Photography at Bay - Softcover

PHOTOG APHY AT IBA INTERVIEWS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS JOHN BLOOM This engaging collection of interviews and critical writings repre sents a search for a broader definition of the photographic medium as one connected to cultural streams, political dialogue, art ideas, and biographic expression. John Bloom, a writer, critic, and artist from the Bay Area, examines. the photographic goings-on in his city from the early 1980s up through 1991 and finds a remarkable range of activity. This period coincides with San Francisco's emer gence from relative provinciality to international recognition of its importance as a primary site of photographic innovation and insti tutional support. The variety of exhibitions that took place is impressive, and Bloom frequently had the occasion to interview the artists and curators involved. The author has a notable talent for getting historians and artists to reveal something substantial about their work, its prominent ideas and evolution, and therefore these interviews especially make for lively reading. At the same time as Bloom emerges as an insightful and intelli gent commentator on both historical and contemporary photogra phy, San Francisco emerges as a kind of center of photographic activity in the U.S. during the 1980s. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in photography and what can be gleaned from it about our culture and history.