Topping my birthday or Christmas-present wish list for 2016, or the year after: a coffee-table book of Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick’s eerie, evocative photos that meld vintage images with Surrealistic scenarios (or vice versa), each paired with an appropriate Neil Gaiman short story or poem. I don’t much care who inspires/interprets whom; any combo would be amazing. Alas, no such project is planned, to my knowledge. But a girl can dream, can’t she? And a book is cheaper to feed than a pony. (In fact, it feeds you.)
While I wait and hope, I might have to head up to the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, where a new exhibition opened on December 30 featuring works new and old by many of the great photographers in the Haddad stable. There, photography fans will be able to get their fix not only of the latest in Kahn & Selesnick’s “Dreams of the Drowning World” series, but also of Lisa Frank’s lush and luscious, densely layered still-lifes and Robert Hite’s delightfully off-kilter shacks and shanties. Works by David Halliday, Eric Lindbloom, Jeri Eisenberg, Gail Peachin, Stephanie Blumenthal, Newbold Bohemia, Joseph Maresca, Birgit Blyth and Jerry Freedner – all extraordinarily gifted and innovative photographers – will also be on view.
The show runs through Sunday, February 3, with an opening reception for the artists happening this Sunday, January 3 from 2 to 4 p.m. All are invited. The Haddad Gallery is located at 622 Warren Street in Hudson. For more info, call (518) 828-1915 or visit https://carriehaddadgallery.com/index.cfm?method=exhibit.exhibitdescription&exhibitid=8d99c242-a85e-6af5-85a4679e40fa658a.
Join the family! 
