TITLE: "MANHATTAN BRIDGE-TRIUMPHAL ARCH"

ARTIST/SOURCE: Lahary (American, b. 1949)

MEDIUM: 35MM BLACK-AND-WHITE FILM PHOTOGRAPH; HANDMADE GELATIN SILVER PRINT

DATE/PERIOD: 2007

DIMENSIONS [INCHES]: 8 X 10

ORIGIN: NEW YORK, NY

LABELS/ANNOTATIONS: SEE ASSOCIATED IMAGES INCLUDED

PROVENANCE: THE ARTFAIRE.US COLLECTION; ARTIST'S ESTATE AND ARTIST RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK

MATERIALS: TRADITIONAL WET DARKROOM 35MM FILM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS WITH CHEMICALS, WATER, ENLARGER AND TRAYS-PRODUCING SILVER PRINTS ONTO SINGLE WEIGHT, RESIN COATED PAPER.

This fine photograph is from a series produced by the artist made possible with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund via the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and support by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support was provided by the Educational Alliance Art School and a Henry Street Settlement Artist-In-Residency grant made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation.

PHOTOGRAFFITI: THE SHIFTING BOUNDARIES AND CULTURE OF MANHATTAN'S LOWER EAST SIDE

Although works from this series have come to auction before, this will be the single largest representation of this body of work presented in one auction worldwide. The series is a successive chronicle to two prior pinnacles of change to the Lower East Side (LES) published by black and white film photographers..the first being in the late 1800’s by Jacob Riis..the second reflecting the 1940’s and 50’s by Rebecca Lepkoff. The range in time between Riis and Lepkoff-and from Lepkoff to Lahary is equivalent. The (LES) legacy of handmade black-and-white darkroom film development and printmaking methods employed by Riis, Lepkoff, and Berenice Abbott in her ‘Changing New York’ series were maintained.

Where Riis used street photography to catalyze social justice as humanitarian aid for a predominantly Eastern European class..Lepkoff’s account coincided with the shift of ethnic diversity and her view of mid-twentieth century neighborhood life. In this 2007-2008 iteration, the artist once again evolves the social context by coining a new term .."Photograffiti".. Unlike historical trends of street photography solely being candid portraiture of unknown pedestrians, the artist assumes the novel vantage point of recognizing and "cataloging street art" as the prevailing synthesis of our time. The 1,000 negatives of the series catalogue the (LES) at a turning point in which America suffered what was said to be the largest transfer of wealth in history. The shift was more than a mere re-drawing of municipal lines of the (LES) over time, but rather was a ‘moving target’ of vertical growth tied to dramatic financial gyrations occurring in tandem to a dramatic political transition in the United States.

Beyond the temporal ambivalence of the black and white canvas, Lahary's visual style was characterized by a hemispherical lens, cave-drawing like murals, a subseries of visual essays, signage interpreted as ‘text messages’..plus antique toning. All serving to blur the boundaries of the 35mm documentary form with the fine art palette. A secondary objective was to archive a preservation of endangered downtown murals, similar to preservation efforts with cinematic film. The aim to preserve and re-dialogue urban muralism, street photography and their formal elements within the context of an innate American brand of Social Realism liberated these elements to become a means of artistically and politically carbon dating our society. The murals forewarn us not only of things to come, but of events already in play.

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VERY GOOD /L. EDGE BLACK X 1/8" X EXPOSURE