Adam Jahiel, has had a varied professional career. Jahiel has worked extensively for the motion picture industry, working on projects as varied as Out of Africa to HBO comedy specials. But, Jahiel is also drawn to adventure projects, most notably as the photographer for the landmark French-American 1987 Titanic expedition. Adam Jahiel's work has appeared in most major U.S. publications, including Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, National Geographic Society and others. Jahiel's work also has appeared in literally dozens of books, including the acclaimed "The Day in a Life of" series.
The "Last Cowboy" Project
For years, Jahiel has been photographing the cowboys of the Great Basin, perhaps one of the most inhospitable regions of the already rugged West. These people represent one of the last authentic American subcultures, one that is disappearing at a rapid rate. Cowboying as an art form is almost obsolete; still, the cowboys hang on, with a ferocious tenacity. Respect there doesn't come from the trappings of modern life. Talent, knowledge and skill are valued above all else. And the cowboy tradition has its roots in the oldest of human conflicts: man against nature and man against himself.
Jahiel tries to reflect those sentiments in these photographs. These cowboys aren't "remade" into a Hollywood image. Instead, they are "found" images, in keeping with the spirit of authenticity that permeates the best keepers of this tradition.
Here's what the Critics say!
"Jahiel is one of the select few photographers who possess the sensitivity necessary to record this aspect of Americana. They succeed because their total involvement and immersion in the culture results in images that penetrate the glossy superficiality so pervasive in the popular press."
-Camera and Darkroom Magazine
"If this truly be the death knell, then Jahiel's Last Cowboy project is the most eloquent of elegies."
-Southwest Art Magazine
"These dramatic photographs recall the great historic paintings of artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell."
-Westword, Denver, Colorado
"Jahiel catches the play of light, the rush and texture of the clouds, the blurry poetry of dust, but most of all, the precise steady energies and weariness of the animals and the cowboys. Though the subject is familiar, the invigorating art of these photos cuts right through all the cliches with intoxicating directness."
-Bruce Richardson, Art Critic
"Jahiel has unwittingly become America's finest documentarian of the disappearing cowboy."
-Stephanie Gregory, Photo Insider Magazine
"In a nutshell, Adam sees cowboy life whereas a lot of other photographers see calendars, other photographers are pursuing the myth and not the reality."
-Richard Slatta, Author
"Jahiel's West is a place of real accomplishment and emotion, in which the cameraman has captured the seriousness and balletic grace of the job of the cowboy-not just the longing in a little boy's heart."
-Joel Weinstein Ft Worth Star Telegram April 12, 1998
"Jahiel's photographs speak, softly, but with certainty. They touch us by the intriguing blend of tone, gesture, expression, and light. Time after time, his photos succeed because they reach our emotions first and then our intellect."
-Corrine J. Brown, Persimmon Hill Magazine
Exhibitions
"Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey"
July 1 - July 31, 2010
-Truckee Meadows Community College Art Gallery
Bradford Brinton 6th Biennial Invitational Exhibit
September 11 - October 31, 2010
Bradford Brinton Memorial Museum
"The 50 States Project"
2009+
The 50 States Project Website
"Within Range"
April 3 - May 1, 2008
Visions West Galleries
"Cowboys on the Range:Photographs by Adam Jahiel"
January 22 - March 7, 2008
Artist Talk:February 21, 4pm
Wyoming State Museum
"Knights of the Light Table"
Eight Dry Creek Arts Fellowship photographers,
A program of the 18th Annual Trappings
of the American West Exhibition
October 13, 2007 to January 6, 2008
Reception: October 13, 1-5pm
Museum of Northern Arizona
"Spirit of the West"
September 21 to October 31, 2007
Open Shutter Gallery
"Witness to the West"
Three-person show:
Adam Jahiel/Jay Dusard/Jody Forster
September 5 to November 4, 2006
Etherton Gallery
17th Annual Trappings of the American West
Group show:
September 30 to December 3, 2006
Museum of Northern Arizona
"HEARTLAND 3: 3 photographers respond
the land and the people"
Three-person show:
Adam Jahiel/Rhondal McKinny/Charles W.
Guildner
August 28 to September 28, 2006
Eisentrager Howard Gallery
The "Last Cowboy" Project
For years, Jahiel has been photographing the cowboys of the Great Basin, perhaps one of the most inhospitable regions of the already rugged West. These people represent one of the last authentic American subcultures, one that is disappearing at a rapid rate. Cowboying as an art form is almost obsolete; still, the cowboys hang on, with a ferocious tenacity. Respect there doesn't come from the trappings of modern life. Talent, knowledge and skill are valued above all else. And the cowboy tradition has its roots in the oldest of human conflicts: man against nature and man against himself.
Jahiel tries to reflect those sentiments in these photographs. These cowboys aren't "remade" into a Hollywood image. Instead, they are "found" images, in keeping with the spirit of authenticity that permeates the best keepers of this tradition.
Here's what the Critics say!
"Jahiel is one of the select few photographers who possess the sensitivity necessary to record this aspect of Americana. They succeed because their total involvement and immersion in the culture results in images that penetrate the glossy superficiality so pervasive in the popular press."
-Camera and Darkroom Magazine
"If this truly be the death knell, then Jahiel's Last Cowboy project is the most eloquent of elegies."
-Southwest Art Magazine
"These dramatic photographs recall the great historic paintings of artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell."
-Westword, Denver, Colorado
"Jahiel catches the play of light, the rush and texture of the clouds, the blurry poetry of dust, but most of all, the precise steady energies and weariness of the animals and the cowboys. Though the subject is familiar, the invigorating art of these photos cuts right through all the cliches with intoxicating directness."
-Bruce Richardson, Art Critic
"Jahiel has unwittingly become America's finest documentarian of the disappearing cowboy."
-Stephanie Gregory, Photo Insider Magazine
"In a nutshell, Adam sees cowboy life whereas a lot of other photographers see calendars, other photographers are pursuing the myth and not the reality."
-Richard Slatta, Author
"Jahiel's West is a place of real accomplishment and emotion, in which the cameraman has captured the seriousness and balletic grace of the job of the cowboy-not just the longing in a little boy's heart."
-Joel Weinstein Ft Worth Star Telegram April 12, 1998
"Jahiel's photographs speak, softly, but with certainty. They touch us by the intriguing blend of tone, gesture, expression, and light. Time after time, his photos succeed because they reach our emotions first and then our intellect."
-Corrine J. Brown, Persimmon Hill Magazine
Exhibitions
"Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey"
July 1 - July 31, 2010
-Truckee Meadows Community College Art Gallery
Bradford Brinton 6th Biennial Invitational Exhibit
September 11 - October 31, 2010
Bradford Brinton Memorial Museum
"The 50 States Project"
2009+
The 50 States Project Website
"Within Range"
April 3 - May 1, 2008
Visions West Galleries
"Cowboys on the Range:Photographs by Adam Jahiel"
January 22 - March 7, 2008
Artist Talk:February 21, 4pm
Wyoming State Museum
"Knights of the Light Table"
Eight Dry Creek Arts Fellowship photographers,
A program of the 18th Annual Trappings
of the American West Exhibition
October 13, 2007 to January 6, 2008
Reception: October 13, 1-5pm
Museum of Northern Arizona
"Spirit of the West"
September 21 to October 31, 2007
Open Shutter Gallery
"Witness to the West"
Three-person show:
Adam Jahiel/Jay Dusard/Jody Forster
September 5 to November 4, 2006
Etherton Gallery
17th Annual Trappings of the American West
Group show:
September 30 to December 3, 2006
Museum of Northern Arizona
"HEARTLAND 3: 3 photographers respond
the land and the people"
Three-person show:
Adam Jahiel/Rhondal McKinny/Charles W.
Guildner
August 28 to September 28, 2006
Eisentrager Howard Gallery