The Aperture Foundation, located on West 27th Street in the Chelsea area. Currently, the exhibition displayed is Alex Webb: La Calle, Photographs from Mexico. The exhibit is located on the 4th floor. When you walk out of the elevator onto the 4th floor, the first thing you notice is the immense amount of books and magazines to the left. Also, there is a reception desk and a small sit down area. At the reception desk, you can inquire information and even make a book/magazine purchase. There are publications from many different photographers, from photo books with little to no text, to photo essay books with large bodies of text. Moving along, to the right is the gallery area. On each of the light colored walls are 3 to 4 framed images, some images larger than the other. To be honest, I never even heard about the Aperture Foundation until we went on this class trip, but I can say that my experience was pretty awesome. It definitely opened my eyes to how powerful and artistic photography can be. Each of Webb’s photos told a story, brought out different feelings, and captured a decisive moment, a moment in time.

In this exhibit, Alex Webb captures more than 30 years worth of photography from the streets of Mexico, spanning from 1975 to 2007. His photographs demonstrate a different point of view that brings about the reality of it all. It brings about the different lifestyles, the different raw emotions of the people, and the reality that even during the darkest times, there will be light. Looking through the photos, I could feel this sense of sadness and grief, but I could also sense happiness. I’m sure that Webb was able to sense these feelings as well. The way I see it, his approach was to wait for the right moment. The precise moment in time where the feelings of that moment would shine through. Alex Webb’s Mexico is the living reality, that not everything is what it seems. His Mexico will open your eyes and make you question what you really knew about Mexico before.

The one photograph at the exhibit that stood out to me was Alex Webb’s Ciudad Mexico, DF, 1984. I love the great use of layers, from the foreground to the background. The little girl on the bottom left being in the foreground. The two girls and the girl facing the tree with her hands behind her back in the middle ground. Lastly, the other children and trees in the background. In the background, it seems like there is this hill to get to the top where the other trees are. There is a great use of sunlight, capturing the dark shadow silhouettes and creating contrast. I like that this photo can be interpretive, meaning that you can try to make out the situation in this photo. The expression on the little girl’s face in the foreground is very defined. Her expression can be interpreted as angry or curious. She could be upset at the girl facing the tree in the middle ground. The girl facing the tree has her hands behind her back as if she was being punished, like taking a time-out. Then, you have everything else going on around them. The two girls on the side playing, the other children in the back. Although, you can’t really make out what the other children in the back are doing. That aside, overall, Alex Webb utilizes his composition very well in this photograph.

Aperture Foundation

Alex Webb Exhibit Review

Alex Webb is a photographer who was born in San Francisco, CA in 1952. His exhibition took place at the Aperture Foundation in Manhattan on West 27th St, New York. The exhibit was wonderful with lots of photographs of Alex Webb. The space of the gallery is pretty decent. At the exhibition, books of Alex Webb were available for purchase, as well some of his works. The event was about Alex Webb and some photos that he took in Mexico. There were forty five photographs on the walls.

Through these photos, the photographer Alex Webb wants to show us the reality and the moments that these people (Mexicans) were living and how they were surviving their lives. There were many issues that you can see through his photographs. We are able to see a difference in the emotion of the people; loving, smiling, playing, laughing, hugging, worried, arguing, crying, prostitution, and death. Furthermore, Mexico has change throughout times. Alex Webb’s photographs are showing us a change in Mexico from 1975 to 2007. In 1978 when Webb started taking pictures in colors, looks like life in Mexico was great; beautiful. But in 2007, life was basically changing. He shows that in a photo where someone is dead on the street and people are crying. Last but not least, that’s the vision that Alex Webb is telling us.

The image below is a very interesting photo of a “Bar” in  Mexico. It was taken in Comitan Chiapas, 2007. This is another example were the photographer Alex Webb wants to tell us that something bad was happening in Mexico. Usually, there’s always at least one security or one man standing out of the door to protect the store. But instead a man, there’s a dog standing right in front of the door. Also, we can see just a portion of the sky and the street lamp. The night feels lonely, maybe no body wants to be in the street because of the crimes; that’s why they using a dog to be standing on the door. Furthermore, the green and magenta lights shows that that’s a “bar”. Overall, the photo is beautiful really interesting shadows within the dog and the store. Also we can imagine a vanishing point because of the overhanging of the roof and the side walk; two perspective lines.

As I first entered the exhibition, I noticed all the wonderfully placed photograph on the walls and as I got to the center of these photographs it was all telling a story. I looked around the room and I notice struggle, sorrow, desperation and just a few glimpse of happiness. In the exhibition, the structure of the place was unique, and it led you to one path to go on, watching each photograph carefully. It was set up in a way to show different places and situations that occur in Mexico. Although the photographs did create a story in their unique ways, I was also interested with the walls in Aperture. Some were colored Red or Yellow, and I wondered if the photograph corresponded with the color of the wall. Would it have made the person feel different about it or the same? I wasn’t sure but it was surely had an interesting feel to it. I visited a lot of Museums and worked as a tour guide at the Rubin Museum and I never saw a setup such as that one, so it would be interesting if they purposely made those background part of the photography.

As I looked at the photographs, I noticed a common feature, not all felt the same way of course but most of them felt depressing. Just imagining being in that setting and actually calling it home is quiet sad. I think Alex is trying to portray his Mexico as a place that is struggling but the strength that these people have for making it this far. Most of them don’t seem  happy, but they are prepared and have faith. What I got from looking at these photographs are people that are strong and willing to live a better life, I remember this one photograph of a child perhaps, hoping over a border, it showed me how much they want to live a better life and I think that’s what Alex is trying to show.

As i mentioned before, of the photograph of a kid or teenager jumping over a border is my favorite one I have to say. The reason why is because of the perspective and leading lines. The lines lead to a dark foggy area, which gives it a mysterious feeling to it. It also feels never ending, it feels like the leading lines is a journey, and I compared that journey to the kid jumping off the border. The journey was so long and never ending and so now he is stuck in a foggy place. Blind to the world and seems like there’s no opportunity to escape from it. Just from the leading lines I made so many interpretations  to what Alex was trying to portray or depict. out of all of the photographs in the exhibition, that one stood out the most to me. The amount of gray shown in the picture is astonishing because the clouds are creating that effect to it. It seems like the clouds are not above the kid but slowly getting towards him.

During our last class trip, we visited the Highline and Aperture Foundation Gallery. Aperture was founded in 1952 by those who shared the strong common interest of photogrpahy.  Aperture is a foundation which focuses on connecting with audiences in the photo community. When you first enter the gallery, you see not only a number of a photographs but also a number books and magazines. Aperture also has many books and magazines that advertise the photos shown in the exhibit. Aperture contains a wide variety of photographs, taken by photographer Alex Webbs, portraying different perspectives of Mexico. Each photograph tells its own story giving an insight of a persons everyday life in Mexico. When you first walk into the Gallery you can see the variety of colors being used on the walls to show the different emotions being shown in each photo.  Alex Webb’s was born in San Francisco but raised in New England. As a photographer he not only captures a great moment in his photos but also helps the audience connect with the people being captured. Because of his strong style of photography he was awarded with many awards that led him to become the well known photographer he is today.

While exploring the exhibit, a photograph that really caught my attention was ” Naco, Sonora, 1999.” In this photograph you see a young Mexican boy leaving his stuffed giraffe teddy bear behind and running to something in the distance. When I first saw this photo the message was not as clear as it is to me now. What first stuck out to me was the stuffed giraffe on the floor which then led to the emotion on the little boys face. It looks as though the boy has left his teddy bear on the ground and ran away because he has seen something better. I first thought that he was sad because he had lost it, but that was not the case. As you get more in depth and start  to think deeper about the photo, you begin to see the setting this photo was taken in. Webb’s, captured this photo in a poor neighborhood with not much around it. He wanted to focus more on the little boy and have the photograph tell the story its self. The way the boy is walking with hands might show that he walking to someone or something that has caught his attention. Although some might say this is not his best picture, to me, this photo was different from all the others. Each photo has a story that is easy to figure out but, this photo creates a challenge. It makes you wonder what  was so interesting to make the little boy drop his toy to go catch what he was walking towards. Or the neighborhood in the background, showing an insight to the life young kids in mexico are growing up in. Webb’s decision to focus on a Mexico was a great decision. He not only discovered the life of the people of mexico but also showed us the cultures within it.

Alex Webb’s exhibition – LA CALLE – was great experience to me. It was held at Aperture Foundation which is kind of spacious gallery in Chelsea. When I got into the gallery, it was really quiet and clean that I almost forgot about construction was going on the outside. There were many books go photography right next to where the Alex Webb’s photographies were displayed and they all look sophisticated. Beautiful typography and colors stick out the atmosphere of the gallery and they compliment each other well. There were about 30 photos broken into three section on the different colors of the wall. They are taken between the year 1978-2007 in Mexico.

Apparently, those pictures are taken in the area where people in poor class live. Almost no one in the picture smiles, but they seemed suffering and have a full plate. I get the sense that they don’t care about each other but always think about tomorrow and how to live there. I think  He really fit in with the place where he took the photos. People in photos looked very natural and he always captured “offbeat moment” that makes the photos memorable.

What I thought interesting was the colors of his pictures. They are taken with a film camera and it creates  the bright colors, but then he captures shadows so it looks great contrast between dark and bright. In all pictures, I like this picture because of the contrast of the color and shadow. It seems it depicts the feeling of the people that feel insecure or scared about something. I also noticed this has a rule oh thirds. The shadows of adults and kids are placed in the points and the yellow wall is also on the line of rule of thirds.

Jon-Anthony Montaz                                                                                                                     9/28/16

COMD 2330

In the class trip to the exhibit called the Aperture Foundation, it was a great experience that I will never forget. First of all the surroundings in this exhibit was very peaceful. So peaceful that you can actually relax on the couches that they have and enjoy observing the photographs and art that’s on the walls. It was that type of environment where you will see in the library people who at rest working on their laptops, drinking coffee or tea and reading. But in this case instead of books this place was like a library that had different and interesting photos. Many of these photos that were taken around the 1900’s had a message that spoke to our lives. For instance, there’s photos that have messages about love, suffering and from what I remember a playful message. In one of the photos that had a message about love, the picture indicated a couple kissing and in the shadows you would see someone holding a child. In the photo about suffering it showed a group of people surround a man who was either hurt or dead on the ground and it seemed as if someone was holding back the persons mom from getting close to the body. The facial expression from these peoples faces were sorrow, devastated and worried.Now when it came to some images that were a playful theme, one of the images showed these kids doing their own thing, either communicating with each other, laughing, playing or just relaxing.

Since this exhibit was about Mexico, the kind of things, places and people in the photographs were first of all the places looked old and wrecked. It seemed as if the people were suffering from poverty and didn’t have a stable home because of how terrible the condition was. The environment seemed crowded in certain places and some weren’t. For the people that were outside from the looks of their faces shows pain as if they’re striving for a better life for themselves and family. To compare life of the people in Mexico to here is that in Mexico it’s more of a rural area and in NY it’s more urban. However, the way Webb’s approach to photographing Mexico is as stated in one of his quotes crowded, vibrant ever changing place, where “no one” becomes a metaphor for the precarious, the chaotic, and the multitudinous.” In other words Mexico had a few violence taking place that effected the environment and the growth of crime and threats which was very tragic.

One photograph that I loved so much was a photo taken by Tijuana Baja California which was a picture of Jesus and certain pictures around him. The reason why I choose this photograph is because the image of Jesus itself is powerful besides the message it’s trying to give. You may ask what so powerful about this picture of Jesus suffering. The  message behind his suffering makes this so powerful because this suffering He went through was for all of us but yet society today don’t think what He did was relevant because we’re so busy focusing on what’s going on in our life which is allowing us to become blind. We’re focusing on what society is offering us instead of what Jesus offered us. Which was His blood. As you can see above Jesus, you see images of Santa clause which represents fairytales or make believe stories, a picture of a girls legs which could represent lust and there’s other photos surrounding Jesus but the point that I’m trying to make is we putting all these things before and above Jesus knowing that He paid a price for us so that we can get a second chance in living life the right way and so that we can be saved from sin. This photo makes me feel disappointed because of the foolish decisions we make in life and it makes me feel disappointed because look how society repays Jesus after everything He has done. Society is just ungrateful from my understanding.

The tour at aperture of the Alex Webb exhibit titled “La Calle” was a wonderful experience, when you first exit from the elevator on the left side of the 4^th floor there is a sitting area where you can look through books that aperture themselves have produced and on the right side is where the actual exhibit is located. When you get a tour of the exhibit you get a sense of a very fresh, clean and roomy atmosphere. In this exhibit there are many photos, 45 if I’m not mistaking that all have a common location that is Mexico. The exhibit is broken up into categories based on the color wall a photo is behind these colors are white, yellow and red. Based on my observation I would say the photos that feature bright light and visible color are placed behind a light colored wall like white and yellow. The photos that feature dark shadows and silhouettes are placed behind a dark color like the dark red or burgundy wall. The photos in this exhibition feature the lifestyle of the people in the streets of Mexico, they show emotion, humor and the conditions in which people live in. These series of photographs were taken between the mid- 70’s ending at the early 21^st century (1975-2007). I feel this time range shows that Webb took his time at taking the right photos that perfectly present Mexico as well as the time he took into being involved with people featured in his photos.

In these photos you see children doing what children do like playing with a ball, playing with each other, being distracted from something and the most common showing emotion through facial expressions, these emotions range from confusion to aggravation. In addition, you see relationships being captured either it’s a relationship between parent to child, girlfriend to boyfriend, siblings or even friends. As with many photos they capture a moment in time that is very significant because it gets the viewer wondering what had happened before the photo was taken and right after. This in my opinion makes a photo that more memorable and its something that Alex Webb does well. He sets up moments in a photo were actions aren’t fully completed like he did with the photo taken in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, 1985. In this moment you see a young boy spinning a ball on his finger, two children off to the side looking at something that is out of the frame, a basketball in the far back coming out of the hoop and another young boy getting in trouble by an other child maybe his sibling. When you look at a photo that has many things going on you can’t help but to wonder what’s going on.

This photo is Oaxaca, Mexico, 1990 and it features the scale in size between the cotton candy and the man in the red shirt, as well as the contrast of light and dark with the shadow that is being casted on the mint green structure. I can say that this photo shows the rule of thirds because the two cotton candies aren’t in the center; they are near one of the points of this grid. I love this photo because it shows the fun part of life for the people in Mexico, I can picture children running toward the cotton candy stand and having a good time. It makes me imagine the good and exciting things that happen in Mexico. I feel like the colors in the sky, cotton candy and structure pulls everything together to make a enjoyable photo.