NEW YORK, NY.- An exhibition of photographs by the renowned London-based artist Nadav Kander is on view at
Howard Greenberg Gallery from April 21 through June 10, 2022. Nadav Kander: The Thread, the Prix Pictet-winning photographers first exhibition with Howard Greenberg Gallery, presents evocative landscapes and penetrating portraits from the 1990s-2020s that evoke the interconnectedness of humanity. The exhibition title, inspired by the poem The Way It Is by William Stafford, refers to this common thread.
This connectivity is the only way we can come together as a species, Kander noted. My approach is to drill down to the essence of things, searching for feelings of vulnerability, quiet, and beauty, whether it be a familiar face or a riverscape. Widely regarded as one of the most insightful photographers of our time, Kanders work brings out the essence of his subjects in both subtle and powerful ways that resonate in the viewers mind.
For his landscapes, Kander has traveled extensively around the globe including the Yangtze River in China, the Artic Circle, the salt flats of Utah, and Chernobyl. Three works from Kanders series Yangtze The Long River, 2006-2007 are on view. The project was awarded the prestigious Prix Pictet in 2009. For this body of work, Kander travelled the nearly 4,000-mile-long Yangtze River, from mouth to source, photographing the landscape and the people living along its shores. Yangtze The Long River is a body of work that captures the dramatic effects of a nation at the precipice of enormous industrial and economic change and considers the history and folklore of the waterway that runs through the blood of the people.
Kanders ongoing series Dark Line The Thames Estuary, which he began in 2015, focuses on the River Thames where it connects with the sea. Kander captures atmospheric images of slow-moving dark waters and seemingly infinite horizons. Travelling to the estuary alone, engaging in the process of slow photography, he focuses on the cycles of the river, as well as its historical and mystical implications. The resulting images are deeply immersive and explore photographys ability to encapsulate time and physical borders. By showing the Thames as sparse and monochromatic, with immeasurable distances disappearing into the fog, Kander found a marriage between subject, medium, and metaphor that intimately reflects his own inner experience.
Kanders images of world leaders, authors, scientists, and actors exude an incisive and intimate essence. The exhibition includes more than of 30 of Kanders portraits including HRH Prince Charles, David Lynch, Rosamond Pike, David Attenborough, and Barack Obama. These contemplative works transform familiar faces into uncanny depictions of human concern.
Nadav Kander is an award-winning London-based photographer and director of short films who is best known for his portraits and landscapes. Born in Tel Aviv in 1961, he grew up in Johannesburg, where his family emigrated in 1964. At 13, he started taking pictures on a Pentax camera that he had bought with funds from his Bar Mitzvah. By the age of 17, he knew that he would be a photographer. He was drafted into the South African Air Force, where he worked for two years in the darkroom printing aerial photograph. In 1982, he left South Africa to begin his career in London.
Kanders work began to get noticed and in the late 1990s, it was presented at Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica, Calif. In 2001, his photographs were exhibited at Michael Hoppen Gallery in London and in 2005, Palais de Tokyo in Paris mounted a solo exhibition.
In 2009, Kander had 52 full color portraits published in one issue of The New York Times Magazine. The portraits were of the people surrounding President Barack Obama including Vice President Joe Biden. It was the largest portfolio of work by the same photographer that The New York Times Magazine had showcased in one single issue.
Kanders many awards include the Sony World Photography Award in 2019; Cannes Gold Lion in 2018; Honorary Fellowship, The Royal Photographic Society in 2015; World Press Photo Awards in 2014 and 2013; Prix Pictet in 2009; and International Photographer of the Year at the Lucie Awards in 2009.
Nine monographs have been published on the artists photographic work including The Meeting, Steidl, 2019; Dust, 2014, Hatje Cantz; Bodies. 6 Women, 1 Man, 2013, Hatje Cantz; Yangtze The Long River, 2010, Hatje Cantz; and Beautys Nothing, 2001, Arena Editions. Kanders work is held by a number of major institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, London; National Galleries of Scotland; Société Générale, Paris; Collezione di Fotografia di Roma, Italy; Art Gallery of NSW, Australia; and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago.