Looking at LIFE

LeRoy Robbins: New Deal Photographs revisits a pivotal chapter in American photography, presenting a body of work created during a moment when the nation turned to the arts as both witness and balm. Shown in Joseph Bellows Gallery’s Atrium space, the exhibition brings together vintage prints Robbins produced in California throughout the 1930s while working under the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. These photographs stand as quiet yet resonant documents of a country reshaping itself in the wake of economic devastation. Robbins joined the Federal Art Project in 1936 at the invitation of Edward Weston, entering a circle of photographers who approached their assignments with unusual artistic ambition. Rather than simply recording public works or municipal landscapes, Robbins and his peers explored the subtler intersections of form, light, labor, and social experience. His images linger on unassuming subjects: agricultural structures, small-town streets, and fragments of everyday industry. Yet within these scenes, he found a dignity that aligned social documentation with the clarity and restraint of modernist aesthetics. The photographs on view illuminate the dual aspiration of New Deal photography: to honor the country’s lived reality while elevating the ordinary through exquisite craft. Robbins’ prints — rich in tonal depth and composed with patient attention — transform the material textures of California’s Depression-era landscape into meditations on resilience. They evoke the timeless quality that later led admirers, including Ansel Adams, to praise his unwavering belief in beauty’s persistence. This exhibition also gestures toward the broader legacy of New Deal arts programs, which offered unprecedented support to artists and secured photography’s place as a vital public medium. Robbins’ work, consistently exhibited and widely collected, continues to affirm the power of the photographic image to speak across generations. In these prints, the past remains vividly present, inviting viewers to reflect on the enduring relationship between art, history, and civic life. Image: LeRoy Robbins, Untitled (40-30-P)), 1936, vintage gelatin silver print © LeRoy Robbins

The Williamsburg Biannual, in collaboration with Sean Kelly, presents James Casebere: The Spatial Unconscious, a sweeping exhibition that spans four decades of the artist’s practice. Occupying three floors, the show gathers rarely seen works across a range of media, many of which have never before been exhibited in New York. Visitors will encounter early black-and-white images, color photographs, Polaroids, waterless lithographs, and new sculptural works that trace the evolution of Casebere’s exploration of constructed space and imagined architecture. Casebere’s artistic language bridges sculpture, photography, and architecture, positioning him as a seminal figure within the Pictures Generation. For him, photography is not merely a means of representation—it is a process of invention, a way to examine how perception and memory shape our shared realities. Through his meticulously crafted models, Casebere constructs worlds that balance between the real and the imagined, addressing themes of solitude, social structure, and the fragile equilibrium between permanence and decay. His compositions, often devoid of human presence, evoke a haunting psychological charge while questioning the systems that define our built environments. The exhibition also introduces Casebere’s Shou Sugi Ban sculptures, a new series inspired by the Japanese technique of wood preservation through charring. Using sustainable bamboo plywood, these geometric forms reveal both strength and vulnerability. Their textured, darkened surfaces speak to renewal through fire—a poetic meditation on the cycles of creation and loss that underpin architectural and human existence alike. Deeply influenced by literature, politics, and cultural history, Casebere continues to redefine the visual dialogue between space and meaning. The Spatial Unconscious offers a rare opportunity to experience an artist’s sustained inquiry into the architecture of the mind and the structures that hold, shape, and sometimes unsettle our collective imagination.

Fahey/Klein Gallery presents Julia Fullerton-Batten: Tableaux, a captivating exhibition that highlights two of the artist’s most ambitious projects, Old Father Thames and Frida – A Singular Vision of Beauty and Pain. Internationally recognized for her meticulously constructed, cinematic photographs, Fullerton-Batten merges the precision of film direction with the atmosphere of painting. Each image exists between fact and fantasy, transforming historical fragments and emotional truths into rich visual storytelling. In Old Father Thames, Fullerton-Batten explores London’s defining river, the lifeline that has shaped the city’s fortunes and myths for centuries. Living near its banks in West London, she was drawn to its ever-changing nature—its tides, moods, and the human dramas that have unfolded along its course. From jubilant Frost Fairs to moments of tragedy and renewal, her series reconstructs scenes from the Thames’ layered past. Each tableau feels like a moment frozen in time, illuminated with cinematic lighting and historical authenticity, revealing the river not just as a geographical feature, but as a living chronicle of London’s spirit. The Frida series pays tribute to the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, whose life and work embodied courage, creativity, and cultural pride. Inspired by Kahlo’s fearless individuality and deep love of Mexico, Fullerton-Batten reimagines her essence through strikingly stylized portraits and settings. Collaborating with Mexican artisans and costumers, she photographed her subjects in vibrant Tehuana garments within evocative locations—abandoned mansions, historic haciendas, and the haunting “doll island” of Xochimilco. These works bridge homage and invention, celebrating Kahlo’s enduring influence and the transformative power of art. Born in Bremen in 1970, Julia Fullerton-Batten has become a leading figure in contemporary fine-art photography. Her works are held in major international collections, including the National Portrait Gallery in London and Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, affirming her status as a master of visual storytelling. Image: The Princess Alice Disaster of 1978 Archival Pigment Print Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso © Julia Fullerton-Batten

Lines of Belonging marks the 40th anniversary of New Photography with an exhibition featuring 13 artists and collectives who delve into the complexities of identity, community, and interconnectedness. As artist Sabelo Mlangeni eloquently stated, "Love is the key that takes cultures from oppression to joy," reflecting how, in his work, the concept of love serves as a powerful force for liberation and political unity. Through their varied practices, these artists explore places of belonging and trace connections that transcend generations, histories, and geographies. Some use their personal experiences to connect with broader political narratives, while others challenge historical archives and reimagine future communities through their art. Lines of Belonging focuses on four cities—Kathmandu, New Orleans, Johannesburg, and Mexico City—each of which has long been a hub for life, creativity, and cultural exchange, often predating the modern nation-states in which they now reside. The work presented here offers a stark contrast to the rapid, profit-driven pace of contemporary image production, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence. Instead, these artists advocate for slowness, persistence, and care as a response to the overwhelming speed and commodification of the modern world. This exhibition marks the first time these artists and collectives are being presented at MoMA, and it includes Sandra Blow, Tania Franco Klein, and Lake Verea (Francisca Rivero-Lake and Carla Verea) from Mexico City; Gabrielle Goliath, Lebohang Kganye, Sabelo Mlangeni, and Lindokuhle Sobekwa from Johannesburg; Nepal Picture Library, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, and Prasiit Sthapit from Kathmandu; and L. Kasimu Harris, Renee Royale, and Gabrielle Garcia Steib from New Orleans. Together, these artists offer fresh perspectives on the intersection of place, memory, and identity. Image: L. Kasimu Harris. Come Tuesday (Marwan Pleasant at Sportsman’s Corner), New Orleans. 2020. Inkjet print, 24 × 36" (61 × 91 cm). Courtesy the artist

Marian Goodman Gallery presents Back to the Source, the gallery’s first exhibition devoted to the work of Ana Mendieta (1948–1985). This landmark presentation gathers pivotal pieces created between 1972 and 1985, a period that marked the full flowering of Mendieta’s artistic vision. The exhibition includes seven digitally remastered films, photographic series, newly available prints and drawings, as well as documentation of her ephemeral sculptural works. Spanning her formative years in Iowa and her time in Mexico and Cuba, the show reflects the evolution of an artist who merged body, nature, and ritual into a unified expression of identity and belonging. Mendieta’s practice defied the boundaries of traditional media. Working with earth, fire, water, and air, she transformed these elements into the raw materials of both art and renewal. Her earth-body works, often performed and documented in natural settings, stand as gestures of communion between the self and the landscape. Using feathers, flowers, branches, moss, and even gunpowder, she infused her work with a spiritual and ritualistic dimension, invoking ancient traditions and a profound sense of continuity with the natural world. For Mendieta, nature was not merely a backdrop but a collaborator—a living partner in a cycle of creation, decay, and transformation. Through her films and photographs, she captured fleeting acts of connection that dissolve the line between presence and absence, permanence and impermanence. Each work embodies her search for origins, for a return to the essential and universal. Back to the Source honors Mendieta’s enduring influence as a pioneering artist who redefined performance, sculpture, and environmental art. Her poetic engagement with the elements continues to resonate, reminding viewers of the deep, spiritual ties between humanity and the natural world. Image: Ana Mendieta, Untitled: Silueta Series, 1977. © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.

Holden Luntz Gallery presents Best in Show @ JL Modern, an exhibition that honors the timeless bond between humans and their canine companions. Bringing together photographs created across more than a century, the show explores how dogs—whether posed, wandering, or entirely unaware of the camera—have shaped the emotional and visual language of photography. Here, dogs emerge not only as subjects, but as partners in storytelling, helping artists reveal humor, tenderness, and the subtle rhythms of daily life. At the heart of the exhibition are images rooted in humanist and documentary traditions. Early street scenes, quiet neighborhoods, and improvised encounters capture dogs moving naturally through the world, offering moments of spontaneity that enrich the narrative. In these photographs, the animals often become silent guides, leading viewers through landscapes of childhood, friendship, and fleeting urban interludes. Their presence carries an authenticity that anchors each frame, reminding us that the simplest gestures can evoke lasting meaning. The exhibition also considers how fashion and celebrity photography have embraced dogs as unexpected agents of charm. A poised figure crossing a station with a sleek hound or a glamorous actress sharing a candid moment with her pet shows how canine presence can disarm even the most carefully constructed image. Within these scenes, dogs create openings—revealing personality, softening composure, or adding a note of surprise that lingers in the viewer’s memory. Playfulness and experimentation appear throughout the exhibition as well, especially in works that use dogs as catalysts for visual invention. Performative, humorous, or architecturally composed, these images demonstrate how a simple shift in scale, gesture, or setting can transform an ordinary moment into something extraordinary. Spanning vintage prints to contemporary works, Best in Show celebrates the enduring capacity of dogs to shape mood, deepen narrative, and connect us to shared experiences that transcend time. Image: Elliott Erwitt — England, 1974 printed later Silver Gelatin Photograph 11 x 14 in, at JL Modern Gallery © Elliott Erwitt

Etherton Gallery presents Alternative Views, an exhibition bringing together two compelling approaches to American landscape photography through the work of Jason Lee and Frank Gohlke. This exhibition offers viewers a rare opportunity to explore the American landscape through distinct lenses: Lee’s spontaneous, road-trip explorations capture overlooked moments of everyday life, while Gohlke’s sustained, methodical attention reveals the deeper narratives embedded in place over time. Jason Lee’s photographs span small towns and rural landscapes across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. His images, often both black and white and color, carry a cinematic quality influenced by filmmakers such as Terence Malick, Wim Wenders, and David Byrne, and the observational precision of photographers like Henry Wessel. Lee’s work captures the unexpected juxtapositions and visual ironies of the American West, presenting fleeting moments in daily life with a sense of quiet nostalgia. His images ask viewers to pause and reconsider the scenes we often pass by unnoticed, revealing beauty in the unremarkable. Frank Gohlke, known as the poet of the everyday, has dedicated five decades to documenting the intersection of human activity and natural forces. His work shifted the focus of landscape photography from grand vistas to the ordinary landscapes shaped by industry, agriculture, and urban development. Gohlke’s photographs of grain elevators, suburban parking lots, and tornado-affected towns remind us of the consequences of human choices, combining aesthetic rigor with a clear sense of responsibility. His essays and lectures further contextualize his imagery, establishing everyday structures as meaningful symbols within the American photographic canon. Displayed together, Lee and Gohlke’s work offers a dialogue between immediacy and reflection, between the fleeting and the enduring. The exhibition invites viewers to consider both the visual subtleties of overlooked places and the broader impact of human activity on the landscape. Through this dual perspective, Alternative Views emphasizes the importance of attention, empathy, and stewardship, urging a deeper engagement with the environments we inhabit. Image: Jason Lee Highway 90, Texas, 2022 archival pigment print 11 x 14 in, at Etherton Gallery @ Jason Lee

The Gallery at Leica Store San Francisco, in collaboration with Camera West, presents ECHO—a poetic tribute to twenty-five years of photographic exploration, connection, and vision. Marking Camera West’s quarter-century milestone, the exhibition brings together twenty-five photographers whose works converse across time, tracing the evolution of seeing, feeling, and understanding through the lens. ECHO is not merely an anniversary exhibition; it is a meditation on how images shape memory and how memory, in turn, reshapes our way of seeing. Each participating artist reflects on their creative journey, linking early sparks of inspiration with the refined sensibility that only experience affords. The result is a dialogue between beginnings and transformations—a rhythm of curiosity, hesitation, and revelation that defines every photographer’s path. The exhibition embraces the notion that growth in art rarely follows a straight line. Instead, it moves like light itself—bending, diffusing, deepening. Through this interplay of time and perspective, ECHO celebrates the beauty of persistence and the tenderness of artistic evolution. From vibrant urban scenes to quiet landscapes, from portraits that reveal the soul to abstractions that whisper of emotion, each work carries the resonance of both past and present vision. Supported by Camera West and Underdog Film Lab, the show gathers artists such as Dylan Aiken, Maura Allen, Lynn Johnson, Teresa Freitas, and Vincent Ricardel, among others, whose images collectively honor the enduring spirit of photography as both craft and calling. Presented with quiet reverence at the Leica Store San Francisco, ECHO stands as a luminous reflection on what it means to witness, to grow, and to share. It reminds us that in every frame lives a trace of time—an echo of who we were and who we are still becoming. Image: Scaled © Gary Copeland

Obscura Gallery presents its third annual winter holiday exhibition, One-of-a-Kind III, a celebration of originality and craftsmanship that brings together a diverse group of contemporary photo-based artists. The exhibition showcases unique artworks priced under $1,500, offering collectors and art lovers the opportunity to discover pieces available exclusively at the Santa Fe gallery. This year’s show features ten artists, among them Michael Berman, Susan Burnstine, Gordon Coons, Lou Peralta, Sara Silks, Aline Smithson, Eddie Soloway, Lynn Stern, Robert Stivers, and Bryan Whitney. In addition, the gallery introduces Santa Fe jewelry artist Karin Worden, whose handcrafted pieces embody the same spirit of individuality that defines the exhibition. The open house event will take place on Saturday, November 28, from 1–4 pm, with many of the artists in attendance. While photography today is most often associated with reproducibility, One-of-a-Kind III invites viewers to reconsider the medium through the lens of singular creation. In the early days of photography, many techniques inherently produced unique images—prints that could never be exactly replicated. This exhibition honors that lineage while embracing modern experimentation, highlighting how artists continue to reinvent photographic traditions in innovative ways. The works on view span a range of historical and contemporary techniques, including gelatin silver prints enhanced with mixed media, cyanotypes, collages, and gold leaf applications. Some pieces explore texture through hand-applied surfaces or the integration of organic materials, while others incorporate digital processes and even cedar-smoked relief printing. The inclusion of handcrafted jewelry extends the conversation beyond the photographic image, celebrating artistry in all its forms. Together, these works embody the tactile, personal, and unrepeatable nature of true craftsmanship—a reminder that in an era of mass production, there remains profound beauty in the singular and handmade. Image: Japonisme: Fireworks and Cherry Blossoms © Aline Smithson

Julian Wasser’s long career unfolds like a fast-moving reel of American culture, capturing both its glittering surfaces and its darker undercurrents. Julian Wasser | Pop and Burn reflects on this singular photographer whose instinct for being in the right place at the right moment echoed the talent of his early mentor, Weegee. Riding alongside the famed press photographer in Washington, D.C., Wasser learned early that the camera could be both witness and provocation, a tool that demanded speed, nerve, and an unblinking eye. When Wasser relocated to Los Angeles in the 1960s, he stepped into a city pulsing with unrest, glamour, and ambition. As TIME Magazine’s West Coast photographer, he chronicled the decisive scenes of a transforming era—from civil rights demonstrations to the explosive energy of the Sunset Strip. His images of cultural icons, from Marilyn Monroe to the Beatles, reveal a photographer attuned not only to celebrity but also to the subtleties of character and mood. Even his portrait session with a then-unknown Joan Didion would become an enduring part of her public image. Yet Wasser’s archive extends far beyond the famous faces. Pop and Burn highlights his fascination with the everyday stage of Los Angeles: teenagers drifting through nightclubs, shop clerks on break, or young strangers lingering on the edge of neon-lit streets. Framed in his trademark high contrast, these scenes feel urgent and unvarnished, the flash freezing fleeting gestures into bold visual statements. The exhibition celebrates Wasser’s raw, hard-edged vision—shaped by years of chasing breaking news in his ‘65 Mustang, press pass clutched at the ready. His photographs, steeped in both Pop culture and the burn of vulnerability that fame can ignite, offer an unfiltered look at a city and a nation in motion. In honoring his legacy, Pop and Burn recognizes a photographer who transformed immediacy into lasting cultural memory. Image: Julian Wasser Blowing Bubbles signed on verso, not stamped Vintage gelatin silver print 9 1/4 x 13 1/4" (CK143) at Craig Krull Gallery © Julian Wasser

In 1978, during his first visit to France, David Wojnarowicz sought to trace the footsteps of Arthur Rimbaud, the rebellious 19th-century poet whose brief yet incandescent life had reshaped French literature. Wandering through Paris, Wojnarowicz found inspiration in Rimbaud’s restless pursuit of meaning and freedom, identifying with the young poet’s desire to transcend the limits of the ordinary through art. This pilgrimage would leave a lasting imprint on his own creative path, one that would soon merge poetry, performance, and photography. Returning to New York, Wojnarowicz confronted a city marked by decay and economic hardship, its crumbling facades echoing the political chaos of Paris during the Commune of the 1870s. He recognized in both cities the same undercurrent of rebellion and renewal. For him, this parallel reflected not only a shared history of upheaval but also his own personal struggle for survival as a child of disruption, forging his identity amid the harsh realities of urban life. It was within this environment that Wojnarowicz created his iconic series Arthur Rimbaud in New York between 1978 and 1979. Collaborating with close friends, he photographed figures wearing a mask of Rimbaud’s face in various locations across the city—from derelict piers and subway platforms to crowded streets. These images formed a powerful meditation on identity, alienation, and the role of the artist in a fractured world. They document not only the transformation of New York’s landscape but also the emergence of Wojnarowicz’s singular voice as he shifted from literature to visual art. First exhibited at P.P.O.W. Gallery in 1990, the project has since become a landmark in contemporary art. The current presentation unites selections from the original prints, the 2004 portfolio of 44 photographs, and rare test images, offering a poignant testament to Wojnarowicz’s enduring dialogue with Rimbaud—and to the enduring relevance of both artists’ search for truth and liberation. Image: David Wojnarowicz, Arthur Rimbaud in New York (tile floor, gun), 1978-79/2004. Gelatin silver print, 11” x 17”. Courtesy of P·P·O·W Gallery. © David Wojnarowicz

The dramatic landscape of California’s coastline has long stood as a source of wonder, reflection, and artistic renewal. Towering cliffs, shifting mists, and the vast expanse of the Pacific have inspired countless painters, writers, and photographers to interpret the meeting of land and sea in their own distinct ways. This exhibition centers on the years following the completion of Highway 1, when the once-remote reaches of Big Sur became more accessible, inviting artists to explore its rugged terrain and intimate communities. Through photography, they sought to translate not only its natural grandeur but also its elusive spirit—a place where solitude and inspiration intertwine. The photographs on view capture a range of perspectives on Big Sur’s untamed beauty. Some images evoke a quiet intimacy with the landscape, focusing on fleeting patterns of light or the rhythm of ocean waves, while others reflect the human stories embedded within this stretch of coast—of those who came seeking escape, renewal, or belonging. Together, these works reveal Big Sur not merely as a destination but as a state of mind, a space of artistic and emotional encounter that continues to resonate deeply within California’s creative legacy. Curated by Rexine, whose extensive experience includes positions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, the Rose Art Museum, and the Everson Museum of Art, the exhibition draws upon her passion for the intersection of place, memory, and artistic vision. Her sensitive approach allows the photographs to speak across time, linking mid-century perspectives with the enduring fascination the region holds today. Support for the Mid-century Big Sur Season has been generously provided by the Emile Norman Charitable Trust, Bill and Jeanne Landreth, Post Ranch Inn, and Bob and Kathleen Seibel, whose contributions help preserve and share the artistic spirit born from California’s coastal edge. Image: Henry Gilpin (1922–2011), Highway One, 1965, gelatin silver print. MPMA Acquisition Fund purchase in honor of Richard Garrod. 1984.081. © Estate of Henry Gilpin.