More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Lucas Foglia, Lunea with Deer Rib

“Girls are getting into abstract analysis
That want to make that intuitive leap
They are making plans that have far reaching effects” – Talking Heads, The Girls Want To Be With The Girls, More Songs About Buildings & Food

Gallery 339 at the corner of 21st and Pine Streets is dedicated to fine art photography, the chic space always has something special and inspirational to see. Spending time alone there with the incredible images is one of DoN‘s favorite things to do because there is nowhere else like it to see art by master photographers (except PPAC, of course) but that’s across town. The gallery has become a destination for photography lovers from around the world and it’s right down the street from Haus of DoN. Usually the gallery is dedicated to just a few photographers, focussing on a body of work but More Photos About Buildings and Food is a large group theme show with many of the great photographers who have exhibited in the past at the gallery.

The opening night was more like a party than an opening with a DJ spinning classic Talking Heads songs at ear throbbing volume making it impossible to talk but that only meant the party spilled out into the street. The eclectic mix of images are either about buildings or food, all of them spectacular and special examples of the state of the art in fine art photography. Some are easy to look at, some disturbing and deep, others are pop art or documentary style.  The mix is heady and exciting, the crowd was loud and rambunctious – just the way DoN likes it.

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Martin Parr, Turkey Leg, Disneyland, Tokyo, 1998, chromogenic print

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Vincent Feldman, Shizuoka Shinbun and Broadcasting System Tower, carbon pigment print

Vincent Feldman lives down the block from DoN and it was a nice surprise to see him and his family at the show, it was an even better surprise to see his work in the show with spectacular prints of Japanese modern architecture. Over the roar of the music we chatted about his contribution to the exhibit. DoN asked how Vincent Feldman, a professor of photography at University of the Arts, got involved with More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339?

“Well, I live in the neighborhood near the gallery, so I know Martin McNamara, the owner and director of the gallery and he’s actually purchased some of my work in the past. So the work that he owns is what’s being exhibited but they’re a larger scale. I take pictures of buildings and that’s part of the theme of the show, so, it worked out for this exhibit.”

DoN asked how long Vincent Feldman has been involved in photography? “Thirty-plus years, most of my life.” Not long ago the artist unloaded a bunch of enlargers for people to glean from the street which lead DoN to think maybe he had gone digital. “I still have some enlargers, but the prints I’ve been doing lately, I would say, are mostly digital but I always shoot film. It’s four by five negatives, there’s nothing comparable for me to shoot digitally in that size. I use a large format 4 x 5, Toyo, a Japanese company”

Do you still have a darkroom, they seem to be going away? “Yes. There are still a lot of darkrooms, in fact, they seem to be a growth industry since a lot of them have been decommissioned and I teach, too, and a lot of students want to print in the darkroom. They want to make real prints. It’s a magical process, I love working with the computer but I think you should know what real photography looks like before you try and make it with a computer. You can make anything, you can print out an M16 now, a working gun, so what’s to prevent students from doing that, when you give them a computer you’ve got to focus them and the computer’s not a great thing to focus with if you’re just learning.”

“I have a book coming out in the Spring called Philadelphia City Abandoned about the civic architecture of the city. I’m working with Paul Dry a Philadelphia publisher and he’s been really great and hopefully it’s going to be a beautiful book that will last a long time.”

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Mary Parisi, Wounded Soup, chromogenic print

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Ion Zupco, American Homes Portfolio, gelatin silver prints

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, David Graham

Gallery 339‘s Martin McNamara has agreed to help jury the upcoming Photographic Society of Philadelphia‘s 150th Anniversary exhibit at the Plastic Club in November, read more about the upcoming show at SideArts.com.

Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer

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