Last Friday was our show Tropico de Cancer – Four Photographers in the Hot Zones. We hung the show the day before in typical break-neck fashion. Most of Jonathan’s photos had to go back to the framer as the frames had markings from the bubble wrap that was used to protect them, a few of mine as well, for black marks on the mattes. But all in all, the framer did an excellent job and the price was just right: each 16×14 print was framed for $25. nice.
The opening on Friday was a whirl wind of conversations, big smiles and bigger hugs. All the local homies came out for the show, it’s always nice to see everyone get all gussied up for a posh art opening. The wine was flowing. Luca kept a harem of women amused in the back unused gallery and behaved far better than I could have possibly imagined. My mom was the queen of the ball, literally, as she invited everyone she knows (which is half of Vallarta). She was so proud of her family and it showed. My sister, father and I all tried to be as informative about our work as we could and listened to a million and one stories from people whose memories had been jogged by seeing our photographs. And for a night, we were rockstars.
The show is up for the month of May, so in the next few days I’ll be going back to the gallery to properly document the show. On a sour note, the whole ’swine flu’ thing couldn’t have hit at a worse time for art shows. Anyone wanna buy some art?
I’d like to give a big shout-out to io labs who printed my pieces. Each of the photographs is printed with pigment ink on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin paper. The prints have a definite style, unlike c-prints or normal photo paper. The tactile quality of the paper feels almost like soft watercolor paper. And the printing job was the unsung hero of the night. It’s one thing to see your photos on the computer and on photo sharing sites, it’s a whole other thing to see them blown up to 16×24, printed beautifully and to see them hold up under close scrutiny. I couldn’t be happier.
I’d like to thank my family and the Auch family. And lastly, I’d like to give a big shout-out to all of my friends both online and off for the all the support and luv, couldn’t have done it without yall. so thanks.
El Trópico de Cáncer – Four Photographers in the Hot Zones
Hey Internets: My family and I are showing our photographical endeavors in a group show that opens next weekend, here in Puerto Vallarta. Myself, my father Ed senior, and my sister Elizabeth will be in the show along with Jonathan Auch, a documentary photographer from New York City. The show is titled “El Trópico de Cáncer – Four Photographers in the Hot Zones” and is curated by Lynn Auch and will be held at T.Fuller Fine Art Gallery on Avenida Corona in Vallarta. The opening is on Friday April 24th from 6-9pm. The show will stay up for a month.
The idea behind the show is that each photographer is showing photos from an area loosely associated with a different latitude1 on the Tropic of Cancer. Jonathan Auch’s photos are from Haiti and document the sad deforestation that is in its finally stages of destruction. My father, Ed, is holding it down for Mexico – his photos are a saturated pastiche of mexican religious and folkloric objects and places. Beth’s photos document Jamaican barrio street life. And my photos document my travels through Bali, Asia Southeast and India. Each photographer has about fifteen pieces in the show, with each piece at 16×20.
Here are photos from each of the photographers:
Photographer: Jonathan Auch
Photographer: Ed Fladung
Photographer: Elizabeth Fladung
Photographer: Edmund Fladung (me)
Again, the opening is Friday April 24th from 6-9pm, so all you local Nayarit/Vallarta homies better show up. And all you long distance homies please send mad luv our way. It’s really an amazing thing to be in an art show with my sister and dad. But I don’t think it’ll truly hit home until we see all that work up on the wall. It’s still all so abstract. But I do know that this is a once in a lifetime experience.
For more info on the artists and show, here’s the press release.
Pops is now an official switcher. After 30 odd years attached to a PC, he is now using a Mac, with Aperture no less: “I feel like I just got rid of my old clunker dodge with the AM radio and got a Prius.”
We’re now officially an all-Mac family. Each person with their own rig. When we’re together, we don’t sit in front of the TV, we sit around the living room with laptops, each in his/her own world. Marcia and Mom on their 12″ PBs, Mom playing Bridge games, Marcia tweaking speadsheets (and checking Perez Hilton). Dad, Beth and I on our 15″ MBPs in Aperture tweaking photos. And all of us emailing political/economic articles back and forth.
Lilah is the resident myspace fiend of the family. The kid spends all day writing messages on the social networking teet. Hooked I tell ya. The above pose is her typical rebellious anti-camera pose and as soon as the camera comes out, the hands come up to the face and the hair becomes a flowing dirty blonde shield. Lilah is 13 going on 21, I’ve never met a smarter, more mature 13 year old in my life.
Bella is the aspiring actor/model of the family. Her personality has the perfect mix of Miranda July’s frank observation of human minutiae and Michel Gondry’s inventive curiosity. This child is eleven and studies Mandarin Chinese. The classes at her school were not so good, so she opted for her own tutor. Bella will probably grow up to be a world-class mathematician with a fierce dedication to fashion. She’s got brains, creativity and style.
This is Claire’s favorite animal pose, an elephant. It also happens to be her signature “don’t take my picture” face sans elephant ear hair braids. You might remember Claire from this photo from awhile back. Claire no longer goes by Claire. You must now call her Coolio. This child is strange. She knows who Coolio is but she doesn’t know what Star Wars is. What is the world coming to?
My little cousins are here visiting us from New Hope, PA. and we’ve been hanging out this past weekend. They are beyond photogenic and my camera seems to love taking their picture.
My mom has just returned from a summer long jaunt up in Woodstock, NY (photos from my pops). She’s coming back to a just finished house that she spent the last year designing and building. It’s in the ‘Alta Vista’ colonia (neighborhood) high above old-town Puerto Vallarta. She’s got a sick view with a gorgeous pool, on the other side of that edge, a 40 foot drop to the walkway below. The house is super tight and I’m putting the finishing touches on a start to finish photoset. It’s good to have moms back in the general vicinity, but the downside is that she will no longer be living a half a block away, rather a 40 minute drive to the south side of Vallarta. I have a feeling my spanish is about to get a whole lot more polished.
Hi, my name is Ed. I’m a graphic designer who lived in L.A. I quit my job, sold my car, rented out my house and moved to Mexico. Along the way, I learned how to surf and fell in love. This blog is my story. In these pages I write about and photograph my daily experience. I also post about things I find interesting: art, design, photography, music, tech, etc...
