06/19/2018

Winged Women in Tartarus Magazine

Just published in the June issue of Tartarus Magazine is my Winged Women series of images. I’m not sure why they titled it Harpy, however grateful that this series is getting some exposure.

From their website,”In Greek mythology, Tartarus is both a deity and a place in the underworld. In ancient Orphic sources and in the mystery schools, Tartarus is also the unbounded first-existing entity from which the Light and the cosmos are born. Tartarus is a primordial force, a deity, a place for the wicked. The place for those who are misunderstood and are far too progressive to fit. The magazine has a commitment to be a platform to profile and publish talent who are representing artistic vision in the marketplace and who can both encourage and provide role models to other men and women. Tartarus, through its magazine and editorial content, will be a vessel for talent that is all about the artistic principles, the high end, haute couture fashion story books and editorials.”

See more images below or go to Tartarus Magazine‘s site to see the entire beautiful magazine for free.

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04/27/2017

Visionary Alchemy Exhibit in Tribeca

This Saturday April 29, 2017 The Guardian will be shown in the Visionary Alchemy Group Exhibit in Tribeca. The show is sponsored by the Society for Art of Imagination and is opening Saturday April 29 from 6 to 9pm at One Art Space, 23 Warren St., New York, NY 10007. It will be a great show of mostly paintings, The Guardian may be the only photographic work present. There will be work from H.R. Giger and Alex Grey on view as well as wonderful works from a huge collection of international artists all working in the realm of the imagination. The following quoted from the Society for Art of Imagination’s website:

This art may be called by many names – Fantastic Realism, Surrealism, Magic Realism, Visionary Art, Cosmic Art and Inspirational Art, however the work is neither purely abstract nor rigidly realistic. Members of the Society work independently of one another in various countries yet their work shows a consistent ethos.

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10/17/2014

Blacklight and Centaur at Photoplace Gallery

I will be exhibiting two prints in the Dreams, Fantasies and Illusions Show at Photoplace Gallery in Middlebury, Vt. They chose one of my images for the banner. The jurors for this exhibition are the amazing photographic team of Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick. After years of concentrating on work that is published in books and magazines I’m making a greater effort to exhibit my personal work in galleries.  If you’re nearby, stop in and check out all the work.

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01/13/2014

History of Photo Compositing 1983 edition

Back in 1983 before the invention of Photoshop it wasn’t quite as easy for a photographer to illustrate his dreams and visions as it is today.  The process of making the image shown here involved shooting the elements to scale on 4×5 film, mounting each element in position on a sheet of 11×14 exposed, processed Kodalith film (essentially a piece of solid black film) that was punched with pin registration holes, making photographic masks of the city, cutting a frisket by hand and opaquing all the city detail but leaving the edge photographic, and then once all that was prepared, exposing the elements in sequence followed by their masks on Ektachrome 6121 Dupe film, balancing the exposure and color balance of each element.  It’s actually much harder than briefly described here because getting perfect masks and perfect image registration was an art in itself.  The reward was making an image that stood out for its uniqueness in its time.

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01/02/2014

Saints and Sinners at BAU

The Guardian, one of the images from the Winged Women series, is on exhibit at Beacon Artists Union in Beacon, NY in a group show titled Saints and Sinners.  The print is a 16″x20″digital archival pigment print in a 20″x24″ frame.  There is a show closing party on Saturday, January 4, 2014 from 6-9pm at BAU gallery, 506 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508.  Please join us for music, conversation and a great exhibit.

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04/10/2012

Phantasten Museum Exhibit-Vienna

Two of James Porto’s Winged Women gelatin silver prints will be shown at the Society for Art of Imagination show taking place in Vienna at the Phantasten Museum.  They are 12 x 15 inches framed and from an edition of 10.  The opening is Saturday, April 14, 2012 so please feel free to attend if you happen to be in Vienna.  It runs through April 29.  Read more to see the images and for more detail.

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08/02/2011

Surrender

“The simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life; unconditional acceptance of what is” as portrayed by Margarita Levieva, the amazing up and coming actress who can be seen in HBO’s upcoming season of How to Make it in America.  She has also performed memorable roles in Spread, Adventureland, and The Lincoln Lawyer among others  (more images follow, click read more).

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05/09/2011

Megabillboardland

This image is part of a series relating to the relentless over-commodification of every aspect of our culture.  Often I drive throughout the NYC metro area and am constantly appalled by the visual ugliness perpetrated by everyone trying to scream their messages.  Adbusters picked up on the image and published it as a spread in their Big Ideas of 2011 Jan/Feb issue.  Stay tuned for more images relating to this theme.

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