Getty Photographic Curator Emeritus Weston Naef opened 2015 Photo LA with a ninety minute walkthrough he described as a tour moving us from certainty to uncertainty. He spent the time showing examples from every corner of photography and the world, contrasting between the known and respected and new artists and art school grads up on the wall for the first time. His takeaway message, buy for desire, not to invest, come to a show to see the world for the price of an admission ticket and look at the prints and books, really look.
Much of the time was spent talking about how he forms his photographic judgments, a rare opportunity to understand the process directly from the horse’s mouth. If you want to know why some are chosen and some ignored in the art world what better place to hear it than from someone who has helped shape the current landscape. I’m not going to repeat what we heard, too much to recall and so much of it dependent on context but somewhere in your neighborhood some curator is probably preparing a talk right now. That sounds like an opportunity to me…
