A photograph by Jen Bekman Gallery artist Nina Berman is featured in the Wall Street Journal today as part of an article titled “The Whitney Biennial Lightens Up”. Kelly Crow writes, “The country’s pre-eminent survey of new American art has a reputation for focusing on angry or anxious young things. But the latest edition, opening Feb. 25 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, aims to be something else: fun.”

About Nina’s work Kelly writes:

The biennial doesn’t abandon politics altogether, but Mr. Bonami says he went looking for art that reflects the American psyche about war without being “bombastic.” New York photographer Nina Berman is showing a series about the postwar daily life of former Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel, who was severely disfigured in a car bomb in Iraq but returned home and married his fiancée, Renee Kline.”

You can read the full article, which features a slideshow as well as profiles of Charles Ray and Aurel Schmidt, online or in today’s print edition. More information about The Whitney Biennial: 2010 is available at the Whitney’s website.

Ty With Gun by Nina Berman from Marine Wedding

Jen Bekman Gallery artist Nina Berman spoke with Mike Melia of PBS’ Art Beat to discuss her work, particularly the series Marine Wedding, which will be exhibited at the upcoming 2010 Whitney Biennial. In the article, Associate Curator of the Biennial Gary Carrion-Murayari says of Berman’s work:

You come away with a real emotional connection to the individual she is depicting. Anybody could take a picture of someone who is disfigured and make a shocking image. These go beyond that and get to the emotional experience of soldiers.

PBS’ site also features an audio interview with Nina. Click HERE to read the full text and to hear Mike and Nina’s conversation about her exceptional bodies of work, Purple Hearts, Homeland and Marine Wedding.

Last week we wrote about our upcoming 20×200 print giveaway at Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturday, and we wanted to send you a quick reminder to cancel all your other plans, because it’s happening this Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.! All 200 8”x10” prints from Valerie Hegarty’s gorgeous forthcoming edition, First Harvest in the Wilderness with Pileated Woodpecker are packed, our brand new 20×200 banner has arrived, and we’re uhhh…still brainstorming on our apparel. We hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be an awesome evening full of talks, music, film, dancing and art.

Ms. Jen Bekman will be speaking, exclusively to 1stfans, about 20×200 and JBP’s approach to supporting artists. So, after you’ve started or renewed your 1stfans membership (and picked up Valerie’s print!), join us for a talk!

We’ll be giving away 10”x8” prints by artist Valerie Hegarty to new and renewing 1stfans members and Ms. Jen Bekman herself will be speaking to an intimate group of 1stfans at a meetup. Meetups are an opportunity for 1stfans to interact exclusively with the Museum’s staff, its collections, artists, and other members every month at Target First Saturdays.

Bierstadt with Holes, 2007 by Valerie Hegarty

20×200 has been collaborating with 1stfans founders, Shelley Bernstein and Will Cary, and artist Valerie Hegarty over the last few months to produce this unique benefit edition. For the first time ever, collectors will be able to pick up a print in person and become a 1stfans member all for the ridiculously affordable cost of $20! 1stfans is the Brooklyn Museums’s socially networked membership. Valerie Hegarty and 20×200 have donated the prints for this event.

If you can’t make it to the event, you’ll have another chance to pick up one of Valerie’s prints plus the 1stfans membership. We’ll release the prints in two larger sizes, 14”x11” and 20”x16,” the following week on 20×200. Every print from Valerie’s edition will include a one-year membership to 1stfans and the proceeds from the print will benefit the Brooklyn Museum as well. The prints are gorgeous and we think they’ll go fast, make sure you’re signed up for Jen’s newsletter to get first dibs on one!

Target First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 | 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Jen’s talk | 8:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY

Danziger Projects (James Desk) from Workspaces by Joseph O. Holmes

JBG artist and 20×200 edition-maker Joseph O. Holmes has been included in the upcoming show The Year in Pictures at Danziger Projects, opening this Thursday. The show, which has been put on annually since 2007, is curated from work that has been featured in the last year on the popular Year in Pictures blog of gallery owner James Danziger.

Danziger writes,

The 15 contemporary photographers featured in the show represent 9 different countries – Saudi Arabia, Korea, Denmark, Britain, Mexico, Japan, France, Canada, and the U.S.. Over half have work I had originally only seen via the internet, evidencing the well-known power of the web as a connector, and what is sometimes taken for granted – the web’s unrivalled capacity as a transmitter of photographic images.

Earlier this year, Joe and Danziger crossed paths when Joe was working on his Workspace series, candidly documenting the unique spaces in which people do their work.

About the series, Joe writes,

Because I document a space exactly as I find it, never arranged for the camera, the Workspace project is necessarily a spontaneous process. I can’t, for example, call ahead and explain what I’m after without inviting the destruction of what I hope to capture. Lately I’ve been finding workspaces by walking in off the street with camera and tripod and simply asking (though “simply asking” doesn’t quite convey the complex dance of explanation, skepticism, persuasion, and fascination that goes back and forth). What I end up capturing, then, turns out to be the work that was interrupted to answer the door.

Danziger responded, “As I like both my workspace and Joe’s work, I was happy to co-operate and now his picture (above) is about to be all that remains as a visual record of where I’ve sat for the last five years, often writing this blog!”

Congratulations to Joe and to Danziger Projects on the show, which we cannot wait to see!

You can view the full Workspace series on Joe’s website and grab limited-edition prints on 20×200. Keep your eyes peeled because we’ll be opening a solo-show of Joe’s work later this year at Jen Bekman Gallery.

The Year in Pictures
Danziger Projects
Opening reception: January 21, 6-8 p.m.
534 West 24th Street
New York, New York 10011 USA

Featuring: Jowhara AlSaud, Chan-Hyo Bae, Thomas Bangsted, Mandy Corrado, Stephen Gill, Joseph Holmes, Alejandra Laviada, Greg Miller, David Schoerner, Patrick Smith, Tommy Ton, Scout Tufankjian, Oliver Warden, Katherine Wolkoff and Tsukasa Yokozawa.

West Nineteenth Street (Yellow Dress) by Joseph O. Holmes

Marine Wedding by Nina Berman

Jen Bekman Gallery is pleased to announce that represented artist and 2007 Hot Shot Nina Berman and 2005 Hot Shot Curtis Mann have been selected as 2010 Whitney Biennial artists.

Berman’s first solo show with Jen Bekman Gallery in 2007, Purple Hearts, the ground-breaking work that placed Berman in the Biennial, received international attention and acclaim. In a review for The New York Times, critic Holland Cotter proclaimed, “the images add up to a complex and desolating anti-war statement.” Purple Hearts received a tremendous response both locally and internationally. The gallery presented Berman’s second exhibition, Homeland, in October 2008.

Both Berman and Mann have released editions on Jen Bekman Projects’ online print program, 20×200.

The 2010 Whitney Biennial is being curated by Francesco Bonami, in collaboration with the Whitney’s Gary Carrion-Murayari, who will be associate curator. This will be the 75th in the series of Whitney Annual and Biennial exhibitions, inaugurated in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. The show—which is scaled back to exhibit just 55 artists at only one location in 2010—opens to the public on February 25th and runs through May 30th.

Tree Tops, from the series Somewhere in Israel by Curtis Mann

G.I. Goat by Nina Berman

Exterior 1 by Sarah McKenzie

In Miami? Come visit us at the PULSE Miami Contemporary Art Fair. We’ll be featuring paintings by Sarah McKenzie and also have work by Ian Baguskas, Mara Bodis Wollner, Christian Chaize, Beth Dow, Joseph O. Holmes, Gregory Krum, Holly Lynton, Carrie Marill, Brad Moore, Hosang Park, Colleen Plumb, Jason Polan, Kent Rogowski and Carlo Van de Roer on view. The fair opens with a VIP preview at 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 3rd and remains open through Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Please come visit us!

Location: Booth I-107.
On View: December 3 – 6, 2009

PULSE Miami
Booth I-107
The Ice Palace
1400 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33136

Hope to see you there!

Site by Sarah McKenzie

Jen Bekman Gallery is exhibiting at the PULSE Miami Contemporary Art Fair, Thursday, December 3 – Sunday, December 6, 2009. Please join us!

PULSE Miami — Booth I-107
The Ice Palace
1400 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33136

On view:
Paintings by Sarah McKenzie.

Additional featured artists:
Ian Baguskas, Nina Berman, Mara Bodis Wollner, Christian Chaize, Beth Dow, Joseph O. Holmes, Karolina Karlic, Gregory Krum, Holly Lynton, Carrie Marill, Brad Moore, Hosang Park, Colleen Plumb, Jason Polan, Kent Rogowski, and Carlo Van de Roer.

Tunnel by Holly Lynton

If you find yourself in LA this Friday, November 13th, consider yourself lucky! You’ll have a much easier time bidding on a photograph by Holly Lynton than us New Yorkers! Kopeikin Gallery will be hosting a silent and live auction as a benefit for the Larchmont Charter School, featuring 100 photographs starting at 70% of their retail value. The auction will also include work by Hey, Hot Shot! contenders Alex Leme, Katie Shapiro and Annie Musselman. You can view the auction catalogue here, and visit the gallery for complete benefit information.

Larchmont Charter School Benefit Auction
Kopeikin Gallery
8810 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets to the auction are $25, $30 at the door
To order: call Wendy at (323) 664-8034 or email desk@kopeikingallery.com

Speaking of auctions, don’t forget that Holly is also participating in SF Camerawork’s annual auction along with five fellow JBG artists, Nina Berman, Christine Callahan, Holly Lynton, Joe Holmes and Colleen Plumb. The catalogue is available for online preview and the exhibition viewing will begin today, Tuesday, November 10th. The auction will commence Saturday, December 5th at 1 p.m. More details are available here.

Start your bidding!

Cover image of Kate’s book!

As if truly catching up with the industrious Kate Bingaman-Burt is really possible! Kate is always involved in multiple projects while planning and scheming her next wonderful art adventure. In fact, she is working on mixtape drawings that will be on view at Jen Bekman Gallery at the end of this month! The lovely lady is truly an inspiration.

Her book Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today? which chronicles her decade of daily consumption is now up on Amazon. Sadly it has not yet been released for pre-orders. Still, it is pretty exciting to see and anticipate! I am marking the release date, March 31, 2010 in my calendar! Congrats, Kate!

More immediately, Kate’s work will be exhibited in three shows in three cities opening this Friday.
Choose your city for complete exhibition details:
New York
Austin
St. Louis

Want more Kate? Visit her site: Obsessive Consumption and view her editions, I Bought All of These, Drawings from July 2009 and Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Carts #1 on 20×200.

Leaning Tower by Beth Dow

Jen Bekman Gallery artist Beth Dow will be participating in a group exhibition, entitled The Minnesota Eye: Contemporary Photography, at CVA Gallery in Saint Paul, Minnesota, along with several other talented photographers. You can read more on the exhibit in this week’s StarTribune article. The show is currently up until November 14th. Don’t miss it!

Rocks by Jason Polan

In Raleigh, North Carolina, there will be an opening November 6th 7-10pm for Jason Polan’s solo show, Please Trust Me, at Lump Gallery . It sounds like it will be a fantastically eclectic exhibition, with source material ranging from comic book panels, to pages from LIFE Magazine, to notes found on the street. It will be up until November 28th.

If you happen to be in either of those areas be sure to check these shows out! I’m sure they will not fail to impress.

Thank you. That is all.

Taken from The Impossible Project website:

We are pleased to herewith announce a history-making cooperation between Polaroid and The Impossible Project:
As we have created quite some buzz about Analog Instant Photography over the past 12 months, the Polaroid licensee – The Summit Global Group – now can’t resist any longer and announced at a press conference on October 13th in Hong Kong where they will re-launch some of the most famous Polaroid Instant Cameras.
Therefore they are commissioning The Impossible Project to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid branded Instant Films in the middle of 2010.
The Impossible Project is proud and excited that its ambitions and all the relentless work that has already been invested are now becoming the foundation for Polaroid’s comeback as a producer of Instant Cameras.
Large-scale production and worldwide sale of The Impossible Project’s new integral film materials under its own brand will already start in the beginning of 2010 – with a brand new black and white instant film with the first color films to follow in the course of the year.

Your House, 2006 by Olafur Eliasson

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing the Museum of Arts and Design’s (aka MAD) newest exhibition, Slash: Paper Under the Knife, which shows an array of beautifully intricate, masterful sculptures, videos, site-specific installations and drawings created through awe-inspiring manipulation and cutting of paper. Though the medium is consistent throughout, the techniques in which the pieces are created range from burning, laser-cutting, hand-cutting, tearing, folding and shredding—to name a few.

A History of Flight by Lizzie Buckmaster Dove

I could have easily imagined Summer Reading’s Lizzie Buckmaster Dove’s hand-cut book, A History of Flight or one of Michael Mandiberg’s laser-cut books sitting perfectly amongst  the other pieces in the show.

Coast to Coast by Michael Mandiberg

Paperwork #701G (In the Beginning) by Andreas Kocks

The show is currently open to the public, though it won’t be completely installed until the 14th—some artists’ works are in the process of being installed/created, giving the public a chance to view the creative building process—an exciting opportunity not often offered by museums and galleries. I recommend going Thursday nights between 6 and 9 p.m., when admission is “pay-what-you-wish”. While you’re there, you can head up to the 6th floor to check out the museum’s Open Studios program and get the chance to meet and talk with talented artists as they work.

Leon Reid’s newest project is four large-scale models that are being exhibited in the show Design Jazz, open until November 7, in the Pratt Manhattan Building.

Reid likes to mix it up. He began his career using the defiant art form of graffiti in 1995. And since then, he has not only tagged various NYC buildings, subway stations, and street signs, but has also cultivated his art into three-dimensional projects and urban installations, while still putting his spin on pressing societal issues. Reid has also recently been bringing art to children in public schools through Creative Arts Workshops for Kids. It’s always great to see a young artist experimenting with ideas and concepts and best of all, making it available to bargain hunting art collectors.

Reid’s work, including a 20-page illustration book documenting his art from 1994-2004, is available for super affordable prices through his website. Check it out—you won’t be disappointed and you might stumble upon that piece that belongs on your wall.

from the series She Wolf by Amy Ross

Jen Bekman Gallery artist Amy Ross will have work in an upcoming group show, Gone to the Dogs, at Denise Bibro Fine Art. The “canine-themed exhibition” will run through November 7th, with an opening reception this Thursday, October 8th, from 6–8 p.m.

From the press release:

The exhibition encompasses painting, photography, video, and mixed media sculptural assemblage, featuring works that run the gamut of the conceptual and aesthetic continuum. A celebration of man’s best friend exploring our multi-faceted relationships with the beloved dog, the works are endearing, nostalgic, laugh-out-loud funny, regal, and profoundly beautiful.

Proceeds from the show will in part benefit Animal Haven, a shelter and adoption center in Manhattan.

Gone to the Dogs
October 8 – November 7, 2009
Denise Bibro Fine Art
529 West 20th Street 4W | NYC

For all book-lovers and art-lovers alike!
Starting this weekend, October 2nd, Printed Matter will host its 4th annual NY Art Book Fair at PS. 1. Free and open to the public, Printed Matter takes over three floors to exhibit the best of the best contemporary art publications from international presses, antiquarians, museums, galleries, and independent artists and publishers.

All weekend long, PS.1 will be infiltrated by stimulating exhibitors, lectures, performances and the second annual Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference. The diverse programming includes: a featured exhibition of Richard Prince; Calling All Readers, a retrospective of influential artists’ books and posters from the 1970s onward; a DIY exhibition of rare zines and hand-packaged DVDs by zine-makers, artists, collectives and young publishers; a solo exhibition of Canadian photographer and film-maker Bruce LaBruce, as well as Dexter Sinister, EAI (Electronic Arts Intermix), Gallery 360º from Tokyo, and the entire student body of Dutch super-school Werkplaats Typografie.

On the third floor, the Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference features a keynote session by artists Maria Eichhorn, Hans Haacke, and Seth Siegelaub in conversation with MoMA curator Christophe Cherix.

Other events include titillating electro performances by Hot Box and DubbknowDubb, book signings, and unique events to the NY Art Book Fair such as the artist-driven program The Classroom and Learn To Read Art: A History of Printed Matter
For more information and the complete list of exhibitors and programming check out their website at www.nyartfair.com

You can see today’s 20×200 edition maker Mickey Smith’s large-scale works on display there this weekend. Collocation No. 4 (TODAY)—a fifty panel piece printed on canvas—will be on display at the Invisible-Exports Booth #005.

The fair is open for preview, Thursday October 1st, 6-8pm. Following the preview, a BENEFIT will be held for Printed Matter @ Deitch Studios, in Long Island City. Tickets begin at $20 and included limited artist editions by Elmgreen & Dragset, Jutta Koether, Tom Sachs, and Mungo Thomson. The night will also feature industrial punk-and-dub duo, I.U.D. (Lizzi Bougatsos of Gang Gang Dance and Sadie Laska of Growing), and vintage house DJs Tim Lokiec and Gary Murphy.

Benefit for Printed Matter:
October 1, 8:30 PM
Deitch Studios 4-40 44th Drive at the East River waterfront
Long Island City, NY
MAP
Purchase benefit tickets online at www.nyartbookfair.com or call 212 925 0325.

Fair Location
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
MAP

Fair Hours:
Friday/Saturday, October 2 & 3, 2009, 11am – 7pm
Sunday, October 4, 2009, 11am – 5pm

October seems like the perfect time for a visit to Memphis, especially when JBG artist Kate Bingaman-Burt and JBP team member Jane Mount will be there. Both talented and industrious ladies will be speaking at the 2009 AIGA Design Conference, Make/Think. The conference promises to “celebrate design excellence, reinforce friendships and connections and stimulate thinking about the critical issues that surround design practice”. No doubt that this will be achieved while attendees share and learn about new ideas in the creative community.

Learn more about the conference on the AIGA website.

Make/Think
2009 AIGA Design Conference
Memphis Cook Convention Center
October 8–11, 2009

Interested in attending?
Register here.

Aqueduct and Waterslide by Beth Dow

This October 17th and 18th, The Center for Alternative Photography will be offering a two day course in platinum and palladium printing with photographer Carl Weese—who in 1998 wrote the book The New Platinum Print). If you have ever admired Beth Dow’s beautiful prints, now you can learn more about the process and try it hands on. All skill levels are welcome, and at under $400, it’s a good deal—you won’t have to worry about following the metals market to order your supplies (I am not making that up. Platinum and palladium do not just drop out of the sky you know). Why not spend a weekend making art? Maybe you can create some work just in time to submit to Hey, Hot Shot!

Platinum & Palladium Printing with Carl Weese
The Center for Alternative Photography
Date: Saturday & Sunday, October 17 & 18
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395
MAP

Faering, 2007 by Michelle Arcila

Why don’t you join the New Museum as they lead two groups of tours around LES galleries! It is this Sunday, September 13 with a group leaving at noon and another at 3 p.m. Both groups meet in the New Museum Lobby and take off from there. Each tour is different so come to both!

The JB Gallery’s Associate Director, Jeffrey Teuton (me) will be around to talk about the current Hey, Hot Shot! 2009 First Edition Exhibition that is currently on view, as well as other Jen Bekman Projects, like the Hey, Hot Shot! competition itself and 20×200. The show looks great so I suggest you take advantage and get here before it comes down on September 19!

LES Gallery Tour Group One 12 PM @ The New Museum Lobby
DCKT Contemporary (I love the current show, LOVE), Jen Bekman Gallery, CANADA, James Fuentes LLC, Rental,Invisible-Exports, Lisa Cooley, Rachel Uffner, Number 35.

LES Gallery Tour Group Two 3 PM @ The New Museum Lobby
Sue Scott, Thierry Goldberg Projects (a great painting show is up), Eleven Rivington, KumuKumu, Nicelle Beauchene, LMAK Projects, Small A Project, On Stellar Rays, Sloan Fine Art, SUNDAY.

New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
212.219.1222
MAP

Be there or be boring and sleep all day.

If I Had a Voice I Would Sing, 2009 by Michelle Arcila

So it seems, summer is over. It’s the first week of September and already the weather is cooling off; the city is once again flooded with people returning from their vacations, new students are arriving to begin college, no more concerts in the Park, no more beach trips… and I’m not ready. Everyone is back to the grind, and with all the rain we had this summer, I’m not wiling to surrender to September just yet. Here are some ways I’m trying to keep the relaxing days of summer with me as long as I can. Please, come with me!

Take one last—or first, if you were tragically stranded in the city—summer retreat with this animated video by New York Times contributor Jeff Scher, titled Summer Retreat. It’s a relaxing, beautiful short that manages to make you feel like it’s July at the beach in only one and a half minutes.

I keep going back to Hot Shot Michelle Arcila’s photographs; her work never ceases to amaze. I especially love her set In August from her Flickr Photostream, which Jeffrey linked to in an earlier post, also about the end of summer. The set contains some beautifully serene photographs, including staple summer scenes like lake-swimming and a blanket blowing in the wind of the woods.

For an away-from-the-computer-and-outside activity, I’m looking forward to checking out Dome Colony X at the San Gabriels created by Fritz Haeg at x-initiative on 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Ave. The show space contains, “a shifting encampment or colony of four geodesic dome tents for occupations, gatherings, regular meetings, and intimate organized activities,” all set within a mural of LA’s own San Gabriel mountains. As a native Los Angeleno myself, I’m very interested in seeing this 8000 square foot “Mountain Colony.” Find out more on their website or just go! It’s running until October 24, Wed.-Sat. 11am-6pm.

Am I the only one who hasn’t been to the High Line? I’m going this weekend. Also, just watched this video on Governors Island— perfect summer activity, seven minute ferry ride away and it’s open year-round. It’s still warm enough and I don’t have a pile of work on my desk just yet, so I’m going to get on it before the leaves change and the wind picks up and the snow starts to fall…

Laundromat by Colleen Plumb

If you are in Fort Collins, CO you can start off your Labor Day weekend by going to the opening reception of JBG, 20×200 artist, AND Hey, Hot Shot! 2008 Ne Plus Ultra Colleen Plumb’s Animals Are Outside Today at the Center for Fine Art Photography, this Friday, September 4th.

If you can’t make it, check out Colleen’s available 20×200 prints. Don’t forget about free shipping on orders over $50 (before shipping + handling + taxes!) through Monday, September 7 @ midnight EST.

Center for Fine Art Photography
Friday, September 4, 2009

400 North College Avenue
(in the Poudre River Arts Center)
Fort Collins, CO 80524
MAP

The exhibition will be on view through September 26, 2009.