+Kris Graves Projects is pleased to present the first exhibition, by photographer Ruben Natal-San Miguel, curated by world renowned photographer Matthew Pillsbury. The show, NY, NY: The Concrete Jungle is a culmination of a 5-year long survey project. Like an explorer trekking into unknown regions of the “Jungle” streets of New York City, photographer Ruben Natal-San Miguel travels in the footsteps of visionary photographers such as the likes of Helen Levitt, Bruce Davidson, Louis Faurer, and Robert Frank.
While NY City has a rich tradition of street photography, Ruben Natal-San Miguel brings this historic street photographic style forward into the new millennium with vivid living color. But Ruben is more than just an observer, for the past five years during the summer months; Ruben has traveled by bicycle throughout Upper Manhattan, searching for what it’s like to live in the Big Apple. For this is his chosen home, like many New Yorkers, Ruben is a transplant, eagerly coming to NY City to make his way in this School of Hard Knocks. As a trained architect he clearly sees both the concrete form and its human function, in particular, Ruben focused the viewer’s eye on the unseen. In this exhibition, the overlooked citizens, and environments are his subject, these are things most people cannot or choose not to see. For, this is not your posh “Sex and The City” Manhattan which people clamor for, but here, Ruben has been able to find, a vibrant and colorful vision of that other Manhattan.
Like Ruben’s Philadelphia friend and influence, photographer Zoe Strauss, he elevates these “unseen” people and places with poetic vision, working to create an endearing meaningful life lesson of what it’s like when the human spirit makes the best of what others may consider to be so little. This photographic project captures the beauty and struggle of everyday life which resonates as a social document of our time, and as a sheer and powerful visual art.
-Mike Hoeh
Ruben Natal-San Miguel is an architect by trade, but passionately pursues photography and writing. Natal-San Miguel holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Architecture from Boston Architectural College and a degree in Finance and Business Administration from Boston University. Natal-San Miguel’s work has been exhibited at Randall Scott Gallery and most recently at Hous Projects. Ruben Natal-San Miguel lives and works in Harlem, New York.
GREG MILLER – NASHVILLE
An opening reception of these works will be held on Thursday, March 4th, from 6:00-9:00pm
+Kris Graves Projects is proud to announce the upcoming solo exhibition of photographer Greg Miller’s series Nashville. Curated by Kris Graves.
Greg Miller returned to Nashville, Tennessee in 2008 after receiving the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in order to re-examine his hometown. Nashville looks at spaces and locations relevant to Miller’s childhood, from his grandmother’s home to the different neighborhoods where he lived. Miller attempts to reconstruct his past, searching for the city he once knew, amidst that which has inevitably changed. Casting strangers as characters from faded memories allows him to rediscover his past while moving forward to new narratives.
Greg Miller has worked as a professional photographer in New York for over twenty years. He received his BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1990. Miller’s work has been exhibited in the Cheekwood Museum, Yossi Milo Gallery, Danziger Projects and David Salow Gallery. He currently resides in Connecticut.
