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December 1, 2010

Children's Cancer & Blood Foundation: Annual Art Auction



I am honored to announce that my image "Untitled from the series Lakehouse" will be included in the CCBF annual auction, taking place at Sotheby's in NYC. Please join me there and/or bid on art to help children with blood diseases:

December 12, 12-2pm
Sotheby's NYC, 4th floor
RSVP: 212.297.4336 or artauction@childrenscbf.org

November 19, 2010

Tierney Gearon

Interview with Tierney Gearon
November 2010



Having started out as a model and then a commercial photographer, what inspired you to start photographing yourself and your family?

My photography has helped me work through many
issues good and bad in life. Growing up with a mentally ill parent resulted in a lot of unresolved issues. My marriage grounded me, but when it fell a part I started questioning my life and launched on this incredible project documenting my family. I started photographing every person who was related to me on my mother and father’s side. Through this search I started to unravel where my mother’s mental illness came from and where my father came from and how they were realized. My work helped to answer so many questions I didn't know were inside me.

Originally the project started reliving some of my questions, but as I continued to document the children's time and my time with my mother I realized I was taking many repeat images and dealing with all the issues I had as a child growing up: Feeling alone, no sexual boundaries, but also, the good, the humor, and of course, the playfulness.

Photography was something that I fell into by
accident and discovered quickly. It’s a medium that I can turn into a way of working with commercially and at the same time it fulfills other needs as well.



In 2001, there was a lot of controversy with the images of your children in the series I am a Camera. How did you deal with the pressure and accusations? Do you feel that this experience may have shaped you as an artist, and/or the way you photograph family now?

As a mother, to be accused as a child pornographer is heart rendering! My images are of my children and immediate family- they enco
mpass purity and innocence and I am very proud of them. I believe darkness is in the eye of the beholder.






How did your series The Mother Project evolve into a documentary? What was it like to view your own photographic process on film?

My agent at the time called Trish, thought it would be a good idea to have someone filming me because so much was going on. When I saw the film and my process it helped me step back and realize some ways that I could improve as a mother.


Has your mother seen the documentary? If so, what does she think of it?

No, my mother has not seen the film- her attention span would not allow for it. She has seen the photos and she likes them.










When you are photographing family members and yourself, do you find the work to be a therapeutic experience for you?

My work is a diary of my soul!



Your most recent project, Explosure, seems to take your family portraiture to a new dimension with double exposure. Why did you choose this particular method for this series? Does the element of chance play a role in these images?

My Explosure series came about when Simone de Pury offered me a gallery show. At the time I was working on nude self-portraits and I thought it would be interesting to add the extra layer. The ‘Explosure’ series was my first body of work created entirely for a show. Chance is always involved with my double exposure images and usually provides nice surprises.



Do these images represent dreams or reality for you, or both?

Both: Dreams and reality meet and become a solid image.

November 13, 2010

Michelle Sank

Into the Arms of Babes

England has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Europe and this statistic is of growing concern. In this project I am exploring the current phenomenon of teenage mothers, and in some cases, teenage parents. Essentially these parents feel like children themselves, and it is this vulnerability that I am trying to convey. I am also interested in showing the relationship and bonding that exists between young parent and child as well as revealing the dynamics that are apparent between the mother, her partner and the extended family.

-Michelle Sank









September 28, 2010

Emma Powell: A Life Reviewed, George Eastman through the Viewfinder

Rochester, NY- George Eastman House is hosting an exhibition of photographs that look back at the life of Kodak's founder, George Eastman, on view now through October 31, 2010. "A Life Reviewed: George Eastman through the Viewfinder" consists of twenty-five color photographs by Emma Powell that cover different facets of Eastman's life and legacy. This work serves as both photographic biography as well as an artistic gaze into the past.









www.eastmanhouse.org
www.emmapowellphotography.com

September 24, 2010

Kirsten Hoving: Obstacles

In the series Obstacles, I find objects or situations that suggest barriers to self-fulfillment. Some of the themes are about being stuck (the cage), aging (wrinkles), personal limitations (my lifelong inability to do math), and various other impediments (procrastination, temptation, baggage).

Ironically, I have found that the practice of photography has enabled me to become aware of and work to overcome some of these barriers. For instance, doing photography has encouraged me to move outside of my comfort zone (my cage, my cocoon) and take personal risks that I wouldn't take in my role as a scholar.

- Kirsten Hoving, 2010


Baggage

Temptation

Steps

Math

Wrinkles

Cocoon

Tunnel Vision

September 1, 2010

Fraction Magazine: Issue 18

I love the new Fraction Magazine: Issue 18!



Photo by Gloria Baker Feinstein

WLCM BCK

Please join me on September 1st from 4-6pm for WLCM BCK, Mason Gross Galleries of Rutgers University, Civic Square, New Brunswick, NJ:

Participating artists:
Liv Aanrud / John Almelchenko / Eileen Behnke / Caetlynn Booth / Anna Bushman / Damian Catera / Katherine DeGaetani / Erin Dunn / Megan Flaherty / Gabbe Grodin /Chris Guerra / Catherine Haggarty / Annie Hogan / Suzanne Joelson / Marketa Klicova / Gary Kuehn / Julie Langsam / Allison Lindblom / Ardele Lister / Toby MacLennan / Barb Madsen / Tony Masso / Anne McKeown / Traci Molloy / Diane Neumaier / Raphael Ortiz / Kate Pollard / Alan Prazniak / Tom Raggio / Martha Rosler / Erik Schoonebeek / Patrick Strzelec / Richard Tuttle / Betsy VanLangen / Timothy Warner / Tyson Washburn / Stephen Westfall / Shane Whilden / Wendy White / Bryan Whitney / John Yau


August 3, 2010

Ruben Natal-San Miguel



Interview with Ruben Natal-San Miguel
August 2010


You are an architect, photographer, writer, curator and art collector. How do you manage to wear so many hats?


I truly like what I do and try to be as organized as possible. The architectural background really helps to manage all the other duties. It helps for me to have a trained eye for detail and quality, which helps tremendously when art collecting, making photographs, looking, critiquing, curating and writing about art.


When did you first begin your interest in photography?


My main interest in Photography truly became a force of nature after witnessing and surviving the September 11, 2001 attacks in NYC. From that day on, everything became extremely visual and of the moment. In my opinion, no other art media documents better than video and film, of the moment events and life like photography does.


Your photographic series, NY, NY: The Concrete Jungle, has a historic street photographic feel to it, yet the images are poignant modern-day scenes in New York City, shot in color. Did you want the series to feel timeless for the viewer? What inspired this series for you?

What really inspired more than anything is the daily activity that I witnessed on my way home every day. I grew up sheltered and, I guess sort of in an upscale environment back home and here in the US while in college. I moved to Upper Manhattan because after 9/11 did not wanted to live in a high rise building, and Upper Manhattan has brownstones and a more community feel. Living within proximity of these inner city events and activities caught my eye and I decided that I wanted to document the activities and the transition over the years with the new development taking over.

The photography series is shot in color because; I wanted to demonstrate the vibrant and richness aspect of the life here. I think the work of Helen Levitt, Bruce Davidson, Roy Decarava and Zoe Strauss come to mind but, in all honesty I was doing it all along because it felt right capturing activities, people and places, and with the development renewal, they will be gone in a matter of years. So six years later after working on this project, I already can see dramatic changes.


Glamour Break, Harlem, 2009


Beyond the Gates There Are Dreams, Harlem, 2009


Playing By Heart, Upper Manhattan, 2008


You recently curated The Naked Truth at Hous Projects in New York City, and the exhibition has now moved to Los Angeles. This is a fantastic show! How did you come up with the idea for this exhibition?


My main idea was to just make people more aware of its hidden sensuality and sexuality by just hinting it in a subtle and titillating manner without being sexually overt and graphic. Americans are still too uptight about sex.



In June, you were followed around by the creators of Work of Art, on Bravo TV. How exciting! What part of the New York art scene did you show them and where did you take them? How did you get involved with this project?


It was a pilot shot mostly about me and my knowledge of the arts in Manhattan. The show (if it works out) will be about an insight view of the art business and is unrelated to the current show Work of Art. Work of Art is a competition; this is more about the life of someone very involved in the art business. It is currently on the editing stage and that is all I know for now.



As a collector, what do you look for in an artist? Do you have a favorite photographer you are looking at right now? What is it about this photographer?


Good intentions of making great work not, just pretty pictures. The work has to provide some sort of social relevance. Quality is a must!!
Also it is important that the work can be sold respectably, shown and has good investment possibilities.

I have been looking at the work of Alex Prager and recently bought one of her prints. August 1, 2010, I started to do Photolucida’s Critical Mass 2010 for which I am a pre-screening judge.


What is the best advice you would give to an emerging artist trying to get his or her “foot in the door” in the New York art scene?


Read, study others, take a good business, marketing and PR course and find a way to meet me.


Ruben at the Humble Arts Foundation Book Release, 2009
Photo By: Carrie Villines



http://artmostfierce.blogspot.com/

July 6, 2010

Fraction Magazine: Issue 16


Photo by David Taylor

Check out the new Fraction Magazine: Issue 16!
The artists included in this issue were reviewed by David Bram at Review Santa Fe 2010.



July 1, 2010

Seven Selves

[sp] seven selves is a collective of seven artists that dare to challenge the conventional language of self-portrait photography. Their images uncover an engaging diversity of styles, where each artist explores unique possibilities of creativity and emotion. With their work they speak stories, they provoke new realities, they question mainstream thinking, and they share intimate feelings. This is their effort to disengage from the confinement of the self and become part of the story, to blend with the language of the message. This is their chance to break through the comfortable isolation of self-identity. This is an exploration of their own conscientiousness to reach and connect. This is their journey to pursue an intimate dialogue with the viewer. The cinematographic work of Aaron Hobson, the visual narrative of characters of Cornelia Hediger, the message against conformity by Susanne Junker, the delicate and intimate images of Kate Pollard, the dreamy pictures of Russell Joslin, and the picturesque photography of the Feltus Brothers. The work of [sp] seven selves demonstrates the beginning of infinite possibilities of self-portraiture, and elevates the significance of the artist with the pretension to become part of the pictorial narrative.

text by Miguel Garcia-Guzman