September 6 - October 13. Ulvis Alberts. All-In!

This Summer Ulvis Alberts came to Riga (Latvia) carrying selected images from his 40 year photography archive. The intrigue is that the photographer is showing images which have not been previously printed or exhibited. The exhibit has three themes: „Icebox”, “Poker Face” (Portraits of Poker Players) and „Celebrities”. In short:

PORTRAITS OF POKER PLAYERS
From book "POKER FACE 2"

In the 1970's, there was only one tournament game the professional gamblers waited for all year and that was the "World Series of Poker" at Binion's Horseshoe casino in downtown Las Vegas. In 1977, Ulvis had a rare opportunity to take exclusive portraits of poker players at the beginning of poker tournaments in Las Vegas.
    Downtown had no glitz or glam-our like the Las Vegas strip. And hardcore poker players, for the most part, knew each other by name and reputation. It was a meeting of "friends." And mostly it wasn't about the money but rather bragging rights. There were no players wearing sunglasses to hide their "poker face." There were no sweaty faces, or twitchy nerve endings in the poker room. Just cigar and cigarette smokers sipping bottled water. The players that participated in "the big one", “Texas Hold-em” were less than 75 players then, compared to the thousands today.He photographed gamblers with names like: "Amarillo Slim" Preston; "Puggy" Pearson; Jack "Treetop" Straus; "Sailor" Roberts, “Texas Dolly” and Stu "the Kid" Ungar.

WATCH VIDEO: ULVIS ALBERTS STORY ABOUT PORTRAITS OF POKER PLAYERS

CELEBRITIES
From book “Camera as Passport”

In 1973, on the basis of his short and documentary films, Ulvis was invited to audit the filmmaker's program at the American Film Institute in Beverly Hills. He moved to Los Angeles and photographed some of the most celebrated personalities of the 1970's and early 1980's. They included: Groucho Marx, Christopher Reeve, John Wayne, Peter Sellers, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman and others.

ICEBOX

The idea for Icebox started in 1976, when Ulvis living in Hollywood and photograph famous people and their refrigerators. He was curious to see, what are they keeping in their “Icebox”? But today Steven Spielberg, producer/director; Charles Bukowski /writer; Edward Ruscha /artist have become icons.

For more information contact Birkenfelds gallery: [email protected]