDARD

Well, I’ve got 3 or 4 projects running simultaneously. Some big edits
for a couple of upcoming shows (and when I say “edits”, I mean that
in the true sense of the word. Namely….choosing and sequencing
images. These days the term edit seems to mean Photoshop post
production), some imminent personal shooting and, as if that’s not
enough, I’m thinking about starting a magazine. That’d be a print
magazine on, like, paper.

Now I know that there’s great danger in broadcasting plans. But
hang on kids, I said I’m thinking about starting a magazine. I’m
not sure if it’s just going to be a one-off, or if maybe it might be
possible to roll it out into some bigger thing that will embrace a
larger community. Stand by. We’ll see…….

The thing is gonna be called STANDARD and the first issue, which
is in production now, will be a showcase for some of my American
shooting.

In the mean time, here’s the cover.

EN FRANCAIS

Here’s a review of the exhibition I’m in at the Bytown Museum.
It’s in french. If you can’t read it you could go here for a pretty
bad Google translation.

ME

I received this drawing (of me) couple of days ago. A swell
birthday present from my friend (and client) Jean Brunet.

PIKTO TOP PICK FOTO COMPETITION

PIKTO, a friendly foto production and gallery space in Toronto, has decided,
with the launch of their Top Pick thingy, to up the ante vis-a-vis their support
for the foto community.

The Top Pick competition will award the winner with $5k towards printing,
framing and photobook services, which will come in handy since the winner
also gets a show at their swell gallery.

And, bonus, there’s no submission fee.

Details here.

HISTORY

History in 2 senses. First, I took these a while ago. Christmas time, 2008.
And, secondly, both the spots shown are places where history took place.
(Not that history doesn’t take place everywhere, all the time.)

Three shots of the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee. The site
of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King.

The wreath, in the final shot, marks the spot.

Three shots of the crossroads. Where Highway 61 crosses Highway 49,
Clarksdale, Mississippi. Legend has it that bluesman Robert Johnson
went there one midnight and sold his soul to the devil in order to be
the best musician anyone had ever heard.

Now where was I?

Oh yes, talking about the shows I saw at CONTACT foto fest……

THE MECHANICAL BRIDE
at MOCCA/ Alec Soth, Ryan
McGinley, David LaChapelle

The Rape of Africa by D. LaChapelle

This was one of the feature shows at CONTACT. There were more
photographers involved than those I mention here. But I’ve decided
to only talk about the work that interested me……

Everywhere I went at CONTACT people were talking about the Alec
Soth talk. It happened the day before I went to Toronto so I missed
it.

A shame, really, because he’s a total star in the foto-firmament.

I did get to see some of his prints at MOCCA, though, and looking
at them you can see why he’s so influential/talked about.

These suckers were simple yet mesmerizing. Never hurts to make
big C prints from 8×10 negs, either, does it?

But it’s not just about his impeccable technique. It’s about his brain.

Fotos by A. Soth

Also on view was a wall of Ryan McGinley shots from I Know Where
The Summer Goes.

Now, with Mr McGinley, it seems like you either love what he does, or hate
it. I wanted to be one of those who hated it, but was seduced. His row of
small (yes, hallelujah, small) prints were beautiful and seemed to me to
capture some essence of summers’ past. I was happy to see this work.

Fotos by R. McGinley

And, finally there was Mr. LaChapelle. All flash and brash. Fun.

But this shot of Lady Gaga was really only fun like a donut. It doesn’t
last long. And your fingers get all sticky. Too bad.

Lady Gaga by D. LaChapelle + SONY demonstration that was happening while I was at MOCCA (somehow fitting)

THE GLADSTONE HOTEL

Ottawa content. Genevieve Thauvette shows some of her Dionne Quintuplet series at The Gladstone

Über-Kool hotel, The Gladstone, had 4 floors of fotos. Some segmented off into
little rooms. Some rooms more interesting than others. Then there was this:

From Nightingale, by Meera Margaret Singh, in the halls of The Gladstone

Rising star Meera Margaret Singh mounted Nightingale, her ode to her mother, in
the hallways of The Gladstone. I’ve seen this work (online) in a gallery context and
it’s very swell there. But something about the location put this over the top. The
milieu charged this installation and you couldn’t help but wonder.

From Nighingale, Meera Margaret Singh

THE BROTHEL WITHOUT WALLS
at the University of Toronto

Mid-morning I called Clare Jordan, the foto editor at Report on Business magazine.
Was just checking that some images I’d sent her (from a story to be published next
month) had made it to her ftp site.

She asked me to go for lunch but I countered with the suggestion we go see The
Brothel Without Walls, a feature show at U of T. She was game.

Picking up Clare and looking at The Brothel Without Walls

Brothel Without Walls showed work that critiqued the media. (Funnily enough,
no photography was allowed in the gallery. I took the shots above just after I’d
been told not to take pictures, and that all the galleries were being monitored
by CCTV. Fuck me.)

The standouts in this show, for me at least, were Christopher Wahl, including
this devastating image of CBC news reader Heather Hiscox:

Swine Flu. © Christopher Wahl. (You really need to see it large)

Evan Baden, who showed images from Technically Intimate, a series he shot of
young women and men whose images he initially found on the web. He then
recreates these found images, using the original subjects. Strangely sexy, and
makes you think, too.

© Evan Baden

Jessica Dimmock showed some of her images of paparazzi. Now, I’m a huge fan
of hers but I thought this series fell a little bit short. Was a bit too overwrought
and obvious.

© Jessica Dimmock

Also of interest were:

© Stefan Ruiz, from The Factory of Dreams

And…….

© Marina Gadonneix, from Remote Control

HMAb LIVE BLOG PARTY

My last nite in Toronto was spent at the PIKTO studio, with, like,
200 plus other fotografers, art directors, foto editors and misc.
other foto industry guys and gals.

© Eric Brazier (here)

The occasion was the big Heather Morton Art buyer live blog
party. Copious amounts of alcohol and conversation fueled
the nite. As well as brief talks by myself and these folks:

It was a great pleasure to see so many gathered for some good
times, networking and so on. Thanks to Heather (and the folks
at PIKTO) for making this happen. Blogs and the internet are
just so virtual, a party is sensual. We need more of that.

AND IN OTHER NEWS…….

Went to the opening of EVOCATIVE OBJECTS at the Bytown Museum.
Museum director Mike Steinhauer included a couple of my fotos in
the thing, a funny pairing of Yvon, an addict, and David Wilkins, the
American ambassador……

As well, included in this show, which is composed of very “normal”
but rarely seen artifacts from certain Ottawa neighourhoods, was
bits one of ChinaDoll’s outfits. As it happens, the outfit we used
when I fotografed him last year…..

Spent 5 days in Toronto. Went for my opening and stayed
to look at some of the CONTACT shows and to give a talk
at Heather Morton’s big live blog party.

There’s too much to report on for one blog post so I’m
going to break it down into two. Tune in next week for
Part 2.

To begin, though, some hype disguised as critique.

THE PRESS

Well, this isn’t new news, everyone knows this. As more
and more things get written about me I’m struck by all
the little factual falsehoods that sneak into the articles
and blurbs. Kind of reminds me of photography, of how
and what images communicate. Opinions mixed with
some facts and a certain amount of misinformation.

For example……

This is a blurb from Photo Life. Thanks for the hype
and all, but I must point out that I have NOT received
a Governor Generals Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Thanks, too, to NOW magazine for the mention. I must
say, though, that I am definitely not a photojournalist.
Photojournalists do not set up shots.

CONTACT 2010

How to begin?

CONTACT is billed as the world’s largest foto fest. It’s
an open type of thing so anyone who can line up a venue
gets to show. There are fotos everywhere.

The powers that be at CONTACT root thru all the shows
and select some as featured exhibitions. As well, there
are a number of public installations and two curated
shows, what they call “primary”.

I was exhausted from a few weeks of being just craaazy
busy, and the weather the 5 days I was there totally sucked.
That weather was a kind of blessing in disguise, though, as
I felt no guilt holing up in my room at The Sheraton every
afternoon and having 4 hour naps.

But I did manage to get out to see some…..Here’s a brief
report of what I saw, along with some brief notes outlining
my reactions, when I have reactions.

TORONTO IMAGE WORKS GALLERY/
Patrick Dionne & Miki Gingras

This show of pinhole fotos, taken by Dionne and Gingras,
purports to “educate its viewers about the effects of
globalization on third world communities”.

Interesting fotos but, for me, they were way too ethereal
to actually achieve their stated goal. I often wonder about
the point of artists nailing down their objectives too, too
much. Seems to me that that can only lead to confusion.

Here.

CONTACT GALLERY/ Zed Nelson, Jodi
Bieber & Lauren Greenfield

Left: Jodi Bieber, right: Zed Nelson, missing: Lauren Greenfield

This show was about the portrayal and pursuit of “human
beauty”.

I wanted to like the Lauren Greenfield pix of rich, spoiled
kids but, somehow or other, they just left me cold. Here.

Zed Nelson’s work, Love Me, showed aspects of the multi-
billion dollar beauty industry. Here.

Zed Nelson

And Jodi Bieber had a series of portraits of South African
women, Real Beauty, in all their glory. Here.

Jodi Bieber

AGO/Barbara Kruger

A big, didactic, exterior installation.

I really like some of her stuff but this, I thought, just didn’t
work at all.

Barbara Kruger

CBC HQ/Finbarr O’Reilly

Finbarr spent 2 years in the Congo and Rwanda. That work,
presented with lots of additional info and statistics, in the
atrium of the CBC HQ, had a constant stream of folks thru,
looking and obviously thinking and being affected.

Now, I’m not a big fan of photojournalism, I prefer work that’s
more cutting edge, in terms of its relationship to modernity.

There’s been quite a bit of “conversation” on the interwebs
recently about how photojournalism is mired in some weird
kind of time-warp, how hardly anyone in that field can get
past the clichés that permeate it, how, somehow or other,
it all kind of looks and reads the same.

I have to agree with that, but I also must admit that Finbarr’s
work was affecting the people I saw looking at it. So where
does that leave us?

Here.

TO BE CONTINUED……..

Next week….Alec Soth, Ryan McGinley, David LaChapelle and more!

NO COMMENT

I recently bumped into a couple of comments about USER.

Now, usually I try to stay out of the fray, when it comes to
this stuff. And, in fact, won’t be defending my work directly
on the NOW comment board where I found this comment,
from someone who goes by the pseudonym of “Snow White”:

“This is exploitation! These photographs help no one.
They are not beautiful. They are highlighting a problem
that needs fixing but do nothing about it. Has Tony
Fouhse suffered from Crack addiction issues? Has he
lived on this street corner? Is his voice the same as
the subjects?

No!

Photography lovers, please…. learn a little bit about
the “art” of fine art photography.”

And here’s a comment Lisa sent to me, referring to this image:

Candace and Todd, Ottawa, 2007

“This is my boyfriend, Todd in this pic. I have
fortunately been clean for six months but him
he is unable at this point to beat his addiction.
I could not depict illness and beauty as well as
you have Tony Fouhse, in this photo….There is
such a beauty in addiction, one that is far beyond
comprehension. We lose ourselves and there is
such a courageous and beautiful yet diabolical
struggle within us that people may not understand
beautiful is the addict finding ourselves…Thank
you Tony.”

BYTOWN MUSEUM

I have a couple of shots in the new exhibition at The Bytown Museum.,
Evocative Objects: Artefacts Unfolding Neighbourhoods.

Opens this coming Thursday. Details here.

Picture of Yvon, a crack addict and a picture of David Wilkins, the
American Ambassador to Canada. Odd pair, but it works.

HANGING USER

Toronto, during CONTACT Foto Fest, is Foto-mad…..

I made my way there last Sunday to hang USER at PIKTO…..

Johan Halberg-Campbell is the gallery-meister there and
was a great help over the Sunday afternoon and Monday
morning it took to get the pix on the walls…..

The vibe at PIKTO, and in Toronto in general, foto-wise, is
just great. There are enough fotografers there, and support
for the industry, to make a critical mass. Plus, there are tons
of people actually doing stuff…..makes a welcome change from
Ottawa which feels, in comparison, like a backwater.

(Now, before all you Ottawans go and get yer knickers all in
a knot…..I say: Face facts. I say: Bring it on……)

Chris Buck and me

Don Weber in the PIKTO studio

Stayed at the Hyatt on King Street. A bit too ritzy for a
mofo like me……

Monday morning finished hanging the show. People looked…..

USER OPENING

The opening went from 6 to 10 and there was a constant
stream of folks thru the gallery, looking and talking and
drinking.

I was way too distracted to actually snap some shots of
the event so I’ll just throw up some random views from
this weekend instead.

View from the Sheraton

Views from the street

View from the car

THE INFAMOUS BONNEY

Ben Walker interviewing Jimmy Bonney

I first met Jimmy Bonney in the summer of 2007. Down on the
corner where I shoot USER.

Jimmy was on a stolen bike, was high, was looking, as usual, for
the main chance. Jimmy was also very funny and full of energy
and good humor. He’d been on the street or in penitentiary for
24 years, since he was 16 years old. He’d been using drugs for
as long.

I met Jimmy a few more times that summer and again the
following year. He always came over and tried to bug me.
Not in a violent or malicious way. He liked goofing around.
That’s just the way he was. Funny.

Here’s the photo I took of him and his friend Alesha:

Jimmy and Alesha, Ottawa, 2007

Then, a week or so ago, on a Sunday morning, out of the blue,
I get a phone call. It’s from a woman named Lucie. She wasn’t
quite sure she had the right number.

She was trying to reach a photographer. “I’m a photographer”, I
told her. She asked if I knew a guy named Jimmy Bonney.

I told her I did. I told her I had photographed him and that I have
often thought of him since we first met.

She told me she knew him, was helping him. She told me that he has
been straight for almost 2 years. And she told me that he has thought
of me, too. I asked her if she would ask him if we could get together.

We did. Get together.

Jimmy Bonney, May, 2010

Ben Walker, who is making a film about the USER project, asked Jimmy
if he would mind being interviewed. Jimmy jumped at the chance. He
talked for 2 hours, told us his history, both ancient and modern. Told
us that the folks at Harvest House had taken him in, had been patient
and let him fuck up a few times before he decided, on his own, to leave
drugs and crime and the street behind. He told us he’s been sober for
21 months and ten days. He told us that he went from a grade 3 level
of education to getting his high school equivalency in 9 months. He
told us he now has a drivers license.

He still carries scars, both physical and psychological, from his life.
But they are healing.

So, as I get ready to go to Toronto for the opening of USER, as I think
about photography and it’s uses and abuses. As I think about how, so
often, what I do feels so useless, I’m left with this moment in my mind.
I’m left thinking, despite myself and my non-sentimental feelings about
this life, that all is not lost.

Me and Jimmy Bonney, May, 2010