CONEY ISLAND 1973
Jerry L. Thompson
1 February – 3 March 2024
“By chance, I was there. I saw those faces, and they became my pictures”. Jerry L. Thompson
Corner7 and Heated Words are delighted to present a collection of vintage prints by Jerry L. Thompson. The rarely seen prints offer unique documentation of Coney Island’s communites, expertly shot and painstakingly printed.
By 1973, Jerry L. Thompson was regularly taking his cumbersome 8” x 10” large format camera and a bag full of film down to Coney Island. He captured proto-hip-hop teenagers, hippies, fun-fair workers, young couples in love, and street gang members. The pictures tell a story of sub-culture. People who are a product of the unique time and place in which they find themselves.
These anonymous figures arrived to pose in front of Thompson’s lens without invitation or guidance. Each portrait is a memento of this brief encounter, a dialectic between photographer and subject.We see a momentary pause as citizens consent to be to be viewed and interpreted, communicating with their attitude, body language and customised clothing.
The results are not constructed fantasies but are inextricably linked to the real world. Thompson believes that “photography can achieve this in a way that no other medium can.”
Thompson’s instinctive approach to street photography is surely indebted to legendary photographer Walker Evans. Thompson was his assistant for the last three years of Evan’s life (from 1973–75). The deep, rich tonal quality of the Coney Island prints, a likely product of this apprentice, which occurred during their creation.
Corner7 is delighted to show the Coney Island images together for the first time, an occasion brought about by the publication of ‘Heated Words: Searching for a Mysterious Typeface’ by Rory McCartney and Charlie Morgan. The book tracks down the origins of
an elusive font. Its defunct style of iron-on lettering turns up in two of Thompson’s Coney Island images taken in 1973, and is the earliest documented example of this particular gothic-pop typeface.
We are extremely grateful to Jerry L. Thompson for allowing us to exhibit this unique selection of vintage prints. The accompanying catalogue includes additional imagery, previously unpublished.
By 1973, Jerry L. Thompson was regularly taking his cumbersome 8” x 10” large format camera and a bag full of film down to Coney Island. He captured proto-hip-hop teenagers, hippies, fun-fair workers, young couples in love, and street gang members. The pictures tell a story of sub-culture. People who are a product of the unique time and place in which they find themselves.
These anonymous figures arrived to pose in front of Thompson’s lens without invitation or guidance. Each portrait is a memento of this brief encounter, a dialectic between photographer and subject.We see a momentary pause as citizens consent to be to be viewed and interpreted, communicating with their attitude, body language and customised clothing.
The results are not constructed fantasies but are inextricably linked to the real world. Thompson believes that “photography can achieve this in a way that no other medium can.”
Thompson’s instinctive approach to street photography is surely indebted to legendary photographer Walker Evans. Thompson was his assistant for the last three years of Evan’s life (from 1973–75). The deep, rich tonal quality of the Coney Island prints, a likely product of this apprentice, which occurred during their creation.
Corner7 is delighted to show the Coney Island images together for the first time, an occasion brought about by the publication of ‘Heated Words: Searching for a Mysterious Typeface’ by Rory McCartney and Charlie Morgan. The book tracks down the origins of
an elusive font. Its defunct style of iron-on lettering turns up in two of Thompson’s Coney Island images taken in 1973, and is the earliest documented example of this particular gothic-pop typeface.
We are extremely grateful to Jerry L. Thompson for allowing us to exhibit this unique selection of vintage prints. The accompanying catalogue includes additional imagery, previously unpublished.
EXHIBITION EVENTS
Sunday 25th February 3pm - Rose Davey, director of Corner7, will be in conversation with Rory McCartney and Charlie Morgan, authors of 'Heated Words: Searching for a Mysterious Typeface'
Saturday 2nd March 2 - 5pm - 'Heated Words' will be custom heat pressing t-shirts
Sunday 25th February 3pm - Rose Davey, director of Corner7, will be in conversation with Rory McCartney and Charlie Morgan, authors of 'Heated Words: Searching for a Mysterious Typeface'
Saturday 2nd March 2 - 5pm - 'Heated Words' will be custom heat pressing t-shirts
BIOGRAPHY
Jerry L. Thompson (b. 1945, Houston, Texas, USA) is a working photographer and writer, teaching at Yale University from 1973–80. He has contributed pictures to hundreds of publications.
Exhibitions include American Children, 1980 (Museum of Modern Art, New York); Walker Evans/Jerry Thompson, 2010 (Hérmes Foundation Gallery, New York City); Mit Anderen Auge, 2015 (SK Stiftung Kultur, Koeln); Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 2015 (Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford); and New York, New York, 2016 (Fondation A, Brussels).
Thompson’s work is held in numerous public and private collections including Yale University Art Gallery; Museum of Modern Art, New York; New York Public Library; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College; Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Foundation A, Brussels.
His published books include The Last Years of Walker Evans, 1995 (London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd.); Truth and Photography, 2003 (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee), and Why Photography Matters, 2016 (MIT Press; also available in paperback, French, and Italian).
Exhibitions include American Children, 1980 (Museum of Modern Art, New York); Walker Evans/Jerry Thompson, 2010 (Hérmes Foundation Gallery, New York City); Mit Anderen Auge, 2015 (SK Stiftung Kultur, Koeln); Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 2015 (Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford); and New York, New York, 2016 (Fondation A, Brussels).
Thompson’s work is held in numerous public and private collections including Yale University Art Gallery; Museum of Modern Art, New York; New York Public Library; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College; Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Foundation A, Brussels.
His published books include The Last Years of Walker Evans, 1995 (London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd.); Truth and Photography, 2003 (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee), and Why Photography Matters, 2016 (MIT Press; also available in paperback, French, and Italian).
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MERMAIDS
14–22 October 2023
14–22 October 2023
FEATURING
Francesca Anfossi / Salvatore Arancio / Ewelina Bartkowska / Simon Baylis / Nick Bond / Bea Bonafini / Year 2 Brecknock Primary School Pupils / Finty Cahill / Ella Cairns / Andrew Child / Rose Davey / Lilah Fowler / Gaia Fugazza / Hiromi Fukikoshi RC / Frances Gibson / Leigh Johnson / Lucie MacGregor / Gerald Mak / Lyson Marchessault / Paulina Michnowska / Keziah Philipps / Nissa Nishikawa / Anne Ryan /Renee So / Sarah Staton / Milan Tarascas / Peter Trnkus / Zoe Williams / Rafal Zajko.
MERMAIDS
Mermaids is co-curated with Francesca Anfossi, showcasing the work of 26 artists, all of whom have worked or are working in clay at Rochester Square. Brecknock Primary students will also contribute their drawings of works in the show, made during their visit to Mermaids ahead of the opening.
Mermaids takes its name from the title of the 1990 film starring Cher, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci. The film follows the unconventional and sometimes surreal domestic setup of a family who move each time their mother (Cher) ends her current romantic relationship.
This idea of the in between: in between land and sea, human and fish, function and dysfunction, domestic and exterior, seductress and serpent, are all themes we hope artists will touch upon within their work.
The nomadic, carefree and unorthodox structure of family life cultivated by Cher’s character led to questions we hope the exhibition will explore. How might a creature who is somewhere between a fish and human interact with functional items that furnish a domestic space. How will they be used, interpreted or repurposed through an interaction ignorant of their intended use.
WAVEMAKERS - online article by Sammi Gale, editor of PLINTH
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