BOOK SIGNING
This Is My Life I’m Talking About
By Danny Lyon

June 8, 2024
1pm at Obscura Gallery

PURCHASE BOOK HERE.

This Is My Life I’m Talking About (Damiani Books, 2024) by Danny Lyon is a picaresque memoir by the legendary photographer and filmmaker, whose work has left an indelible mark on the world of photography. The book recounts Lyon’s life of adventures and tragedies, from his groundbreaking documentation of the Civil Rights Movement, to his role in pioneering the New Journalism Movement and his intimate portrayals of subcultures.

This Is My Life I’m Talking About shares stories about Lyon’s family roots in Russia and his youth in New York City, his beautiful lifelong friendship with the American civil rights hero John Lewis, and his immersion into the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, upon which his famous photojournalist work The Bikeriders (1968) is based. Throughout, Lyon writes with tremendous feeling and humor, and the book features a selection of unpublished and unseen pictures from his extraordinary life.

“Cal, born in Canada as Arthur Dion, riding with Little Barbara. Cal, a former Hells Angel from San Bernadino, is my best friend in the Outlaws. In my Hyde Park apartment, he narrated many of the stories that became the text of the book. In the film Cal is played by Boyd Holbrook. A housepainter, Cal fell off a ladder and died in the 1980s.” © Photograph Danny Lyon.

“SNCC Chairman John Lewis speaking in Mississippi, 1963. At that time I shared an apartment in Atlanta with John and Sam Shirah.” © Photograph Danny Lyon.

In addition to new memoir Danny Lyon will also be signing books for his book, The Bikeriders (Aperture 2014), first published in 1968 and inspired the feature-length film by Jeff Nichols of the same name debuting this June. The Bikeriders explores firsthand the stories and personalities of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. This journal-size volume features original black-and-white photographs and transcribed interviews by Lyon, made from 1963 to 1967, when he was a member of the Outlaws gang. Authentic, personal, and uncompromising, Lyon’s depiction of individuals on the outskirts of society offers a gritty yet humane perspective that subverts more commercialized treatments of Americana. Akin to the documentary style of 1960s-era New Journalism made famous by writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe, Lyon’s photography is saturation reporting at its finest. The Bikeriders is a touchstone publication of 1960s counterculture, crucially defining the vision of the outlaw biker as found in Easy Rider and countless other movies and photobooks.

PURCHASE BOOK HERE.

About the Author
Danny Lyon was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942 and raised in Queens. As a student at the University of Chicago he joined the civil rights movement, becoming the first staff photographer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. He is a photojournalist, writer, and filmmaker. His non-fiction books include The Bikeriders, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, Conversations with the Dead, Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, Like a Thief’s Dream and American Blood. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in photography and later in filmmaking. In 1990 he received a Rockefeller Fellowship in filmmaking and in 2011 the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. In 2016 he had a major retrospective (Message to the Future) at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In 2023 his exhibition Danny Lyon: Journey West was at the Albuquerque Museum. A feature film of The Bikeriders, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jeff Nichols and starring Austin Butler, Jody Comer, and Tom Hardy, is due for U.S, release in June 2024.

VIEW DANNY LYON’S PHOTOGRAPHS HERE.

 

 

 

Obscura Gallery, Michael Berman, WildEarth Guardians, and the New Mexico Museum of Art present a celebration event and a photographic exhibition on May 17 that will honor all that’s exceptional about our beloved Gila Wilderness on its 100th birthday. On May 17 at 3pm at the New Mexico History Museum, the celebration event will bring together unique voices and perspectives on the Gila Wilderness’ long history of inspiring advocacy through storytelling and art. Following the talk at the Museum, the photographic reception will be held at Obscura Gallery from 5 – 7pm at 225 Delgado Street, Santa Fe.

A hundred years ago, Aldo Leopold cooked up a fine idea in the Gila and we tagged these end-of-the-line places with the moniker “Wilderness” – so a celebration is in order. And an opportunity to come closer to that ideal.
-Michael P Berman

The 3 pm May 17 celebration talk at the New Mexico History Museum will feature celebrated photographer Michael P. Berman, as well as other contributors from the anthology First & Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100, published in 2022 by Torrey House Press. A Guggenheim Fellow, Berman uses his art as a catalyst to renew and heighten our perception of the land by bringing awareness to the complexity of the biological world through political and social dialogue of the West. His photographs appear throughout First & Wildest, and his 2012 monograph Gila: The Enduring Silence, published by Museum of New Mexico Press, reflects his explorations of its wildest corners.

The event will also include Elizabeth Hightower Allen, the anthology’s editor and a contributing editor at Outside magazine, and Albuquerque-based journalist Laura Paskus, senior producer of the NMPBS series, “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past Present, and Future” and author of the 2020 book “At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate,” and editor of the forthcoming anthology, “Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth,” from Torrey House Press.

Joining via video will be U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez, from New Mexico’s Second Congressional District, who is leading the effort to designate the Gila River as Wild and Scenic in Congress. An avid hunter, angler, and friend of the Gila, Vasquez is founder of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project and co-founder of the pioneering New Mexico Outdoor Equity Fund.

With stories of place-based connection, we’ll celebrate the wonders of this country’s first wilderness, and we’ll think boldly about what’s needed to protect this special place for the next 100 years.

Following the talk at the Museum, the photographic reception will be held at Obscura Gallery from 5 – 7pm at 225 Delgado Street, Santa Fe.

A portion of the Obscura Gallery proceeds from the sales of Michael Berman’s exhibition artworks will be donated to WildEarth Guardians to continue their important work in the Gila Wilderness.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

VIEW ALL THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.

Obscura Gallery presents a photographic exhibition by acclaimed British cinematographer Roger Deakins, reflecfting a life spent looking and telling stories through images from 1971 to the present, featuring work from his recent publication Byways (published by Damiani Books in 2021 and now in its 7^th edition). Although a highly acclaimed cinematographer, Deakins has also cultivated a passion for still photography, producing compelling portraits and landscapes from visually striking locations throughout the world. This range of still photography includes notable images of our home state of New Mexico, as well as the seaside of Deakins’ native England, and cinematic views from New Zealand, Australia, and Scotland. Roger Deakins has earned an extraordinary reputation for his diverse and expansive body of cinema work, spanning more than five decades. He has been nominated for 16 Academy Awards, winning twice for Bladerunner 2049 and 1917. His other well-known nominated Academy Award films include Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, Shawshank Redemption, True Grit, and so many more.

Obscura Gallery, Collected Works Bookstore, and Violet Crown proudly announce a collaborative offering of engaging events to pay tribute to the esteemed cinematographer and photographer Roger Deakins. These special events, which took place on Thursday, March 14, and Friday, March 15, aimed to honor Deakins’ remarkable contributions to the art of cinema and photography.

Included in the Obscura Gallery exhibition are a selection of images from the monograph Byways, now in its seventh reprint, which includes over 150 previously unpublished black-and-white photographs spanning five decades, from 1971 to the present. After graduating from college Deakins spent a year photographing life in rural North Devon, in South West England, on a commission for the Beaford Arts Centre; these images are gathered here for the first time and attest to a keenly ironic English sensibility, also documenting a vanished postwar Britain. A second suite of images expresses Deakins’ love of the seaside. Traveling for his cinematic work has allowed Deakins to photograph landscapes all over the world; in this third group of images, that same irony remains evident. There are several images in the exhibition taken in our home-state of New Mexico with the same character and signature style of which Deakins is revered.

Roger A. Deakins was born and raised in Devon. He studied Graphic Design at the Bath College of Art and before continuing on to the National Film School, he spent time shooting still photographs for North Devon, with the intent of capturing the disappearing rural farm life. Here he developed his love of still photography. After graduating from the National Film School, he shot a number of documentaries and then moved into feature films.

Roger has been nominated 16 times for an Academy Award and won twice for the movies BLADERUNNER 2049 and 1917. He has also been nominated 17 times for the top award of the American Society of Cinematographers, 11 times for the BAFTA award and 12 times for the British Society of Cinematographers. He has been awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, the British Society of Cinematographers and the National Board of Review. He is also the only cinematographer to have been awarded the honor of CBE in 2013 as well as receiving the honor of knighthood in 2021. Roger also enjoys being a visual consultant on certain animated films. He has consulted on WALL•E, RANGO, all of the HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON films and VIVO, to name a few. In 2021, in addition to publishing Byways, he and his long-time collaborator James Ellis Deakins created an immensely successful podcast, Team Deakins, on the subject of filmmaking.

VIEW ALL THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE HERE.

 

Representing all things photography through exhibitions, consignments and appraisals!

It’s an exciting year ahead as we begin 2024 at our new east side Canyon Road area location on Delgado Street with a January 27 open house from 1-5pm.

Hours of operation are Tuesday – Saturday 11-5pm. We are also open by appointment. Please call us to schedule a visit at 505-577-6708.

WE HAVE PARKING! Parking is available in the big lot right across the street from the gallery or on the street!

 

 

Following Danny Lyon’s extensive retrospective New Mexico exhibition ‘Journey West’ at the Albuquerque Museum this Summer, Obscura Gallery is thrilled to present ‘Danny Lyon: Prints and Photographs 1963 – 2023’, featuring the seminal documentary photographer’s 60-year career of exploring people, places, and land through photographs and montages. Also included will be a selection of new works that capture New Mexico’s diverse landscapes, seeking to raise awareness of fires, drought, and climate change. Other featured works span Lyon’s career photographing the Civil Rights Movement, the Texas Prison System, the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club, and more. The latter culminated in his seminal book, ‘The Bikeriders’, a landmark of modern photojournalism that collected interviews and photographs, documenting the abandon and risk implied in the name of the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. A feature-length film by Jeff Nichols, ‘The Bikeriders’, is based on Lyon’s book of the same name and will be released soon.

VIEW ALL THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

 

WATCH THE RECORDED ZOOM WEBINAR WITH THE CAPONIGROS HERE.

Please join us Friday, September 15 from 5-7pm for the artist reception of Two Generations: Paul Caponigro and John Paul Caponigro, a father-and-son exhibition including over two dozen photographs highlighting the careers of this family of artists. John Paul will give an informal chat at 4pm before the reception begins.

For both artists, Santa Fe was home for over twenty years (1970 – 1990s) while Paul lived here raising John Paul in a community of artists. Now, decades later, their work will be shown together in this joint exhibition at Obscura Gallery. Responding to interest in seeing the work of father and son together, the show “Two Generations” was originally assembled from the personal collection of John Paul and first exhibited more than three decades ago – it has traveled and evolved ever since and we are thrilled to have curated our own version at Obscura Gallery.

While at first glance both artists seem a world apart — Paul’s work in black and white gelatin silver and John Paul’s work in vivid color by use of digital means — their work is unified by the same spiritual thread that runs through their landscape photography. They both revere the land they photograph and try to convey their responses to the land they love. They are both successful photographic interpreters of the majesty that our Earth offers us.

VIEW THE VIRTUAL EXHIBITION TOUR HERE.

VIEW THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

Please join us for a book signing and intimate exhibition of Henry Horenstein’s recently published, Speedway. With a foreward by Ray Magliozzi of ‘Car Talk’, Horenstein’s images in the book “present us with a slice of what the world of motor racing looked like then [in 1972], before racing became big business, as it slowly morphed into Nascar – the worlds fastest growing sport.”

THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2023

This August, Brant Mackley Gallery has a stellar exhibition of contemporary Sikyátkii revival pottery by Hopi potter Bobby Silas in his first solo exhibition and we are thrilled to be exhibiting photographs that complement this incredible work!

Silas is the first Hopi to use the lost tradition of lignite coal-fired pottery in hundreds of years. Bobby will be bringing new works weekly until Indian Market so come before the reception if you wish, the show is up and ready for viewing!

Below is a selection of the photographic works included in the exhibition, and visit the gallery to view the entire selection.

EDWARD CURTIS, A Hopi Girl, Plate 406, 1905, 15.5 x 11.25″ Image Size, 18 x 22″ paper size, vintage photogravure on Holland Van Gelder paper from Portfolio 12.

 

WILLIAM HENRY JACKSON. View in Tewa Looking Towards Walpi, AZ, 1875, (Nampeyo the Potter and her brother Tom Polacca on the roof of the Corn clan dwelling in the village of Hano), 1875. 4.5 x 6″, Vintage albumen.

 

JOHN K. HILLERS. Walpi, Mokitown, Arizona, c.1872-3, 9.5 x 12.5”, vintage albumen print

 

Obscura Gallery is thrilled to welcome Debbie Fleming Caffery back to Santa Fe for a Summer solo exhibition, Portraits of Birds, a beloved project Debbie has undertaken most of her career. At a young age growing up on the Bayou Teche in Louisiana, Debbie was inspired by her grandfather, who raised doves, pigeons, and chickens and took her on day trips to visit wild birds. Throughout Debbie’s career, she continued her passion for these creatures, photographing birds in many varied settings: living wild in Louisiana, freed from animal markets in Mexico, and most recently rehabilitated as Avian Ambassadors in New Mexico. Debbie brings the same sensitivity into this stunning collection of black and white gelatin silver portraits of birds as she is known for when photographing people of various cultures.

VIEW THE VIRTUAL EXHIBITION HERE.

The artist reception takes place on Friday, July 7 from 5-7pm.

 

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

VIEW THE ENTIRE BIRD PORTFOLIO HERE.

 

A select survey of photogravures representing over a century, with prints dating from as early as 1897 to contemporary prints made in 2023. The earliest print in this exhibition is by Alfred Stieglitz from his 1897 portfolio Picturesque Bits of New York and Other Studies created from a steel plate. The most recent work included in the exhibition are 2023 abstract prints of New Mexico and Patagonia created from polymer plates by Santa Fean Eddie Soloway.

The photogravure is an intaglio print process that, in the early development of photography, was invented to produce high-quality ink reproductions of photographs, featuring deep shadows and luminous highlights. Early photographic pioneers Joseph Nicéphore Niepce and William Henry Fox Talbot invented the process in the 1840s, and then it was perfected in 1879 by Karl V. Klíč. Traditionally, photogravures were photographs that were etched into a metal plate using light sensitive carbon tissue. The plate was then inked and run through a printing press to produce a positive ink print known for its distinctive, luminous tonal qualities. With most contemporary photogravures, the metal plates have been replaced with polymer plates and other less toxic chemicals are used in the process.

 

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

VIEW THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.