SF Public Library showcases 25 years of ‘Hamburger Eyes’ avenue pictures

“Hamburger Eyes,” an influential San Francisco journal of latest black-and-white avenue pictures, is celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary with an exhibition within the San Francisco Public Library’s Jewitt Gallery on view by means of Sept. 24. Featuring pictures by almost seven dozen photographers that seize a variety of human experiences and locales, the exhibit traces the publication’s evolution from makeshift zine to world platform for photographers.  

Divided into sections known as “An Idea,” “Proof of Concept,” “Realization” and “Expansion” that briefly describe founder Ray Potes’ chronological journey as a photograph writer, the present’s 83 wall images—grouped informally, not by theme or time —are accompanied by desk shows with dozens of zines and books. 

In a almost three-minute video, Potes, nonetheless the journal’s major editor and distributor, calls “Hamburger Eyes” photographers and pictures various and distinctive, and the publication particular as a result of its immense selection. He says of his work: “I want people to like it. I want them to save it. I want them to put it on their bookshelf.”   

An deliberately uncooked and unpolished aesthetic offers “Hamburger Eyes” lasting enchantment. In April, it launched the 162-page ebook “Hamburger Eyes–The First 25 Years,” a group of pictures chosen from greater than 250 zines and books revealed in its historical past. Many of the ebook’s pictures are within the exhibition’s large-format reproduced prints. Many depict the odd, humorous and sudden moments that characterize a lot avenue pictures.  

A big picture, “Owl, 16^th and Mission,” taken by Potes in 2017, fills one wall. A individual sporting an owl costume stands subsequent to man sitting at a transit cease at night time in San Francisco’s Mission District. It comes off as random; but in addition conveys loneliness in on a regular basis life in a big metropolis. 

The present additionally consists of different evocative pictures of San Francisco: Dave Glass’ 1988 “Wash & Dry, Mission District” photos an outdated man in glasses sitting in a laundromat; David Root’s 2014 “19th & Bryant” exhibits a lady sitting on massive, plant-covered construction in unlikely city streetwear, a bikini; and Auston Marek’s untitled 2018 image contains a girl with a big, gangling palm ready on the 24^th Street Mission BART Station.   

Andrea Lavezzaro’s undated “Tokyo Gambler,” exhibiting a person with a vacant stare who’s seemingly ready or suspending one thing, is mesmerizing and thought-provoking. It’s a distinction to Christian Kage’s 2014 “Irrational,” a subtly highly effective image of a statue behind what seems like a chain-link fence: it feels just like the woman-statue may have been locked away for years.  

“Hamburger Eyes” was established in 2001 in Southern California by Potes, his brother David, and his good friend Stefan Simikich. Ray Potes’ curiosity in pictures started when he was a teen rising up in a big Filipino American household in San Diego, the place cameras have been continuously handed round to doc on a regular basis moments. 

The first problem of “Hamburger Eyes” was a photocopied, stapled zine. The title got here from a phrase Potes and his pals used to explain somebody taking a look at one other individual with apparent attraction — having “hamburger eyes.” A turning level got here when Potes printed his electronic mail handle on the again, and photographers began sending in their very own work. 

After Potes moved to San Francisco in 2003, across the publication’s fourth problem, the venture grew considerably. Photographers from around the globe began submitting their work, increasing the journal’s viewers and material. Even in its early years, whereas working on a restricted finances, the publication printed as much as 1,500 copies on a Heidelberg press; its pictures have appeared in exhibitions in San Diego, New York and San Francisco. 

Free posters are supplied at the side of the present, as effectively as a avenue pictures tour, stroll and workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 20, starting on the Main Library and concluding on the Harvey Milk Photo Center, 50 Scott St. Registration is required at harveymilkphotocenter.org. 

“Hamburger Eyes: The First 25 Years” is on view by means of Sept. 24 within the Jewett Gallery, decrease stage, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco; go to sfpl.org/exhibits.