Meanwhile #189
This week’s discoveries and delights and hand signals.
You may have noticed that Meanwhile has been a bit monochromatic of late. This isn’t simply a case of leaning into my namesake (although heck, why not), but a conscious effort to narrow my focus a little, to do interesting within deliberately artificial constraints and see where it leads me. One result is that I’ve found myself delving deeper into black and white photography, new and old. For example, I’ve probably seen Ray K. Metzker’s work plenty in the past, but I’m now appreciating it more within the context of other mid-century street photographers. He has a fantastic graphic eye – his images full of striking geometry, vast fields of light and dark, massive text – that I love.
Of course, happy to make an exception and add a splash of colour if my favourite contemporary artist happens to have an upcoming exhibition! Katrien De Blauwer’s He Loves Me … He Loves Me Not is on at FIFTY ONE TOO in Antwerp until the end of January. Hopefully her work will find its over here at some point. Although I haven’t fully forgiven them for leaving York for Bradford many years ago, Impressions Gallery would be perfect for this sort of thing.
Someone who has embraced and weaponised monochromaticity (probably a word) is Insta-darling Jesse Draxler. Whether it’s his large-scale collages of simply splashing some paint over a Fendi advert, his work just looks great.
Given how often I find myself muttering it while perusing the internet, I’m starting to think “it looks like something out of a Simon Stålenhag book” should be my official motto. For example, there’s plenty you could say about this 1957 Dolf Kruger photograph of the Brussels Atomium under construction but … dammit it looks like something out of a Simon Stålenhag book.
Hand signals for motorists, 1923, from the archives of the New South Wales Police. Isn’t it wonderful? I’ve had this Flashbak tweet bookmarked all year and I’ve not really known what to do with it, so here it is – after all, what is this newsletter if not a scrapbook?