Image: “Lanai Jarrico” by Eva and Franco Mattes (0100101110101101.ORG)Digital print on canvas | 36×48 inches.

We’ll be hosting a what-promises-to-be-excellent artists talk @ jen bekman this Wednesday evening, November 29th, from 6pm -8pm. (We’ll mingle and have refreshing beverages til 7pm, and the artists talk will last til about 8.)

Moderator Marisa Olson, an artist and the Editor and Curator of of Rhizome.org, will lead a casual conversation with James Deavin and Eva + Franco Mattes. The discussion will be about their respective projects documenting Second Life.

Deavin’s Photographs from the New World, mostly landscapes and interior shots, is on view at the gallery through Saturday December 9th and in Second Life at jbSL, the gallery’s virtual location, through the end of December.

The Matteses’ portrait series, 13 Most Beautiful Avatars, is showing now at Ars Virtua Gallery in conjunction with the Time Shares series co-presented by Rhizome and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and will be in a “real world” show opening on 11/30 at the Italian Academy, at Columbia.

We have a limited amount of space, so please RSVP if you’d like to attend: rsvp AT jenbekman DOT com.

jen bekman
6 Spring St
between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC 10012

Image: Untitled by James Deavin | 30” x 40” C-print

Untitled (Three) by Fall Hot Shot Patrick Smith

We just announced the winners for the Fall 2006 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! over on the competition’s blog. And the winners are….

Juliana Beasley
Joe Fornabaio
Hans Gindlesberger
Joseph O. Holmes
Mette Maersk
Chad Muthard
Victoria Rich
Sasha Rudensky
Patrick Smith
Shen Wei

The Fall Edition opening reception, featuring delicious top-shelf beer from HHS! sponsor Crumpler, is Wednesday, December 13 from 6–8pm. The show will be up from December 14–17, 2006.

In other good news, the Fall Hot Shots will be included in the first of its kind HHS! Yearbook, brought to you by Blurb — out this December! (In the for the opening reception, is what we’re hoping!)

As always, many thanks to our fantastic group of panelists, to Jeff Kirsch and Jesse Chan-Norris for all their hard work and commitment to the jb, and, of course, a big thank you out to all of the participants!

In addition to the winners who will be showing @ jb, there are Honorable Mentions too:

Joslin Van Arsdale, Alain Astruc, Meg Birnbaum, Karin Bubas, Alana Celii, Larissa Cleveland, Cary Conover, Rachel Herman, Alexandra Huddleston, Siri Kaur, Drew Kelly, Orrie King, Daniel Kopton, Suzette Lee, Nick Meyer, Stephen Miller, Graeme Mitchell, Mark Rubenstein, Lissa Rivera, Angie Smith, Sam Sweezy, Grant Willing, Christopher Young.

I am whupped from all the reviewing and deliberating, which was really quite agonizing this time around. I suppose having too much good stuff to choose from is a nice problem to have, but it was still really hard putting the final list together.

jb regulars mostly know that I write a blog about, well, stuff independently. It’s called Personism, and I’d slacked off on posting to it for a long time. I’m very much back into the swing of things now and posting nearly every day about the various things that interest me.

Today’s post Thousands of Words About Pictures will likely be of interest to photography fans. It’s a round-up, avec commentary of course, of the blogs about photography which are regular reads for me. So if you love photography, and I know that lots of you do, have a look.

The final hours to enter Hey, Hot Shot! are upon us. The deadline is today @ 6pm.

This is the last chance to enter for 2006…  We’ll be announcing the Fall Edition winners next Monday, and shortly after that we’ll announce the 2006 Ne Plus Ultra Hot Shots who will show in our January Annual.

You still have a few more hours, so apply now.

From this weeks edition of Flavorpill NYC:

James Deavin’s exhibition Photographs from the New World documents the DIY world of Second Life, where users create avatars and detailed online environments in order to live out their dreams. The camera function inside Second Life captures high-resolution images that allow Deavin to produce large digital c-prints. Untitled (lift), a serene shot of a digitally rendered ski lift in clouds, has a remarkable relationship to Untitled (cricket), an aerial photograph by Deavin of an actual cricket pitch in the UK, shot using the same compositional techniques. Testaments to the rich culture of Second Life and Deavin’s talents, these prints embody the quiet contemplation the virtual world provides its residents.

Holly Lynton | Solid Ground : Installation Views 3, originally uploaded by msjenbee.

Holly’s critically acclaimed exhibition Solid Ground has lots of images associated with it. Here’s a round up:

- images, statement, release, bio (on jenbekman.com)