visual hunter “legacy zines”
In my career as a photographer, I’ve had two long projects…the first was in jazz photography the second in urban wall art. But along the way I photographed other “things that piqued my visual curiosity. Until now I’ve struggled on how to show this diverse body of work. The series of magazines or zines is my current plan to show only a small fraction of the images I shot over the years.
And yes, I will even feature walls I have not previously show nor exhibited. Some of the zines will be in a more playful way and less formal. a some will include my writings with images. Lastly,I expect to experiment with AI (artificial intelligence) as a writing tool but will clearly note where and when it is being used in the specific zine.
I hope my visual work continues to challenge the viewer and you will comeback to my website to see each of the zines as they are published. I expect to do one zine every 3-4months for the foreseeable future.
To Purchase email Bill Wishner at wwishner@gmail.com
To deface is to spoil the appearance of something. But in the moment of defacing a wall there is a simultaneous act of creation of a new visual entity…an ephemeral work of art. Interestingly, creating that new art frequently includes the representation of a face in one artistic form or another. Faces are one of the most common visual icons seen on walls and declare the presence of people…one proof of life in the city.
De/Faced focuses on the faces I saw on the walls. Faces on a city wall are, metaphorically “selfies” created without a camera and are part of the overall composition and mystery of each wall I photograph.
“Like his first book, De/Faced explores the lyrical and poetic qualities of street art and graffiti. But Wishner is not just a passive observer. Instead, he engages in a conversation with the art on the wall to add his own creativity. De/Faced focuses on the faces he found in street art. The clever title references both his facial emphasis and the fact that street art/graffiti is often dismissed as mere defacement of walls. Wishner celebrates these ephemeral works of art and extends their meaning by pairing them with his own words and poetry. His selective framing highlights the faces, and his words provide a context that humanizes them even more.”
– Douglas Stockdale, Photobook Journal
Read Full Review of De/Faced
To Purchase email Bill Wishner at wwishner@gmail.com
Artifacts, is Bill Wishner’s first book in his series “Art of the City Wall (2011-2017). Bill thrives in an environment where his finely honed photographic skill reveals the unseen. Using selective juxtaposition, Bill re-contextualizes posters, graffiti, paint, torn paper and other seemingly random objects attached to city walls, thus making visible to the rest of us, art work that we otherwise pass by. His work creates the pause needed to grow our skill in observing the urban world around us. Through this thoughtful work we can see just how vibrant and full of life these areas of abandonment and ruin truly are.
“An intriguing personal interpretation and exploration of found urban art.”
– Douglas Stockdale, Photobook Journal
Read Full Review of Artifacts
To Purchase email Bill Wishner at wwishner@gmail.com
Things Happen When You Travel Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
Things Happen When You Travel / Volume I & II is a private printing of back to back volumes of prose poems. This book is not for sale at this time as I’m still looking for a potential distributor.
This private collection was previously published on Amazon as Kindle Books. There, they are individual volumes and the hyperlinks below will take you there…and it’s free.
Things Happen When You Travel / Vol I
Things Happen When You Travel / Vol II
These prose poems were written while I was traveling abroad frequently while working for big pharma about a decade ago. They are all a product of my imagination while sitting on long flights….although my family asked whether any represented real things that happened to me. But alas, no.
Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary Years
In Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary Years, jazz journalist William Minor tells the story of the oldest, continuously performed jazz gathering in the world, the story of forty weekends of jazz that welcomed the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Carmen McRae, Janis Joplin, Herbie Hancock and Joshua Redman, all to the same stage. Photographer and photo editor Bill Wishner has collected more than one hundred fifty rare images of the performers and performances that have highlighted the Festival over nearly half a century. Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary Years includes a complete listing of musicians who have performed on the Monterey stages.