TIME Magazine has named Jen Bekman Gallery artist Nina Berman, alongside Lesley Vance and Kate Gilmore, as one of three artists to watch at this year’s 2010 Whitney Biennial. Twenty of Nina’s photographs from her series Marine Wedding are on display at the Biennial.

About the work, Richard Lacayo writes:

It’s the real world you see in Nina Berman’s tender but unflinching photographs of Ty Ziegel, a former Marine sergeant so badly disfigured by a suicide-bomb attack in Iraq that back home small children stare at him, even after 50 reconstructive surgeries. It would be obscene to aestheticize his situation, and Berman doesn’t aim to. What she does is present it forthrightly, with compassion but without pathos — bravely, which is how he presents himself. We have to read a lot into Ziegel because his face sometimes seems to have a limited range of expression. Gently but firmly, Berman directs you to see the man behind the mask. Do these pictures belong in an art museum? Of course they do, because as long as one of the things art does is use images to teach, this is art.

The 2010 Whitney Biennial runs through May 30th in New York and, as TIME Magazine says, Berman’s work is “not to be missed.”

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.

Every week design*sponge invites our collective desire for voyeurism to come out and feast on images posted in their sneak peeks column. Sneak peeks lets us into the homes of talented folks, and just yesterday Ms. Jen Bekman had the spotlight turned in her direction. It should not shock you to know that Jen’s space is overflowing with art as colorful as a box of macarons from Ladurée. She is a lady who lives by her word: LIVE WITH ART, IT’S GOOD FOR YOU.

See more of Jen’s home photographed by JBG artist Youngna Park here.

I came home this afternoon delighted to see in my mailbox Jorge Colombo’s second iPhone sketch for the cover of The New Yorker since May! Two covers in less than six months is really extraordinary, but unsurprising given Jorge’s mastery of the iPhone application, Brushes. Incidentally, Jorge’s success has made it to the top of Brushes website, and The New York Times reports that Jorge’s talents have increased sales for the application since his first New Yorker cover.

I have it on good authority that the folks over at 20×200 are planning an upcoming announcement regarding Jorge, so be sure to sign up for the 20×200 newsletter to be in the know!

Jen Bekman is interviewed in the June/July issue of HotShoe International. Jen talks to Bill Kouwenhoven about the gallery, 20×200, and Hey, Hot Shot! The article features the work of Christian Chaize, Allison Grippo, Joe Holmes, Holly Lynton, Youngna Park, and Colleen Plumb. You can read the full interview with a paid online subscription to HotShoe International.

Here is what Jen had to say about the witty bit that graces the door of this establishment, “Live With Art, It’s Good For You.” – “People think it is a tag line, but it is real. It really is what drives me. I want to help as many people as possible live with art.” You have and you do! Read more online.

Nina Berman’s Homeland work was featured in an article and slide show on The New York Times blog Lens. Nina talks about her role as a photojournalist and about the work from her book and second show at Jen Bekman Gallery, Homeland.

Nina is able to walk the line between photojournalist and the fine art world through her eye and decision to shy away from objective photography by allowing her passion and voice to come through in her images. Nina say’s, “I don’t believe in the notion of the objective photographer, that somehow a photo is balanced and you’re dispassionate,” she said. “I don’t think that would have value. That’s like a security camera.”

Marine Wedding from Nina’s first solo exhibition Purple Hearts is currently on view at The New Orleans Museum of Art!

Read the full article and see the slide show HERE.
Limited edition prints by Nina Berman on 20×200.
Copies of Homeland by Nina Berman are available at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Praia Piquinia | 06/08/04 15h40 | 44” x 37” Lambda print | Edition of 9

Opening Reception | Wednesday, May 20, 2009 | 6pm-8pm
images | artist statement | press release

Please join us at the gallery this Wednesday, May 20th, from 6-8 p.m. We’ll be celebrating French photographer Christian Chaize’s debut US exhibition, Praia Piquinia. Comprised of nine large-scale color photographs, the exhibition will remain on view through Saturday, July 11th.*

Jen Bekman Gallery
e: info@jenbekman.com | w: www.jenbekman.com | p: +1.212.219.0166

6 Spring Street
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
New York City 10012

The gallery is open Wednesday — Saturday from noon-6 p.m., or by private appointment.

* Please note that our regular gallery hours will be in effect for the duration of this exhibition and throughout our upcoming group show, Summer Reading.

The work of JBG artist Carrie Marill has been featured on the website BOOOOOOOM!. BOOOOOOOM! is a multimedia blog dedicated to “fostering a community of people excited to go out and be creative!” Other JBG artists have been featured on this site as well such as Amy Ross & William Crump.  

BOOOOOOOM! also listed 20×200’s blog as one of the ‘17 creative websites to bookmark (unless you are dumb)’ saying, “It’s a great cross-section of artists and all the work you see is available for purchase.” Ain’t that the truth? I should probably mention here that I just bought my first piece of art off 20×200 a couple of weeks ago and now that I’m looking again, I kind of want this one to be my second. I just can’t get enough!

Now, I think I’ll spend the rest of the day surfing BOOOOOOOM!. Happy Friday, everyone…

Exciting news! Jen Bekman Gallery’s booth at NEXT Art Fair in Chicago was named as one of Time Out Chicago’s ‘fave booths!’ Lauren Weinberg reports on a more compact fair this year noting, “NEXT, an invitation-only fair for ‘emerging’ (often hipper) galleries, dropped from 192 exhibitors in 2008 to roughly 86.” Due to this downsizing, the fair is more easily navigable so your “eyes won’t glaze over before you reach our fave booths, [...] NEXT’s Jen Bekman [...].”

Click here to read the full article.

If you happen to be in Chicago, stop by and see Sarah McKenzie’s work and our booth’s sweet digs courtesy of Design Within Reach! We’d love to see you… We are here at The Merchandise Mart in Booth 7-8033 until Monday, May 4, 2009. Don’t have passes? Drop us an email at info at jenbekman dot com and we’ll give you some!

Robert Frost once wrote, “No surprise in the poet, no surprise in the reader.”  Sitting behind the desk here at JBG, I have the wonderfully unique experience of seeing the reactions of the people who visit the gallery.  Just now, I watched a woman react to the image above with disbelief and amusement.  It is a sure testament to Beth Dow’s current work “Ruins” when visitors to the Gallery question what they see.  This is one of the many magical instances where art photography is uniqely engaging.  In her artist statement, Dow admits to us that she “[approaches] these pictures as a tourist.”  This sort of honesty speaks to that engaging element of surprise from both the artist’s perspective and, subsequently, the viewer’s.

What surprises me about these pictures is the way in which they offer the uncanny reality of an unknown American landscape. Visitors to the gallery often ask if the images are enhanced suspecting that the artist may have digitally inserted these ‘ruins’ onto the scene. No, we say, these places actually exist!  William Meyers, photography critic for the Wall Street Journal, seems to suggest that Dow’s work contains a kind of layered irony in the fact of the existence of the ‘ruins’  and in the way that they are then found, photographed, and printed.  In his review of the show, he writes that “Ms. Dow’s platinum-palladium prints have the look of 19th century photographs of actual antiquities, a final jest.”

Joke or not, the work contains multitudes.  On certain days, the images read as unusually depressing indications of cultural decline; other days, they become humorous depictions of surreality.  This transformation that the photographs undergo, describing something different in the eye of the beholder, creates space for the possibility of continual surprise with every viewing. And that the pictures ultimately ask us to reflect on our own humanity is, in my opinion, Dow’s greatest success. “While genuine ruins remind us of our own mortality,” Dow says. “[T]hey also suggest the opposite by showing it’s possible to endure, even if only in a reduced and degraded form.”

To be surrounded by such poetry is a rare treat.

“Ruins” will be on display until May 16, 2009. Click here to read the review from the Wall Street Journal.

Image via Design*Sponge

20×200 and JBG artist Kate Bingaman-Burt’s cozy home was featured on the blog Design*Sponge yesterday, April 3. Only 600 square feet, Kate and her husband Clifton live comfortably in their LEED certified home designed by Portland architect Kevin Cavenaugh. Visit Design*Sponge to see images and short video showing off their amazing live/work space. You can tell how much they “love the space that Cavenaugh created[, which they] quickly managed to fill … with their stuff (those are Kate’s words). But it’s the stuff that continues to inspire and act as wonderful reminders of their friends and the supportive community they are a part of.”

Kate’s illustrations can be seen at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts this weekend at the North West premiere of Handmade Nation. From director Faythe Levine, Handmade Nation is a new film “documenting the indie craft movement—a new wave of craft marrying historical technique, punk culture, and the do-it-yourself ethos.” The screenings in Portland are all sold-out but check out the movie’s website to see when it will be showing near you.

The L.A. Times blog Culture Monster has just given 20×200 artist William Crump a dazzling review for his exhibition “Lonesome Ghosts” at the LittleBird Gallery in Los Angeles. Art critic Leah Ollman notes that Crump’s work “manages [...] fantastic incongruity[...], mixing pale graphite renderings with bold veins of opaque gouache. The push-pull that results is not just formal (the pencil lines faint and receding, the vibrant colors coming forward) but temporal, as if a collision of past and present visual idioms.” She also indicates a kind of ‘vague anachronism,’ “like the so-called antiquarian avant-garde photographers who favor obsolete techniques but whose images often contain contemporary references.” Mainly, however, Crump’s Los Angeles debut “reads as a thoughtful meditation on the discrepancies between external and internal journeys, the real and the ideal.”

The piece shown above, “The Mountain of Tomorrow’s Sunrise,” was featured in the gallery’s show X Marks the Art back in December and there are still prints available for purchase on 20×200. If you’re in or around L.A., stop by the LittleBird Gallery to see Crump’s show on view until April 8, 2009.

(LittleBird Gallery, 3195 Glendale Blvd., L.A., (323) 662-1092. Closed Sundays and Mondays.)

On the heels of her solo show at Pulse New York, Jen Bekman Gallery artist Beth Dow is featured in the April, 2009 Black & White Magazine out on news stands now.  

 The eight page spread has images from three of Beth’s series; In The Garden, Fieldwork, and her work from her upcoming solo exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery, Ruins.

Beth Dow’s solo exhibition of new work, Ruins, opens at Jen Bekman Gallery on April 9th, 2009.  

   Interior 2 | 60” x 60” Oil and Acrylic on Canvas

Last week Sarah McKenzie sat down with Sarah Wesseler of ArchDaily to talk about her work and practice.  The Sarah’s touched on the future of architectonic art, the link between building and painting construction, and how Sarah’s work is perceived across the sea.  In the excerpt below Sarah discusses where her painting contemporaries and the historical references she pulls from when creating work . You can read the full article at Archdaily.

Sarah Wesseler: Do you see yourself as working within an art-historical tradition of architectural painting? Or do you ever think about  that?

Sarah McKenzie: I think about art history, but I honestly think more about my work in the context of abstraction. I wouldn’t say that I really look at historical paintings of architecture. I look a lot at contemporary paintings of architecture. I’m very much influenced by the Leipzig school coming out of Germany. There are a number of artists that are part of that movement that have done really interesting things with architecture and paint and the way that an architectural space can relate to a painting space. But that’s not really historical. So in terms of the history I look at I’m much more thinking about abstract minimalist painting from the 1960s and 70s, even abstract expressionism in terms of certain moments when I’m thinking about handling a certain mark in a certain way. That’s the thing about especially the most recent paintings. They’re definitely about architecture, but they’re also about painting as a material and the way that decisions are made in the process of making a painting.

Building Code is on view at Jen Bekman Gallery through April 4, 2009.

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

Jen Bekman Gallery is now accepting entries for the Second Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2008.

The last round of Hey, Hot Shot! for 2008 is officially underway! We are now accepting submissions for the second edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2008. Please note our shorter-than-usual entry period: The deadline is Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 @ 8pm.

In other HHS! news, we’ve got a new + improved web site! Big thanks go to the fantastic fellas of Little Jacket for the new logo and design. There’s more to come too — we’ll be making additional improvements to the site’s functionality and adding some nifty new features as well, so visit frequently and often.

Not yet familiar with the awesomeness that is Hey, Hot Shot!? Read on for details about the competition and don’t forget to check out our spectacular panelists.

Hey, Hot Shot! — The Best Thing Going for Emerging Photographers

Hey, Hot Shot! offers unrivaled opportunities for emerging photographers to have their work promoted online, reviewed by top-notch panelists and exhibited in our New York gallery. Now in its fourth year, the international competition has been lauded by curators, critics, educators and journalists. This year, we’ve sharpened our focus on fewer hot shots, giving them even more exposure.

fewer hot shots + longer exhibitions = more exposure
Our panel will select five Hot Shots to exhibit their work in a two-week showcase @ Jen Bekman Gallery. Two shows per year, with half as many people in each exhibition, add up to a higher profile for each winning photographer.

cold hard cash
Each winning photographer will be awarded a $500 honorarium.

ultras go solo
At year’s end two Ultras will be selected from 2008’s ten Hot Shots. The Ultras will be represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for solo exhibitions.

in it to win it
As always, we’ll select contenders to feature daily on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog throughout the entry period.

collect yourself
Contenders will also be considered for 20×200, Jen Bekman’s newest online endeavor which offers limited edition prints at affordable prices. These editions are collected (and coveted) the world over by art lovers, editors and curators.

So what are you waiting for? Get your work out there: Apply Now!

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 @ 8pm (EDT).

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 @ 1pm (EDT).

There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.

Submissions are open to everyone, from anywhere in the world!

Jen Bekman. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—the lady is tireless. As if being a full-time gallerist wasn’t enough! Jen still manages to do a million other awesome things, like find the time to be a founding editor of the super hip blog on MediaBistro,  UnBeige.  The New York Times featured UnBeige in an article on Shopping With Design Bloggers.  Check out the full article here.

Also, in case you missed it, see the article on Jen that ran in the Times this past February, Easing the Pain of Collecting.

Navigating the burgeoning Lower East Side art scene is a little challenging without a little help.  Jen Bekman Gallery generously produced a Google map to help eager seekers find what they are looking for.  Today’s edition of The New York Times acknowledged this endeavor as a great way to begin to orient seekers to the expanding art scene.

Read Mary Billard’s full article here.

All art-world insiders worth their salt will tell you the same thing: Art is first and foremost about what you like. That’s you and your taste, not that of the gallery owner, the press or the museums.  “I think it’s really important to buy what you love,” says Bekman.

By Allison Williams 

Time Out New York Jun 4–10, 2008

Read full article

Belated Happy New Year greetings! 2008 is off to a great start for Jen Bekman Gallery.

I’m most happy to announce that we’ve renewed our lease at 6 Spring St! We are looking forward to 5 more years in the ‘hood, which has become quite the art destination, thanks to the recent opening of The New Museum and the arrival of scads of excellent new galleries.

Read on for updates on Friday’s Ne Plus Ultra opening, a Sunday reception at Joe, media mentions and other upcoming events.

Ne Plus Ultra, the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual Opens Fri. 2.8 | 6pm-8pm

Image Credit: Untitled from the series Sub Rosa (2006) by Birthe Piontek

Ne Plus Ultra, the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual, opens @ Jen Bekman Gallery on Friday February 8th, 2008. The reception is from 6pm-8pm, and as always frosty beer beverages will be provided by Crumpler.

Please join me and all of this year’s Ultras at the reception:

Nina Berman
Karolina Karlic
Brad Moore
Birthe Piontek

The exhibition will remain on view through Saturday March 15th, 2008. (The gallery’s official 5 year anniversary!)

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC NY 10012
ph: +1.212.219.0166

Joe’s NYC: jen@joe Presents Photographs by Joseph O. Holmes

Image Credit: Broadway (2007) by Joseph O. Holmes

Please join photographer Joe Holmes, Joe proprietor Jonathan Rubinstein and me on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 from 3-5 pm at a reception for Joe’s NYC, the latest installment of our ongoing series jen@joe:

Joe
9 E 13th St.
(between University Place and 5th Avenue)

The exhibition, Joe’s NYC, is comprised of 29 NY-centric prints and will remain on view through April 25th, 2008.

The prints are available in three very affordably priced sizes and will be available exclusively online at jenatjoe.com.

We’ll be hosting other jen@joe events throughout the exhibition. Sign up for the jen@joe newsletter to stay up to date on announcements.

Points of Interest: Online + Elsewhere

Image Credit: White Ice by Tema Stauffer. Read about it on the 20×200 blog.A portion of the proceeds from this edition will benefit The Art Shanty Projects.

As if two openings in one week weren’t enough, there are plenty of other things keeping me busy over the next few months.

20×200 continues apace with two new editions each and every week. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to get advance notice on new editions.

I’m packing my long johns and heading off to Minneapolis for a few art-filled days (and nights.) I’ll be doing portfolio reviews (afternoon) and a presentation (evening) at the Minnesota Center for Photography on Monday, February 18th.

I’m also looking forward to attending The Art Shanty Projects and the opening of World’s Away at The Walker Art Center. Another show I won’t be missing is Ultra Karolina Karlic’s exhibition at Franklin Art Works.

In quick succession after that: Santa Fe, where I’m honored to be jurying Center’s Singular Image Prize for color photography, Austin, where I’m speaking on a panel at South By Southwest and Houston, where I’ll be reviewing portfolios at Fotofest.

Points of Interest: Online + In Print

Image Credit: Foam Magazine #13 / searching

If you love photography and find yourself in Amsterdam, be sure not to miss the Foam Fotografie Museum, an amazing vibrant venue for exhibitions of established and emerging photographers.

The most recent issue of Foam Magazine, their gorgeous quarterly magazine, includes Jen Bekman: Gallery Without Walls, a long format interview with me by writer Eric Miles, accompanied by portraits from the very excellent Stefan Ruiz.

We have lots of other great media in the pipeline. Some is still a secret, but be on the lookout for Jen Bekman Projects, especially 20×200, in a diverse array of publications including Wired, Redbook and The Artist Magazine.

Also on the horizon: big (exciting! awesome!) changes are in store for Hey, Hot Shot! in 2008.

Stay tuned, and stay up to date: bookmark our blogs, or subscribe to their RSS feeds:

Jen Bekman News Blog
The Hey, Hot Shot! Blog
The 20×200 Blog
Personism (my personal blog.)

Most of all, we’d love to see you 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