Azo Show Moves to the Paul Paletti Gallery

[Scott Killian]

The show: Azo -> Contact -> Print. An Exhibit of Large Format Contact Prints moves to the Paul Paletti Gallery in Louisville, KY this weekend. If you missed it at the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts in Maryland, here's your chance to join us again. Several of the photographers will be present at the opening this friday night, March 3rd (I believe it's from 6 to 9 pm). Address is below.

This show features over 50 Large Format Azo contact prints from Joe Freeman, Scott Killian, George Provost, Jim Shanesy and Steve Sherman. The show was featured in the Jan/Feb issue of View Camera Magazine, although the reproductions in no way reflect the quality of the work (the scans were terrible).

Special thanks to those of you who came to the previous opening or sent words of encouragement. In the meantime, we look forward to meeting those of you who can make the trip to Louisville.

Paul Paletti Gallery
713 East Market Street, Suite 100
Louisville, KY
502.589.9254

Scott Killian

www.scottkillian.com

[Mike Lopez]

Those pictures in VC were indeed horrible. It would be nice to see the real thing.

[Scott Killian]

Yea, that was our fault. The deadline was tight and the scans we provided View Camera simply weren't large enough file sizes for the magazine. I guess that's what happens when you give a bunch guys who make contact prints access to a scanner. If you can make it to the show, we'll promise to make it up to you.

Best,

www.scottkillian.com

[Jay DeFehr]

I wish I could attend, but I'll have to miss this show, too. I saw the images in VC and thought that if that was the only exposure one had to Azo contact prints, one would have to wonder what all the fuss was about. Just the opposite of the desired effect, I'm sure. I've seen Jim's prints, and they're very beautiful. It's a shame the reproductions were so poor.

Jay

[J Frank Dobie]

In looking at View Camera magazine over the years I often see poor B&W printing. The color is generally very good. Is the poor B&W the result of poor scans or the printer having trouble getting quality work consistently. Not all B&W prints are poor but too many are. Even after having sold Camera Arts they have the same problem with B&W printing... enough so I don't buy some issues.

Why the trouble getting good B&W printing? I don't see this trouble in most photo magazines. The poor reproduction may be tolerated in the rags that use cheaper paper & are mostly ads but View Camera isn't one of these crummy publications. LensWork has not had this at all and I have issues back to the beginning.

Why the up & down quality of B&W printing?

As for an Azo show? Why emphasize the product and not the photos?

[neil poulsen]

Will the exhibit come to the Pacific northwest? (Portland or Seattle?)

[Scott Davis]

As another reader of VC and someone who has attended the show, I can say definitively that the reproductions in View Camera do not do the final prints justice. Outstanding work was displayed by all participants.

Steve Simmons will need to answer this one as to the b/w printing problem - I don't know if he gives out file format specs to contributors or not.

I think part of the reason for the emphasis on AZO is A: there is a certain mystique about AZO paper, justified or not, and B: since AZO is a dying media, there is a push to exhibit, publicize, and draw attention to it in part to garner public support to help revive the product.

Although I think it is a little too product-focused, I don't see a problem per se with an all-AZO show. Art exhibits are frequently curated around a specific medium - bronze, oil paint, mixed media, alt process, etc.

[Scott Killian]

Neil - no plans yet for the show to move west, but we've seen some interest from other galleries so you never know. We'll post here if the show moves on.

I can't speak for View Camera overall, only this particular article which was our fault. As I mentioned previously, the resolution of the scans we provided simply didn't meet the specification we were given. The deadline was tight and this slipped by all of us. However, even the best scans of large format contact prints won't match the look and feel of the original in any magazine.

As for the show, Scott is correct - curators and gallery owners usually assemble shows based on some theme or other criteria of their choosing. Despite the title, this particular show was really assembled around a style of print making rather than any particular brand of photographic paper. The fact that all of us use Azo was only coincidental. The timing of Kodak's announcement that they were discontinuing all traditional photographic papers acted as an interesting metaphor for this show, helping us to highlight to the general public the differences between these classic methods of print making and the digital print. Of course, none of these prints were made for the show - we all make work for our own reasons. For me personally, if this venue and context can be used for calling attention to my work, then I welcome that opportunity.

www.scottkillian.com

[John Z.]

I would be interested in the show if it came out to California too.