The Exposure Project: November 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

iGavel's Emerging Artists Auctions

Daniel Cooney has teamed up with iGavel once again to present a new round of artist auctions. For anyone interested in submitting, you can find the details below:

The new auctions include a curated selection of works of art by promising emerging talent. The auction is a showcase before an audience of collectors, dealers, museum professionals and gallery owners. To ensure equal and fair representation all works are presented with reserves set at $200.

iGavel is an international network of fine art and antiques professionals with Consignment Centers conveniently located in many major metropolitan areas. Our regional network enables consignors to minimize handling and shipping expenses while reaching an international marketplace of buyers.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis. To submit you must meet the following requirements:

- Undergraduate student works will not be accepted
- All mediums are welcome besides installation works
- Artists cannot have gallery or commercial representation
- Some prior exhibition or publication experience is required

To submit, please fill out this form. Submit one image per work. Images must be at least 800 pixels on the longest side, jpeg saved for web, below 200kb in size, and SRGB color space. Each artist will be required to sign a contract with iGavel. Artists receive a 50% commission on all sold works. Shipping of accepted works to iGavel or the iGavel Associate is the responsibility of the artist, and the return shipment if not sold. After your submission is received, you will be contacted by email.

The first Emerging Artist Auction is slated to launch in early 2010.

Inquiries:

Alana Celii: alana@igavel.com

Daniel Cooney: dan@danielcooneyfineart.com

Friday, November 20, 2009

Graphic Intersections: V. 02 Call For Entries!

With the first installment completed and awaiting exhibition, The Exposure Project is pleased to announce that it will be moderating a second chapter of Graphic Intersections. The first round was one of the most unexpected and rewarding projects that we've worked on to date and we are excited to see another installment unfold. For those of you unfamiliar with the project, the statement below explains it in detail:

Graphic Intersections, loosely inspired by the old Surrealist and Dadaist game Exquisite Corpse, is a project that will attempt to unite disparate artists in an interconnected, photographic relay of images inspired by one another. For those unfamiliar with Exquisite Corpse, it is succinctly described here:

"Among Surrealist techniques exploiting the mystique of accident was a kind of collective collage of words or images called the cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). Based on an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution."

Essentially, this is how Graphic Intersections works. We will collect submissions from interested photographers until January 5th, at which point we will select the participating artists and designate one of these photographers to start the whole thing off. The first photographer will be given a prompting word to work from and will subsequently make photographs inspired by this idea. They will send us their favorite and most representative image from this session which we will then send along to the next artist. The succeeding artist, based solely on their visual, emotional, intellectual, or philosophical response, will in turn make photographs in artistic reaction to the one they were given. The artists involved will not be given any written material to accompany the photograph, nor will they know whose image they're responding to. This is designed to propagate randomness and avoid preconceived biases. This process will continue until the chain has been completed.

There are a few stipulations with the Graphic Intersections project. Firstly, participating photographers will be required to shoot, develop/import and submit their chosen image in no more than 2 weeks. I realize that this does not leave a tremendous amount of time to carry out this process. However, in the interest of completing this venture in under a year it seems necessary to instate a time frame. Secondly, chosen photographers will have to exercise a certain amount of patience and trust in the process, as there will be 20 artists each with a two week time slot. Lastly, images submitted for this project must be taken specifically for Graphic Intersections. Each photographer must submit a new image which does exist in a previously constructed body of work.

Submission Procedure

- Interested photographers should visit the "Submissions" page on the website to pay the $10 submission fee.

- You may then submit up to 10 images

- Images should be at least 1000 pixels on the longest side

- Formatted as RGB JPG's @ 72 dpi

- All files should be labeled with the artist's last name and corresponding # (example: smith_1.jpg)

- E-mail submitted images to: ben@theexposureproject.com

Please note that submitted images will not be included in Graphic Intersections. They are simply used reference points in the curatorial process. Additionally, all photographers will receive a confirmation e-mail within 24 hours of their submission.

Submission Deadline

January 5th, 2010 @ 11:59pm

Monday, November 16, 2009

Heather Rasmussen's DestructConstruct

In the spirit of Thomas Demand, Heather Rasmussen reconstructs found photographs using colored construction paper. With her series DestructConstruct, Rasmussen turns to appropriated imagery of shipping container accidents for her inspiration. In the statement for the work, more of which can be seen over at Women In Photography, she explains:

"The series DestructConstruct is based on found photographs of shipping container accidents downloaded from the Internet. Each found image is used as a model for a sculpture that is constructed for the production of the photograph. Individual shipping containers are folded by hand out templates of colored cardstock, and placed according to the found image. The sculpture then exists as a photographic work, which directly relates to the original photograph, including the ship name, place, and date the accident happened. I abstract the scenes of the catastrophes, removing the original context and placing the damaged containers, rendered simply out of colored paper, onto a seamless white background. This process transforms the containers into pristine patterns of color and shape, thereby confusing scale and altering the perception of the shipping container as an object. The paper is now seen as fragile, crushed or torn due to an unknown circumstance."

"Untitled. (M/V MSC Napoli, English Channel, January 2007). 2009"
© Heather Rasmussen

"Untitled. (P&O Nedlloyd Barcelona, Pacific Ocean, June 2005). 2009"
© Heather Rasmussen

"Untitled. (M/V Hanjin Pennsylvania, Indian Ocean, November 11, 2002). 2009"
© Heather Rasmussen

"Untitled. (M/V Saga Spray, Vancouver, Canada, February 2006). 2009"
© Heather Rasmussen

"Untitled. (M/V Ital Florida, Italy, July 2007). 2008"
© Heather Rasmussen

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Matthew Brandt's Lakes and Reservoirs 2 & Windows of the World

I found the work of recent UCLA grad Matthew Brandt today via I Heart Photograph. While looking through his series Lakes and Reservoirs 2, I was instantly reminded of Gerhard Richter's expansive and beautiful project Overpainted Photographs. Brandt has an impressive amount of work on his website, so I would recommend taking some time to check out his other projects.

"Lake Selmac OR 1" (From Lakes and Reservoirs 2)
© Matthew Brandt

"Wilma Lake CA 1" (From Lakes and Reservoirs 2)
© Matthew Brandt

"Dead Lake OR 6" ((From Lakes and Reservoirs 2)
© Matthew Brandt

"Window (Niagara Falls)" (From Windows of the World)
© Matthew Brandt

"Window (Tower of Pisa)" (From Windows of the World)
© Matthew Brandt

"Window (New York City)" (From Windows of the World)
© Matthew Brandt

Friday, November 13, 2009

Thomas Demand's Tunnel (1999)

Ubuweb recently added a short film by Thomas Demand to their archives. Entitled Tunnel, the film, much like Demand's photographs, is a meditation on the mass media's pervasive influence over the viewing public. Ubuweb states:

"The film presumably shows a fast-paced tracking shot through the tunnel in which Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash. At first the viewer seems to remember seeing these images in the media. But in reality the set is a true to life, cardboard mock-up of architectural details. Under closer inspection, one also realizes that instead of reproducing reality Thomas Demand creates a perfectly-constructed model world. The cleverly-lit cardboard scenery takes up an incident of recent history and, in doing so, mirrors the illusionary features of what appear to be familiar images. The film literally reflects upon the model of our relationship to images from the mass media. In the process, the construction, representation and repetition of reality create a complex weaving of connections. That the accident used as the theme was the result of a hectic, car chase caused by paparazzi lends the work yet another aspect of the reflection of the media."

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We Can't Paint: Interview With John Feinstein

Noel Rodo-Vankeulen posted an interview with Jon Feinstein on the We Can't Paint today. Their exchange largely centers around the ideas behind Feinstein's latest curatorial effort Still Life - an exhibition which is currently on view at the Camera Club of New York. Below is excerpt from their discussion:

"NRV: Do you feel as if we are at a shifting point in the medium where photographers are beginning to see the notions of ‘the genre’ collapsing? It’s almost as if traditional critical ideas and the complications of being a viewer have become intertwined.

JF: I don’t necessarily think that we’re at a point in which the idea of the “genre” is necessarily collapsing, but instead is shifting and morphing more rapidly than it has before. Many of the photographers in the show come from various practices that allow their work to fit into, or borrow from multiple genres at once. Ann Woo, for example, has a background as a fashion and advertising photographer, which in many ways can be seen in how she makes her personal work. While her non-commercial portraits are not necessarily “product shots”, they are often void of emotional exploration, and generally have the same aesthetic quality as her images of sunsets, and still lifes. Similarly, Lyndsy Welgos’ semi nude, often androgynous portraits borrow from fashion/lifestyle and conceptual practices.

NRV: You make an important point here. Over the last ten or so years photographers have taken on more dynamic roles both in their own practice and within the ‘art world’. It’s almost common for many artists to collectively engage in, say, the blogosphere, or as curators, commercial photographers, writers, etc. I suppose what I’m getting at more specifically is if you think these inverted conventions of portraiture could become problematic in their ‘cool’ navigation of the subject? There has always been is a certain sanctity surrounding photographic portraiture as a mediation between the viewer and subject. Are these new investigations different in relation to the negative aspects of Hutchins and Davidson’s work - or does it matter?

JF: I think there have historically been different camps of opinions regarding portraiture, ranging from the social documentary work of August Sander to the emotive, humanistic or meditative approaches of artists like Rineke Dijkstra, Amy Elkins, and Shen Wei, to the Ruff camp (a large anchor for this show) who critique and reject notions of truth in portraiture, as well as the idea of any kind of sanctity between subject and viewer.

I don’t necessarily think that the photographers inverting the conventions of portraiture are “problematic”, nor do I think that they are necessarily doing something that has not been done before. The kind of inversion that you speak about already occurred decades ago, with artists like Sherrie Levine, and Cindy Sherman and many of the other appropriation based artists included in “The Pictures Generation” show that was recently up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I think we’re at a point where we need to do more than simply cry “problematic” when looking at the work of photographers like Hutchins and Davidson, and instead look to their/ their peer’s work and its criticism, as a means of understanding contemporary work.
One of the ideas behind this show was to look at the idea of objectification from a purely literal perspective. Instead of simply saying “this work is problematic” it attempts to literally investigate the idea of intentionally making pictures of people without any intention of exploring an inner dialogue. Both these new photographers, and Hutchinson/Davidson dealing with similar ideas, but these new photographers are privileged with over 60 years of theory and academic discourse."

Leslie Grant's Pointing

My friend Tim reintroduced me to the work of Leslie Grant the other day. I had seen some of her images at one point, but had no idea how inspiringly prolific she is. The "Found" section of her site has some truly wonderful collections. Of particular interest was her series Pointing, posted below.

From "Pointing"
© Leslie Grant

Monday, November 9, 2009

Benjamin Bruneau's Every Wall Drawing #146

Benjamin Bruneau's confounding project Every Wall Drawing #146 is a virtual art making machine that randomizes versions of LeWitt's Wall Drawing #146. The artist goes on the elaborate:

"Every Wall Drawing #146 deals with my interest in Sol LeWitt’s notion of the idea as a machine for making art, taking a very literal interpretation of his Paragraphs on Conceptual Art. In order to actually build a ‘machine’ to make art, one must take into account the human element that goes into producing a LeWitt— a lot of subtle sensibility and personal judgment that makes a work both random yet perversely organized. Randomly producing such results is difficult, but a system that lent itself well to automation was Wall Drawing #146 (1972): “All two-part combinations of blue arcs from corners and sides and blue straight, not straight and broken lines.”

The result is an exercise in pure decisionless conceptual art adhering strictly to LeWitt’s concept, as described in Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, producing (theoretically) every possible iteration of Wall Drawing #146 in the fixed dimensions of a virtual gallery space."

Below are just a few of the seemingly endless possibilities...

"Every Wall Drawing #146"
© Benjamin Bruneau

Dru Donovan

I've been meaning to post Dru Donovan's work for some time now. You can enjoy more of it here and here.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Still Life

Thursday's shaping up to be a good night for photo openings in New York. In addition, to the Dream Boats opening in DUMBO, the Jon Feinstein-curated Still Life exhibition will host its reception at the Camera Club. Details below:

"Stephen Sitting June 2009"
© Lyndsy Welgos

Still Life
Curated by Jon Feinstein

Exhibiting photographers: Erica Allen, Michael Bühler-Rose, Robyn Cumming, Louis S. Davidson, John Hutchins, Lyndsy Welgos, and Ann Woo

On view: November 5th – December 19th, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, November 5th from 6–8 pm

The Camera Club of New York
336 West 37th Street, Suite 206
(bet. 8th and 9th Avenues)
New York, New York 10018
212.260.9927 | cameraclubny.org

Gallery hours: Monday–Saturday 12-6 pm

"Still Life examines a tendency in contemporary portraiture to remove the subjectivity of the persons photographed, literally transforming them into objects. The artists depict people as matter rendered through light and color, with emphasis placed on their formal or cultural qualities above all others. The exhibition juxtaposes this contemporary work with studio portraits from the Camera Club Archives, fostering a discussion about the relationship between classical idealized studio portraiture and contemporary critical portraiture.

With their bust portraits, Lyndsy Welgos and Ann Woo turn their subjects into nothing more than swatches of light color and gray tonality, and engage little with their individual identities. While their subjects are nude, the images are less about their personal sexuality or vulnerability and more about their physical surface. Michael Bühler-Rose’s portraits cast western women who were raised in India, as cultural objects. Unlike Woo and Welgos’ stark socially removed explorations of light and form, the women in Bühler-Rose’s pictures contain heavy social and cultural signifiers, as the women are adorned with various elements of eastern and western culture. They display heavily directed gestures and costuming and pay homage to orientalist painting, but we know little about their identity below the surface cues.

Erica Allen’s Untitled Gentlemen uses anonymous faces from found barbershop portraits to explore representations of identity. Appropriated and repositioned, the actual identities of the men remain as lost as they are on the walls of barbershops. The portraits comment on larger issues of gender while avoiding any appearance of personal identity or inner dialogue. Lastly, Robyn Cumming’s work addresses these ideas on the most direct level as she photographs women fused with flowers and other symbols of femininity, literally turning them into objects."

Dream Boats At Umbrage

The newly assembled Dream Boats collective, comprised of Adam Golfer, Joe Leavenworth, TJ Proechel and Daniel Shea, will be presenting their inaugural exhibition at the Umbrage Gallery in DUMBO this week. All of you photography-loving New Yorkers out there should show some support for these talented young artists and swing by the opening for the festivities. If you need more convincing (which you shouldn't) the Dream Boats are also offering an affordable print sale in conjunction with the show. Images range in price depending on size and edition number and will be available through the gallery. Check out the editions here. The statement below speaks to the group's collective mission:

"As a group, Dreamboats adds to the growing disambiguation between working personally and working editorially. Members of the collective, who met at Maryland Institute College of Art, are primarily engaged in contemporary fine art and social documentary practices, but their professed intention is to circumvent the traditional photographic establishment to create a self-sustaining network of distribution and support for the creation of new photographic works. The works selected for the exhibition are from each artist’s recent body of work: Adam Golfer’s series, Kin*, Joe Leavenworth’s Pictures from Home, TJ Proechel’s Dream House, and Daniel Shea’s Untitled (Baltimore)."

Dream Boats
Umbrage Gallery
111 Front Street #208
Brooklyn, NY 11201

November 5th - December 22nd
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 5th, 6 - 8 pm

See you there!