Appreciating the pinhole photography of late East Village resident Veronica Saddler

Veronica Saddler, who taught pinhole photography at Cooper Union, died in February 2020.

Thankfully, a friend rescued some of Saddler's photographs and negatives from her Fourth Street apartment, and a selection of the work is now featured at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery, 219 E. Second St. between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

Here's more about her photography from a New York Times feature in 1999: 

For most New Yorkers, Manhattan with empty streets is only a beautiful dream. But Veronica Saddler, a pinhole photographer, can clear out the city with her cameras. The two faded cardboard boxes scribbled over with exposure times could not look more unassuming, yet they have produced dozens of majestic photographs. 

For Ms. Saddler, who is smitten with Manhattan's architecture, pinhole is the ideal medium. The city is transformed into a place where buildings, not people, are the focus, and for anyone used to crammed city streets, the vast stretches of empty pavement in these photos are almost as compelling as the buildings themselves. The pinhole's infinite depth of field and wide-angle capacity have a distorting quality that causes some buildings to appear to stretch out and envelop an entire block, an effect Ms. Saddler enhances by not shooting her subjects straight on.

The New York in her photos is serene and slightly haunted: Delmonico's steakhouse is a stony battleship sailing down a deserted Beaver Street; Jefferson Market Library looks more than ever like a misplaced fairy castle, its tower oddly warped like a melting ice cream cone on an abandoned stretch of the Avenue of the Americas. An afternoon shot of Trinity Church looks as if it was taken at the dead hour of 5 a.m. 

Her work will be on display until April 3. Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Said an EVG reader who alerted us to the show: "The exhibition is beautifully installed. It would be sad if this talented African American woman's passing went unnoticed." 

Here's a look at some of her work on display courtesy of EVG contributor Stacie Joy...

The East Village photography of Martin Mahoney

Earlier this year, East Village-based photographer Martin Mahoney invited me to his upcoming group show at Westbeth Gallery, which was to take place March 19 to April 19.

Given the COVID-19 crisis, Westbeth cancelled the show.

Mahoney had planned to show a selection of his photographs. I asked him if I could share some of his work here (find more at his Instagram account) ...



Mahoney moved to the East Village in 1985 from Wexford Town in Ireland.

"While I’ve always had an interest in photography, I’ve lost many pictures of the old neighborhood and it’s characters and regret not taking more of the rapidly disappearing buildings and people who are being replaced with soulless glass boxes," he told me. "So I decided about two years ago to try to capture the essence of what is left of the old neighborhood and preserve it as best I can before it’s lost forever."











... and here's a selection of his black-and-white shots ....

Thursday's parting shot

Today's shot comes courtesy of East Village-based photographer Josh Charow, who took this down on Rivington Street...

'David Vega’s East Village'

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A post shared by Solas Studio-Liam Cotter Photo (@solasstudionyc) on Jan 24, 2020 at 8:02am PST

An EVG reader just shared this with me... The Solas Studio, 117 E. 24th St. (2nd floor) between Lexington and Park, is presenting a 1980s photo exhibit titled "David Vega’s East Village."

The opening is tomorrow (Feb. 13) night from 6-8. Otherwise, the exhibit is open by appointment from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays until March 13.

The exhibit coincides with a new book of his photography, "Look Back East Village 1984-1987."

And a few of his 1980s photos ...

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A post shared by Solas Studio-Liam Cotter Photo (@solasstudionyc) on Jan 21, 2020 at 8:02am PST

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A post shared by Solas Studio-Liam Cotter Photo (@solasstudionyc) on Jan 14, 2020 at 8:00am PST

This East Village view greets visitors to new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York

"Collecting New York's Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious" opened this past week at the Museum of the City of New York.

Per the museum, the exhibit "features highlights drawn from the hundreds of additions to the Museum’s permanent collection over the past three years, running the gamut from the colonial era to the recent past. A gallery of historic and contemporary photographs, currently open, showcases works by both well-known and emerging artists..."

As Lindsay Turley, vice president of collections at the museum, told Gothamist: the exhibit gives people the opportunity to see how New Yorkers have interacted with a city changing "physically, culturally, economically, and aesthetically over more than the past century."

East Village-based photographer Sally Davies has three shots on display. However, her photo titled "Rearview" is the image that greets visitors outside the museum on Fifth Avenue and at the start of the exhibit...



"I had no idea that they were going to use my image to represent the whole show," Davies said via email. "I was absolutely gobsmacked at that 12-foot reproduction that greets you as you walk in... lucky me."

The photo, from 2018, is officially titled "Rearview, From My Apartment on East 5th Street."

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A post shared by sally davies (@sallydaviesphoto) on Jan 22, 2020 at 10:34am PST

The show remains up until Dec. 31. The museum is at 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd Street. It's open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Taking stock of the neighborhood's disappearing single-story buildings

Several years back, Adam Friedberg was crossing Third Avenue and Ninth Street and noticed how strange the block looked — with Cooper Union's 15-story Student Residence Hall towering over the neighboring single-level buildings.

What started as visual stimulus for Friedberg, a photographer and 30-year-resident of the East Village, became a project about six months later as he set out to take photos of every single-story building in the neighborhood.

Starting tonight, Friedberg's work can be seen in a new exhibit titled "Single-Story Project" at the Center for Architecture.

Here's more about the project:

He noticed how quickly these most humble structures were disappearing, a reflection of the rapid development and gentrification of the neighborhood. He completed the project this past fall, and over the course of the documentation many of the buildings have already disappeared or will soon be demolished.

In order to capture the buildings unobstructed, Friedberg mostly shot very early in the morning before cars and trucks obstructed the street-level views. In the process, he got to know many of the people who own or work in these buildings.

In so doing, he came to understand that not only were the buildings being sold, but an entire primarily working-class economy (workshops, garages, fast-food joints) and culture (storefront churches and community centers) was disappearing. Friedberg’s Single-Story Project forms an alternative geography of changing city and captures an urban erasure happening right before our eyes.

The exhibit, featuring 54 prints from his series, will be on display through Feb. 29. The Center for Architecture is at 536 LaGuardia Place between West Third Street and Bleecker Street. The opening is tonight from 6-8.

Gallery Hours (no admission fee):
Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The galleries will be closed from Nov. 27 at 5 p.m. through Dec. 1 in honor of Thanksgiving.

Also, if you're on Instagram, you can follow Friedberg here. All photos courtesy of Friedberg.

A bars at dawn slideshow tomorrow night

[Sophie's at dawn via Daniel Root]

Earlier this year, we highlighted an ongoing project of East Village-based photographer Daniel Root.

While out on morning walks, he began taking pictures through the windows or doors of empty neighborhood bars at daybreak. The shots became part of an ongoing #nybarsatdawn project on Instagram.

Tomorrow (Oct. 20) evening at 6:30 at the Sam & Sadie Koenig Garden on Seventh Street, Root will be sharing a sideshow from this project — which tallied 974 bars! — as well as offering commentary about the ongoing changes in downtown NYC....



The Sam & Sadie Koenig Garden is on Seventh Street (north side) between Avenue C and Avenue D...



Previously on EV Grieve:
After the last call: East Village photographer captures bars at dawn

Con air

Photo on Avenue D featuring the Con Ed plant and the former St. Emeric ... thanks to jdx for the photo. Find more of his work on Instagram.

Through the years of the 4th Street Photo Gallery with Alex Harsley's 'Entanglements'

[Photo from 2014 by James Maher]

Alex Harsley, the proprietor of the 4th Street Photo Gallery and a neighborhood resident since 1965, is the subject of a new exhibit at the Sheen Center.

Here's more what you can expect starting tonight through Aug. 4:

"Entanglements" is an ode to a community inextricably linked. For nearly 50 years, Alex Harsley has remained fixed; bearing witness to the symbiosis of life outside his 4th Street Photo Gallery. Through his classic, award-winning photography and conceptualized mixed-media pieces, time becomes textured, non-linear as the images bob between a romanticized 1970s East Village and an aged, yet still vibrant and diverse, ecosystem of present day.

Scenes revolve around the doorway and community of The 4​th Street Photo Gallery, the non-profit started by Harsley in the 1970s as a refuge for underrepresented artists, and, as Holland Cotter wrote, “he has made the city a primary subject of his classical brand of ‘street photography.’”

And...

The experience of "Entanglements" becomes a portal to the hidden connections and patterns that exist in all of our lives. It serves not just as nostalgia in remembering the past, but also as a reminder that these stories are still alive in the people, each who passed through this one East Village block, and continue to tangle themselves in love, change and community.

"Entanglements" opens tonight (July 11) at 6 in the Gallery at the Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker St. just west of the Bowery. Harsley will also be giving a "talkback" tonight at 7:30.

Meanwhile, you can read our two-part interview with Harsley, who turns 81 this year, from 2014 right here and here. And go visit his shop at 67 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

P.S.

And even if you don't know Alex, you will recognize his Dodge GTS Dart with traveling companions...


[James Maher]

After the last call: East Village photographer captures bars at dawn

[Lucy's, Avenue A]

While out on early morning walks the last two-plus years, East Village-based photographer Daniel Root began taking pictures through the windows or doors of empty neighborhood bars at daybreak. The shots became part of an ongoing #nybarsatdawn project on Instagram. He recently wrapped up the project after shooting 974 bars and walking some 1,500 miles.

I asked Root how this all came about and the joys of walking around the city in the early morning hours.

How did this project get started? Did you take a photo of a bar at 6 a.m. and think you might be on to something?

I used to walk the dog along East River Park every morning at daybreak. After she died in August 2016, I realized I wasn’t walking as much and I need it for whatever mental health I have. I decided to walk into the city rather than long the river for a change of pace.

As I passed Vazac’s I noticed the “closed/empty bar lighting” and took that picture. That little discovery got me looking into other bars, first in the East Village, such as Niagara on the next corner, then expanding to downtown in general.


[Vazac's, 7th and B]


[Niagara, Avenue A]

What is most striking thing to you about the bars at this hour?

What first struck me about seeing familiar, public places at dawn was how different they felt/looked empty and quietly lit. Some bars had “closed lighting,” a small string of party lights in the back or under counter lighting at the bar. Some were just dark, lit by the glow of the cash register, the red light of the exit sign, or a side door left ajar with the light peaking out.

While I shot some places after sunrise the lighting was much more unusual and dramatic in the predawn lighting. The other before sunrise was best.

I started thinking of them as “bars at rest,” taking a break from a long night and getting ready for the day to come. Then it occurred to me I was anthropomorphizing bars which seemed weird, but there you have it.


[Otto's Shrunken Head, 14th Street]


[McSorley's, 7th Street]


[The Library, Avenue A]

Did you think about expanding this to the five boroughs?

I kept this project mainly downtown because I wanted the walk. Occasionally I would get on my bike if I wanted to get a particular/classic bar — for instance, Jimmy’s Corner on West 44th Street — which was outside of a comfortable walking distance to get to before dawn. I played with the idea of biking across the Williamsburg Bridge to explore that area but, once again, walking is more of the pace I enjoy in terms of looking and seeing.

How often did you encounter people still in the bar?

Many places that sell booze by the glass close well before 4 a.m. On the other hand there are many bars that stay open until the 4 a.m. closing time. Then there are the bars that pull the gate half way down and keep going. Our neighbors and EV Grieve readers can probably guess which ones are the “past 4 a.m.” bars but a couple of them surprised me. One used to be going around 6 a.m. most Tuesdays.

Then there are the porters. Some arrive right at closing time, others an hour or two later, and others midday. If I saw a porter I would always explain what I was doing because some of them thought I was shooting in some sort of an official capacity.

Any profound thoughts on NYC nightlife hit you during this bars-at-dawn tour?

I always knew I liked New York when it was relatively empty but finding that emptiness seems to be getting harder. Years ago my-then girlfriend and now wife, Rina Root, and I would walk around areas like Wall Street or Tribeca on a Sunday because it was so quiet.

Now most places are fully residential with activity all day, every day. The one time it is truly quiet, except for the occasional drunk/junkie/commercial garbage truck, is between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. I highly recommend walking at those hours — you’ll experience a very different city. The people out at that hour are mainly hard-working people at work or going to work. The drunks and junkies tend to make a lot of noise — it’s easy to just cross the street if you hear them coming. So far I have had very few ugly encounters but I am certainly aware that one has to be alert to avoid problems.

Was this an Instagram-only project, or do you have further plans for this series?

This started as a personal project that lent itself to Instagram. Then the possibility of doing something more with it came about but that didn’t come to fruition. The idea now would be to have a show in a local gallery or do a book. If anyone would like to do a book or has any ideas of where this could go please let me know.


[Tile Bar, 1st Avenue]


[Manitoba's, Avenue B]


[Sophie's, 5th Street]


[Josie's, 6th Street]


[Black & White, 10th Street]


[Big Bar, 7th Street]


[2A, Avenue A]


[Mona's, Avenue B]

'The Image Is a Seed' — Celebrating the work of Syeus Mottel on 2nd Avenue

[All photos by Walter Wlodarczyk]

Thanks to EVG friend Walter Wlodarczyk for bringing this exhibition to my attention... mh PROJECT nyc, the viewing space at 140 Second Ave., is currently presenting "Mottel_Mottel: The Image is a Seed," in which Matthew Mottel is presenting his father Syeus Mottel's entire archive of 35mm color slides — 3,000 strong shot between 1967 and 1975 — with performances by artists connected to their work.

Read more about the show here.



The elder Mottel, who died in 2014 at age 83, was a theater director and photographer, notable for his documentation of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio, Buckminster Fuller and CHARAS.

Per mh PROJECT nyc:

Syeus defined his photography as “diaristic”: he shot the people he encountered including John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Martin Luther King Jr., William S. Burroughs, Abbie Hoffman, Miles Davis, Patti Smith, Vito Acconci, Robert Rauschenberg and Diane Arbus.

The exhibition got underway last Thursday with a performance by composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram ...




[Matt Mottel]

Here are the remaining performances, which take place from 8-10 p.m.:

9/19 Jeff Preiss, Filmmaker
9/20 Brian O’Mahoney Performance artist and theatre maker
9/21 Cooper-Moore, Jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer
9/22 Steve Dalachinsky, Poet & Daniel Carter, Saxophone player
9/23 Lary7, Artist, filmmaker and musician & Bradley Eros
, Artist
9/26 Art Jones, Filmmaker
9/27 Will Cameron, Artist
9/28 Jean Carla Rodea, Interdisciplinary artist
9/29 Cat Tyc, Writer and artist
9/30 Gil Arno, Visual artist

The space is also open for viewing Saturdays and Sundays from 1 - 6 p.m. and by appointment.

You can find mh PROJECT nyc at 140 Second Ave., between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, No. 306.