Tag Archives: Alvin Baltrop

ARTISTS FOR BIDEN FUNDRAISER

Over 100 artists and estates have donated works for a fundraiser supporting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.* Presented on Platform.art—an initiative developed by David Zwirner—participating galleries include Regen Projects, Jack Shainman, Gladstone, Lehmann Maupin, Petzel, and Marian Goodman, as well as Gemini G.E.L.

Following a virtual kickoff earlier this week with vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris, Carrie Mae Weems, and Catherine Opie, the sale is now live. See link below for details.

ARTISTS FOR BIDEN

October 2–October 8, 2020.

Platform.art

*Participating artists and estates include Marina Adams, Doug Aitken, Richard Aldrich, John Baldessari (donated by Gemini G.E.L.), Alvin Baltrop, Walead Beshty, McArthur Binion, Dike Blair, Sebastian Blanck, Carol Bove, Cecily Brown, George Condo, Patricia Cronin, Sarah Crowner, N. Dash, Tara Donovan, Carroll Dunham, Marcel Dzama, William Eggleston, Rafa Esparza, Shepard Fairey, Rochelle Feinstein, Radamés “Juni” Figueroa​, Spencer Finch, Suzan Frecon, Charles Gaines, Jerrell Gibbs, Sam Gilliam, Joanne Greenbaum, Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Thomas Hager, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Tyler Haughey, Michael Heizer, Carmen Herrera, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jenny Holzer, Ridley Howard, Alex Hubbard, John Huggins, Ayana V. Jackson, Rashid Johnson, Deborah Kass, KAWS, Ellsworth Kelly, Jon Kessler, Toba Khedoori, Christine Sun Kim, Jeff Koons, Doron Langberg, Liz Larner, Bonnie Lautenberg, An-My Lê, Roy Lichtenstein, Maya Lin, Robert Longo, Emmanuel Lubezki, Brice Marden, Julie Mehretu, Marilyn Minter, Ivan Morley, Rebecca Morris, Vik Muniz, Wangechi Mutu, Jordan Nassar, Alice Neel, Shirin Neshat, Catherine Opie, Angel Otero, Jack Pierson, Lari Pittman, Martin Puryear, Christina Quarles, Robert Rauschenberg (donated by Gemini G.E.L.), Alexis Rockman, Ugo Rondinone, Victoria Roth, Ed Ruscha, Alison Saar, Betye Saar, Fred Sandback, Fanny Sanín, Kenny Scharf, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Amy Sillman, Gary Simmons, Laurie Simmons, Xaviera Simmons, Vaughn Spann, Tavares Strachan, Sarah Sze, Mika Tajima, Kyle Thurman, Fred Tomaselli, Leo Villareal, Charline von Heyl, Carrie Mae Weems, Lawrence Weiner, James Welling, Stanley Whitney, Kehinde Wiley, Chloe Wise, Christopher Wool, Rob Wynne, Lisa Yuskavage, and Andrea Zittel.

From top: Carrie Mae WeemsRemember to Dream, 2020, screenprint on rag paper, printed by Kaleb Hunkele of Standard Art Supply, image courtesy and © the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; Michael Heizer, Blue Diorite, 1981, 89-lb. blue diorite in aluminum frame, image © Michael Heizer, courtesy Agnes Gund, the artist, and Gagosian, photograph by Rob McKeever, donated by a private collector; Carol BoveCoy Satanism, 2020, stainless steel and urethane paint, image courtesy and © the artist and David Zwirner; Liz Larner, Fictile, 2010–2011, ceramic and epoxy, image courtesy and © the artist and Regen Projects; Kyle Thurman, Suggested Occupation 56 (Spring Image, travel nightly), 2020, gouache, graphite, and watercolor on paper in artist’s frame, image courtesy and © the artist and David Lewis; Charline von Heyl, The Sticky Hour, 2018, acrylic and crayon on linen, image courtesy and © the artist and Petzel Gallery; Tavares StrachanWe Are in This Together (Multi),, 2019, neon and transformers, image courtesy and © the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery; Jenny Holzer, selection from Truisms: Abuse of power comes as no surprise, 2015, dark labradorite footstool, image courtesy and © the artist and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Sam Gilliam, Untitled, 2020, watercolor on washi paper, image courtesy and © the artist and David Kordansky Gallery; KAWS, Together, 2017, painted bronze, image courtesy and © the artist; Alvin Baltrop, The Piers (profile portrait), n.d., gelatin silver print, image courtesy and © the Alvin Baltrop Trust, Third Streaming, and Galerie Buchholz; Lari Pittman, Portrait of a Human (Pathos, Ethos, Logos, Kairos #17), 2018, cel vinyl and spray paint on linen on wood panel, image courtesy and © the artist and Regen Projects; Ed RuschaWe (#1), dry pigment and acrylic on paper, 2020, image courtesy and © the artist.

ALVIN BALTROP

For [Alvin] Baltrop, who for a time lived in a van parked along New York City’s Hudson River, the waterfront was more like a second home. Looking at photographs of so many naked bodies sprawled out on the docks on a summer day, we might think we were witnessing the radical democratization of men. We can be sure that some of the waterfront pleasure seekers experienced it that way, but Baltrop was always keenly aware of the inequalities embedded in queer life and in the gay civil rights movement.Jonathan Weinberg, Pier Groups

“Although initially terrified of the piers, I began to take these photos as a voyeur [and] soon grew determined to preserve the frightening, mad, unbelievable, violent, and beautiful things that were going on at that time. To get certain shots, I hung from the ceilings of several warehouses utilizing a makeshift harness, watching and waiting for hours to record the lives that these people led (friends, acquaintances, and strangers), and the unfortunate ends that they sometimes met…

“The casual sex and nonchalant narcotizing, the creation of artwork and music, sunbathing, dancing, merrymaking, and the like habitually gave way to muggings, callous yet detached violence, rape, suicide, and, in some instances, murder. The rapid emergence and expansion of AIDS in the 1980s further reduced the number of people going to and living at the piers, and the sporadic joys that could be found there.” — Alvin Baltrop*

[Baltrop] photographed constantly at the Hudson River piers from 1975 to 1986, and the thousands of negatives from that project constitute his chief photographic legacy. He risked much to work there. In order to spend more time at the piers, he gave up his job as a taxi driver and became a self-employed mover. Often he stayed for days on end, living out of his moving van parked nearby. In spite of the remarkable documentary and aesthetic value of what he accomplished, Baltrop was almost completely unsuccessful at getting his work exhibited during his lifetime.Douglas Crimp

The Bronx Museum show THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALVIN BALTROP features over 200 photographs as well as the first public exhibition of Baltrop’s personal archive. The show was curated by Sergio Bessa, and a catalog is available from Skira.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALVIN BALTROP

Through February 9, 2020.

Bronx Museum of the Arts

1040 Grand Concourse, The Bronx.

*Alvin Baltrop, manuscript for Ashes from a Flame: Photographs by Alvin Baltrop, edited by Randal Wilcox.

See Miss Rosen and Ed Halter on Baltrop.

Alvin Baltrop, from top: The Piers (Man Sitting and Smoking), circa1975–1986, gelatin silver print; The Piers (Collapsed Warehouse), circa 1975–1986; The Piers, circa 1975–1986; The Piers (Male Drinking with Cigarette), circa 1975-1986; The Piers, circa 1975–1986; The Piers (Man from Behind), 1977–1978, silver gelatin print; The Piers (exterior view of Day’s End), 1975-8; Pier 52 (Gordon Matta-Clark’s Day’s End), 1975–1986, silver gelatin print, Bronx Museum of the Arts permanent collection; The Piers (4), circa 1975–1986; The Piers (Open Window), circa 1975-86. Images courtesy and © the Alvin Baltrop Trust, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Third Streaming, New York.

HILTON ALS — A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT OF JAMES BALDWIN

“Troubled times get the tyrants and prophets they deserve. During our current epoch, the revival of interest in author James Baldwin has been particularly intense. This is in part due, of course, to his ability to analyze and articulate how power abuses through cunning and force and why, in the end, it’s up to the people to topple kingdoms.

“As a galvanizing humanitarian force, Baldwin is now being claimed as a kind of oracle. But by claiming him as such, much gets erased about the great artist in the process, specifically his sexuality and aestheticism, both of which informed his politics.” — Hilton Als*

GOD MADE MY FACE—A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT OF JAMES BALDWIN—a group show curated by Hilton Als, featuring the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Alvin Baltrop, Beauford Delaney, Marlene Dumas, Ja’Tovia Gary, Glenn Ligon, Alice Neel, Cameron Rowland, Kara WalkerJane Evelyn Atwood, and James Welling—is on view through mid-February.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Metrograph and Als will present a series of films featuring Baldwin through the years, at home and abroad.

GOD MADE MY FACE—

A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT OF JAMES BALDWIN*

Through February 16.

David Zwirner

525 and 533 West 19th Street, New York City.

HILTON ALS ON JAMES BALDWIN FILM SERIES

Friday and Saturday, February 1 and 2.

Metrograph

7 Ludlow Street, New York City.

See “The Energy of Joy: Hilton Als in conversation with David Bridel and Mary-Alice Daniel,” PARIS LA 16 (2019): 217–221.

From top: Marlene Dumas, James Baldwin, 2014, from the Great Men series exhibited at Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg, image credit: Marlene Dumas and Bernard Ruijgrok PiezographicsBeauford Delaney, Dark Rapture, 1941, oil on canvas; Alvin Baltrop, The Piers (man sitting), 1975-1986, photograph; Richard AvedonJames Baldwin, writer, Harlem, New York, 1945, © The Richard Avedon Foundation; Ja’Tovia Gary, An Ecstatic Experience, 2015, video still; Jane Evelyn AtwoodJames Baldwin with bust of himself sculpted by Larry Wolhandler, Paris, France, 1975 (detail), gelatin silver print. All images courtesy David Zwirner.