The Exposure Project: July 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

Mohammadreza Mirzaei's The Encounters

Iranian photographer Mohammadreza Mirzaei's series The Encounters explores the prevalent trend of photographing other people photographing. Seen from an aerial perspective, however, the tourists in Mirzaei's images operate more as graphic elements in the photograph and less as symbols for any specific commentary on the nature of contemporary tourist culture. Although I tend to be wary of work that is too heavily aestheticized, the images from this project do transcend their detached geometry. Tim Clark, the founder, editor and director of the online magazine 1000 Words, noted this about The Enounters:

"What emerges is the idea that people seem locked into their insatiable craving to take pictures while on holiday more so than the actual experience of the spectacle itself."

From "The Encounters"
© Mohammadreza Mirzaei

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Matthew Scott's Observing: Venice

Matthew Scott recently got in touch to let me know that he updated his website with a new series entitled Observing: Venice. Much like the title suggests, this project is comprised of observational studies of the people and places of Los Angeles' Venice district. I find myself gravitating less to the formalism of Scott's Dijkstra-esque portraiture and more toward the spontaneous, often juxtapositional surprises he sensitively captures.

From "Observing: Venice"
© Matthew Scott

Friday, July 24, 2009

Bova Images Festival

The first ever installment of the Bova Images Festival kicks off today. We are proud to announce that The Exposure Project's own Anastasia Cazabon will be exhibiting work, alongside Nadav Kander, Les Krims, George Kavanagh, Mary Frey, Astid Kruse Jensen, Karine Laval, Maleonn, Erica Shires and Sarah Small.

There is also a rather extensive film program and an exhibition of contemporary Italian photography. If anyone finds themselves in, or near, Bova over the next 3 days, you should certainly swing by the festival for a peek. On top of that, admission is totally free. Below you'll find a sample of work on view at Bova as well as trailer for the festival.

Bova Images Festival
July 24th - 26th
Palazzo Mesiani-Mazzacuva
Bova, Reggio Calabria
Italy

Metehan Özcan's Absence

Metehan Özcan e-mailed me today to share some work from a recent project. His series Absence, much like the title suggests, depicts desolate, somewhat lonely interior spaces. In a short statement, Özcan claims that his primary interest lies in the "traces of daily life, which reveal the alienation of people and their surroundings."

From "Absence"
© Metehan Özcan

Monday, July 20, 2009

Issue 4 of The Exposure Project Book Now Available!

Hey Everyone,

We are proud to announce the release of Issue 4 of The Exposure Project Book. Both regular and special edition copies are now available through the "Books" section of our website. You can view all the specific details pertaining to the release below:

Cover of Issue 4 of The Exposure Project Book

Includes photographs by Chris Bentley, Rona Chang, Daniel Farnum, Elizabeth Fleming, Lee Gainer, Matthew Genitempo, Inka Lindergård & Niclas Holmström, Natascha Libbert, Bradley Peters, Carlo Van de Roer, Daniel Shea, Manuel Vazquez, Jens Windolf, Susan Worsham and Bahar Yurukoglu

Brian Ulrich's essay "Myths and Realities, Photography Moves Into the 21st Century"

Regular Edition
68 pages, Softcover
Edition of 100
8 x 10 in.
$45 + Shipping & Handling

Special Edition
68 pages, Hardcover
Edition of 25
8 x 10 in.
$100 + Shipping & Handling

Each special edition book also include two signed and numbered 8.5 x 11 prints of the customer's choice. To view the print editions click here.

Buy one now while supplies last!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Photographic Typologies: Simon Ward

Simon Ward's typology of signs explores aspects of personality and individualism through an examination of handwritten marks. Each sign's penmanship possesses idiosyncrasies that point toward uniqueness of character. These images accentuate how much there truly is to learn about someone by inspecting the gestures and features that mark their writing.

Paul, 2007 (From "Signs")
© Simon Ward

2007 (From "Signs")
© Simon Ward

Chris, 2006 (From "Signs")
© Simon Ward

Dave, 2006 (From "Signs")
© Simon Ward

Nancy, 2006 (From "Signs")
© Simon Ward

Friday, July 17, 2009

Blurb's Photography Book Now

Submissions for Blurb's Photography Book Now contest recently closed. In total, more than 2,000 photographers entered books into the competition. We spent some time going through all of the entries and selected some of our favorites. Click the titles below to preview the books.

"Vague Vagaries"
© Mike Fleming

"One To Nothing"
© Irina Rozovsky

"Removing Mountains"
© Daniel Shea

"What Light Remains In The Absence"
© Adam Thorman

"Lux"
© Christina Seely

"Space Between Hours"
© Elizabeth Pedinotti

"Some Fox Trails In Virginia"
© Susan Worsham

"Life With Maggie"
© Ofer Wolberger

In addition, and in the interest of shameless self-promotion, Anastasia and I submitted books as well, which can be viewed below.

"Love and Rivalry"
© Anastasia Cazabon

"The Family Dig"
© Ben Alper

Christian Hagemann's Tableau

I recently found Christian Hagemann's series Tableau and found myself gravitating toward his highly ambiguous and uncanny interiors. Also recommended is his project Arkadia. Check them out.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Relational Art: Is It An Ism?

In 2004, the BBC aired Relational Art: Is It An Ism?, a documentary exploring the movement (or trend, perhaps is more suitable a term) of Relational Aesthetics. As the title suggests, the documentary's director Ben Lewis quests to discover whether this fascinating, and often confounding, tendency in contemporary art possesses the subscribed theoretical and ideological practices necessary to deem it "the first Ism of the 21st century." Although perhaps designed to compartmentalize the emergence of this new trend, Lewis' investigation is nevertheless an interesting one. What's even more interesting, however, is the pronounced aloofness, evasiveness and even condescension that Lewis is met with when interviewing various Relational artists.

This quote from Nicolas Bourriaud's book Relational Aesthetics begins to clarify the ideas behind Relational Art:

"The possibility of a relational art (an art taking as its theoretical horizon the realm of human interactions and its social context, rather than the assertion of an independent and private symbolic space), points to a radical upheaval of the aesthetic, cultural and political goals introduced by modern art."

Monday, July 13, 2009

Koen Hauser's The Lustre of the Land

In 2008, Koen Hauser teamed up with Spaarnestad Photo to create The Luster of the Land, a project that integrates archival appropriation and a kind of performative self-portraiture. As he explains in his statement:

"By means of a selection based on personal interests, fascination, and my obsession with the notion of ‘the diorama’, it interweaves impressions of a (re-created) fantasyworld with pictures on the process of creation, using my personal appearance. These images of the creation process - I call them performéances -, are the residue of performances held to invoke the spirit of creation. Together with the narratives of old photographs they form an installation on imagination and ephemerality."

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Emile Hyperion Dubuisson's Siberia, The Far North

Emile Hyperion Dubuisson e-mailed the other day to share some work from his austerely beautiful series Siberia, The Far North. As explains in his statement:

"These bleak images from Siberia, which I once gave up as lost due to an accident in development, have been brought back to life through careful scanning.

By putting contradictory feelings side by side, I tried to recreate the rudeness and the fullness of this landscape. This story is a very personal, intimate and human portrait of these men and women."