As you may recall, there were a proliferation of openings last Thursday, and it was quite a challenge to A. nudge yourself into the galleries and B. actually see the work. I managed to do this somewhat successfully, though, and when I awoke the next day, two artists were still lodged in my head: Jane Hammond from Gallerie Lelong, and Kevin Cooley from Massimo Audiello.

Cooley reminds me of a morph of Todd Hido and Sarah Pickering.... beautiful nightscapes with perfectly placed interventions. I ran into Ofer Wolberger at Cooley's show, and he was delighted with the press release for the show, entitled At Light's Edge. I thought it was rather nice, too. So here are some of Cooley's images, paired with the text.

Badlands 2, Lyman, Wyoming

Return to Nature has always been a distress signal of mankind, signifying the need to take care of ourselves and to get back to basics. Be it the classical or neoclassical Arcadia, Jean Jacques Rousseau's return to our primitive being, William Wordsworth or Samuel Coleridge's search for solitude, or Caspar David Friedrich's discovery of landscape as the representation of God, Nature has always been our mother and one of our ultimate refuges.

Wind River Canyon, Thermopolis, Wyoming

Kevin Cooley's new photographs plunge directly into this Romantic tradition of landscape, and he enriches it with contemporary concerns.

Grand Tetons, Driggs, ID

Nature is the muse, and man is the explorer. Breathtaking night views of American landscapes are illuminated by eerie distress signals, possibly messages coming from above or vice-versa. Light shooting through the sky highlights an endangered beauty and at the same time represents a divine or extraterrestrial phenomenon.

Taking photographs, for Cooley, is a lonely job, infused with silence and meditation. This contemplative mood, along with a sense of wonder and fear, permeates the entire new body of work.

Takeoffs JFK Runway 13R


Landing Pattern LGA

Planes Landing MSP


See Cooley's site, here. There are even daytime pictures.