Jerry’s Auto Upholstery Shop

Coincidental Contact

This post is in part due to the book I’m reading: The Accidental Masterpiece – and in a way a pictorial response to a line in the introduction:

“that beauty is often where you don’t expect to find it; that it is something
we may discover and also invent, then reinvent, for ourselves; that the most
important things in the world are never as simple as they seem but that the world is also richer when it declines to abide by comforting formulas.”

Last December I finally decided to stop in and have a conversation with Jerry. I had been photographing a lot of places in and around the “East Village” of Des Moines for a number of different projects… but with out a set narrative to go on except a feeling of realizing an impending change occurring to this area at the foot of the Capital complex. I think I began to feel enough urgency to get over the initial awkwardness / nervousness of being a stranger and gawking around with a camera. I was rewarded with stories about Jerry’s business and his view on the redevelopment occurring in the neighborhood.

Jerry is a genuine old fart. I say this with the utmost respect. His shop is his haven in the world.

Oddly to me – Jerry seemed to be more at ease with the impending changes than I expected – maybe that’s the perspective you gain over 89 years of living and seeing the world change around you.

I was rewarded with an invitation to roam about his shop and to make some photographs. Oddly enough, one of the stories that Jerry shared with me is that if he didn’t have the exact replacement vinyls for just about any vintage auto, his friend in Portland, Oregon would surely have it and all he would need to do is give him a call. Little did I know at that time that I would indeed find myself moving that that very city a few months latter… Strange how small and interconnected the world is sometimes…

I have an upholstery shop to find here in Portland .

Thanks Jerry. I hope things turn out well for you in Des Moines.

Invincible Deluxe
2006

300 Block – East Walnut
Des Moines, Iowa
2006

Spare Arms – Geller’s Shop
2006

Inventory Stock – Geller’s Shop
2006


Mr. Jerome Geller
Des Moines, Iowa
2006


Untitled [Geller's work table]
2006

Untitled [Back room - Geller's Machine Shop]
2006


Geller’s Machine Shop
Des Moines, Iowa
2006

More of my work here:  www.mattniebuhr.com

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

Photo book(s) and More [photo-eye]

With anticipation of getting my own copy of Richter’s “Atlas” (previous post) and thinking about relationships between a “finished” photobook (assuming a product of some kind of story telling) vs an “atlas” way of seeing (encyclopedic collecting, cataloging and fact/fiction presenting) as a source for inspiration – I came across “photo-eye” web site via Shane Lavalette’s journal entry – and thanks for sharing a recommendation.

Looks like a good place to explore and spend some time getting to know other work…

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

Richter’s Atlas and other things pictured…

(cover image)
Gerhard Richter: Atlas (Hardcover)
by Helmut Friedel (Editor), Gerhard Richter (Author)

Browsed through a copy today over at Powell’s – Looking forward to receiving my copy and giving it a more than leisurely browse. Richter’s Atlas is a glimpse into his process of collection, selection and cataloguing of images (The atlas is a lot of found amateur and personal photography, news clipping images, musings…) that may or maynot be transformed, incorporated and/or appropriated (ultimately) into Richter’s painting or printing process. I’m interested to see the photographs that are put into the service of painting – his way of looking.

Diana1967
200 cm X 190 cm
Oil on canvas
Catalogue Raisonné: 155

It’s got me thinking about when a photograph becomes a “sketch tool” recording a thought – providing a distance – a chance to evaluate light / composition. Rather than when it might become an independent art piece – an end in itself…

Pamela Anderson: Hollywood Nights
Image: David LaChapelle – from Artists and Prostitutes

And available by way of Powells …to get on with the cycle of images …your copy of David LaChapelle: Artists and Prostitutes, awaits…. a recent interesting post on Alec Soth’s blog…. it must be springtime… It does feel rather carnal – and that’s something anyone can relate too after a long cold winter. I am rather put off by the cartoons of photographs – I guess I don’t so much the in your face work of LaChapelle, in so far as it is eye candy… and tastes good only briefly. I wonder what the shelf life will be? Time will tell I speculate.

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

The cycle of images … does any thing really change?

The Rape of the Proserpina
by Bernini executed between 1621 and 1622.

Detail: The Rape of the Proserpina

I pickup up this little snippet over on Conscientious today… and all it made me wonder what has changed about picturing this sort of sex / violence / power relationship that is embedded deep in the human psyche…

Of the underworld, brute force, power – it is a long history of role playing that is interesting to consider… just who would you think commission such a work? And for what purpose?

The Family that Preys Together
An exclusive Q&A with Sopranos creator David Chase.
Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

I dunno….

But I do like this quote from an interview of Leibovitz (link)… Is a cover like the Vanity Fair cover photo worth the price?

“Leibovitz: The truth is, I thought I was doing journalism, but I really wasn’t. At the San Francisco Art Institute, what I really studied was reportage, personalized reportage, a la Robert Frank and Cartier Bresson. I didn’t know this, but it had a more personal slant. When I started working for Rolling Stone, I became very interested in journalism and thought maybe that’s what I was doing, but it wasn’t true. What became important was to have a point of view. “

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

Pattern Moments

Matt Niebuhr.

This is my attempt at a bit of inspiration from the likes of work like Jeff Wall’s…. Diagonal Composition.

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

Another trip…

Photograph by Matt Niebuhr.

Trip #2 completed… a few snaps along the way. Open spaces and crevasses. Near Rock Springs, Wyoming. What would it have been like in the 1860′s?

Near Medicine Bow – Mountain pass – west of Cheyenne. The marking of such places is extraordinary.

More of my work here: www.mattniebuhr.com

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….

Lens of time and color… William Eggelston

William Eggleston – 1971

I just like the picturing of such things…. classic Eggeston color, context, familiar and yet… Imagine seeing these in the historical context of the “black and white” era…

Vernacular Icons: William Eggleston – on view at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art through March 25, 2007.

“Curated by Curator of Education Karleen Gardner:

William Eggleston captures the real world by choosing to photograph seemingly unimportant places and people. His democratic way of seeing was influenced more by his personal vision than by previous artistic styles. Color, he believes, is a fundamental feature of perception, as well as a vital aspect of documenting daily life.”

Now through the lens of time some nearly 40 years later… Do you suppose this is a photographic nod to the past ??? (Angela Strassheim – Left Behind) Thinking about that Ongoing Moment….!

…examining the threshold at which ordinary visibility ends and perception begins ….