Had a blast at this years Sacramento Mid Century Modern home tour put on by SacMod. Here are some photos (in no particular order) from the tour. Special thanks to Gretchen for all the hard work she put in to this years event, it was a real treat.

Although he is well known for his paintings and sculptures, Pablo Picasso is less renowned for a series of photographic work that came to be known as “light drawings”. It began back in 1949, when he was shown a photograph of ice skaters with tiny lights affixed to their skates and was inspired to create beautiful pictures by “drawing” them in the air with a small flashlight in a dark room. Light art has since evolved into more complex forms, including performance pieces, but Picasso is considered a forerunner of the genre.

- Hannah Ferris

A Tokyo-based photographer, known as Photographer Hal, has created a radical and imaginative series of work called “Flesh Love” which features lovers sealed tightly together in plastic. Couples from all walks of life volunteered to actually be shrink-wrapped for a few moments while the photograph was captured. The result is a phantasmagorical exploration of love and intimacy–two people so tightly bound together they become unified.

- Hannah Ferris

When images can move past interesting and into evoking a feeling, it’s hard to take your eyes off it. This is what Juha Arvid Helminen, a photographer from Finland has done with his series of photos called “Invisible Empire.”  These images pull you into a circus of dark moods with tones of war, mixed with fear and fetish magnetism. In each image is a denseness portraying standing figures in complete tight clothed covering. Each is faceless, heightening the expression off body language. The uniforms lend itself to history as visions of WWII and Nazi Germany flash through your memory. Helminen astutely incorporates lighting, as he only uses just enough in the images so the viewer’s imagination can do most of the heavy lifting when trying to dissect the whole premise. The ambience of these pieces include anxiety and discomfort as you feel an execution or death has or is going to take place. Unavoidable credit goes to Helminen for his visceral creativity, in an era when countless horror-themed images fall short.

-Sean Callagan

Photography can be a very beautiful thing. Often times it can breathe new life in ordinary objects. Photography can often fool us, wouldn’t you agree? That sculpture is a pile of trash. That person is really a tree. That child is really an old man. That planet is really an old pot.

Yes, in a series of fine photography entitled “Devour”, Christopher Jonassen turned an otherwise mundane kitchen tool, the common frying pan, into a masterpiece.

Starting this collection ten years ago while studying abroad in Australia, Christopher continues to add new pots with different textures and finishes to the series.

But how does he get the final product to come out so…realistic? Honestly, “the older, the better” is the only way to describe it. Along with a little oil (to bring out the texture), the right lighting, and the special touch of Photoshop, Christopher could soon be working for NASA.

- Chelsea Chavez

Photographer Wesley Law’s work explores important issues like economic growth and trash disposal through a series of impressive projects. The Motor Racers projects depicts American racing enthusiasts of diverse backgrounds as The Baltic Tiger project looks at the flourishing country that Estonia has become after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. His series LAYUPS: Illegal Border Trash—shot on the Mexican border in Arizona—touches on trash left behind by illegals as they make their way through an unstable desert in hopes of a better future. If you’ve ever thought about how much garbage a person disposes of in a day, and/or what happens to all that trash, his latest project called BALED: America’s Recyclables will both surprise and enlighten on the issue. A large-scale project to say the least, it hints at the transient nature of things—if not needs—through objects discarded as quickly as they’re acquired.

-Natacha Pavlov

Garry Winogrand and his camera roamed the streets of post-war America and together they created portraits of Americans in their everyday weirdness and glory. After combing through thousands of undeveloped film rolls, the San Francisco MOMA put together a retrospective of Winogrand’s work, with about one hundred never before seen photographs.

At first, Winogrand didn’t wander too far from his native Bronx, but his later photos show far-away Florida, Texas and California. Taken mostly from eye-level and with a sidelong glance, Winogrand turned parades, democratic rallies, and the plain old streets into a site for spectacle and gritty wonder. Some of the best photos capture a cacophony of bodies arranged in a fleeting, energetic composition: there are the criss crossed legs of girls on a hot day in Central Park, or revelers, frozen mid-dance, at a swanky anniversary party at the Metropolitan.

Article by: Linda G

When you were young the world is still this amazing place; filed with mystery, possibilities, and light. Everything is new, alive, and exciting. And with every turn the world becomes an adventure book, that comes to life right before your eyes. It’s that exact feeling that mesmerized me when I came across Rune Guneriusses’ photographs.

Rune Guneriusse, a Norwegian artist, captures the appreciators curiosity with his work. Born in 1977, and graduating with his BA from Surrey Institute of Design, in England, Guneriusse has “designed” his photographs in a awesome way. In fact, after spending so much time staring at these prints, I wish I could identify what exactly draws me into each frame… Maybe it’s the “moth to a flame” effect that is in many of his photos (particularly the ones showcasing lamps). Or, it might be the use of ordinary objects in contrast with the beauty of Norway’s scenery. Maybe, it’s just the simplistic beauty of each frame…You tell me.