Jen Bekman Gallery blog

You Only Have Two More Days!

Bible Study Book (Prophet in the Wilderness), Vicksburg, Mississippi by Alec Soth

So be sure to get yourself over to the gallery to view our group show, Summer Reading. The exhibition is up now through August 22nd—this coming Saturday! Before you know it, the walls will be cleared and painted as we ready ourselves for the Hey, Hot Shot! 2009 First Edition Group Exhibition.

Summer Reading
Closing Saturday, August 22
Jen Bekman Gallery | 6 Spring Street | NYC

Really can't make it? You can view all of the work here.

Alec Soth Looks Ahead While Looking Back

Photographer Alec Soth’s show The Last Days of W opened at Gagosian Gallery on Inauguration Day (January 20th, 2009). Originally conceived without explicit political intent, the select body of work spans both terms of George W. Bush’s presidency and reveals a “a panoramic look at a country exhausted by its catastrophic leadership.”

Following a tradition of seers such as Robert Frank, Soth captures America in a deep state of cultural malaise.  The images―a collection of portraits, landscapes, interiors, and group shots―are irrevocably stagnant.  In this way, they refuse to be an opinionated commentary and are simply meant to expose (almost as a revelation) a vision of what America became during the eight years leading up to President Obama's inauguration.

Camp Purgatory, Ontario, California (2008)

Critic Michael Wilson writes of the image above, "[A] flag hangs inverted over a grubby mess of tents while a lone woman looks on as if in the aftermath of a disaster.”  Is this not Soth’s perspective?  Haven't we all been standing in that very spot?

In an interview with Photo District News the artist explains how “a lot of people have woken up to how horrendously things have gone awry [in America], so I guess to a certain extent I was waking up to some of that too.”  Soth recognizes his need to downplay the social commentary aspect of his work but realized that the series “was really about this idea that it’s over, it’s now this kind of in-between time, this lame duck period[,] … so I was just thinking about the future.”

A newspaper catalog of The Last Days of W, published by the artist himself, is currently for purchase at JBG for $28 including tax.  Another piece from this series can be found hanging on the walls of Summer Reading.

You can also see the entire Summer Reading show online or in the gallery until August 22nd.

Summer Reading: The Pictures

Full gallery view.

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West wall view.

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West wall reverse view, anchored by Steve Lambert's It's About Power.

 [caption id="attachment_2175" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Summer Reading Install"][/caption]
East wall view.

 East wall detail featuring Coast / Coast, 2009 by Michael Mandiberg.

[caption id="attachment_2181" align="alignnone" width="333" caption="Summer Reading Install"][/caption]
Back corner view.

 

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Front of the gallery and It's About Power, 2009 by Steve Lambert.

 

Come in and see for yourself. Summer Reading is on view through August 22, 2009.

Summer Reading Opens TONIGHT!

We Love Having You Here, 2001-08 by Zoe Strauss

Summer Reading
Opening Reception | Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 6pm-8pm
See images from the show!

Please join us today, Wednesday, July 15, from 6pm to 8pm, at the opening reception for Summer Reading. The exhibition features over sixty works from twenty-seven emerging and established artists who are using interdisciplinary ideas about text, in all of its forms, in the mediums of photography, drawing, painting, sculpture and installation.

Summer Reading features work from: Thomas Allen, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Kotama Bouabane, Lizzie Buckmaster Dove, Christine Callahan, Jorge Colombo, William Crump, Lauren DiCioccio, Nina Katchadourian, Gregory Krum, Steve Lambert, Michael Mandiberg, Carrie Marill, Mike Monteiro, Jane Mount, Kirby Pilcher, Jason Polan, Kent Rogowski, Ed Ruscha, Kelly Shimoda, Victor Schrager, Mickey Smith, Alec Soth, Zoe Strauss, Shaun Sundholm, Brian Ulrich and Tim Walker.

Summer Reading will be on view through August 22, 2009.

A Taste of Summer Reading ' s Artists around the world

As many of you know by now, our stellar Summer Reading exhibit opens this Wednesday, July 15th at the gallery. We've previewed a few of these artists over the past two weeks, but if you are just bursting at your seams with excitement and can't wait for the opening, here are a few of the artists who you can get out and see right now at other exhibits around the world.

Chemistry, 2006 by Thomas Allen

Thomas Allen's photographs can be found on view at the Galleria 1000 Eventi in Milan as part of a group showed, titled 5 + 1: From a Big Crash to a New Deal, and investigating the effects of the economy on contemporary art while suggesting that a renewal and re-energization of ideas is still possible. Thomas's work uses old pulp book covers as sculptures to create a playful theatrical interaction. If you find yourself in Milan, please go check out the show! Also, Thomas's work has recently been added to the permanent collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Congratulations, Thomas!

Goodbye Horses, 2008 by William Crump

William Crump has had a few shows on each coast since we first saw him on 20x200, with exhibitions in LA and New York, including X Marks the Art at Jen Bekman Gallery. His most recent, on display now until July 31st at Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery in Philadelphia, is titled Manifest Desination. This two man show puts forth the idea that looking forward to the future is always a dangerous and delicate balance. William's "bittersweet, wistful" drawings convey this idea in that they "are a metaphor for all of us, as they survey and travel on towards a grand and abstract horizon." Be sure not to miss William's work in this show and check out his prints available on 20x200.

Dance?, 1973 by Ed Ruscha

Lastly, the great Ed Ruscha has recently been bestowed the honor of taking part in the Tate Modern's new d'Offay Artist Rooms. This brand new collection at the Tate was made possible through several generous grants and aims to be a new resource for contemporary art in Britain. Sponsored by The Art Fund and Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this new project will display some of the best work from the nation's collection, including work by Joseph Beuys, Gilbert & George, Agnes Martin and Jenny Holzer. Twenty-two pieces of Ruscha's work are presented in the d'Offay Artist Rooms and are on view now.

Come see work by all of these artists, and many more (24 more!) at the gallery tomorrow night at the Summer Reading opening from 6 - 8 p.m.

Ornithology: The Video Walkthrough

Jen Bekman Gallery Presents: Ornithology from Derrick Tan on Vimeo.

Good things are always happening at Jen Bekman Gallery, and this little video is proof. Jen Bekman herself walks you through the Ornithology group show which is currently gracing our walls.

Hopefully it will inspire you to come out and take a closer look.

The show is on view through August 2nd.

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Saturday | Noon – 6pm

Press Updates, Including 20x200 in Dwell

As regular blog readers know, Nina Berman's recent exhibition Purple Hearts, got an amazing review in The New York Times, which was followed by two additional listings in subsequent weeks and an overwhelmingly fantastic array of international press.

20x200 has been getting some attention as well. You can check out our media mentions to date on the 20x200 blog. Also look for us in the current issue of Dwell and the upcoming issue of Ready Made.

In her free time, Jen's been pursuing her own journalistic endeavors. Look for her interview with photographer Alec Soth in the Fall issue of photo-eye Booklist.

To stay up to date on all the various Jen Bekman Projects, bookmark our blogs, or subscribe to their RSS feeds:

Jen Bekman News Blog

The Hey, Hot Shot! Blog

The 20x200 Blog

Personism (Jen's personal blog.)

Enough with the virtual, let's get real - the best way to have the Jen Bekman experience is live and in person. Come visit us at the gallery:

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St (between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC 10012
+1.212.219.1066

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Saturday | Noon - 6pm

Bonus! One More Day for ANAP

A New American Portrait installation view
courtesy of Joe Holmes

Those of you hoping to catch the final stretch of A New American Portrait will be happy to hear that the show will stay up one extra day!

Tomorrow, the gallery will be open from noon to 6 - your last chance to see, all together, the wonderful photographs of Christine Collins, Jen Davis, Benjamin Donaldson, Amy Elkins, Peter Haakon Thompson, Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Brian Ulrich, and Shen Wei.

Spc. Tyson Johnson, 22, wounded in a mortar attack on Abu Ghraib prison
by Nina Berman

Catch the last day of ANAP and then stop by again on Wednesday, August 8 at 6pm, as the gallery will reopen with a reception for Purple Hearts, photographs by Nina Berman.

Mark your calendars, the New York Times says so!

ANAP Required Reading (Pt. 3)

Just as many of the artists in the A New American Portrait exhibition write blogs of their own, quite a few of them also have excellent photography books worth adding to your collection.

Alec Soth

Alec has a fine selection of books, the chronology below:

Sleeping by the Mississippi (Steidl, 2004)

Niagara (Steidl, 2006)

Fashion Magazine: Paris Minnesota (Magnum Photos, 2007)

Dog Days Bogotá (Steidl, 2007) COMING SOON!

Brian Ulrich

Brian has been included in a box set that was published by Aperture in collaboration with the MoCP, Chicago called MP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project. The book presents the work of three new emerging talents: Kelli Connell, Justin Newhall and, of course, Brian Ulrich.

MP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project (Aperture, 2006)

I've also heard word that Brian is in the midst of putting together work from his Thrift series. Look out for that one.

Todd Hido

Mr. Hido's books sell like hot cakes:

House Hunting (Nazraeli Press, 2001)

Outskirts (Nazraeli Press, 2002)

Roaming (Nazraeli Press, 2004)

Between the Two (Nazraeli Press, 2006)

Due to popular demand for the book when the first edition came out, the second printing of House Hunting will be available very soon.

All these great books... It seems like everyone else in the show should be hard at work on book dummies themselves, don't you think?

And wouldn't A New American Portrait be a great title for a book that Jörg and Jen co-edit?

Genius.

ANAP Required Reading (Pt. 2)

Image currently on view at jen bekman thru August 3
© Todd Hido

Jörg Colberg, co-curator of the A New American Portrait exhibition, writes one of the internet's most widely read blogs on photography. Jörg's blog, Conscientious, considers the scope of contemporary photography, some current photo-related news, and acts as a hub for many of the other photography blogs online. Somehow, Jörg also manages to find the time to interview interesting photographers, one of my favorite parts of his blog. He then shares these interviews in a category he's labeled "Conversations."

Over the course of time that he has been conducting these interviews, Jörg has actually spoken with many of the ANAP artists: Amy Elkins, Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Alec Soth (again), Brian Ulrich, and Shen Wei.

Take some time to read through all the conversations, learn more about the photographers and see what each of them have to say about their own work.