Painkiller is an original exhibition of 48 Polaroid images by groundbreaking photographer Robert Frank taken from the 1970s through the present. Blue Sky  gallery in Portland closely collaborated with Frank in selecting photographs to be reproduced in a special series of enlarged prints for this show. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of photography, Frank has redefined the aesthetic of both the still and the moving image via his pictures and films. Blue Sky presents Frank’s work again in Portland, having first shown his photographs in 1981. Painkiller closes this week at the Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Louis Armstrong, 1960

Miles Davis, supremely cool behind his shades. Billie Holiday, eyes closed and head tilted back in full cry. John Coltrane, one hand behind his neck and a finger held pensively to his lips. These iconic images have captivated jazz fans nearly as much as the music has. Jazz photographs are visual landmarks in American history, acting as both a reflection and a vital part of African American culture in a time of immense upheaval, conflict, and celebration. Charting the development of jazz photography from the swing era of the 1930s to the rise of black nationalism in the ’60s, Blue Notes in Black and White is the first of its kind: a fascinating account of the partnership between two of the twentieth century’s most innovative art forms.

Brigitte Bardot was one of the first women to be really modern and treat men like love objects, buying them and discarding them. I like that. –Andy Warhol

Gagosian Gallery London presents an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s portraits of Brigitte Bardot. Warhol first met Bardot at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967 when she actively supported his attempt to show Chelsea Girls there after the original planned screening had been cancelled. In 1973, at the height of her fame, she announced her retirement from making films. That same year Warhol received the commission to make her portrait. At the time that he was shifting his focus from filmmaking back to painting and perhaps viewed her coincidental screen exit as the perfect opportunity to commemorate and idolize her in art. On view at the Gagosian Gallery in London until November 12. 

“A dame that knows the ropes isn’t likely to get tied up.” photo by RORY DCS

Though better known for his vision of cities and their emblems, Daido Moriyama is also a photographer of nudes. The nude, which has sporadically appeared in his work, remains an important catalyst for the rest of his prodigious output. With these rare images, he has revolutionized an art where innovation is problematic. His first series dates from 1969 and presents the nude in an original context; a dozen images, poorly developed, a woman without a face or identity, on a bed, the positions are natural, without makeup or pose, legs spread, buttocks raised, under the sheets or in the shower. Moments before, during and after sex. The Da End Gallery will present for the first time this little known aspect of one of the most emblematic figures of contemporary photography. From the first series for the magazine Provoke (1969) (which enabled the young artist, Araki then working in advertising, to launch full time into photography), to the rethinking of the mythic Kagerou nudes («Mayfly», 1972), without forgetting the incredible erotic series he created for Playboy. In the fifty or so photographs exhibited, some of which are in black and white, some in colour, a monochrome colour the artist loves, are above all perfect erotic images. Daido Moriyama: Erotica will be on view until November 3o at the The Da End Gallery in Paris.

Text by Patrick Rémy

Photograph by ADARSHA BENJAMIN. Venice, Italy.

Twin Sister release their first music video for the track Bad Street off their upcoming album In Heaven due out late September. “Shot at lead singer Andrea Estella’s family’s house in Long Island and populated by her bandmates, friends, and family, the video is a genuine peek into one of the many worlds that have shaped Twin Sister’s wide ranging styles.” Directed by Dan Devine.

“Los Angeles, 1960: There was no modern art museum and there were few galleries, which is exactly what a number of daring young artists liked about it, among them Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Judy Chicago and John Baldessari. Freedom from an established way of seeing, making, and marketing art fueled their creativity, which in turn inspired the city. Today Los Angeles has four museums dedicated to contemporary art, around one hundred galleries, and thousands of artists. Here, at last, is the book that tells the saga of how the scene came into being, why a prevailing Los Angeles permissiveness, 1960s-style, spawned countless innovations, including Andy Warhol’s first exhibition, Marcel Duchamp’s first retrospective, Frank Gehry’s mind-bending architecture, Rudi Gernreich’s topless bathing suit, Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, even the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Doors, and other purveyors of a California style. In the 1960s, Los Angeles was the epicenter of cool.” www.indiebound.org