Jen Bekman Gallery blog

Where Do You See Yourself?

At the Sea-Side

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
    To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up
    Till it could come no more.


--

It’s amazing how one show comes down and another one goes up, and how, in that brief moment where the gallery sits in an empty stillness, the walls seem to yearn to have something on them again. The newest exhibition satisfies that void, featuring nine images from photographer Christian Chaize’s Praia Piquinia series, a body of work spanning five years and a total of twenty-seven images where the artist “faithfully returned to the same beach in Portugal, taking photographs from approximately the same elevated angle to create the images.”

I’ve been in the gallery all day and I find myself drifting in and out of the pictures searching for the place I’d like to be most: on the beach alone? or maybe just on a less crowded day—there, underneath one of those umbrellas.

As the sky is now overcast, I'll close up tonight with my fingers crossed with the hope that the rest of the weekend can be like what's seen in these images of Praia Piquinia.

Jen Bekman @ Hy ères 2009

The 24th Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival will see Ms. Jen Bekman as a juror. In fact, the talented eyes of the lady galeriste are en route as I type this.

The festival is held at the Villa Noailles in the South of France each spring. Hyères proposes diverse exhibitions, professional panel discussions and two competitions showcasing the best new talents from the fields of fashion and photography.

In 2008, the Jury Grand Prize for Photography was awarded to French photographer Audrey Corregan, and the Jury gave its Special Prize to German photographer Amira Fritz.

If a jaunt to the French Riviera isn't in the cards, view the 2009 contenders and follow along with their vlog (and dig the sexy narrator!).

Oh la la la la!

JBG Artists Kent Rogowski and Carrie Merril at 5th Annual BAMart Silent Auction

JBG is very excited to announce that gallery artists Kent Rogowski and Carrie Marill are part of the 5th Annual BAMart Silent Auction.  Even more exciting, Ms. Marrill's piece 'Optical' is one of the auction's featured items! This year's auction features "over 150 local, emerging, and established artists and designers in many mediums, at great prices, and with all proceeds to benefit Brooklyn Academy of Music." Bidding begins Wednesday, April 29 at 5PM. You can visit the auction's website to track your bids but also view the live exhibition and bid in person, 7 days a week beginning April 29 at BAM. Check BAM.org for hours. Bidding ends Monday, May 11 at 8PM.

If you are at all confused about the bidding process, interdisciplinary creativity team Andrew Andrew made a special instructional video for the auction. Enjoy!

Holly Lynton @ Gallery Schuster Photo

Tunnel, 2005
C-print
19" x 24"

Hallo! Ich spreche nur ein bischen Deutsch, so I will speak to you in plain English to relay this über good news. Photographer Holly Lynton is presently showing her Solid Ground, series at Galerie Schuster Photo in Berlin. The exhibition is on view now through December 20th.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Gallery Schuster Photo
Gartenstrasse 7
10115 Berlin

Amy Ross ' s anima mundi Opens on April 27th

Cow Birch with Birds (detail) by Amy Ross

Most people think of the jb as a photography gallery, but I say: Why limit myself? I don't show other media all that often, but that's likely to change over time, especially if I keep meeting people like Amy Ross who makes work that's right up my alley and is an amazing hilarious and excellent person to boot.

Sheep Magnolia (detail) by Amy Ross

At first glance Amy's work seems oh so pretty - lovely delicate brushwork, the soft colors of Spring time. Ahh. But wait: the trees have hooves and that knot halfway up one of them is a dewy unblinking bovine eye. Those nearly translucent magnolia buds are actually lambs. That she is a wolf. Amy's taken genetic commingling to fantastical heights, but her permutations don't seem all that outre when you consider that there are rice crops engineered to contain human genes in the offing.

Cow Birch with Barred Owls (detail) by Amy Ross

Amy's exhibition of paintings, anima mundi, opens at jen bekman on Friday April 27th.

For more about Amy's exhibition:
Read the press release.
View images.
Read Amy's bio.
If you're interested in purchasing work by Amy, send an email to sales AT jenbekman DOT com.

Bold Tings

Installation View of the Summer Edition of HHS, originally uploaded by msjenbee.

As I've discussed extensively with the talented, gorgeous and awesome La Lux, it is a time of Bold Tings.

Over on Personism, I've been pretty fired up lately about the under-representation of women in tech, in art and um, rather broadly speaking creativity. Rather than pointlessly bluster, I started (you have to start somewhere) with a List of Women Speakers for Your Conference.

In other news: we've got a whole new crop of excellent interns here at the jb. Be on the look out for their blogging debuts. (Alice Wells made her debut on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog just the other day.)

Speaking of HHS, as previously announced: we're accepting entries for the Fall Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! The deadline is Tuesday November 7th @ 6pm, but why wait? Apply now.

Special guest panelists this season include Amit Gupta of Photojojo fame and Joerg Colberg who writes the must-read fine-art photography blog Conscientious.

The last edition got some terrific press:

Kate Bingaman was featured on Cool Hunting.

Rob Walker of my most favoriteist NYT Sunday Magazine column, Consumed gave Ernie Button a shout-out on his blog Murketing. (Did you know he has a blog? He does and it's good.)

Paddy Johson, of Art Fag City fame, stopped by and liked what she saw.

This is the last season of HHS for the year - we'll be announcing the Ultras in December and their group show will open in January.

Regarding our current exhibition, Solid Ground:

On Thursday October 26 I'll be hosting an artist talk with Holly Lynton. She'll talk about her current exhibition, Solid Ground and we'll ply you with booze. Not to be missed! Reception from 6pm - 8pm, artist talk at 7.

You can stay up to date on gallery related events by subscribing to our email list.

Bruce Grant to lead Positive Focus Critique on April 11th

Bruce Grant, Fearful Symmetry # 2

Well-known photographer and critic Bruce Grant, who received an honorable mention for the Winter '06 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! at jen bekman, will lead an open Postive Focus critique at Safe-T-Gallery at 111 Front St. in DUMBO, Brooklyn on April 11th at 7 pm.

Positive Focus was founded to provide a Brooklyn community of emerging photo-artists with a supportive environment for artistic development, youth education and community outreach services. So if you are not already a member, this is a great opportunity to check it out (i.e. bring work and they might critique it if there is time).

Here is a little clip of what nyc.photobloggers.org contributor, Tim O’Connor had to say about Grant’s work:

Bruce Grant’s pictures have an unforced grace that comes very close to feeling casual. You suspect they might be fun to take. His subjects – mostly ordinary objects and patterns encountered on long walks through his native Philadelphia – are familiar to any American urban dweller. But you have not seen doors and air conditioners, signs and telephone poles, walls and chainlink fences like these before.

If you’re interested in seeing more of Bruce Grant’s work, check out his fotolog and Flickr pages. You can also find the complete post about this event on nyc.photobloggers.org here.