[jovo]

It will be very interesting to see what will hang on the temporary wall panels at the AIPAD show this spring (April, I think) in NYC. I couldn't attend last year, but I did for three years before that, and the overwhelming majority of what was being shown was black and white in black frames and not usually, although sometimes, very large.

In the interval, articles even in B&W magazine about dealers have stressed that what's current is large and in color. Visiting some of those gallery sites bears this out...what's on the walls is, compared to a typical LF contact print for example, huge! .....and often extremely boring.

Color work seems to either be Velvia style saturated Western or other iconic landscapes and sunset/sunrise golden hour cliches, or urban/suburban unsaturated, city/suburban/ manscapes with little emotional warmth and a helluvalotta oversize attitude. Irony abounds.

It's not hard to see why galleries are championing the new color photography. Their black and white inventory of new and interesting work must be getting desperately small...too many repetitions of the overdone imitations of the modernist masters.

Oh well....the pendulum swings slowly, but inexorably!

Edit: I just realized how grateful I am to not have to make my living as a fine art photographer. Even though I may fantasize such a life, in fact I don't have to deal with the extraordinary vagueries of such a profession. I have nothing but unfettered admiration for those of you who do.